Noteworthy is that Senior Thesis students have presented speeches only to an online audience. And yet, every time – every time – we have gathered again at LINK, and it is time for these students to make their way to the podium, they look out into a room filled with hundreds of people, gather themselves, and deliver something truly remarkable and inspiring.   

However, I want to stress an unintended consequence of these presentations. As teachers and parents, we are proud, inspired, and likely reaffirmed in the type of education we want for our young people. Rightly so. But I am convinced there are some students – enough of them, anyway – who walk away from the very same presentations with a different leading thought or feeling, the gist of which is something like, “I could never do that.”  However eloquent or true or impactful those speeches might have been, I suspect some (maybe even many) students are thinking, “That is only possible for those students, and I am not one of them!”

Maybe so. Maybe there is such a thing as a talent – by which I mean a God-given ability granted only to some – for exceptional speaking on formal occasions, similar, for example, to athletic or musical talent. Maybe some people are “just built that way.”  

But affirming rhetorical talent tempts us to misunderstand the entire purpose of Senior Thesis. We all get, for example, that students should learn mathematics, even while saying simultaneously that only some have a unique talent in that subject. In other words, we understand that the point of studying mathematics is not to be an award-winning mathematics student. But after watching an award-winning Senior Thesis speech, we can very easily be tempted into thinking that such notable and inspiring eloquence is the goal of Senior Thesis.  We are tempted to think, “If I (or my son or daughter) can’t speak like that, what’s the point?”

Well, let’s ask that exact question. What is the point of Senior Thesis (called Rhetoric 2 at Wilson Hill)?

Too many classical Christian schools have found their starting point in answering that question from the Roman orator Quintillian’s famous statement that the goal of rhetoric is “the good man speaking well.” Whatever Quintillian might have meant by “good,” he did not draw his framework for understanding goodness from the Scriptures. And this makes all the difference in how we understand the goal of rhetoric (and thus of Senior Thesis).

Starting with the assumption that the Bible is not at all silent on rhetoric, why not orient our understanding of the purpose of rhetoric from the biblical worldview, starting with the scriptural exhortation to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15)?  The biblical and Christian idea of love – not simply as feeling but as action – is the most countercultural commandment given in the Bible, and thus not to be found, much less emphasized, in the classical pagan orators. We speak, in all situations and with all people (“in season and out of season,” as Paul put it to Timothy), not for our own good but for their good – that is, the good of the audience, whoever that might be. This is rhetoric understood self-sacrificially.

This is why we teach that the first rule of rhetoric is “to know your audience.” Whatever I might want to say about a matter, I must begin not with myself but with the other. Whatever I might want to say about a matter, the most important question is, what does my audience (whether one person or a thousand people) need to hear if I am to love them well? If I am to speak the truth in love?

The most important point to see is this: rhetoric, understood rightly and from the Scriptures, is about being human in the full sense of living as God created us to live.

Rhetoric is not for the award-winners; rhetoric is for all those who want to see their neighbors transformed by the love of God. Rhetoric does not just prepare you for speaking in formal settings (though it certainly does that!); it does not just prepare you for the challenges of research and writing at the college level (though it certainly does that!); it does not just prepare you to assume primary responsibility for your own project and bring it to completion on time, thus giving you confidence that you would not have had otherwise (though it certainly does that!). Rhetoric prepares you for a life of loving God and loving your neighbor. This alone must be the high goal, the chief end, or we miss the entire point.

To remind my Senior Thesis students of the true goal of rhetoric, I often return to the prayer found in Psalm 19: “May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” The true pursuit of rhetoric can have no other motivation.

The post Yes, Senior Thesis is for You appeared first on Wilson Hill Academy.

Sarah started speaking French when she was just ten years old. She said her mother, who studied French literature in college, taught her simple French phrases: “I think she just wanted to bring me into her French world a bit.” Sarah also enjoyed attending a weekly French class in grammar school. “Between my mom and this little French class, I was pretty well hooked,” she said. 

But while studying French in college, Sarah hit a roadblock: “I just felt like I had stagnated. I couldn’t learn French anymore in a classroom,” she said. 

“I knew I had to either go live in France or marry a Frenchman. And I had the opportunity to marry a Frenchman before I had the opportunity to move to France!” she laughed.

Sarah met her husband at a French party in Boulder, Colorado, while he was living in the U.S. and working for a microelectronics start-up. “One very long conversation on the merits of Blaise Pascal’s Pensées, and our friendship was kindled,” she explained. He’s from Pondicherry, India, a former French territory—where the jam, Bonne Maman, is made!

