PCA Podcasts

Ready to join PCA’s biggest community event on March 21? This Saturday morning gathering brings neighbors, families, and staff together to celebrate, connect, and raise vital support for our variable tuition program. Admission is free; breakfast tickets and tables are available for purchase.
The funds raised directly support families with varying financial needs so students can access a Christ-centered education. Nearly half of PCA families receive some form of variable tuition, and this auction helps ensure every child feels welcomed and valued.
Attend to bid on exciting items and experiences, donate goods or services, sponsor the event, or volunteer — from set-up to traffic control and student helpers. Teacher-hosted experiences and the emotional sponsor-child moment are highlights that demonstrate the community’s generosity and impact.
Please pray for the event, invite others, and visit the PCA website or contact the school to learn how to get involved, donate items, buy breakfast tickets, purchase a table, or become a sponsor. Come be the light with us.

 
In this episode Mike talks with Nate Hasty, PCA’s Director of College & Career Guidance, about how the school helps students discern their next steps—not just where they can get admitted, but where God may be calling them to serve and grow. Nate brings a background in student ministry and higher-education admissions and explains how those experiences shape his approach to guiding students and families.
Key topics include the difference between a prestige- or resume-driven process and a calling-centered approach, how PCA balances high academic expectations with spiritual and personal formation, and the team’s efforts to begin discernment early by engaging underclassmen in questions about identity, interests, and gifting.
Mike and Nate discuss practical aspects of guidance: when the department begins working with students (junior year into senior year), how they help students identify strengths and gaps, and how PCA uses honors, advanced coursework, and DAP classes to prepare students for college-level work. They emphasize honest, sometimes challenging conversations that point students toward appropriate pathways rather than lowering standards.
The episode also shares outcomes data: roughly 90% of recent PCA graduates enroll in two- or four-year postsecondary programs, while the remainder pursue meaningful vocational, service, or mission pathways. Alumni testimony—brought into campus panels—reinforces that PCA’s holistic preparation (academic, spiritual, and personal) equips graduates to engage confidently in college and other next steps.
For families with younger students Nate offers clear counsel: focus on forming habits of effort, curiosity, responsibility, and joy in learning. These habits keep options open and make later discernment possible. Parents are encouraged to walk alongside children with compassion and to prioritize long-term faithfulness over short-term performance.
The conversation covers alternate pathways as well—community college, vocational training, service, and mission work—and stresses that there are multiple legitimate routes to reach a student’s goals. Nate highlights the guidance team’s willingness to be creative and prayerful in helping students find the right fit.
As college decisions for the class of 2026 roll in (January through March), Mike and Nate invite the PCA community to pray for discernment and to remember that admissions outcomes are not a verdict on worth. This episode offers encouragement and practical next steps for seniors, families, and younger students as PCA continues to walk with students toward faithful, well-prepared next steps.

As our nation marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day and looks ahead to America’s 250th year, this episode tells a lesser-known story from the Korean War—one that reveals both the promise and the pain of our national journey.
Mike sits down with his father, retired U.S. Army Colonel Dennis Runey, to reflect on the Army’s first full integration in combat. Through the story of a fellow soldier who lived it firsthand, we hear how Black and White soldiers learned to fight, trust, and live as brothers under fire—only to face the sobering reality of re-segregation upon returning home.
This conversation does not rush to resolution. Instead, it invites us to remember honestly, reflect faithfully, and consider what it means to love our neighbor as individuals made in the image of God.

On this episode of Mondays with Mike, Nate and Mike Runey lead a timely mid‑year review as the first semester closes. They explore three central ideas for PCA families—growth, mastery, and excellence—and explain why now is a good time to reflect on a child’s academic trajectory.
They define growth as the measurable trajectory a student makes over time, mastery as grade‑level competence (when skills like multiplication facts move into long‑term memory), and excellence as the discipline to pursue constant improvement rather than mere comparison with others.
The hosts discuss how curriculum and rigor work together: curriculum is the course your child runs (teacher, material, sequence) and rigor is built into that course. Growth shows where students are on the course; mastery is assessed on a continuum (needs support, proficient, exceeding, exceptional).
Practical examples across grade levels are given: early grades focus on language and motor fluency, upper elementary emphasizes revision and stamina, middle school builds workload management and independence, and upper school demonstrates mastery through honors, AP, and dual‑enrollment work and capstone projects.
They also describe supports and interventions (like Mosaic) for students who need help and options for challenging those who are ahead, emphasizing the importance of getting the order right—cultivating growth and character first so mastery and achievement follow without exhausting the student.
Finally, Nate and Mike underscore that all of this takes place in a Christ‑centered environment: PCA aims to prepare students academically and spiritually for the next step in their calling, helping families and teachers walk alongside each child toward flourishing and readiness for future challenges.

