We invite you to join us on Saturday June 8 at 1:00 p.m. at  Centreville Presbyterian Church as we honor  and hear from the Ad Fontes Class of 2013. This  is a historic graduation at Ad Fontes as we exceed 100 graduates in our school’s history!

We are blessed to have Cherie Harder, President of the Trinity Forum, as our graduation speaker. Prior to  joining the Trinity Forum in 2008, Ms. Harder served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Policy and Projects for First Lady Laura Bush. Earlier in her career she served as Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senior Counselor to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Policy Director for Senator Sam Brownback, and Deputy Policy Director at Empower America. She holds an Honors B.A. (magna cum laude) in government from Harvard University and a post-graduate diploma in literature from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where she was a Rotary Scholar. Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

We hope that you will join us on Saturday!

]]> http://www.adfontes.com/class-of-2013-graduation-with-cherie-harder-saturday-june-8-1-p-m/feed/ 0 http://www.adfontes.com/2012-13-senior-profile-charles-knight/ http://www.adfontes.com/2012-13-senior-profile-charles-knight/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 01:25:56 +0000 luckenbaugh5 http://www.adfontes.com/?p=4402

When senior Charles Knight was four or five, his older brothers got a brilliant idea. They decided to tie Charles’s hands behind his back, cram a helmet on his head, and request an entertainment. “Just run into the wall. You know, as fast as you can run. . . That hurts? . . . Now do it again. . . “ Willingly Charles complied to please his older, athletic brothers. “I was completely fine to do it. My older brothers taught me a lot about being tough and about being a family.”

Charles, a fifth child, has grown up with a strong example of family, love, and hospitality. “My closest sibling is ten years older than me. All of my life I have had siblings, their spouses, and my 3 nephews and 2 nieces in and out of the house. A natural introvert, Charles has been immersed in a life of hospitality and open doors at his home. “For Easter, we had at least forty people over. That’s completely typical for my parents. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Charles came to Ad Fontes in his sophomore year after his small Christian school he had attended for 3 years closed its doors. “Transitioning to AFA was really hard. I didn’t have the study habits and wasn’t used to reading literature. Although a couple of friends came with me from my old school, we didn’t help each other academically.” When asked about a favorite class, he quickly chooses chemistry. “Dr. Schultz made it so much fun. She brought an enthusiasm and excitement when she taught. I learned a lot and really looked forward to class.”

A major factor to Charles’s success here was basketball. Coach Jerry Cuffee also transitioned from Charles’s former school. “I consider Coach Cuffee to be my second father. I’ve known him since I was four years old, when he coached one of my brothers. He has taught me that everything you do has possibility for learning. You must do your best at everything.” He points out that also the basketball team functions as a family, “You have to face adversity and work together to win the game or succeed in life.”

Sports have played a huge role in Charles’s life. “Every single Sunday football is on. As a young child, I went to all three of my brothers’ football, baseball, and basketball games. It was something we all did as a family. We watched and played sports together.” While he enjoyed the process of sports, he also found a social world there, on teams or as a spectator. “Sports have helped me talk to people and build relationships. I have found that going to practice to always be helpful. Not only may my skills improve, but I also can enjoy the guys’ company and talk to coach.”

This passion for sports led Charles to his senior thesis topic—the decline in professional football. Charles reported that his senior thesis was very special to him because he is very passionate about football. In fact, he said, “I consider myself to be an “old school” fan. If I could change the date of my birth, I would change it to 40 years earlier so I could grow up with that generation of fans. So I was really excited to write about what I consider to be the Golden Age of professional football and relieve a common misconception that today is the golden age.”

After graduation, Charles plans on attending James Madison University and major in accounting. “My dad’s an accountant and I want to follow in his footsteps. Maybe someday I can work with him, and that would be fabulous. I would love to see my family at my job!” Charles points out that he had a family that taught him well, quoting his favorite Bible verse from Proverbs, “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.”

When asked about how Ad Fontes has helped him with his future, he is quick to respond, “AFA has set me up for my future. I have learned things that I can apply all of my life—how to correctly debate another person, how to write correctly, how logic really does matter. I know to work or play every minute like it’s your last. Do everything to the best of your ability—then you have no regrets later in life.”

“I love things of intricacy and simplicity. Such as, the self-winding watch that winds by wrist movement where you can see the gears working.”

You are what you love. Intricacy and simplicity. These words capture both the philosophy and the person of Jeremy Palmé. At first meeting, he seems a regular, friendly chap, yet a first impression belies the deep thinking that is happening beneath the surface. “I like knowing things.”

Jeremy comes by these traits by ancestry. He has a rich family heritage of engineers and creative problem solvers. His grandfather is an engineer, his uncle is a chemist and amateur inventor, and his father is an engineer and rocket scientist.