1. Learning French is a great excuse to travel to France! 

Soundron first visited France at sixteen when she stayed with a French family for a week: “I met all these interesting people, and it made me want to communicate with them because I’m a people person. I realized these words that I had been learning were connected to people who had life stories that I wanted to know!”

She added, “I learned that French dinners—besides being très bien—last a long time! They start at five in the evening, and it’s not uncommon to still be finishing up at 11 p.m. Everybody’s around the table and chatting about geopolitics for hours.” But these long conversations over dinner also build a rich sense of community. 

After dreaming of living in France for decades, the Soundrons moved to France for five months in 2021. They made their home in Nantes, where they worked with a mission church and reveled in the luxury of the best baguettes in town. 

Sarah was especially surprised to discover how much more interested the French people were in learning English than they had been when she visited as a sixteen-year-old. “When I was there as a student,” she said, “my new French friends weren’t asking me how to speak English. They were teaching me how to speak French. But our kids’ experience was entirely different. They were constantly being asked, ‘How do you say this in English?’” 

2. Studying French enriches your English vocabulary. 

Though many people know how Germanic and Latin languages have contributed to English, some people don’t know how significantly French has influenced our native tongue. Around a third of English words can be traced to French. Sarah said, “The number of cognates between French and English is profound.” The two languages share more than 1,700 true cognates—or identical words. 

“If you’re speaking French regularly,” Sarah said, “cognates naturally arise. This morning, for example, I was talking to my mom about apprehending something, and knew I was using a cognate because I was thinking of the word ‘apprehender’ in French. Studying French has enriched my English vocabulary because so many words I consistently use in French have English cognates.” 

3. Learning French makes learning other Romance languages easier. 

Since French (along with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) is one of the major Romance languages directly descended from Latin, students familiar with Latin find learning a Romance language like French easier. Moreover, learning French helps students learn other Romance languages because of all the similarities and shared linguistic features among these languages.

4. Studying French instills a love for art & art history. 

In both French 2 and French 3, Sarah teaches students the timeline of art history and architecture. She said, “I interweave French grammar and vocabulary with French culture.” Students learn about influential French artists like Monet, Renoir, Degas and celebrated French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, who created the world-famous statue The Thinker. His most famous version is the six-foot bronze sitting in the Rodin Museum gardens in Paris. 

French culture has been profoundly influenced by Christianity, and this is evident in various artistic expressions, such as religious paintings, sculptures, architecture, literature and music. By studying French, you can explore the works of renowned Christian artists, writers and composers who were inspired by their faith and contributed to the rich cultural heritage of France. 

5. Studying French teaches you to love French music! 

Sarah loves to help her students develop an appreciation for French music, beginning with the songs that the youngest children sing: “I teach classic nursery songs—little kid songs— because they are an important part of French heritage.” 

She asks her students to learn one French song a month. They listen to it until they can sing part of it or until they can recite all of the words. Then they translate all the words and identify all the conjugations.

6. Studying French enriches your understanding of philosophy and church history.

 By studying French, you can access and read original works by influential theologians, philosophers and historians who wrote in the French language like Blaise Pascal and René Descartes. Being able to engage directly with these primary sources can provide a deeper insight into the historical context, religious ideas and intellectual debates of the time.

France has a long history of Catholicism, and the Catholic Church played a significant role in shaping the country’s history and culture. By studying French, you can explore the history and influence of the Catholic Church in France, including its interactions with the monarchy and religious conflicts, which may provide insights into broader aspects of church history and the influence of the Catholic Church in different historical periods. 

“John Calvin was French, and he was ousted; the French people resisted the Protestant Reformation, generally,” Soundron said. But the influence of Calvin and the Huguenot movement left a lasting impact on French history and culture. 

7. Learning French teaches you to be a global citizen. 

Sarah believes that learning French centers students in the world economy and in geopolitics. “We talk about French culture and geopolitics in every class. It’s important to me that the students understand the place of French in the world,” she said. 

French is one of the major languages of international communication, commerce and diplomacy. It is an official language in 29 countries around the world and one of the six official languages of the United Nations. France has the world’s sixth-largest economy, and French-speaking countries collectively form a substantial economic force. Learning French can open up opportunities for students to engage with French-speaking markets, industries and multinational companies.

This year, Sarah asked her French 3 students to watch French president, Emmanuel Macron, address the French people about raising the retirement age to 63. “It was the source of massive angst, and the people were rioting in the streets,” she explained. 

