Alumni Profiles

Covenant Classical School students are more than intelligent, hardworking students in the classroom.

Bailey Snyder (Class of 2014)

What is your current work or place of study? What do you find most enjoyable about this season of your life?

I am currently working toward my master’s degree in International Relations at the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland. This season of life has been the most adventure-filled to date. Making the decision to pursue this track of higher education and simultaneously committing to move to the UK for a year was far out of my comfort zone but has brought the most incredible opportunities and expanded my perspectives on life and academia.

What is one of your favorite Covenant memories? 

Looking back, it’s hard to pick just one favorite memory. I know everyone says the senior trip to Italy because it truly was the greatest week from my time at CCS. But apart from that I would say my junior year when I joined the basketball team. I had never played before, and they needed a sixth player to give the starters a break from playing both offense and defense. It turned into one of the most fun experiences where I got to develop deeper bonds with the other high school girls. I’m a firm believer that sports have a way of bringing people together despite their differences!

What were some of the most meaningful aspects of your Covenant education? 

Looking back now from where I am in my education, I think the most meaningful thing I learned at Covenant was the ability to think critically and work through abstract ideas. I learned the tools to both stretch my own thoughts with logical consistency and also how to break apart ideas that I don’t understand right off the bat—to view ideas as puzzle pieces that can be broken apart and put back together. This has been an invaluable skill.

What was one challenge you experienced as a student at Covenant, and how did you overcome it? 

I think the main challenge for me in high school is what a lot of students face: learning how to balance all the different responsibilities of life. School, family, sports, friends and church all require time and effort, and I think high school is really the time I built the skills to balance those expectations.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to a current and prospective Covenant student? 

I would tell them to embrace the Covenant culture. The beauty about the size of Covenant is that each person and each class has the ability to have a big impact on the school culture. If students dig in, seek out leadership roles, and value the relationships around them, then I believe Covenant can provide a truly unique community. When I look back, I am most thankful for my classmates who became my brothers and sisters and for teachers who cared about developing character in me as a person not just as a student.

Oftentimes I think people can look at a school like Covenant and think that it shelters its students or keeps them from knowing the “real” world. My response to this, and encouragement to any students who might feel that way, is twofold: 1) I think it is important to guard students from the full force of the challenges, pain, and struggles that come with adulthood until they are equipped to handle them emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 2) My time at Covenant did just that. Through the intentional efforts of parents and teachers and my classmates by my side, I was gifted a tool belt to work through all the new challenges I faced in college and after. I don’t feel like I missed out on anything by having a “Covenant high school experience;” rather, I was given the freedom of a protected space to develop conviction and character and be shaped into who God would have me be.

Collin Fredricks (Class of 2016)

What is your current work or place of study? What do you find most enjoyable about this season of your life? 

I’m currently a Junior at the University of Texas, studying Business Honors and Plan II. (Plan II is an “interdisciplinary honors program” at UT, which just means I am in a lot of smaller, seminar-style honors classes across a lot of different subjects—from literature to math to philosophy, etc. So it’s kind of like Covenant within UT, but not Christian and not classical.) My favorite thing about this period of my life is how many different experiences I get to have on a daily basis. I don’t have to specialize yet, so I can take philosophy classes, work at a tech startup, and compete for the UT Mock Trial Team—all at the same time!

What is one of your favorite Covenant memories? 

One of my favorite memories from Covenant is the yearly Ultimate Frisbee House Competition to kick off the year. It was always such a fun way to end the first week of school and to get everybody out of the classroom and running around trying to win the first House competition. It was also our first opportunity to meet the new 7^th graders who were getting inducted into our House!

What were some of the most meaningful aspects of your Covenant education? 

Looking back, what I value the most is the emphasis that Covenant placed on teaching through discussion, or the “Socratic method” if you want to call it that. We were always encouraged to take an active role in our learning—to take sides, argue positions, and engage with our fellow students and teachers. I came into college already comfortable doing these things with the confidence to articulate my position that a lot of my classmates did not have to develop in high school.

 What was one challenge you experienced as a student at Covenant, and how did you overcome it? 

Probably the most challenging thing for me at Covenant was the mandatory requirement to take some sort of art/creative class. I am a naturally left-brained person—and if given the choice I would forgo anything resembling a paintbrush or camera. But I am glad Covenant forced me to get out of my comfort zone. Instead of diving completely into any one subject, I spread my four years of high school out—taking two years of Studio Art, one year of Photography, and one of Theater. I am glad those classes are behind me now, but they definitely made me a more well-rounded person!

What’s one piece of advice you would give to a current and prospective Covenant student? 

Take advantage of the opportunity to forge your own path that comes with being a student at Covenant, and don’t feel as though there is any one area of study or activity that you are “supposed” to do. I know sometimes it can feel like there is a certain set of activities that you need to do to be successful or a good student. Maybe that is running track, or joining Mock Trial, or being a Latin whiz. But remember—Covenant is your school, and if those aren’t the things you are interested in, don’t do them! The only reason Mock Trial exists at Covenant is because me and my friends got interested in it and started the team my sophomore year. You can do that, too! Start your own club; get together a group of friends who share your interests. Who knows, maybe five years from now that club you start will be the new thing everyone is expected to do. So don’t feel pressure to follow anyone else’s path—forge your own!

