So much is happening at Lake Lure Classical Academy, and we are excited to be a part of it!
Our athletic teams are in full swing, and there is an unmistakable energy surrounding their games. Playing on a team is a rewarding experience, but one of my favorite parts of watching our students compete is seeing them demonstrate the values and principles we strive to instill at LLCA. Athletic competition provides students with opportunities to practice teamwork, perseverance, discipline, respect, and good sportsmanship. This is where true character shines through.
Have you visited our Classical Garden lately? If not, you have missed some tremendous growth! Our cantaloupes and watermelons have flourished, and Megan Jarrett recently gave students the opportunity to taste-test some of the delicious cantaloupe harvested right from the garden. Experiences like these bring learning to life and allow our students to see—and taste—the results of their hard work.
As summer slowly fades, we are preparing for our fall garden. Soon, our garden will be filled with broccoli, carrots, beets, lettuce, and much more. We look forward to watching our students continue to learn through these hands-on experiences throughout the changing seasons.
Academically, we are continuing our focus on strengthening the foundational skills our students need for long-term success. Recently, all LLCA students completed a writing assessment designed to provide us with a snapshot of their current writing abilities and help us identify areas where additional instruction is needed. Writing is an integral part of learning across every subject area. When students develop strong writing skills, they gain a powerful tool they can use throughout their education, future careers, and everyday lives.
One of the greatest strengths we have at Lake Lure Classical Academy is our commitment to providing a classical, knowledge-rich education. This approach recognizes that students need a strong foundation of shared knowledge in literature, history, geography, science, the arts, and civics to become thoughtful readers, writers, thinkers, and participants in their communities.
In his 2020 book How to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation, E. D. Hirsch Jr., founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation, writes, “Schooling in a democracy is not just schooling. It’s also citizen making.” Hirsch emphasizes the important role education plays in providing students with a shared foundation of knowledge, language, history, and culture.
I have personally witnessed the benefits students can experience when they learn within a classical, knowledge-rich educational environment. At LLCA, our goal extends beyond preparing students for the next test or the next grade level. We want to provide them with a rich body of knowledge, develop their ability to reason and communicate effectively, and cultivate the character and intellectual habits that will prepare them for college, careers, citizenship, and life.
And there is even more on the horizon! We are excited about the upcoming addition of a Speech and Debate Team for our high school students. Speech and debate will provide students with structured opportunities to strengthen public speaking, research, argumentation, critical thinking, and leadership skills through practice, performance, and competition. These are skills that will serve our students well in college, careers, and civic life.
This year, LLCA has embraced a schoolwide theme that captures exactly where we are headed: Soaring to Success! Every staff member and student has received a Soaring to Success! school T-shirt that can be worn on Fridays with uniform bottoms. I absolutely love walking through our hallways and classrooms on Fridays and seeing our students proudly wearing their shirts. It is a wonderful visual reminder that, although we each have different roles within our school community, we are united by one goal: helping every student and LLCA soar to success.
Our vision is ambitious. We are working together to make Lake Lure Classical Academy one of the most successful charter schools in North Carolina. That kind of success does not happen by accident—it comes from high expectations, hard work, strong relationships, excellent instruction, and a school community committed to continuous growth.
I am incredibly proud of our teachers. They are some of the most creative educators I have ever had the pleasure of leading, and I see evidence of their creativity, dedication, and commitment throughout our classrooms every day. Most importantly, our students are reaping the benefits of their teachers’ hard work.
There is certainly a lot happening at Lake Lure Classical Academy—and we are loving it! Whether our students are competing on the athletic field, harvesting vegetables from the Classical Garden, strengthening their writing skills, expanding their knowledge, developing their voices through speech and debate, or proudly wearing their Soaring to Success! shirts, we are building something special together.
We are LLCA. We are Raptors. And we are SOARING TO SUCCESS!
