Portrait of the
Cypress Graduate
We approach education with the end in mind. We know that at its heart, education is a formative enterprise–we are cultivating children to embrace, to embody, and to extend a vision of “the good life.” This good life is not high scores on standardized tests, a lucrative career, or college acceptance. Rather, the good life and aim of education is the cultivation of virtue and rightly ordered affections. To that end, Cypress partners with parents to grow students in the following ideals:
Love God
Jesus himself declares that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. As such, the Cypress graduate knows the God of the Old and New Testament Scriptures as his Savior and greatest treasure. His/her chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
Love Others
Jesus also affirms that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. The Cypress graduate seeks to obey the biblical mandate to love others as self and to do to others as you would have them do to you.
Love Learning
The Cypress graduate, being broadly read in the foundational works of western culture, and having been taught in the methodologies of classical education, loves to learn.
Rightly Ordered Affections
One of the marks of the growing Christian is loving the things he/she ought to love and hating the things he/she they ought to hate. The Cypress graduate places the highest value on all that is true, good, and beautiful, knowing that Jesus Christ is the embodiment of each of these transcendentals.
Reason Rightly and Speak Eloquently
Having been formally trained in logic and rhetoric, the Cypress graduate formulates cogent arguments and defends them winsomely in speech and in writing with alacrity and precision. Grounded in the truth of Scriptures and informed by a broad exposure to literature and academic study, the Cypress graduate aims to think deeply, employ wisdom, and speak graciously and persuasively for the sake of Christ to the world.
Possess the Tools to Learn Anything
Having been taught in the classical forms and pedagogies, the Cypress graduate possesses the rudiments and skills to study any discipline. He/She is thus ready to pursue whichever course of learning in which the Lord leads.
Active In the Church and In Service
Learning is not done for the sake of the individual alone. Rather, the tools, wisdom, eloquence which are now the possession of the Cypress graduate are meant for the growth of God’s Kingdom. As such, the Cypress graduate understands the primacy of the Church in the continual growth and development of believers, and the responsibility of each believer to submit to local church leaders as the believer seeks to serve the local church body in ministry and disciple-making.
