The first five Legacy Christian Academy Students of the Week came to the radio station in Old Town Newhall earlier this month to talk about their accomplishments during a live broadcast from KHTS AM-1220’s on-air studio.

Third grader Mackenzie Frieders, 8, and sixth grader Abby Greenberg, 11, were the first two students to take the spotlight alongside the Santa Clarita private school’s principal, Matthew Northrop.

Abby Greenberg (right), Mackenzie Frieders (center) and Matthew Norhtrop (left) on KHTS AM-1220.

Abby was Legacy Christian Academy’s very first Student of the Week on Jan. 12. She was selected by her school for her “above and beyond” service to the Santa Clarita Valley community and beyond.

Not only does she help out at Shelter Hope Pet Shop in Valencia and the Santa Clarita dog rescue New Leash on Life, Abby also spent her summer volunteering at the library in her grandmother’s town in Ohio.

“At Legacy they would let me help out with the younger kids and they’d let me help them with their homework,” Abby said. “Then I said I like helping younger students, so why not help everybody?”

Mackenzie was chosen as Student of the Week on Jan. 19 for raising $1,500 for children in Uganda through a special project she created called Headbands for Hope.

With the help of her mom and friend, Ella, she decided to make headbands and sell them in her front yard to raise money for the 200 children that attend Legacy Uganda, a branch of Legacy Christian Academy in Africa.

“I really love helping others and I really love making things, so I just started making headbands,” Mackenzie said. “I’ve always wanted to help Legacy Uganda, and I’ve always been thinking of ways to help them, because at my school we’ve been raising money for them and sponsoring some students.”

Matthew Northrop, the Santa Clarita Christian school’s principal, noted that Legacy teachers focus on different character qualities each month, and that generosity was the topic of December.

“It’s neat to be able to see two great examples of what it means to have generous hearts,” Northrop said.

The next three students to take the spotlight were eighth grader Irie Cooper, 13, and seventh graders Cole Raschke, 12, and Zachary Johnson, 13. All three students are part of the school’s first competitive robotics team, the Robolions.

Irie Cooper (left), Cole Raschke (center) and Zachary Johnson (right) on KHTS AM-1220.

The Robolions worked together to build and design a competition robot they named Simba using elements of engineering, coding, programming, bluetooth technologies and teamwork.

Irie, who was named Student of the Week on Jan. 26, founded the Robolions and helped pull together the group of six students who comprise the team today.

“We needed it for the school, and it’s something that I found interesting,” Irie said. “It was a lot of work, but it wasn’t like it was stressful. It was really fun during the process, and I got closer to all the people on my team.”

Cole was chosen as Student of the Week on Feb. 2 for his role on the Robolions and his athletic abilities that landed him a spot representing the United States on the U13 USA baseball team.

Out of 5,000 youth baseball players that tried out around the world, Cole was chosen to be one of 13 to play in the Dominican Republic this summer. He also has plans to help teach robotics to younger children using legos.

“We could teach them and they can teach other people, so it would be like a generational thing,” Cole said.

Zachary was the most recent student selected as Student of the Week on Feb. 9 for both his role on the Robolions and his inspirational fight against a type of brain cancer called medulloblastoma.

“The whole Legacy community has just shown me a lot of love and courage throughout this,” said Zachary, who was diagnosed when he was in the fifth grade. 

He plans to get an engineering degree when he’s older, and hopes to become what’s called a lego engineer in the robotics field.

“I’m a big fan of video games and cameras and anything technological,” he said, “so it’s kind of fun to just build the robot and program it, and then see what it can do and make improvements to it as you go on.”

With 425 total students currently attending Legacy, Northrop noted there’s many more to appear on KHTS AM-1220’s “Legacy Christian Academy Student of the Week” radio segment.

“One of the things that we really encourage among our students is really to have strong character,” he said. “We want to make sure that we’re raising up a generation of people who are going to be difference makers, and who can go out and make a difference in the world for the positive.”

About Legacy Christian Academy Student of the Week:

Legacy Christian Academy, a Christian school in Valencia, chooses a different student each week to appear on KHTS AM-1220 by calling in to the radio station.

During a weekly radio show that is broadcasted throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, selected students get to talk about an academic accomplishment or school project they’re working on at the Valencia private school with KHTS AM-1220’s T. Katz.

Then, every other month, six Legacy Christian Academy Students of the Week will have the chance to come to the radio station in Old Town Newhall and sit in KHTS AM-1220’s on-air studio for a live interview.

Tune in to KHTS AM-1220 every Tuesday at 3:40 p.m. to listen to the Legacy Christian Academy Student of the Week, or listen to full podcasts on www.hometownstation.com.

Legacy Christian Academy is an award-winning private school in Santa Clarita for students grades K-8. School staff are committed to providing a comprehensive, rigorous and well-rounded college preparatory education within a Christian, family-oriented and loving environment. The Santa Clarita private school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, was voted Best Christian School in Santa Clarita in 2014 and was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2015 by the U.S. Department of Education. Legacy Christian Academy maintains a state-of-the-art 30,000-square-foot private school in Valencia.

Legacy Christian Academy

27680 Dickason Drive

Valencia, CA 91355

(661) 257-7377