What an incredible year of growth it has been for Excel Academy! We have more families than ever before, and this year were able to launch our second day program, Arts & Activities. Our program gives families a day during the week to bring their children to campus for enrichment in all sorts of fun activities. Children get the opportunity to learn anything from dance, to chess, to art and even science! We are currently finishing up our Fall Program within the next few weeks and have already begun preparing for our fully loaded Spring Program. 

Arts and Activities was an idea birthed from the heart of our Excel Academy Director, Emily Dimitris. Emily wanted to provide an opportunity to serve our Academy families through programs that encourage creativity and artistic expression. When we first started Arts & Activities about a year ago we were a small, half day program that offered only a few classes including taekwondo, science, art, music, robotics, and tumbling. My personal involvement came when Emily approached me about partnering with her to develop and implement the program on a practical level. Through many afternoons spent at Emily’s kitchen table, I soon learned that her heart is completely for these families. Not only were we able to create a drop-off program for the children, but the mothers of the children also have the opportunity to participate in a Mother’s Bible Study led by Ms. Jean while their children are learning new skills and building new friendships on campus. 

Our day begins with a drop off and sign in at the Center on Excel’s campus. We meet every Thursday starting at 8:50AM. We all gather together to recite our daily expectations as we play some games to wake ourselves up and get ready for a full day. We encourage one another to “Have an attitude of gratitude, listen respectfully, honor one another, work hard, and try new things!”. After our morning of welcome games and a little character development, our students are moved into their first classes. Throughout the entire day, students participate in 45 minute-hour long classes in dance, art, guitar, chess, taekwondo, music, outdoor games, creative space, lego building and soccer. Each student gets to have a morning snack while listening to a character building story facilitated by two of our teachers, Nathaniel and Laura. We have one other break during the day, where we all sit together to eat lunch and say goodbye to our friends who only participate in the half day program. By 4pm, our students have had a full day of movement and creativity, and are ready to head on home! 

This is just the beginning of the Arts & Activities program, and we are currently looking to add even more options for our families come this spring. Personally, I am not only learning what it means to run a program and refine a program, but I am also learning how much of an impact one opportunity can have for an entire family. For myself, the practical side of building Arts & Activities has helped me fulfill requirements for my degree of Community and Program Development at Excel College. It is only the doing of the Lord that I have had the opportunity to be in this role, yet my absolute favorite moments are when I get to hear stories from the moms of how much of an impact this once a week program has had on their own relationships with the Lord and their families. We aren’t just a drop off program with no relationship to our families, we are a family within ourselves. 

Come check out the hard work our kids have been doing over the last few months on Friday, December 3rd! We will be downtown Black Mountain in front of Train Depot. at 6:00 PM dancing at the Holly Jolly Winter performance! For more information on how to get involved with Arts & Activities, you can reach out to myself (murraynicole2693@gmail.com) or Emily Dimitris (emilydimitris@gmail.com).