You Play Like You Practice

Mr. Hettick lovingly shepherds the TRA boys on and off the field.

In the past seven years of teaching at The River, I have enjoyed many heart-to-heart talks with our junior & senior young men.  As you might guess, these conversations are often created by moments of personal crisis, and therefore end up cutting deeper than curriculum questions to broader life and character struggles…and aims.  These are the conversations that start with something like “Mr. Hettick, why do I have a failing grade in class?” (Did you finish the assignment? “Yes.” On time? “Almost.”  Did you turn it in?  “I think soooooo…Wait! Shoot!”)  But before long our talk turns to:  “Mr. Hettick, I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do with my life.”

I’ve learned to try to take these opportunities to shift from a task focus to a training focus.   What am I going to do with my life? (i.e. Get a business degree? Become a firefighter?)  I tell them:  great question! But it’s not the main question, not the best question.  The better question is:  What sort of man am I going to be in this world?  We can cut even closer than that.  What sort of man am I - right now - practicing to be in this world?  You see, the first question aims at vocation, the second at virtue.  

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?”

— Mark 8:36

TRA is blessed to have men willing to be real with their students and speak lovingly into their lives.

As Mrs. Hysom wrote about earlier this month, education should ultimately be a project of virtue cultivation more than knowledge or skill accumulation.   

But here is where your average 14-year old boy checks in with his two default difficulties:  

1.) Trouble seeing the relevance of the ‘school things’ being asked of him to the ‘real’ manhood things he wants to pursue.  

2.)  Thinking the virtue cultivation of Becoming A Man is a crossroads for his future self someday, rather than a crucible for his current self today.

It was in this spirit that the other male teachers and I called a mandatory meeting on manhood and manners last November.  We talked about how everything we do here in this building can and should work toward our overall training as men - from the way we come into Psalm sing in the morning to the way we exit the building in the afternoon.  We remembered together that each piece of our school day is a tiny component part of our overall training to be good men in this world.  (And that it’s awfully difficult to be a good man in this world!)  We remembered that this is practice, the rest of our lives - Gametime.  And you play like you practice, right?

“If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge…but have not love, I am nothing.”

— 1 Cor. 13:2

Good role models point to Jesus in all things.

I told our boys that this wasn’t a rebuke, but a reset, a refresh and a recruitment to try to walk these halls now like the sort of men we want to be later.   After all, we can’t just expect tectonic transformations in punctuality and diligence and hygiene and organization and reliability and integrity and self-control and courage and compassion to just magically ‘happen’ - like flicking a switch - one day in the future when it’s time to get our act together.  Doesn’t work that way.  No, we are right now today cultivating the sort of virtues that will define our manhood tomorrow.

Of course, we are not meant (or able!) to walk this training path alone.  So we finished our man meeting together praying for the grace and strength and presence of Christ as he patiently molds and makes us into men. 

-Nathan Hettick, TRA Chaplain

TRA’s male faculty model leadership and service to the younger minds and hearts of their students.

Tuition Assistance

Other Christian schools are able to offer lower tuition (and still cover growing expenses) for one or two reasons that do not apply to TRA: (1) their operating budget is subsidized by the church or denomination they are affiliated with (so tuition does not need to cover the entire cost of providing an education at that school), and/or (2) they do not collect enough tuition to cover annual operating expenses and rely on end of year fundraising to cover the additional costs (or go into debt). At TRA, we are an independent Christian school, not affiliated with or financially supported by any church. TRA used to follow model (2) above, but  made a strategic decision seven or eight years ago to move toward charging the actual tuition needed to cover costs rather than relying on fundraising to make up the difference. Last year was the first year that TRA charged and collected the actual cost of providing an education; permitting end of year fundraising to go towards tuition assistance instead of operating expenses (covering payroll). It is a reason to celebrate the financial health of our school!

As the tuition was raised incrementally over the years to finally cover the actual cost of providing a TRA education, we knew that more families would need to be encouraged to seek and receive tuition assistance. It was a decision the board welcomed as the school now provides a tuition discount only to families who aren’t able to pay the full cost of a TRA education. However, the new tuition model only works well when families in need of tuition assistance are aware of it, and actually apply, so we are able to keep all of our mission-fit families we love so dearly, as well as bring in new ones. The entire TRA community grows and benefits when everyone who wants their kids to receive a classical, Christ-centered education is able to participate and receive one. This is our desire for our community. 

So how does tuition assistance work? TRA contracts with a national third party organization (FACTS) that analyzes a family’s financial situation and gives the school a recommended amount of tuition reduction based on each family’s unique financial situation (income, number of students, major expenses, etc.). Families are encouraged to apply for tuition assistance each year they may need it as the awards are annual and award amounts can change from year to year. Some families receive tuition assistance some years and not others, or different amounts of tuition assistance for different school years, based on a number of factors. Families also are encouraged to write a narrative response where that option is presented in the online tuition assistance application, as that can help the three-person tuition assistance committee better understand any temporary financial needs that may not be reflected in all of the numbers. All financial information and the identity of families receiving assistance are held in strict confidence.

We realize that inflation is affecting you all and your ability to provide for your families, and that a tuition increase makes it even more of a sacrifice to send your children to TRA.  We do not want to lose any families who love what we are doing here. We have such a sweet and beautiful school community and don’t want anyone to have to leave who wishes their students could stay. Please don’t decide to leave based only on the higher cost and without looking into our tuition assistance offering. We strive to keep every family here who really wants their kids to receive a TRA classical, Christian education.

-Lisa Hysom, Interim Head of School

TRA Discipline: Correction with the Heart in Mind

Before my children were school-age, I began shopping for schools. I knew the type of environment I wanted for them but not where to find it. We interviewed several different schools in the area and each school I visited, I asked the same questions. One of those questions was, “How do you handle discipline?” It’s a loaded question, but I knew that when I asked it. Secretly, it was a test to see how well they handled the sensitive subject. 

The River Academy had a well-considered, Biblical approach that aligned with what I wanted for my children.  But, no matter how well-considered it was, I was still nervous to send my head-strong, creative, and sometimes too-extroverted child to a place that required so much structure at such a young age. I knew, in the long-run, that it would be good for him but trusting someone else to guide my child while I wasn’t around was nerve wracking!

