PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE

1. Joyful Lovers of the Truth:

A Chapel Field graduate will be a joyful learner, zealous for the truth, curious, and filled with a sense of wonder regarding the world that God has made. He will comprehend and rejoice in the fact that Christ is the Truth incarnate and that in him all things hold together and find their meaning, that all truth is God’s truth, thereby making the study of every subject a rich endeavor.  He will see himself as being on a lifelong quest for truth.  He will discipline himself to be attentive to the subjects before him in a world of distraction, aiming not at a cursory knowledge of his subjects, but at mastery of them to best of his ability.  He will not merely be good at school, passing tests and earning good grades, but rather he will seek a true education, in or out of school, in the perception and understanding of truth.  He will be eloquent in the expression of his formed beliefs and thereby equipped to defend the truth he loves.

2. Active Pursuers of Wisdom and Virtue:

A Chapel Field graduate will not merely have a head filled with ideas, but will embody the truths he has learned and virtues he has been trained in.  He will develop the humility and reverence that is necessary for a quest for wisdom, and he will seek for wisdom as for silver and gold, be it in class discussions, the books he reads, or in life outside of school. He will have a love of the past and of old things that have stood the test of time and that now serve as agents of wisdom.  He will be taught to see the connections among the things he studies, even across the subjects of the curriculum.  In partnership with his parents and his church he will have his heart tuned and oriented toward the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, carefully discriminating between them and fleeting counterfeits; learning to love things in their proper place, greater things with a greater love and lesser things with a lesser love, and to hate that which God hates, namely vice, sin, evil. A Chapel Field grad will rejoice in challenges that confront him.  He will pursue excellence (virtue) in all he does and when he fails to do so he will receive correction with humility and will repent. He will be filled with gratitude and piety, recognizing the debt he owes to his family, church, school, and country for the manifold gifts that God has poured out through them. He will be sacrificial in his love for his neighbor, be it his fellow student or countryman.

3. Committed Servants of Christ:

A Chapel Field graduate will drink deeply from the living waters of God’s word over his years of attendance and thus, he will desire to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He will know that he is a sinner and yet he will know that he is forgiven, washed in the blood of the Lamb and that he is righteous in the sight of God having been clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  He will be committed to his local church, understanding his need to sit under the regular preaching of God’s Word and to submit himself to the loving discipline of his elders. He will see all situations as opportunities to glorify God, even in the mundane and ordinary things of life.  He will be joyful in his service to Christ viewing him as the Pearl of Great price.  He will be able to discern the idols of the age, seeing them as the soul-destroying forces that they are, and will be prepared for the lifelong struggle to combat them in his life and in his culture. He will sing vigorously, love sacrificially, and stand for the truth of God courageously.