Back to class

Published 11:00 pm Friday, August 10, 2012

New year brings new faces, new focus at Pike Liberal Arts

Pike Liberal Arts School is bursting at the seams.

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That’s the way Headmaster Ceil Sikes described opening day of the 2012-2013 school year on Friday.

“All of the students have gone and I’m still here and I’m pumped,” Sikes said excitedly.

“Right now, I don’t have the exact number of students because we’ve had new families coming in today and others that said they will be here on Monday. But we are at or above where we were last year.”

Sikes said the teachers have worked hard preparing for the new school year and everyone is anxious to get started. “It’s exciting to see lots of new faces among the familiar ones,” she said. “The new families are being welcomed with open arms. It’s good to see how easily the longtime families and the new families are blending.”

Sikes said a focus of the new school year will be to encourage positive characteristics among the students in all grades.

“We want our students to understand the qualities and attributes that contribute to positive characteristics in all of us,” she said. “So, this year, we are adding something new.”

Each week, PLAS will highlight a character-building “word of the week” that the teachers can use to support writing assignments, as spelling and vocabulary words and other class related activities.

“Each week, we will also include a scripture that relates to the word,” Sikes said.

“We want our students to have positive outlooks and to be good community citizens.”

The “word of the week” for the first week of school is, “self-respect.”

“Self-respect is most important when developing character,” Sikes said. “It’s a great word for our first word.”

On Thursday, PLAS will celebrate the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year with a “Back to School” rally and, on Friday night, the Patriots will take the field against Crenshaw Christian Academy in the season-opening jamboree.