Franklin Road Academy inducted seven students into the state’s first – and only – International Robotics Honor Society chapter this week. The chapter is one of only 29 in the U.S.

The International Robotics Honor Society was founded to recognize individual students who meet specified criteria within the areas of scholarship, leadership, personal character, community service, and, of course, robotics. The Society aims to encourage more students to strive toward academic excellence in the STEM fields, provide service and character development opportunities and to encourage participation in robotics programs.

Congratulations to seniors Ava Ackerman, Ryan Pierce, Campbell Jeffrey, and Stephen Hohnholt for being recognized as Commended Scholars by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. 

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships. Approximately 1.6 million high school students enter the program each year, and to be named a Commended Scholar, you must be one of the 50,000 entrants who have the highest PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores. 

FRA has collaborated with Nashville Dance Center to create the FRA School of Dance. NDC's Sarah Rigsby, who also happens to be an FRA parent, has been teaching classes for lower, middle and upper school students in an effort to expand the dance program as well as create a dance team that will eventually compete on a high level.

And now, with the new space in the Weicker Center, there are so many more ways to expand and grow in a more comfortable and purposeful space.

At FRA, we believe service has an incredible power to transform lives - both those whom we serve as well as our own - and service life is woven into all parts of our school.

Students have the opportunity to serve others locally within our community and the greater Nashville area and globally through mission trips, and we hope these experiences will develop skills, leadership qualities, and passion for others that will last long after graduation.

Because of this, FRA has partnered with Bethlehem Centers of Nashville at Bethlehem Garden for the last three years. This part of Nashville has a rich history. It is also classified as a food desert. Produce from the garden is shared with Learning Academy Day Care Center, Meals on Wheels, and Bethlehem Center community members.

This summer, seniors Summer Vo and Campbell Jeffrey and juniors Caleb Huddleston and Olivia Maki got the opportunity to spend a week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sitting in on classes taught by current Harvard students and professors at The Academies at Harvard.

Summer attended the pre-med academy, Campbell learned about coding, and Caleb and Olivia were both in the politics cohort. Their groups worked on projects that included topics of mental health, minimum wage, and disease case studies.

On Sunday, Franklin Road Academy unveiled its new 38,400-square-foot student life center with a naming dedication ceremony. The Weicker Center for Student Life, named by FRA’s capital campaign lead donor, The Cal Turner Family Foundation, for beloved teacher and coach George Weicker, features a dining hall, spirit store and coffee shop, collegiate-style formal and informal academic spaces, innovative classrooms, school-wide offices for the director of diversity, inclusion, and community, spiritual life, and the Center for Philanthropic Studies.

We are excited to welcome outstanding new faculty to our community. These exceptional educators bring experience, education, and a passion for FRA's mission to provide a challenging educational experience within an inclusive Christian community.

If you attend the 78th Iroquois Steeplechase event this weekend, you'll likely see the artwork of FRA eighth grade student Mimi Fuller, who was selected as the official student artist of the race.