My son was on the younger side and heading into the school year with a birthday at the end of summer. He instantly adored his school, his teacher, and his new audience (friends) and woke up each morning with an excitement to start the day that encouraged my heart as well.

“I remembered what that meant from my days in public school, when the whole class erupts into, “Ooooooooooh!” and you’re sent on a walk-of-shame to the office.”

Then came the day when he got his first note home, also known at TRA as an ‘Attention Grabber.’ The dreaded note home from the teacher. How could my little guy, a joy-bringer, loving and kind, have done something bad enough to need a note home? I cried on my drive home from after-school pick up. It felt like I had done something wrong. Did I not discipline my child well enough at home? Was my approach wrong? What kind of structure are they asking of these pre-K kids? So many questions went through my head and I began to doubt my choice in schools. Maybe they misunderstand my son. Maybe they’re too hard on him. Then I got the second Attention Grabber and the note that my 4 year old had been sent to talk with the Principal. I remembered what that meant from my days in public school, when the whole class erupts into, “Ooooooooooh!” and you’re sent on a walk-of-shame to the office. 

That feeling of personal failure sat at the back of my mind until parent-teacher conferences, which was the first time I met with my son’s teacher one-on-one to have a more detailed conversation about what the struggle was. We talked about how sweet my son is, how intelligent his little mind is, and how he loves people and has a heart for entertaining and loving others. His teacher handed me a tissue as she and I teared up together because it was clear - she and I both loved him very much. I asked her more questions about what behavior she was seeing from him in class and I began to understand that, despite his infractions, he was exactly where he needed to be; a safe place where his teachers loved him and patiently, lovingly, biblically, helped him learn to take responsibility for his actions, learn from them, and grow past them.

The next year, and several Attention Grabbers and Principal meetings later, I witnessed something that opened my eyes as a parent, (and a serial perfectionist). My son’s Kindergarten teacher, after what I sensed was a very difficult day, brought out and disseminated a stack of Attention Grabbers to various parents. To my surprise, my son was not a recipient! How could this be? Other kids also struggled to pay attention, listen the first time every time, and follow directions? It wasn’t until that moment that I realized that I had been too hard on myself and that my son was struggling in a way that was entirely common for his gender and age-range. 

Although I felt a wave of relief and understanding wash over me, I also realized in that moment, God was speaking to me and trying to remind me that we’re all sinners in need of correction at times, and that we need Him. No one is blameless but Jesus, and to find a school that understands that at its core and, then in their words and actions, pass that knowledge on to my child in a loving and patient way was so encouraging. Discipline is a complex issue and looks different to every child, to every family, but rest assured that The River Academy faculty and staff love our children like God loves us; unconditionally, with patience, with consequences, and with plenty of opportunities to learn and grow.

-Krista Kelly, TRA Parent and Visual Communications Coordinator

TRA Parents are always ready to jump in and help and it’s clear they want the best environment for their children.

No Education is Neutral

Mrs. Rose leads worship and delivers a beautiful message to the elementary students at Chapel where our students meet weekly to fellowship and learn together.

Our mission at TRA is to educate the next generation of Christian leaders. However, “Inspired leaders are not created in a vacuum; they are cultivated in a culture” (Hegseth and Goodwin, Battle for the American Mind, 127). TRA recognizes the importance of the culture and environment in which students are taught, as well as the ideas and values behind those decisions. We unabashedly operate and teach from a Western Christian Worldview that values reason, virtue, wonder, and beauty, and works hard to cultivate those values and attributes in our students by teaching them what is true, right, good, and beautiful. 

Can kids be educated in this way - to discern truth, think critically, and grow in virtue - at any school?  Not at public schools where God and the Bible have been fully removed from curriculum and replaced with secular humanism and a government ideology that teaches kids to find their identity in anything other than Jesus. Children in secular schools are taught to follow their feelings and act in ways they feel is best for them, regardless of what God (or their parents) have to say about their choices. Instead of modeling virtue for students and coming alongside of them in a relational way through classroom conversations, weekly chapels, and meaningful discussions with teachers who love the Lord and are passionate about sharing their faith, public schools have replaced virtue with “five pseudo-virtues to fill up the virtue-shaped vacuum in our hearts: tolerance, inclusivism, egalitarianism, multiculturalism, and environmentalism” (Hegseth and Goodwin 173). But our children should be raised and taught using time-tested Christian virtues, grounded in Scripture. 

“We do not separate or categorize people by their different backgrounds, ethnicities, or abilities. Instead, we cultivate unity among God’s diverse people by focusing on and growing in our common identity as followers of Christ—not mere workers.”

TRA 3rd Graders love getting to learn about Ancient Greece!

TRA students are taught from the start (and reminded throughout their time here)  that they were created by a loving God for a unique purpose, to do good works which God prepared in advance for them to do (Ephesians 2:10). We then teach them the basics of those “good works” - to love God and others well, God’s two greatest commandments. Loving God means spending time with Him, talking to Him in prayer, reading His Word and memorizing it so it can be recalled and applied to various situations. Loving others involves making good choices to act in loving ways. We do not separate or categorize people by their different backgrounds, ethnicities, or abilities. Instead, we cultivate unity among God’s diverse people by focusing on and growing in our common identity as followers of Christ—not mere workers. 

We believe that a full education must be of the whole child, and it includes cultivating their spiritual growth while enriching their minds. The mission of The River Academy is big, and by God’s grace, we can achieve it together by keeping Jesus at the center of all we do and working to win our kids' hearts and grow their character, as well as train their minds. For more information on the importance of the culture and worldview from which children are taught, and the contrast between modern secular education and classical Christian education, I encourage you to read Battle for the American Mind by Hegseth and Goodwin. Let us continue learning together to strengthen our partnership in educating and raising future Christian leaders. 

-Lisa Hysom, Interim Head of School

Christmas Festivities

Christian communities should be the BEST at celebrating Holidays (holy-days!) because God calls us both to REST (Duet. 5:14) and to REJOICE (Deut. 12:7) and to FEAST!! (Ex 23:14) So, when it comes time to play games, feast and sing together, and dress up in fun costumes?  Well, we do it up BIG!  If you’ve ever been lucky enough to be a part of Reformation Day, you know what I’m talking about!

