Portrait of a Graduate

Regent’s mission: “to provide academically able students with a challenging educational experience designed to help them know, love, and practice that which is true, good, and excellent and to prepare them to live purposefully and intelligently in the service of God and man.”

Regent’s original goals still stand at the forefront of our efforts, that is, to provide an academically challenging experience built upon a solid biblical foundation. The school offers its students an education that is both classical and Christian. It is classical in that it draws deeply on the rich heritage of Western civilization and culture; it is Christian in that it recognizes the Bible as the final authority in matters of life and thought. Regent partners with parents to accomplish these goals. We hope that the finished product is a life and a family that reflect the character and heart of Christ. Three words summarize these goals.  

TRUTH:

Students study all subject areas in light of God's truth.
Therefore, successful graduates will possess:

1. Virtue and mature character
We expect students to pursue virtue across all disciplines because, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a cleverer devil,” (C.S. Lewis). Our core character goals are the four cardinal virtues (justice, temperance, prudence, courage) and the three theological virtues (faith, hope, love). Through the pursuit of these virtues we seek to disciple students to love God and to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The pursuit of virtue should also produce good manners, honorable relationships, confession of sin, a passion for making disciples of all nations, Christian service, Christian leadership, and a commitment to a local body of believers. We help students rightly order their affections (the classical Christian definition of virtue) through the study of the great literature of the West and the Bible. Above all else, we teach students to live in accordance with fidelis veritati - acknowledging that God is evident in creation, sovereign through history, revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ, and intimately concerned with us as individuals.

2. Sound reason and sound faith
We prayerfully pursue all knowledge from a biblical perspective. We expect students to realize a unified Christian worldview with Scripture as the measure of all Truth. We expect graduates to exhibit the wisdom to recognize complex issues and to follow the consequences of ideas as they ultimately follow Christ. We expect them to honor God in all they say and do. A worldview based on the Scriptures provides a unified education in which all subjects are understood as part of an integrated whole. Regent is an interdenominational Christian school. Our faculty and board members embrace the historic tenets of Christianity as presented in our Statement of Faith. Beyond these primary doctrines, we respect and acknowledge the primacy of the family, and refer any secondary doctrinal questions to parents for clarification.

TRADITION:

Students appreciate the richness of western tradition that has shaped who we are today.
Therefore, successful graduates will possess:

3. An attitude of life-long learning 
We want our graduates to be life-long learners with the skills needed to study and learn independently. We especially want them to be lifelong students of God’s Word and to see the world through the lens of God’s Word. Learners are well-read and able to discuss and relate to the Great Books. We expect our graduates to be well read from primary source documents and the important literature and ideas of Christian theology and the West. We also want our graduates to read for enjoyment. We want our graduates to see seemingly disconnected facts as wondrously connected in God’s continuum as they study and learn with an attitude of humility.

4. An established aesthetic
Further, educated people have refined discernment, formed as they are exposed to great aesthetic masterpieces, particularly at a young age. Graduates will be familiar with the great artists and great hymns to develop their aesthetic and cultural appreciation. We teach beauty through imitation. Plato wrote, “The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful.” At Regent we believe that children who grow up in an atmosphere where beauty is considered an important part of daily life cannot help being inspired to develop their own original ideas in these areas, nor can they help being prepared to live aesthetically themselves. The first artist was God Himself. Man’s very existence is the result of God’s creativity. We want our graduates to believe that since we are created in God’s own image, we too have the capacity to create, though on a limited, finite basis. Our graduates should produce and appreciate beauty.

TRAINING:

Students form excellent habits and are trained for a successful life in this world.
Therefore, successful graduates will possess:

5. A masterful command of language
As people of “the Word,” Christians should be masters of language able to speak well (eloquence) and write well (composition) with good penmanship. We expect our graduates to master uncommon vocabulary, grammar, usage, logic, rhetoric, and translation through our study of English, Latin, and Spanish. We also expect our students to listen to others with charity while critically thinking through a biblical worldview. We expect our students to engage socially with a variety of people and to humbly collaborate with others to solve problems. Language is also beautiful, so we expect our graduates to love words as well as to use words well and to read books that are challenging and interesting.

6. Well-rounded competence
Educated people are not specialists who know little outside of their field of specialty. Educated people have competence in a variety of areas including fine art, drama, music, physical activity, math, logic, science and arithmetic. Throughout our program, skills are introduced that are essential for an educated person. We expect our graduates to be accomplished. We want them to have a love for their fellowman and have a desire to serve them with these varied skills by awareness of other’s needs in the community where he/she lives. We expect our students to develop positive physical, mental, and moral habits including: time management, healthy coping skills, and financial wisdom.