Hear how an alum and his parents feel about the impact Noble Academy had on them after they moved from Kentucky in order to get the education they wanted, needed, and deserved. This family plans to return to campus March 22 for Impact KNIGHT, to see guest speaker and retired English teacher Susan Hughes, and to celebrate a great deal of Noble success. See show notes or our website for details. https://www.nobleknights.org/impactknight
https://www.nobleknights.org/impactknight
Impact KNIGHT
Saturday, March 22, 2025
6:00 PM
Silent & Live Auctions with Buffet Dinner & Drinks
Keynote Speaker - Mrs. Susan Hughes
Please note that Impact KNIGHT is for guest 21 and older. NO students will be admitted.
Noble Campus - 3310 Horse Pen Creek Road
If you would like to be an Event Sponsor for the 2025 Impact KNIGHT, please download and complete our Event Sponsorship Packet. For more detailed information about the sponsorship levels, please contact Toni Nelson at tnelson@nobleknights.org.
Thank you to our event sponsors: Rick and Nancy Baker; Marsh McLennan Agency; DJMPS CPAs and Advisors; Highview Capital Management; Towne Bank; Premier Supply, Inc.; Well Spring; and Raffaldini Vineyards
Gayle:
In 2020, a Noble Academy senior gave a speech to the Board of Trustees about how he and his family chose to move 585 miles from Kentucky to North Carolina in order to attend Noble Academy after struggling through five other schools.
In his speech, he reflected on being the child who never took a nap, who stayed up till 11:00 pm and was continuously in motion.
I want to share part of his speech with you now. His name is Simon, and he wrote, “My teachers knew I had a problem learning to read; my parents knew I had a problem with excess energy. Everyone started to look for answers ..and the testing began. I tested + for ADHD, auditory processing disorder, and reading disability. They already knew I had fine motor issues and gross motor problems and went to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. It was bad but got much worse when the public school in first grade refused any additional educational services.”
That’s the end of the quote, but unfortunately not the end of Simon’s struggles. His parents tried a variety of ways to support him, and the progress was very slow. Frustrated and worried, his dad started looking for a better solution.
Glen:
I'm Glen and I am Simon's dad.
Lisa: I'm Lisa. and we came from Kentucky to North Carolina specifically for Noble Academy.
Lisa:
Simon was diagnosed with ADHD early. I'm a family physician, so I noticed early on that he had difficulty with a lot of characteristics we find with ADHD kiddos. So, he was diagnosed early.
We started kindergarten in a public neighborhood school and we recognized early on that it wasn't just the ADHD that was problematic, but he was having trouble reading. So, we stayed in a small neighborhood public school for kindergarten, first grade, and they really did not have any answers for how to help him. We had an IEP evaluation of him and a PhD level educational expert said that he had severe executive dysfunction along with both hyper and inability to focus, but the school system refused to address the concerns, saying that he would have to fail two grades. At that point we decided that that was not acceptable. And so we found a private reading program to help address, which is kind of a combination Orton Gillingham / Wilson technique one-on-one, to address the reading problem and then we homeschooled him for second grade on the other subjects so that we hired a teacher and then he went two hours a day to the special reading program.
By third grade he was able to enter a small neighborhood public school again. With small classroom size, he was able to manage third and fourth grade. Then we encountered the difficulty with writing and so he did finally qualify for an IEP through public school because of the reading and writing concerns as well as the ADHD.
He had a 504 in fourth grade and then in fifth grade the IEP went into play. After that we struggled in middle school with multiple learning problems. And high school we chose a college prep school that had a special learning track that was supposed to assist with homework and children that needed assistance. It was a bust.
Glen:
And in 10th grade in the middle of one night in April of 2018, I sat up in bed like at 10:00 at night, went to the computer and said we have to do something different and I started looking up school names: reading problem, ADHD, you know, special learning track, that kind of thing.
Well, I came across the Noble Academy 2017 Annual Report, and in there was a story of one of your students who is a fantastic real estate agent in Greensboro. If you need one, her name is Laine Rendleman. So I was reading the story in that PDF where I was flipping through the pages. I'm like Noble Academy. Have I heard? There's Greensboro? My notebook from ten years before had Guilford Day School from my notebook. .
So I started reading her PDF story in this notebook, and literally if you took her name out of the story and put Simon's name in the story, it was like a mirrored image. I'm like, "Okay, I have got to figure it out. I'm going, “We got to go here and take a look at this."
After we did the two day visit, he was “I’m in.” So that’s kind of the story of how we got to Noble. So it was actually from another Noble Academy student who is a very good real estate agent we have actually used twice in real estate transactions when we lived there and when we sold and left there.
