Strategic planning is a process that independent schools, non-profit organizations, and for-profit businesses and industries typically undertake on a regular basis to ensure they are meeting their mission, acting upon their core values, and appropriately setting goals around those strategic initiatives. As such, over the course of the 2019-2020 school year, MPCS is engaging in the strategic-planning process. This process is meant to be comprehensive and allow every stakeholder (students, alumni, parents, grandparents, board, faculty, and staff) to provide input into the direction of the school over the next five years. By engaging our people, our goal is to inspire and unite our community through the process, allowing us all to be a part of something bigger, so that our students may flourish.

 

Over the past sixteen months, the Mount Paran Christian School Board of Trustees and Executive Council have spent extensive time discussing the mission of the school, the culture of our community, and the direction we are going in the future. As we head into the winter and spring quarters of this school year, we will engage the entire community in the strategic planning process (my next blog post will explore this process).  However, before we get there, we knew we would need to first examine the school’s mission as it was written years ago and determine the core values that will help us consider and make decisions about every area of the school for the coming years.

 

If you’ve never been to a robotics competition, you need to go. You would be amazed—not just at the fascinating robots that are on display, the enormous amount of intelligence present, or the surprisingly satisfying smell of aluminum, plastic, and rubber—but by the way robotics teams have to strive to be the best they can be as a team. It’s also about how they can use their strengths to help other teams be successful.

Barbeque. Hurricane. Canoe. Though you may not realize it, these commonly used English words—among many others—originated from the language of the Taino people, indigenous to Puerto Rico and several other Caribbean islands. Beyond language, the Spanish culture has deeply influenced our society today. Chips and salsa have become so popular they are now one of the highest-selling snacks in the U.S., according to Interexchange.org. The rise of soccer as a popular sport in America can be partially attributed to its popularity within the Spanish culture. Famous Latin names are easily recognized, such as musician Jennifer Lopez, film star Antonio Banderas, actress Sofia Vergara, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and sports star Cristiano Ronaldo. And, so, for these—and many more—important contributions to America’s story, each year the U.S. government recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month.

Often, we wonder, “What does it take to be a good Christian?” In response, we may think about right versus wrong: saying the right thing, doing the right thing, thinking the right thing. Christianity is, however, more accurately summed up as love. It is our response to the love that God has for us that should compel us to want to do the right things, say the right things, and think the right things—not the other way around.

Over the last two decades, our society has been transformed by technology, especially high-tech tablets and smart phones. Technology touches our lives in so many ways that the children of today are surrounded by it at every turn. It is not uncommon for today’s elementary-aged children to have their own personal tablet, smart phone, or wrist watch that communicates with parents. Toddlers can often navigate a tablet with ease. Even new kitchen appliances are incorporating smart communication technology into their design. The challenge facing our society is how to best navigate this high-tech culture in a healthy manner. How can we balance our use of technology in order to avoid falling into negative patterns of too much screen time?

GUEST STUDENT AUTHORS

A recently developed leadership program at Mount Paran Christian School is providing high school students with the opportunity to learn, practice, and reflect on leadership. Developed by Jason Beard, Assistant Head of High School, the goLEAD program’s goal is to develop and empower today’s servant-leaders by teaching essential principles of leadership, collaborating with community and school leaders, and providing authentic experiences in leadership.

The goLEAD program has officially launched as a two-year curricular program, designed to prepare servant-leaders by teaching leadership principles, collaborating with community and school leaders, and providing authentic experiences for students to learn, practice, and reflect on their leadership. The thought of doing leadership intentionally was the spark that created a leadership-development program that incorporates a balance between learning about leadership and actually experiencing it.

I want to tell you about one of my first memories of a veteran. When I was about six years old, I remember watching my father labor to meticulously build 40 picnic tables as one of his side jobs. He had to work these extra jobs because he took a pay cut when his company moved him to working a desk job. You see, my father served as a munitions specialist in the Air Force and was stationed in Germany around 1960. His job was to reach his arm into a nuclear warhead to arm it for daily practice runs. This exposure to radiation caused my father to lose that arm (and later his shoulder) to cancer. However, he went ahead and built those 40 picnic tables with one arm.

As parents, we are constantly teaching our children, modeling behavior, and doing our best to help shape them into responsible Christian citizens. We take them to church, Sunday school, youth groups, and summer camps. We enroll them in arts, clubs, and sports teams, looking for teachable moments at every turn. We pray they develop relationships with role-models that develop their character. How can we ensure that our children are being influenced by godly people that will help to “train up a child in the way he should go?”