MAY 2019

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who made this year successful!  Here is what we accomplished this year:

Social Activities

One game came down to this mother 

and her son battling it out!

Awesome fun was had at our father-son and mother-son events.  The fathers and sons enjoyed go-kart racing at Rush Hour Karting and bowling at Buffaloe Lanes.  The mothers and sons reveled in a corn maze and engaged in battles with Action Archery (bows and safe arrows).  Some sons were surprised at their mother's fierce competitiveness!  

Please plan again for our annual Back to School Family Picnic that will be held on Aug 24 at Sandling Beach on Falls Lake, shelter #4.  We all look forward to getting back together again after the summer break!

Teacher Appreciation
Our teachers work hard not only doing the typical duties of teachers, but also mentoring our sons in biblical manhood. Thank you for sending in food for the delicious lunches we provided for them throughout the year!  For our teacher appreciation gifts, we collected around $2200 in both December and May to distribute as cash gifts to our faculty and staff.

Fundraising
We raised over $18,000 this year, with most of that from our Warrior Challenge and Used Uniform and Spiritwear sales.  Some key expenses that we covered were: $2200 for AP physics equipment; $1000 for photo printing, frames, and bulletin board decorations to decorate the school building; $5000 to Raleigh Parks and Rec for soccer field and basketball court rental; $400 for a new water fountain;  $600 for new library books.

IPF Officer Elections
Thank you for serving to our 2018-2019 officers: Anne York (Chair and Vice Chair of Fundraising), Becky Ulrich and Heather Seeman (co-Vice Chairs of Family and Social Activities), Todd Grantz (Treasuer); Greg Huntington (Secretary).

Congratulations to our new officers for 2019-2020: Greg Huntington (Chair); Debbie Drew and Karen Sabo (co-Vice Chairs of Fundraising); Becky Ulrich and Selina Murrell (co-Vice Chairs of Family and Social Activities); Angie Schulz (Treasurer); Nannette Collier (Secretary). 

Our May School Newsletter tells of exciting changes for next year!  

Please email our IPF officers at IPF@ironacademy.org if you have any questions.  Enjoy your refreshing summer break!           

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.

December 30 Update

Happy New Year Iron Families!  

As we start the new year, our school needs some refreshing too! In our first week back, we ask if you could bring in these items:

• Middle school families bring in boxes of tissues (Kleenex brand has Boxtops)
• High school families bring in large packages of toilet paper (Scott brand has Boxtops) 
• For any one who wants to, the teachers also ask for loose leaf paper (college ruled), pencils, and white board markers (these can be purchased in bulk at smile.amazon.com).  Review your son's own stock of school supplies to also be sure he has enough notebooks, pens/pencils, and paper to start the new semester.

Your son can give these supplies to Ms. Becker in the office.  

And as previously announced, we are having a Work Day on Saturday Jan 6 to spruce up our school and to redesign one of our rooms.  Please see our sign-up on SignUpGenius for the list of projects and more details about that day.  We will start at the school at 10:00 am except for one group who will meet at our storage unit on Durant Rd at 9:00.  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449a4a629abf85-family

Reminders about January events:

• Lunch orders can now be submitted weekly by Saturday night for the following week through our new website ironacademy.myfooddays.com.  Lunch information is available on the Lunch tab on our parent website ironparentfellowship.blogspot.com.
• Parent prayer meetings every Friday morning at 7:45.  Join us any time that you are available!
• Wednesday, Jan 3: return to school
• Friday, Jan 5: all students on field trip to NC History Museum for WWI Exhibit; HAVE YOUR SON BRING MONEY TO BUY LUNCH while they are downtown
• Wednesday, Jan 10:  All payments or returned books due from our GOPLAYSAVE fundraiser.  
• Monday, Jan 15: no class for Martin Luther King Jr holiday
• Tuesday, Jan 16: Family Information Meeting for prospective families at 6:30 - please invite anyone whose son you think would be a good fit for IA or whose daughter would be a good fit for Academy 31
• Thursday, Jan 18: Parent meeting at 6:00 to discuss results of the cognitive testing that will be given the week of Jan 8 (sign-up for this testing was due Dec 19)
• Friday, Jan 19: MOTHER-SON GAME NIGHT at 6:30
• Friday, Feb 2: No class for Teacher Work Day
• Lots of basketball games and a middle school wrestling tournament to attend!  See the school's Events Calendar on our website under the Welcome tab for the dates and locations of sports activities.

