Friends of Veritas

July 2023Volume VII | Issue IV

Dear Friends,

We hope this edition of the Friends of Veritas newsletter finds you thoroughly enjoying your summer with family and friends as you do your best to survive and escape the heat. Our spring semester wrapped up in a whirlwind of activities both on-campus and abroad, culminating in our End of Year Assembly and a bittersweet send off celebration of co-founders, Jef and Starrla Fowler. Their legacy will continue as we step into a new era with Cameron Cook at the helm as our new Head of School, but their daily presence on campus will be deeply missed by all. Read on to relive the celebration with us, along with our Class of 2023 Graduation, Grammar School end of year festivities, spring musicals, athletic achievements, and more! 

- The Veritas Family

Saying Farewell to the Fowlers

With close to two decades of serving and leading Veritas Academy, Jef and Starrla Fowler are moving on to their next chapter. Through co-founding, establishing, and growing our beloved Veritas Academy, Jef and Starrla's dedication and sacrificial service to God has positively impacted hundreds of families and many generations to come. While the Fowlers will not be here day-to-day, they remain trusted advisors and friends to Veritas Academy. As we head into the next school year, our board has selected Cameron Cook as the next Head of School. Cameron worked closely with Jef in his last months on campus and assumed the role of Head of school on July 1.

Congratulations to the Class of 2023!

We celebrated the Class of 2023 on the beautiful evening of May 26, 2023. The evening began with a walk down memory lane as the graduating seniors processed through campus, led by freshman Sawyer Marrs on the bagpipes. As they made their way into the meadow, they were greeted by family, friends, and faculty before finally taking their seats under the Heritage Tree. If you weren't able to join us live for the Veritas Class of 2023 Graduation Ceremony, we encourage you to watch the recording below. Thank you to everyone who came out to support our graduates!

Special honors conferred that evening include:

Senior Thesis Laureate: Samuel Hagood (12:56)               
Salutatorians: Joshua Underwood & Samuel Hagood (17:41)              
Valedictorian: Margaret Rae Lambdin (18:47)              
Veritas Valiant: Joshua Underwood (27:42)

Congratulations to these four seniors and the entire 48-student graduating class on their accomplishments at Veritas Academy. Onward!

School of Rhetoric House Champs: The Augustinian House

After six long years, the Augustinian House brought home the 2023 House Cup. As four-time House Cup Champions, these students earn house points throughout the year from various activities—like intramural games during lunch, Homecoming week dress-up days, SR retreat, the Mr. Defender pageant, individual character recognitions, and more.

The Augustinian House values friendship, humility, and honesty.

The Franciscan House was runner up, followed by the House of Bonhoeffer in third place, and the House of Müller in fourth. 

Wildflower Days

Our students enjoyed God's creation with extended time outside for our fourth annual Wildflower Days. After a beautiful hike through part of our sprawling 97-acre campus to a hidden meadow, they had the opportunity to respond in worship through nature study, art, scientific discovery, reading, writing, or whatever other means they came up with! God has blessed us abundantly with this land, and it is a privilege for our students to learn and explore in such a picturesque classroom.

House at Pooh Corner Celebration

At the conclusion of our spring Grammar School Read Aloud House at Pooh Corner, we invited our students and their families to our Upper Village for a variety of Pooh themed activities. We celebrated all of their hard work and dedication to this novel with a scavenger hunt, honey slime making, pin the tail on Eeyore, and more! These read-alouds are a critical piece of our reading and writing curriculum in 1st through 4th grades, but involving the whole family makes for a joyful educational experience that spans across all ages.

Grammar School Year End Festivities

Throughout May, our campus buzzed with end-of-year traditions, including Teddy Bear picnics (PreSchool), Mother Goose picnics (PreK), Kindergarten Graduation, Mother's Day Tea (1st grade), tie-dying t-shirts and cooking in solar ovens (2nd grade), Blast from the Past celebration (3rd grade), a Poetry Café and Bridge Ceremony (4th grade), and some really precious Character Rock ceremonies throughout Grammar School.