“...our desire is for hearts which are truly focused on the miracle of our Savior coming in the flesh and bringing His Light and Love to the whole earth.”

So let me tell you about the festivities we’re enjoying this month! First, we have extra holiday happiness this year as for the VERY FIRST TIME, (since we now own our building,) we have been able to decorate any (and all) spaces for Christmas!  We have a large and wonderful tree in the Great Hall with a beautiful star all handed down to us by the Wenatchee Valley Baptist Church.  We’ve also set up our Giver’s Tree with cute (electric) candles in our Lobby to honor our donors, and the atmosphere is extremely festive with delightful Christmas carols playing all day long over the lobby speakers!   It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

If you read the last blog by our beloved Chaplain Nathan Hettick, you know that our desire is for hearts which are truly focused on the miracle of our Savior coming in the flesh and bringing His Light and Love to the whole earth. We rejoice in this truth by singing classic Christmas hymns during Psalm Sing.  Today, we had our last Psalm sing; Silent Night, Joy to the World and Away in a Manager.  These songs help us reflect on the story of Jesus' arrival and our joy at his coming.  

As Tyler mentioned in his blog recently about our Advent electives, we take celebrations so seriously here that we consider them part of our yearly curriculum.  Students choose from options such as playing snow football, assembling and delivering Candy Grams, knitting scarves or even quietly reading Dickens’ The Christmas Carol together while enjoying a cup of tea.  As for dressing up? Well, this week is Spirit Week and all week there will be a chance to sport Christmas themed accessories!  We’ll have kindergarteners in Whoo Hats, seniors wearing Rudolf ties and staff members sporting candy cane striped socks. To top it all off we close the calendar year with Ice Skating and then Tailgating at the Town Toyota Center after our last half-day.  

We love to celebrate the Reason AND the Season and we do it with intention, wholeheartedly and joyfully!

-Tonya Griffith, Principal

Christmas

Oh, how I love Christmastime!  Fireplace warming after fresh-fallen snow, nutmeg & cinnamon in my cocoa, red ribbons on trees and evergreen wreaths, colorful constellations of twinkle-light bling, holly and jolly and bright caroling! HOORAY!  And oh, yes - of course, the birth of Jesus too…mainly that. “The reason for the season” ...shepherds & angels & manager & some special star & frankincense (isn’t that an essential oil?) & baby Jesus & peace on earth…the whole shebang.   

Now, I’m not suggesting, dear brothers and sisters, that Jesus is merely a dull afterthought to you this season.  But if I’m being candid, my honest-to-God jitters of excitement in December are fired up faster by the presents and children and sledding and cookies and days off(!) and holiday fun - in short, the glorious decorations of the season - than they are at the meaning in that manger.

One of the most deflating effects of the Fall that I constantly have to fight is the numbness of familiarity. So would you join me for a moment of the happy business of shaking my soul awake, once again, to this astonishing thing about which we sing?

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!  Let earth receive her King!”  

Christmas is the crescendo end to a very, very long countdown.  Everybody loves countdowns!  The longer the count, the bigger the shout.  And this one ticked through thousands of years.  Through days upon days and decades upon decades of the darkness of man’s depressions and depravities, a light was slowly dawning.  This light illuminated, pixel by pixel, the profile of a hero.  The Hero.  The one all their weary souls longed for. (The One all our weary souls still long for!)  But our God is one fantastic storyteller - and this is the story of the ages!  So he slow-rolls the reveal.  Echoing all the way back to the shadow-struck garden, he whispers promises to each generation about One who could and would come to reverse the curse, redeem the fallen, and restore on earth an everlasting Eden.  With each whisper the light grew brighter:  seed of a woman & serpent-crusher, prophet-leader from the Moses mold, invincible King from David’s line, Suffering Servant whose shed blood heals, “and his name shall be called…Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God(!), the Prince of Peace.”  Finally, God said he would send a messenger to prepare the way for His arrival.  Then there were 400 years of mic-dropped silence.  

“Mild he lays his glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth!”

But in the fullness of time, a voice cries out of the darkness with the old thunder: “Prepare the way for the LORD!”  

“Advent” means arrival.  And what an arrival!  Angelic orchestras split the sky, meager men on promised pilgrimage, even the blazing stars align in clockwork wonder.  Then - in miracle manger, like a little lamb, the God-Man is born.  

What a mystery!  What a marvel!  What a Light!  What a Knight!  

This Christmastime, this Advent season, allow yourself to shiver with those tingles of childlike wonder at the reality of Jesus.  And then recall anew that we indeed are heralds of a second countdown to the second coming.  For this King will arrive again.  So come close to Christ at Christmas this December and with wonder we remember, God again has whispered true - He’s coming back for me and you!

-Nathan Hettick, TRA Chaplain

Advent Electives

A TRA student uses a scoring tool while learning stained glass artistry skills in an Advent season elective.

What distinguishes The River Academy from all other classical, Christian schools? Do we teach the Great Books? Absolutely, just like many other schools. Do we educate from a Christian worldview that’s infused into everything that we do? Absolutely, just like many other schools. Do we have a House system? Absolutely we do, arguably far stronger than other schools (in our humble opinion). But what else? What’s truly unique about TRA’s secondary curriculum? Advent Electives.

“These three weeks of school see the creation of a variety of different electives that are joyful and intentionally relational, fostering great discussions in different situations and about different topics than we can traditionally tackle. ”

Let’s face it, those winter weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas can become tedious. The days are cold and dark. The mountains are calling.  So, long ago we decided to set aside the three weeks between breaks, to branch out and offer creative classes that enrich our culture. Many of our core classes include special units or projects, but electives are really where the fun and experiential learning happens . 

We have had a wide variety of electives: snow football, cookie decorating, gourmet cooking, science-fiction film analysis, drum-making, tea appreciation, and many more. Our goal: bring a variety of students together with their teachers to share and do life with one another in memorable, meaningful ways. 

Students ask all the time: “When am I going to use this in the ‘real world’?” But I chafe at that complaint because everything we study, from Latin to logarithms, is equipping them with wisdom for interacting with the world. Advent electives do this in a special way. By offering an opportunity to engage with ideas in a hands-on environment, students are equipped with relational and practical skills they can use to build community and camaraderie in later life.

A TRA student practices safe whittling skills learned in an Advent Elective.

