HOLIDAY SHOPPING FUNDRAISER

You can support Iron Academy through your holiday shopping!  We have 3 shopping opportunities to raise money for IA described below that are in addition to the ongoing retail partnerships we have with Harris Teeter VIC card, Lowes Food card, Teach Me store, Smile.Amazon.Com instead of amazon.com, BoxTops, and the Shoparoo phone app that you can take a photo of any store receipt and we earn money!  See our tab above for Retail Fundraising for more details on how to connect your shopping with these retailers.

Shopping Opportunity #1: Online Book Fair

We have an account with Children's Bookstore, which is an online child and teen bookstore.  Their prices are similar to Amazon and when you shop there at ANY time, we get a 15% donation from your purchase.  BUT IF YOU BUY BOOKS FROM OUR SCHOOL'S ACCOUNT BETWEEN NOVEMBER 26 TO DECEMBER 10, WE WILL GET A 30% DONATION! Do you want to give books for Christmas gifts?  Then please shop at this link https://www.childrensbookstore.com/welcome/iron-academy/ and share this link with your family and friends to also do their book shopping to support our school.  

Shopping Opportunity #2: Gift Certificates for Professional Photography Session
We are fortunate to have a parent who is an outstanding professional photographer, Kira Atwell Grantz, who owns Blessed Reflections Photography.  Kira specializes in child and family photography is offering gift certificates for 20 minute mini-sessions for up to 5 people and you will receive your choice of 7 digital images that you can take to get printed in any format that you want.  Sale price for this package of the session and digital images is $150 + tax and Iron Academy will receive a donation of 10% of your purchase!  This special offer is available to purchase between November 23 to December 23 and you can schedule your photography session any time by April 15, 2019.  Kira plans photo sessions for all occasions and holidays - how about husband and wife Valentine photos?  If you want photos with more than 5 people, Kira can give you additional pricing options.  To purchase your gift certificate, email your request to IPF@ironacademy.org and it will be forwarded to Kira.  Can you spread the word to your family and friends about this offer too? Here is a sample of Kira's work - she makes everyone look great!

Blessed Reflections Photography

Shopping Opportunity #3: Jewelry from Paparazzi Accessories

Parent Dionne Moragne is pleased to partner with our school and is offering a 10% donation to Iron Academy for purchases from Paparazzi Accessories. Paparazzi products are lead-free and nickel-free and are one-of-a-kind accessories featuring original design, style, and feel.  It is fabulous fashion for just $5!! Dionne will have two ways to make purchases.  First, she will come to the school one day in December with several pieces of her accessories for our sons to make Christmas purchases for mom, grandma, aunt, and sisters!  We will announce that shopping day when we return after Thanksgiving.  And second, she is setting up an online store just for this Iron Academy fundraiser and if you JOIN OUR PARTY and buy through this link by Wednesday, Dec 19, she will also donate 10% of the sales!  Please do forward the link to your friends and family to support our school and get a fabulous gift for others - or themselves!  Items purchased from the website will be mailed to your home.

PLEASE SHARE THESE SHOPPING AND FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITIES WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

OCTOBER 2018 NEWS AND EVENTS

We have a lot of excitement for October!  Please refer to this page often as it will be updated as additional information about these events becomes available.  But through it all, a key thing to remember is that we want to raise $20,000 by October 31 from our Warrior Challenge! 

NEW LOCAL UNIFORM VENDOR.  Thank you to Renaissance Apparel for providing great clothing at a very good value for our students and staff!  An online store is now open AT THIS LINK with short sleeve polo shirts for our female staff, for youth, and in adult sizes and each shirt is $15 including the logo! Items ordered will be delivered to the school twice per month around the 15th and 30th.  Long sleeve polos and outerwear will be added soon.  See the Dress Code tab above for more details about our dress code and information on where to purchase them.  Our used uniform inventory and new spiritwear are now available to view and purchase online through Signupgenius AT THIS LINK.    

BOXTOPS! October is Boxtops collection month.  We will have a ziploc bag (ziploc brand has boxtops!) pinned to the bulletin board in the lobby for students to place their boxtops in them.  Deadline to collect is Monday, Oct 29 so we can count and mail them in by the Nov 1 deadline to get our payment from the boxtops people.  

SATURDAY OCT 6: Corn Maze adventure for mothers and sons at Phillips Farm in Cary, 4:00-6:00.  Please RSVP on this signup so we can know how many to expect.  We will pay with a group rate of $8 per person.  Please arrive at 4:00 with the exact cash to combine our purchases into a bundled group payment.      

WEDNESDAY OCT 10: PSAT NMSQT for 11th grade students.  Arrive at IA before 7:00 am to promptly leave to go to another school to take the test.  Bring money for lunch to be picked up on the way back to IA.  Bring two sharpened #2 pencils, PSAT approved calculator, bottle of water, snack, and a photo ID.