Besides helping her students learn more about this important current event and its implications, Sarah also used this as an exercise to test her students’ knowledge of the grammatical form of the subjunctive and the conditional. She asked students to watch and listen to the official address and note when they heard Macron use the subjunctive form in his speech. 

8. Learning a new language helps you grow as a person. 

Sarah calls on her students often. Most of her students at Wilson Hill share the same level of mastery of the French language, and they want to help one another learn, which sometimes requires humility and even courage. “In my class, there’s no shame in saying something incorrectly,” she said. 

“The French always appreciate an effort made,” Sarah explained. “Maybe not in Paris,” she added, “But I don’t think that’s because of the language. It’s just because their life is stressful. So you can’t take a Parisian’s rudeness personally, any more than you would take a New Yorker’s rudeness personally.” 

9. Studying French helps you appreciate the Gospel. 

Studying French has helped Sarah understand that God’s heart is for the fatherless, the widow and the stranger among us. We are reminded of the words of Scripture: “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” (Deut. 10:18-19)

She said, “That third one [the stranger] has become like a theme in my life. I often think about the stranger and how to be hospitable, not just in having someone over for tea or offering them home-baked goods but also empathizing with those who experience the brain fatigue of regularly speaking a language that is not native to them.”

10. Learning French can help you share the Gospel. 

Learning another language might help you succeed in college or a career. And that would certainly be an important benefit of learning a new skill like speaking French. But ultimately, the most valuable reward for learning another language is the opportunity you receive to help spread the gospel to all nations, tribes and tongues. 

Sarah said, “I pray that my students come to understand that French is not just a subject, but it is a language connected to people who have souls, people who are created in the image of God. Embracing this truth could mean the blessing of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with another image bearer who speaks a different language.”

The post 10 Reasons to Study French appeared first on Wilson Hill Academy.

Graduates, before I share my words of exhortation, I want to begin with a word of gratitude.

I want to thank you for giving me the gift of this past school year. I have taught so many of you, and as I look at you now, I see precious men and women that have become my friends. I will not soon forget you!  

I want to congratulate you – you have reached Rivendell. You have journeyed and have seen much. You have been challenged – you may have had your moment on Weathertop and wondered if you would ever make it here. You have traveled but you have not traveled alone. You had your family, you had your friends, you had your teachers. And now you are here. It is a Rivendell kind of time. A time to celebrate and a time to rest.

But the journey has only just begun. That is the significance of Rivendell. That is the significance of this moment in your lives.  Much lies ahead. Much remains to be done. You must go, and the time to go is approaching. It is a time of celebrating, and of rest; but it is also a time to think ahead.

(For clarification, this is not the last Lord of the Rings reference).

I want to call our attention now to a biblical scene, one that resembles Rivendell, but one that carries a more sobering message. The tribes of Israel left Egypt; they wandered in the wilderness for forty years; they finally fulfilled the purpose of the Lord in securing the land of Canaan. We are early in the book of Judges, chapter two, and Joshua has just died. We are then told that the rest of that generation were also gathered to their fathers, and a new generation arose.  

And here is the important statement, so quick you might miss it – and by missing it we miss something deeply profound. “And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.”

That is stunning. That is sobering. This is not just that the story of Jericho was lost to the next generation, or that of manna from heaven, or the Exodus; it is the loss of the entire grand narrative that frames all of life, all of what matters. And it is this refrain – they did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel – that lies at the very root of all that troubles Israel, all those dark years and cycles of deep spiritual dysfunction, that we find in the pages of Judges and in the years beyond.  

It was not supposed to be this way, of course. This was the Promised Land. So many years of waiting, hoping. And within a generation, the people of God had forgotten they were the people of God; they had forgotten they were a people with a purpose, and they had forgotten God.  

My friends, graduates, a new chapter in your lives lies ahead. And such a speech as the one I am giving now is typical for casting the false vision of self-centered fulfillment – as though your purpose is ultimately and finally self-realization. The temptation is now, and it is heavy, to entertain the siren song of “making something of yourself,” or to “make a name for yourself.” As such, you would leave Rivendell to go and explore, to live your own life, to seek your own adventure, or at least to see new places – and most important, to seek and find your own definition of happiness.  

And all the while Mordor rages, threatens, advances.  

God wins, and we know that. And I will speak to true hope in a few moments. But evil is real, the enemy is real, and we are called to action. He who is not with Christ is against Christ; and he who does not gather with him scatters. There are either/or fallacies, and this is not one of them.  