Isn’t celebration just as much a part of who we are as the books we read, the science experiments we do, and the math problems we solve? During the long, dark days of Advent, we remember the long, dark wait for our Savior and the joy of His coming. So, as we celebrate the advent of Christ, the River takes this time to create opportunities to speak into our students’ lives by doing good, true, and beautiful things with them.

Advent electives are a beloved tradition and a favorite of staff and students alike. We think of it as a reward for working hard, a chance to connect with our students in ways we might not in our core classes, and a unique way to celebrate Advent. It’s an important part of our overall curriculum as we disciple our students and walk with them relationally. 

-Tyler Howat, Dean of Academics

In Gratitude

As we reflect on all that the Lord has done at TRA over the past school year, we produce a Gratitude Report—also known as an Annual Report—to not only showcase evidence of His provision to our beloved school, but also to provide financial transparency to our families and donors. Created with deep appreciation for all who give selflessly to help make our mission a reality, this report acknowledges we could not stay on mission without your generous support. You should have received a printed copy of this report in the mail last week, but check out the flipbook below if you haven’t had a chance to thumb through your copy yet.

In light of this season of gratitude, we have three very important groups we’d like to thank.

First, we want to thank you—our parents—for choosing The River Academy. We know you have a choice when it comes to your child’s education. Thank you for trusting us to partner with you to equip your child(ren) to become the next generation of Christian leaders. We take this charge very seriously, and it is an absolute joy to see them grow in truth and wisdom throughout their years here at TRA.

Some of the many parent volunteers at our Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch field trip this year.

Second, we want to honor our parent volunteers. We have several parents who consistently volunteer in various capacities throughout the week, whether that be as a recess or lunch monitor, assisting Cyndi Noyd in Art Studio, driving for field trips, or leading a literacy station in their child’s classroom. We also rely on you to help us execute our favorite TRA traditions, which are critical to our sweet culture, including Reformation Day or Grandparents Day. Many hands make light work, and without you, we simply could not enjoy these special events. Lastly, we have families who give of their time by donating in-kind services such as pest control, HVAC maintenance, or academic support. Thank you for blessing us with your time and talents.

“Praise the Lord, from whom all blessings flow.”

Finally, as outlined in the Gratitude Report, we are grateful for our faithful and generous donors. The majority of our supporters are current and former families, and this past year we had 80 individual donors contribute in one way or another. You saw the need to continue classical, Christian education in our valley, and you said “Yes!” Your generosity signifies your confidence in The River Academy as a school worthy of your trust and investment. 

We can’t adequately express how thankful we are for all three of these critical groups and the different ways they keep our beloved school thriving; it is truly a privilege to be on mission with you! But most of all, we are thankful for the One who makes it all possible. Praise the Lord, from whom all blessings flow.

In Gratitude,

Andie Johnson
Director of Development

House Humility; Our Students Reflecting Christ

I love my job teaching science. I love watching our students grow in Christ-likeness and joy in our school. But most of all I love how our students’ actions reflect the gospel to me and others in their actions week in and week out, especially during our House events, games and activities. I'm constantly blown away when I see them modeling the kind of love and humility found in this passage in Philippians. 

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  -Philippians 2:1-4 NIV

Let’s face it, it’s kind of surprising to see this kind of Christian character in the average adult these days. But I get to see it shine out in our students over and over in ways which thoroughly take me by surprise and humble me. In class, yes, but surprisingly, more often in house games and activities.   Each week, there are examples of students calling each other higher, encouraging one another, and providing support. 

“I probably would have laughed in the face of any opponent if I was asked to share my supplies, but this student just nicely said “sure” and handed it over.”

Once, standing in the kitchen during a House competition, I watched the teams intensely creating autumn drinks that were to be judged on how beautiful and delicious the drinks turned out to be. Supplies were brought from home, time was tight, and the competition was in full gear.  Yet, there in the middle of the battle, I watched one House member share her can of whipped cream with another team that hadn’t brought any.  Crazy, right?  I probably would have laughed in the face of any opponent if I was asked to share my supplies, but this student just nicely said “sure” and handed it over.  Impressive.  To that young woman, the relationship mattered more than the competition. 

It is fun to see our student leaders taking the time to really get to know other people in their Houses.  It is so meaningful when an older student takes the time to learn a younger student’s name, likes and dislikes, and to truly hear them.  The House leaders ask the new 7th graders questions to find out what they like to do, what skills they have and how the team can foster those skills for the good of the whole team and the good of each person. 

Sometimes the younger students want to participate in events where the leaders know they will not really help the House be victorious. STILL, the House leaders encourage them on and let them choose where to participate. Those young men and women regularly put their preferences aside and value the feelings of others over a simple win.  Oh, at times, I know those same leaders were dying to push the younger ones aside and get the win… but I’ve seen them resist that temptation and cheer them on anyway.  Putting others' interests before your own? Before winning? That’s true leadership.  

House Fridays are a time commitment that could be used for learning more about science.  But, each teacher here gladly donates class time for the deeper life lessons and Godly maturity being modeled each week during our games and competitions.  Do we make mistakes?  Yes.  Do we let each other down?  Yes.  But, we also apologize and forgive.  We work through winning and losing well and that wouldn’t necessarily be nurtured in class.  

May this be another great year of competition (Go Tyndale!)  May we encourage one another, be tender and compassionate, show joy without selfish ambition or vain conceit.  May we win and lose with humility and value others about ourselves.  Honestly, the world would be a much better place if we all lived this way.

-Tracy Baker

Why Uniforms?

Uniforms are a traditional part of the classical and Christian education movement across our nation and even worldwide.  I think our students look especially sharp! But it’s not just about looking nice, TRA students wear uniforms for several very important reasons. 

Uniforms indicate a purpose, a job: Just as many people wear uniforms to designate the focus of their work, so do we don them for our focused day of school work.  Be assured, what we wear affects how we behave.  You may ask any seasoned teacher and they will tell you that on non-uniform days, the amount of focus for learning is greatly diminished. Students who put on a uniform set themselves up as ready to attend a place of learning. 

Uniforms help students focus on learning:  While I would always prefer to wear my joggers and my awesome sneakers, those items indicate that I’m prepared to go work-out or drop everything and play a game of hoops. In the same way, wearing a Spiderman costume or a princess dress to school would be distracting for the wearer as well as the other students.  