TUESDAY OCT 16: WARRIOR CHALLENGE! We will have our event at Laurel Hills park from 1:00-3:00.  Please see the Warrior Challenge tab above (or scroll through the tabs options on your phone) for more details about this event.  The website for making online donations is https://warriorchallenge2018.blogspot.com/.  For the donation to count toward student prizes, it must be received by October 31.

THURSDAY OCT 18: Blade Maintenance Day. See an email message that Mr. Anderson sent on October 1 for more details about this day.  Instead of their regular classes, students will spend the day doing tribe and individual activities to sharpen him as a gentleman scholar and a godly young man.  Parents are to COMPLETE THIS FORM and for discussion with your son.  Your son will also complete a similar form on himself during Blade Maintenance Day. This day is also the last day of the first quarter.   

FRIDAY OCT 19: Fall Break - No School and optional weekend camping trip.  Mr. Mack is leading an optional school camping trip to Stone Mountain State Park.  Please see email messages from Mr. Mack for more details about this trip. Mr. Mack sent a message on Friday, Oct 12 with an itinerary.  Students going on the trip should be at the school around 9:00 am on Oct 19.  They will arrive back on Oct 21 between 1:30-2:30.

MONDAY OCT 22: Accountability Day and Teacher Appreciation Day.  Students do NOT have their classes on this day but will need to come to school with their parents for their 10 minute accountability appointments.  Mr. Anderson sent an email message on Friday, Oct 12 with THIS SIGNUP LINK to schedule your 10 minute appointment. 

For all of our teacher work days this year, we want to provide lunch to them.  For this first teacher work day that the teachers will also spend long hours going to accountability conferences, we want to have a chili bar lunch for teacher appreciation.  A SIGNUP OF ITEMS TO BRING has been created.  For many of the items, you can drop them off at the school on Thursday Oct 18 to leave at the school but some more perishable items may need to be brought in the morning of the 22nd.  There is a refrigerator in the teacher's workroom.  We do ask if there could be two volunteers who can be at the school 10:00-10:30 to assemble the chili bar luncheon.   

TUESDAY OCT 23 TO WEDNESDAY OCT 24: Overnight trip to the Lapinskes farm, 4424 Wilmington Rd in Garner for the 7th to 11th graders.  See an email sent by Mr. Anderson on Oct 17.  Permission forms must be submitted by Oct 23.  

TUESDAY OCT 23 TO FRIDAY OCT 26: Intensive week activities for 6th and 9th graders. Sixth grade will have a week of orienteering. More information will be sent out soon and will be repeated here.

THURSDAY OCT 25: College planning night at IA for 9th grade families but everyone is invited. 

WEDNESDAY OCT 31: Challenge coin ceremony at 11:00.  Students will all wear button down shirts and their school tie on this day.  If you need to purchase an official school tie, their price is $10 and available through our school clothing signup site.  If your son will be receiving his challenge coin, Mr. Anderson will contact you around October 24.

THURSDAY NOV 1: Fall sports award ceremony at 7:00.  
        

SUMMER 2018 INFORMATION

Hello Iron Families!  Please visit this page often during the summer as it will be updated when any new information is emailed out and to help you find previous information.  The goal is to allow you to have "one stop shopping" for information and news through the links below as we get started for the new school year. 

Supply Lists:  Click on your student's grade level to open its supply list:

• 6th grade list
• 7th grade list 
• 8th grade list
• 9th grade list
• 10th and 11th grade list

Message from Mr. Hahn sent on June 25 about new teachers, new AP courses, update on Academy 31 (The documents below were included in the message)

• -School calendar with dates for Crucible Camp (Aug 13-16), Forging Camp (Aug 6 to 10), and first day of school for all on Aug 20, and all school holidays.  Also be sure to save the dates for the evenings of Thursday, Aug 2 for an Open House to meet the teachers and Thursday, Sept 6 for a night to walk through your son's schedule.  
  
• -Document of tuition and fee deadlines
• -Authorization for Physical Activity: Given the regular physical activity that occurs during the regular school day, each student needs to have a physician complete this form by the start of the school year to verify his ability for rigorous physical activity or to document limitations

Summer Reading: For the information on summer reading assignments, click or scroll on your phone for the Summer Reading tab above

Used Uniform and New Spiritwear Sale!  This year we will offer our inventory of new and used uniform and spiritwear clothing in a pop-up store at the school.  The dates that you can purchase clothing are Tuesday, July 17 at 3:00-6:00, Tuesday, July 24, 3:00-6:00 and Thursday, Aug 2 (Open House Night) from 6:00-8:00.

Dress Code:  Our dress code has been modified with input from a committee of parents.  Please click on or scroll to the DRESS CODE tab above for more information on the dress code and how to purchase through our French Toast and Land's End vendors.    

Back to School Family Picnic:
Save the date for our annual Back to School Family Picnic at Falls Lake, planned for Saturday, Aug 25, 3:00-7:00 pm.  Click on this SIGNUP to RSVP and bring potluck items. The signup has information on the location.

