The Academy - Summer 2013

AcAdemynorfolk academy magazine summer 2013

Global Perspectives

Vierzig Jahre zusammen

Studio & Stage students get White-gloVe treatment

From the Classroom the aP disconnect

In the Game so you Want to be a college athlete?

The Savage Chronicles the best teacher i eVer had

global PersPectiVes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

— An Auspicious Beginning — Vierzig Jahre Zusammen

uPdates from the center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

studio & stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

— White-Glove Treatment in the Perrel Art Gallery— The First George B. Powell Lecture

from the classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

— The AP Disconnect— Fifth Grade Science: Learning by Doing— First Grade Math: Variety + Challenge = Fun— Learning to Serve— Summer Reading

in the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

— So You Want to be a College Athlete?

the saVage chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

— The Best Teacher I Ever Had

chaPel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

— The Gift of Teaching— Innocence

PaW Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

— History Lessons— Getting to Know Our Teachers— Questions for Our Teachers

liVes of consequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

— The Unstoppable Eva Colen

alumni highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

— Alumni Fun— On the Road

class notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

— Class notes— Weddings and In memoriam

On the cOver: Middle School Director Gary Laws with Royster Student Council President Aneesh Dhawan ‘16.

table of [ c o n t e n t s ]

summer 2013

headmaster

Dennis G. Manning

director of communications

Betsy Wardell Guzik ’89

associate director of communications

Kathy Finney

editorial board

Ruth Payne Acra ’86

Gary Laws

Preston Moore

Ron Newman

Jay Rainey

Dr. David Rezelman

Toy Savage ’71

Gigi Cooke Tysinger ’87

Sean Wetmore ’86

student editors

Cross Birdsong ’18

Deni Budman ’16

Ben Klebanoff ’15

Matthew Leon ’13

Patrick McElroy ’19

Wyatt Miller ’16

Banning Stiffler ’15

Hannah Towler ’18

Grace Webb ’13

Sarah Yue ’19

PhotograPhy

Bob Handelman

Stephanie Oberlander

Woody Poole

Alumni and Staff Submissions

design

Cheney & Company

Visit norfolkacademy.org for the latest school

news, sports scores, and galleries of recent photos.

You will also find direct links to all of our social

networking communities.

Norfolk Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex,

religion, color, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of

its educational policies, admissions policies, employment policies,

scholarship and loan programs, athletics, or other school-adminis-

tered programs.

AcAdemynorfolk academy magazine

Dear Friends,Our seniors have earned and accepted their diplomas. Our first graders are seasoned Bull-dogs—with our boy/girl of the day program, each has already had seven public speaking engagements notched into their proverbial belts. It is our great pleasure as much as it is our responsibility to launch our students on to the next phases in their lives.

Another summer is slipping by, and we will soon turn our full attention to a new school year. This is the life of a school. We have our beginnings, our endings, and our yearly renewal as the beauty, rhythm and wonder of the academic cycle continues. Ours is the calling to grow children. We are serious and silly—and utterly enchanted with helping children become their best selves.

In this issue of Academy, I admit, we focus inward. We prod, examine and celebrate the components of an Academy education. Herein, you will find familiar voices and new ones. I believe you will come to understand why many of our faculty would not imagine a different calling—and also what could hap-pen if they did!

Our faculty have continued their outside-the-classroom work to help develop the academic, athletic and arts programs that become the lives and heritage of Academy students and their families.

This year we mark the 40th Anniversary of our partnership with Copernicus-Gymna-sium in Löningen, Germany, and also the

launch of a new exchange with our partners at Beijing No. 101. Relationships are at the very foundation of our mission and our daily school lives—and to help these relationships flourish over generations and across the world is a 21st century goal for many schools. We are 40 years committed and eager to forge onward.

What is so strikingly unique about our community, very near where our still-young country sprang to New World–life, is our unrelenting dedication to the ties that bind us together and our commitment to shoulder the exploration of what could be. In 1728 we were chartered to begin a school. Now, in 2013, we are surely ready to call upon the leaders formed by the Academy to embrace cour-age and create the future of Tidewater. Our teachers are dedicated to their work because they know that our students will become the future—as informed, ethical and active leaders. This is the most important moral and civic service we could all be about.

from the [ h e a d m a s t e r ]

dennis g . manning

Headmaster

Norfolk AcAdemy mAgAziNe | summer 2013 1

norfolk Academy welcomes the first group of exchange students

from Beijing 101, one of the leading secondary schools in Beijing.

An Auspicious Beginning

[ g l o b a l ] perspectives

china holds a unique Position in our world today. The Economist finds that China has surpassed the United States on well over half of its 21 leading economic indicators, ranging from manufacturing out-put, exports, fixed investments, and energy, to copper and steel consumption. It is predicted that China will surpass the U.S. on the remaining economic indica-tors by 2014. The Economist Intelligence Unit projects that China’s gross domestic product will match that of the United States by 2021, and some leading global economists speculate this monumental event could occur as early as 2018. Facing this clear rise in China’s importance and influence, our graduates must be able to understand and navigate Chinese culture and work successfully alongside prominent Chinese companies and leaders.

Building on the knowledge and competency we have gained from 40 successful years in partnership with Copernicus-Gymnasium in Löningen, we believe that a cultural exchange with a school in China will be

the ideal way to help prepare our graduates for success in the years ahead. We are delighted to share the details of our first student exchange between Norfolk Academy and Beijing 101, one of the leading secondary schools in Beijing.

Our Chinese exchange program has been sev-eral years in the making. Alongside other exceptional secondary schools in the United States, Europe and the rest of the world seeking similar connections, we sought the ideal partner for Norfolk Academy to help create a cultural bridge to the East. At the same time, China’s equally prestigious schools were looking to build bridges west. This natural nexus of mutual inter-ests led to the creation of the World Leading Schools Association. WLSA is dedicated to promoting educa-tional exchange and cooperation between secondary schools in China and the rest of the world.

Our student exchange program launched this Janu-ary with the arrival of fifteen Chinese students and two chaperones from Beijing 101. Our host families met

ABOve Norfolk Academy student hosts greet their new friends from Beijing.

academy2

them, bearing signs and welcoming smiles. The initial moments of trepidation as the Chinese students walked down the gateway at the Norfolk International Airport quickly gave way to a melodious hum of teenagers talk-ing, laughing and sharing: a testament to the power of youth and the ease with which such culturally diverse groups can quickly find common ground in music, fashion, technology and sports. A casual observer would have thought this was a group of well-acquainted old friends.

The two-week visit by the Chinese students was tailored to focus on the Norfolk Academy academic pro-cess, while also immersing students in Virginia’s his-tory and American culture. While at Norfolk Academy, each of the visiting students followed an individually tailored schedule and participated fully in the academic days. They had specific teachers and courses and even completed homework!

The exchange group also had an opportunity to ex-perience daily American teenage life, eating at local res-taurants, attending an ODU men’s basketball game, and shopping at MacArthur Mall. They were also treated to an amazing glass blowing demonstration sponsored by the Chrysler Museum, and toured downtown Norfolk, with visits to Nauticus and the USS Wisconsin. And as luck would have it, they were able to participate in the truly American phenomenon of the Super Bowl.

