Jeremy Stephens Speaks to Students on Campus

Des Moines native, Jeremy Stephens, spent some time this week talking with some WA students about growing up in Iowa and his current career as a fighter in the UFC. Recently, Stephens beat the 9th ranked fighter in his weight class and is currently ranked in the top 10. He shares an agent with Myles Fury, another UFC fighter who spoke on campus last year.

Stephens has made some mistakes in his past, and would be the first to acknowledge that. One of the worst he told students was that he surrounded himself with people who didn't have his best interest in mind. Once he got in the spotlight as a successful UFC fighter, others around him held onto that for their own interest, which ultimately got him in trouble. When that happened, he said he found it very difficult to approach his family, friends, and even UFC President Dana White, to explain his side of the story. He has vowed to be more diligent about the decisions he makes in the future. During the question/answer session, students were particularly interested in how Stephens got into the UFC. He stressed hard work and being focused as his main reasons. Often times, he prioritizes working out and training over more fun activities. Stephens was a great speaker for the Knights, and afterwards he posed for some pictures with students and took a tour of campus.

WA Powerlifting at Lincoln, NE

Even though the powerlifting season started in November, the competitive season did not kick off until this past weekend when the team traveled to Lincoln, NE for their first meet of the season. The goal every year at these early events is to qualify for the USAPL High School National Championships were the Woodward Academy team is 8 time defending National Champions.

Months of practice and preparation helped equip the lifters with proper form and technique for when they perform their squat, bench press, and deadlift. But nothing in practice can replicate the experience of an actual competition. Nerves can cause lifters to miss important lifts and not live up to their true potential. This year's team exceeded expectations for their first meet. A couple lifters completed all of their lifts and many lifted more than the coaches anticipated. In all, the team of 10 scored 9 first place finishes and those 9 all qualified for Nationals. The tenth lifter did not compete due to an injury. That pretty much makes for a perfect meet for the Knights and a good step toward the national competition, which will be held in Killeen, TX the weekend of March 28-30.

Roller Skating Unit // Video

The P.E. class offered a new unit this semester that they had never done before: roller skating. The teachers felt very confident that the students would love the unit, and they were not disappointed. Skating is a special skill that not all individuals have, so after the skates were rented, one of the first lessons taught was how to fall properly. From there, other basics of how to balance themselves and to shift their weight to move were also taught, which turned the gymnasium turned into a roller skating rink. The students found the unit to be a lot of fun, and for some staff who also participated, it was a blast to years ago when skating was more in vogue. Below is a video showing the students in action.

Track Athlete Cal Lane - Update

In the last edition of the Knightly Knews, we ran a story about former Woodward Academy student, Cal Lane, and his pursuit of a professional track career. At that time, we reported that Cal was training on his own and through the help of Woodward Academy's Lifetime Commitment program, was able to travel to Iowa State University to compete in their indoor winter event, that he won. You can read that story by clicking here to download the latest Knightly Knews.

Since that time, Cal has traveled to Arkansas University and won that long jump event as well. A video of him jumping is posted below. He jumped 25' 0" (7.62 meters) and accomplished his first goal of qualifying for the USATF Indoor National Championship, which is being held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 21-23. Later this month he will be competing at the University of Kansas to continue to prepare for the Nationals meet. We'll keep you updated as more information is available.

2013 NAHC Mentor of the Year - Cody Irvin

Staff at Woodward Academy have to be very active and energetic on a daily basis. Between teaching, coaching opportunities, extracurricular activities, and just spending time on the dorm, our staff invest an amazing amount of time into our student population and it is one of the primary reasons why we see such dramatic success in our students. While this blog focuses mostly on student accomplishments and activities on campus, our staff members do have lives and interests outside of Woodward Academy. Those things equally make up who they are and what they can bring to campus.

Recent, Cody Irvin was selected as the North American Hunter's Mentor of the Year. As a life long hunter and member of the organization, this is a really great honor and a reflection of Cody's personality. On campus, Cody is the Knights on the Move Director, which means that he is the man in charge of our largest vocational opportunity for students. But the real reflection of the award that he won is that he is the "mentor" of the year. Having seen Cody work directly with students at Knights on the Move, he is an amazing teacher to students. He is patient, thorough, polite, and everything that a great mentor would be. He is a great diplomat for Woodward Academy and puts our students in positions to be successful. Congrats Cody!

RUSH Month - Becoming a Knight

The Knights Club is the elite student body on campus and it is the organization that is at the center of our success. Becoming a member of the Knights Club is a big deal for our students and is often a very memorable moment. For them, the moment is a culmination of months of them dedicating themselves to changing for the positive.

The process of becoming a Knight takes time. First, they learn the norms on their dorm and on campus and demonstrate that by supporting them and confronting negative behavior. Over time, Knights on their dorm recognize and support them by giving them their pledge. Once this occurs, students are actively working toward their Knight status by collaborating directly with the Knights on their dorm. Once complete, they earn their Knight status in from of the entire Club. This moment occurred for a lot of students last week at the end of RUSH Month.

The goal of Rush Month is to accelerate this process by giving those students who do not have their Knight a chance to earn it by getting their pledge. Some of those students may be new to campus, other students it may another opportunity to get it. Whatever the case may be, this year's Rush Month was a huge success and ended with 217 Knights walking around campus, many of which were new to the club. Congrats to those Knights who worked directly with pledges, and an even bigger congratulations to those who earned their Knight for the first time.

Knightly Knews Volume 28 is now online!

The latest edition of the Knightly Knews is now online and you can access it by clicking here.  As a .pdf document, you can view or download the quarterly publication to your computer, iPad, or smartphone for easy reading. Some highlights in this edition include:

- Weekend Activities
- Fall Sports recap (football and cross country)
- An Alumni Profile: Cal Lane
- Students seeing Macklemore in Concert
- I Am Building Woodward Academy: Staff  Profile
- GED Program
- How to Stay Connected with WA

We hope you have a chance to check it out and enjoy the read.