This Saturday, Covenant Christian Academy celebrated “An Evening of Gratitude”, commemorating 20 years of God’s faithfulness. About 200 attendees gathered together at Messiah College, including Covenant’s faculty, staff, students, board, parents and supporters. The group enjoyed fellowship, good food, a silent auction, slideshows of years past, celebration of the school’s history, and speeches from the founding headmaster, a current Upper School student, an alumna, and the keynote speaker: Hon. Paul J. McNulty, President of Grove City College.

Dr. Sonju, Covenant’s head of school, set the tone for the evening, by welcoming everyone to enjoy a wonderful night of fellowship together in celebration of 20 years of God’s faithfulness at Covenant. Dr. Dean Curry, Dean of the Honors College at Messiah College, then offered a welcome on behalf of Messiah College since the event was hosted in the beautiful Martin Commons on Messiah’s campus. Dr. Curry praised Covenant graduates who have “enriched the academic and co-curricular culture of Messiah College in innumerable and meaningful ways”, including six Covenant alumni who currently attend there.

Following a delicious main course, Mr. Jesse Mauer led Covenant’s Chamber choir in blessing the audience through song. They sang a choral arrangement of the traditional hymn, “Abide with Me”, an evening hymn fitting for the occasion. Dr. Sonju pointed out that several of the choir singers were members of our Covenant Volleyball team who earlier that day had played in a state quarterfinals match. Since a classical education aims to form students in the fullness of their humanity, it is fitting to hear a choir made up of athletes and scholars.

Our first speaker was Covenant’s first headmaster, Dr. Christopher Perrin, who stole the show with hilarious stories from the early years, remarking that it was like “riding a tiger…we were taking chances everywhere…we were trying to learn as we moved along.” Classical education was something they were trying to recover and renew, providing an education to their children that they hadn’t received themselves. “Education” he said, “used to be the cultivation of a soul, on truth, goodness and beauty, by reading the great books, by means of the liberal arts, under the Lordship of Christ.” As Covenant developed as a school, “we were reading things about what education used to be and then trying to bring it to life at Covenant Christian Academy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.” Dr. Perrin also praised Covenant for its close community, warm and welcoming atmosphere and relational integrity; all of which it has maintained as a small school. He called upon those in attendance to strengthen the wobbly bridge back to classical education that he and the early founders of Covenant began slowly to forge.

Lucas Lanza (class of 2018) shared that his love and desire for fellowship is one of the greatest gifts being part of the Covenant community has given him. He sees fellowship as a time “when believers come together and share their walks with Christ, what they are grateful for, and their struggles.” He has been able to think about his life and faith with depth, in accordance with the Word.

Erin Burlew (class of 2010) shared her gratitude for the education she received at Covenant. Ms. Burlew shared that Covenant taught her to think and speak well which has served her well in her career as a CPA. She quipped that although her profession is not typically associated with eloquence and confidence, she argued that her Covenant education has given her confidence to argue her points with clients –a task that can require much courage when disagreeing with a senior financial executive on a particular point. She is also grateful for how her classical, Christian education has given her discernment to evaluate and choose a new church and community upon moving to Richmond.

Hon. Paul J. McNulty gave the keynote address, speaking from his own experiences as a Christian educator and from his personal walk with the Lord. He spoke in particular about what makes education truly transformative. President McNulty compared transformative education to the farm to table movement in the restaurant: how do we really know which is the real deal? Christians seeking a transformative education, McNulty said, should look to the truth of God’s word first. He quoted Romans 12:1-2, pointing out that, in order to be truly transformational, there must be holistic change, dedication to God, a non-conformity to the world, and a mind renewal. He reminds that “it’s more important than ever that through schools such as this…that we are training up young people to have discernment, to understand God’s word, and then to apply it faithfully in all circumstances.” We live between a period where God is transforming and a period where God will have transformed all, when we eat the richest “farm to table” food there is in His new kingdom. President McNulty concluded that “education serves the purpose of bringing [students] to that wonderful place where they are celebrating that fantastic, eternal fellowship with Christ.”

Mr. Michael Geer, proud parent of Covenant alumni and board member closed the night in prayer and an invitation to partner with Covenant. A generous donor has offered to match donations up to $75,000, creating a special opportunity for those wanting to partner with the work God is doing at Covenant. The school is very thankful to have been able to raise over $73,000 through this event. Reflecting on this outcome, Dr. Sonju remarked that “this is a record-breaking fund-raising night for our school. It is incredibly encouraging to know that so many people want to support our mission as we move into our third decade together.”

 

September is an exciting time for us each year. There is a bustle in the air as our teachers make lesson plans and set up classrooms for the new year. It is wonderful to have our students here again!

We have adopted a theme this year of  joy on the journey. This text from Colossians chapter one expresses well the prayer we have for our students for this school year:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

We pray that our students will each feel the Lord’s pleasure this year. In that spirit, I wanted to suggest a few ways to help bring joy to your journey at Covenant this year.

1. Pray with other parents

When I think of our mission and how it is embodied in the growth and education of each individual student, I am humbled. How could we possibly be up to the task set before us to teach students to love to learn? Or to help them see and submit to the Lordship of Christ in every sphere of life? Or to shape their minds with a distinctly Christian view of the world? We need your prayers!

Did you know that there is a prayer team that meets together almost every Thursday morning from 8:00 to 9:00 to pray for our students and teachers? Please contact our prayer team coordinator, Dana Kenny, if you would like to join.