Our unique region and the role that it played in shaping American governance and culture provided ample discussion material for this budding cultural exchange. The Monday of their arrival, our visiting stu-dents joined the Upper School in the Tunstall Seminar, viewing Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, and participating afterward in group discussions of the movie and the impact of the life of Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipa-tion Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment were critical parts of the active discussion and exploration of this monumental period in American history.

Visits to Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and Charlottesville highlighted Virginia’s role in the founda-tion of our country. The Chinese students stopped at Jamestown Church, the site where the House of Bur-gesses, the first legislature of freely elected representa-tives in America, met. They also visited The College of William and Mary, where Thomas Jefferson developed the beliefs he later chartered in the Declaration of Independence. The visits provided an authentic back-drop for our later discussion about the importance and

influence of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in America’s Revolution.

While on campus, both the Chinese students and their chaperones participated in the normal day-to-day rhythms of Upper School life. The chaperones were greatly impressed with Norfolk Academy’s teaching methodology, and held sessions with teachers across all disciplines, discussing course content and lesson plans. Dr. Wenzhong Kang, a social science teacher at Beijing 101, was especially moved by his observations of Acad-emy teachers and their interaction with students. He admired how Norfolk Academy “teaches the students to think, encourages them to be creative and doesn’t spoon-feed them.” Dr. Kang offered that the educational style in Beijing focuses on informative lectures and the student’s ability to memorize that information.

The Chinese teachers returned home furnished with course syllabi in math, science, government and history. In fact, they were so impressed with our ap-proach to government that they took home our govern-ment textbook! We believe this exchange will have a lasting effect on the educational development process not only for this handful of students and teachers who visited, but for the entire Beijing 101 community.

After a fulfilling and enriching two weeks, it was time to return home. But the excitement wasn’t over quite yet. Many of you may recall “Nemo,” a blizzard of epic proportions, the first of the year and the largest of its kind, which was rolling toward the Northeast just as our visitors were planning to leave—with a layover in Newark, New Jersey. Authorities cancelled all flights out of Newark the evening before the storm as a safety precaution. As the leading edge of the storm started to batter the region with gale force winds and driving

the initial moments of trepidation as the chinese

students walked down the gateway at the norfolk

International Airport quickly gave way to a melodious

hum of teenagers talking, laughing and sharing: a

testament to the power of youth and the ease with

which such culturally diverse groups can quickly find

common ground in music, fashion, technology and

sports. A casual observer would have thought this

was a group of well-acquainted old friends.


[ g l o b a l ] perspectives

rain, Norfolk Academy’s own Chris Nelson, along with the Chinese chaperones, worked to reroute the group through Dulles and San Francisco and on to Beijing. The new flight plans meant our friends would have to leave seven hours earlier than originally scheduled.

The community rallied quickly. Faculty stood in the torrential downpour directing host families to the front of the incoming car pool line to the waiting bus. Amidst the chaos and din of morning drop-off, Chinese

and NA students shared last tearful goodbyes, oblivious to the winds and rain. How close their friendships had become and how much they had in common were obvi-ous as they made promises to continue the journey they had begun together.

Arriving safely at the airport just in time to make their flight, our Chinese partners took a moment before boarding the plane to film a heartfelt goodbye to Norfolk Academy students, families and faculty. Dr. Kang closed with an observation on the cyclical nature of the growing relationship between Norfolk Academy and Beijing 101: “This is just a new beginning. I believe there is still great possibility for cooperation between our schools. I believe that the mutual understanding will serve as a boosting force for our cooperation. Wel-come to Beijing!”

In June, our students will travel to Beijing to con-tinue to work on this important cultural bridge.

Bernie McMahon, co-director of the Chinese Exchange

Program, Upper School Spanish teacher

tOp Students visited important historical sites throughout the region.

BelOw Cheering on the ODU basketball team

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in the fall of 1973, Mr. Massey, headmaster of Nor-folk Academy, received a letter from Helen Warriner, the Virginia State supervisor of foreign languages, asking us to participate in a West German and U.S. high school exchange program supported and spon-sored by the nonprofit CIEE, Council on International Educational Exchange. He discussed this proposal with B. Lovitt, the director of the Royster Girls’ Division, and then she and I went to work filling out the paperwork and sent it off to New York City and the folks at CIEE.

In a small town in northwestern West Germany, roughly 90 miles from the Dutch border and about two to three hours’ autobahn ride southwest of the cities of Bremen and Hamburg (if a German is at the wheel), a young teacher/administrator was also tackling the same paperwork. Our two schools were matched up in New York City, and Jürgen Wiehe and Katherine Holmes, both 33, started corresponding with each other about the first exchange visits. “Dear Madam” and “Dear Sir” were soon replaced with first names and “du.”

Jürgen and his first group of 15 students arrived at the Norfolk airport in mid-March 1974, and we brought

them all to the Refectory for a late supper with their host students. “T” Massey, Patty Masterson and I had very carefully smeared mayonnaise on the bread for sandwiches, not knowing that Germans prefer butter on their sandwiches and mayo on french fries. This was the first of many cultural differences both partners in the Exchange would learn over the years. Jürgen gave a kind of “senior speech” during our introductory chapel the next day. He talked about how close Russian tanks were to the border of his state of Lower Saxony. Indeed, it was still the Cold War and West Germany was in a very precarious geo-political situation. During this first half of the very first exchange, many friendships were begun and some still are going on to this day. For example, Stefan Kröger and Patrick Masterson ’75 and their families have all been several times to their exchange partners’ homes. For some years now, the sec-ond generation of families on both sides of the Atlantic have been participants in this exchange.

Our first group of exchange students traveled over the big pond three months later: 15 students and one teacher. On that first visit to Löningen, one of our

Norfolk Academy and Copernicus-Gymnasium Löningen

40 YeArs

Vierzig Jahre Zusammen:

T o g e T h e r


ABOve (from left) Steve Zahn and Lynn Barco on the 1983 Exchange trip to Germany; Melissa Clark, John Nusbaum and Anne Via at Heidelberg Castle; Steve Zahn ‘climbs’ the Berlin Wall

BelOw Grace Milteer, Steve Zahn and Lynn Barco; Maraya Goyer, Grace Milteer, Gabe Halko; Students at the Siegfried Memorial, Ruedesheim

excursions was to the port city of Hamburg and visits to its famous harbor and Hagenbeck’s Zoo. Then we strolled along the Reeperbahn, the infamous red-light district. I remember young Grover Outland saying, “This should all be torn down.” While I was trying to explain to Grover about cultural differences, I noticed that Beth Massey, the headmaster’s daughter, was miss-ing. It looked like a one-time exchange at that moment. Luckily, we retrieved her from a sleazy-looking “venue,” and she never left my sight after that.

The three-week sojourn in Germany consists of two main sections: the home-school stay and then a week of bus travel through scenic and historic parts of Germany. The home-school stay provides many op-portunities for our students to participate in family life and classes at the Gymnasium. During this two-week period, our partner school takes us on a trip to Berlin accompanied by our host students.

The week of travel is designed to expose our stu-dents to historical and cultural sites of import, such as the city of Cologne, founded by the Romans, the Rhine valley, the university town of Heidelberg and the walled medieval village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Partici-pants experience sleeping in youth hostels or small family-run inns. During this week of travel, our Acad-emy students continue to practice their linguistic skills with local merchants and others and, I am strongly convinced, leave behind a very favorable impression of American teenagers.

