Parent Info Center

At Williamsburg Academy, we value the ability of students to not just learn about leadership but to take an active role in leading within the school. As a result, we created a student-elected Student Body Presidency, consisting of a Student Body President, Vice President, and Secretary.

Our Student Body Presidency leads our Student Body Leadership team, comprised of 50 students who volunteer their time and effort to create engaging activities and spread the Culture of Belonging to all students. 

In Inspiration Hour on Thursday, March 2, our Student Body Presidency presented. It was an excellent opportunity to get to know them and why they decided to serve.

You and your student can catch all the Inspiration Hour and Thursday Night Live recordings in Homeroom. It is lovely to see so many students engaging and having a great time.

Sincerely,

Ross Gilbert

Headmaster, Williamsburg Academy

Action Items

[No action items for this week]

Announcements

WA Prom: Leadership Academy of Utah (LAU), our partner school in Utah, is inviting Williamsburg Academy students to attend its prom on April 28. Prom sign-ups for WA students will start on March 20. Please stay tuned for additional details!

Upcoming Events

March 9-10: Midterms – All midterms are due by March 10 at 5:00 PM MT

March 13-17: Spring Break – No classes, offices closed

April 10: Spring Recess – No classes, offices closed

April 28: Prom (in partnership with LAU)

May 19: WA Graduation – 6:00-7:30 PM MT

As we approach the midterm spring break at Williamsburg Academy, it is an excellent opportunity for your student to review their progress this semester, recognize their wins, submit any missed assignments, and prepare for upcoming midterm exams or projects.

If your student is taking live classes, the last day to submit pre-midterm assignments is March 7 at 9:00 PM MT. If they are taking self-paced courses, it is March 10 at 5:00 PM MT.

Our Mentors and Teaching Assistants work hard to give constructive and specific feedback to assignments during the semester to assist your student with their growth and development. Please invite your student to read this feedback and complete any resubmission requests to help improve their grades.

We are so grateful for the chance to work with your wonderful students.

Sincerely,

Ross Gilbert

Headmaster, Williamsburg Academy

Action Items

[No action items for this week]

Announcements

For California, Alaska, and private pay families: Beginning with the 2023-24 school year, Williamsburg will no longer offer a 10% discount for students who take five or more classes per semester.

While most of our families in California, Alaska, and elsewhere did not qualify for this discount, we know this announcement may be disappointing for those who did. For that, we apologize.

In the spirit of complete transparency, here’s why we’re making this change: We are trying our best to strike a balance between keeping our prices low, our pay and benefits to our mentors and staff competitive, and our program as high-quality as it has always been. This is no small feat in today’s atmosphere of high inflation. In fact, for families we gave this discount to last year, we ultimately had a negative margin of between 5% and 10%. This, of course, is unsustainable.

We also want to keep our pricing as simple as possible. Setting the same price per course with no discounts, application fees, or registration fees makes it the simplest in our industry.

With all that said, here’s our promise: We will always do our best to keep our prices as low as possible while continuing to offer your student the best online program in the world.

Lastly, we know paying for our program out-of-pocket is a sacrifice. Thank you for making that sacrifice and for being a Williamsburg parent! We love having you here, and we look forward to continuing to serve your family

Upcoming Events

March 9-10: Midterms – All midterms are due by March 10 at 5:00 PM MT

March 13-17: Spring Break – No classes, offices closed

There are many online learning options available, but let’s be real, many of them fall short. Some families see online learning as a method of credit recovery or a less challenging option than traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Williamsburg Academy, however, believes the opposite to be true. We see our program as a highly flexible, individualized, and innovative method of learning. Since we started as a small, private school that slowly moved online, we were able to identify the things that made us special from the very beginning, and we have never let go of “our three uniques.”

1. Inspiring mentors trained to facilitate TLEs:

Our first unique is who we hire. We know nothing is more important in the educational process than the mentor/student connection and the ability to inspire! That’s why we only hire the best and most dynamic people to interact with our students, and we train them how to deliver transformational learning experiences (TLEs). A TLE is a new way of thinking about the world or oneself, whether online or in-person.

2. Curriculum that teaches how to think, not what to think:

The Williamsburg Curriculum was created internally and intentionally to teach students to question and communicate. Our six mentor practices (Connection, the Socratic Method, Engaging Presentation, Project Based Learning, Quality Feedback, and Transformational Learning) facilitate higher-level thinking skills that are critical in today’s confusing world.

