December and January Update

Our semester is winding down but we have many announcements and upcoming student and family activities!

 

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon on Wednesday, Dec 13 and collection for voluntary contribution toward Visa gift cards on Dec 7, 8, and 11

The message below is from our Teacher Appreciation Committee:
  

Dear Iron Academy Parents,

We trust you have all enjoyed the Thanksgiving break with friends and family. We have so much to be thankful for.  Speaking of thanks... Christmas is only 21 days away!

The Teacher Appreciation Committee would like to present the eight full time and five part time faculty and staff of Iron Academy with Visa gift cards for Christmas.  We want to thank them for their hard work and dedication to our young men.  No other school asks so much of its teachers to be mentors and positive role models to their students!  They help our sons develop their critical thinking skills and hold them accountable to being gentleman scholars.  

The Visa gift cards will be given to the faculty and staff on December 13th during a Christmas Luncheon we are planning for them. Please click HERE for the signup of food items to bring for the luncheon. 

Any contributions towards the gift cards are strictly voluntary and choosing to contribute any amount, or none at all, would be fine.  No individual names will be on the cards.  The gift will be from the entire school regardless of contribution.  A guideline might be $5.00 per teacher that your son has. 

If you would like to contribute, write a check payable to Anne York (this contribution does not count as a charitable donation to the school and must be given as a private gift).  We will have volunteers at all bus stops, and morning and afternoon carpool holding a big green envelope on the following dates: Thursday December 7th, Friday December 8th and Monday December 11th. 

Thank you in advance for your generosity!  Blessings to you and your family this Christmas season.

The Iron Academy Teacher Appreciation Committee

Parent and Faculty/Staff Christmas Party on Friday evening, Dec 15

Who are these other parents who have the same educational and spiritual vision for their sons?  Come meet them at our Parent/Faculty/Staff Christmas party!  Thank you to the Seemann family for opening up their lovely home for our casual, drop-in party from 7:00-10:00 pm.  Their address is 1419 Lutz Ave, Raleigh, 27609 near downtown Raleigh.  We have created an evite for you to RSVP and to offer to bring appetizers and desserts. 
Click this link to RSVP to the evite by Thursday Dec 14: http://evite.me/11K3cUm3Ms     

GOPLAYSAVE Coupon book fundraiser

We are making arrangements with GoPlaySave to sell their coupon books from mid-December to mid-January.  The books sell for $30 and if each student sells just 3 books, we could make $1800 profit!  Do you have a business that could set out some books to sell?  We can sell these for Christmas presents or sell them in January when people may want to start saving money.  The coupons start on Dec 1 2017 through Nov 30 2018. We'll have more details soon when we confirm the delivery of the books. 

RETAIL REMINDERS to support IA with your shopping:  

• For your Christmas shopping, please use smile.amazon.com rather than amazon.com and choose Iron Academy as the charity you are supporting.  Amazon will then make a donation to IA of 0.5% of your purchase.  Your prime membership and all prices are the same.  
• Have you signed up your Harris Teeter and Kroger cards to support IA?  
• Be sure to save your BoxTops for our next collection date at the end of February.  
• Can you help us raise money for IA by simply taking photos any store receipt with your phone?  Please download the Shoparoo app on your phone and connect to Iron Academy.  Here is more information about Shoparoo and how it works: https://shoparoo.com  
• Also our spiritwear makes a great gift for all family members!  We have sizes from youth small to adult XXXL and for girls and women!  All of our NEW spiritwear is now listed on our signup with all of our clothing for sale.  Contact Anne York if you have questions on what a particular item looks like.   

Operation Gratitude Cents 4 Service Update

Thank you to our young men who raised $512.64 in quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies in early November for Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization that sends care packages to deployed military.  The Shammah tribe raised the most.  Well done!

Swordsmen Sports: Basketball and Wrestling Update

Our JV basketball team is off to a strong start with 3 wins and 2 losses.  We have a talented team led by starting players DeAngelo Ross, Eden Ondachi, Jon Anderson, Heath Mann, and Logan York along with Casher Collier, Chad Lilly, Bryce Von Seemann, Forest Southwick, AJ Kloehn, Jackson Welch.  Our middle school team is winless so far but our players are developing their skills quickly.  The middle school team is Garrett Anderson, Javaun Tatum, Will Curran, Dylan Hector, Brock Winstead, Leo Dean, Isaiah Wilson, and Clayton Baynes.  

Our basketball players would love for their classmates to come to the games and cheer them on!  We have upcoming games this week not far from the school:  At Thales-Apex (1300 North Salem St, Apex) on Tuesday Dec 5 at 5:30 for MS team and at 7:00 for JV team.  At North Raleigh Christian Academy (7300 Perry Creek Rd) on Thursday Dec 7 at 4:30 for JV team.  See the school's events calendar for our game schedule.  

Participants in our wrestling club are Drew Atwell, Deacon Rock, Kendall Moragne, Carter McMurray, Jackson McMurray, Stephen Anderson, Stone Kiker, and Brayant Sanchez.  Practices have started and they are preparing for tournaments in January.  

Fall Semester Exam Schedule 

Click HERE for the spreadsheet sent by Mr. Anderson for the final exam schedule on Dec 15, 18, and 19. On Tuesday, Dec 19, we will also have a little Christmas party and fun time during the extended lunch time for the students.  We'll send out a sign-up soon of some items to bring.    

NEW LUNCH ORDERING SYSTEM STARTING IN JANUARY

Instead of using Signupgenius to manage our lunch ordering program, we are switching to MyFoodDays.com.  MyFoodDays.com offers better credit card processing and website management fees that will allow us to lower the prices of the lunch menu.  You will also be able to order more frequently rather than for the entire month at a time.  Be on the lookout in your email for instructions in the next week or two on how to sign up to use MyFoodDays.com.  

All Student Field Trip to NC History Museum on Friday, January 5

All of our students will go on a field trip to see the exhibit "North Carolina and World War I" at the NC History Museum.  Students will leave campus at 8:00 am and will eat lunch during their visit.  There will be no lunch ordering that day.  More details coming soon! 

Work/Clean Up Day on Saturday, January 6

As we start the new year and new semester, we need a work day to move around and throw out some items that are not needed (some left by the previous school who used this facility) and to do a deeper cleaning of the floors and walls and dust the furniture.  We'll ask for RSVPs as we get closer to that date.    

Mother and Son Game Night on Friday, January 19

Save the date for our second annual mother and son game night on Friday, January 19 at 6:30 pm at the school.  We'll have pizza and snacks and loads of fun games!  Watch for a signup to RSVP and for items to bring.    

LOST AND FOUND IS OVERFLOWING

We've got a lot of shirts, pants, and shorts and a lunch box in our Lost and Found bin.  Photos of each item are shown HERE to help your son claim what belongs to him.  Any items left at the school on Dec 19 will be claimed to be resold, donated, or thrown away. Please write your son's name in his clothes to help him get any lost clothes returned to him.