July 2016 Newsletter

Iron Student and Family Summer Activities

We are looking forward to getting back together for our returning families and welcoming our new families and students!  The school's calendar is located from a tab above.  Mark these additional events on your calendar:

Summer Reading:  Click (or scroll) on the tab above for "Summer Reading" to get the book for each grade along with the assignment to complete for your son's English course that is due when we return to classes.  We are also running a "1000 page Summer Reading Challenge" to promote literacy.  See the "Summer Reading" page for details on this exciting Challenge. 

Kids Exchange Fundraiser:  Iron Academy is a partner with the Kids Exchange Consignment Sale.  We are fortunate to have Amy Winstead, founder of Kids Exchange, as one of our outstanding parents.  The Kids Exchange provides a way to buy and sell gently used children's (babies to teens) items.  We are able to make this a fundraising activity for Iron Academy by accepting your donation of children's clothing, toys, books, equipment, and furniture that gives you a tax deduction the same as if you donated these items to Goodwill and we sell it at the Kids Exchange with IA receiving the proceeds! Iron Academy is a 501c3 nonprofit school.  For any of our items that are left over after the Kids Exchange sale, we donate them to the Missions Thrift Store to help fund missionaries around the world! 

If you have any clothing, particularly winter coats, that your children have outgrown or furniture, bikes, or sports equipment in good condition that your children no longer need, then contact Anne York at IPF@ironacademy.org to arrange for pick-up of the items by Saturday, July 16.  We also need a few parents who are available between July 17 to 19 to put price tags on the items and take them to the sale at the State Fairgrounds.  For any questions, contact Anne York.  Thanks for your help!

Triangle Rock Club on Tuesday, July 26, Noon to 2:00:  We will have a fun social event for students and their siblings to do indoor rock climbing  at Triangle Rock Club at 6022 Duraleigh Road, Raleigh, 27612.  Cost is $10 per child cash or check payable to Iron Academy and given to Anne York or Heather Mauzy at the event.  Please do sign this e-waiver before your child(ren) attends.

We need to tell Triangle Rock Club how many will be attending and we want to help with carpooling if your son needs a ride.  Please use this SignUpGenius (click the logo below) by Sunday, July 24 to let us know that your son and any siblings will attend and if you are able to give a ride to another student or if you son will need a ride to this event. 
   

Coffee, Doughnuts, and Prayer at the drop-off for Crucible Camp on Monday morning, Aug 15:  Please plan that you can stay for a few minutes after our sons are dropped off for Crucible Camp to socialize with the other parents and to have some time for open prayer for our sons as they take this important first step to learn about our Honor Code ("I will always conduct myself as a gentleman, live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King") and begin their journey toward biblical manhood and being gentleman scholars.

Used Uniform Sale:  Be on the lookout at the beginning of August for a SignUpGenius that will list all of the used school uniforms and new spiritwear clothing that we have to offer!  We will list the clothing by size and quantity so that you can choose which ones you want and we will arrange delivery and payment for the clothing at the drop-off for Crucible Camp or first days of school.  The used clothing prices will be about half of the Land's End prices, such as youth size used polo shirts with logo for $10 rather than the $23 Land's End regular price.  Click on the "Dress Code" tab above for information about the school uniform policy and how to order from Land's End.  More details about the used uniform sale will be distributed at the beginning of August.          

Back to School Family Picnic on Falls Lake on Saturday, Aug 27:  We are looking forward to fun fellowship for the whole family!  We have reserved Shelter #2 at the Falls Lake Sandling Beach area, 14605 Creedmoor Rd, Wake Forest, off of Creedmoor Rd about 3 miles north of Hwy 98.  We will meet for dinner and play time, starting at 3:00.  We'll distribute a SignUpGenius the week before the event for our potluck dinner. 
   

May 2016 Newsletter

We have an exciting month as we close out this school year! Please save these dates:

Thursday May 5: Lacrosse Game

Our lacrosse club will play against St. Raphael at 4:15.  Our team is coming together well with novice and advanced players.  They played their first game on April 27 against an experienced St. David's team, which also has 3 times the number of players as our team has, and we lost 12-1.  

