Teacher Appreciation Luncheon and Visa Gift Card Gifts on Wednesday, December 14
Our faculty and staff do an AMAZING job with teaching and mentoring our sons in biblical manhood. As a show of our appreciation, we will celebrate with a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon on Wednesday, December 14 during the 11:20 lunch. Our IPF funds will pay for a meat dish and we have sign up slots to bring in soups, salads, desserts, etc. We will also need a couple of parent volunteers to watch our sons during their lunch so the teachers can enjoy their time together. Click on this SignUpGenius link below to sign up soon:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449a4a629abf85-teacher1 Our Teacher Appreciation Committee will also collect any monetary contributions that you would like to make toward Visa gift cards that we will give during the luncheon. Any contributions toward this gift are completely voluntary and choosing to contribute any amount, or none at all, would be fine. A useful guideline might be $5 to $10 per teacher that your son has. The cards will be from the entire school with no names included. Envelopes to put your contribution in will be sent home with your sons on Monday, Dec 5. You can pay with cash or check. If writing a check, you should write it to "Anne York". (To avoid income tax issues for the teachers, do NOT write the check to the school. This gift does not count as a charitable donation.) Parents will be available to collect your contributions during 3 carpool times: Wednesday afternoon Dec 7, Thursday morning Dec 8, and Friday morning Dec 9. Your son can also give your contribution to 9th grader Logan York no later than Monday, Dec 12. Thank you for your support of our dedicated teachers and staff!
Sunday Dec 11 to Tuesday Dec 13:
Two Christmas Shopping Opportunities to Benefit Iron Academy
1) Book Fair at Quail Ridge Books
Are there any book lovers on your Christmas shopping list from toddlers to senior citizens? If so, we are excited to offer our fundraising partnership with Quail Ridge Books! For any person who purchases any merchandise at their store between Dec 11 to Dec 13 and simply tells the cashier that they want to"support Iron Academy," then we receive a donation of 20% of that buyer's purchase amount! Come to the new Quail Ridge Books located in the North Hills Mall area at 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road. Please let grandparents and other family and friends know about this opportunity to support IA. Reader's Club discounts do not apply for book fair purchases.
Quail Ridge will host two events during our book fair days.
Have a food lover on your Christmas list? On Sunday Dec 11 from 2:00-4:00, they will have a book signing of Ashley Christensen's new cookbook "Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner." Ashley is the chef and owner of seven local restaurants: Poole's
Diner, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, Chuck's, Fox Liquor Bar, Joule Coffee
& Table, Death & Taxes, and Bridge Club all located in downtown
Raleigh. Ashley's cooking and her philosophy of bright,
fresh flavors and locally grown, seasonal ingredients have garnered
local and national acclaim. In 2014, Ashley was awarded the James
Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast.
On Monday Dec 12 at 5:00 pm there will be a Christmas concert from the Raleigh Boychoir! Enjoy the beautiful music of Christmas while you shop for books.
2) 30% Off Sale onAll New IA Spiritwear and Pre-Owned Clothing
Over these same 3 days of Dec 11 to Dec 13, all of our spiritwear and used clothing can be purchased through our SignUpGenius listing and upon receipt of payment through PayPal, we will issue you a refund for 30% off the total purchase price! We do have several LAND'S END JACKETS with the Iron logo in our inventory. See the Clothing Sale tab above for pictures of some of our spiritwear and you can make the purchase on SignUpGenius at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449a4a629abf85-preowned.
THANK YOU GIFT WITH PURCHASE: Our gift to you for making either purchase is an Iron Academy car magnet! We will be notified by PayPal of any clothing purchases but simply let any IPF officer (Anne York, Heather Mauzy, Lisa Wald, Wendy Collier, Denise Lake) know if you do make a purchase at the book fair and we will give to you an IA car magnet to show our appreciation of your support!If you only want to purchase a magnet (or want a second or third magnet), we will put those on sale too at $3 instead of our regular price of $5 between Dec 11 to 13.
Also remember that we have several ways for IA to receive donations from retailers with no additional cost to you! See the tab above for information on how to use the phone app Shoparoo, the web browser plug-in Ziggedy for online shopping discounts, Harris-Teeter, Kroger, Office Depot/Office Max, Amazon, and BoxTops.
