Day in and day out, the teachers and students of
Bios Christian Academy spend thirty to forty minutes everyday reading and
teaching directly from the Bible. Every one of the teachers instructing on this
campus holds to a view of the Bible that believes it is inerrant, that the God
of the universe is sovereign in everything, and that eternal salvation from the
condemnation of our sins is only through the priceless sacrifice of Jesus the
Christ. And through God's wisdom we do a pretty solid job of teaching the Bible
everyday. But that is not why I am writing this piece.
No, it is time to speak on the blessings God has
provided to graduates. We talk, teach, model as best we can, and encourage
believers a lot. But the world cares nothing about our efforts in this area.
But weekly, and sometimes daily, people, new to the school, visiting for the
first time, laugh, shout, and exclaim with joy the accomplishments of our
graduates and the parents and teachers who we have supported up to the moment
of graduation. And the statistics are pretty impressive in this educational
black hole of ignorance called Arizona.
First, twenty-one of twenty-two 12th grade
students graduated. Of those graduates, all have gone on to or will be going on
to college. Five of the twenty-one were invited or accepted to at least one
four year college honors school. Twelve graduates had full scholarship
opportunities or the equivalents from multiple scholarship offers. Five of the
other nine grads earned partial scholarships. Four year public universities
were the choice of eight of our students, and four chose public junior
colleges. Nine went to Christian colleges. Out-of-state colleges were the
choice of seven students. Full tuition scholarships range from $17,500 to
$9,000. A goal we work to attain is that 75% of our seniors are enrolled and
accepted into a college by December 31 and for 100% of our students to select
and commit to a post high school place of education by April 1st.
As a non-elitist, educational academy, we fare
very well when compared to students state wide and locally.
In an article dated April 20 in the Republic, the
seven Gilbert high schools were compared on just the FAFSA (Free Application
for Federal Student Aide) completion rates as of April 2. The highest
percentage of students who have completed their FAFSA forms was 30 percent at
one high school and a low of 24 percent at two of the schools. That means for
the rest of the student body, greatly reduced chances for public and private
scholarships, federal aid, as well as acceptance into the school of their
choice. For Bios, the effort is to get at least 75% of students with early
enrollments to give them increased opportunities for scholarships and the
college of their choice. And eventually all by March 1.
High grades in school and high marks on college
entrance exams are very helpful in getting the scholarships needed to finish
college without the massive debt which is averaging $22,000 after four years of
college as reported in the Wall Street Journal on April 26.
The SAT and ACT are two of the largest college
entrance exams. And on average our Bios scores are very good when compared to
state and national averages.
|
|
Composite
|
English
|
Math
|
Reading
|
Science
|
|
Bios ACT
|
27.3
|
27.2
|
28.4
|
27.9
|
25.2
|
|
Arizona
|
19.7
|
18.6
|
20.3
|
19.9
|
19.6
|
|
National
|
21.1
|
20.6
|
21.1
|
21.3
|
20.9
|
|
|
Reading
|
Math
|
Writing
|
|
Bios SAT
|
556
|
600
|
579
|
|
Arizona
|
517
|
523
|
489
|
|
National
|
497
|
514
|
489
|
As you can see, there is quite a difference
between Bios and the rest of the country.
Our high school math students enjoyed first place
awards for scoring the highest in the Rocky Mountain Region of ACSI (30,000
students) in pre-algebra, algebra, algebra 2, and precalculus. They go on to
represent the Rocky Mountain Region in the national competition.
In addition, our Bios website lists recent
writing honors by our students. Local, state, and national awards including the
DuPont science research essay and The Library of Congress essay.
While worldly accomplishments aren't our first
goal as a school, the students of Bios Christian Academy benefit greatly from
their hard work here as they look to a future of serving their Lord.