Uniforms are inclusive: When everyone has the same options for clothing the divide between those who have less and those with great wealth is decreased.  All are equally dressed to learn. 

Uniforms let teachers focus on teaching: Without a uniform, in order to assure modest attire, a complicated dress code would have to be enforced. Teachers want to focus on teaching, and not degrade their relationships with students by having to police clothing that doesn’t fit a confusing dress code. 

Uniforms simplify dressing:  As a mom, I loved that I didn’t have to go through a big hassle of helping my kids find appropriate clothing for school.  “Blue polo or white today?” Fewer choices meant less stress for everyone in the mornings, and no worries about being teased or singled out because of clothing.  

A couple of related notes:  Please help your student remember that the uniform shoes for Monday are to be dressier, as in;  all brown, black or gray.  Also, we have a new plan for boys who forget or lose their ties. We will have rental ties in the office for students who lose or forget theirs, the family FACTS account will be charged $5/day. (If the tie doesn’t come back to the office by the end of the week the full cost (plus shipping) will also be charged to the FACTS account so we can order more for the next kids.)  

As I’m sure is true at the many other classical schools around the nation and the world, there will always be students who wish they could wear their fashion jeans, or boy band t-shirts. However, the well dressed students who can focus on learning and let the teachers focus on teaching speak to the value of wearing uniforms to school. 

-Tonya Griffith, TRA Principal

Why Our Chapel Theme for the Year is ‘Abide in Christ’

It’s dark, and the disciples are shaken. Their Master–the one whom they’ve seen silence storms and raise corpses, the one from whom horrific demons flee and to whom tiny, trusting children flock–the God-Man who has spoken light and love and healing right down to their very bones–the One who has promised to give them life everlasting–this Jesus, has just told them (again) that He must leave them–tonight. Rising from their passover supper, this trek will take them to that shadowy garden, Gethsemane. Perhaps now passing in cool midnight air through a ghostly vineyard, Jesus gestures to the tangled rows of vines and branches, heavy with fresh-grown clumps of good grapes. “Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me…” He begins (Jn. 15:4).  

We’re all familiar with the metaphor. (What a brilliant teacher our Lord is!) As the branches have no prayer of producing sweet grapes if they don’t stay connected to the life-giving flow of nutrients and water from their vine, so we have no prayer of living our days as God has commanded–with compassion and courage, honesty and generosity, forbearing patience and bold faith–if we don’t stay connected to Jesus, and the life-giving flow of his Spirit. Christians must ABIDE in Christ. 

But what does that mean, exactly? And what does that look like here in Wenatchee, WA in 2022? Combing through the extended conversation between the Lord and his disciples on that fateful night should give us some clues: 

“Believe” (14:1) “Do the works that I do” (14:12) “Ask in my name” (15:7) “keep my commandments (15:10)” “keep my word”(14:23) “bear much fruit” (15:8) “Love me” (14:21) “love one another as I have loved you” (15:12) “remember the word I said to you” (15:20) “take heart when you have tribulation” (16:33) be guided by the Holy Spirit (16:13) “know the Spirit, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (14:7) “Because I live you also shall live” (14:19)

Clearly, at the heart of our Christian living is a deep reality of connectedness, of bright, living relationship, of union and communion with our Christ. Yet, many of us–students and staff alike–struggle through our storm-tossed or sleepy days with how exactly to walk this out. Like the disciples, we too can be shaken at the charge to cling in real relationship to a Savior we cannot currently see or touch or hear. This is why we’ve chosen a careful study of ABIDE IN CHRIST for our Secondary School chapel theme for the year. 

Here’s a peek at the roadmap: 

• Abide…because you KNOW HIM, LOVE HIM, TRUST HIM! [testimonies]

• Abide…BY HIS WORD

• Abide…IN HIS SPIRIT 

• Abide…SIDE-BY-SIDE w/ EACH OTHER 

• Abide…THROUGH THE STORMS & SHADOWLANDS OF SUFFERING

• Abide…ON HIS TERMS

• Abide…COME WHAT MAY

As we walk this road together this year at TRA, would you join in prayer and heart that Jesus, our true Vine, would nourish and strengthen us afresh, to bear good fruit, full of life, and flowing from His Spirit? 

-Nathan Hettick, TRA Chaplain

Why Reformation Day?

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther–a law student turned monk–nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany. In short, these Theses (a thesis is an argument or an assertion–ask your TRA junior-higher or high schooler!) were Luther’s way of protesting against corruption within the Catholic Church and reminding the church of an oft-forgotten truth: that by grace and grace alone have we been justified from the consequences of our sins (Galatians 2:21; 2 Cor. 5:21). Any good works we might do are the reflection of our God-given grace upon our sinful state of being (Eph. 2:8-10). The sound of his nails fastening the Theses to those church doors was also the sound of the Protestant Reformation bursting forth. 

Nine hundred years earlier, Pope Boniface IV sought to confront a spreading pagan practice, originating in the land of the Celts, of Samhain (among other non-Christian festivals). Samhain marked the end of harvest and the start of winter, with bonfires being lit and a belief that spirits roamed the earth for that night. So, people would disguise themselves out of a desire to hide from those spirits. Pope Boniface instituted All Saints Day on November 1, followed by All Souls Day the next day in an effort to turn people’s attention to honoring the saints who came before. As we can see, this distraction worked swimmingly, and Halloween has entirely been eradicated from the public consciousness. Not so much.

Instead of enmiring ourselves in those syncretistic holidays, The River Academy joins the long tradition of focusing on and celebrating a momentous occasion within the church: the day when we turned our attention to the work that God did through Martin Luther. He reminded us that, without the grace of God in our lives we have no hope for our salvation and that we can’t bridge that gap between our sinful state and the Perfection in which God exists. We echo Luther’s argument that “The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God” (Thesis 62). October 31st is not about costumes or candy or carnivals–those are tricks of distraction–but about remembering the truest treat out there: the grace and peace that comes from our Savior.

So, even though we do dress up–in the classical school tradition as literary characters or historical figures–we do so in honor of the Lord and the saints like Luther who came before us. We feast as our forefathers did, we fellowship as Christ commanded, and we frolic about in the joy of the Lord, remembering what He has done for us rather than honoring any pagan holiday. 