Good afternoon, PCA community. In this episode Nate Paul and Head of School Mike Runey discuss returning from winter break and the important academic season ahead. They explain how the winter months—though quieter on the surface—are a powerful period of deep, rooted academic growth and development for students.
Mike highlights PCA’s educational vision (the five “lanes” or pentathlon approach) and emphasizes that midyear is an ideal time for parents and teachers to assess progress, embrace healthy academic challenge, and encourage revision, perseverance, and cross-disciplinary thinking. He reassures families that struggle can signal real growth and that teachers are intentionally guiding students through this stretch.
Looking ahead, Nate and Mike describe how steady work through Q2 builds momentum into Q3, where students consolidate skills, complete deeper projects, and gain confidence that leads into a fruitful spring quarter. They also connect this seasonal rhythm to PCA’s long-term goals for stable, generational growth and invite families to upcoming midyear updates and a state-of-the-school presentation in early February.
The episode closes with gratitude for teachers, parents, and students, and a reminder that winter at PCA is a season of faithful, steady growth academically, spiritually, and personally.

A good Monday, peace, safe families.As we head into Christmas week, this episode meets you where you are and introduces Chaplain David Moore from Portsmouth Christian Academy. David shares his journey to PCA, his role focusing on the middle school, and how he quietly walks the halls—listening, praying, noticing, and being available to students and staff.David describes the real, thoughtful questions students are asking about faith and theology, the pressures they carry from social media and school, and the ways teachers and the Holy Spirit are present and active in their lives. He emphasizes partnership between school and families, and how PCA supports spiritual formation alongside academic growth.This conversation offers a calm, encouraging window into how hope is showing up for kids—often quietly, sometimes slowly, and always with care—and invites parents to feel confident that their children are seen and supported as they enter the Christmas season.

Happy Monday from PCA: in the week before Christmas break, a group of young PCA musicians share how they discovered music, prepared for All‑State auditions, and balanced lessons, school, and extracurriculars.The students describe the audition process — learning repertoire in advance, sight‑reading on the spot, and for vocalists, memorizing excerpts — and reflect on practice routines, coaching, and the excitement of audition day.They talk about growth, competition, and community: 14 students auditioned and nine were selected, and many describe how the music program and teachers at PCA support collaboration and development across choirs, orchestra, theater, and worship team.With holiday concerts approaching, the students share favorite pieces they’re performing, including My Lord Has Come, an a cappella Deck the Halls arrangement, and Sleigh Ride, and they encourage younger students to join the rich, supportive fine‑arts community.

Steve Leavitt interviews Head of School Mike Runey about the Fall 2025 Parent Survey and the biannual Student Culture Survey (grades 5–8). They review community feedback praising PCA’s relational, Christ-centered culture and exceptional faculty while highlighting key strengths such as students feeling safe and proud to attend the school.
The conversation also addresses primary concerns raised by parents and students: academic rigor in higher-level STEM courses (especially math and physics), difficulty finding qualified STEM teachers, clarity and consistency around grading and rules (including dress code enforcement and the headphone policy), and questions about dual-enrollment credit value.
They discuss student well-being and behavioral culture, acknowledging reports of bullying, the limits of on-campus counseling, and plans to partner with local Christian counseling providers. The school’s responses include recruiting national firms to hire skilled Christian STEM teachers, partnerships with Ethos and Colorado Christian University for advanced courses, work on grading clarity and consistent policy enforcement, professional development for staff, and facility improvements to support play and movement.
Mike and Steve close by thanking parents, students, and faculty for honest feedback, asking the community to pray and help identify qualified STEM teachers, and reaffirming PCA’s commitment to listening and improving school programs and culture.

In this episode of Mondays with Mike, three Upper‑School small group leaders—Maeve (senior), Jaela (junior), and Donovan (sophomore)—talk about how their groups have built trust, practiced vulnerability, and supported one another. They share specific moments like a deep discussion at Brookwoods, a student chapel message on love, and a creative prayer board project that helped students feel seen and prayed for.
The leaders also describe challenges of guiding conversations after chapel, how mentors and group members step in, and the ways small groups have shifted the school’s culture toward greater care and outreach. Each student closes by offering a short prayer request for their group during the Advent and Christmas season.
This conversation highlights quiet acts of faith, peer discipleship, and the real-life impact of student leadership on community and spiritual growth.

Join Mike and Upper School Principal Jordan Heckelmann as they reflect on a fall semester of growth, leadership, and community just before Thanksgiving break. This episode highlights academic moments like a lively Socratic seminar on The Crucible, an advanced Spanish 5 literature course, inquiry-based chemistry labs, and creative projects in church history.
Jordan shares how teachers model curiosity and adapt new learning into the classroom, and how students are rising to academic challenges with perseverance and critical thinking. He also describes spiritual formation across the school, including development of small group leaders, spiritual renewal days with extended worship and prayer, and new practices like breath prayer.
The conversation celebrates student-led initiatives—a Thanksgiving feast born from student ideas, a student-led night of worship, increased senior leadership, and stronger cultural buy-in across events like homecoming and retreats. These examples show students taking ownership of their faith, community, and learning.
Jordan closes with gratitude for the Lord’s work in the community, thankful parents, faculty, staff, and student leaders, and optimism for continued growth through the rest of the school year.