His Myers Briggs assessment is INTJ. He sees the world as a chessboard. How do you make the best move amongst a myriad of available options? His personality demands competency and thus, nothing is ever good enough, there always is a better way. Jeremy has high expectations of himself and finds it challenging to relinquish his positions on issues, and not achieve at the highest level in his academics.

Even his extracurricular pursuits with music (piano and guitar), and video games are as much entertainment as challenges to his mind. His current favorite game is BioSchock Infinite that includes inter-dimensional time travel, processes, and a variety of perspectives and choices. “I spent two days after finishing the game for the first time, analyzing the game and its intricate processes. It was well done with exceptional attention to detail.”

Jeremy prides himself on making decisions based on facts and logic, not feelings. For example, he created weighted spreadsheets using multiple categories of his final two college preferences, Stevens Institute and Villanova, including the % of women (typically low in engineering schools) at each school. By the way, Villanova was at 51% to Stevens 25%. He chose Villanova.

He sought to apply his logical skills when deciding to attend Ad Fontes after a year in public high school. He weighed the course variety and electives at public school with the more challenging Ad Fontes curriculum, the increased writing (not his preference), and students who shared his moral values. He saw them as two acceptable choices and two totally different experiences. Maybe for the first time, Jeremy made a decision on gut feeling – he enrolled at AFA.

On his Ad Fontes experience, Jeremy has particularly enjoyed the many teachers who stretched him to actively think and solve problems. In Mr. Mathwin’s History class, students heard a controversial court case and served as the jury to assess damages. In Physics, Mr. Carey presented a “terrible” dilemma – that time and space is relative – and he had to come up with counter arguments for Einstein. Mr. Popp’s Pre-Calculus class had opportunities, not problems.

He loved Dr. Schultz in Biology for her spontaneity with structure, always exciting and engaging. Jeremy previously thought, “If I cannot see, I cannot imagine it.” In Biology, he learned that he could see in three dimensions.

Jeremy is young man who values things that are useful and efficient. His favorite book at Ad Fontes was Animal Farm. It was simple, and well written with meaning; an allegory of actual events history, human and profound. He quotes, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Apologetics was not his favorite AFA subject, but “it was my most important class at Ad Fontes.” “I learned to not be a judgmental Christian, and that the best way to share my faith is not to seek to win an argument by logic and have them admit they are wrong. Be kind and become a person people ask. This is not a lesson that I wanted to learn, but I needed to learn. As St. Francis stated, ‘Seek first to understand before being understood.’”

Dr. Schultz and Mr. Carey modeled this – that it is both possible and attractive to be a highly intelligent scientist and a very committed Christian. Mr. Carey read Psalms for mornings devotions, and was passionate and enthusiastic about the Christian faith. He learned that logic, faith and emotion are complimentary, not in opposition.

Jeremy will be attending the Villanova University Honors program in the fall to study Mechanical engineering, a top 10 program in the country. On his orientation visit, he loved the idea of being with professors and students who think like him. His dream job is to apply his engineering skills to work with a team to solve larger problems and make things more efficient. “I want to see a need and build something that creatively meets a need and people buy the product. He dreams of creating something of lasting value.”

Jeremy’s mind is already contemplating what is possible. He chose to do his senior thesis on the benefits of solar power. “I was looking for something that was controversial, fascinating, technical and potentially useful.” Expanding on his research, he has been developing a concept for a solar water heater. This summer, Jeremy is discussing the creation of their own Segway, a two wheeled self-balancing personal transport, with his classmate Matthew Fultz, combining his mechanical and Matthew’s electrical skills to build this simple, yet difficult product.

One day, I expect, you will be buying an efficient, useful product, a simply elegant solution to a complex problem, created by Jeremy Palmé and friends.

When Alex Braden enrolled at Ad Fontes Academy midway through high school,
she did not imagine the changes that awaited her.

“I thought I’d be attending be a cute little private school where I’d wear uniforms,” said Braden.  ”I thought that everything else in my life, including my friends, would stay the same.” Instead, her two years at AFA impacted her far beyond her expectations.

“It was life changing,” said Braden. “Everything about me, every aspect of my life changed when I came here.”  Foremost among these was a deepening in her understanding of God.

“I learned a lot about God,” she said. “I realized there were some basic truths that I hadn’t heard before.”  As a result, “my outlook on life has changed. What’s important to me has changed.”

At the public high school she attended for two years, Braden said many of her friends were focused on dating and partying.  “I noticed that here people cared about different things, like how to treat your family and how important it is to make good friends,” she said.

Braden said she was also struck by differences in the student body. “I came  here and I thought, ‘Wow, they’re all just so polite! They’re really good kids.’ It inspired me to be a better person rather than follow some of my friends in what they were doing.”

