End of the Month Letter
End of February, 2012
To our SBA High School Families -
Springtime Greetings from SBA! I'd really been looking forward to March Madness while Nancy's really been looking forward to this Saturday's Fashion Show.
I missed a lot of the first day's games while running some spring break errands and then my two favorite teams lost and then my brackets blew apart almost before they got started. Her party will be a blast - and her brackets are better than mine. It's just not fair.
As you are now aware, our school was most successful when we hosted our recent visit by the team of SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) Accreditation visitors. Their visit had followed a year of internal self-study. As for being totally official, their scope is limited to 'recommending' such a status to the powers that be - but we feel good that such will be the end result.
Once again, our thanks go out to everyone. Accreditation is awarded to schools that, among other things, have strong community support - at least I've never known one to be recognized without it. So thank you to all!
I hope all our ladies will consider attending this Saturday's "Fashionista Fiesta" Fashion Show, the proceeds of which benefit our Annual Fund Drive. It begins at 6:30 p.m. in our Dining Hall. There will be dinner and door prizes and some chances will be available to win so much more.
If you're one of the winners, you'll walk out - not with one prize - but a collection of some really, really nice things. Just check our website for details.
Last year's was a huge success and we'd love to make this one even better. Hope to see you there.
Talking about our website, we hope you'll take some time to click on the 'Pray at SBA' button that you'll see. We have added and re-arranged - all in an effort to help our spiritual lives grow even more. And always remember - please keep SBA in your prayers.
We hope the new on-line Re-Registration process was relatively easy. With you having had the opportunity to enter your data directly, there's no longer any danger of our folks transcribing something in error.
We also appreciate the few folks who informed us of the challenges you encountered (our mess-ups) - it makes us better and better.
As is our practice, we e-mailed this to all families who were up-to-date in their current financial obligations to SBA. If you have any questions or failed to receive your e-mail, please contact our Business Office.
As is normal, it's that time of year to announce next year's tuition rates. As you may have been expecting, there will be an increase. If you want to look at it in small bites, it works out to $6.54 a week. Our registration, activity and drug testing fees will all increase at $0.00 a week, yet again holding exactly the same. (Check our website for all details.)
But even if tuition went up just a nickel a week, who would ever want to pay more? Still, we're excited and proud that we offer all that we do for the price that we do - all while we pay off an annual $2.1 million 'house note' at the same time. (And yes, we're working on the same thirty year schedule that you are.)
Lots of dedicated people making lots of sacrifices help us accomplish that. If you have any questions about next year, please contact Kathy Hurt in our Business Office ( hurtk@sbaeagles.org).
Upcoming calendar --- Here's a look at the weeks ahead.
- March 23 … Official End of the 3rd Academic Quarter
- March 24 … "Fashionista Fiesta" - 2nd annual Fashion Show, 6:30
- March 25 … Mother-Son Dinner for Seniors - reservation required
- March 27 … National Honor Society sponsors Blood Drive
- April 1 … Mother-Daughter Tea for Seniors - reservation required
- April 5 … Holy Thursday - No classes
- April 6 … Good Friday - No Classes
- April 9 … Easter Monday - No classes
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If you have the time to re-read any of the info above (except for the part about my pitiful brackets) … if you re-read the rest, you'll see the themes that help define who we are.
Prayer. Quality. Dedication. Sacrifice.
I received an e-mail a week or so ago from a young man who graduated two years ago. Here is an excerpt …
"You should know that two years after graduation I have come to understand that my SBA education was well worth the time and money. I am a sophomore and have found that many of my peers are salutatorians and valedictorians of their high schools. Through the past two years, I have noticed that they are nowhere near as prepared about the classes we take … and I was, at best, at the 50th percentile of my graduating class. Just thought I would say thanks for a job well done."
We don't get those notes everyday. But it's fun when we do.
It wasn't two days later when one of his classmates walked in my office. If I recall though, she hadn't gotten anywhere near the 50th percentile in her time here. And she'll own up to that. But college life is going well for her too.
She had come to thank us for the same general sort of thing, as well as to convey her appreciation for the expressions of sympathy we'd sent when her mother had died.
We laughed about several of our high school office visits that had been spent trying to help her understand something different - that there was a better path than the one she seemed to be choosing at the time. Now, standing in my office, two years later, she beamed about her success but also willingly offered, "I wish you had been tougher on me." We don't get a lot of those comments either.
These are the sorts of notes, letters and conversations teachers carry close to their hearts. Receiving two nice ones so close together made me recall a third that has long stuck in my memory. Mostly because the kid had taken the time to pen a five page letter.
But my favorite part was the "P.S. - If I am still in Memphis when my children are old enough to be in high school, they will be going to SBA … and til this day, my dad keeps saying, 'I told you so.'" I can only laugh imagining some of their good-natured father-son bantering.
I won't lie. I've gotten other sorts of e-mails and letters. I've had other sorts of meetings in my office - a lot less positive, a lot less complimentary.
But I go back to what helps to define us - Prayer. Quality. Dedication. Sacrifice.
I think what we do is phenomenal. Perfect? Absolutely not. But we achieve nothing and accomplish nothing without the support of so many equally phenomenal people.
There are those many people who offer prayer for us and with us. The teachers who dedicate their teaching careers and the parents whose dedication is of endless energy and hours. Some who do both. The exceptional quality that results which demands that our vision must reach further and higher.
And then there's the sacrifice - there is so much sacrifice.
And yet we ask for more. Of you and of ourselves. More prayer. More quality. More dedication.
And especially more sacrifice. As you know, SBA is conducting our "Lasting Legacies - Annual Fund Drive." All such drives have a monetary goal and ours is $200,000 in unrestricted giving. But we're also hoping that we might hear from many new donors who may not have been able to help in the past.
Please consider if you might make a gift to our Annual Fund. It is your sharing of such kindness and generosity that has helped make us who we are. And who we're proud to be.
We have so many for whom we are grateful. And we want to say it to you - right here - right now. Just click here www.sbaeagles.org/thankyou to see our message. It's techie - no five-page letter. But it does come from the heart.
Thank you! And have a blessed and holy Easter!
George Valadie
SBA