My point, in short, is this: in this moment, as you reflect and as you anticipate, the question before you is not about you. The question is this: what will you do to prepare yourself so that the next generation after you knows the Lord and the works he has done for Israel? The question is whether you will take on a biblical vision for your life, a multi-generational vision, a vision that extends far beyond your life. Or whether you will take a self-focused vision, one that will end with you.

So as you consider the work you have to do, I want to exhort you to always work with two things in mind: that you work with memory, that you work with hope. And to clarify, by work I do not mean your career or professional status; by work I mean how you will spend the time and the strength and the talents God has given you. That will be your work.

Work with memory

To work with memory is to situate your work within the context of the Providence of God. It is to work, always remembering who God is and who you are in Him. It is to work, remembering that we are fallen in the first Adam, raised in the second. It is to work, remembering that by Christ’s work we are saved. When we lose our bearings about who we are, and most importantly who we are in Christ, nothing else will hold; nothing will remain.  

One of the most fascinating of Tolkien’s characters is Theoden, King of Rohan. We find him in The Two Towers as a frail lord who can hardly get up from his own throne. He is lost in the darkness and thus has no sense of the outside world as it is; no sense of the evil that is advancing, the evil that has indeed almost already engulfed his own kingdom. He has forgotten who he is, and this has resulted mainly from the evil influence of false counsel that has driven this once noble king to wretched powerlessness.   

What are the ways we are tempted to forget who we are and are thus ensnared? Are we tempted to find our identity and value in our performance? It may be grades now, it will be career later, or perhaps something else. How much self-satisfaction do we draw from likes and followers? And how long, friends, do we feed our own sense of self by voices other than God before we become lost and are rendered useless to the kingdom of Christ? Gandalf, Aragorn, and the rest of the Fellowship needed Theoden. And only when Theoden was brought outside, into the light, and grasped the sword (see the symbolism here), did his sanity and power return.  

Israel had forgotten their origin and their heritage. The future lay open before them, as it does before you. It was the time to make something of themselves, to make a name for themselves. They heard the call of Babel, they sang Babel’s song, and so they canonized themselves.  

Liberalism is not opposed simply to conservatism. Liberalism is opposed to memory, it is opposed to history, and thus to true culture. True culture bears the scars of the past, the evidence of what ought not to be done, that they may remind future generations. This is why Wendell Berry wrote that “Culture preserves the map and the records of past journeys so that no generation will permanently destroy the route,” and adds that “to lose the scar of knowledge is to renew the wound.”  

This is why we find scriptural songs that remind us of our failures, as does Psalm 95: “Today, if you hear his voice,” the Psalmist writes, “do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.  For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”  

What then if we fail to remember? What is the modern world that we have inherited if not the result of a systematic attempt to oppose memory? The Cartesian attempt to start afresh, from a wholly new foundation?  

King Lear, perhaps more than any other of Shakespeare’s plays, images the tragedy of the modern world. It is a story of hubris and autonomy, followed by heart-wrenching disaster. In one particularly critical scene, the Earl of Gloucester, despairing of life and seeking suicide, is saved by the loving intervention of his own son, which serves as the beginning of the Earl’s redemption.  

But the Earl must never forget. And we must never forget, that we may return again and again to the Cross in repentance. Remembering, in other words, is necessary for repenting. And only by repenting can we return to the work. Only then can we work with true hope.

Work with hope

Second, you must remember to work with hope, that is, you must work with clear sight as to what lies ahead. I mean this in the Chestertonian sense of sanity: to see the world as it truly is and, critically, as it will be.  

To do this, we must see what God has afforded us to see. Deuteronomy 29:29 says that the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us AND TO OUR CHILDREN forever.” God has revealed some truth; not all truth, but some truth; it is fundamental truth, and it is truth not only for us but for our children – for your future children.  

Again, the temptation now, in this season of your life, is to think entirely about your life – what you want to do, or who you want to be. Have you not been called to something greater than yourself? Have you not been called to a work that extends far beyond yourself? Will you work with the kind of hope that sees to it that the next generation will know the deeds of the Lord and what he has done for Israel?  

In failing to impress upon their children the law of God – to speak of it as they get up, as they lie down, as they walk along the road — Israel failed to work with true hope that God will indeed bless faithfulness to a thousand generations. They gave up on that hope, and worked for a different hope – something self-defined, self-trusting, something present and tangible. We can ascend to heaven by the work of our hands!  And so a new generation arose, one that did not know the Lord or the things he had done for Israel.   

