New Dorm: Infinity Hall

On August 14, construction began on Woodward Academy’s newest dormitory, Infinity Hall, and today that dorm opened. The 16 bed dorm is the first since Legacy Hall opened in 2009, and sits directly above the refurbished clinical services department in the newly acquired Elmcrest wing of campus. It is the new home to an expanded Phase 5 program.

Programming for students on campus involves four phases. In 2012, that programming was expanded to include an additional phase that focused on student transition opportunities. Over the course of a year, two off campus houses were opened that encompassed the Phase 5 programming and served 12 students.

The decision to bring one of those houses back to campus was reached with the intent of impacting more students with this programming. Over the past 3 years, there have been several good student candidates for the Phase 5 program, who were not able to be a part of it due to capacity issues. Phase 5 students are veterans of Woodward Academy. They are Knights and leaders across campus, and have demonstrated to have a sound understanding of the philosophy. Many of the students are upper classmen, although it is not a requirement, and are thinking about what their next step in life is.

With the expanded dorm, the Phase 5 program will be able to grow to 22 students and will be available to many more students. Additionally, they will have access to the same therapeutic services as the rest of campus, and will be able to have a greater presence on campus by participating in many more campus activities. Woodward Academy’s current capacity is now 272 students.

5 Challenges of Christmas

The holiday season can be a difficult time for students at Woodward Academy with memories of home and thoughts of their families that naturally creep in during the winter break. As a school, we do our best to help as many students as possible get home passes during the holidays, but not all students will be able to spend time at home. With school out of session for a week and a half, activities are organized to help students keep their minds occupied over the holiday season.

The 5 Challenges of Christmas is an all week competition between dorms that is a hybrid between RUSH Month activities and holiday festivities. The challenges include cleanest dorm, most friendly, student appearances, a PT challenge, and Knight's pride. Each will be judged throughout the week and the 5 Challenges will be interwoven during the day's activities that will also include a holiday theme. During Christmas, holiday movies, baking cookies, and calling home will be the norm on each dorm. The winning dorm will be announced on the Monday after Christmas and those students will be the first to get the new Knights gear.