At R-MA, teaching students about character isn’t just something that can be done in a classroom. While R-MA students learn about knowledge and leadership in various on-campus environments, character is taught in several unique ways. Through community service, residential life, mentorship, and R-MA’s Honor Code, students learn to enhance their sense of character and become responsible citizens with strong personal values.
With the value of character embedded into the everyday lives of our students, there are several ways in which R-MA prioritizes this as part of their development while attending our school. Here’s how Randolph-Macon Academy helps students build character.
Students At Our Prep School Learn Character Through Community Service
With around 12,000 hours on average logged each year by our students, community service is a major component of student life at R-MA. Students complete community service volunteer hours for college applications and honor societies, and also to demonstrate their capacity for good citizenship and provide assistance to various initiatives. They can volunteer for several different causes, such as on-campus programs, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, and the American Red Cross, to name a few. In many ways, it is our school’s embodiment of the Air Force value of “Service before self”, and it’s one that allows students to participate in a character and leadership-building aspect of campus life.
Having Honest Discussions With Mentors And Through Residence Life
Another significant part of life at R-MA is the relationship our Upper School students have with their mentors. These are either staff or faculty members, who are tasked with providing their assigned student (typically a group from two to eight students at once) with support whenever needed. All Upper School students at our prep school have a mentor during their time at R-MA, with whom they meet several times a week to receive guidance, make plans for social and academic success, and/or have frank discussions on a number of topics pertinent to life as a teenager. The latter is also common for students in residence life, where they discuss topics like leading by example, personal integrity, and positive character development with their CSLs (Cadet Life Supervisors).
Faculty and staff act as mentors for R-MA students
The R-MA Honor Code Is Another Form Of Character-Building
Upon attending R-MA, students at our private school academy are expected to abide by the Honor Code. As a means of helping students become better citizens, the Honor Code helps students understand the importance of character-building values. Students accomplish this by honoring the Code’s three core beliefs: trust, where students are expected to be responsible young adults, since they are treated as such; honesty, where students must report any perceived violations of the Honor Code (eg. theft, cheating, lying); and respect, where students are expected to show this at all times to those they interact with at the school. By honoring the Honor Code and its principles, students can further their development of character throughout their time at R-MA.
Students are expected to show trust, honesty, and respect to others at all times
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