Recall the story of the rich young ruler who believes he has satisfied the law of God even since childhood. We know the story: Jesus tells him to give up all that he has, give it to the poor, and then follow him. We know that the young man walks away sorrowful, because he had great possessions. Recently rereading this story, what struck me was the narrowness of the young man’s vision, and the absence of his hope.  What then was the purpose of his supposed righteousness if he could not prefer treasure in heaven over treasure on earth?  

By contrast, it was a true vision and hope that drove Abraham. Hebrews 11:8-10 says that “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

Again, you are leaving Rivendell soon. Where are you going? What are you seeking? What will you do? Will you work with Abrahamic hope? Will you work by faith, looking forward to and working toward the True City? And will you see this work generationally as Abraham did? That Isaac and Jacob – his son and grandson – were heirs of the same promise?  

There will be sons and daughters to follow after you, and others to follow them. What will they know? Will they know their God and what he has done for his Church?

Conclusion

Consider with me one final time the scriptural theme for this year’s LINK. We are told this Psalm is “a prayer of Moses, the man of God.” It is the only Psalm attributed to him, and I have always pictured him writing this near the end of his life.  Moses has seen much, but he will not see the Promised Land except from a distance. He will not enter. And we hear him cry out in song to his God, “establish the work of our hands; yes, establish the work of our hands!”

And so our time together has come to an end. We will part to go our own ways, joined together by the memories of the time we have shared – such a precious time. Let us never forget this time. Let us never forget one another, and the good we have seen. There is good in this world because there is grace in this world.  God has begun a good work in your hearts; he has formed his church; he is saving souls; he is raising the dead; and because we are His, and He is at work in and through us, there is love in this world; you have seen this love from your families and from one another. His Spirit will not return void but will fulfill all that the Lord has purposed.

And so when you hear the creation groaning, and you hear of wars and rumors of wars; when you hear the cacophonic noise of our culture, the sounds of desperate souls lost in the darkness, and you are disoriented, let memory and hope reorient you once again to the work you have to do. The work that is not your own but is His. Remember always Paul’s words in Philippians two: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

My prayer for you, for all of us, is that we will daily sing with Moses, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” Amen.  

I love you all. Congratulations!

The post 2023 Graduates: Your Final Purpose Is Not Self-Realization appeared first on Wilson Hill Academy.

The Modern Literature and Thought course at Wilson Hill equips high school seniors to offer a defense and to do so with confidence, grace, and wisdom. When professors point to the injustices committed by those in power against minority groups, for example, MLT students have learned how to respond in light of the gospel. When they read a novel like Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, MLT students are prepared to find the light, even amidst the darkness that undoubtedly exists in the world. Wilson Hill MLT teacher, Anne Crawford, gives students the tools they need to understand and effectively engage secular perspectives on literature. 

When classically educated students move on to most universities, they discover a very different way of understanding literature than the one they learned at their classical school. Early in the 20th century, most colleges adopted an approach called Critical Theory. Developed by cultural Marxists at the Frankfurt School, Critical Theory trains students to look at literature as a product of power dynamics constructed either to reinforce or deconstruct hegemonic privilege for certain identity groups. In other words, for the vast majority of colleges and literary critics, literature has been reduced to political activism. Decades later, this ideological, activist approach to art has escaped the universities and permeated our culture at large. If you have ever felt frustrated by “woke“ movies or TV shows, university literature departments are largely to blame.

Wilson Hill developed our Modern Literature and Thought class to address this problem. MLT prepares students to encounter and respond to Critical Theory in the university and broader culture. In this class, we trace the development of Critical Theory from its first beginnings in Marxism and Freudian psychoanalysis to its late manifestations in deconstructionism and queer theory. We read from proponents of Critical Theory as well as from Christian critics.

Along the way, we enjoy the essential texts of modern literature, from the aestheticism of James Joyce to the new critical vision of T.S. Eliot, from the feminist longings of Virginia Woolf to the southern nihilism of William Faulkner. As we read these pivotal texts, we practice looking at them through both the lens of Critical Theory and a Christian understanding of literature. Students learn how our a priori worldview assumptions radically shape the way we experience and interpret a story.

We end the course by studying three of the most important Christian authors of the 20th century: Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. While future historians will undoubtedly look back upon the 20th century as a spiritually dark age, these authors show us how the light still shines bright, for the darkness can never overcome it (John 1:5). O’Connor, Lewis, and Solzhenitsyn show us how to find the thin threads of truth that stubbornly persist even in the most nihilistic or twisted literature. We learn how to pull out those threads of light and reweave them into new kinds of stories and art that can embody the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Christian story for a postmodern world.