Thursday May 5:  Debate Tournament
Our UNDEFEATED debate team is holding a tournament with Prestonwood Christian Academy in Texas using the telepresence system at Cisco in RTP.  Our teams are Zachary Wald with David Anderson and Jordan Chaulk with Jon Anderson.  Their resolution is "Resolved: In the United States, students should be guaranteed two years of free tuition to a community or technical college."  

Friday May 6: Arts of the Swordsmen

Doors open at 6:30 with a full coffee bar, chocolate fountain, and other goodies await you. Performances start at 7:00.  Tickets are $5 with a $20 per family maximum.  IA students, Playbill sponsors, and prospective families have free admission.  Don't miss this exciting event - please invite your friends and relatives to share this fun evening!  

There is a SignUpGenius that is requesting some items for AOTS.  Please visit this SignUp to see if anything else is needed.     

Saturday May 7 to Wednesday May 18:  Online Book Fair
As we are a school that promotes a culture of reading with our young men, we are partnering with ChildrensBookstore.com to hold an online book fair!  For books that are purchased between May 7 and May 18 from our IA website with Childrensbookstore, our school will receive a donation of 30% of the purchase price!  ChildrensBookstore has over 200,000 titles from babies to young adult, fiction and nonfiction, and many genres, as shown by this list of categories.  The code to use when checking out to be sure that we receive credit for the purchase is IRON.  We'll email a link to everyone on Saturday morning and ask that you share this link with as many others as possible to purchase their summer reading materials.  We will use the proceeds from the book fair to purchase library books and classroom materials as well as award prizes for our Iron Summer Reading Challenge - more details about this student challenge will come at the end of May.       

Tuesday May 10 and Tuesday May 17:  TerraNova Standardized Testing
IA uses TerraNova, a nationally normed standardized test, to assess our students.  You can find more information about TerraNova's tests here.  For students on which we have two years of data, we saw an average increase of 6 percentile points in their scores in the second year.  For a previously "average" student, that would translate to an SAT score of 40 points higher on reading and math after one year.  Should we continue with even modest annual gains from this trend throughout their IA years, the Targeted Learning of the IA curriculum should result in improvements of about 160 SAT points in math and reading.  Please be sure that your son is well-fed and well-rested on these two days and encourage him to give his maximum performance on these test days. 

Tuesday May 10:  Family Information Session for Prospective Students
Please invite interested families to come to our final Information Session for the school year at 6:30 pm.  We are gaining several high quality applicants and some grades are full or nearly full.  The grade with the most open spots is next year's 6th grade.  Remember that we have a referral program in which Iron families of currently enrolled students can earn a $500 tuition credit per referred student who enrolls.  A generous donor has also made some scholarships available specifically for newly enrolled students if you know of young men who would be a great fit for the IA experience.  

Tuesday May 10:  Kamado Grille Spirit Night
Thank you to everyone who has been enjoying the wonderful food of Kamado Grille!  IA receives a 10% donation of ALL meals purchased between 5:30 and 8:30. 

Wednesday May 11: Father's Breakfast
Iron dads and guests are invited to hear Dr. Archie Bost, founder and executive director of CrossLife Ministries, speak on the topics of biblical manhood, including marriage and parenting.  Dr. Bost has over 20 years of experience in counseling and discipling individuals and families.  Our fathers find this time to be of great encouragement as they share experiences and lean on scripture to be the men that God intends for them to be.  Feel free to bring a friend, relative or coworker!     

Friday May 13: Revised due date: Friday May 20 Blade Maintenance Plan Biblical Manhood Video Due
The faculty are excited to see the creativity of the videos that the students are submitting for their Blade Maintenance Plans.  The videos are to be 3 to 5 minutes and explain the specifics of the student's growth as a disciple of Christ and as a gentleman scholar.  Students will meet with tribes to discuss the video requirements.  To submit the video, you can upload it directly from your phone's camera roll to YouTube (sign into your YouTube account) and choose the setting of UNLISTED so that the video can be shared by emailing the link to it but will not be visible to the public on YouTube.  Alternatively you can submit the video on a flash drive. The links to the videos or flash drives are to be emailed/given to Mr. Meredith at smeredith@ironacademy.org.  There is a tab above for information about the Blade Plans.     