Update: GoPlaySave Fundraiser Information

Deadline:  Return any $30 book payments and/or unsold books by WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10.  The books must be in new condition to be returned.

Who to write the checks to?  All checks need to be written to IRON ACADEMY.  Payments can also be made online through our virtual store at https://www.goplaysavetriangle.com/store/ia2018.   

Prizes provided by GoPlaySave:

• Sell 5 books, get 1 book FREE!  Sell 10 books, get 2 books FREE!
• For the top 3 book sellers, each one will have a choice of a $25 gift card from Brixx Wood Fired Pizza or Moe's Southwest Grill.

Fundraising Goal:  If each student sells just 2 books, we earn over $1000.  If we average 3 books per student, we can earn $1800.  
 

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.

November 5 Update

Upcoming IPF Activities:

Monday Nov 13, 7:00 PM:  One night only showing of Genesis: Paradise Lost at the North Hills Cinema and other local theaters. Click HERE to watch the movie trailer. Thank you to Parent Dionne Moragne who set up an invitation to purchase tickets if anyone would like to go to the North Hills Cinema. A description of the movie is: "Cutting-edge cinematography meets proven science and biblical accuracy to deliver GENESIS: PARADISE LOST, bringing the first book of the Bible to life in both 2D and 3D formats on the big screen. Stunning visual effects and field research invite audiences to explore the much-studied and debated opening chapters of the Bible. This highly-anticipated movie event will show in cinemas nationwide on Monday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. local time."

Wednesday Dec 13, 11:15 AM: Teacher Appreciation Luncheon.  We will have a signupgenius go out after Thanksgiving to request food items to bring.  

Friday, Dec 15, 7:00-9:00 PM: Parent and Faculty/Staff Christmas Party at the home of Michelle and Shea Lilly, parents of Chad in 10th grade.  You can find their address in the Renweb directory.  We will have potluck items to sign up to bring.   

Friday, Jan 19, 6:30-8:30 PM: Mother-son game night at the school! We are planning a father-son activity in April. 

Reminder to send in the Parental Mentor Information Sheet to Mr. Mack as soon as possible. Mr. Mack sent this in an email message to all families on Oct 17.  He is offering a lunch of grilled bratwurst to the tribe that gets all of their forms turned in first. 

 
Information from Mr. Hahn as we start the second quarter

Information included in the attached pdf (click here) goes from Navy SEALs to 6^th graders making fire to college :

• 6^th orienteering and outdoor skills intensive
• 9^th college application planning intensive
• $100,000 Matching Donation!
• Online Application open
• Accreditation. We’re ACSI members!
• CPR certifications
• Cross Country
• Blade Maintenance
• Warrior Challenge
• Veterans’ Day program
• Important upcoming dates

September 17 - Warrior Challenge Sponsorships

We are just 4 weeks away until our Warrior Challenge Student Fundraising event!  I'm reaching out to our parents to ask if your business or employer would like to sponsor this event.  Click this link for a handout that explains our contribution levels and the promotional opportunities that your business will receive.  To see what we have previously done to promote and thank our sponsors, click this link for last year's event:  http://www.ironacademy.org/2015-warrior-challenge/ We will also set up a web page to receive online donations this year and your business will be listed there too.  If you are interested in being a sponsor, please reply back to this message no later than Friday, Sept 22.  As explained below, IA has a matching grant to raise $100,000 by this December 31 and your sponsorship can help the school reach that goal!


What is the Warrior Challenge?  In short, it is a student fun-run type of event but instead of students asking for donations for the number of times they walk/run around a track, our students will ask for donations for how many sit-ups, push-ups, or big tire flips they can do or for how FAST they can run one mile.  I will give a handout to our students this week with more details about it.  Students compete individually on how much funds they raise and we have a tribe competition to earn the title of the "Mightiest Tribe" for the year, as determined by the tribe's academic performance, fundraising, and strength they show at the event.


