Our Shield

The Official Seal of the School

Each quadrant of the shield tells a part of the story about the school and its goals.
  • The top left quadrant has the school's name.
            NAME
  • The top right quadrant has the school's mascot and future directions.
            MASCOT
  • The bottom left quadrant has the 5 aspects of the child addressed by the school
            ASPECTS Of COMMITMENT
  • The bottom right quadrant has the school creed.
            MOTTO

Our Name

The Renaissance Preparatory Academy

The
We are an INDEPENDENT(no religious affiliation), PRIVATE (not Government sponsored), school designed using evidence-based educational quality standards.
Renaissance
We follow a philosophy of educating to create a "Renaissance Scholar"; one who excels across a wide range of activities including fine arts, ethics, academics, and athletics. We address the learning and development of the "whole" child.
Preparatory
Our goal is to prepare student for higher education and to have students learn to excel in academics and seeking evidence-based knowledge, then,  to proactively apply that knowledge to a wide range of problems/issues that they see in the world around them.
Academy
We provide a place and the development of a society that promotes excellence in academics, athletics, social skills, aesthetics and emotional/ethical control.

Our Mascot

Lion
The lion in heraldry is an emblem of strength, justice and deathless courage.
Passant
The lion is walking forward into the future.
Torch
The lit torch is called "The Torch of Learning".
Ball and Chain
These refer to the constraint of freedom caused by ignorance and poor thinking.
The Lion Passant with Torch and Standing on Ball and Chain refers to our alumni personally taking up learning as a way to enlighten their way and intentionally striving forward in a position of strength while acting with courage and justice and, in the process, trampling ignorance and poor thinking along the way.

ASPECTS OF COMMITMENT
Academics
Academic excellence in foundation areas (Reading, Writing, Math, Handwriting/Technology) to enable successful Theme Unit active learning of our renaissance classics: Fine Arts, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences & Foreign Language. Our theme topics do a three year rotation to align with our three-graded class structure.
Athletics
Active movement is important for wellness AND academics. We follow other schools in bringing recess and PE back into the curriculum.
Emotional
Learning self-control, persistence, and to stand up for what is right  in structured and unstructured times is an important life skill. This is why our recess and reflection times are in all classes.
Social
Both the 3-grade classrooms where students remain for up to 3 years is an important design. Research has shown that this along with longer unstructured recesses is important for social growth.
Ethical
Understanding what you believe in and how that should look in practice is an important part of learning ethics. Our honor codes build in detail across the classes to reinforce this lesson.

 Our Motto: Part 1

The Latin Motto Guiding Our Actions

Curiosum
  • This is Latin for curiosity.
Humanitas
  • This is a more complex word than curiosum. It is Latin for a concept that includes elements of civilization, courtesy, culture, education, learning, kindness, politeness, and scholarship. Thus this word combines chivalry and scholarship. 

Our Motto: Part 2

The Latin Motto Guiding Our Actions.

Fortitude
  • This concept in Latin reinforces many of the attitudes and even physical attributes that we value. Fortitude means mental firmness or resolution, strength, perseverance, bravery, courage and intrepidity.
Opus
  • This Latin word also encompasses many English concepts. Opus means accomplishing tasks or deeds. It means taking action or putting effort into one’s work. Yet it also means doing so in intentional ways that result in value for others such as engaging in business or presenting one’s workmanship in a skill.