Stay Connected with the Knights

There are a lot of ways to stay connected with Woodward Academy. This blog is one of the most popular ways to get recent information about the happenings on campus. Updated several times a month, this is often the first place where you can get the latest in WA news. But there are other avenues to learn about what Woodward Academy offers its students as well. Our quarterly newsletter, The Knightly Knews, has a circulation of approximately 800 of which we either mail directly or can be picked up on campus. You can also download a pdf version of past issues by clicking here.

If you're new to Woodward Academy, our website is a great place to start to get an overview of campus life. You can get there by clicking here. From the site, you can watch our latest promotional video (which is embedded below) and download our mobile web application. Both of these are great overviews of WA and show things like dorm life, education, athletics, and vocations. The mobile web application in particular is a great tool because it is something you can download onto your iPhone, iPad, or Android device and take with you wherever you go. It also has the video embedded in the application so it can be viewed anywhere. So get connected and stay in touch with the Knights.

Basketball Poster 2013 - 2014

The 2013-2014 Iowa high school basketball season is fully underway at this point and we thought it would be a good idea to show off the team in the official Woodward Academy basketball poster. The Knights are led by first time head coach Dustin Sperling this season and have a lot of really talented players. The poster has a simple composite layout that has been digitally signed by all of the players. If you're on campus, grab a poster for your office and follow the Knights all season. You can check out a play by play of some of the games on Press Box Radio by clicking here.

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.