3. Designed transformational social experiences:

We know that humans (especially teenagers!) are social creatures that crave human connection. That’s why we provide highly curated social experiences that allow our students to bond with one another. Our Student Body Leadership team provides fun and inspirational online social activities every Thursday at 3:00 PM MT. Providing a culture of belonging that allows students to feel safe brings the whole program together. We hope that your student will join us at these weekly activities. 

We are grateful that you chose Williamsburg Academy for your student’s educational journey and want you to know that we remain committed to “our three uniques.” Just as you want the best for your children, we want to be the best education provider possible.

Sincerely,

Ross Gilbert

Headmaster, Williamsburg Academy

Action Items

[No action items for this week]

Announcements

Important pre-midterm information: Pre-midterm assignments in live classes are due by March 7 at 9:00 PM MT, and pre-midterm assignments in self-paced classes are due by March 10 at 5:00 PM MT. All midterms are also due by March 10 at 5:00 PM MT.

Summer registration starts on March 27: We’ve adjusted our summer registration dates to align with registration for the 2023-24 school year, so you’ll be able to select your student’s summer, fall, and winter classes all at once. We’ll send you reminders before registration opens!

Upcoming Events

February 20: President’s Day – No classes, offices closed

March 9-10: Midterms – All midterms are due by March 10 at 5:00 PM MT

March 13-17: Spring Break – No classes, offices closed

Each Thursday at 1:00 PM MT, our outstanding Student Body Leadership teams organize and lead online activities for all students to attend and enjoy. This weekly event, called Inspiration Hour, is a great blessing for me to help mentor these students along with Mrs. Karin Williams.

Last week, we enjoyed hearing from three alums of Williamsburg who were very involved in Student Body Leadership and spreading the Culture of Belonging to other students as they served. They have all graduated and are now at various colleges in the United States. The topic of their Inspiration Hour was “How has Williamsburg impacted our lives?”

I was inspired as I listened to their stories. I admit I even got emotional as I remembered my experiences with these incredible students as their Leadership mentor. It filled me with gratitude for the environment we have at Williamsburg Academy and that students can thrive in their life pursuits. If you or your student missed this excellent session and want to watch the recording, you can access it in Homeroom.

Thank you for entrusting your student’s education to Williamsburg. We’re glad that you’re a part of our community!

Sincerely,

Ross Gilbert

Headmaster, Williamsburg Academy

No action items, announcements, or upcoming events for this week!

This week, I met with parents during Parent-Mentor Conferences. I listened as they expressed excitement about what their students are learning and how much they love what Williamsburg Academy offers. Parents expressed appreciation for the high levels of learning their students are experiencing. I know that our mentors and staff are deeply committed to this and have your student’s growth and learning as their top priority.

This year’s primary focus is to help our parents and students become “Raving Fans.” Ken Blanchard explains that “Raving Fans” go out of their way to share their positive experience with other parents. This sharing brings many families to our school, and we stand committed to offering the best education to our families and students.

We love hearing about your student’s success at school. In addition, we want to know if there are challenges that make it difficult for you to be a “Raving Fan.” We stand united in wanting to help our students, and we need the support and help of our families.

I thank each of you for your confidence in our school and look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Ross Gilbert

Headmaster, Williamsburg Academy

Action Items

Check out the Academic Calendar for 2023-24: Want to get an early start on planning your family’s summer and fall vacations this year? You can view the finalized calendar for the upcoming school year here.

Announcements

For California, Alaska, and private pay families: Beginning with the 2023-24 school year, Williamsburg will no longer offer a 10% discount for students who take five or more classes per semester.

While most of our families in California, Alaska, and elsewhere did not qualify for this discount, we know this announcement may be disappointing for those who did. For that, we apologize.

In the spirit of complete transparency, here’s why we’re making this change: We are trying our best to strike a balance between keeping our prices low, our pay and benefits to our mentors and staff competitive, and our program as high-quality as it has always been. This is no small feat in today’s atmosphere of high inflation. In fact, for families we gave this discount to last year, we ultimately had a negative margin of between 5% and 10%. This, of course, is unsustainable.

We also want to keep our pricing as simple as possible. Setting the same price per course with no discounts, application fees, or registration fees makes it the simplest in our industry.

With all that said, here’s our promise: We will always do our best to keep our prices as low as possible while continuing to offer your student the best online program in the world.

Lastly, we know paying for our program out-of-pocket is a sacrifice. Thank you for making that sacrifice and for being a Williamsburg parent! We love having you here, and we look forward to continuing to serve your family

Upcoming Events

March 9-10: Midterms – All midterms are due by March 10 at 5:00 PM MT

March 13-17: Spring Break – No classes, offices closed