By Michael Schell
This Fall, the Sparhawk Academy Board of Trustees voted unanimously to expand our current grades 3–8 school by adding a grade 9 offering beginning in Fall 2025. Sparhawk will add grades 10–12 over the following three years. Since we opened our doors in 2018, there has been a growing demand within the Sparhawk community for a high-quality high school experience. However, we have always emphasized the importance of first establishing an excellent grades 3–8 program. Now we are confident that the time has come.
While the age range of our students will change, the core tenets of the Sparhawk educational philosophy will not: parents are the primary educators; education and the cultivation of virtue can be found through adventure; completing work with love and attentiveness creates value; and each student is called to a noble purpose by the God who created him.
Parents who see me wearing my Sparhawk cross-musket logo cap (in honor of our nation’s minutemen)often ask me about our “too good to be true” school. They have heard uplifting stories from friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Even the name Sparhawk intrigues them. (If you’re wondering, we received our name because of the beautiful Sparhawk Brook that runs along our grounds.)
As a father of four boys aged 16 to 6, I am acutely aware that parents across the primary and secondary school age spectrum need support. So I cut to the chase.I tell them thatSparhawk is an instrument for helping parents, the primary educators, during the most formative years of their son’s life when his intellectual, physical, and moral capacities are rapidly developing.
I explain that the Sparhawk parent/teacher partnership is rooted in a mutual desire to form men of character who are grounded in reality, inspired by a noble purpose, and plan to impact the world in ways that only he can. Virtue, vision, and vocation are three core ingredients for forming men with these qualities.
VIRTUE: Developing a firm, habitual disposition to do good is a cornerstone of a Sparhawk education. The Sparhawk experience counsels students’ hearts, cultivating within them authentic human virtues, especially love for the truth and a sense of wonder, love for freedom, optimism, industriousness, respect for others, and a spirit of service.
Virtue must be learned, earned, and cultivated continually. At Sparhawk, we engage more with the real versus the virtual world, taking advantage of our beautiful 58-acre property to enjoy the wonders of nature. Boys explore our fields and brooks, observing plants and animals, identifying footprints and bird calls. Our students also read great literature and learn about heroes and adventurers, men and women who overcome obstacles with ingenuity and good cheer.
VISION:Sparhawk knows that each boy has been created by God and has a unique purpose in life. He is, in essence, a called being.Vision inspires action. Sparhawk is not designed to form spectators. Sparhawk trains players for the adventure of life. We invite boys to contribute their talents to the good of those around them: classmates, siblings, parents. When a Sparhawk boy reaches adolescence, he has been equipped to ask more than just, “What do I want from life?”He brings to his prayer the question, “What does life need from me?”
VOCATION: The Sparhawk experience encourages boys to value work by the love, effort, and purpose with which it is completed.God has brought us to these grounds we call Sparhawk Farm to learn to create cheerfully and to serve generously.
Craftsmanship classes teach boys how to split wood, prune trees, cut with a saw, cook with a Dutch oven, and care for gardens. This work has tangible outcomes, and students gain resourcefulness and confidence from succeeding at things that were once unfamiliar or even intimidating.
The meaningful lessons learned in the workshop and across our farm instill in students confidence and determination for other areas of school life. We want a classroom full of craftsmen—students whose academic work is strong, accurate, and beautiful; students who are, in the end, proud of their work. Work of excellence is transformational. Once a boy sees that he is capable of excellence, he is never quite the same.