Tuesday May 17:  Teacher/Staff Appreciation Day
To thank our teachers and staff who are also such dedicated mentors to our sons, we will celebrate them with a Teacher/Staff Appreciation Luncheon!  A SignUpGenius will go out next week for food items to bring in on the 17th and we will gladly accept monetary gifts to buy gift cards.  Many thanks to parents Nancy Hector and Paula Brewington for organizing this event.

Thursday May 19:  IPF General Meeting for Parents
Please plan to attend this important meeting at 6:30 in an IA classroom in which we will:

• Have an update on the IPF budget
• Briefly discuss plans for next year's IPF activities
• Elect a slate of officers for 2016-2017:  Anne York (Chair); Morgan Wood (Vice Chair of Fundraising); Lisa Wald and Wendy Collier (Co-Vice Chairs of Family and Social Activities); Heather Mauzy (Treasurer); Denise Lake (Secretary)
• Hear updates from Mr. Hahn on the new student leadership initiative and plans to expand it next year; bus transportation plan; honors courses and implementation of innovation curriculum; administrative structure; accreditation update; and all current faculty are returning next year and we will learn about the additional new faculty

Every Friday Morning:  Parent Prayer Meeting

Please come whenever you are available to the Parent Prayer Meeting at 7:50 am.  It is a refreshing time of praise and talking to God about the needs of our students, families, faculty, and school.  God does answer prayer!  A very hearty thanks goes to Natalie Taylor and Paula Brewington for their dedicated service to seeking out our young men each week to pray for their specific needs and sending each one a card to let him know he was prayed over.  

Friday May 27:  Lunch Cookout, Field Day, and Classroom Cleanup

Last day of school!  Please do remember to bring in any IA materials, textbooks, and library books that your son has at home by the last school day.  We'll celebrate with a family cookout for lunch, field day fun for the students, and take some time to clean up our classrooms before they close down for the summer.  A SignUpGenius will go out near the end of May for contributions.    

2016-2017 School Year Update 
August 8-12:  9th grade Forging Camp at Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School
August 15-18: Crucible Camp at Camp Rockmont for all new students and returning students who came to IA after the start of the school year (students only go to Crucible Camp one time unless invited to return as a Squire or Leader)  
Monday August 22: First Day of Classes

Reminders: Yearbook and BoxTops
Remember to view the tab above for "Yearbook" to find out how to place your yearbook order.  We will also collect BoxTops through the end of May so we can send in a batch before any of them potentially expire.  Our next BoxTops collection will be in October.     

April 2016 Newsletter

Intensive Week Fun
Our students as always had fun and great learning experiences during our last intensive week.  Congratulations to the 8th grade students who gave presentations to the parents to explain and showcase their innovative ideas.

IPF Officer Nominations

Much thanks to the officers who are serving this year: Anne York, Chairperson; Jim Ferguson, Vice Chair of Fundraising; Jenn Vinkler, Vice Chair of Family and Social Activities; Heather Mauzy and Darrell Taylor as co-treasurers, and Amy Clark as Secretary. While some current officers may continue to serve next year, we do want to open the nominations for all officer positions to all parents who are interested in serving.  Our Nominations Committee is chaired by Anne York along with parents Rebekah Anderson and Jenni Jordan.  If you are interested in serving or want to recommend someone for a nomination, please talk to Rebekah or Jenni before April 30.  We will have an IPF General Meeting in May to vote on the new officers who will serve next year.

All parents of currently enrolled students are members of the Iron Parent Fellowship.  The mission of the IPF is to:      

• Pray for Iron Academy in its role to assist parents as they train their sons in biblical manhood and in becoming gentlemen scholars.
• Provide funding and volunteer time to support academic, athletic, and extracurricular activities.
• Cultivate a welcoming and friendly culture among enrolled families, prospective families, and faculty and staff. 

To be eligible to serve as an officer of the Executive Committee, the nominee must meet these criteria: should be an eligible member as described in Article III (a parent of a currently enrolled student), must be current in paying tuition invoices, has given consent to serve if elected, has the qualities of spiritual maturity, has demonstrated support for the success of Iron Academy, is in agreement with the philosophy, doctrine, and administrative structure of Iron Academy, and has paid the re-enrollment fee by the deadline established by school administration.

