GED Graduates

The month of May marks the end of the academic school year and is the time when we honor the senior class with a commencement ceremony. But May is not the only time when academic accomplishments are made. Many students attend Woodward Academy behind on credits needed for high school graduation. Some students are able to make up those up during the summer when most students are enjoying some time off. But for those students who are drastically behind in credits, working towards their GED is the best option.

Students study for the GED and take practice tests on campus with our testing coordinator. When they are ready, they can then try for the real thing at a DMACC, a local community college. After successfully completing the five tests that are a part of the GED, students earn their general equivalency diploma. This doesn't just happen in the spring, but throughout the year. In fact, over the last couple months, more than a dozen WA students have earned their GED.

Fall Sports Banquet // Sportsmanship

At the end of each sports season, Woodward Academy recognizes its athletes with a banquet filled with catered food and awards. On Wednesday, the football and cross country teams were honored in front of the entire student body. The football team announced that Darius Scott-Crayton was selected as a part of the 1st Team All-District Team with four players making the 2nd Team and two additional being honorable mention.

In his final comments, Woodward Academy's Athletic Director, Cade Iversen, talked about the Knight's sportsmanship. Based on a 1-4 rating, the high schools in the state of Iowa are assessed a number that indicates their character on the field. The average across the state is about a 2. For Woodward Academy, we averaged 1.17 among all sports.

Some people think that sportsmanship is important, but a novelty award at best. At Woodward Academy, it is something that we highly value because it reflects who we are and what we strive to do as a school. Each coaching staff has a goal to produce not only solid athletes, but to build character in those athletes. Without character, Woodward Academy would not have sports. Years ago when WA was building its athletic program, there was some opposition from members of other communities when our teams would compete against their school… and that's understandable. But over the course of the past 5 years, we have broken down those barriers and now parents and schools welcome us into their schools. At every event, we compete hard and at a lot of them come out victorious. When it is all over, the parents of those schools thank our kids for playing and wish us luck in the future. In the process Woodward Academy is no longer a school for juvenile delinquents. This is because of our students character and our 1.17 sportsmanship rating that we will continue to take seriously.

Powerlifting Tryouts

As the fall sports season at Woodward Academy has come to a close, the winter sports are starting to get going. High school basketball is right around the corner and this past weekend, the powerlifting team held its campus tryouts.

Head coach Guthrey Fritz always likes to get started before Thanksgiving to get his lifters comfortable with their practice routine and to get the inevitable sore out of them before December. This year, 200 students tried out for the team which beat out last year's record of 197 students. If you're unfamiliar with the sport, you may be surprised to know that bigger isn't always better when it comes to lifting weights. In powerlifting, athletes compete in weight classes and champions are determined by how well they can maximize their body's potential. Past WA champions have come from nearly every weight class including some of the lightest like the 114, 123, and 132 pound weight classes.

The powerlifting program at WA is far and away the most successful of any sport. This past spring, the Knights crowned an additional 4 individual national champions (20 total over the past 9 seasons!) and brought home its 8th consecutive USAPL High School National Championship.

With the season starting, the team will compete in three events before traveling to the National Championships next spring. The 2014 competition is being held in Killeen, Texas over the weekend of March 28-30.

Veterans Day

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day and Congress later passed a bill making it an official national holiday. The day recognized the end of fighting in World War I (then known as The Great War), which as Congress noted was "the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war" in human history. Years later in 1954, after World War II, the word armistice was replaced with "veterans" in order to honor those who served in a war that required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen the world had ever seen.

Today, Veterans Day is annually observed on November 11 and is a way to focus the nation's attention on those who have served the United States. It is a celebration to honor their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. Woodward Academy has 25 veterans on staff out of approximately 200 employees. That is an amazing number and something that we find pride in. A lot of Woodward Academy classes spent time today recognizing Veterans Day and we wanted to take time here to honor our veterans. Pictured is Sergeant Jason Anderson with some students from his dorm, Delta Company, in an image taken this weekend. After the break, we'll recap what some classes did to commemorate the day, and look at Anderson's military experience and reflections on Veterans Day.

Macklemore in Concert!

Macklemore is one is the hottest musical artists right now, and some WA students actually got to meet him last week! The songwriting combo of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are responsible for top hits such as "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us"and their current U.S. tour made a stop in Des Moines on October 30. So how did they actually get to meet Macklemore?

The short version is the result of pure determination and persistence. Ms. Geha, a WA teacher, reached out to Macklemore's team through email and Facebook asking if he could speak at WA while in Iowa. Although he could not speak, he did offer some free tickets and back stage passes to some students. What?? Macklemore is a very socially conscience artist and chooses important topics to tackle through his music. After hearing about WA, he was excited to spend some time with the students. He is a recovering drug-addict who is proud of his sobriety and in an interview, expressed that music is his creative outlet and he wants to talk about issues that are important and have value to him.

Pictured are some students with Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis along with Ms. Geha who obtained the tickets.

Get Pink

October is breast cancer awareness month and Woodward Academy got into the pink spirit in this big campus picture. As an annual national campaign to raise awareness of the disease, pink is everywhere these days ranging from NFL jerseys to people sporting it as they participate in Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events. This campus picture was taken earlier this week as a corporate initiative to raise awareness and as a friendly competition between sister schools of Woodward Academy. Educational programming was also a part of the Get Pink program across all of the campuses.

ISU Cyclone Melvin Ejim Visits Campus

Iowa State Cyclone basketball player Melvin Ejim stopped by campus on Tuesday to talk with student leaders on campus. Most of the time was spent in a Q & A session where students asked him questions that ranged from his basketball career to future aspirations. Ejim's visit comes at a great time with the fall sports season coming to a conclusion and basketball starting up in a couple weeks.

Ejim is entering his senior season with the Cyclones in Ames and is coming off an impressive year both individually and as a team. He averaged 11.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game last year and led the Big 12 Conference in rebounding. He was also honored with the Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year last season. You can check out more about Ejim on his official Cyclone page here. We want to thank Ejim for taking time out of his schedule to come out to WA and talk with our students.