From Our Board Chair
Dear Fellow ACA Parents,
In this season of thankfulness and celebration, I have been reflecting on the good work of parenting. It is a calling that comes with both great costs and great joys.
God reminds us through His word that our children are a blessing, and He leads by example as a loving and thoughtful Father to us. Because we're created in the image of God, the gift of parenting includes bearing the weight of many responsibilities -- from providing life-giving support to our infant children, to bringing them up in the wisdom and instruction of the Lord as they grow older, to preparing them for independence and influence in their latest years. These responsibilities most strongly influenced the early conversations my wife Brady and I had about how we should educate our boys, Waverly and Jensen. Three central themes emerged from our conversations:
1) How do we ensure that our boys are having their worldview comprehensively shaped by biblical precepts, and that they are growing spiritually?
2) How do we provide and model contexts where the Gospel is demonstrated and proclaimed, particularly to the unbelieving world around us?
3) How do we best fulfill our responsibility for stewarding our boys’ intellects, ensuring that they are effectively challenged and growing academically?
We concluded that the environment at ACA is one where children are consistently and continually pointed to the truth of God’s word and encouraged to live in light of that truth. When we hear faculty and staff speak to our boys, we see significant alignment between what they hear at ACA and what they hear from us at home about who Christ is and who they are in light of Christ. Further, when we considered the people with whom our boys would spend more of their waking hours during school than they would with us, getting to know the competent and loving faculty at ACA instilled a confidence that Gospel-centric living is being modeled for students every day.
When it came to weighing the options for an academically rigorous environment, we were pretty well sold when, at both a recitation and a classroom visit, we heard students demonstrating their Latin skills and (here’s the clincher) seeing them classify sentences using English terms that I’m not sure I ever knew. While these skills are impressive in their own right, to us they were illustrative of a curriculum that holds students to high yet attainable standards while clearly developing the fundamental skills to equip them for lives of learning.
I share our family’s perspective because my prayer is that you are encouraged to consider the ways in which your own family has been blessed by this amazing community at ACA. As you recount those blessings, I also pray that you pause to consider how you might contribute financially to the continued health and growth of ACA. It is true that our investments of time, talent, and treasure bespeak our loves, and I hope that you will consider joining us as we seek to apply our love of ACA in our investments. As you’re likely aware, ourend-of-year fund raising campaign is in full swing, and we endeavor to maximize those contributions by meeting our goal of raising at least $25,000, which will be matched by a generous donor.
I want each of you to know how grateful I am that you are part of our incredible community. May this Christmas season bring quiet moments to soak in the indescribable wonder of God’s grace in sending His son Jesus, as well as loud moments of celebrating His coming with exceeding joy. May you form precious memories with family and friends through it all, and may you ring in the new year with hopeful expectation of what God is doing in your life and in the life of Augustine Classical Academy.
With Most Sincere Gratitude,
Justin F. Riley
Chair, ACA Board of Directors