We do hope that fathers would be willing to serve as officers.  The Executive Committee meetings are held at most once per quarter and in the evening at a time that fits everyone's schedule.  We are also able to hold online meetings.  We understand that everyone has a full plate with juggling work and family, but we do hope that several parents would be willing to take on these leadership roles that are so vital to providing extra funds and activities for our students.  The IPF Committee tab above has the full Committee Guidelines that established and guides the actions of the IPF and includes descriptions of each officer position.  We operate under the umbrella of IA's nonprofit status and we are a Committee under the Board of Governors.  

Golf Update
The JV team played in a tournament on March 24.  Congratulations to Caleb Stroup who was a co-medalist as he tied for first individually and to the IA team as they finished 3rd out of 4 teams in our first ever tournament!  

Golf team coaches and players Noah Kirby, Kyle Hector and Caleb Stroup

Debate Team Update
Congratulations to the team of Ian Taylor and Jordan Chaulk who won the intramural tournament in March!

Lacrosse Team Update
Many thanks to parent Tod Manning for coaching our young men!  Starting on April 12, practices will be from 3:30-5:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

News from Mr. Hahn
As I recently shared by email, we are excited to start implementing a new student-directed Honor Code Hierarchy that will take full effect next year.  This new system will place most of the responsibility for building upon our Honor Code culture on the young men - where it should be.  We were inspired by an example at St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey that was featured on 60 Minutes.  The student-directed leadership structure will build our students into better leaders, more self-disciplined young men, and disciples better equipped to serve others.  Students will be placed in leadership positions over their chore teams, tribal teams, and school teams.  As with St. Benedict's young men, iron will sharpen iron, brother will build brother, and the feeling of "what hurts my brother, hurts me" will permeate Iron Academy.

Arts of the Swordsmen Update
IA Parent and our AOTS Director, Travis Kiker, is very pleased with the efforts and talents of the students who are performing this year.  As with last year, it will be an exciting night of fun on May 6!  We will also recognize our outstanding scholars and athletes that evening.  There are a lot of items to purchase to put on this production and to help offset that, we do want to sell ads in the Playbill.  See an email message that was sent on March 30 for the details on the benefits that the sponsor receives.  Please send an email to IPF@ironacademy.org if you would like to advertise your business or can recommend a business for us to contact.  Tickets for the event will be $5 per person.

Yearbook Order
We are using a new yearbook company this year, Treering.  You order your yearbook and pay online to them.  The price of the yearbook is $39.93. One benefit of using Treering is that each student is also able to have TWO PERSONALIZED PAGES that will only appear in his yearbook.  What a great way to also remember other family events that took place during the school year or personal photos of school activities!  Click on the YEARBOOK tab above, under the page banner, for more details on how to order the yearbook. So that photos and activities of the entire school year can be in the yearbook, we will work on finishing page layouts and photo selection during June, submit the yearbook for publishing in July, and it will be shipped in bulk to the school in August and distributed to our students on the first day of classes.

Sword Photos

Last call if you would like to order a photo of your son with the IA sword!  Contact Mr. Anderson if you need another order form and directions to view your son's photos.  The last order date is April 22. We are so privileged to have Mr. Anderson's photography skills to create these majestic photos to commemorate our son's noble journey in pursuit of biblical manhood. The majority of your purchase amount will be donated to the school.  Photos are in color or can be adjusted for black and white.  

New Blog for Biblical Manhood
A blog about biblical manhood has been started on the IA website and is being managed by parent Rob Wald.  The first post is now available http://www.ironacademy.org/i-am-iron-blog/.  Various authors will post twice per month.  Keep an eye on this blog for interesting information to share about biblical manhood.  

Upcoming Events in April
Every Friday from 7:50-8:30 am - Parent Prayer meeting.  Please join us whenever you are available!
5th: Golf tournament 
12th: Golf tournament
12th: Kamado Grille Spirit Night
13th: Father's Breakfast at 7:30 am
19th: Please pray for our Stakeholder Celebration Fundraising Event at 7:00 pm!  Please contact Jenni Jordan or Natalie Taylor if you know of individuals who who be interested in aligning with IA to support our school or if you would be able to volunteer at the event. 
21st: Golf tournament 
Reminder:  Monday May 2 is a Staff Planning Day - No school for students but a dress rehearsal day for AOTS.             
     