Updates from Mr. Hahn
NEW LOCATION: We had a terrific second meeting with a pastor and deacon board this past week for a new location for our school. Our lease proposal to them will be submitted to the church for approval on December 14. Please pray for this deal to come quickly and smoothly to fruition.
ADMISSIONS: For those who are not on Facebook, we had a recent post that you can copy and paste below if you know of any rising 6th to 10th graders who would be a good fit for IA:
Online Application is Open Now for 2017-2018! If you are looking for
something better for you son, you need to check out Iron Academy.
Looking for an intentional discipleship community that works with you
and your church to build your son according to the timeless principles
of biblical manhood? That's Iron Academy. Looking for a superb
education that takes male learning preferences into account to achieve
an astounding average first-year IQ growth rate of 8.6% and two-year average of almost 16%? That's Iron Academy.
Looking for an environment that strategically and effectively builds
globally demanded higher-order critical thinking skills in ways
consistent with modern cognitive science? That's Iron Academy. Looking for daily, intensive, hands-on leadership training? That's Iron Academy too.
If your family is looking for an ally in the educational process, Iron
Academy is here. Sounds too good to be true? Come and verify. Begin the
process now and schedule a tour by emailing us at info@ironacademy.org
Please feel free to also share this video with prospective families that shows what our unique school day is like by copying this link: https://youtu.be/DWRRwG7zu88
Two Day Lunch Delivery
Starting in January, we will be able to have Grand Street Pizza deliver lunches on both TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS! To start our first delivery on Tuesday, January 3, look for our Lunch SignUpGenius for January that will be distributed after Christmas. You must place your January order by Sunday, January 1.
School News
DEBATE TEAM: On Monday Dec 12, Zach Wald and Brendan Hanna will use the cutting edge TelePresence technology from Cisco Systems in RTP to debate against Prestonwood Christian Academy in Texas! Forest Southwick will serve as the timekeeper. BASKETBALL TEAM: Our middle school team is off to a great start with 2 wins and 1 loss! The JV basketball team will have its first game on Monday, Dec 5 against Cary Academy. The games are listed on our Events Calendar under the Welcome tab of the school's website. Home games are played at the Wendell Parks and Rec center at 601 W. Third Street, Wendell. SPANISH CLASSES: Several of our Spanish classes are finishing up a unit on food and recipes. The students are assigned an interesting project to create a "Cooking Video" on how to cook a dish of Hispanic origin. The students researched the dish and its recipe and created a script for the video. Spanish class will be delicious when the dishes are brought in to eat! BLADE MAINTENANCE PLANS: See the recent email message from Mr. Anderson that has your son's scores and feedback for his Blade Maintenance Plan. Discuss this plan with your son and develop a plan of action to address any areas that need improvement. Please review and sign the Blade Plan Form and return it to Mr. Anderson no later than Friday, Dec 16. That day is a mandatory Student Tribe Day. EXAM SCHEDULE: Mr. Hahn recently emailed a listing of which exam will be on which day. The schedule for the week of Dec 12 to 16 is:
Monday: All students will go to all classes for review with their teachers
Tuesday (listing of exam or study time by each of the 4 class periods):
6th grade: Literature, Study Skills break, Bible, Math
7th grade: Science, Study Skills break, Bible, Spanish
8th grade: History, Study Skills break, Spanish, PE
9th grade: Spanish, Study Skills break, Science, PE
Wednesday:
6th grade: Study Skills break, History, Study Skills break, Science
7th grade: Math, Study Skills break, Study Skills break, History
8th grade: Literature, Math, Study Skills break, Bible
9th grade: Greek, Literature, Study Skills break, Study Skills break
Thursday:
6th grade: Spanish, Study Skills break, PE, Chores
7th grade: Literature, Study Skills break, PE, Chores
8th grade: Study Skills break, watch Civil War documentary, Science, Chores
9th grade: History, Study Skills break, Math, Chores
Friday: Mandatory Student Tribe Day
HAVE A JOYOUS AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS AS WE CELEBRATE THAT TRUE REASON FOR THE SEASON, THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!