Lisa:
And so we made the very difficult decision to leave our home, our state, and move to North Carolina specifically so Simon could find a learning environment where he would be successful. So for any parent that's listening or you share this story with, we did clearly leave – I left a professional practice, we left our home, we left both families, and we left our state – because there was nowhere in our state that could address Simon's educational concerns. And we felt it was important for him to feel confident and successful in his education, to launch him to be the young person we knew he could be. I always say we need to actualize our potential, and he had so much potential, but he did not feel confident in anything as a result of the educational journey he'd been on.
Glen:
We were invited as parents - I guess every student has their own learning plan - so it was a self-directed slideshow Simon put together. We walk into the room. All his teachers, Mrs Hughes, who was the English teacher at the time, and Scar, who is not there anymore, Ms Lumpkin, math teacher. So, we are around the table. He starts the presentation up, and we get into the details, and each teacher is talking about what their part of the plan was, and I don’t think we had that experience before. And Mrs. Hughes leans over her glasses and says, “I think we got this.”
And so it was totally incredible how she was like, "We know what we are doing and I think we got this whole individual learning plan thing down.”
Lisa:
I mean, I cried because we had been through so many parent teacher conferences where it was always negative and always he's fifteenth percentile, and we have no idea how to help him and all negative, negative, negative.
Glen: And she leans over and says, "I think we got this." It was awesome.
Gayle:
And Mrs. Hughes was right: Noble did have Simon, and it was awesome.
At the beginning of this episode, I read to you a little of Simon’s speech his senior year. In that passage, he talked about the struggles in the years before his family found Noble. Now I want to read you another passage from the same speech, but focus on what it was about what it was like after they relocated to Greensboro and enrolled.
Simon wrote: “Noble literally saved me. While I had no confidence and little hope for college when I arrived, I have now been accepted to Embry-Riddle Aviation University on a Presidential Scholarship. All along my educational path, I had been told what I could NOT do. Here I found what I could do...
Before I came to Noble, I was beaten down, with no hope of pursuing my goal of being in the Aviation field. Now I have the confidence to interview for jobs, do public speaking, and have positive social interactions both here and in the community. Noble is more than a school. Noble is learning how to live your life, being proud of who you are!” That’s the end of the quote.
And at graduation, Simon’s beloved English teacher, Mrs. Susan Hughes, had this to say about him:
Susan:
So there's always that one piece in every puzzle that you pick up over and over because you're sure that that piece is the perfect fit. That piece in our senior class puzzle is Simon. He could fit in so many places that I had to ponder what trait is it that defines a person who not only plays on every sport he can find a team for, but gives every one of them his total energy and effort. What trait is it that leaves a person to sign up for college class after college class while still in high school, and ace them all? What trait is it that pushes a person to boldly climb into a little two seater airplane and soar into the sky to learn how to fly?
Gayle:
That was a little over four years ago, when Simon graduated from Noble Academy in 2020. And now let’s get an update on how he is doing from his parents.
Lisa:
Today he has 12 hours to complete his four-year degree from Embry Riddle and he is very confident in his skills, especially reading and writing because he's had so much extra help in that. But it's amazing to watch the confidence he now has in that.
GAYLE VO:
I think we should close today’s episode by giving Simon the last word. Here is part of what he said during graduation:
Simon:
Some of us came to Noble early starting in primary school, while others arrived in middle and high school. As a latecomer just two years ago, I can truly appreciate the nurturing and respectful environment where diversity, dignity, and unique styles are valued. This, as compared to the: “Are you stupid, why can't you stop moving, stop talking to yourself, stop fidgeting, and you need to pay more attention. Why can't you understand this concept?”
Owning that we are all different and that is what makes us the experienced, the exceptional people each of us strive to be, because diversity is not about how we are different. Diversity is about embracing one another's uniqueness, quoting Ola Joseph. The lack of confidence from being told what we could not do prior to Noble has been replaced by a focus on what we can do. Highlighting our niche, whether it is our computer skills, art, or athletic ability, each of us have much to give our society. Our interpersonal skills have been reinforced on the court, field, or classroom, and have culminated to improved life skills. Success is then the belief in yourself so you can take appropriate risks to move forward.
We need to advocate for ourselves, daring to think differently and encouraging others to be mindful of people who learn differently. Nelson Mandela said education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. I stand before you having attended six schools in three states to say, stand up for what is right in school, and work, and play. At Noble, the responsibility of learning is a team sport, since as Helen Keller stated, alone we can do little, while together we can do so much.
Gayle: Thank you, Simon, Glen, and Lisa, for giving us your story. We look forward to having you back on Noble’s campus on March 22, for our Impact KNIGHT celebration, where our guest speaker will be none other than Susan Hughes, who cannot wait to see you again. Together we can celebrate the impact Noble had on your family, and on so many others, and the impact we know you and our other graduates will continue to make in the world.
Listeners, if you are over 21 years old, we invite you to join us at Impact KNIGHT, March 22, 2025 at 6 p.m. at Noble Academy. You can find out more in our show notes, and on our website.