Over the 40 years of exchanges, teachers and administrators from both schools have supported the program by acting as hosts and/or by chaperoning our students. It is so important to have other adults join the program and make it truly a school-wide exchange. Bill Miller resuscitated his college German and led an early

group; Patty Masterson sat through and participated in all activities and requirements for German 1 and 11 and then chaperoned two different years. Rachel and Bud Hopkins accompanied our student groups on several occasions and also hosted. John and Barbara Tucker helped me shepherd the group in 1983 and it was her first airplane trip ever. Other former and current faculty members who have supported the Exchange are “T” and J.B. Massey, Beth and Dennis Manning, Linda and Ron Gorsline, Lisa Marie Priddy and Dave Rezelmann, Meg Mann, Cecil Mays, Staci Nelson and, of course, Chris Nelson, who has chaperoned and hosted the most of all.

On two occasions, NA arts groups have traveled to our partner city and school: Chorus director Frank Whitman and singers included Copernicus-Gymnasi-um Löningen in its tour of Europe in 1994. During the German Exchange visit in 2002, Headmaster Jürgen Wiehe was in the audience during a performance of And Then They Came For Me: Remembering Anne Frank by our Academy Players and directed by Ron Newman. After seeing this moving production, Jürgen invited the company and crew to Germany and they performed it in Löningen and at several other schools in the area.

Through the years families have been the backbone of our Exchange. Academy parents have generously opened their doors and lives and welcomed hundreds of young German teenagers to share home and hearth. Thank you so very much, dear parents.

Katherine Holmes, Foreign Language Department Chair

and Upper School German teacher

6academy6

Updates

from the [ c e n t e r ]

With eleven total Chesapeake Bay Fellows (six 10th graders and five 9th graders) learning, doing and leading on campus and in the com-munity, change is afoot.

After a meaningful summer excursion, our newest class of fellows hit the ground running with cool and different fall projects, studying everything from efforts to replenish sea grasses to daily life on Tangier Island. This group has read and discussed Aldo Leopold’s seminal environmental work, A Sand County Almanac, engaged in commu-nity service work with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and worked with Lower School classes to educate future fellows on the is-sues associated with the Bay. Each week this cohort meets with Mr. Nelson during lunch to discuss a relevant article or two, hear from a guest speaker or collaborate and share about one of their projects. We are excited about the momentum and energy this group has brought to the program.

Following an interesting transition to the Upper School, our second year Chesapeake Bay Fellows have gained serious momentum in the new year. Each fellow is engaged in a year two project. Topics include a composting program for Lower School lunches; grow-ing and testing oyster populations in various local rivers; piloting an elementary school Chesapeake Bay curriculum in the local public schools; and revitalizing and growing our school garden. This cohort has read and discussed an important book on leadership by Alfred Lansing entitled Endurance: Shackle-ton’s Incredible Voyage and are each choosing a book for the group to read and discuss.

Both cohorts enjoyed talks this winter by alumnus Chris McKinnon from Lynnhaven River Now and Robin Dunbar with Elizabeth River Project. We continue to be thankful for our wonderful partnerships with all of these organizations.

The CB Fellows also hosted an evening program (sponsored by Ran Randolph and family—thank you!) for all members of the Center for Civic and Global Leadership with author and environmental lawyer Jay Leutze, who discussed his book Stand Up That Moun-tain. Mr. Leutze is a tremendous example to all of our students about the power of com-mitting to a moral cause.

Our five International Relations Fellows have been working incredibly hard this year to learn about the many issues facing our world. Following a very positive community service stint with the World Affairs Council, our fellows were asked to prepare and deliver a talk regarding China’s growing role in Africa (weather conspired against us, but the fellows learned a lot in preparation). Roughly twice a week, the IR Fellows meet with Dr. Rezel-man to discuss and present articles from the Journal of Foreign Affairs. Article titles have in-cluded (among many others): “Revenge of the Kurds,” “Let Women Fight,” “Mexico’s Age of Agreement” and “Afghan Endgame.”

The IR Fellows also hosted an evening program for all members of the Center for Civic and Global Leadership with Julius John-son, Afghanistan field training coordinator, U.S. State Department—it was an evening to remember!

Our six Global Health Fellows have brought an incredible spirit and energy to the task of improving global health. Following a mean-ingful community service experience with Operation Blessing, International, the fellows worked hard to raise awareness and funds, as well as develop and pilot a hand-washing curriculum, for sanitation efforts afoot within the school systems in Peru. Our fellows were tapped to be leaders in these efforts and they came through with flying colors, rallying the community to help in their efforts. The fellows have also attended a mission debrief at Physicians for Peace. The Global Health Fellows meet at least twice a week with Ms. Massey to lead discussions on case studies that they have all read. Topics have included (among others) Eradicating Smallpox, Preventing HIV in Thailand, Controlling Tu-berculosis in China and Controlling Chagas Disease in South America. Individual fellows present these topics to the entire cohort and field questions. After investigating the “Treating Cataracts in India” case, the fellows visited Virginia Eye Consultants to observe cataract surgeries in person.

International relations Fellows

chesapeake Bay Fellows

Global health Fellows

from the center for civic and Global leadership

Fellows in all three programs

hosted the first Fellows

Symposium in May. During

a poster session, each fellow

presented his or her investigations

and plans for future work.


White-Glove Treatment students get a behind-the-scenes view of the Perrel Art gallery

&STUDIO stage

8 academy

FAcInG pAGe Ando Hiroshige II, “Nihon Bridge” (comic scene of dog stealing fish)” from the series “Famous Scenes of Edo”, ca. 1850s

ABOve (L–R) Ms. Johnson’s English students in the gallery exhibit, “Only in Japan,” with Dr. Hennessey; George Powell with Dr. Julie Davis, guest speaker from the University of Pennsylvania

Only in Japan:

woodblock prints from the George B. powell ’57 collection

With his museum curator’s cotton gloVes in hand, 9th grader Will Whitmore stared appraisingly at Ando Hiroshige’s 19th-century woodblock print “Nihon Bridge,” a comic depiction of a fleet-footed dog escap-ing over a footbridge, a gleaming red carp in his jaws as the fishmonger follows in hot pursuit. “What do you think we’d see if we took the print off the wall and out of the frame?” he asked. Then after a moment’s reflec-tion, he answered his own question. He thought the blues would be brighter.

So off the wall and out of the frame it came, as he and a few of his classmates put on their white gloves and gathered to see if he was right. They passed the mulberry-paper print from hand to hand, tilting it this way and that in the light, just as a teenager would have done in Tokugawa-era Japan before bringing it home from the shop where it had been painstakingly made and displayed. Yes, they agreed, the blues were deeper, and there were very gentle gradations of tone where the sky met the distant horizon. There seemed to be a lot of space behind that bridge.

The first element that catches our eye in a work of art is only the initial step in a rewarding process of patient “slow looking.” A delightful, even surpris-ing, detail might shift the scene from charming to hilarious: As the students looked more closely at the Hiroshige woodcut, attracted by the vibrant blues and bold diagonal lines, they saw the fishmonger’s sandaled heel sharply bearing down on another slippery fish—a misstep that in the blink of an eye would surely land him in a pratfall!

