The greatest heroes in the best stories have some common traits: they grow in wisdom and virtue, persevere in their trials, and courageously achieve victory in the end. A student’s academic journey is similar to a hero’s journey. Through each stage of the trivium, Covenant Academy students master their subjects, growing in wisdom and virtue. They persevere through challenging material as they wrestle with lofty concepts that challenges their thinking and helps them to reason logically. They practice servant leadership as they serve others inside and outside of the classroom, demonstrating their love for God. Throughout their academic journey, students seek to cultivate arete: excellence in all things and a pursuit of virtue. Students’ academic journeys peak with the Senior Thesis course, the final academic obstacle to overcome in their Rhetoric School journey, demonstrating their mastery of arete.
Covenant Academy is the first school in the middle Georgia area to offer such an opportunity to students. For over a decade, the Senior Thesis course has been the pinnacle and capstone of a Covenant Academy student’s learning. This capstone is a rite of passage for our students, and like the great heroes of old, students must take up courage, fight to persevere in the face of a great trial, and emerge victorious.
The course expects students to produce a position, paper, presentation, and defense; these reflect their critical analysis skills they have developed, honed, and refined throughout their time at Covenant Academy. Using the Classical Essay structure, students craft a paper that proves their position through wisely and logically defended arguments, as well as a refutation of the opposing arguments. This paper and defense demonstrate how students have mastered the analytical and rhetorical skills they have acquired across all disciplines taught at Covenant Academy. The entire Senior Thesis process showcases students’ classical training and proves how they have mastered arete and are capable and wise thinkers, ready to reach the world for God’s truth.