How will your sponsorship contribution be used?  Your contribution underwrites the costs of our events but also will contribute toward academic and extracurricular spending.  The Iron Parent Fellowship (our version of a PTA) has recently spent $850 for 4 microscopes and about $2000 toward school furniture (desks, chairs, bookcases, carpets), photos to decorate our hallways, library materials, and painting.  The IPF checking account currently has a balance of around $4000 and we like to keep a minimum balance of $3000 for emergency funds.  This year our spending plans include buying more science equipment (stereoscopes, additional microscopes, dissection supplies); continue to support the library with purchases of newer, recently written books (nearly all of our library books are older used books); PE equipment; and recreational items for the students to play during lunch or afterschool care such as board games, corn hole, magnetic darts, etc. (If you do happen to have any board games in good condition that your family no longer uses, we'd be glad to accept that donation!)  


$100,000 matching grant:  The school has a matching grant opportunity of up to $100,000 with a Dec 31 deadline!  But this matching grant only applies toward new donations or donations higher than what has previously been given.  That is, if your business has not previously sponsored an IA event, then we can apply 100% of your sponsorship toward the matching grant! If you sponsored the Warrior Challenge last year, we can apply the amount above last year's sponsorship rate toward the matching grant. The IPF is under the school's 501c3 designation as a nonprofit organization.

September 4, 2017 Update

Update from Mr. Hahn:
 
We love our students! It is a privilege to partner with your family in helping your son become a gentleman scholar and mighty man of God. Thank you for choosing Iron Academy. We had two amazing weeks at camp, and are pleased to see great potential in the students attending Iron this year. The new students are adapting well, and this year promises to be a landmark year for Iron Academy. We have a lot of information to pass on about upcoming events.

Mid-term grades will come out in September. In the meantime, homework assignments and grades are posted daily for your son on RenWeb. RenWeb also hosts an Iron family directory, in case you’d like to contact other Iron families. New families, please be sure our emails are not hiding in your spam folder. Most information will come via email, and we want you to stay in the loop. One of our focal points this year is to make sure we are communicating better with you. That starts today.  Link to document for RenWeb login tutorial.

At the end of our first quarter, 6th and 9th grades will have one week of intensives. All other grades will continue classes as usual. In October, 6th grade will participate in orienteering and outdoor skills. We have a former Navy SEAL fly in from Kansas to teach our young men about orienteering (map and compass work) and other outdoor skills. 9th grade will focus on college application and resume planning. This class has been tremendously valuable for our 9th-grade students. It will be even better this year with the addition of our college counselor, Bethany Benson, arranging visitors and visiting monthly with our high school students. We’ll also have a night for parents to come in and learn about what you can and should be doing now. College, after all, is not far away. 7th, 8th, and 10th will not have a fall intensive.

We will be hosting a work day on campus on an upcoming Saturday. Summit Church may be coming in with a small army of volunteers to help us with several things: painting, removing coat rails/hooks, making cross country trails, etc. As we are trying to plan with them and in accordance with the volunteers, an announcement may come out within a very short time of the actual date.

We do have some volunteer opportunities if you are interested now.

• We need a volunteer team to pick up a refrigerator in Holly Springs and deliver/install it at school.
• We also need a father/son team with some easy technical work with a PC and speakers.
• We have some Bose speakers donated for use in the Study Skills room. We need an old-school receiver/stereo setup to power them. If you would like to procure an inexpensive used system (widely available on Craigslist) and install the system and speakers, we’d love to hear the Bose 401s in action.
• Becky Visser continues to lead a team of students and parents in making the school a beautiful place. Thank you, Becky! I know they will do wonders with any cash and time donations.

Our first tribe day will be September 25th. Attendance is mandatory for students. Students will start Blade Maintenance Plans this day, which will help hold him accountable to the honor code.

Fall sports awards will be September 26th at 7 pm, so mark your calendars if your son is participating in Fall sports. Basketball tryouts will be in October for middle and high school teams. Coach Mitchell will publish more about that.

In looking ahead, 10th graders will be taking the PSAT on Saturday, October 14th. Please put that on your calendar so your 10th grader can participate.

August 2017 Newsletter

Welcome Back to School!

Welcome back for the 2017-2018 school year at our new location on Edwards Mill Rd! Our school year has started out with its own unique experiences of Forging Camp and Crucible Camp.  Below are photos of our young men at the end of each journey!  

Please do bookmark this website.  We will use it continually throughout the year to keep you updated! 

  

January 2017 Newsletter

Arts of the Swordsmen - May 12 - SAVE THE DATE!

