7th Annual Knights Scholarship Golf Outing

In it’s seventh consecutive year, the Knight’s Scholarship Golf Out benefiting the Woodward Academy Lifetime Commitment Fund took place at Beaver Creek Golf Course in Grimes, Iowa on June 24. This year, 79 golfers attended the four-person best-ball tournament that raised $2,500 money for Woodward Academy alumni as they move onto the next stage of their life. In the seven years that this tournament has taken place, over $39,000 has been raised, all of which has gone toward helping WA students. Whether it is college tuition, books, apartment
furnishings, or helping a past student with travel expenses to compete at the USA Track & Field Indoor National Championships, the tournament has made a significant impact on students lives and will continue to do so for years to come. A special thank you to the 27 generous sponsors who helped make this year's event a success.

Outcomes Survey

Every time a student discharges from Woodward Academy, they complete an outcomes survey. They rate our services and are allowed to write comments. This is our opportunity to test the formal vs informal. Is what we are really doing what we say we are doing? This helps us identify gaps in our services and allows us opportunities to fix it. 

Overwhelmingly, our students talk about the great people they had helping them, the support they had, and an overall great experience being a Knight. After the break, we have copied some student responses to offer a quick snapshot of some of the comments we received from the past three months. We have identified areas we want to improve upon, but the message was clear that students have benefited from the Woodward Academy experience. 

A Historic Day for Woodward Academy Athletics

This past Saturday (February 28) was the most historic athletic weekend in Woodward Academy history where 3 separate events were taking place across the United States and where Woodward Academy students were performing at the highest level. In Des Moines, the Knights basketball team was playing in a Substate final to qualify for the State tournament for the first time in school history. The Knights of Iron powerlifting team was competing in Nebraska in a meet as they continue to prepare for the USAPL High School National Championships, and a WA alum was long jumping in Boston, MA at the USATF Indoor National Championships.

The specifics to each event are absolutely amazing and you can read more about each one after the break. If you just want the details, Cal Lane (WA alum) finished in the top 10 in the long jump event, the powerlifting team won the competition and Julius Walker continued to break his own American Record by squatting 625 pounds in this meet, and the basketball team made a historic comeback to qualify for the state tournament.

Cal Lane: WA's First Professional Athlete

Over the past couple years, we have been able to follow the professional track & field career of former Knight Cal Lane. He was the cover story of Volume 28 of the Knightly Knews that you can download here. Cal graduated from Woodward Academy in October 2007 and returned to his high school where he won 6 individual state titles and was inducted into his high school's athletic hall of fame. Until recently, he trained primarily on his own and competed in long jump events across the country with a little backing from Woodward Academy and the Lifetime Commitment Fund.

In 2013, he competed at Iowa State University and won the long jump contest at their indoor winter event. He also won at an event held at Arkansas University (you can see the video here) and has competed in several other meets, including those held at The University of Kansas and the 2014 USATF Indoor National Championships in New Mexico.

On December 19, Cal jumped at the University of Indiana and hit a huge jump: 26 feet, 4 inches. He won the meet and is currently ranked #1 in the world. It qualified him for the USA Indoor National Meet in Boston that is being held February 28-March 1. It also ensures that he can jump in any meet that he desires for the next year. We also just found out that Cal is now signing with an agent and will field contract offers that will help pay for clothing, travel expenses, and cash. One of those contracts was from Nike. Cal has decided that over the next few months, he will compete in Europe at events that will pay him between $500-$5,000 in prize money per meet. We are very proud to say that Cal is a Knight and is our first professional athlete.

Alumni Visit Campus // Knights Pride

The four years in high school are formative years in a lot of young people's lives, and ones that are often remembered forever. For two Woodward Academy alumni, they were so powerful that they helped shape who they are today. Kevante Jackson and Tony Stocker attended WA during the 2010-2011 school year and left an impact on the school that continues today. They were both members of Woodward Academy's first football team, and were also on the powerlifting team that was featured in the documentary, Knight of Iron.

They are now on their own in Kansas City, MO and Flint, MI respectively, working in the auto industry, and both are engaged to be married. Tony's fiancé is originally from Iowa and he wanted to show her his path through high school that included a stop at Woodward Academy's campus. He called Kevante up, and together they made the trip. Tony admitted to staff that he never thought he would ever return to campus, and was regretting his decision as he approached campus. But once he saw and talked with some staff he knew, he said it "felt like home." During their time on campus, they presented their story to a lot of Knights during Dorm Report meeting and both are extremely proud to be Knights.

WA Alum Competes in the USATF Indoor National Championships

In the last edition of the Knightly Knews, we did a cover story on Woodward Academy alum, Cal Lane. At that time, Cal was resurrecting dreams of becoming a professional track athlete and his first step was to compete at the USATF Indoor National Championships.

As a 6-time state champion, Cal certainly has the athletic prowess, but lacked a lot of the resources necessary to compete on the national level. He continued to train on his own after work and with the help of WA, competed at Iowa State University’s indoor Holiday Preview event in December and won, despite not jumping his best.

Since then, he has competed at events at Arkansas University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Indiana, all leading up to qualifying for the USATF Indoor Championships. On February 22, Cal Lane was jumping with the nation’s best at our National Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was one of 16 who qualified and finished 11th after jumping 24’ 1/4’’. After jumping a new personal best this season of over 25’, Cal is looking forward to a successful outdoor season later this year.

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.