Blessings,

Tyler Howat, Dean of Academics

Partner With Parents

The mission of The River Academy is to partner with parents to educate the next generation of Christian leaders. This happens by building on the foundations you have laid as your child’s primary educator.  Parents teach and train their children to be obedient and to love and honor God, then those students are naturally primed to want to learn more about God, and to listen to their teachers. Such students learn to honor their teachers and classmates by being responsible for their own actions and become able to think of others more than themselves, which are key traits of Christian leaders. 

Partnering with parents at the elementary level means we teach them about spelling, math, and history, how to write a paragraph, and eventually a 3 point essay.  But we couldn’t do any of that if kiddos hadn’t already learned to listen to adults. They come to us ready and eager to learn because you have set them up to be excited for school. They obey when we ask them to do hard work because they have already been trained to do chores and work hard at home.  And they are able to own their mistakes, apologize, and ask forgiveness when there is conflict because you have modeled such grace and humility at home.  

With secondary students, partnering with parents generally means coming alongside the young men and women whom you are already discipling to be adults. It means walking with them, as you do, and practicing living in a vulnerable and authentic Christian community where hard work is the norm,  mistakes and mishaps are commonplace, and forgiveness is asked for, and given, regularly. 

I see 3-5 students a day who have misbehaved. My focus for every disciplinary visit is to help each student take responsibility for their own actions by acknowledging that they made a mistake and then choosing to restore the relationship with their teacher or classmates, ask forgiveness, and then make plans to do better. True repentance and relational restoration are always the goals.  I have the joy of talking with parents about each of my disciplinary conversations with their child and almost every time they express thankfulness for the call and gratitude for our investment in their family and partnering with them. It makes my heart happy and literally makes my day.  

This little school community is a place where students are encouraged and equipped to take responsibility for their actions, especially when they have hurt others, and ask forgiveness from others and from God. We all need to practice these things, but it is essential for leaders. This work is done best in a safe place where others are brave enough to be vulnerable too. Mistakes are normal and in fact a very necessary part of learning! We want this school to be full of great grace for each person to be different and grow into the individual that God created them to be. 

Thank you for allowing us to partner with you on your child’s journey to becoming a Christian leader! 

-Tonya Griffith, School Principal

Elementary Music Update

Prior to all the disruptions to learning caused by Covid, The River Academy had a budding school-wide music program. As with many schools, Covid killed the music program at TRA and we lost our music teacher. Last fall, TRA began advertising and praying for a new music teacher to revive our music program. We had few applicants and the one who best met all of our qualifications and matched our distinct classical, Christian culture was Jessica Morlan. 

When Mrs. G and I met Jessica last May, we knew she belonged at TRA. Her love for Jesus, experience and passion for putting Scripture to music, love for children and teaching all shone brightly from the moment she started talking. Jessica rearranged her June family schedule and cut short a visit with her out of town best friend to attend our Faculty Retreat. She blended in immediately and was welcomed and loved by our entire faculty team as we learned to sing new Psalms together and dreamed and planned for the new school year.

Our dreams, and hers, were unexpectedly shattered in August when Jessica shared her cancer diagnosis with us. It took time for doctors to learn the exact diagnosis, treatment regimen, and prognosis for her cancer journey. Shortly before school started, Jessica shared with us that her Stage 3 T Cell Lymphoma was aggressive, fast growing, rare, and by worldly accounts and predictions, terminal. BUT OUR GOD is a Miracle Worker, and His supply of miracles never runs out. We want to invite you, the TRA parent community, to join us in praying for a complete and miraculous healing of Jessica.

We also would LOVE to have the TRA family complete her GoFundMe fundraiser to help pay for her family’s many needs and expenses as she endures six rounds of chemo, followed by a bone marrow transplant that requires her and her husband to find a place to live in the Seattle area for 1-2 months this winter (and a local home for their youngest son, who is a high school senior). As the Lord leads you, please consider giving to her GoFundMe page and include “(TRA)” after your name/anonymous so Jessica can see all of the support from her TRA family.

We realize that Jessica most likely will not join us at TRA this school year, but are holding out hope that she will be healed and able to join us next fall. Will you please join us in prayer for that? As Jessica walks through this valley called cancer, she continues to encourage and bless those around her with her steadfast faith in God, joyful countenance, and authentic and transparent heart and persona. When Mrs. G and I spoke with her recently on Zoom, hoping to encourage her, we found she was encouraging us, and the conversation ended with Jessica volunteering to speak at both elementary and secondary chapels (which were AMAZING!) and asking how she could pray for us. She carries a beautiful light of Jesus that we hope continues to shine on earth and at TRA much longer than any doctor’s guesses or predictions – and that God will get ALL the glory. Amen!

Elementary Chapel

Chapel is a time to gather weekly as an entire elementary team, grades K-6.  We will pray, worship God by singing psalms, learn more about God and the Bible, sing the TRA Mission Statement as well as elementary Scripture memory verses, and celebrate the good works students have been doing around the school each week to bless others. We are also learning a 13 minute history timeline song together this year so we’ll have a common reference point for what students will be learning about in history and Bible throughout their years at TRA. Occasionally chapel will be replaced with an assembly on a specific topic (like why we celebrate Reformation Day or to showcase some of the memory work learned in different classrooms). 

On chapel days, a teacher or staff member (and perhaps on occasion a secondary rhetoric student) will explain God’s Word on a specific topic so that kids can begin to see how the Bible applies to their lives and be able to cultivate their personal relationship with Jesus. 

TRA’s mission is to partner with parents to educate the next generation of Christian leaders equipped to shape culture through faithful, wise, and joyful Christian living. In the elementary years, leadership training means teaching, encouraging, and giving lots of opportunities for students to practice and develop the habits of respect, obedience, attentiveness, and responsibility (ROAR). When teachers or staff notice a student showing exceptional leadership in one of these areas, the student is sent to my office to celebrate the good work that God prepared in advance for him or her to do at school to bless others. (Ephesians 2:10) This celebration involves getting a big cheer from the office staff when he or she arrives, and writing his/her name, date, and description of the “good work” in my special book. The star students are then given a big gold star sticker to wear on his/her shirt for the rest of the day, and - new this year - will receive a raffle ticket for a monthly drawing among all gold star winners. The winner of our Good Works raffle receives a pizza party on the first Friday of the month for his/her entire class during school lunchtime, courtesy of Domino’s Pizza! We want students to know that thinking of others and developing the ROAR habits and leadership skills are a big deal here at TRA and something to be celebrated! Gold Star students are recognized weekly at chapel so that others can learn from and celebrate their good works too.

