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A Season Worth Savoring

Too often, high school students look beyond the present to college, career, and future plans. Though these are worthy to embrace in the right season, FCA invites high school students to give themselves to what is at hand.  

The great stories and intriguing discoveries of middle school are multiplied, students are increasingly called upon to speak well, and teachers strive to ensure that students are thinking, not only deeply, but boldly. Seemingly disparate truths are woven together in a beautiful tapestry of the mind and heart.

Coursework By Grade

Students are required to take the following:

  • Logic/Rhetoric (.5 credit)
  • Biblical Hermeneutics (1.0 credit)
  • Classical Literature (1.0 credit)
  • Classical History (1.0 credit)
  • Algebra I or Geometry (1.0 credit)
  • Biology (1.0 credit)
  • Latin 1 or Greek 1 (.5 credit)
  • Choir I (.5 credit)
  • Theater (.5 credit)
  • Protocol (Non-credit)

 

Students are required to take the following:

  • Logic/Rhetoric (.5 credit)
  • Biblical Theology (1.0 credit)
  • European Literature (1.0 credit)
  • European History (1.0 credit)
  • Geometry or Algebra II (1.0 credit)
  • Chemistry (1.0 credit)
  • Latin II or Greek II (.5 credit)

Students may choose to take the following:

  • Choir II (.5 credit)
  • Art Studio I (.5 credit)
  • Theater (.5 credit)
  • Photojournalism (.5 credit)

Students are required to take the following coursework.

  • Logic/Rhetoric (.5 credit)
  • Ethics (1.0 credit)
  • American Literature (1.0 credit)
  • American History (1.0 credit)
  • Algebra II or Trig/Pre-Calculus
  • Physics or Anatomy and Physiology
  • Latin III or Greek III (.5 credit)
  • Protocol (non-credit)
  • CLT (non-credit)
  • ACT/SAT (non-credit)

Students may choose one of the following coursework.

  • Choir
  • Art Studio
  • Theater
  • Photojournalism

Students are required to take the following coursework.

  • Rhetoric/Senior Thesis (.5 credit)
  • Apologetics (1.0 credit)
  • Advanced Literature (1.0 credit)
  • Political Theory/Civics (1.0 credit)
  • Trig/Pre-Calculus, Engaged Mathematics, or Calculus (1.0 credit)
  • Physics or Anatomy and Physiology
  • Astronomy
  • Latin IV or Greek IV
  • Protocol (Non-Credit)

Students may take any one of the following courses.

  • Choir (.5 credit)
  • Orchestra (.5 credit)
  • Art Studio (.5 credit)
  • Theater (.5 credit)
  • Photojournalism (.5 credit)
FCA's Capstone Year

Senior year is important by all accounts. It signals an end, and it signals a beginning, all in the same year. FCA showers its seniors with experiences that we hope will impact them for a lifetime and serve as a fitting culmination of their years at FCA.

The Grand Tour is a five-day trip to Washington, D.C. that takes place during the fall semester of senior year. There, students visit key memorials and historic locations where they are called upon to reflect on what they have learned at each site. The Grand Tour extends learning beyond the classroom and offers a timely opportunity to deepen friendships with peers and teacher mentors.

The capstone of a student's education at FCA, the thesis project gives students the opportunity to present a worthy question and to answer it well with skill, with grace, and with Christian conviction. It gives students the opportunity to be compelling rhetoricians, what Quintillion described as good men speaking well. This requires that they draw from the wealth of their entire educational experience. The process includes writing a fifteen to twenty-page paper, speaking in a public forum, and undergoing a cross-examination. Students argue a topic which they have devoted considerable time to researching, analyzing, organizing, writing, and revising—all from a Christian perspective. Through this process, they then further refine the skills of self-motivation, self-discipline, organization, time-management, analysis, critique, and problem-solving. The completion of the thesis, both the habits required and the content of the thesis, demonstrates that the student has synthesized the best of FCA’s education.
 

 

The Knights' Academic Conference is a milestone in the senior thesis process. The Conference is preceded by two years of preparation in Rhetoric classes. Once students have completed their thesis paper, they will present their topic in the form of a persuasive speech, after which students are cross-examined by a panel consisting of faculty and peers. From these presentations, three outstanding speeches are chosen to compete for scholarships during the Evening of Rhetoric.

FCA's Evening of Rhetoric provides an opportunity for the best senior theses to be recognized. The top three presentations given are presented before the entire FCA community. Each student presents their research and then submits to further cross-examination by a faculty panel after the speech is given. At the conclusion, students are awarded a scholarship based on voting that evening.

The Tour of the Night Sky is another extension of the classroom that takes place at the completion of the astronomy course offered to seniors. Students spend three days camping under the stars, canoeing, and hiking in Arkansas, all of which evokes a sense of awe, drawing students to consider their Creator.

 
The Road Ahead

FCA's approach to an education built on faith, reason, and virtue provides students with an unmatched school experience, while fully preparing them for life beyond the classroom.