You can start signing up now for the 6 weeks of Thursday lunches for the rest of the second quarter. Please submit your menu choices by Tuesday night, Nov 1. See the tab above for "Lunch Delivery" or when you sign into your SignUpGenius account you will see the sign-up for November and December lunch delivery already there.
Warrior Challenge Update
As of Friday, Oct 28, we have earned $3000 in sponsorships and about $1200 in donations have been submitted so far. Our goal is to raise $10,000. The Grand Prize of being designated as the Ultimate Warriors is awarded to the tribe that has each member raise at least $40 and has the highest average fundraising total. Each Ultimate Warrior tribe member will get an Iron Academy pocket knife and doughnuts one morning for "refuel time"! Students will also have the opportunity to choose prizes if they are among the top 10 fundraisers. The prizes they may select include passes to Defy Gravity, free bowling passes at Buffalo Lanes, Grand Slam USA voucher, Gamesturz free game time passes, free putt-putt and video game tokens at Adventure Landing, Chick-fil-a free breakfast cards, or one free sandwich per month for an entire year from Big Apple Bagels! Many thanks to parent Emily Curran who contacted all of these businesses to get donated prizes. We have already determined who the "Strongest Tribe" is from their activities on the WC day and that winner was Josheb! This tribe will be treated to an off-campus lunch at the Mellow Mushroom in Wake Forest, sponsored by the Kiker family.
We will accept any donation at any time that it comes in but try to have the donations submitted no later than Tuesday, Nov 1 to count it in your son's fundraising total to determine prizes.For both the morning and afternoon carpool times this Monday and Tuesday, you can give your donations to Anne York, Rebekah Anderson, or any of the teachers who are at the doors. Online donations can be submitted through Tuesday evening at http://warriorchallenge2016.blogspot.com/
Our young men did a great job! They tried their hardest in sit-ups, push-ups, and squats and clocked some of their fastest times ever for the 1 mile run! Below is a brief video (more polished than what was sent out already) that shows all of their outstanding efforts! It was also so heartening how the young men rallied around and encouraged each other to do their best. This video is on Iron's Facebook if you want to share it to request donations.
You can also email this link to the video to show what your son has been doing to raise money for his school: https://youtu.be/vILJODUyzU0. The funds that we raise from the Warrior Challenge help to pay for many school expenses such as library books, the challenge coins, the knives for the 9th grade Forging Camp, referees, athletic uniforms, field rental for our athletic teams, PE and classroom supplies. Through the generosity of the donors who sponsor your son, we are providing an extra source of revenue to help fund school operations. Mr. Hahn is also doing a major fundraising campaign for the school and if you know of a potential donor who is interested in investing in the future of Iron Academy, please talk to Mr. Hahn.
Request for hosts for grade level dinners
Lisa Wald, the IPF Co-Vice Chair of Family and Social Activities, has sent out a request to see if anyone is willing to host a parent dinner party with the parents in your son's grade. We did these last year and it was a great opportunity to get to know the parents of the new friends that our sons are making at IA. The dinner party will be potluck. Please reply to Lisa very soon at lisa.wald@yahoo.com if you are willing to open your home and the dinner can be planned at a time that works best for the host's schedule. We would like to do these in November or December.
Winter Sports - Basketball and Wrestling
BASKETBALL: Tryouts for middle school and JV basketball start Monday, October 31! Please encourage your son to try out - we need enough to fill two teams! A middle school player can "play up" on the JV team but 9th graders can't play on the middle school team. The basketball participation fee is $150 and can be paid in full to Coach Mitchell or Rebekah Anderson by Friday, Nov 4 or make two payments $75 by Nov 4 and $75 by December 1. The basketball practice and game schedule is already on our school events calendar at: http://www.ironacademy.org/events-calendar/
WRESTLING: Wrestling is a club sport for Iron this year and will begin on Tuesday, Nov 1. Coach Mitchell will be the coach and will teach the basics of wrestling and take the students to tournaments for individual competition. There is no participation fee for wrestling but players will need to buy their own uniforms which are expected to cost around $50 and may need to pay very small tournament fees. Players will keep their uniforms. The dates and times for the wrestling practices is also already on our school events calendar: http://www.ironacademy.org/events-calendar/
For any questions about our athletic teams or player academic and conduct eligibility requirements, contact Coach Mitchell at jmitchell@ironacademy.org.
