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Fall, 2003
Dear Cambridge Family,
Please note the following news from Cambridge
Study Center:
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This year we have 50 very fine year-round
students attending classes at the study center.
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It is expected that another 150 - 200
students will attend Cambridge workshops and seminars this year.
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Cambridge arts student Stephen Davila
was recently awarded "Best of Show" at the Arts on the Park Senior
High Exhibit. Stephen was competing with students representing
most of the high schools in Polk County. Ninety-four pieces were
submitted for the competition. Earlier this year another Cambridge
arts student, Karis Medina, won the top prize at the Ridge
Art High School Competition. Congratulations to both Karis and
Stephen!
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Arts students Elizabeth Strawbridge
and Jeremy Thrush were awarded "Honorable Mention" at the
Arts on the Park and Ridge Arts competitions. Great work Elizabeth
and Jeremy!
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Cambridge art instructor Cannon Kirby
was given a one man show at Arts On The Park in July and
August. Around 200 guests attended the opening. In October he also
participated in the first Florida Platform arts show, a one
day event featuring selected visual and performing artists from
around the state. This past week Cannon was named art curator for
Florida Platform whose next show is scheduled after the
holidays.
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Articles featuring Cannon's work were
published this summer in the Winter Haven News Chief and Art-i-Facts
magazine. Cannon also showed his work in this year's Mayfaire-by-the-Lake
and was the only artist from Polk County to receive an award.
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The off campus class being taught by Bruce
Kirby at Covenant Presbyterian Church now has 63 adult
students. This class, The Christian & Culture, is available
to other churches and schools.
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The average S.A.T. score of Cambridge
students increased this year from 1374 to 1386. The average
Florida high school student scored 998 on the S.A.T.
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Cambridge student Danielle Forman
recently received the first place award for poetry from the Polk
County Council of Teachers. Danielle attends Lake Region High
School in Winter Haven.
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Professional photographer Richard Pearson,
a former Cambridge student, has just returned from a photo trip to
Mexico. You can see some of Richard's work at
http://www.richardpearsonphotography.com/
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Former Cambridge students are beginning their
freshman year at the University of Chicago, St. John's College,
the Citadel and other schools.
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The Cambridge Community Seminars
series will continue this year with Dr. Drew Trotter (Nov
20) University of Virginia speaking on “A Christian Understanding
of Film & Culture,” Dr. Richard Horner (Feb 21), University
of Florida speaking on “Tattoos, Body Piercing & the Search for
Meaning,” and Col. Tony Schwalm (Apr.), Special Forces /
Special Ops MacDill AFB speaking on “Guerrilla Leadership in the
Culture.”
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So far this year $25,300 in donations and
pledges has been raised for the Cambridge Scholarship Fund.
Our goal is to raise $40,000 by June 2004.
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On Saturday, October 11 Birch Tree Coffee &
Tea hosted An Evening of Cinema & Art with Bruce
leading discussion of the film Magnolia and Cannon
showing his mixed media work.
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The work of Cambridge arts student Jeremy
Thrush will be exhibited at Birch Tree December 1 -13.
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Upcoming fILM fRIDAYS include Amelie
for the students and Ben-Hur for the adults. Both are
scheduled for Friday, December 5, 7:30 pm. Bring food & friends!
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Thirty-five showed up for the recent "Shorts
Night" at the home of board members Allen and Harriet
Montgomery. The evening featured short films by local film
makers Rik Swartzwelder (Old Fashioned Pictures), Joe
OBrien (NFocus), and Josh Kring, Joel Batts, Dustin Kirby &
Cannon Kirby (Barking Dog Productions). A lively discussion
was led by Bruce Kirby.
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Winter workshops will include our first
theatre workshops taught by Leah Kirby. Eric Fuffraf
will offer a creative writing workshop, while Cannon will
teach both beginning and intermediate photography.
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As he has done for many years, Eric
Fullgraf continues to produce the posters for Pied Piper
Players, our local theatre.