Later, as students milled around the gallery, mag-nifying glasses in hand, Joe Benedetto stopped in front of Tsukioka Kogyo’s elegant “Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi” from the series “One Hundred Noh Plays” (1926). Once it was out of the frame, Joe thoughtfully shifted the featherweight print this way and that. The light from intricately embossed and stenciled patterns in silver, copper and gold flickered over the flowing silk gar-ments of the actors depicted in a production from The Tales of Genji. The delicate metalwork added an inviting visual intimacy to the restrained and stately figures. Now there were broad smiles all around: Together we had discovered unexpected details of texture and surface sheen.

Throughout that autumn day, the Perrel Art Gal-lery in the Tucker Arts Center was alive with activity as Ms. Elizabeth Johnson’s 9th grade English students scoured the walls of the large exhibit, “Only in Japan: Woodblock Prints from the George B. Powell ’57 Col-lection.” They were engaged in an exercise of close scrutiny as they searched for prints that would inspire them to write a sonnet. The knowledge was still fresh in their minds of the poetic form in which the volta (or turn) links contrasting states of mind, actions or events expressed in verse. Ms. Johnson and I looked at each other: Here was an opportunity for interdisciplinary thinking. Could the students discover in an artist’s pic-ture those particular details that trigger a similar shift in a viewer’s engagement and insight?

Before they left the gallery, Will, Joe and their fresh-man classmates made mental notes of their discoveries.


Their next step would be to visit the Academy’s website and click on the George B. Powell Collection. Ms. John-son’s sonnet project, now in its third year, takes full advantage of the site. After studying the actual prints in person, her students could see “their” prints online as they worked to perfect the drafts of their sonnets.

The website, www.norfolkacademy.org (click arts/collections), is an ongoing labor of love on the part of George Powell, his circle of Asian art scholars, and a team at Norfolk Academy that includes webmaster Ed Patterson, Carter Hall ’13 and Perrel Art Gallery cura-tor Leslie Hennessey. It makes available the complete set of illustrations and descriptive texts of the wood-block prints residing at our school since 2006, when George Powell offered some of his extensive collec-tion to Norfolk Academy for the exhibition “Tradition & Transformation: Japanese Woodcut Prints.” The prints illustrate the history, politics, theater, music, art, legends, philosophy and pastimes of a complex society from the 18th through the early 20th centuries during its remarkable shift from isolation to world engage-ment. With great generosity, on the occasion of his 50th reunion, George Powell then made a gift to his alma mater of the prints to support the teaching and study of the centuries-old interaction of Eastern and Western cultures. It all began with a school pilot project that included 9th grade teachers Mike Horstman (history) and Gertrude Gaba (studio art). The initial set of prints has since expanded to include various Asian artifacts, beautiful and informative books, and other educational materials that support Mr. Powell’s deeply informed and passionate commitment to educate American stu-dents about Asia and our own changing world.

Throughout the fall semester, classes came to the gallery to view “Only in Japan.” When Caroline Bisi’s 8th grade drama students entered the exhibit, they

could not wait to circle though the display. They were studying Noh, kabuki and bunraku (puppet) theater, had just seen a film about Japanese performance tech-niques, and were making elaborate masks of their own that would soon go on display in the Grandy corridor near the refectory. Ms. Bisi set an energetic pace, asking the students to find the prints with Noh theater scenes, to find the kabuki actor portraits and then to explain the meaning of the red and blue stripes on the perform-ers’ faces. Where was the slow-walking Noh actor in “Chikanobu’s Noh Performance at the Aoyama Palace for the Meiji Emperor” (1878)? Then they paired off, instructing each other in the roles of the puppeteers in a bright red print of a bunraku performance. They laughed as they read the text panels describing the illus-trated antics of kabuki fan clubs and the publicity-savvy actors they adored. In a time of YouTube and iPhones, who would have expected cheers from the class as we carefully unframed Toyokuni’s 1878 “Shintomi Theater in Edo (Tokyo)” to discover that two sets of curtains at the center of this large triptych actually lift, revealing the musicians and then the actors onstage as the vast audience settles into its seats?

Our art students had their own reasons to visit the exhibit. Erin Valentine’s Upper School studio artists looked closely at the placement of falling leaves and a beautiful witch’s flowing hair in Yoshitoshi’s “Tari No Koremachi Vanquishes the Demon on Mount Togakushi” from the series “New Forms of Thirty-Six Strange Things (1890).” They were about to draw careful and detailed illustrations in pen and marker of favorite books they had read. Just how did Yoshitoshi direct our gaze from the drifting leaves to the mon-strous face reflected in a bowl and to the warrior’s fist clenched tightly around the sword tucked away at his side? How did such an apparently pastoral scene shift

the FIrSt GeOrGe B. pOwell lecture

It was standing room only in Landmark Hall last January 30 for the inaugural George B. Powell ’57 Family Lecture. Student Fellows with the Center for Civic and the Global Leadership joined Upper and Middle School classes in International Relations, Political Science, World Cultures, Studio Art, Italian Language and Art History, giving their undivided attention to Dr. Julie Nelson Davis, associate professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her talk, “Magnificent Impressions: Japanese Prints from the George Powell Collection in Context,”

had everyone spellbound.Captain George Powell, who retired to San

Diego after a legal career in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps with assignments in East Asia and Hawaii, was the honored guest in an audience of family members, friends, many Norfolk Academy faculty and staff and Headmaster Dennis Manning. Also attending were former Headmaster John Tucker and his wife, Barbara, and visitors from Old Dominion University and the Chrysler Museum Docent program. Everyone watched and listened with

fascination as Prof. Davis showed beautiful slides of woodblock prints, introducing her audience to the urban culture, political history and painstaking technique of this fascinating art form, with a focus on images from Norfolk Academy’s own Powell Collection. After her lecture, probing questions to Dr. Davis and to Mr. Powell made clear how much the students appreciated the presentation. Outside Landmark, the departing crowd lingered in the Batten Library corridor, talking enthusiastically about the colorful Powell Collection prints on display.

Though our appearances and behavior may set us apart

Our worlds connect in places beyond our reach.

Our Japanese heritage and culture for a start:

Another similarity is the emotions of the heart

And though the fences of society are difficult to breach,

I knew we would meet again as I watched you depart.

Excerpt from a sonnet by Marlina Mejia ’15. Her poem was inspired by Mizuno Toshika’s “Ladies Chatting over the Fence…” (1905).

academy10

in an instant to impending violent action? There was no doubt: The warrior would behead the girl who is not what she seems to be.

Gertrude Gaba’s Middle School studio classes wanted to better understand the woodblock process. They knew it was painstaking and takes many steps, because they had made their own three-color linoleum prints for Ms. Gaba, who knows woodblock technique very well. We took the cherry wood key block off the wall and passed it around, amazed at the precision and detail of the raised ridges that are left after the rest of the wood has been carved away. They were designed to hold the black ink outlines and patterns that would give definition in the final print to each of the color areas that would be carved one block at a time, then inked and pressed to make these vibrant images we saw on the gallery walls all around us. “What’s it like to make prints?” we asked the students. “It’s really hard, tedious even!” some of them said. Others insisted just as vigor-ously that it’s really fun.