Attribution: Photo of “Rijksmuseum Library” courtesy of Aureliano Nobrega via Flickr, under Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). 

The post How To Prepare Your Children for Modern Literature in College appeared first on Wilson Hill Academy.

Nancy explains, “Through Susan Schaeffer Macaulay and her book, For the Children’s Sake, and, shortly thereafter, Douglas Wilson and his Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, God planted a deep desire in us to pursue a rich and life-giving education for our children.”

She later adds, “Somewhere along the journey that began with reading For the Children’s Sake, seeing our own children complete a classical Christian education, and now enjoying our grandchildren thrive in a classical Christian school, God called us to establish Wilson Hill Academy.”

Wilson Hill pioneered this area of online education years before COVID-19 became a reality. When many other schools transitioned to remote classes, Wilson Hill teachers and staff trained educators how to use a Zoom classroom effectively. 

Tune in to this episode of BaseCamp Live to hear all about how and why Wilson Hill Academy has been positively impacting  thousands of students and their families with a rich online classical Christian education since 2014.

In this episode, the Donaldsons discuss:

• Where the name Wilson Hill originated and the story behind how Nancy and Bob were inspired to start a classical Christian school.
• How teachers at Wilson Hill make screen time deliberate and effective for the sake of learning.
• How classical education corresponds to Charlotte Mason’s approach.
• What it’s like to build community in a virtual environment: the House System and the school’s annual LINK gathering.

Online CCE Success Story w/ Nancy & Bob Donaldson

The post Classical Education Podcast Invites Wilson Hill Founders to Tell Their Story appeared first on Wilson Hill Academy.

It is not long after school starts that students begin making new friends or reconnecting with their classmates from previous years. These friendships are strengthened each year as teachers, students and their families gather for LINK—Wilson Hill’s ultimate family camp and commencement celebration. LINK provides a treasured opportunity for students and their families to meet each other in person in a beautiful setting. 

Throughout each school year, students, teachers and their families anticipate this end-of-year gathering, brimming with fun and meaningful experiences where families can attend scheduled group activities, or choose to relax and immerse themselves in God’s creation.  

Most of all, everyone looks forward to seeing each other face-to-face. As alumna Maggie Burch said, “For students, nothing at LINK can beat the excitement of getting to see your friends and teachers.”

Jodi Smith, Wilson Hill Language Arts teacher, agreed: “The chance to spend time with my students in person is the highlight of LINK. We are already bonded, and we feel like we know each other, but the hugs, in-person conversations and laughter never get old.”

This year Wilson Hill looks forward to celebrating its eighth LINK. The first LINK was held in 2015, in Austin, Texas. From there it moved to T Bar M in New Braunfels, Texas, for three years. In 2019, everyone gathered at YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, followed by a virtual LINK in 2020, the Blue Ridge YMCA in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2021, returning to Estes Park in 2022 and again this year for LINK 2023. Some of the activities at YMCA’s Estes Park Center include archery, axe throwing, campfires, hiking, miniature golf, volleyball and swimming, to name a few. 

Wilson Hill families enjoy YMCA activities, shared meals together, daily devotionals, House meet-ups, Field Day, the Awards Banquet and dance, Senior Send-Off and much more. At the Awards Banquet, Wilson Hill recognizes students for their accomplishments on the national Latin exams, along with presenting the Euler Award in mathematics, the Senior Thesis winners and runners-up, and the coveted House Trophy.

The weekend culminates in a Commencement ceremony for the senior class followed by the class picture and cap throwing. 

“Seeing past students as they grow and mature is very special. In recent years, I have been honored to watch students graduate that I taught when they were in grammar school,” said Smith, whose children have graduated from Wilson Hill. 

“It is thrilling to see how the Lord has matured them in their knowledge and faith, and it’s exciting to hear about their future plans.”  

This year, families at Wilson Hill are excited to welcome Sandra McCracken, a singer-songwriter from Nashville, perform a concert for all attendees. McCracken is famous for writing hymns heavily rooted in scripture including “We Will Feast in the House of Zion,” “Steadfast” and “Thy Mercy My God.” 

“God shapes our hearts and our minds through his Word. Wilson Hill Academy seeks to prepare students for a hopeful future in light of this good news. I’m looking forward to connecting with the Wilson Hill family again for this LINK gathering in June,” said McCracken. 