SOCCER AND CROSS COUNTRY UPDATES: Our middle school soccer team won the tournament and first ever Triangle Area Athletic Conference Championship by beating Thales-Rolesville 3-1! The team ended the season with 11 victories and 2 close losses. They played with heart, character, and tenacity.
Our cross country team was the runner-up in their conference tournament! All of our cross country players did very well this year with many top 10 finishes or finishing in the top 50% of the runners.
Please click the "Lunch Delivery" tab above for information and the link to the SignUpGenius for our October Lunch delivery. You can also find the sign up for delivery whenever you sign into your SignUpGenius account. Please try to place all orders for the month no later than Tuesday, Oct 4. The students are really enjoying the food!
We have two events in October in immediate need of volunteers: the Cross-Country Conference Meet that IA is hosting at our school on Saturday morning, Oct 8 (9:00-noon for volunteers) and the Warrior Challenge student fundraising event on Oct 25 (noon to 3:00 pm for volunteers). We also need drivers for field trips during the Intensive Week explained below. While it is a blessing to have a small school with the mentoring relationship that our teachers have with the students, it also means that we really need each family to volunteer at least once this year in order to have enough help with our activities. Grandparents are welcome to volunteer too!
Warrior Challenge - Ready for Kickoff
This Thursday Oct 6 the students will set their goals for the fitness activity they will do for the Warrior Challenge on October 25! With their fitness goal in hand, the students will seek donations from family, friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. We'll have information sent home in a packet on Thursday and will also email it to the parents. Thank you to everyone who has requested to be a corporate sponsor - we still have some room on the t-shirt for more logos! Our t-shirt vendor has given us until Friday, Oct 7 if anyone else would like the opportunity to ally with IA and promote your business. Send an email to IPF@ironacademy.org for more information on being a sponsor.
Tribe Day on Oct 10 and Challenge Coin Ceremony on Oct 26
A very unique aspect of an Iron Academy education is the attention paid to truly living up to our Honor Code. Parents should be on the lookout the week of October 3 for a survey to fill out about your son on where you see that he stands in his efforts to live the Honor Code and be a gentleman scholar. On Monday October 10, please be sure that you son is in school for the entire day for their first Tribe Day. The Tribe Day is NOT an A or B day and students will not need to bring their textbooks to school that day. The students will do tribe activities, including assessing where they see each other stands in living up to the Honor Code and in being a gentleman scholar. The faculty will also assess each student. By October 20, parents will be notified if their son is or is not eligible to receive his Challenge Coin if he does not currently have one. The Challenge Coin Ceremony will be on Wednesday, October 26, 11:30-12:30 if the parents would like to attend.
School Holiday on Fri Oct 14 and Intensive Week Oct 17-21
October is a busy month! Please be sure to frequently view our Events Calendar that can be found in the tab above or from the ironacademy.org website under the Welcome tab: http://www.ironacademy.org/events-calendar/. Please note that Friday October 14 is a day with no classes so that families can enjoy the NC State Fair and that we will have our first INTENSIVE WEEK from Oct 17 to 21.
Our exciting line-up for this upcoming Intensive Week
6th grade: Orienteering and Outdoor Skills. There is an open invitation to 6th grade dads to join us on Thursday night Oct 20 for an overnight camp out with our instructor/minister and former Navy seal.
7th grade: Art History II. We will take a trip to the North Carolina Museum of Art on Tuesday morning, Oct 18. Two volunteer drivers will be needed.
8th grade: Mon/Tues/Wed will be "Creative Storytelling and Critical Analysis" from a biblical worldview and Thurs/Fri will be Apologetics
9th grade: College Application Planning and will need volunteer drivers on Friday morning Oct 21 for our college visit. ALL parents are invited to attend a meeting on Thursday evening, Oct 20 (time to be announced soon) with an Admissions Officer from Campbell Universityto discuss how families can plan and navigate the college admissions process. Families with older students who are soon applying to college will find this meeting to help them too.
Announcements from September Parent Kickoff Meeting
In case you missed the September 6 Parent Kickoff/Open House meeting, Mr. Hahn made several announcements.