As the exhibit entered its final weeks, students with an active interest in world cultures and history came to the gallery ready to engage with the prints and to ask questions about a once-closed Asian society’s responses to the influence of the West. Mike Horstman’s World History freshmen, Upper School members of Dave Rezelman’s International Relations classes, and the In-ternational Relations Fellows from the Center for Civic and Global Leadership examined images depicting the traditional society of the Tokugawa shogunate, Commo-

dore Matthew Perry’s Expedition to Japan in 1853, and the Imperial Meiji Restoration’s remarkable policies of reform. Hugely popular woodblock prints, initially concerned with ephemeral middle-class pleasures, were now also used by the government to guide an ancient feudal society to a modern national identity. There in the middle of the gallery, we began asking each other questions. How did these colorful, stylish pictures help people to see their traditional bonds and imagine their common future? Then we took it a step further. In our own era of rapid transition, what are Americans reaf-firming from our past, and how do we see our future in a changing world?

For more than three months, “Only in Japan” attracted visitors of all ages. For the girls in the Lower School, passing through the Tucker Arts Center on their way back to class after lunch in the refectory, there were prints of children making origami toys or playing cards, while the boys stared at grimacing warriors or young men in voluminous robes and exotic footgear playing kickball. Time and time again, the young students wanted to know more about Japan and about George Powell and his beautiful collection. Then they would go back to their classrooms to write thank you notes to a man who had once been a student at Norfolk Academy and who cared so much about their school.

Dr. Leslie Hennessey, Perrel Arts Gallery, Visual Arts Coor-

dinator; Art History, Upper School

Mizuno Toshikata, “Ladies Chatting over the Fence at the Door” from the series “Contemporary Beauties”, 1905


academy

from the [ c l a s s r o o m ]

Like the (short-lived) elimination of early admission programs at Harvard, Princeton and UVA in 2006 and the removal of an SAT or ACT requirement for admis-sion to Wake Forest in 2008, Dartmouth’s AP policy shift was newsworthy in that it occurred at a “top tier” national university. If both “Dartmouth” and “AP” are by-words for academic excellence in the United States, how can we explain this apparent disconnect between the two?

Dartmouth’s decision was not an impulsive one, according to Michael Mastanduno, dean of faculty of Arts & Sciences. “Our policy modification,” he explained on Dartmouth’s website in the wake of the decision, “is the outcome of many years of faculty dis-cussion and dialogue regarding the nature and scope of coursework at Dartmouth.” Reportedly, this “discussion and dialogue” included consideration of an experiment conducted by the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, which administered a condensed Psych 1 final exam to incoming students who had earned a 5 (the highest possible score) on the AP Psychology exam and found that “90 percent failed the Dartmouth test.” Fur-thermore, according to the New York Times, Dartmouth “couldn’t detect any difference whatsoever” in success in Psych 1 between students who had scored a 5 on the AP and students who had never taken AP Psychology in high school.

This criticism—that AP coursework and exam performance are not sufficiently correlated with under-graduate coursework at selective colleges and universi-ties—has been growing louder in recent years. In a col-umn in The Chronicle of Higher Education that appeared just three days before the news from Dartmouth broke, Rob Jenkins asked, “Can we please dispense with the fiction that Advanced Placement courses in any way resemble college courses?” A few months before that, John Tierney, a former independent school teacher and

Boston College professor, wrote an article for The Atlan-tic titled, pugnaciously, “AP Classes Are a Scam.” Dur-ing an appearance on NPR’s Talk of the Nation shortly thereafter, Tierney described AP programs as “sacred cows” that are “venerated and not frequently enough subject to scrutiny,” despite numerous independent studies conducted in the past two decades that question “this assertion of comparability” to introductory college courses.

Any balanced consideration of the AP program, however, must also include a discussion of college af-fordability. The cost of a bachelor’s degree has increased more than tenfold since 1980. If tuition increases had simply kept pace with inflation over the same period, the average cost of two semesters at a four-year public college or university would only be $6,900 in today’s dollars. In reality, of course, that figure now approaches $20,000—and far more students take five or six years to graduate than did their counterparts in previous generations. Kate Lyon, a 2005 Dartmouth graduate, told the Associated Press that Dartmouth’s decision “seems to show very little regard for the fact that students struggle to pay for college” and said that her own family saved about $15,000 thanks to AP credits. Dean Mastanduno argues that the new policy “does not alter [Dartmouth’s] strong commitment to affordability” and notes that “Dartmouth’s need-blind financial aid program currently meets 100 percent of demonstrated need.” He allows, however, that Dartmouth students “interested in accelerating their time to degree comple-tion” will comprise only “a small number” of students who will only be able to graduate “one term early.”

Whether Dartmouth’s decision will prove a bellwether or an anomaly among American colleges and universities remains to be seen. Closer to home, it bears noting that at UVA, a score of 4 on any one of 22 AP exams will still earn an incoming freshman—for-

The AP Disconnecton January 17, dartmouth college made headlines by announcing that,

beginning with the Class of 2018, it would no longer offer undergraduate credit

for scores earned on College Board Advanced Placement examinations.

academy12

give me, an incoming First Year!—an average of 4.5 credits toward graduation, and many other schools to which Norfolk Academy students traditionally ma-triculate are similarly “AP friendly.” Acknowledging the availability of such credit-bearing opportunities to our graduates, our Upper School faculty have become much more intentional in recent years in promoting AP exams among students likely to earn high scores. Every January, teachers receive the results of a multiple-regression analysis that predicts AP performance for current students by comparing their first-semester grades and best PSAT or SAT scores to the grades and test scores earned by Norfolk Academy AP examinees in prior years. The predictions are hardly perfect (they are precise in 30–40% of cases and accurate within one point in 90–95% of cases), but they serve as a starting point for individual conversations between students and teachers about AP exam readiness.

By giving these score predictions and follow-on deliberations more emphasis in recent years, we have generated stepped-up AP subscription rates, from 94 students writing 185 exams in 2010, to 124 students writing 255 exams in 2011, to 150 students writing 276 exams in 2012, to 170 students writing 311 exams in 2013. Moreover, this expansion in AP participation has not corresponded with a decrease in scores; on the contrary, Norfolk Academy continues to outperform all other schools in Hampton Roads, with 89% of exams in 2012 earning scores of 3 or higher. Three of our teachers also serve as AP exam readers for the College Board: David Kidd (English Literature), Natasha Nau-joks (European History) and Warren Warsaw (French Language and Culture).

At the same time that Norfolk Academy has be-come more AP exam friendly, we have remained decid-edly AP curriculum neutral. In 2007, the College Board instituted the AP Audit, requiring schools that offer AP-designated courses to submit syllabi for approved use of that trademark. As we note on the School Profile that accompanies every senior’s college applications, “Norfolk Academy does not participate in the Advanced Placement Audit, and we designate none of our courses

as AP. All departments offer courses that extend well beyond the normal secondary school level in terms of rigor and depth.” It is this latter commitment to a strong curriculum that aligns us with the spirit, if not the letter, of the AP program. While we are not willing to have the College Board dictate to us what constitutes, say, an Advanced Physics course or a United States His-tory course, we are nevertheless very interested, as are they, in preparing students for college-level concepts and work expectations.

In 2010, Harvard Education Press published AP: A Critical Examination of the Advanced Placement Program, a collection of studies that in many ways chal-lenges conventional notions about AP. (The belief that AP credits often yield substantial reductions in tuition costs, for example, is found to have little support in fact.) Yet despite the critical point of view that distin-guishes his work, co-editor Philip Sadler of Harvard observes the following: “Advanced Placement courses offer you an opportunity to study a subject in a very rig-orous and demanding fashion. You will probably be in a class that has fewer students, those students will likely have stronger backgrounds, and there will be fewer student discipline issues than you have experienced in other courses. Your teacher will have a strong subject matter background and excellent teaching skills.”

