ISPRA Communications Awards 2017

Last year, Woodward Academy competed in the Iowa School Public Relations Association (ISPRA) Communications Awards competition for the first time and scored really well, winning 3 out of 4 categories where we submitted entries. After last year's experience, we wanted to continue that expectation of excellence for our communications, but also knew that the competition would be equally as fierce from all school districts.

Of the 20 events, we identified 6 categories where we felt we could perform well, which included Brochure, Photography, Print Newsletter, Social Media, Video, and Website. As a local chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), it is policy that another state score the submissions based on rubrics, and this year the Arizona chapter judged the Iowa submissions.

The rubric for each submission looks at design, clarity and focus, writing quality, evaluation, and overall effect. When averaged together, if a submission scores between 7-8, they earn an Award of Merit. Scores between 8-10 earned an Award of Excellence. Out of that pool, submissions that scored 9 and above are eligible to earn the top honor: the Blue & Gold Award as the best in the state.

This year, there were 98 entries from 20 different school districts, the most ever for ISPRA. On Thursday, April 20, the results were announced and Woodward Academy once again scored well. Of the six categories, 1 submission received an Award of Merit (Social Media), and the other 5 all received high scores in the Award of Excellence range. Of those, 2 received the top prize of the Blue & Gold Award (print newsletter and website), and were recognized as the best in the state. This was the second year in a row that our Knightly Knews was recognized with the top award, and the website category recognized our newly launched site. You can see all of the results on the ISPRA website, and below is a recap of how Woodward Academy performed.

Iowa School Public Relations Association
Print Newsletter - Knightly Knews Vol. 38 and 39 - Blue & Gold Award
Website - www.wwacademy.com - Blue & Gold Award
Photography - Cross Country 2016 - Award of Excellence
Video - Become a Knight video series - Award of Excellence
Brochure - Become a Knight - Award of Excellence
Social Media - Facebook Page - Award of Merit

Knightly Knews Vol. 41 is now online!

The latest edition of our award-winning publication, 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. This New Website edition includes:

- Knight's Bowl Dorm Challenge
- Basketball season recap
- New website features
- Powerlifting Nationals in Scranton, PA
- Knowledge Bowl
- Representing the Knights
- Sequel Leadership Initiative

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

Powerlifting Nationals 2017

The 2016-2017 powerlifting season began in November like nearly every other season of the past decade: with the majority of the students attending tryouts to make their mark in Woodward Academy’s most accomplished sport. The history of Woodward Academy powerlifting goes back to 2003 when it was simply an organized extracurricular activity. Today, the team annually travels to the USAPL High School National Championships that rotates venues every year. To date, Woodward Academy teams have traveled across the United States and lifted in eight different states.
   
After a couple months of training, the team competed at their first sanctioned meet of the season at the Des Moines Invitational. All nine lifters who competed at the event qualified for Nationals during that meet. In order to compete at Nationals, all lifters must qualify, meaning they must lift the designated amount for their weight class in a sanctioned event. Their second meet of the second was held at Peru State in Nebraska, which allowed for the lifters to get good competition repetitions, but it was a non-sanctioned event. The final event prior to Nationals was the Woodward Academy Open, the Knights home meet in March. During that meet, 6 additional lifters qualified forNationals, bringing the team total to 15 lifters.
   
Everything centers around the team competition for the Knights, and at Nationals a team consists of 10 lifters who were selected from the pool of 15 qualifiers. The Knights had won the Nationals team competition since 2006 when they competed in Omaha, Nebraska, and this group of lifters looked to continue that streak. On March 29, the team boarded a plane for Scranton, Pennsylvania, this year’s home of the USAPL High School National Championships. After a day of rest, the team competed
on March 31.

Basketball Season 2016-2017

The 2016-2017 Knights basketball season was one of the most fluid in recently memory. The team started with a lot of solid athletes and potential, but the season is long and this year’s team saw more roster changes compared to other seasons. As a result, the team ended with a 10-12 overall record, but that only tells part of the story. By the end of the season, the Knights were much more competitive than their record represented, and that resulted in a great first round playoff win and some post-season honors for some of the players.

Reflecting on the season, Head Coach Dustin Sperling said “We dealt with probably the most moving pieces we ever have. We had a lot of kids in and out during the season and it was hard to build consistency. But different players stepped up in different games and that was fun to watch.” A lot of players were able to contribute this season, which paid dividends toward the end of the season. More players got good minutes in the middle of the season, which allowed different combinations of players to work together.
   
According to the coaching staff, how the team improved on fundamentals visibly improved throughout the season. According to Sperling, the team was always open to learning in practice, and this dedication allowed the Knights to beat a really solid Clarke Osceola team in the first round of the District playoffs.

Junior Ammari Johnson led the team in most offensive stats for the second year in a row. His 17.0 points per game was a slight improvement from last year’s number, but his name is now all over the Woodward Academy record book. He is now the career leader in five scoring categories. Armman Johnson and Jay’Quise Norton also got some post-season honors when they received honorable mention within the conference.

Ammari Johnson’s 2016-2017 basketball campaign was always going to be a race into the Woodward Academy record books. He led the team in scoring a year ago and looked to do the same this season as the only returning varsity starter from that year’s squad. With the season now over, Ammari’s legacy has been cemented as one of the best basketball players the Knights has ever produced. He currently owns school career records in total points, field goal attempts, field goal percentage, as well as 3-point attempts and 3-pointers made. Beyond that, he ranks second in free throw percentage and rebounds.
   
Basketball is not Ammari’s only sport. Earlier this year, he earned All-District football honors as a wide receiver, and has already transitioned to track & field. He was a state qualifier a year ago in the high jump, and in the second meet of this season, broke the school record with a 6’4” jump.