Hannah Boss (Class of 2010)

What is your current work or place of study? What do you find most enjoyable about this season of life?

I recently graduated from Southern Seminary with a degree in Missiology and have continued to work on the campus while I prepare to transition overseas. Currently I’m headed to teach English in South Korea. What I find most enjoyable about this season of life and what I’m most thankful for is the freedom to do whatever God is calling me to do next.

What is one of your favorite Covenant memories?

I loved when the rhetoric students used to help out weekly in Grammar school classrooms. I remember having reading time with first graders one year and another year helping with activities in a fourth grade class. It provided a more familial feeling as I was able to watch younger students grow up. I would come back from college and see the “little kids” that I had worked with now in my mom’s fifth grade class and think they were so big. It’s crazy to think that first graders I read to recently graduated from Covenant and are now in college!

What were some of the most meaningful aspects of your Covenant education?

Having teachers who were passionate about what they were teaching was one of the most influential aspects of my time at CCS. I was enthused by their enthusiasm. Each subject became truly fascinating because of how much they loved and appreciated it. What could be a better example of this than Mr. Foster and Latin?!

Covenant provided an emphasis, even if unspoken, on the body, mind, and soul. My rhetoric school experience was much smaller than it is today – essentially everyone needed to participate in order for there to be a cross country team to compete (body). As a learning institution, education is clearly an emphasis, and a focus on a classical education further strengthens the experience (mind). And having a school centered around Christ and filled with teachers who truly loved God made for the most meaningful and essential part of our education (soul).

What was one challenge you experienced as a student at CCS and how did you overcome it?

When I started at Covenant, I was in the ninth grade and very, very shy and soft-spoken. So, naturally, the thought of recitation was the most frightening idea. I was so quiet, even when I felt like I was exceedingly loud, that no one was able to hear me from the stage. I remember Miss Sloan (now Mrs. Holt) had me lie down on a bench in the courtyard and yell my lines. It was embarrassing, but effective. (I didn’t yell at that recitation, but my voice was a bit more perceptible.) Help from teachers like Miss Sloan, Miss Miller (now Mrs. Philpot), and Mr. Warmath, hours of practice, and lots of prayer enabled me to work through my shyness and fear of public speaking. I will be forever grateful to them.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to a current and perspective Covenant student?

Cherish your time at Covenant and sincerely invest in it. Your Covenant education will greatly help you throughout the rest of your life. These years are foundational. I find that I often use and rely on principles and habits that I learned and formed at CCS more than the information I gained in college. Take the time now to grow deeply.

Hannah Humphreys (Class of 2016)

What is your current work or place of study? What do you find most enjoyable about this season of your life? 

I am currently a junior at Baylor University. I am majoring in Child and Family Studies with a focus in Child Development and will graduate as a Certified Family Life Educator. I also work at the Piper Child Development Center in Waco. I have lots of favorite things about this season of life. First, I am enjoying the social organizations and close communities that I am involved with at Baylor. My sorority, Kappa Chi Alpha, and Reformed University Fellowship are two organizations that have blessed me in innumerable ways. Each has given me Christ-centered friendships and made Baylor my home! Academically, I am enjoying that my major teaches me every day how to love God’s children better. Learning and practicing ways to help children grow and thrive is inspiring and one of my lifelong goals.

What is one of your favorite Covenant memories? 

Some other students may be shocked at this, but my favorite part of my Covenant education was the Senior Thesis project. It was a unique opportunity for me to dive into a subject I was personally interested in. Throughout the whole process I felt capable, encouraged and excited about all of the things I was learning about my topic. To see my education and passions meet was a truly rewarding experience.

What were some of the most meaningful aspects of your Covenant education? 

I would say that the most beneficial part of my education, for academic purposes, is that Covenant taught me how to reason and write well. I am able to question things, form my own opinions, and communicate those ideas well. I never realized that those were skills not everyone was taught, and I often took for granted. I also found my fine arts experiences at Covenant to be very meaningful. I did studio art all the way through middle and high school and participated in seven musicals. These activities gave me opportunities to make friendships with students in other grades and explore my fine arts interests.

What was one challenge you experienced as a student at Covenant, and how did you overcome it? 

I started in kindergarten at Covenant and then left in third and fourth grade. Coming back to Covenant I only had one year of Latin from my other school, so I was a year behind the rest of my classmates in that subject. It was extremely frustrating trying to guess my way through that first semester of fifth grade. I wasn’t used to being really bad at things. I distinctly remember that I got a 52 on my Latin midterm. After that, I started tutoring with Mr. Foster and progressively got better and better. From sixth grade on, Latin was something that I enjoyed doing and felt capable of understanding. I was even the only person in my class who chose to continue Latin my junior and senior years. Shout-out to Mr. Foster for helping me excel at something I started out horrible at!

What’s one piece of advice you would give to a current and prospective Covenant student? 

Don’t be afraid to be unique. I often struggled with feeling that I was very different from the rest of my class. Whether they were competitive, liked to debate, were really athletic, etc., I frequently felt like I did not fit. I compared my abilities and interests to everyone else’s constantly. Through my junior and senior years though, I grew to realize that my unique interest and abilities were actually a blessing. I have seen those gifts flourish in my college career and have geared me so well for the field I am pursuing.