Riverside Preparatory Academy officially welcomed students back to school, and with the new school year, the academy is introducing new programs and staff to continue to meet the needs of students.
Vice President for Advancement at Riverside Ellen DeFoor said the school is most excited to introduce its new strategy to continue to foster its relationship with parents.
“We have decided to expand our parent engagement program this academic year,” she said. “And so, over the summer, key leaders have spent hundreds of man-hours developing a very collaborative institutional plan in this regard. Parent Engagement to us involves parents in the school, both working together to build lasting partnerships to support and improve the learning development experience of their students.”
DeFoor said Riverside has created opportunities for parents to be involved in their child’s education both in-person or virtually to accommodate those that may be sending their sons to the school from other states or countries. Through parent programming, parents can participate, receive weekly newsletters and view weekly webinars. However, this year, Riverside is helping parents reinforce the values their sons learn in school through its new Family Forums.
“The parents have been asking, for years, what can they do so that when their sons are home for extended weekends and holiday breaks, 'what can we do that reinforces the structure and accountability that they learn while they're at Riverside?'" DeFoor said. "So, we really feel that offering this new parent programming is going to help strengthen the relationship that the school has with our parents, but also help to help those parents have more skills and education in the learning, and the development experience itself."
DeFoor highlighted that these forums will have guest speakers that specialize in parenting topics, including family counselor Dr. Michael Gurian who will bring his expertise to parents in October.
“He's written, I think, about 32 books,” she said. “ And is known as one of the world's foremost gender experts. And he founded an organization called the Gurian Institute.”
Riverside Prep is also supporting students outside of the classroom by welcoming new staff on campus.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Pooley joins the school as its new Commandant from the Royal Hospital, a partner school of Riverside located in Great Britain. In his new role, he will work closely with TAC ( Teacher, Advisor, Counselor) officers who are in charge of overseeing the students outside of class, and help them manage their time outside of school hours.
“They work very closely with the boys, get to know each of the students, get to know the families well, and have responsibility for their care from the evening then all through the night,” DeFoor said.
Additionally, Riverside is continuing to expand and develop several of its academic programs offered to students. The school’s Civil Air Patrol Program, Aerospace Engineering, and Cybersecurity programs will continue to offer their services to students. Riverside has also expanded its JROTC program to be open to eighth-grade students, despite previously only being offered to high schoolers.
"We have just started those new programs up within the last two to three years," DeFoor said. "Each year we've added one, and it's just become a new addition to our already very strong academic program. Our students have a lot that they can get involved in and a lot that they can experience here that's very different than what they could get just about anywhere else."
