Knights Basketball Victory // Video

December basketball does reflect with certainty where a team will end up at the end of the season, but key match ups can be used to assess where a team is right now compared against good competition. That happened on Monday night when the Knights (ranked 21st in 2A) hosted Bondurant-Farrar (ranked 9th in 3A in the latest power rankings) in what turned out to be a great contest.

In a back and forth game, the Knights found themselves down 8 at one point in the 4th quarter but rallied a comeback to eventually win the game. The upset was great, but not surprising considering how the Knights have performed this season. The video shows the intense final minute of the game and the pride that WA students show at every home game. You can check out some images from the game as well on our Knight Pics website. The Knights are off to a great and entertaining season so far and we'll have more updates as we move into the new year.

State Senator Steve Sodders visits Campus

Iowa State Senator Steve Sodders visited Woodward Academy campus today and talked with students about his experiences in the Iowa State Senate. During the two government classes, the Senator discussed a range of topics that included political strategies, fundraising, campaigning, volunteering, and how he got elected. His experience really supplemented what the government classes were talking about in class and he provided some great real world experience insight into state level politics.

One of the coolest things about his visit was that he really came with the intention of interacting with students. During the Q & A section, students suggested bills to the Senator, many of which he identified as having a legitimate chance of being proposed at the state level. Over the next couple months, he will determine which ideas have the best chance of making it on the Senate floor and will follow up with William Terry (Lead Teacher and government instructor who organized the visit) on any updates.

Football 1st Team All-District 2014

Ivan Johnson and Ankoma Riddick were both named First Team All-District this year for their standout performances on the football field. Ankoma led the team in rushing on the offensive side of the ball, but demonstrated that his strengths were on the defensive end. He led the team in solo (61) and total tackles (68.5) and served as a captain on the team throughout the season.

At 6'4", Ivan was the perfect receiver for a passing offense that broke nearly every school record this season. Quarterback Mike Payne (not pictured) received an honorable mention and set new school records in pass attempts (225), completions (96), yards (1640), and touchdowns (11). Most of those passes were to his star receiver, Ivan Johnson. This year, Ivan set a new standard for the position and now holds every school record that includes receptions (29), yards (649), yards per catch (22.4), and touchdowns (7). Darrion Fields also received an honorable mention on the defensive end and set a new school record with 6 interceptions this season for the Knights.

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break marks the beginning of a holiday season where students think about their families and home life more than usual. These weekends are also used to make that desire to see loved ones a reality. This past weekend, many students received home passes and ate Thanksgiving dinner with their families. In fact, some dorms sent 1/3 of their students home for at least part of the weekend. Home passes are earned by the students based on how well they are performing on the dorm. Even then, some students stayed on campus because they preferred a home pass over Christmas break.

For the students who stayed on campus, all was not lost and a lot of activities were planned to help keep them busy. Holiday weekend are often less structured than typical ones. There was a lot of football being watched and board games being played. On Thanksgiving day, a lot of staff helped cook meals and some of them were full on feasts. Nothing can replace spending a weekend at home, but it is amazing what a good, home cooked meal can do.

8ManTag Badgleys // Video

If you wanted to see what happened last Saturday night at the end of Royal Rumble Wrestling Week, here is the video. Hosted in Woodward Academy's gymnasium, the final event saw the Impact Pro Wrestlers in the ring along with Bill Badgley (the Program Director who set up the entire event) and his brother Ben Badgley, and an 8-man tag team event.

The narrated video is really good and you can see how much the kids loved it. We've outlined some key times to pay attention to:

Badgley Brothers enter at 12:13
Running elbow makes the crowd go crazy at 13:36
Bill Badgley's 4 person clothesline at 22:20
The Double Spear final moments at 23:30

America Recycles Day

November 15 was America Recycles Day and Woodward Academy was recognized with the "2014 Outstanding Business / Workplace Waste Reduction and Recycling Award" by the Boone County Recycling Center. This past year, both students and staff have been involved in helping WA make a more concerted effort to reduce waste by recycling cans and paper.

According to the official website, events are being hosted across the United States to raise awareness on the benefits of recycling. The 15th is only "One day to educate. One day to motivate. One day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year." Woodward Academy was honored to receive the award and to be recognized as a leader in Boone county.

Royal Rumble Wrestling Week!

It is officially Royal Rumble Wrestling Week at Woodward Academy which means that you'll see a lot of spandex and wrestling belts walking across campus. The week long festivities all lead up to the weekend activities where Impact Pro Wrestling will put on a show for the entire student body.

Throughout the week, students and staff dress up like their favorite professional wrestler as a part of a competition to see who has the highest spirit. In addition to getting into character, dorms will be working on their wrestling chants and entrances, and even group sessions during the week will be focused around a "wrestling theme." Friday night, dorms will be preparing their signs so when Saturday night comes, everyone will be ready to get rowdy! All of these activities will be judged and combined together to generate a cumulative score to see which dorm wins.

Read more after the break.