LINK 2023 is a delightful opportunity to celebrate a successful school year with the Wilson Hill community in person. When families from all over the country—and even across the world—come together for LINK, they experience the unity and beauty of the body of Christ. 

We are deeply encouraged by the words of scripture: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10.24-25).

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            Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
            There is no shadow of turning with thee.
            Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
            As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Within this verse alone, the theology expresses a truth that all hymns reveal: Jesus is the “same yesterday and today and forever” (English Standard Version, Hebrews 13.8). If our Lord was manifestly concerned with the complex condition of humanity then, we can be assured He deeply cares for us in our present plight, as well as in whatever the future holds. For,

            Great is thy faithfulness!
            Morning by morning new mercies I see;
            All I have needed thy hand hath provided
            Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

The study of hymns is as complex as the hymn itself. Though simple and metrical in form, hymns integrate sentiment, poetry, literary and spiritual qualities, and possess the ability to unify congregations in “spirit and truth.” The term hymn comes from the Greek hymnos, seen in the Septuagint as the Hebrew translation of “song of praise.”

The Christian hymn originates in Scripture. In the upper room, Jesus offered His disciples His body as bread and His blood as wine (Mark 14. 22–24). This moving scene culminates in verse 26 as they “had sung a hymn” before departing for the Mount of Olives. One of several references to hymns in Scripture, verse 26 associates song with trial, for Jesus expressed that He would not partake of the “fruit of the vine” until He drank it “new in the kingdom of God” (25). The Christian knows and has revered ever since the next moments this choice hymn anticipated.

Preserved through the Middle Ages, hymns took on new life in the Protestant Reformation. The general love of song among sociable medieval communities explains the embrace of Protestant congregational singing. It was through the embracing of song that hymns evolved as an expression of a lively faith. Martin Luther confirmed this phenomenon with the crucial point that the spiritual song made in the vernacular provided people the Word of God through a means they could enjoy. The Protestant song was carried on the lips of traveling merchants, who through the booming print industry distributed sheet music to anticipating customers.

Before 1870, hymnals were typically small, five-by-three-inch books, whose pages consisted of psalms or poetry. These easy-to-carry companions were anthologies of poems, read as devotional poetry. When set to music, this poetry made it easy to commit biblical truths to memory. Much of what we enjoy in our hymnals today is a result of this fortuitous union. Drawn from pews and held in the hands of congregants, these hymns continue to burst forth in gloriously inhabited praise.

I encourage you, when next you hear or sing an old familiar hymn, to reflect upon the depth of its carefully chosen words. Consider the cost of its beginnings and perseverance through the ages, for many hymns were formed from the deep sanctums of entrusted trial. They produce hope and endurance through the practice of praise in difficult circumstances. Whether wrought from the forges of tested faith or from celebratory praise, many great hymns await the student. Forbearing souls, whose ink endures long after the resonance of notes fades, offer lessons of inspiration and resolve. For me, hymns are a friend, dusted treasures of truth that transform disdain into sweetest refrain.

As I recall that precious Sunday and my son’s earnest praise, my heart overflows in gratitude that the promises therein have been passed along to the next generation. The power of word and song, evidenced in the Christian hymn, is a gift of God’s constant love and care “to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7.9).

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We’ve been teaching for a long time. We know how it can go. And here’s our advice… 

Take a deep breath… and shut the book.

When it comes to covering content, it is often true that ‘less is more’; more depth of thought discussing that novel, or a more thorough understanding of history from that great project. Give yourself credit for having helped your child experience the joys of learning and acquire skills for lifelong learning.

Instead of prolonging your school year to make it to the final page, plan a time to celebrate all you have achieved together. Consider collecting all of the year’s academic accomplishments to display (books read, essays written, tests taken, art created, projects constructed.)  Maybe you can showcase each subject in a different room of your house. Turn the dining room into an art gallery or the living room into a literature library. And then… walk the family through all you have learned this year. Ask your children what their favorite lessons were and why. Help them remember how they mastered challenging concepts. Brag on them a bit—and pat yourself on the back while you’re at it. 

Remember, we’re always here if you need us. Wilson Hill Academy offers LIVE accredited classes covering a broad range of subjects for grades 4–12. If you want to lighten your load next year, you can rest easy knowing Wilson Hill’s master teachers have you covered. Find flexible options available to meet your family’s needs.

Just as a works-based view of salvation can kill the joy of the gospel of grace, an inordinate focus on the volume of material covered can kill the joy of learning itself. Turn this season into a time to reflect on “Well done!” Then, go and pack the pool bag—because summer is waiting!