Soccer and Cross-country sports info:

Tryouts and first practices will be this Monday after the first day of school. Cross country will practice on campus from 3:45-4:30. MS and Varsity soccer will be transported via bus to Baileywick Park where tryouts will run from 4:00-5:30. Please plan to pick your son up on time at the field; they will not be transported back to the school. Reminder: all practices are closed to parents and spectators. Make sure your son is prepared to participate fully and has extra water; it will be hot.

Retailer Fundraising:  You can have retailers make donations to Iron Academy at no cost to you! Be sure that grandparents, relatives, and friends are also connected to Iron Academy through these retailers.  Whenever you shop at AMAZON, instead of going to the website amazon.com, always go instead to SMILE.AMAZON.COM and connect to Iron Academy as your preferred nonprofit organization. Your prime membership and prices are the same.  Then every purchase you make from this version of Amazon's website results in a 0.5% donation of your purchase amount.  Click or scroll on your phone to the Retailer Fundraising tab above for more information on getting donations through Harris-Teeter, Lowes food, BoxTops, Shoparoo app, Teach Me store, and Office Depot/Office Max.       

  

Arts of the Swordsmen Update

What a way to end the year!  Our May 22 "Arts of the Swordsmen" performance was once again AWESOME with our young men who displayed their musical and oratorical talents and put on an outstanding performance of Newsies! Our show also included musical performances by Logan, Stone, Stephen, Forest, Jackson M, and Carter. Thank you to parent Travis Kiker who envisioned it all and the dedicated help of parent Blake McMurray.  Thank you to our sponsors who helped to underwrite our event.  Here are some photos of the performance:

  

APRIL 20 UPDATE

FATHER-SON GO-KART RACING AT RUSH HOUR KARTING
Our father-son outing is on Tuesday night, May 1. Please do RSVP as soon as you can, even with a "maybe" so we can give Rush Hour Karting an estimate of how many will participate. Our sign-up has more information about this event:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449a4a629abf85-fatherson


MOUNTAIN BIKING CLUB OUTING
Our mountain biking club will have an outing on Saturday, April 28, 9:00 am to noon at the Falls Lake Dam.  Please view this sign-up for more information and to RSVP:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449a4a629abf85-mountain2


TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
The week of May 7-11 is Teacher Appreciation Week. We will use our IPF funds to cater a luncheon for the teachers on Wednesday, May 9. Parent Emily Curran is working with the students to put together jars filled with thank you notes. If anyone would like to make a monetary donation to the teachers for a year end gift, we will have parents available on Tuesday and Wednesday that week to collect money before and after school. We will email again with specific information on the collection as we get closer to that date.

ARTS OF THE SWORDSMEN (AOTS) UPDATE
What is AOTS? Think student talent show but with the quality of a Broadway production. For this year's show, we will have several acts of students singing and playing music but also have a shortened production of the Broadway show "Newsies The Musical." Our students have been hard at work perfecting their singing and choreography. Please do plan to attend on Tuesday night, May 22 at the Garner Performing Arts Center. We are working on putting together the stage set for Newsies and we have a list of needed prop items for the entire Iron family. Please take a few moments to look over this list of items that you probably have around your home and sign up if you have any of these items that you can bring in to the school this week (or know where we can get these items):
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449a4a629abf85-stage

YEARBOOK
We have a fabulous yearbook full of Mr. Anderson's outstanding photography! Please do place your order now for our yearbook. The directions on ordering are found on our IPF website:
http://ironparentfellowship.blogspot.com/p/yearbook.html
We had a few of us already purchased the yearbook to get a discounted price. The families who already ordered are: Seemann, Swart, Collier, Huntington, Kiker, Ondachi, and McMurray.

END OF YEAR FIELD DAY
Friday, June 1 is the last day of school! Students will take exams that morning and as has become our tradition, we will have a field day that afternoon. We will have a family lunch at noon at Laurel Hills Park and then a basketball tournament on their outdoor courts. We will send out a sign-up later to request items for the family lunch. If possible, try to request that afternoon off of work to join us!

IPF BUDGET UPDATE
Our net fundraising proceeds this year (Warrior Challenge, GoPlaySave books, uniforms and spiritwear sales) is $19,336.48. The AOTS in May is also a way for us to raise money and we hopefully will raise at least $2000 more from that. We are going to get a check for $66 from BoxTops and a quarterly check for $43 from Kroger. Thank you all for your participation in our fundraising!

Our main expenses this year are to support the athletics budget with $7434, educational expenses (mostly library and science equipment) with $3,330, repair of the school van for $1500, and decorating the school building for $1670.

We currently have around $10,400 in our checking account, which is separate from the school's accounts. We are working with a generous family to upgrade the security of our school building and the IPF officers agreed to spend up to $4000 toward that with this family paying an equivalent amount from their own funds.