But the transition also introduced some tough academic challenges. “I was so far behind,” said Braden. She gave up competitive horseback riding so she could focus on her studies.  ”You develop a good work ethic taking care of horses,” she said, smiling.

This fall Braden will attend Liberty University where she plans to pursue elementary education or marketing. Her interest in marketing and advertising prompted her senior thesis on how advertising negatively impacts young women. Her research has made her savvy to ad techniques that target consumers’ insecurities.

“It’s definitely made me more conscious of what advertising can do to your mind, even without you realizing it,” she said. Braden said she hopes that young women her age will recognize and reject the unrealistic ideals of beauty advertisers put forward. “It’s become the norm to compare ourselves to people in the media,” she said. “There is this pressure telling us how we’re supposed to look.” Her advice to other students? “God made you who you are, so don’t let someone in the media or in a magazine tell you how you should look. Embrace who you are. Being healthy is the goal.”

Looking back on her time at Ad Fontes, Braden said she now sees “how God allowed certain things to happen.” She mentions friendships she made with Christian students and classes she took like Apologetics that expanded her knowledge and understanding of her faith.

“Ad Fontes changed me in so many ways,” she said. “I can confidently say now that I’m a Christian, and that I know what that means. Everything that’s happened, God definitely had a hand in. I really saw what His plan was.”

Although Emma may not always initiate, anyone who strikes up a conversation with her quickly discovers that she is not only warm and caring, but also deeply insightful. Emma has grown up steeped in Classical Christian culture, but it’s easy to see that she thrives here by nature rather than merely nurture. “The education at AFA is wonderful. I wouldn’t enjoy having an ‘easy ride’ to graduation,” she explains. It’s no secret that Emma enjoys being challenged. She loves to read the classics, even during the summer, and she chose to write her senior thesis on Nietzsche and Christianity.   Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

Emma’s desire to be challenged doesn’t stem from competitiveness, but from her reflective disposition. Her rare appreciation for contemplation becomes evident in her advice to younger students: “We’re always looking for entertainment and doing things, without leaving time for reflection. We’ve been learning a lot about this in Ethics, about how technology encourages you to be superficial and want to be fast-paced and efficient. We have to actively spend time focusing on God to know who he is and his plan for us. Knowing his plan for you involves self-evaluation, repentance, and deep reflection. We have to actively set apart time, because you’ll never find it if you don’t.”

Next year, God’s plan for Emma will take her to New Saint Andrews College, a classical Christian university in Moscow, Idaho. After attending AFA for 8 years, Emma wants to “continue the conversation” she began here. “It’s on another level from high school. To a degree, we will have discussions like we did at AFA. The conversations will be at a higher level and all the students will want to be there.” As she considers her decision to continue with a liberal arts curriculum, she says, “I think it’s great to start broadly and then narrow the focus of your studies. It’s difficult to enter college with a tenuous understanding of your studies and have to specialize so early. Why would you want to cut off your studies just when you’re beginning to understand how to think deeply?”

Stepping out of her comfort zone socially has been a theme for Emma this year. The added responsibilities of being a senior and an assistant house head of House Rome have stretched her and helped her become more open. “During the last year, I’ve had to deal with being a really shy person. Shy people tend to look inward, but God shows you that he has a different purpose. Your purpose is to glorify him, so why would you need to focus on yourself? I also realized that people really are awesome. Once you realize that people aren’t judging you every time you open your mouth, it becomes more fun to talk to people.”

Although NSA’s curriculum next year will certainly cater to Emma’s strengths in the classroom, she is fully aware that moving across the country will be a difficult change. “I know going out to college will make me grow. I know I’ll be homesick. But I’m looking forward to that time to grow closer to the Lord and just to grow up.”

In 2008 Lauren Sloan and her family moved from Lynchburg to
Northern Virginia in pursuit of a better gym. “I started gymnastics when I was five,” said Sloan, who began attending AFA in 2010, her sophomore year. Sloan and her two older brothers began training at Capital Gymnastics National Training Center in Burke, Va. “We all excelled and competed in many state, regional and national championships. My brothers even went on to compete at the World Championships.”

“I really wanted to go on to college gymnastics,” said Sloan, who typically practiced five hours a day, five days a week.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

But a year after the move, Sloan developed back pain. Tests were inconclusive, so Sloan began seeing a chiropractor while continuing gymnastics. Then, “this past summer I developed unbearable pain and went back for more X-rays, bone scans and MRIs.” This time the tests revealed that one of her spinal disks had completely deteriorated.

“The doctors said I should probably quit gymnastics,” said Sloan. “Quitting was definitely the hardest thing I’ve had to do.”

