EMILY LAVENDER HAWK - 2024 CHRISTIANOS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD WINNER

The Christianos Distinguished Alumni Award honors an outstanding alumnus of LCA for a life that typifies a commitment to Christ in every area of their lives and someone who has contributed to their church, their community, or their profession. The award is named “Christianos” which, in Greek, means, “follower of Christ.” This year’s recipient is our own Emily Lavender Hawk. Emily is a proud 2011 alumnus of Lexington Christian Academy.  

Emily serves as our Elementary Assistant Principal and loves pouring into elementary students to help them discover their passions, gifts, and talents the Lord has given them. She is also committed to walking alongside them and helping them to develop leadership skills. She remembers how impactful her experience as a high-school student at LCA was in this area. Her teachers and then Headmaster, Dr. Ollie Gibbs, helped her to develop those skills and imprinted upon her the qualifications of a servant leader. She joined three groups of student leaders for three trips to Europe with Global Next to focus expressly on servant leadership. This year, Emily helped lead our elementary student ambassador program with our admissions team. She co-led leadership development meetings and served at Morning Pointe with our student ambassadors.    

Emily served in the classroom as an elementary teacher for eight years. She loved her time in the classroom and designing authentic and real-world learning opportunities for her students.  She led her students through various projects, her favorite being one that connected to the novel, A Long Walk to Water.  Her students planned a school-wide walk and family night, raising over $3,000 to build wells in Africa.  

Emily has had the opportunity to share her passion for project-based learning with educators across the United States as a Magnify Learning trainer. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood, Elementary, and Collaborative Education and Class B certification from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. While in the classroom, Emily served on the district curriculum team, was a team lead, and led the district through the COVID Recovery plan.

Emily attends Center Point Church and is passionate about missions. She has served in various ministries, including Welcome Team, Prayer Team, College, and Kid’s ministries. She is excited to serve alongside other members of Center Point in El Salvador this summer. Her love for missions started in high school at LCA, when she was able to travel to Haiti and Costa Rica. She uses those experiences to help students and adults understand that serving God can and most often involves moving out of your comfort zone, and focusing on God’s presence, provision, and protection in even the most difficult of circumstances.

Emily was recently married to her husband, Greg. They love to cook, do home projects, and serve together in the church and community. She also enjoys traveling with her family, reading, and writing.

Congratulations to Emily Lavender Hawk as our 2024 LCA Christianos Distinguished Alumnus.