March 2016 Newsletter

Intensive Week - March 14 to 18

Our exciting Intensive Week activities are:
6th grade: Art History I with Maureen Seltzer, a long-time Art History teacher and artist.  She operates Maureen Seltzer Art Studio and Gallery in Wake Forest.
7th grade: Service Days on Mon and Tues; Robotics II on Wed to Fri under the guidance of Ray Barnes of Robotics and Innovation of Wake Forest.
8th grade: Innovation Intensive Mon to Wed; Small Engines Thurs to Fri.
9th grade: Robotics on Mon to Wed, Service Days Thurs to Fri. 
 
Description from Mr. Hahn of the new 8th grade intensive topics: Under the guidance of Ted Morris, PhD, of CrossM Innovations and the Associate Vice Chancellor of Engagement, Innovation, and Economic Development of East Carolina University, the Innovation Intensive will begin roughly 10 days prior to class.  Students will be encouraged to "identify, imagine, design, execute, fail and repeat.  In doing so, they gain the creative confidence essential for design thinking, innovation, entrepreneurship, and servant leadership."  Our goal is to learn their Design-Driven Philosophy as we prepare next year to implement more meaningful and engaging ways of exercising the highest levels of critical thinking.  We see this as our next stage of growth as an academic institution and as an all-male environment.  Our goals is not to build engineers, but broad-spectrum thinkers adept at creation/innovation, synthesis, and evaluation.  That kind of thinker can pursue any path he chooses whether in the arts and sciences, in humanities, in ministry, or in the business world.  Why an innovative intensive?  From CrossM Innovation's philosophy page, "Innovation is a priority for employers today. In a current national survey, 95% say they give hiring preference to graduates and workers with skills that enable them to contribute to innovation in the workplace, and more than 9 in 10 agree that 'innovation is essential' to their organization's continued success."  We see tremendous opportunities to incorporate more authentic, real-world projects each quarter as we continue to build genuine thinkers.  Though we're learning with the 8th graders during this intensive week, the effect will be widely felt across Iron Academy. We're very excited about this new partnership with CrossM. For the Small Engine class, Hudson Rice has a terrific curriculum planned for our young men that will teach them the basics of combustion engines, maintenance, and basic diagnostics and repair.  This topic will be useful for all of our young men, from the least experienced to those with time around the shop.  

Classroom Happenings

As we are nearing the end of the third quarter, here are some updates about what our students are learning in the classrooms.

Spanish 8th and 9th:  We welcomed a guest speaker, Max, who is from Mexico and just finished his medical degree and is getting ready to go into pediatrics.  He spoke to the students about his family, the town where he lives, and some of the customs and typical celebrations of his town.  The students had an interesting opportunity to converse with a native Spanish speaker.  His entire presentation and the questions the students asked were all in Spanish. 

History 9th grade:  The students are studying the historical roots of Islam and discussing how Christians should relate to Muslims today in a God-honoring way.

English 6th grade:  Originally the 6th graders were only going to read the first book in the series of the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.  But the students liked the book so much that the class requested to read the second book as well.  Now that the second is finished, it was unanimously requested to start reading the third book!  Ms. Bowen has been pleased to see some of the students develop a stronger enjoyment from reading.

History 6th grade:  After studying ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, they are now studying the Middle Ages with extra time taken to learn about the Vikings, knights, castles, medieval weapons, key battles, etc.  When studying the Vikings, they made Viking beards, ate oatmeal cakes, and watched a fascinating documentary on the engineering of the Viking sword and Viking longship.  Our students are beginning to grasp the cause and consequence on a larger scale in the study of history, for example, by doing the research to answer this question: How did one single battle, Battle of Hastings, change all of England?

