Articles - Spotlight on Education

COVENANT ACADEMY

By Skip Korson & Veronique Saiya

Covenant Academy, located in Macon on Ayers Road, is nestled 
on a tranquil 27-acre campus. Arbored by trees, this beautiful campus boasts a soccer field, a spacious playground, and a large gym for children’s physical education classes and rainy day activities. The Academy is host to 120 students, grades 4K-6, who come from diverse racial backgrounds and a variety of Christian denominations united by the school’s commitment to the development of a classical Christian educational model.

Covenant Academy’s mission is: "Teaching for mastery and training for servant leadership in the knowledge of God." As a covenantal institution, the school recognizes the priority of God’s order in the family and thus requires one or both parents to be a professed believer in Jesus Christ. In all questions of orthodox doctrine of the Christian teaching, the Westminister Confession of Faith is the interpretive standard for the school. "Our prayer is for each child to be a covenant keeper in Christ," states Melia Foxworth, Covenant’s new headmaster.

Headmaster Foxworth personally greets students each morning as they arrive. This may be Foxworth’s first year as headmaster, but she certainly isn’t an unfamiliar face amongst the parents and students. She has been a teacher at Covenant for seven years. Foxworth’s sons, Jared and Caleb, are 3rd and 6th graders, respectively, at the school. Their 16-year-old sister, Stefanie, was home-schooled before attending Covenant and currently attends Westside High in Macon. Their dad, Steve, is associate pastor of Life Development at Ingleside Baptist Church. The couple met in Fort Worth while in seminary, where the Oklahoma native earned her master’s degree in religious education. Foxworth also holds a B.S. in elementary education. 

Covenant Academy was created in 1987 by a group of five home-school families who envisioned a distinctly Christian education. The school was originally located on Vineville Avenue; but in the fall of 1989, the school relocated to Wimbish Road where it remained for five years until 1994, when it relocated to its current campus on Ayers Road.

Covenant Academy has a staff of ten teachers, eight aides, a library media center specialist, a nurse, a P.E. teacher, art teacher, music teacher, a soccer coach, and a housekeeping chief. A profound sense of accountability must be evidenced by teachers here, who must implement learning activities that are consistent with the school’s guidelines and beliefs. With a master’s of divinity degree and a master’s of education degree, Covenant’s Curriculum Director, Eric Freel provides teachers with such guidelines. He is also a sixth grade teacher and pastor of the Redemer Baptist Church.

Teachers at Covenant know how to reach their students. Caroline Callahan teaches her first graders to exercise their analytical cognitive abilities when practicing writing, spelling, and reading skills. Her teaching methods are based on the highly respected research of Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a pioneer in effective teaching approaches for dyslexics. This multi-sensory approach is action oriented with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic elements reinforcing each other for optimal learning. The student learns spelling simultaneously with reading, for example. Each student’s potential—spiritual, mental, physical, social, and emotional—is recognized and affirmed as being unique and individual. 

At this school, you will find that first graders can already identify parts of speech. Sixth graders can recite the poems of renowned American poets, as well as compose their own poems. Students utilize math’s real-life applications by planning and planting vegetable and flower gardens. Science projects abound. Students have developed a deep appreciation for both visual arts and music and were, therefore, quite proud of putting their artistic skills to use in their 2001 holiday production, "Young Messiah." 

Covenant’s use of uniforms also contributes to the educational process by enabling students to focus on what’s important—their education. It also creates a sense of unity amongst students, allowing them to be defined by who they are rather than what they wear. Foxworth says parents like the uniforms. It eases a financial burden as well as any stress or conflict that may arise over what the child will be wearing to school the following day. 


Covenant Academy

Contact: Dede White
Administrative Assistant

4652 Ayers Road
Macon, GA 31210
Tel 478/471-0285

http://www.covenantacademy.net

E Mail: CovAcad@bellsouth.net

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