Newsletter Articles - A Different School for a Different Purpose

Kristy Adjei

Academic Dean

Lead and Live Wisely

By: Kristy Adjei

In what ways are North Star students being prepared to ‘lead and live wisely’? We are casting a vision of leadership for our students by providing them with regular opportunities to lead and serve. Most recently, all students in 7th-11th grade attended a one-day leadership retreat, which took place at Covenant Harbor in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The students engaged in personal and group challenges that were designed to improve problem solving, communication, and group dynamics. Students enjoyed working together to accomplish several challenges designed with obstacles and hurdles they could only get past if they worked together as a group. Our hope and prayer is that students would catch on to the vision of leadership that is being cast for them, as well as the idea that they play an integral and unique role in the spheres of influence they occupy.

© Kristy Adjei | This article was first published in North Star November Newsletter Edition, November 2024.

Equipped by the Classical Method: Grammar

By: Kristy Adjei

North Star Classical Christian School exists so that students are:

Anchored in the hope of the gospel,

Equipped by the classical method, and

Prepared to lead and live wisely.

What does it mean to be “equipped by the classical method”? There are many ways that this can be answered, but one of the ways is pedagogically. At North Star, we are implementing the three strands of the Trivium: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. In contrast to modern thinking, this is not an education in subjects, but rather in “tools”. Dorothy Sayers (English scholar, author and contemporary of C.S. Lewis, widely known for her article The Lost Tools of Learning) would even call these “lost tools”. As a faculty, we are gaining a better understanding of what these tools are, and how to effectively use them in our classes at North Star.

We are starting with the first tool, grammar. Simply put, grammar is the body of vocabulary, rules and terms governing a field of study that must be learned by heart. Having this body of knowledge at the student’s disposal allows them to move on to process new concepts critically (Logic), and ultimately to clearly explain these concepts to others (Rhetoric).

Although memorization has drastically fallen out of favor because we can “just look stuff up,” the classical educator would argue that this furnishing of the mind utilizes our god-given capacity to organize, “file” and store information, and readies us to be in the position to make connections to the things we encounter as we navigate through life. Furnishing our minds this way gives our students a common vocabulary and body of knowledge to pull from, it is also an enduring way to learn. We are training the students in things they will not forget.

Think of your own capacity to develop a logical, systematic framework for storing information in an organized way. Are you able to dash into several stores to purchase an item or two, knowing exactly in which aisle and on what shelf to find that item? This is an analogy to what we are doing with the minds of the students at North Star. They are learning the context and terms of several bodies of information (math, science, geography, Latin, timeline, and history) first, so when they see or identify dates or terms, they know exactly where that information resides in the context of the whole.

How exactly is this being done at North Star? In younger grades, students are in a memory work class that meets daily. In our middle grades, students are drawing upon this inventory of information in their science, English, and other classes. In our older grades, students are learning the importance of starting with the grammar in a conversation or issue - defining terms and working with a shared understanding of what those terms mean. By equipping students with these tools of the classical method, rather than “subjects”, they are in the position to learn anything, really. We are helping them uncover the lost tools of learning.

© Kristy Adjei | This article was first published in North Star October Newsletter Edition, October 2024.

The Senior Thesis

By: Kristy Adjei

Driving around the suburbs in our area, one would typically spot a sign or placard welcoming a visitor to the town, and stating the accomplishments of the local high school. Some schools are known for stellar athletics or theater programs. Others have their world-class and state of the art facilities. Some may be known for their cutting edge use of technology in the classroom. Truth be told, North Star Classical Christian school does not currently have any of those things. What we do have, though, is the Senior Thesis.