In many ways, Sadler is describing our core aspira-tions for the day-to-day academic experience of all students at Norfolk Academy: children serious about learning being guided by a faculty serious about teach-ing. It’s just that we don’t call what we do “Advanced Placement.” We call it, simply, “school.”

Jay Rainey, Assistant Headmaster for Academic Affairs

If both “Dartmouth” and “Ap” are by-words for

academic excellence in the united States, how can we

explain this apparent disconnect between the two?



Fifth Grade Science:

learning by Doing

The Fifth Grade has revamped the science curriculum to entail a more hands-on, inquiry-based method of teaching. Meeting once a week, each class spends half of a school day in the science room articulating a ques-tion, designing experiments to answer that question, and then sharing their results in a science forum. The year begins with physical science, which the students find accessible in terms of both visualization and manipulation. Experiments include analyses of vehicles on ramps, friction experiments and the “Egg-cellent Egg-drop,” and culminate in a four-week-long investiga-tion of each student’s favorite childhood toy. Students learn to evaluate the relationship between detergent strength and soap bubble size, Slinky length and stair-descending prowess, and yo-yo weight and winding speed. The most memorable experiments this year tested the perfect Beyblade design as well as numerous paper airplane and Nerf gun constructions.

After holiday break, we begin our exploration of chemistry. Each student has the opportunity to design and create his or her own density columns, as well as puzzle through the concept of how metal boats can float. The chemistry unit ends with a phenomenal visit from a Jefferson Lab scientist, featuring eye-popping dry ice and states-of-matter demonstrations.

In the spring, we investigate the water cycle as well as microscopic biology. We model the water cycle through a science mystery project set in the town of Fruitvale. Students learn about concentration, ground water movement and hydrology en route to discovering who polluted the water supply of Fruitvale. The year then concludes with investigations of cells, including close looks at pond water, onions cells and cheek cells.

We are so excited to offer these exploration op-portunities to our older Lower School students as they begin to anticipate their transition to the Middle School. These efforts combine the “exposure” approach of earlier grades with the emphasis on inquiry and data analysis in a variety of fields—physical, chemical, geological and biological—that will characterize these boys’ and girls’ experiences with science in years to come. Even in this inaugural year, the new curriculum is already a great success. Go science!

Charlie Knape, Lower School Teaching Associate

First Grade Math:

variety + challenge = Fun

As a student walks through the hallways of Norfolk Academy, he sees numbers everywhere. He might take a moment to enjoy a bulletin board, peer up at the time, check out a book by looking up the call number, or peek through a resource classroom window on his way to class each morning. The excitement in a first grader’s eyes and heart is hard to miss when it is his turn to be Boy of the Day—or her turn to be Girl of the Day! As they fix the calendar, add a penny to the class bank, work on their place values by bundling Popsicle sticks to count the number of school days, share about the day being odd or even, record the temperature, and compare the weather on our classroom graph, students are exploring their knowledge of math every day.

Our Lower School math curriculum at Norfolk Academy spirals through many core topics, including simple addition and subtraction, patterns, counting and exchanging money, telling time, measurement, simple fractions and geometric shapes. Because we draw students from several dozen kindergartens throughout Hampton Roads, we teach math through varied ap-proaches to fit the individual needs and background of each learner. Each day our students use tactile manipu-latives, enrichment games and basic fact practice to help them grow into math masters and grasp concepts at the highest level they can reach. The children are ex-posed to classroom SmartBoards and iPads during each day’s math lesson; they love to explore using these great tools. Our first graders have even had the pleasure of dancing with Mr. Elbert Watson in the Johnson Theatre ballet studio to further explore measurement, patterns and clocks! Each day finds a large portion of time dedi-cated to math instruction at Norfolk Academy, and it is a thrill to watch each child grow and learn through our efforts at constant exposure to math in our world.

Jacquie Evelyn, First Grade teacher

academy14

learning to ServeThe Middle School is a unique place. Teeming with energy, it is a hive for development. It is brimming with students who are forming and transforming ideas about who they are, and it is tethered by teachers and coaches who create experiences to shape who they might become.

To the casual observer, the procession of Middle School students arriving onto campus in the morning can appear slightly awkward. Students tend to pour out of buses and carpools with friends and siblings, slide into book bags straps, hoist athletic gear, and steady themselves to manage musical instrument cases or group projects. There are rarely free hands. But after a few steps, they balance themselves and find a purpose-ful stride alongside friends as they head toward the building. Interestingly, through this ritual, students impart a sense of community and familiarity to our mornings, a shared experience through which we con-nect as the Middle School begins its day.

On Wednesday afternoons, I have a unique vantage point to watch these same students find their way from lunch and through the archway to a different arrange-ment of buses and carpool vehicles as they make their way off campus to our community service partners. Though they are free of book bags and athletic gear, it is easy to detect morning-like levels of energy and companionship. What resonates with me as they leave for community service on these afternoons is how cheerful, engaged and selfless our students are. They find a purposeful stride, alongside friends, not only as they are heading into the comfort of our campus, but also, and more important, as they move away from it and into a much larger and more complex community that is in many ways far less familiar. Our students’ understanding of the importance of and commitment to service is revealed in the enthusiasm with which they approach this responsibility. Put simply, leaders serve.

The Royster community service program is distinc-tive in that it affords every student the opportunity to serve away from the school campus after lunch each Wednesday afternoon throughout the grade level sea-son. Our students serve 15 local agencies and the Nor-folk Academy Lower School in myriad ways, from tutor-ing kindergarten and elementary school students in math and reading to playing games with seniors in an assisted living facility. By the end of the 9th grade year, each Middle School student will have made nearly 25 service visits to our agency partners. By committing to a

formal service program in each grade in the Middle School, we strive to live by our belief that the habit of service is more fully developed over time. Beginning in 2011, and in connection with Norfolk Academy’s Center for Civic and Global Leadership and the three 9th grade Fellows programs, the community service program has partnered with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Opera-tion Blessing, and the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads to offer unique service opportunities to Middle School Fellows. We are privileged to serve with each of our partners and pursue opportunities and collaborations that will provide a broad range of mean-ingful service experiences for our students.

The Middle School community service program began in 1988, and as it moves toward its 25th year, we recommit ourselves to the tenets of the program, the powerful experiences it provides our students, and the community agencies and lives it touches. Patty Master-son, former Norfolk Academy English teacher, wrote eloquently about our system of honor. Her words, in fact, describe each of the mission-driven Middle School student programs that provide scaffolding to navigate these formative years: arts, athletics and service. They are “not an addition to, but an element of, Norfolk Academy’s commitment to excellence.” There is no “ex-tra” in these curricular programs, but a belief that they are the unique and authentic opportunities that develop strong minds and bodies and cultivate habits that move students toward lives of purpose.

In his October 2012 Harvard Business Review blog post “How to Let Purpose Find You,” Umair Haque writes poignantly: “Finding your purpose is not a phase of life—but a way of living.” The lives of our students are made more meaningful and given greater purpose by serving others. Community service, then, is not a stage of our experience in the Middle School, but one of the foundations on which the Middle School experience is fashioned and one that we hope, in no small part, shapes who our students will become.