Click on the link to Elementary Chapel Schedule in Parent Resources on the TRA website for information on chapel dates, speakers, and topics. We hope to see you there!

-Lisa Hysom, Interim Head of School

Why the Classical Learning Test?

As a Classical Christian school, we pride ourselves on a few things: wrestling with difficult scientific and mathematical concepts, delivering eloquent speeches, and–of course–reading many, many hard books. We also live in a world in which standardized exams for things like scholarships and college entrance have long been the norm (though that might be changing!). The problem with previous standardized tests, particularly for schools like The River Academy, is that they do not reflect the type of learning that we do here. So we had to look for an alternative, which we found in the CLT–the Classic Learning Test.

For years, we administered the ERB test to students throughout our school which helped to determine growth in various skills. While the ERB is a common private school test, we wanted something more in keeping with the way that we purposefully teach our students, using primary sources and exploring the transcendental concepts of truth, goodness, and beauty, as well as the human experience. And so, we found the Classic Learning Test, which aligns firmly with those aims.

The CLT, rather than being remade and revamped according to the latest educational (or political) trends, utilizes great works of literature in its readings and questions, and engages students according to time-tested standards respected by hundreds of institutions of higher learning (over 200 colleges and universities accept the CLT). According to their website, “CLT offers the only standardized tests that are 100% online, emphasize intellectual aptitude and achievement, and are grounded in the liberal arts tradition.” 

Moreover, their passages are selected from the greatest writings of great authors from throughout history, including Homer, Aeschylus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Cicero, Caesar, Livy, Virgil, Plutarch, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, the Beowulf poet, The Magna Carta, Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Baccaccio, John Wycliffe, Geoffrey Chaucer, Sir Thomas Malory, Niccolò Machiavelli, William Shakespeare, Nicolaus Copernicus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Hobbes, John Milton, René Descartes, John Locke, Jonathan Edwards, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Sojourner Truth, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzsche, J. R. R. Tolkien, F. Scott Fitzgerald, C.S. Lewis, George Orwell, Dorothy Sayers, Martin Luther King Jr., to Name a few…

Each of these authors appears in our curriculum at The River Academy, and we train our students to engage with some of the most famous (and infamous), greatest thinkers of all time. Why wouldn’t we want our students to be tested using the same kinds of criteria that we expect and teach?

At the moment, the CLT applies only to our secondary students (though we’re working with them as they create a test for elementary students!). Our 7th-8th graders take the CLT 8, our 9th-10th graders take the CLT 10 (like the PSAT), and our 11th-12th graders take the CLT (like the SAT or ACT). The CLT has directly helped some of our students with scholarships–a Class of 2022 Senior was able to gain thousands of dollars in college scholarships just by raising her score.

If we hope to continue training our students to be the next generation of Christian leaders, we should test them accordingly, according to timeless Classic traditions, examining primary sources, and engaging with the Big Questions throughout the history of the world. 

Tyler Howat, Dean of Academics

Why Tall Timber?

Each September, while the students (and teachers) are shaking the summer from their minds in hopes of focusing on the newborn school year, the TRA Secondary students (7th-12th graders) head into the mountains for their Fall Retreat, traditionally at Tall Timber Ranch. It’s a time of resetting, renewal, and relationship-building, and it’s possibly the most important event of the secondary school year.

You may ask–as many of us do from time to time–why do we take two to three days out of the beginning of the school year to go on a retreat? Isn’t the beginning of the year integral for establishing the routines and rhythms inherent in a school’s healthy life? Don’t students need consistency? Shouldn’t they start doing homework? Yes to all those things. As the Principal and Academic Dean, you’d think we’d strive to stay in the classrooms at all costs. That should tell you exactly how important Tall Timber Retreat is, that we’re willing (eager, even) to postpone such critical classroom time to go have fun, to reconnect, to bond with one another. As highly as we value education from our grand old books, we have learned that our core value of relational teaching has to come first in order to lay the groundwork for all the hard, valuable things we do throughout the school year.

The amount of growth we see from students just over that two to three day span is shocking. We have seen new students who arrive on day one of school, trying their best to hide in the corners, start to come alive in the brisk air of the mountains while playing nighttime capture the flag, or scream in joy (or terror?) while they zoom down the zip-line. Some students do not shine as brightly in the classrooms, but in settings like Tall Timber or House, they exude joy (another TRA core value), reveal previously hidden leadership traits, and forge lasting friendships.

Our Fall Retreat at Tall Timber takes place over three days (the past two years have been strange because of the pandemic). On Tuesday night, House Leaders head up to the Ranch to start their own bit of bonding. This is an important time because, being leaders, they need to be on their games from the moment the 10th-12th graders arrive on Wednesday. These upperclassmen get to go through the ropes courses and to soak in the nature around them, to be spoken to at their level a bit more. Then, on Thursday, the 7th-9th graders arrive en masse. Seventh graders and new students are sorted into their houses via house shirts being flung in their general direction via giant slingshot , then it’s off to the races with activities, prayer, worship, and bonding galore.

Tall Timber is one of the primary ways that we set the tone for the year. We intentionally foster fellowship through our House-building activities and worship, establish our themes for the year through our speakers, and integrate the new secondary students into the student body through House Games. This aligns with our core values in every way: it promotes joy-filled relationships, Christian fellowship, even classical modeling of behavior from the staff to students and from the older students to the younger.

So, while we could get a few more Math problems taught, some more logical fallacies learned, many more pages read in Beowulf, our time at Tall Timber on our Fall Retreat is irreplaceable.

-Tonya Griffith, Principal, and Tyler Howat, Dean of Academics.

Welcome: God’s Goodness

300 plus students arrived this morning with big smiles, and a few sleepy eyes and jitters, to catch a glimpse of all that God has planned for them as part of The River Academy (TRA) community. They met new teachers, learned new routines, visited our new lunchroom (and new locker areas for secondary!), and started their 2022-23 journey of growth here at TRA. 