What is the Senior Thesis? The Senior Thesis is a year-long capstone project that ties together all aspects of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric), and serves as the culmination of the previous twelve years of education. The Senior Thesis has its roots all the way back to the medieval approach to education summarized succinctly by Dorothy Sayers in her 1948 paper entitled “The Lost Tools of Learning“. Sayers explains:

“At the end of his course, he (the student) was required to compose a thesis upon some theme set by his masters or chosen by himself, and afterwards to defend his thesis against the criticism of the faculty. By this time he would have learned—or woe betide him—not merely to write an essay on paper, but to speak audibly and intelligibly from a platform, and to use his wits quickly when heckled... But there would also be questions, cogent and shrewd, from those who had already run the gauntlet of debate...”

The intended outcome for the Senior Thesis is formation. Immersing themselves in one question for nine months will cultivate students who think critically, reason logically, and communicate winsomely. The Senior Thesis pushes them towards this goal because the scope and sequence of the project requires the soft skills of thinking deeply, long-range focus, perseverance, organization, and tenacity; and the hard skills of learning how to research, write, speak, and present.

Although 2026 will be the year the first class of students will graduate from North Star, we have a proactive plan and program in place to make the Senior Thesis a reality and requisite for completing one’s education at our institution. Our students - from Kindergarten up - are working on their DaVinci Notebook, which is a simplified version of the Senior Thesis. There are different levels of complexity and involvement for different grades, but students (depending on age) are learning to work independently, to research something of interest to them, to learn how to look up books at the library, how to use research databases, how to differentiate between different types of articles (popular, substantive, and scholarly), keep a works-cited page, contact and communicate with an expert in their field, look for elements of beauty related to their topic, present their findings in a structured and logical way, and to respond to questions from an audience.

In addition to this, our Rhetoric-age students have started learning and practicing formal Rhetoric in courses which focus on the five canons of rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Elocution, Memory, and Delivery. Last Friday, these students witnessed a thesis presentation given by students at Classical Consortium Academy in Barrington, IL. Faculty, students, and parents gained a tangible vision for the future. They left with a mixture of awe and inspiration at the quality of the presentations. By God's grace, someday they will leave audience members for their presentations feeling the same way.

I have never been welcomed to a neighboring suburb with a “Home of 2024 Senior Thesis Presenters” sign. I do not know of a single modern school that offers this time-tested and ageless opportunity to their students as a requisite of graduation. However, if you visit the North Star campus after 2026, by God’s enablement, you will see signs and portraits honoring our Senior Thesis presenters. These will be portraits of our graduates - students who have been seeped in an educational environment that has been gently pushing them towards authentic faith, intellectual virtues, a critical mind, compelling communication, and a purposeful perspective. This is our vision of a graduate.

© Kristy Adjei | This article was first published in North Star May Newsletter Edition, May 2024.

Trust and Obey

By: Kristy Adjei

Then in fellowship sweet

we will sit at His feet
Or we'll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do,

where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey

This coming May, we will sing this classic hymn with fifty-three students to start every school day at North Star Classical Christian School. It will be the third year in a row that we will sing the hymn as a group. Last year, we sang with thirty-seven kids, and the year before, in 2021, we sang with seventeen kids.

Approximately four years ago, I had a very unique experience where I felt like God very clearly and directly caught my attention and told me to start a school. While I knew definitively this was what I was supposed to do, I did not respond with prompt obedience. Rather, I responded with all of the reasons why I was the wrong person for the job. Besides, who would be the teachers or the students? Where would we even meet? How would one even go about starting something like that?

After a while, when the prompting did not subside, I decided that I could just start by asking others to pray about it. Honestly, I felt a little embarrassed actually saying the words, “Will you pray about something for me? I think God wants me to start a school”. I did muster up the nerve to ask a few close friends. I think I was hoping that the idea would kind of fizzle out or just go away. It seemed overwhelming.

Over time, the idea did not go away, and in reality, it just intensified and was confirmed in unexpected ways. I just could not shake this prompting. At that point, it became a matter of obedience..

Although I was dragging my feet, God was patient with me. I felt like God was telling me, “Don’t worry about doing the whole huge thing. Just do the next thing.” He proceeded to give me some very specific “next things” to do. Through all of this, I did have one request back to Him, which was that I needed a ministry partner. I knew that God had provided Moses an Aaron. So, I prayed for an “Aaron,” and God provided Julie Dockery.