2. Talk frequently with your teachers and dean

We are so blessed with the faculty we have here at Covenant. Our teachers love Jesus, love your child, and are committed to helping your child grow and mature this year, both in what they learn in their classes, but also in the habits, skills, and virtues they acquire. As one who once hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, I know that any long journey worth taking will involve some missteps and stumbles along the way. I encourage you to keep in close contact with your teacher – we want to see each child joyfully reach the summit at Covenant this year.

3. Equip Yourselves

The classical path is not a wide thoroughfare, it’s not intended to be easy, but it leads to such a good place. You need to strengthen yourself for the journey. In addition to praying with other parents, and keeping good communication with teachers, it’s also helpful to learn more about classical education and why we do the things we do. There are some great resources to help parents and students better understand what we’re about. Here are a few:

• Classical Me, Classical Thee: Squander Not Thine Education by Rebekah Merkle This is a terrific new book to students written by a former classical Christian student. The classical Christian movement has done a pretty good job of explaining what we’re doing to parents, but we haven’t always done a great job explaining it to our students themselves. This book would be great for 6th grade and up.
• BaseCampLive podcasts. These free 20 minute podcasts are a terrific way for parents to learn more about classical education. Subscribe with iTunes or RSS. I look forward to the new one every week.
• Classical Refreshment – We will be hosting a series of morning coffees this fall to encourage parents on their journey at Covenant. Come and join fellow parents for coffee and discussion about classical Christian education. Please RSVP with Dana.Mershon@DiscoverCovenant.com to attend.
  • September 21: “Joy on the Journey: Hints from the Head of School”
  • November 2: “Help! School Makes My Child Anxious.”
  • December 7: “Top Tips from Parents Who’ve Gone Before”

4. Look Forward to the Fruit

One piece of advice I consistently give to families is to always look forward to the fruit. Of course there are going to be challenges along the way. We are trying to lead students toward maturity not indulgence. Toward wisdom and discernment and self-control and joy. We are teaching them to be worthy possessors of freedom!  When a struggle or difficulty comes, I urge you to remember where the road leads, and the fruit that awaits you at the end of that journey.

As I consider the kind of person each graduate is on his or her way to becoming, I am encouraged. They have spent years being shaped in their affections to love and value good and beautiful things. Their minds have been sharpened by an attention to logic so that they are not easily “blown here and there by every wind of teaching” that comes along. (Eph 4:14). They can speak and write persuasively so that they can be a voice for truth in our world.

One way to get a foretaste of that fruit is to come out and enjoy our community events throughout the year. Our Poetry festival, Christmas Concert, Spring Concert, Art reception, Senior Thesis, and Graduation, to name a few. Come, taste and see the fruit that awaits your child as he or she journeys toward graduation.

John Henry Newman, a profound thinker from another era, once described how a liberal arts education can form a person in extraordinary ways. Such a person’s mind, he writes,

is almost prophetic from its knowledge of history; it is almost heart-searching from its knowledge of human nature; it has almost supernatural charity from its freedom from littleness and prejudice; it has almost the repose of faith, because nothing can startle it; it has almost the beauty and harmony of heavenly contemplation, so intimate it is with the eternal order of things and the music of the sphere. (Newman, The Idea of a University, 105).

Only by God’s grace do we have any hope of approaching the vision that Newman describes. But by His grace, I pray we will see glimpses of such fruit growing in our students this year at Covenant.

David Sonju
Head of School

A Reflection on Classical Education
By John Hayward

Over the course of my first trimester here at Covenant I had the opportunity at several gatherings with parents to share some personal reflections on how I have been blessed by my classical Christian education. Those reflections are the foundation for this new series of blogs. My goal in these blogs is to testify to how the Lord has blessed me through receiving the kind of education that we are seeking to give to the students at Covenant and to declare with the Psalmist, “You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.” Psalm 40:5

The one orienting theme of all of the other blessings that I want to share over the next three blogs is that my teachers always had goals for me beyond what they could see and measure. They did not merely want me to pass a class, progress to the next grade, graduate, succeed at college and become an excellent employee. All of those things take work and are true accomplishments but I am blessed that my teachers always kept a different person in view than the student in front of them.

My teachers were working towards shaping who I would be ten years after college. They were concerned with what kind of citizen, church member, father and husband I would be. By aiming for a man beyond the boy they could see my teachers demonstrated their dependence on God. This is key because their desire to equip me to be an engaged citizen and church member and a faithful and loving father and husband was always shaped by their understanding that I had an eternal goal. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis from The Weight of Glory my teachers knew that they had no ordinary students; there were no mere mortals in their classrooms. It is not a casual thing to be human.

Despite the loud voices for quick and quantifiable results, my teachers held to a course determined by the desire to, as Paul says in Colossians 1:27-28 “make known… the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

I am grateful for the opportunity to invite you to “magnify the Lord with me” (Ps. 34:3) as I reflect on what God has done in my life in my education. I pray that it orients each of us to pray for our students. May they be similarly blessed by the education at Covenant and may we all join Paul in saying in Colossians 1:29 “For this [presenting people mature in Christ] I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Covenant’s senior class of 2017 will be presenting their theses on Thursday, May 18th starting at 9:15am. In addition, select students will also be presenting at Messiah College at 7pm on May 22nd. We hope you will join us to celebrate our graduating seniors!  These presentations are the culmination of a year’s worth of research and hard work, but it all really began for most of them back in Kindergarten when they embarked on their educational adventure at Covenant.

9:15 – Raegan McClymont

9:50 – Sara Qiao

10:25 – 10:45 *20 min break*

10:45 – Brandyn MacKelvey

11:20 – Lexi Elder

12 – 1 LUNCH

1:05 – 1:40 – Sarah McLaughlin

1:40 – 2:20 – Sue Lee