TENACIOUS

WHAT KIND OF LIFE DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?

Education is hard work. A child does not become a master of a musical instrument, a paintbrush, a lacrosse stick, or a math problem without repeated effort. Building the reading skills to tackle Homer or Shakespeare and the speaking skills to stand before an audience and deliver a persuasive argument requires persistence. Covenant intentionally builds age-appropriate challenges into every student’s experience so they not only understand the difficult content needed to tackle calculus or economics but also know they have the ability to face future challenges, break them down and overcome them.

WHAT KIND OF PERSON DO YOU WANT TO BE?

At Covenant we know two things are true for every student: there are things they find hard to do; and doing those hard things will require the courage to overcome their fears. We also know that these two things will be true for the rest of their lives even while the specific things they fear may change. Making friends, speaking up in class, admitting a mistake, trying a new sport, reading a difficult original source, showing someone your artwork, writing the first sentence of a long essay, taking a risk on a playing field or a stage, voicing an unpopular position, speaking a hard truth to a friend, or standing up for someone else all require the courage to act in spite of our first impulse not to. A Covenant education requires that students tackle challenges from the first day of Pre-Kindergarten when they have to enter an unfamiliar class full of unknown classmates, to their last assignment: standing before an audience to deliver and defend their senior thesis. The Covenant classroom is structured to encourage taking risks, such as exploring possible alternative approaches to a math problem or playing the devil’s advocate in a debate. We want our graduates to face future challenges in the knowledge that they never have to be held back by fear.