With the accountability of a ministry partner, we decided that if God was calling us to do this, we needed to be all-in. We devoted the next four months to getting the school off the ground. Our thinking was that if this idea really was of God, then within a year, He would confirm it and momentum would pick up. If it was just of our own doing, we prayed that God would put up roadblock after roadblock and just have it go nowhere. We frequently prayed that “unless the Lord builds the house, those that build it labor in vain.” We did NOT want to labor in vain. Then we got really busy just continuing to do all of the “next things”.

It has been a long series of “next things” for the past three years and there have been many ways God has been confirming the work. Confirmations fell into several main categories of needs: faculty, families, finances, and facilities.

Time and space limitations prevent a recounting of all the stories of God’s provision in these areas. Many of them should be considered miraculous. These provisions have been ways that God has seemed to have handed us the next piece of the North Star puzzle at just the right time. This has included some really weird-shaped “impossible” pieces! Because of this, I am convinced that North Star is God’s story. There have been too many things that have been beyond any of us, and bigger than us.

This past week at North Star, we got to share this story with students, faculty, and families on a special day called Ebenezer Day. This is a day set aside from all academic work to make sure that everyone in the North Star community knows the story, and has the opportunity to praise God from whom all blessings flow. We had a “3rd Birthday party” for the school, and students took part in activities to celebrate the North Star story as well as worship God for the way He is continuing to build this school, and how He somehow chose all of us to be a part of it.

At times, we stop and think, What if we had said “NO” to this work? This has not been easy, and it has not been comfortable. Had we said, “no”, we would have missed out on being part of an amazing God story. We would have missed out on the opportunity to have our faith grow in a very tangible way. We would have missed out on the opportunity to experientially know the truth of the song Trust and Obey - “While we do His good will, He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”. We are glad that we gave God our “Yes”! What is YOUR “yes”?

Culture of Collaboration

By: Kristy Adjei

“One aspect of the joy of learning is addressing this concept of humility. As human beings, we are limited, frail and fallible. Frequently we attempt to cover this up, to hide what we truly are behind the smoke and mirrors of our expertise and accomplishments. True human growth, though, only occurs when we uncover our true nature and deal with it. As an individual confronts an area of lack, there is a transformation that can occur, whereby something about us becomes strengthened.” This is a quote from the June 16, 2020 issue of Educational Renaissance. Upon first reading, perhaps you thought that it was addressing the attitude which should be held by students. However, you are encouraged to read the quote a second time with the perspective of a teacher in mind. This quote highlights one of the goals we have at North Star Classical Christian School, which is to establish a culture of collaboration between teachers. In addition to teaching evaluations and classroom visits by an administrator, teachers at North Star are encouraged to visit colleagues and offer “warm” and “cool” feedback. The visit can be to a teacher in the same field of study as the visiting teacher, or, it can be in a totally different field of study. For, example, in recent weeks, a Latin teacher and a music teacher both visited math classes. Opening our classrooms up, allowing ourselves to be observed, and being receptive to warm and cool feedback, takes a lot of humility, but it helps us all grow in the intellectual virtues of humility and broad thinking.

Going a step further, throughout the year, faculty members at North Star have taken this practice of collaboration on the road and visited several mentoring classical Christian schools in the area that have opened their doors to us. Most recently, a team of five teachers and a board member attended an Auxilium in Maryland, visiting a well-established classical Christian school on the cusp of completing its 29th year of operation. These are all opportunities, for us, as teachers, to learn from others, grow in the art of teaching and leading our students well, and ask the question, “Is there a different way or better way to do this?”

Our hope is that all of these practices would establish a culture of collaboration at North Star. We, teachers, have a lot to learn, and much to offer one another as we all grow in our vocation. If this is established as the culture at North Star, this disposition will inevitably trickle down to the varying ranks of our students. Perhaps this may offer a guard from all of us thinking that we are ever above learning and growing more in our area or field of study.