Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Plans
3. Staffing
4. New Course
5. Conclusion
6. Academy Changelog

Introduction

Hey everyone, I am deeply honored to be your new Headmaster, and I sincerely thank Bubba and Atra for selecting me for this opportunity.

First things first, who is this weird guy writing this report? I have had several names in this club, Aiden and Eleceos, and now I've returned to my character of Rhylance, who is a much better fit for this role. My name is Ben, and I joined this club in August of 2015. Since then, I have held many leadership positions. I've been a Consul and held various other positions, in Taldryan and Arcona. I have been a Magistrate under the offices of the Voice, Fist, Herald, and our previous Headmistress. My experiences in all of this have led me to where I am now, and I will take this knowledge to (hopefully) meet the standards set by my predecessor.

When I joined the club, the Shadow Academy was really where I found my footing. I was a rando who didn’t know anyone and had never heard of this club before. I just happened upon it and ran with it! Because of its importance in my early days, I have always had a strong fondness for the SA. But this club has changed dramatically in these 9 years, and the SA has struggled to keep up.

My predecessor, the great bird Arch, has done tremendous work to move the Academy forward, and I plan on continuing in that same vein. I have no intention of uprooting the wheels they already had in motion, and I heavily agree with their ideas and plans. While some adjustments may need to be made, Arch left me a solid roadmap, and I plan to follow it.

Plans

“What are your top/immediate priorities as the Chief ---Nerd--- Headmaster?”

A great question was asked of me by our new Combat Master, "Aequitas" Anderson. My immediate three priorities are to:

1: Address the membership: This report will address this step. I have a survey linked to the report that I strongly request any new or old members to complete if and when available. This is meant to help my staff and me understand your views of the current Shadow Academy. The results of this survey will help us focus on your specific needs and wants so that we can address and tackle them.

2: Refocus SA Staff: Implementing any changes I have to how I want the Shadow Academy Staff to Operate. My current thoughts and plans can be adjusted based on the survey results.

3: Weaponry SA Course. Get the Weaponry Course up and running so the new Personal Technology Maven Degree can be fully implemented. The course is written, and exam questions have been made. It just needs final editing, images gathered, and site formatting.

Shadow Academy Membership Engagement Survey

I humbly request that all members follow this link and complete this survey. The intention of this survey is to gauge your current thoughts and feelings about the Shadow Academy, Wikipedia, and Aurora Collegium of Sciences. The survey results will directly impact how I prioritize my Staff assignments, my plans for developing new courses and degrees and updating existing ones, and the future of the ACS as a society, both fictionally and on our site. None of the questions are “required” to be answered, so if you don't care about some of these matters, feel free to skip them and address the ones that most concern you. I value all constructive feedback and criticism and am open to new thoughts and ideas.

Staffing

Alaris will continue as my Praetor, and we are developing plans for how future projects will be run. I look forward to once again working with this blue-skinned Twil’Lek.

Bentre will remain as T:Wiki, as our wiki expert. I look forward to learning a lot from him.

Kanal will stay on as T:Quizmaster. He has done fantastic work keeping nearly weekly trivia, sometimes twice a week, and I can’t wait to continue to #BeatKam.

There are no plans to change our roster of Professors at this time. Bentre and Zentrula are doing great work keeping their respective courses graded and up to date.

As for our Magistrates. There will be some changes to how I orient the workload of this position.

The first Magistrate will primarily grade courses within 24 hours of exam submission. Titius has agreed to continue for a second term to fulfill this role. As our most active course grader, his duties will primarily involve continuing the swift and accurate grading of exam submissions.

Our second Magistrate will be primarily tasked with developing the Aurora Collegium of Sciences. I have long desired to see the fictional aspects of our club societies expanded upon and utilized more.

Our third Magistrate will be primarily tasked with assisting in developing and writing new courses. This will be a bit more work-intensive, as we have a slew of coursework to complete, and I don't expect to get it all done in one six-month term as a Magistrate.

At this juncture, Thrissa and Ruka(Atty) will be stepping down as Magistrates once we have found suitable replacements for the above two positions. These two are outstanding members and have been great Magistrates, but as things currently stand, they cannot commit to the roles as I have redesigned them. For this reason, I am opening up applications for two new Magistrates. Thank you, Atty and Thrissa, for your hard work on the SA.

If you would like to apply for these Magistrate roles and contribute to the continued forward movement of the Shadow Academy, please email your application to Myself([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) and Alaris([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) by November 20th at the site change.

New Course.

The upcoming Weaponry Course is written in full, and edited. What we are currently seeking before publishing are Images of Non-Lightsaber weapons. If you have Blasters, Swords, or any other weapons you’d like to submit for use in this course, please send them to me or Alaris via Discourse DM or Email. AI submissions WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. When this course goes live, the new Personal Technologies Maven Degree will also be available to earn!

This course will be published on the site soon, so keep an eye out for my news post!

Conclusion

That will be all for this first report from me. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, and I await your survey responses. Till next time,

Academy Changelog

DEPARTMENT OF GALACTIC STUDIES
Armor and Protection
- Fixed an exam answer - Submitted by Xantros, J’Kast, and Korvyn

DEPARTMENT OF WRITING
ACC Combat Studies
- Fixed an exam answer and question - Submitted by J’Kast