Legacy Academy Students Lauded in Awards Ceremony
Lockesburg, ARK–Legacy Academy, Sevier County’s private Christian School in Lockesburg, recognized its award-winning students in a 2-hour ceremony, Thursday evening, before a packed auditorium of students, parents, teachers, friends, and supporters in the community. The theme of the night was, “Joyfully Different” and the school’s founder, Chad Gallagher, exhorted the parents and the students to celebrate the importance of living a Christian life that is counter to prevailing cultural norms often seen today. The night centered around a celebration of the school’s commitment to the Christian faith and to honoring its values with authentic Christian living.
Stand-out students were honored with more than eighty awards and citations of recognition for achievements in sports, academics, and character development. Teachers Mrs. Rachel Garner, Mrs. Sara Rachel, and Ms. Susan Shelton received the school’s Pioneer Award for their establishment of the school’s very successful Empowerment Lab, an intensive educational program designed to assist students with educational breakthrough and interventions. Zebbie Launius, girls’ coach and Doug Currence, clockkeeper, were honored for their contributions in the past year in basketball. Junior Ethan Gallagher received a special citation for scoring the most points in a single season of basketball in the state of Arkansas during the 2021-2022 season, scoring 901 points this year. He and senior Grace Tucker were acknowledged for being named All-state basketball players, with Junior Dori Bartek receiving honorable mention.
The night begin with Kindergarten graduation, promoting the school’s youngest learners into the first grade and the school’s grammar level stage. This promotion was followed by the athletic awards, which included awards for track and field and basketball. Basketball awards included best defensive and offensive effort, as well as team player awards, and the “work hard” awards. Dr. Jason and Cindy Lofton received the “Heart of a Warrior” award, which is given to honor those who sacrificially support and enhance the athletic program. The school also acknowledged notable season successes for the athletic program, including the junior high relay team consisting of Everette Martz, Wyatt Roden, Manolo Vazquez, and Eli Mitchell that placed 2nd at the state meet, along with Manolo Vazquez’s third place in junior high long jump, Eli Mitchell’s first place in shot put, and Ethan Gallagher’s second place in high school discus. The junior boys’ basketball team was commended for delivering the school its first state championship this season.
Students across the school were honored with academic excellence awards and Logic level (7-9th grades) and Rhetoric level (10-12th grades) were awarded subject awards with one student received honor for each major course subject including humanities, foreign language, mathematics, English & literature, and science. Sixth grader Silas Lofton, was also presented with the Presidential Citation of Excellence, awarded by the US Secretary of Education and the President of the United States to students who have made all As in the 3rd-6th grades.
The highlight of the night was the school’s character awards. Rookie students (1-3 graders) who demonstrated good character and choices throughout the year received the Rookie Citizenship award, while outstanding Proteges (4-6th graders) were honored with Excellence in Character Awards. Students in 7th-12th grade were also acknowledged with Salute Awards. To receive a salute award a student must be nominated by both peers and teachers alike and must uphold school values consistently throughout the year. The chief honor of the night is the school’s most prestigious award, the Legacy Honor Award. This can only be awarded to Rhetoric level students (10-12) and is reserved for either one student alone or one worthy female and one worthy male student. Recipients must be overwhelmingly selected by faculty and peers alike and are honored for most representing the school’s values and representing Christ well in all areas of life. This year the honor was bestowed up senior Grace Tucker and Junior Ethan Gallagher.
Guests enjoyed a video recapping the year and sang the alma mater together before dismissal.
Legacy Academy, a classical Christian school, offers students a rigorous academic program. Learning is divided into three stages beginning with Kindergarten through 3rd grade students known as Rookies; 4th-6th grade students are known as Proteges; 7-9th our Apprentices, and Sophomore-Seniors as Legacy Scholars. In addition to its faith-centric approach and strog academics, the school boasts an award winning athletics program of basketball and track and will be adding other sports programs in the near future with an eye toward cross country, golf, and baseball next. The school also operates a pre-kindergarten program for three and four year olds. Legacy is now enrolling students for the fall, with additional information on the school’s website: www.legacywarriors.org.
