As an encouragement to students to keep on growing and developing Christ-like character, we recognize accomplishments through our character awards. The description of Jesus’ growth and development in Luke 2:52 has been formative in what we are seeking in our students. The verse says that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (ESV). From that we derive four categories of student achievement which correlate with our student outcomes: “wisdom” points to academic achievement, “stature” leads to athletic achievement, “favor with God” highlights leadership, and “favor with man” connects to service.
For academics, students with a GPA of 3.5-3.799 are recognized as having honors, while students with a GPA of 3.8 or above are considered as having high honors. In athletics, students who participate on two or more sports during the year receive recognition. Then, individual faculty members nominate students for Christian Leadership and Christian Service awards, and the entire faculty ratify those they consider deserving of these two recognitions. In addition, a top award winner is chosen in each of the four categories from among the graduating seniors.
At our elementary school level, each year we select one of our student outcomes and awards are given to students who exemplify that particular quality. These awards are instrumental in encouraging students to model Christ-like behavior.
