Foley's Facts

2013-2014 School Year Review - A year of firsts...

• Shiloh Christian School began for the first time with an enrollment over 1,000 students.  Although the school has been accredited by ANSSA and ACSI for many years, at the end of September, Shiloh had experienced its first review through AdvancEd.  The eight-person team unanimously recommended Shiloh Christian School for accreditation.  With the help of the Springdale Police Department, Shiloh Christian staff not only completed ALICE training, but the school held a simulation drill for the benefit of training police and emergency personnel.  NWA is predicted to surpass the half million population mark in the summer of 2014.  In an effort to be prepared for a more diverse school population, Shiloh Christian faculty attended the Culturally-Competent Classroom seminar.  
• Some of our firsts were opportunities.  This year was the first full school year without the AllStar building, which included scheduling, sharing and prioritizing for sports and for space.  For the first time in many years, NWA experienced snow and ice before Christmas break.  Before the winter was over, Shiloh would miss 11 days of school due to snow.  On May 3, Shiloh was part of a number of schools experimenting with Cyber Day as a way to make up missed academic days.     
• In the midst of many firsts as a school, the elementary students experienced many firsts as well. The elementary school adopted a new math curriculum from Bob Jones Press.  Several parents commented during conferences, "My child loves math.  What are you doing differently?"  Along with the new curriculum, we were offered Math Clubs, Math Labs, and Math Olympics as a way to grow the love of math in students.  AR exploded!  Students earned 22,816 points for the first time.  Eight students joined the Hundreds AR Club, three more students than last year, and over seventy students reached the goal of 100 AR points or 100 book quizzes.  With intention and for the first time in the elementary, every special teacher or staff member was assigned a specific group of students to monitor and to encourage throughout the year.  
• Our chapel theme--DUCk--focused both our spiritual growth and growth in leadership.  Each week, students learned about godly leadership through the life of Nehemiah and nature lessons from ducks.  Students were encouraged to molt tattered feathers that would keep them from soaring and add healthy new feathers that would help them reach new heights. 
• As a new concept for fulfilling our mission statement, every fifth grader was assigned a leadership role.  At the Awards Assembly, each fifth grader was recognized for growth in responsibility, service, and citizenship.  Our fifth graders led by example.  They attended the overnight science trip and received an excellent commendation not only on preparedness for the trip, but for outstanding behavior.  This same group of students performed for the first time in NWA Disney's Peter Pan.  Through the leadership of this incredible group, almost $1,000 was raised for home missions, three carloads of diapers and wipes were donated to Loving Choices, Compassion Center's food pantry was filled with a pick up load of soup, 500 family bags of food were given to students in need at a local public school, over 300 notes were written to World War II veterans, and $1,100 was given to Miss Pam in the lunchroom to help with the flood damage in her home.  Definitely not a first, because Shiloh students have prayed daily for our friend, Gunnison, but a moment we will never forget occurred on April 15, Gunnison's 10th birthday.  Our students prayed 10 times during the day and saw God move Gunnison from ICU back to the classroom.  A miracle of this magnitude reminds us we serve the living God, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 
• The last and greatest first to be remembered from 2013-2014 school year was found in Psalm 1:1.  This verse guided us through the twists and turns of the school year.  "Happy, Happy, Happy is the kid that delights in the LORD's instruction and meditates on it day and night."  Hopefully, we have said the verse so many times it will be a verse we remember through the many firsts we have yet to experience.  As the Beards from Duck Dynasty say, "Happy, Happy, Happy!"