May Grandparents Gathering

In a tradition that began last fall, our spring Grandparent Gathering offered our local grandparents the opportunity to hear from Ellen Schuknecht and enjoy a time of fellowship together. Ellen brought her personal experience as both the founder of our Family Ministries program and as a grandmother of several Veritas students to her discussion on connecting and communicating with your grandchildren. It is always such a pleasure to host these valuable members of our community on campus!

Veritas Shines Food Drive

Our 8th Annual Spring Food Drive was a huge success! This year we collected non-perishable food donations for Hungry Souls, an Austin-based non-profit that partners with schools across Central Texas to provide weekend and school break meals for students and their families. They offer opportunities for food-insecure children to succeed, thrive, and break the cycle of poverty. To learn more about Hungry Souls, you can visit their site below.

Hungry Souls

Celebrating the culmination of an eventful academic year, our school hosted a series of exciting events and showcases, highlighting the incredible talents and hard work of our students. As the school year drew to a close, our campus came alive with creativity and enthusiasm, offering a plethora of opportunities for students to shine.

Into the Woods

Our School of Rhetoric theater students took on four performances of the musical, Into the Woods, and their dedication and passion for the arts were evident in every line delivered, every note sung, and every dance move flawlessly executed . Into the Woods incorporates a variety of Brothers Grimm fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk. The musical, written by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, drives home the importance of virtue which continues to be a focus for our school as we seek to develop not only our students' minds, but their hearts and characters as well. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The 7th and 8th graders put on an impressive show with our annual production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, revealing incredible talent from all these budding performers. This delightful tale by William Shakespeare was performed under the direction of our newly name Fine Arts Director, Mrs. Neela Beddoe. 

Wind in the Willows

The 5th and 6th grade School of Logic theater students wrapped up their year by performing Wind in the Willows to a packed house of Grammar School students. This tale of the adventures of Badger, Mole, Rat, and the enthusiastic Mr. Toad was also featured as the 2021-2022 Grammar School read aloud, and this stage adaptation was a sweet way to bring the story to life for our younger Defenders.

Art Week

This spring, the Fine Arts Department filled the hallways of our main Academic Building with a student gallery for all to see and enjoy. This year we were excited to showcase our student artists further with an online gallery and option for print purchases! Purchases of any prints went towards displaying more and more beauty at our school through student art displays and displays of classic, historical works of art. If you would like to help support our art program or any artists at Veritas that you know, please keep an eye out for an opportunity to purchase your own prints during our next Art Week in the fall.
 

Varsity Softball Were District Champs!

Our Varsity Softball were undefeated DISTRICT CHAMPS! Their stellar record and outstanding season earned them a bye through the first round of playoffs and and sent them straight into the quarterfinals.

Tennis Went to the TAPPS State Tournament

Drew Bremer and Ben Cox made the semifinals at the TAPPS State Tennis Tournament and Drew Bremer received Academic All-State honors for a third season this year! Kylie Knutson and Jack Bruce also represented Veritas well in their mixed doubles match at the state tournament. 

Varsity Track Made History at Regionals

Varsity Track took 23 athletes to Regionals and qualified for all 6 relays for the first time in Veritas history!

At Regionals on the women's side, junior Kate Brawley led both the 4x1 and 4x2 to school records with teammates Mary McLatcher, Eve Pickering, Elizabeth Lensing, Ashlyn Askew, and Rachel Wallace. In addition to running both relays, sophomore Mary McLatcher led the team in points earned with 20 and narrowly missing state qualification in the open 200. Sophomore Ellie Dodson was our lone state qualifier on the women's side in the 100 hurdles, and went on to race in Waco at State!  

On the men's side, the team of Brighton Bresemann, Joey MacPherson, Aidan Marenco, and Josiah Merryman set a school record and narrowly missed state qualification in the 4x2. Junior Matthew Ard also set a school record in the 3200 with a time of 10:32 - a 20 second PR. The final school record of the day was set by men's 4x4 team: Aidan Marenco, Isaac Karnes, Caleb Eilers, and Patrick Morgan. Senior Ben Potts was our lone men's state qualifier in the pole vault, who earned 16 points for the team at regionals and went on to state to defend his state championship vault of 15 feet!

We are so proud of all of our Defender Athletes! Congrats on an outstanding year!
 

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