Announcements:

To celebrate the back-to-school season, CAPE (The Council for American Private Education) has a new video on how religious and independent schools promote the public good and provide a path to a promising future. View the four-minute video at www.capenet.org. And please share the link with your friends and communities to help spread the word that private schools are "good for students, good for families, and good for America." View Video

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Rachel Decious of Norwood is quite the accomplished gymnast. A student at the Academy at Foxborough, she also spends 24-28 hours a week perfecting her gymnastics at theNew England Sports Academy. On March 14, 2010, Rachel won1^st Place All Around at the Starlight Invitational held at MIT inCambridge,Mass. She also won1^st Place on Vault, Bars and Balance Beam. She scored a 9.9 on the Balance Beam event. Rachel qualified for the 2009 National TOP B Team and attended the training camp last December at the USA Gymnastics’ Women’sNational Team Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch inHunsville,Texas. So far Rachel has won1^st Place All Around in 4 out of 6 competitions this season.

 

Elizabeth Tupper Ling ofWalpole received an Honorable Mention in the Lands’ End Winter Art Contest. Her art teacher, Mrs. Janet Danello, of the Academy at Foxborough, entered the work of several of her students. In total 2500 children entered the 2009 contest and the winners were announced in January of this year.Elizabeth received a Lands’ End tote bag with her picture on it, as well as a gift certificate to the Wisconsin-based company. The First-Third Place winners have their art featured on their website (www.landsend.com).

Solomon Hill of Norwood, a first grade student at Living Waters Christian Academy in Foxboro, has been accepted to participate in the National Young Leaders Program (NYLP). Katrina Joseph, Head of School, nominated Solomon because of his outstanding leadership qualities that are already evident in Solomon’s life as a student at LWCA.  The NYLP introduces promising elementary school students to eight key leadership traits that are critical to their success in their education and beyond. The Program happens over a five-day period during the summer.  “NYLP prepares young leaders to develop and apply leadership skills while promoting independence, self-confidence and self-reflection,” said Marguerite Regan, Dean of Academic Affairs for the Congressional Youth Leadership Council (CYLC), the organization that sponsors the Program.  “Through active learning, students integrate leadership concepts and strategies in meaningful and authentic ways.  Participation in the Program sets the foundation for their success as future leaders.  Solomon’s parents, Judd and Patricia, were honored and excited that their son was accepted to participate in such a wonderful opportunity. However, Judd had been unemployed and only working part time, so the cost for Solomon to attend the Program, seemed prohibitive. The Hill’s prayed together as a family, asking God to confirm Solomon’s participation and then left it in His hands.  A couple of weeks later, Judd was speaking with a few of his upstairs neighbors.  In the course of the conversation, Judd told them about the opportunity that Solomon had and within 20 minutes, the Hill’s had $300.00 donated towards Solomon’s program expense.  This started the Hill’s thinking about others that might be willing to donate and they told these people of Solomon’s opportunity and the word spread. Within in one month all of the money needed for Solomon to attend had been collected. Humbled and thankful by God’s provision, the Hill’s are eagerly looking forward to Solomon’s participation in the National Young Leader’s Program.  Knowing that so many people have made this experience possible, Solomon said “I feel good because it makes me happy”.

 

From the Council for American Private Education (CAPE)

Fast Fact About Private Schools:

 

Seventeen percent of students in the class of 2009 who took the SAT attended religious or independent schools, and those students outscored their public school counterparts by significant margins.  The average SAT writing score for public school students was 487, compared to 530 for students in religious schools and 555 for those in independent schools.  On the critical reading section of the test, public school students had an average score of 496, religious school students 533, and independent school students 550.  Math scores were 510 public, 533 religious and 578 independent.

From CAPE Outlook - Set. 2009/Number 347