LifeWise Academy hosted a well-attended open house at Faith Free Evangelical Church on September 23rd to introduce its new LifeWise Academy location, meant to bring Bible-based character education into the lives of local elementary students. The event offered an opportunity for parents, community members and potential volunteers to see how the program will run, meet organizers, and learn about ways to get involved. Volunteers answered questions and shared information with parents that came to sign up their children or get more information about the curriculum and how the program will operate.
Already, 27 kindergarten through 5th grade students have signed up for the program, showing strong early interest. LifeWise Academy staff stressed that while they are off to a solid start, they’re actively recruiting more volunteers and are looking for a bus driver to help transport students — though they already have a bus ready for use. LifeWise Academy Program Director Kayla Herring shares that the tentative start date for the program is October 8th. She shares, “My favorite thing about the program is that it teaches the LifeWise Hands, Head, and Heart. The ‘Head’ focuses on understanding biblical stories, the ‘Heart’ connects these stories to the Gospel and Jesus, and the ‘Hands’ explores how these lessons can be lived out in everyday life and in their classrooms.”
One of the goals of LifeWise Academy is to foster character development and biblical values in students during non-instructional times of the school day. (LifeWise Academy operates under a “released time” model that allows students to leave public school briefly to attend religious instruction.)
Brooke Smasal, LifeWise Leadership Board member, adds, “Personally, I am most excited about spreading the gospel and reaching young children that may not have the opportunity to go to church and/or Wednesday night programs. My children are the next generation and I want them to live a life that is fruitful. Our country is ‘one nation under God’ and our country needs to get back to that principle. I believe LifeWise can make that happen. As a Christian, my job is to go out and make disciples; we are doing that with LifeWise one student at a time.”