Rhema Christian School launches news program
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Michelle Strutzenberger
Rhema Christian School in Peterborough, Ontario launches its first-ever online news program this week.

Stories will be posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"Our goal is to improve our level of communication with parents, school supporters and the larger community by involving a technologically-efficient method," says Ray Hendriks, principal of the elementary school.

Hendriks sees the value of a news site that helps families network and share information. And this is what the news program has been set up to do. It is designed to bring relevant news to parents, school supporters and the community and to help them make the best decisions about the education of their children.

Rhema will be working closely with Axiom News Services to present regular stories about school activities, strategic planning, fundraising and more on a website that enables people to read about, react, respond to and ultimately become engaged in a supportive dialogue.

"Most importantly, we want to use the program to demonstrate the importance of Christian day school education," says Hendriks. "Education that truly seeks to serve Christ needs to be broadcast to the larger community because there will be a strong level of appeal."

Hendriks points out that graduates of Rhema have gone on to take up leadership positions in their high schools and eventually in the larger community. "Our task is to prepare our students to be responsible citizens, to operate and live well in the community. We’re dead serious about that work."

On a secondary level, the hope is the news program will demonstrate to the community what Rhema has to offer. "We think the work done at Rhema is in many ways a real service to the larger community and in many ways cutting edge, and we want people to be aware of that," says Hendriks. This week the school is running a Good Neighbour Campaign. Goodies are being distributed to various local service organizations, such as the fire department just to say, "Thanks for being there for us." Various community organizations also use the school for their own events.

"We think we’re doing a great thing," Hendriks concludes. "The news program is a new way to let everyone else know about it."