Brian Jarvis, Director of Student Programs, Middle School

royster community

Service locations

2012–2013

• Operation Smile, Norfolk

(12 students)

• Chesapeake Bay Founda-

tion, Norfolk (5 CBF

Fellows)

• Operation Blessing,

Virginia Beach (6 Global

Health Fellows)

• World Affairs Council of

Greater Hampton Roads,

Virginia Beach (5 Interna-

tional Relations Fellows)

• ODU Child Study Center,

Norfolk (4 students)

• St. Mary’s Home for

Disabled Children,


• Consulate Health Care,


• Norfolk Academy Lower

School, Norfolk

(6 students)

nOrFOlk puBlIc SchOOlS

• Little Creek Elementary

(17 students)

• Chesterfield Academy

(10 students)

• Mary Calcott Elementary

(12 students)

• Monroe Elementary

(12 students)

• Ocean View Elementary

(12 students)

• Sewell’s Point Elemen-

tary (4 students)

vIrGInIA BeAch

puBlIc SchOOlS

• Shelton Park Elementary

(10 students)

• Diamond Springs Elemen-

tary (15 students)

there is no extra in these

curricular programs, but a belief

that they are the unique and

authentic opportunities that

develop strong minds and bodies

and cultivate habits that move

students toward lives of purpose.


16 academy


nonfictionBehind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, by Katherine BooAnnawadi is a makeshift settlement of the very poor in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. As India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Then the unthinkable occurs. As their individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, this true story reveals the contours of a competitive age.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David QuammenExamines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called “spillover”—where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans—and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic.

FictionWhere’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria SempleBernadette Fox disappears. To find her mother, Bee com-piles email messages, official documents and secret corre-spondence. With the story of Bernadette and her daughter, the author has created a very funny, yet touching, satire about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.

The Inner Circle, by Brad MeltzerBeecher White, a young archivist working at the National Archives, and Clementine Kaye, Beecher’s first childhood crush, find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy and murder centered on a diction-ary that belonged to George Washington.

Running the Rift: A Novel, by Naomi BenaronThis is a stunning and gorgeous novel that—through the story of one unforgettable boy and his love of running—explores the unraveling of Rwanda, its tentative new beginning, and the love that binds its people together.

Age of Miracles: A Novel, by Karen Thompson WalkerSomething has happened to the rotation of the earth, and life will never be the same. Spellbinding and haunt-ing, this is a beautiful novel of catastrophe and survival, growth and change; the story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in an extraordinary time.

summer reading

Batten librarians elizabeth Bain and lynn paul

share a few “picks” from the Best Books of 2012.

academy16

Seeking an athletic scholarship is a worthy goal, but receiving one is the exception and not the rule.

in the [ g a m e ]

For others that ability has allowed them to continue playing the sport they love while competing at the high-est possible level. With careful attention to the recruit-ing process, those student-athletes who have wanted to play in college have been able to do so.

In the last decade, however, the athletic recruiting process (in conjunction with a more selective admis-sions process) has changed dramatically, becoming both more competitive and more complicated. Given the new challenges facing Norfolk Academy’s student-athletes who want to play in college, it is not unreason-able to ask, “In 2013, what does it take to be a college

athlete and how does someone go about becoming one?”

The answer starts with a brutally honest assess-ment of GAMe (a variant of GAME, posited by athlet-icscholarships.net in their Guide to College Recruit-ing)—Grades, Ability, Motivation and exposure—four components without which the recruiting process will be unfulfilling as well as unsuccessful.

grades: College coaches are searching for recruits who fit their institution’s academic profile. The NCAA imposes some baseline standards, some conferences impose others, but individual colleges and universities

norfolk academy is blessed With a tradition of excellence both in the classroom and on

the field, and while all of our graduates continue their academic careers in college, many have continued

their athletic careers at the collegiate level as well. For some, the ability to play at the collegiate level has

opened doors that would have otherwise remained closed.

So You Want to be a College Athlete?


set their own academic benchmarks for qualified student-athletes. Coaches use grade point average, standardized test scores and curriculum rigor to determine if a student-athlete is qualified and that the fit is right: The higher your level of academic achieve-ment in high school, the broader your range of available collegiate options. Keep hitting the books.

ability: Regardless of the sport, college coaches are looking for outstanding athletes with exceptional sport-specific skills who have demonstrated com-petitiveness in their chosen sport as well as in other sports. They will evaluate potential recruits on things measurable: height, weight, 40-yard dash time, vertical jump or a maximum lift in the weight room; as well as on things subjective: skill level, field sense and understanding of the game. College coaches will spend hours evaluating potential recruits live at clinics and camps or on film to determine if they have the skills and athleticism needed to contribute to a college team. Coaches expect a truly top prospect to have athleticism and sport-specific skills superior to their peers. Division 1 prospects should be able to dominate their competi-tion at the state level. Division 3 prospects should be able to dominate their competition at the conference level. Hone your skills and work on becoming a better athlete.

motiVation: Talent alone is insufficient. During the recruiting process, college coaches will do their due diligence to find out if you possess the motivation to find success at the next level. They want to see evidence of toughness, persistence, competitiveness and inten-sity in all their recruits, and they want to see a demon-strated work ethic and commitment to their sport. They

want young men and women with strong character and the desire to lead. Successful college athletes are motivated to be the very best that they can be. Be one of those young men or women.

exPosure: Without grades, ability and motiva-tion, exposure is worthless. With them, it is essential. You must be proactive in your college search and you must be a self-promoter. You cannot afford to sit on your hands and wait for college coaches to come and find you. It is your responsibility to communicate with college coaches through letters and emails, fill out online questionnaires, and attend camps and clinics to be assured that recruiters know everything about you. Even if college coaches have seen you live in action, it is in your best interest to create and distribute a highlight

ABOve: Dani Johnson ’11 was a three-season athlete while at Norfolk Academy, and now plays D1 women’s soccer at Davidson.

rIGht: Eric Gorsline ’10 is a two-sport athlete for Hampden-Sydney College, where he plays D3 lacrosse and football.

academy18

film that shows the very best of your skills. Start by casting a “wide net” and get your information out to as many schools as possible.

High school athletes, even those with GAMe, should be aware of the reality of athletic scholarships—they are hard to get. Only Division 1 and Division 2 institutions are allowed to award scholarships, and the NCAA sets sport-specific limits on the number of scholarships which can be offered. With the exception of football, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball, most of those scholarships are only partial—the average grant-in-aid being about $10,000 per year. Some Division 1 schools (including the Ivy League) and all Division 3 schools do not award athletic scholar-ships, but do provide sufficient financial aid based

on a family’s demonstrated need. Seeking an athletic scholarship is a worthy endeavor, but receiving one is the exception and not the rule.

Intercollegiate athletics can make your college experience. You will be tested, you will make lifelong friends and you will contribute to your school in ways that few others can. If you want to be an intercollegiate athlete, you must work to make it happen. But for now, cherish your journey at Norfolk Academy. Own a relent-less work ethic in the classroom and on the field and help to make Norfolk Academy the best that it can be.

Go Bulldogs!