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From practical benefits like boosting SAT scores to enriching experiences such as reading ancient texts in their original language, the study of Latin equips students for success. For even more benefits, I asked a few of our Wilson Hill Latin teachers to share four reasons why they’re passionate about Latin and how the language has shaped their own lives.

1. Learning Latin helps your child master English. Did you know that more than 65% of English words come from Latin? Enjoying a firm grasp on Latin expands students’ vocabulary and understanding of word formation.  

Wilson Hill Latin teacher Leah Coll sees it firsthand in her classroom: “I often hear students comment that they know more English grammar from studying Latin than from their English grammar programs, because Latin teaches grammar ‘through the back door,’ so to speak.”

2. Knowing a classical language makes it easier to learn other languages. Since Latin is the source for up to 80% of all words in the Romance languages, students familiar with Latin gain a significant advantage in learning languages like French, Italian and Spanish. For Latin and Greek teacher Matt Colvin, his knowledge of Latin came in handy when he served as a missionary in the Philippines. Despite the local languages differing significantly from Latin, he had already acquired the building blocks of language learning.

3. Learning languages, especially classical languages, strengthens the brain. Studying a highly inflected language helps students build crucial skills such as memorization, attention to detail, logic, critical thinking and problem-solving. Like Wilson Hill Latin teacher Tammy Jones says, “Parsing and translating tough sentences trains students to keep at it and not give up.” 

4. Latin and Greek provide access to some of history’s greatest thinkers. Students who have studied classical languages can reap the rewards of reading the New Testament or The Odyssey in their original language, appreciating rich nuance and meaning that can be overlooked in translation. This is the true gift for those who genuinely learn to love classical languages. 

If you’re interested in giving your children the gift of learning a classical language, there’s still time to register for the 2022–2023 school year. Sign up for a full course load or just enroll in a Latin class to strengthen your children’s brains and equip them to become lifelong learners.

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Four years ago, Ashlyn entered Baylor University’s selective University Scholars program, designed to allow outstanding students to pursue a liberal education across an array of disciplines. Ashlyn has enjoyed a rich experience at Baylor, which she attributes in part to the flexibility of the Scholars program that enabled her to bypass prerequisites and pursue concentrations in literature, philosophy and creative writing.

Ashlyn explained that the freedom to explore several areas of study allowed her to experience “more of the world and how other people are thinking about the same things but in different ways.” Classes such as photography and political science widened her scope and introduced her to great thinkers in the disciplines. In her agrarianism course, she discovered Wendell Berry: “It was so interesting to see the world through his eyes.” She has treasured the freedom of self-directed learning.

Ashlyn exuded excitement about her Fulbright scholarship and her upcoming year abroad: “I don’t think I anticipated doing something abroad for this long and in this way! After studies such as my Dostoevsky class at Wilson Hill,  I was really interested in Slavic culture.” Soon she will begin her English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Yambol, Bulgaria, where she will work primarily with 8th–12th graders teaching English and serving as a cultural ambassador. Ashlyn is excited to join the ETAs and meet other like-minded people from around the world who are interested in cultural exchange. She looks forward to not only learning a new language but also to teaching: “Teaching is really important; it was important for me growing up, and I love to learn.” 

When reflecting on her years at Wilson Hill and how they prepared her for her time at Baylor and life to come, Ashlyn shared, “I was impacted by how intentional my teachers were and how much they cared about the subjects they were teaching. Because of my Wilson Hill experience, I entered college with a desire and excitement to learn more. A lot of kids at Wilson Hill were excited to have conversations. These conversations with teachers and students prepared me to look for the good in people and in what they have to say.” Ashlyn has always appreciated learning from classmates with diverse backgrounds and beliefs who are also eager to learn.

She added, “The teachers at Wilson Hill genuinely cared about what we thought. They shared their experiences which was hopeful when I thought about my own growth academically. … It cultivated an environment that was empathetic—in which we could share with one another and be responsive.” During her years at Wilson Hill, Ashlyn gravitated toward The Great Conversation courses in particular: “We didn’t just look at literature or the texts. We expanded beyond them and had philosophical conversations and conversations about theology.”

We are thrilled for Ashlyn as she embarks on this next chapter in her academic life. After her year in Bulgaria, Ashlyn plans to pursue her doctorate and teach in a university, which has always been her goal. It is a joy to watch God work in the lives of all our Wilson Hill alumni.

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