The IA Core Values were discussed. "That we may glorify God in all things, we will:
Love every student so that every student knows it
Complement the family and the church, never displacing either
Build and embody a discipleship community by biblically resolving conflict, eliminating gossip and slander, and loving the IA family
Live the Honor Code"
Handouts were distributed with contact information for each teacher and who to contact for different questions. Please see Rebekah Anderson to get a copy of this handout.
There will be various surveys sent to the parents from school administration throughout the year. Please complete these surveys very soon when you receive one.
We are looking to move IA by next year to a location in North Raleigh, to the west of where we currently are at Radiant Church. We are in talks with a couple of churches in the Six Forks Rd area. Please be in prayer about a location that is more convenient for our families.
We have had many requests to open a single gender school for girls with a focus on biblical womanhood. We have therefore decided next year to open "Academy 31," which is named for Proverbs 31. Academy 31 and Iron Academy will operate under one administrative structure but students will be in single-gender classes. We are in the process of hiring a female leader for Academy 31 and have three outstanding candidates.
The school calendar has been modified and Veteran's Day on Nov 11 will NOT be a school day. Families can use that day on their own to commemorate Veteran's Day.
Video of School Day
What happens during a typical IA school day? A lot! Learning, leading, fitness, and fun! Anne York is putting together a video to illustrate our school day, but here is a sneak peak from a video that Google Photos randomly put together from video clips:
Science Lab Saturday - Oct 22 - 7th and 8th graders only
The science labs for this month are only for the 7th and 8th graders. Time is 8:00-11:30 am. Please have your son dress in his academic clothes (polo shirts, khaki shorts or pants) with closed toe shoes. He needs to bring a pencil, notebook, and snack and water.
Athletics Update
IA is a member of the newly formed Triangle Area Athletic Conference (TAAC) for middle schools. The other TAAC members are Thales-Rolesville, Thales-Apex, Wake Forest Charter, and Southside Christian. All of our MS teams will compete for Conference Championships on these days:
Soccer: October 13 and hosted by Thales-Rolesville
Cross-Country: Saturday October 8 and hosted by Iron Academy. We will need 15-20 volunteers to manage this event, including timers, course guides, registration, and parking. The races start at 10:00 am but volunteers should come by 9:00 am.
Soccer news: We have clinched the 2nd place seeding in our conference with a 7-1 record, including 3 shutout wins! Game 1 of the end of season tournament will be played at home on October 10 at 4:30. We want to thank Mr. Rich Anderson for getting our team started this season and welcome Mr. Wes Starr to our coaching staff to finish the season. Cross country news: In our first year as a team, we have 7 young men who stepped up to tackle the grueling endurance challenge that is cross country. Middle school races are approximately 2 miles while high school distance is 3.25 miles. Our middle school runners are Brendan Hanna, Zac Lake, Ben Boylston, Casher Collier, and Jon Anderson. Our JV runners are Stephen Anderson and Byron Brewington. Our runners have done very well with finishing in the top half of the rankings. Of note, Zac Lake has finished 3rd out of 52 and Ben has finished 9th out of 52 at a recent race, each having shaved a minute off of their previous times. The cross-country team is coached by Jon Mitchell.
Winter sports will begin on October 31. We will offer Middle School basketball, JV basketball, and a combined middle school/JV wrestling club. Students who are interested in participating in winter sports must meet eligibility requirements (good academic standing and conduct) prior to trying out. Contact Coach Mitchell for questions about eligibility. For our PE courses, Coach Mitchell would like to remind the parents to have their sons come prepared each day with approved PE attire, a towel, water bottle, and if needed, deodorant. Approved PE attire is an IA t-shirt from Land's End or any of our spiritwear t-shirts. Athletic shorts must be solid black, gray, or crimson/burgundy.
Extracurricular Club Activities
The Debate Team members will be selected in mid-October. Any students who are interested in joining the debate team can still come to one of their meetings on Wednesdays, 3:30-5:30 in the History classroom. For our Real Adventures Outdoors Club, the October schedule is 10/7: orienteering on campus ($20); 10/21: fishing off campus ($25); and 10/28: camping skills on campus ($20). You can contact Danny Myers at danny@mtstosea.com if you would like to be added to the email list for Outdoors Club activities.
