One aspect I love most about US Performance Academy is how our Core Values inform our daily lives, in sport, school and social arenas, day in and day out. We are guided collectively and individually by our strong principles of Accountability, Excellence, Flexibility, and Human Connection. We are grateful for our faculty and learning coach teams; they have many opportunities to practice these meaningful tenets as we strive to build a relevant and supportive learning community.
We are excited to share some of the ways we see our Core Values in action….
Accountability
Our students, teachers, and learning coaches meet frequently each week, willing and able to take responsibility for learning, teaching, and mentoring - and even for failures. They are consistently seeking opportunities for improvement, discussing mistakes, setting goals for progress, and finding solutions for challenges.
Excellence
USPA students are fiercely committed to success in their passions and pursuits, across school and sport. You will find them standing on the podium, winning races and rounds, choosing from college acceptances, and signing professional contracts, all while excelling academically. These accomplishments require tenacity, focus, character, and equanimity. After viewing one of our teacher’s instructional videos on plagiarism and how to properly use citations, a student sent the English teacher this message: “Respecting other’s work is important, and I’m glad that we are taught to act with integrity and be honest because it is a fundamental part of living in our world and communities”. We think this 10th grader has a pretty good grasp of what excellence means!
Flexibility
Our teachers find, implement and encourage creative, innovative, spontaneous ways to teach and guide student athletes who travel globally and frequently for training and competition - Zoom meetings from airports, chair lifts or golf courses, personalized independent study projects, spontaneous instructional Pronto sessions, customized exams and assessments, and more.
Our students have full agency and freedom to do their schoolwork when, how and where they can, need and want - school goes where they go, and their achievements are theirs to lead and ours to support.
Human Connection
Several USPA students from different places across the country share a passion for reading and books. Our history teacher started a book club on Pronto, and the students ran with it - they love reading and discussing Louis L'amour, Steven King, and many other authors and books with each other - connecting over recommendations, reading, storytelling, and authors they all like!