Baccalaureate: Closing the Doors

I am bringing closure to my Baccalaureate Chapter. The letters went out last week as well as all the certificates of appreciation. What follows is the letter I sent out and the 5 people I chose to honor with Certificates of Appreciation. I have chosen to post the Cross in the City letter as a sample. The letters were personalized to the giving churches.

April 28, 2011

Dear Cross in the City,

Thank you for your support of Pearland's Baccalaureate Services from 1999 to 2010. It has been privilege to be the Baccalaureate Chairperson. Over the 12 years, your organization contributed $1150 to Baccalaureate. Thank you for allowing your staff to serve as the Committee Chair person, a gift that over the years in uncompensated time was equivalent to over $100,000!

During my tenure as Baccalaureate Chair, the Baccalaureate Leadership Committee took Pearland's Baccalaureate to a new level. Our Baccalaureate Services were the best in the area: I know, I loved to do field trips to other school's baccalaureate services. On February 19, the former Baccalaureate Committee got together one last time and we celebrated the work God allowed us to do and this included the following:

We did 13 (2 in 2010) great Baccalaureate services that impacted the lives and families of about 1000+ students. (Our lowest attendance was 65 (2009) and our highest was 143.)

We came up with a committee structure that allow for all churches to be represented.

We did a unique service for each graduating class, searching for unique students that had gifts that we could utilize in the Baccalaureate service. Each year we fine tuned the service adding power point, worship, student testimonies, student led prayer, a prayer team.

We added a reception in 2000 and gifts to the graduates in 2002. We added the gift t-shirts in 2004 and the logo in 2003

We worked with anyone who wanted to help with Baccalaureate.

Regretfully, I am no longer responsible or involved in Pearland's Baccalaureates in any way. In many ways, I'm sorry to see this door closed. It has been a privilege to serve this way: it has been the source of much growth and many challenges.

Thank you for your continued support.

Dottie Cooper Hinesley

Because this is the end of some long term working relationships that revolved around Baccalaureate, I have considered my 12 years of service leadership and I have chosen people to present with Certificates of Appreciation for their Service to Baccalaureate.

Vicki Frame of Garden Road Baptist Church. Vicki coordinated the reception starting with the 2000 Baccalaureate service and she joined the Baccalaureate Leadership Committee reluctantly. She did an outstanding job on the reception and became an outstanding committee member. She has an excellent memory of what we tried and what worked and didn't work. She is extremely logical and could think thru the ramifications of potential decisions. She could also think thru the issues of leadership and logistics with amazing clarity. During the her last year on the committee, Vicki also coordinated the environment team, which included reception, decorations, ushers and pre-show for the graduates.

Mike Cotter of Southway Community Church. Mike was a great committee member and asset to the team. Mike joined the Committee in 2007. As a safety engineer, Mike brought a unique perspective to the Baccalaureate Committee. Mike was good at filling in the gaps: asking questions no one thought to ask and researching things he notice. He brought his camera to our tour of Dawson HS and to the Manvel Baccalaureate service. In 2010, Mike researched the suggested speaker and the new version of Pomp and Circumstance that was being used and had his own set of questions that were based on his research. Mike was also our only male long term committee member.

Nancy Pridgen of 1^st United Methodist Church of Pearland. Nancy joined the Committee in 2002. Her primary focus was on printed materials and advertising. She did a wonderful job involving her fellow church members in Baccalaureate. Nancy also coordinated with our graphic artist, participated in the choosing of logo and the phrase: The blessing of the Graduates. Nancy held a strong belief in Baccalaureate and the value of what we were doing. Nancy also suggested the design for the back of the t-shirt.

The following 2 are PISD employees or former employees.

Anita Holmes of 1^st Baptist Church of Pearland. I believe Anita Holmes is called by God to be the receptionist for Pearland High School. She is a wonderful asset to the Christian community in that position. Anita has used that position to be helpful to the cause of Baccalaureate in ways that are too numerous to be named here. Anita also knew the students and was able to suggest and confirm possible names for testimonies.

Darlene Woods of New Harvest Christian Fellowship Church. Darlene Woods was the former Senior Class Secretary. She was wonderful at her job and another person that I believe God positioned for His purposes. She used that position to advocate for Baccalaureate in several ways. She was eyes and ears, letting me know pertinent information, like when Balfour would be on campus. She also knew the students and would recommend or confirm the names of students who were known for walking the walk and talking the talk on campus.