Our third Arts of the Swordsmen (AOTS) event will be held on Friday evening, May 12! This event is a fun way for our sons to develop and showcase their artistic talents:  drama, dance, singing, musical instruments, and once again, a STOMP show!  No previous artistic experience is required!  Please do show your son this video from last year's STOMP performance:

Parent Travis Kiker of 9th grader Stone will organize our events. Travis will meet with the students at school soon and we will start rehearsals in early March.  We do also have some fundraising aspects with this event.  Areas of HELP NEEDED FROM PARENTS are:

• Are you able to mentor students to develop an artistic talent?  
• Can you connect us to people who would be good mentors for our students to develop and showcase their talents?
• Asking businesses to donate door prizes for us to give away during the event, such as gift cards to grocery stores?
• Asking businesses for donated merchandise that we can raffle or auction off?
• Do you have a business or know of one who would want to buy an ad in our Playbill and be recognized as an event sponsor?  We will have very reasonable advertising rates - more information coming soon. 

If you are able to help in any of these areas, please send an email to IPF@ironacademy.org soon.  We are looking forward to another amazing display of the talents of our young men!

IPF Budget Update

Thank you all for the fundraising you have helped us with so far this year!

• Net Fundraising Proceeds since July 1: $10,118

Major spending we have done to support school activities:

• Athletics: $2734 (including $1000 for basketball referees for home games, $569 for JV basketball uniforms, $200 for soccer, $560 for cross country uniforms) 
• Educational: $5600 (including $2200 to support trip to St. Benedict's in New Jersey to learn about their student leadership model, $2500 to support salaries of instructors hired for the October Intensive Week, $220 for Honor Code t-shirts for students who went to Crucible Camp, $180 for dissection kits for science class, $350 to buy the student school planners given to all students)
• Social Activities: $400 (Teacher Appreciation luncheon, snacks for family events, Christmas party for students)

No Fuss Fundraisers in February

We have two opportunities for raising more funds in February:

1. Selling donated merchandise at the Kids Exchange.  Do you have any of these kids items (babies to teens) that are in good condition to donate to IA for us to sell: books, sports equipment, dolls, video games, old video game systems, kid and family movies on DVD, children's furniture, bikes, back packs, puzzles, board games, shoes, Nerf guns, toys, etc?  Do your relatives and friends have kids items they are willing to donate to us?  If so, please contact Anne York at IPF@ironacademy.org to arrange to deliver your items no later than Friday, Feb 3.
2. Time to collect BOXTOPS!  The BoxTops people have a deadline of submitting them by the end of February.  We will have bags pinned to the bulletin board in each classroom for your sons to submit their BoxTops - please bring them to school by Friday, Feb 24. This is the last time to submit BoxTops this school year - please feel free to scour your pantry and clip them off food you haven't eaten yet! :)   

And our retail fundraising continues - please click or scroll to the tab above to see how to support IA when you shop at Amazon, Groupon, Harris-Teeter, Kroger and help us by simply scanning copies of your grocery store receipts with the Shoparoo app. 

Extracurricular Updates

Wrestling: Our wrestlers had their first tournament on Jan 17.  While we lost the tournament, several of our students won their matches.  Please come to cheer on our wrestlers in the IA gym at our next tournament on Thursday, Jan 26 at 5:30.   

Basketball: The middle school basketball team has a record so far of 4 wins and 6 losses.  The JV basketball team has an 0 and 3 record so far against more experienced high school teams.  Both teams have several more games to play in the next three weeks.  The list of games to come watch is on our events calendar.  

Spring sports:  Our spring sports of baseball and golf will begin in late February.  Please have your son talk to Coach Mitchell soon if he is interested in baseball or golf.

  

Prospective Family Information Sessions for Iron Academy and Academy 31

Both schools are now enrolling for grades 6 to 10 for the 2017-2018 school year!  There will be information sessions from February to April at Providence Baptist, Crossroads Fellowship, Colonial Baptist in Cary, and RFA (Raleigh First Assembly).  Please send this webpage with the dates for the information sessions to anyone with sons or daughters who would be good fits for IA and A31: http://www.ironacademy.org/admissions/the-admissions-process/.

    

IPF Officer Meeting

The IPF officers will have a meeting on Saturday, Jan 28 at 9:30 am to work on plans for our family and student events and activities for the spring semester.  If you have any ideas, please share them at IPF@ironacademy.org.  
  

December 2016 Newsletter

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 on All 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!