But Sloan said that God was with her, opening new doors of opportunity. “That’s why God let me go to Peru–to give me a new passion.”

Last summer Sloan participated in a 10-day mission trip to Pucallpa, Peru, with other AFA students and staff, and members of the Frontline Peru mission organization. “It was the most amazing experience of my life,” said Sloan. “The people there are so encouraging. The stories I heard were amazing.”

The team served at The Refuge of Hope, located in the Amazon region of Peru. The Refuge is a boarding school where people with disabilities or other challenges learn trades, receive an education, and hear about the love of God.

“All of the kids were so excited we were there, except for one,” said Sloan. Cielo was a 10-year-old girl who didn’t smile or speak. “Patricia Chenette [a 2012 AFA graduate] and I became buddies with her. The Frontline translator told us that she had been abused by her brother and dad. We’d draw pictures with chalk on the ground and tell her what the picture was in English, and she’d tell us in Spanish.” The relationship blossomed over the 10 days.

“The day we left, she didn’t want to let go,” said Sloan. “She was hugging us and wouldn’t let us go. We were crying. Once we left she added us on Facebook right away. We were her only two friends.”

For Sloan, who is returning to Peru this summer for a second trip, the experience was life-altering. “God gave me a new passion for serving others,” she said. “I knew after returning that I wanted to go into a job where I’d be helping people.”

Sloan will attend James Madison University in the fall where she plans to major in Communication Science and Disorders and eventually become a speech therapist. She also plans to minor in Spanish. If possible, she hopes to participate on JMU’s gymnastics team.

For encouragement Sloan often returns to what she calls her “life verse,” Psalm 37:5-6. “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

“God has greater plans than we have for ourselves,” said Sloan. “So even if something happens that you don’t plan or expect, He has something better in store for you.”

When Ryan walks down the hall toward you, you get the sense of someone solid and protective but with a barely suppressed grin lurking. With his shaved head, squared shoulders, and solid sense of assurance, he looks every bit the guy whose job it is to protect home plate from anyone who dared to challenge him or second base from anyone who would run on him. And, indeed, when talking with his friends and teachers, there is one quality that stands out above the others and may even be a portent of his future—a protector of others.

Ryan says, “I came to Ad Fontes from Battlefield High School mainly to get a better education and to do so in a better environment.” Having been here for two years now he would say he got all that and much more he was not anticipating. “It was really challenging,” he says, “far more difficult than I thought it would be.” He liked Government and arguing in Apologetics. Yet when asked about the how hard it was to adjust to a new life in a much smaller and more difficult school he says “There were definitely some things like papers and particularly the thesis that were really tough, but when I got all done I did have a feeling of accomplishment as well.” You get the sense that it he might have had second thoughts at times, but that in the end he found satisfaction in tackling something difficult and finishing it.

In particular, he believes, “It has been good to have the consistency of the same the environment at school and at church.” Ryan also revealed he has been strongly influenced spiritually by his mentor, Hank Bailey, who led a small group Ryan has been part of off and on since 8^th Grade at Centreville Baptist Church where his family attends.

Playing catcher and sometimes the outfield for the Nova Lions is where he gets a lot of his joy. He savors any time he can be outdoors riding his dirt bike or fishing or just hanging out with good friends and classmates like Alex Braden who, like Ryan, arrived at Ad Fontes in 2011, and Matthew Fultz who shares his love of all things baseball. The portrait of Ryan from others can be seen from different angles. One view is that of a young man who is not only a protector but also someone who seems very serious at first meeting. Another view is that once you get to know him, he harbors a sharp bit of needling sarcasm and a hearty laugh beneath a tough exterior. Most often “loyal friend” seems to describe his character.

Ryan has a pretty good bead on his calling in life which, for him, begins at Liberty University in Lynchburg, a major in criminal justice, and simply enjoying meeting new friends, finding a new church, playing intramural sports, and exercising independence. From there, Ryan says, “I’d like to live in a smaller town and begin as a policeman and then work my way up to being a detective or maybe on a SWAT team.” He feels his calling is to do something active and “definitely not a desk job indoors.” He has felt drawn to criminal justice for some time now. Fittingly, his favorite TV shows are Criminal Minds and also 24, but for humor he favors films like I Am Legend with Will Smith. He also says, “I can see myself in ten years being married, probably with a couple of kids and raising two Rottweilers as well.” “Which,” he hastens to add, “are really friendly unless they are confronted.” Seems apt.

The picture of a tough but gentle friend who will ultimately become a first responder, a good husband and dad, already seems to have begun. It might not be an exaggeration to say that the difficult challenges he overcame these past two years will have helped to make the man God is shaping him to become. Just don’t try to steal second on him.