The Bios Christian Academy Class of 2014

It is the time of year to discuss with much thanksgiving the achievements of the graduating class of 2014 from Bios Christian Academy. The seventeen graduating seniors are attending a variety of colleges and universities. Eight are attending Grand Canyon University. Three more are heading to Arizona State University and two to Chandler-Gilbert Community College. The other four are all alone when they travel to their new schools: Iowa State University, Northern Arizona University, Mesa Community College, and Calvary Chapel Bible College. One hundred percent of our graduates are planning to begin a post high school education next fall at a college or university.

The variety of majors are even more diverse. Landscape Architecture, Kinesiology, Nursing (2), Elementary Education, Business (2), Psychology, Software Engineering, Athletic Science, Dental Hygiene, Computer Science, Digital(Web) Design, Entrepreneurial Science (2), Theology, and Civil Engineering. At least nine of the majors chosen are heavy in math and science.

It is a big, big blessing for the over seventy percent of our graduates to have significant scholarships to pay for a majority or a significant part of their education. By far, the majority of accepted scholarships came from Grand Canyon University with eight awarded to our graduates. ASU supplied three. NAU and Iowa State both provided one scholarship each to our students. The average four year value of the ten accepted scholarships is $45,833. The range of the value of the full four year scholarships run from $12,000 to $68,000. Our small school has accepted $550,000 worth of four year scholarships. And that total does not take in the $49,000 in scholarships by GCU, $8,000 by ASU, and $10,000 from King's College that were offered but not accepted by our graduates.

The beautiful celebration of graduation occurring on May 21 at Mission Church is both an end and a beginning. As a school supporting parents in the training of their children, we change in our day-to-day role of instruction, prayer, and encouragement, hoping that the time spent in support has contributed to their opportunities for success in the future. For all of them, their hard work and perseverance have allowed them the choice to continue their education in the future.

New Teachers and Staff

We have hired three new people so far for the next year school year of 2014-2015. The Core, Board, and I are very excited about the new additions to the Bios staff. They are Dan Koury - math teacher, Lonn Durfee - science and Bible teacher, Bruce Wilkison - K-12 strings music teacher. Below are their brief bios.

Dan Koury - His education is quite impressive. BS in Materials Science from Rice University, a Masters in Matter Physics from ASU, and a PhD in Plasma Physics from Cornell University. His work experiences includes being a design engineer for Silicon Labs, Mcube Inc., and Freescale. He spent one morning teaching math here in the past month. He quickly understood the instructional method and worked with the students really well.

Lonn Durfee - Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of Florida; Masters of Divinity, Columbia International University. He is certified to teach five areas of science in South Carolina and other states through the American Board for Certification of Teaching Excellence. He also holds six credits in graduate economics and a Bible teaching certificate with the Association of Christian School International. Presently, he preaches, teaches, and facilitates outreach at Southeast Community Church of South Carolina.

Bruce Wilkison - Bachelor of Music, University of Michigan. Mr. Wilkison taught six years for me as the K-12 strings music teacher at my first school, Surrey Garden Christian School. Before working at Surrey, he was a violinist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra for eighteen years. I am looking forward to working with him again.

I am very thankful to the talented and experienced people that God has added to our current staff already. Thank you to all of you who have been praying so diligently for the school and for the greater than ever next school year arriving soon.