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Watch for the announcement of a new seminar,
The Christian View of Man, to be taught by Bruce Kirby.
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Bruce is considering beginning a new
adult Thoughts Captive class in January. If you are
interested, contact him at 686.4862.
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Cary McMullen's recent Ledger article on the
study center and Geneva Classical Academy can be found at
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031004/NEWS/310040314/1021
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You may have noticed, eBridge
is now being sent once a quarter instead of every month.
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Some of you have received multiple copies
of Cambridge emailings. We apologize for any inconvenience
this may have caused. We have been having this problem for several
months and are making progress at identifying and addressing the
problem. However, until the problem is fully resolved, you may
still sometimes receive multiple copies.
From time to time we are asked to talk about
THE MISSION STATEMENT of the study center. This has never been
done in eBridge, so we thought we might take a paragraph or two to
outline the mission of Cambridge Study Center. First, we are not a
school. We are a study center offering classes to public, private
and home school students as well as adults and college students.
The mission of the study center is to produce Christian leadership
for the culture. All our classes are tailored with that goal in
mind. We offer classes that sharpen the thinking of our students.
Cambridge students learn that ideas have
consequences and nothing happens in this world apart from ideas.
Ideas shape actions! Therefore, anyone who is not fluent in the
language of ideas has opted out of meaningful leadership.
Conversely, those who are fluent in the language of ideas can
have an impact on the culture.
Fine students often lack the relational
skills necessary for good leadership, so Cambridge offers a
class that develops those relational skills: writing, public
speaking, logic, debate and etiquette. The arts, an area of the
culture often neglected by the Christian community, also are
important at Cambridge. We offer classes, workshops and seminars
in the visual and performing arts. Cambridge also offers
off-campus seminars teaching students to constructively engage the
culture. These off-campus seminars are available to churches,
schools and other organizations.
God has blessed the efforts of the study center
and Cambridge students have performed well academically,
scoring well above the Florida average on the S.A.T. And
Cambridge students have been accepted at prestigious schools:
University of Chicago, University of Virginia, Duke University,
Hillsdale College, New College, St. John's College, University of
Florida and others.
The question that is often asked at this point
is: "Well, don't you only accept exceptional students?" No, about
half of the students who come to Cambridge are exceptional when they
arrive at the study center. Our other students begin as average
students. Over time, though, most of these "average students"
become exceptional students who later enter the culture with the
tools necessary to take strong leadership in whatever vocation they
choose.
There is no other central Florida ministry like
Cambridge Study Center. But we ARE like many other nonprofits in
that we are experiencing serious financial challenges. Please pray
for God's continued blessing on the study center, and please
consider how you might help.
Warm regards,
The Cambridge Faculty & Staff
administration@cambridgestudycenter.org
www.cambridgestudycenter.org
STUDY CENTER EQUIPMENT NEEDS
Electrical work in the new Cambridge Arts Lab
MacIntosh G4 or G5 computers for the Cambridge Arts Lab
Two PC's Pentium 2 or newer for administration
Tables, counters & storage cabinets for the new Arts Lab
Carpeting for the Commons where we hold film nights for the students
Two 27 - 30 inch televisions
Two VCRs and two DVD/CD players
Miscellaneous painting
fILM fRIDAYS
Students: Amelie / December 5 / 7:30 p.m. / Cambridge Study Center /
Discussion Leader: Cannon Kirby
Adults: Ben Hur / December 5 / 7:30 p.m. / Home of Allen & Harriet
Montgomery / Discussion Leader: Bruce Kirby
Cambridge Study Center / 541 South Florida
Avenue / Lakeland, Florida 33801 / 863.686.4862
Cambridge Study Center is a nonprofit corporation (501c3) and will
gratefully accept your tax deductible donations.
What is today a matter of academic speculation begins tomorrow to
move armies and pull down empires. - J. Gresham Machen |
