:: Building Bridges to the Local Classical Christian Schools
Accomplished Fiction Writer Sets Sights on Career in International Affairs
When Samantha Ward began crafting a short story entitled The Alliance in her journal one evening about faeries, elves, evil villains and enchanted lands, she had no idea that she had begun writing a tale that would eventually lead to a multi-book publishing contract involving four authors in a unique approach to collaborative fiction writing.
“I started writing The Alliance when I was 15,” Ward explained in early 2009, months before graduating from James Madison University with a degree in International Affairs. “Soon, it involved two other students and our Algebra teacher.”
Classical Ed Grad Helping Start New School
From student to teacher, Holley Peters has come full-circle.
The 2002 Graduate of Westminster Academy, a classical Christian school in Memphis, Tennessee, recently accepted the position as Director of Development for Pinnacle Classical Academy, a start-up classical Christian school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Peters is one of a handful of classical education graduates nationwide who have latched on to its merits so tightly that they commit themselves to working in education vocationally.
She contributes her enthusiasm for classical Christian education to the fact that her family was deeply involved at Westminster during its critical first founding years.
“Being in on that founding process was fun as a kid,” she said. “My heart was into it going into [Westminster] as a 7th grader.”
In 2008 several leaders in the ongoing renewal of classical Christian education met together and formed the Classical School Foundation. These leaders founded CSF in order to help support and accelerate the renewal of Classical Christian education around the nation and abroad, with a special focus on practically serving local classical Christian schools.
The leaders who formed CSF have witnessed the great benefits imparted to many students in their own schools, but have also seen many obstacles that thwart the development of thriving schools.
CSF has identified at least four problems that often prevent the development of a thriving classical Christian school:
- An inexperienced board and head of school
- Unfamiliarity with best practices and expertise necessary to successfully implement them in operating a growing, thriving school
- The absence of a unifying, clear mission that solicits and maintains a vibrant community and secures financial support
- Poor marketing that usually appeals to a vary narrow band of prospective parents and supporters
CSF believes the best way to overcome these challenges is by focusing attention and resources in new ways that compliment the efforts of other organizations that are also seeking to assist the renewal of classical Christian education. CSF looks forward to collaborating with these organizations to significantly accelerate this renewal.
CSF desires to be a bridge-builder in connecting expertise to the needs of local schools and their leaders. Below are four "bridge-building" initiatives that CSF plans to implement in the 2009-2010 academic year to help meet the needs of local schools and their leaders.
Leadership Institute
CSF intends to recruit and train potential heads of school and other academic leaders for service in classical Christian schools, and to mentor and develop existing heads of school and academic leaders.
Leadership Network – the Arete Fellowship
The Arete Fellowship will consist of a group of academic leaders with at least five years of experience from some of the more mature classical Christian schools in the nation. The group will meet for continued training from some of the nation’s most esteemed leaders, and for encouragement, collaboration and fellowship.
Mission to the Classroom Program
The Mission to the Classroom Project is designed to assist schools in creating meaningful, clear missions, goals and graduate profiles that in turn can be implemented and applied in a school’s curriculum, faculty, culture and classrooms clearly and effectively. CSF is developing materials and consultants that can bring this expertise to classical Christian schools.
We are grateful for your interest in CSF. If you would like to learn more about CSF's strategic goals, please contact us. We look forward to speaking with you.
Blessings,
-
Dean Luckenbaugh
Executive Director
dean@csfstaff.org -
Chris Perrin, PhD
Director of School Development
chris@csfstaff.org - Keith Nix
Director of Leadership Development
keith@csfstaff.org - James Daniels
Academic Development Consultant
james@csfstaff.org