Track & Field Season Recap 2017 // Video

The 2017 track & field season will forever be seen as one of the best in school history. No other group of athletes have embraced the team aspect of a very individual sport quite like this year's squad. Since the first year of the track & field program in 2007, Woodward Academy has a long tradition of excellence in the sport with a couple state champions ('07 and '14) and team district championships ('11 and '14). Neither of those things happened this season, but this year's team rewrote the school record book in more ways than one. 

"Overall, this was a really fun group to coach. What makes this team different than past years to me is their attention to detail in perfecting what they did. Whether it was a handoff, a hurdle, warming up for a race, or how they come out of the blocks, this team was very specific with how they trained and prepared for events," said Head Coach Shaun Mohon. This team adopted the theme of "meet the standard," and the team really pushed themselves and their coaching staff to embrace it every day. "This group ran with the theme and you could see it throughout their workouts, meets, and in day to day life as track athletes."

By mid-April, the hard work in practice was starting to show dividends in meets. The team got their first win of four, which tied a school record, at Central Decatur on April 11. They followed that meet up a week later with their second win at Van Meter. The winning pushed this team even harder in practice and they rallied around each other. They knew their end goal was to compete with the best in the state. 

A Weekend of Possibilities

Last weekend from Thursday through Sunday, over 150 students left Woodward Academy's campus to participate in school activities and community service projects across central Iowa. With the spring season here, the Woodward Academy student schedule is ramping up and students are having opportunities to get involved in a variety of ways.

The bulk of the travel started Friday when students from the track & field team traveled to Ogden High School, 18 miles north of Woodward, where they won their 4th meet of the year. Back on campus, a number of beautification projects were underway in preparation for the upcoming graduation and Open House events. Flowers were planted, shrubs were trimmed, and rock was laid as landscaping around several campus buildings.

The next day, students helped a local church in Madrid (6 miles east), others took care of little league softball fields in Perry (11 miles west), and others got an agricultural lesson when they helped out at a local grain silo just outside of Woodward. But the majority of students traveled north to Ames (29 miles) and the campus of Iowa State University. Fifteen students worked for Knights on the Move, the Academy's local moving company, and moved furniture for a sorority on campus, while 65 students helped ISU by working at Jack Trice Stadium during their commencement ceremony. This year, Iowa State had a record number of graduates (5,093 candidates), and Woodward Academy students provided their families and friends with concessions during the event.

For many facilities, juggling the track event, community services projects, Knights on the Move, and helping with the ISU graduation, could turn into a logistical problem when considering staff coverage and transportation. But for Woodward Academy, the more opportunities for students to get off campus and to engage with the community, the better it is for the students, and Woodward Academy as a whole. Our students consistently demonstrate what it means to be a Knight, and that is worth it. Go Knights!

Edgenuity

For many students at Woodward Academy, the path to graduation is not always the same or an easy road to follow. With a student population that is constantly in flux, getting students placed in the correct classes is a challenging endeavor. Students are being admitted and discharged at different points throughout the school year from many different states, and many have gaps in their credits, having received partial credit for classes in some cases. All of these variables add layers of complexity to class scheduling to meet graduation requirements.

New to this academic school year was the implementation and usage of Edgenuity: an online resource where students can complete classes toward high school graduation. Edgenuity is a self-paced, online curriculum, where students can login to their classes from any computer and work on them as needed. It meets the rigor of Common Core and state standards, as well as various state's graduation requirements.

At Woodward Academy, the usage of Edgenuity was never intended to replace classroom instruction. In fact, only a small percentage of students have taken courses through Edgenuity this academic school year. Those students were selected based on their transcripts, as well as their ability to complete coursework independently. Utilizing Edgenuity has allowed the education department to meet some of the unique circumstances that credits require. For example, a student this spring was enrolled in the short-term, highly structured program, and was expected to only stay 90 days. He needed a partial credit for graduation and was able to complete the coursework required through Edgenuity to get that credit. The student worked on the course during the school day, and because of his positive behaviors on the dorm, was able to supplemented that learning after school and on the weekends while on the dorm. For other motivated students, some have been able to complete two courses in the same amount of time it would take to complete one classroom course, allowing them to make up credits that they missed out on prior to attending Woodward Academy. Edgenuity also provides an abundance of elective courses that the school plans to utilize more fully in the future for students who have met the majority of their required courses and are on pace to graduate.

It is anticipated that the implementation of Edgenuity will increase as the need arises. It is already slotted to be used this summer as a credit recovery tool for some students in addition to the array of summer courses offered to students.