Crossing miles for Crossover Prep

Crossover PREP

We are committed to developing educated, godly young men who love north Tulsa.

Finding Crossover Prep was a serendipitous discovery. My wife and I were living and working overseas when we both privately felt that God was releasing us from our current place, so I casually began looking at international job postings. On a lark, I eventually checked the Latin Teacher Association website, checking for a chance position in, say, Nairobi or New Zealand. What I saw instead was a school in Tulsa, my wife’s hometown, with an incredibly unique set of job requirements. Willing to teach Latin? Check. Teach middle school boys? Check. Live in north Tulsa? Check. Work in a Christian environment? Check. Immediately, I felt called to do this job.

Thousands of miles later, I can’t imagine life apart from our Crossover family. With every bedtime prayer, my children thank God for Crossover and for at least  five of their “big brothers” by name. Moreover, students’ hearts softening to the Gospel has made an impact on me far beyond their academic progress. I am humbled by how much the kids can accomplish when they decide to struggle well and fight through everything. I would describe Crossover as an organization that “did its homework and has its ducks in a row.” I have never been around such a spiritually mature body of men and women committed to serving our students, blessed with the good fortune to be operating within such a well thought-out paradigm. Furthermore, it’s an honor to be part of Crossover because I’ve never been part of an organization in which God so obviously is at work in everything: in the life of the school, the students, the teachers, and the leadership.

The students are genuinely growing: the standardized test scores are improving across the board, not only that, but even more so the students are developing in their spiritual lives. I have taught at two other second year, private schools and experienced all of their growing pains. CPA is light years ahead in schedule in becoming the productive and God-honoring school it is supposed to be, in terms of academic achievement and organization effectiveness. In less than a year of work, we’ve had multiple students increase their reading levels 3 or 4 grade levels, averaging about 1.5-2 levels for all 58 7th and 8th grade students! by Matthew Whiteford Crossing miles for Crossover Prep

My current role as Latin teacher envelopes all things grammatical whether it be standardized test prep or reading comprehension.  If it has phrases, clauses, gender, number, case, tense, mood, or aspect—it’s in my wheelhouse. Just this month, a student confided in me that he had done more reading this year than he had previously in his entire life. He then remarked that it is now just  easier for him to read the directions and do his work himself. It sounds mundane, but it’s a tremendous accomplishment for a student to turn the corner in both his confidence in his reading ability and his comprehension, and I’m grateful to have been a part of this achievement.

...the Standardized Test scores are Improving across the Board, but even more so, the students are developing in their spiritual lives. -<Matthew Whiteford

Picture above: Matthew Whiteford with CPA Student

Picture above: Matthew & Dr. Ruth Whiteford

Matthew Whiteford is the CPA Latin teacher. He is in his 11th year of teaching, five of which were overseas. He and his wife of ten years, Ruth, have two children. He is passionate about education, growth, and development, and he is always more than willing to help, especially if it has to do with standardized tests!

If you would like to learn more about Crossover Prep Academy, please go to http://crossoverprep.org.

C r o s s o v e r P r e p a r a t o r y A c a d e m y

Crossover Scholarship Fund

These students are our future health professionals, social workers, teachers, policy makers, and military men—they are the future of our nation.

We must do more. And with your help we can. If you would like to learn more about the Crossover Scholarship Fund, please go to http://crossoverscholarshipfund.org.