The Lord is in this school, His Spirit has been present all summer as He called amazingly talented new faculty and staff to help teach and shepherd children’s hearts towards truth, goodness, and beauty. We truly believe we have the most excellent team ever and are so excited to see the fruit produced in our classrooms and in each of your children this year. We have brought on 25 new families who discovered our school and desire the TRA distinctives of a Christ-centered, joyful, and relational community in which truth, goodness, and beauty are taught and celebrated. 

Those of you who came to our Parent Kickoff Night learned just how faithful God has been to provide for ALL of the many needs our growing school had over the summer: 15 new employee hires, the sale of the church building to TRA for well below market value, 62 gallons of paint to perk up the classrooms, offices, and halls, 17 new toilets to prevent flooding, the installation of new security features for our building (with more on the way!), and over 700 hours of volunteer help weeding and moving furniture and supplies around to get the building ready for the start of school. We hope that each of you will continue or start investing in the TRA community this year, first by coming to Elementary and/or Secondary Curriculum Night(s) (on 9/13 and 9/20, respectively) and finding a way to give some of your time and talents to volunteer in your child’s classroom, at lunch or recess, or hosting a TRA community building event or activity outside of school hours. Second, please join us at all five of our planned Bridge Nights sprinkled every month or two throughout our school year to enjoy some teaching, community building, and FUN! The first Bridge Night will be on Monday, October 10. 

I am so excited for us to share this year together as we grow in community and partner together to educate and train up your children - these unrepeatable miracles God has created and prepared in advance to do good works, this year, to bless others. Please join us throughout the year as we celebrate God’s goodness and enjoy together the very first year of The River Academy owning and thriving in its own building!

With joy,

Lisa Hysom

Interim Head of School

A Season of “Lasts at TRA”

Dear TRA Families,

We (The DeVries family) have had a season of “lasts at TRA” over the last few days. Last Wednesday was my last senior dinner, last Friday was my last chapel, Saturday was my last TRA graduation, and this morning was my last TRA Psalm Sing.  Wow... it's a lot to take in.  

And this is officially my last Monday afternoon Current note.  

While I thought about using this space to give you one last parting word of wisdom or some tasty nugget to leave you with, instead, I have just two words.

Thank you.  

Thank you for entrusting me to lead your children.

Thank you for letting me speak weekly into your homes (through writing and investing into your children). It’s been a true joy to serve and partner with you.  

Thank you for allowing me to grow up as a leader; I started leading here when I was 32. At the time, I was the second youngest person on staff. I’m not even close to this anymore. :)

Thank you for allowing me to make mistakes as a leader, learn from those mistakes, grow, and hopefully NOT make the same mistakes next time. And then, when I did make the same mistake, thank you for again giving me grace to learn and grow. 

Thank you for weathering many challenges with me over the last 13 years of leadership (18 years total). Here are a few that come to mind:

• The annual school floods which have—to one degree or another—caused us to cancel school, move classrooms, mop up poopy water, and set off fire alarms because the water is running down through the lights and triggering the alarm system.  

• Leadership and board transitions that were sometimes well-led and sometimes not well led, but in the end, worked for the good of the organization.  

• Financial challenges where we wondered if we would finish the school year able to pay all of our teachers.  

• Growing pains associated with adding more students to our numbers. When I began at TRA, we had 87 students. Now we have over 300. That's a lot of growing pains to endure. Thank you.  

• Facility challenges - like portables that weren’t done on time, no place for kids to do indoor recess or PE, classrooms that were less than perfect, and walls that needed to be removed to accommodate for social distancing.

• Covid…need I say more about this? Wow.

Thank you for embracing my family and my children. We are a quirky and imperfect bunch, but we have truly felt loved by all of you.  

Thank you for investing in my children (especially all of you teachers). They have been indelibly and undeniably shaped by each of you. 

And thank you most of all for allowing me the privilege of leading, loving, and learning as TRA’s leader over all these years. I’ve grown up as a human, a leader, a man, a father, and friend as a direct result of being here at TRA.

And so I close with this:  “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  (Phillipians 1:3-6)

Eric

Graduation: Celebrating Growth and Grit

We wait for years to see our students walk across that stage, receive their diplomas, and turn that tassel. But why do we do it? Why spend that time on a ceremony when we could just mail the students their diplomas? Why do parents each not hold their own ceremonies with friends and family? Because graduation at The River Academy is about celebrating both the past and the future–and we are a family that celebrates together.

For just about everyone involved, graduation is a chance to celebrate a changing of seasons and a chance to reflect on the years of work–of blood, toil, tears (not always sad ones!), and sweat–that our students do to get to this point. Students who graduate from The River Academy have done something special: they’ve developed grit and they’ve grown up. 

Of course they’ve grown up, you scoff–they’re high school graduates! But in so many more ways than physical age, those who have crossed that finish line have grown in maturity and grit. If you look at 3rd or 7th or 9th graders, you might wonder–will they ever get there? The answer is yes, with God’s help and a little time. We, the TRA faculty and staff and parents, have invested hundreds of hours and many dollars to not merely produce students with skills that they can take into the workforce. We have toiled right alongside our students to train thinkers and lifelong learners who will be stalwart lights in the darkness of this ever-wavering world. 

They’ve also grown as people, as humans who know how to relate to one another not as images to post on social media or screeds to read on Reddit, but as empathetic, ethical, reasonable humans who know, write, speak, and defend the truth in a civilized, Godly manner. We focus on our students’ holistic education, not just test scores. We read hard things to discuss difficult subject matters in a safe context so that, when the time comes, they’ve thought through and discerned between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. They’ve examined our world and learned that, yes, God made it, but have also studied how He did so. They’ve worked through (for some of us) nearly impossible math problems–not so they can use it directly in whatever job they have, but so that they have developed a diverse set of critical thinking tools to prepare them for lifelong learning. 

So, why do we take time to celebrate our graduates’ accomplishments? Because earning a diploma from a Christian, classical school is a laudable achievement. It’s also our chance to say goodbye, to send them into that bright future with prayers and Psalms and words of encouragement and reminders of how far they’ve come.

Come celebrate our graduates with us this Saturday at Sage Hills Church at 2pm.

Tyler Howat

Dean of Academics