Yesterday afternoon at the Awards Assembly we celebrated the academic achievements of the first quarter. It was delightful to see so many of you there and to contemplate the firmness of purpose with which your children had pursued their studies over the past months. Considering our awardees’ resolve to excel brought to my mind the mornings and evenings of study along with the sting of small pleasures foregone that must have been among its practical forms. Well done!
But the assembly did not deal only with the academic side of our community life. It ended with “The Atonement Excellence Award,” a new honor this year. The Award description reads thus:
The Atonement Excellence Award is given to a young person who in the course of his or her everyday school life conspicuously embodies the life of virtue described by The Atonement Academy’s Mission Statement. The Atonement Excellence Award is bestowed only once a month to only one young man and one young woman from among the entire student body. The recipient is chosen by the Head of School from among nominations submitted by the Academy’s various departments.
The Atonement Academy has a well-earned reputation as an academic powerhouse. Still, the aim of an Atonement education is ultimately not measured in A’s and B’s alone. Whether within these walls or without, in the wilds or in any of the world’s leading cities, you will always know the Atonement man and the Atonement woman by their love for God and others.