| by Tammy Erickson
Year after year, a school is named the “best in the SCV” in two categories. Year after year, their graduates go onto prestigious universities. Year after year, test scores climb even higher and interest lists grow even longer.
So, what’s love got to do with it? Perhaps surprisingly, a lot.
Legacy Christian Academy, the longstanding title holder of The Signal’s annual “Best Christian School” and “Best Private School” awards, is more than a sum of its parts – and love is what holds it all together.
The school, which serves grades kindergarten through eighth, was established by Tim and Donna Borruel. What began as a private kindergarten evolved organically as parents clamored for more grade levels. Graduates now continue onto both lauded private high schools like Harvard Westlake, Oaks Christian, Loyola, Chaminade and local public high schools with extensive collections of Honors and Advanced Placement classes.
“Legacy,” says co-founder Donna Borruel, “is a reflection of our love for children; for education; for Christ. It’s also a symbol of our love and respect for each other. I know of no one more capable of leading and inspiring a community of administrators, teachers, families and students,” she says of her husband Tim, who holds a Master of Science degree in education and boasts credentials in secondary education, counseling and administrative services.
Tim is equally eager to praise his wife. “Donna spent several years in public-school classrooms in the Sulphur Springs School District; she’s taught nearly every elementary grade. She is a tireless researcher and ensures that Legacy students are constantly on the receiving end of pedagogical best practices. Really, though, it’s her love of Legacy students that is so obvious to everyone. There’s so much care and a real, palatable sense of happiness and warmth that radiates from our school, and that has a lot to do with the tone Donna sets for our teachers and students.”
At Legacy, there’s much to be happy about. The school’s newest venture, Beacon, provides homeschooling families an opportunity to participate in Legacy’s celebrated enrichment classes and to attend the weekly high-energy chapel programming.
Test scores are also inspiring grins. Legacy has consistently scored in the 90th percentile or better on the Stanford Achievement Test (10) for the past 17 years. This standardized test is given to public and private school students across the country and is nationally-normed; it compares Legacy students with others across the United States.
These successes can be attributed to Legacy’s highly-relevant curriculum. “A driving motivation,” says Tim, “is to prepare Legacy students for 21st Century careers and a global marketplace filled with competing technologies and financial paradigms – all while maintaining a strong Christian worldview.”
Explains Donna: “We don’t sit down with a first grader and explain trade agreements with China – but we teach them Mandarin, which is often referred to as the language of business. We teach them how to critically, safely engage with today’s technology through iPads and dedicated tech education. Legacy students know how to use PowerPoint and by the time they’re in fifth grade, they can even build a computer.”
“I’ve found that truly phenomenal teachers – the only kind of teacher you’ll find at Legacy – can communicate very complicated ideas in an effective, engaging way. You just have to give them the support and resources,” says Donna. “That’s why Legacy is a NASA Explorer school. One of our science teachers trained in a NASA teacher-education program and now incorporates NASA experiments and data into lessons. The kids can’t get enough of it and hardly notice that they’re learning elevated math and science lessons – especially when a real-life astronaut ‘drops in’ via computer to answer questions.”
“We want to give kids a chance to fall in love with an education that will serve as a launching pad for a lifetime of success,” summarizes Tim.
?What’s not to love about that? |
|