6th Graders reading the Middle Ages resource books purchased by the IPF
and having fun with their Viking beards

History 7th grade: The students are learning about issues of American colonization and expansion in the modern era.  They studied the Gold Rush of 1849 and set up a miners camp, where they enjoyed eating beans and beef jerky, dressing up as miners, and playing a capture-the-flag type of game using fools gold.  A few weeks later they learned about the American Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation.  They had a Juneteenth celebration which commemorates when the slaves in the South heard about the Emancipation Proclamation and had a huge celebration.  Our Juneteenth celebration had a picnic with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, trivia contests about the Civil War, and a best dressed Abe Lincoln contest.  The 7th graders are gaining in their ability to critique and defend.  This period of history gives much material for both critique and defense, such as the actions leading up to the Sepoy Mutiny and the Paraguayan's perspective on Lopez. 



7th Graders with their Miner Camp and Juneteenth Celebration

History 8th grade:  Ms. Bowen is pleased that the 8th grade class continues to grow as gentleman scholars and she is very proud of their work and dedication.  Their discussions throughout each class period have grown increasingly profound.  They just completed a unit on the Reconstruction period and the growth of industry.  They are seeing how businesses developed, how technology advanced, how the economy boomed, and also the social benefits/problems that came as a result.  One of Ms. Bowen's favorite discussions and essay assignments is on the wealthy industrialists known as "Robber Barons."  Did they deserve this title or is it misleading?  The students critiqued the actions and decisions of these men in light of biblical manhood.  Ms. Bowen's prayer is that our students look toward their own vocational futures and see how they can live out biblical manhood not only in their homes but in their vocations as well.  In the photos below, the students are working together to study for an upcoming history test.  They are divided into groups and each question on the study guide has its own station.  Each group writes historical details to support the question and then rotate to a different station, continuing to add information.  At the new station, they have to evaluate what is already written and consider what is missing.  If the group before wrote a defense, then the next group will come up with a critique.   

Extracurricular Happenings

Basketball: As predicted, our team did win our first game of the Swordsman Shootout tournament and made it to the championship game, but unfortunately lost to St Raphael.  We had a strong lead in the first quarter of the championship game but fell into early foul trouble.  While the loss was disappointing, our team continued to show outstanding sportsmanship.  Coaches Roggie and Kiker were pleased with how well our young men pulled together as a team and are proud of their winning record. 

2015-2016 Middle School Basketball Team

Wrestling: Some of our students in the wrestling club went to their first ever tournament and represented IA very well.  David (9th) and Stephen (8th) Anderson were undefeated in 2 matches each and Garrett Anderson (rising 6th grader) was undefeated in 3 matches.  Coaches Nick and Josh have volunteered their time to begin our wrestling program and look forward to continued progress as we will eventually compete at the high school varsity level where there are more opportunities for competition.       

 

Debate Team: On Saturday March 5, the IA debate club will be competing in an intramural tournament against each other.  One of the goals for debate is to teach our students to communicate and persuade anyone they meet, and as such they need your help!  They are in need of tournament judges.  No previous experience or special expertise is necessary and if you do not understand the arguments the debaters are making, that is their fault and not yours.  Are you available on Saturday to be a judge at the 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 or 1:00 rounds?  If you are, contact our debate coach, Nathan Wilson.  Or if your son is interested in joining the team and would like to watch, we cordially invite you to attend.

MATHCOUNTS Competition:  8th graders Ethan Manning and Ian Taylor represented IA by participating in the local level of the MATHCOUNTS Competition on Feb 13 at Athens Drive High School.  Ethan and Ian participated in a Sprint round, which is 40 minutes to solve 30 problems with no calculators which focuses on speed and accuracy, a Target Round of 30 minutes to solve 8 problems which focus on problem-solving and mathematical reasoning, and Team Round to solve 10 problems in 20 minutes.  It was a tough competition but they enjoyed it!   

Ethan and Ian working on their problems at the MATHCOUNTS competition

Message from Mr. Hahn on the growing maturity of our young men:

We've witnessed remarkable growth in our young men in recent weeks.  From young men being accountable for their own actions and behaviors to peers quietly going to one another practicing Matthew 18:15-17 principles, our young men are changing.  It is a profound thing to see a 7th grader correcting a peer, holding him accountable to a higher standard of living, being willing to face the fear of doing such a thing.  It is encouraging to see our young men growing as individuals and as a team.  Seeing 9th grader Will Thompson step into a leadership role with a 7th grader and 8th graders mentoring 6th graders as they work through bathroom duty are examples of many signs of growth in our students.  In the Iron Academy environment, there is plenty of opportunity to be annoyed with peers and plenty of opportunity to mess up on the Honor Code.  It is through these inconvenient circumstances or lapses of judgment that iron is able to sharpen iron.  A sterile environment where everything runs like clockwork does not prepare our young men for the freedoms, chaos, and temptations of the world.  We are confident that our young men are learning how to deal constructively with one another and what it means to be godly men.  They are growing in areas in which their outside peers can't even imagine because this discipleship community of families, churches, and school is working together to build something special!  Thank you for your support of your sons as they continue to grow as Jesus did in Luke 2:52.  

Blade Maintenance Plan Upcoming Due Date

Friday, March 18 is the next deadline for an update for the Blade Maintenance Plan.  For this update, the students are to submit a short writing on "how your understanding of the Code has changed and how you are living the Honor Code."  One of the header tabs for this newsletter website has the link to the Quarterly Plan Report Template to use for each Blade Plan submission.

Parent Volunteers Needed

IA is hosting an event with the purpose of gathering more individuals who are willing to help us in our cause of crafting gentleman scholars and training young men in biblical manhood.  This fundraising event will be held on Tuesday April 19 at 6:30 pm at a home on Oberlin Rd, near downtown Raleigh.  If you know of anyone who would like to learn more about our school and support our efforts, contact Bob Hodges, our Director of Community Relations, about sending an invitation to this person.  We also need parent volunteers to help with directing our guests for parking, handing out name tags, and leading groups of guests to different stations around the home.  To be a volunteer, you will need to be able to attend both the rehearsal at 6:00 pm, Thursday April 14 as well as the event on April 19.  If you are available to volunteer, please send an email to IPF@ironacademy.org.  We need several volunteers and no experience is necessary - just a heart for sharing the message of Iron Academy!   

Science Lab on Saturday March 19

The schedule for the day is:

8:00-11:30 for 8th and 9th graders

12:30-4:00 for 6th and 7th graders

Remember that students are to wear their IA academic clothes and closed-toe shoes. Students should bring paper and pencils/pens and they can bring a snack. 
          

IPF Budget Update

The IPF was able to bless our math teachers with the purchase of two large magnetic graphing whiteboards for $197.  We've had a big boost to our account with recent fundraising activities.  First, our basketball tournament admissions and concession sales gave us net proceeds of nearly $600.  Second, thank you to everyone who donated items for us to sell at the Kids Exchange January sale.  We received a check for $404!  Third, we received a quarterly payout from http://www.fundyourpta.org/ironacademy.php for $39 (1% donation for all of our Amazon.com purchases that go through this link).  And lastly, we are submitting $122 worth of BoxTops.  Thank you to everyone who clipped them for us and thank you to Kelly Thompson for counting 1,220 BoxTops!        

Calendar of March Events

You can access our school calendar of events on Iron's website through the Welcome tab or it is also one of the tabs in the header to this message.  
Every Friday 7:50-8:30 am: Join us for the Parent Prayer meeting.  Please feel free to come at any time that you are available.  It is a pleasure to pray for our students, faculty, parents, and school.  
Sat 5th:  9:00-2:00 Debate Tournament at IA
Tues 8th: 5:30-8:30 pm Kamado Grille Spirit Night
Wed 9th: Father's Breakfast at 7:30 am
Fri 18th: Second deadline to submit order for Sword Photos that Mr. Anderson took of each student.
Sat 19th: LAB DAY AT NEUSE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Tues 22nd: Prospective Family Information Session (We had a wonderful crowd at our Feb session.  Please let all of your friends know about our March session.)
Thurs 24th: Middle school golf versus Falls Lake Academy
Fri 25th to Fri April 1:  EASTER AND SPRING BREAK - NO CLASSES
April 1: Re-enrollment Fee of $750 is due.  Mail to Iron Academy, 9660 Falls of Neuse Rd, Suite 138 #263, Raleigh, NC, 27615.