Varsity Lacrosse Coach Tom Duquette and Varsity Football

Coach Steve Monninger

In the last decade athletic recruiting has

changed dramatically, becoming both more

competitive and more complicated. Given the

new challenges it is reasonable to ask, “In 2013,

what does it take to be a college athlete?”


at norfolk academy and elseWhere, I have learned from many superb teachers. In my teaching style, I pick and choose from the techniques employed by a range of men and women over my years. Bob “Boomer” Scott, who taught Contracts at the Univer-sity of Virginia Law School and subsequently became Law School Dean, was the best I ever saw at listening intently to a student answer while formulating his next question in response. Every time I launch into a So-cratic exchange in my Senior Politics class, I remember the Boomer and try to do what he did. From Sheldon Hackney, then provost of Princeton University as well as teacher of a course in Southern History, I learned that lessons can be conveyed more powerfully by not using words. Sometimes, a song or an image—or even a taste—gets to an intellectual point more perfectly. And from Mr. MacConochie, I learned that the love of words is never unmanly. It is in fact okay for a guy to like Emily Dickinson.

But Mr. Cumiskey was the best. In 1965 he was head of the Lower School, the baseball coach, and the math teacher for the 6th and 7th grades. With only one section per grade level in those days, there was no need for designations such as “6A,” much less “4GB.” Mr. Cumiskey had been a catcher in college, and a very good one. He still could peg a ball from home to second base on a line and on the bag. (I’ll return to this in a moment.) He was diminutive, and like a good catcher, solidly built. And also like a good catcher, his voice commanded attention from those around him.

Mr. Cumiskey loved teaching, and I believe he loved all of his students. He would nickname each of us, not right away, but as the year progressed. As much because I was a year young for my grade as for my five-foot-tall-mother’s genes, I was noticeably shorter than my classmates. Mr. Cumiskey set upon “Toe-High” as my moniker. I wasn’t even “knee-high to a grasshop-per,” he said, I was “toe-high to a tadpole.” I loved the play on my unusual first name, and smiled every time he used it. In the nicknaming and in countless other ways, he communicated his joy at working with young people with crystal clarity. He was boundlessly enthusi-astic, clear and demanding. His math class was seldom easy, but it was never dull.

He and his wife even sponsored what we called “co-tillion.” Upon the merger with Country Day School in 1966, he saw an opportunity to break the ice between 8th grade girls and boys. So on Saturday evenings we met in the dance room with a simple stereo. For the first hour, he and Eileen (that’s Mrs. Cumiskey to you, young man) taught us ballroom dancing. For the second hour it was “our” dancing to “Let’s Twist Again” or “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” All the boys became nervous when he put on a slow song like “Willow Weep for Me” or, worse yet, “Unchained Melody.” You know it’s love when a grown man gives up Saturday nights to teach 13-year-olds to two-step and then watch them fumble and lurch trying to do the Watusi.

Mr. Cumiskey was not afraid to be physical. Don’t get me wrong—I am dead set against any form of

The Best Teacher I Ever Had

savage C H R O N I C L E STHE

As the school year comes to a close, I find myself thinking about a

school year many decades ago. More specifically, I find myself thinking

about the best teacher I ever had, charles J. cumiskey, Jr.

20 academy

corporal punishment, and don’t buy the argument that it builds a bond of trust between student and teacher. But in his case, it was so clear from the start how much he cared about you and how much he wanted you to succeed, that he could do stuff we might frown on today. For instance, just suppose you turned your head to speak to the boy in the seat behind you; within an instant an eraser would ping off the back of your skull, throwing a halo of chalk dust and leaving you marked for the rest of class. It didn’t hurt except for the embar-rassment, and with that catcher’s arm he never missed. Of course, he only had to throw erasers once or maybe twice in early September to stop the practice of turning around in your seat until at least Christmas.

He also knew when to quit kidding and get tough. Faculty have all read “NurtureShock,” the latest science on over-managing kids as they grow up. It has as one of its premises that kids lie to parents and teachers because they so deeply value their relationships, and fear that admitting some error or omission might jeopardize that relationship. With Mr. Cumiskey it cut the other way. We all adored him so much that few of us wanted even to put ourselves in the position to lie. When he asked you a direct question you gave him a direct answer, simply because it was Mr. Cumiskey. You couldn’t lie to him.

Finally, he was very, very good at getting angry. I committed some transgression in his 6th grade math class, and he sent me to his office to wait for him until

class was over. I’d like to say that the anticipation of his reprimand was worse than the actual thing, but no, they were both pretty bad. So on top of not being able to fib, there was a positive element of danger in his class that helped keep us in line. I’m not sure I ever transgressed again when he was about.

It’s probably overkill to say that Charlie Cum-iskey was the perfect teacher, but he comes as close as anyone I’ve ever seen. He lives in Georgia now, paterfamilias to a very large collection of children and grandchildren. He comes to Norfolk from time to time for important school occasions. When last I saw him at last year’s Homecoming, he was doing great. There is a part of me that laments not getting to know him better now that I am all grown up, but another, larger part prefers to enjoy the memory of how much I learned from him as a child.

Some time ago, in making remarks to a group of alumni when he was present, I called him “the best teacher I ever had.” I watched the tears come to his eyes. There it is. Forty years later, praise from a former student about his qualities as a teacher can make him emotional. That’s why we love you, Mr. Cumiskey. You always cared. You still do.

Toy Savage ’71 This piece first appeared on Toy Savage’s

blog,The Savage Chronicles.To see the latest posts, visit

thesavagechronicles.org.

Toy Savage with Mr. and Mrs. Cumisky at Homecoming 2012.


teachers are suPPosed to knoW some-thing. The finest ones among us are seen as purveyors of wisdom, or at least knowledge. But I’ve often wondered, if you add it all up, if students have any idea how much we learn from them.

Sometimes we are presented with beauti-ful examples of exactly what not to do. This is when it is incumbent upon us to enter our corrective mode. This is when, through whatever means seem right at the time, our extraordinary faculty puts its hands on a child and turns him in a different direction. Sometimes this course correction can involve simply data, or stuff. No, that answer is incor-rect; here is the correct one. At other times, these corrections may be of a more personal and substantive nature: “Let’s think about it,” “Let’s talk about it,” or even, the typically unanswerable Middle School question, “What were you thinking?” Assuredly our institution has put extraordinary models in front of our

students—men and women who embody the highest intellectual, physical and spiritual qualities. Simply by being who they are, they provide examples which we hope our children will emulate.

On the other hand, when it comes to learning, I have frequently thought that we profit as least as much from our relationships with students as they might. After a signifi-cant time in this enterprise I find myself con-stantly surprised and left with a sense of awe concerning our students. To talk to young people is to see the world through constantly new and energetic eyes. To watch our young people engage with ideas and the world around them can’t help but educate a teacher. To discuss with a young man, the captain of his team, whether or not he should miss a game in order to attend a religious retreat, cannot help but touch the teacher. To witness a young man understand and struggle with his responsibilities to his teammates, and at

the same time exercise complete seriousness of purpose in his spiritual growth, is a pro-found gift, and one that cannot help but affect a person. To watch a young woman appreci-ate the glories of technology and express her concerns for its dangers, in a painting that evinces innocence and wisdom, must affect the teacher profoundly.

To have been sculpted by our models and heroes from the past and to be polished by in-nocent and brilliant new eyes is a gift received by all who teach. To see the world through young eyes cannot help but make us better people. As we call upon our students to be the best that they can be, the interaction calls upon us to do the same. Certainly, teachers are people who are supposed to know some-thing. Equally as certainly, teachers are people who learn from their students every day.

Gary Laws, Director of the Middle School

The Gift of Teaching

to have been

sculpted by our

models and

heroes from

the past and to

be polished by

innocent and

brilliant new

eyes is a gift

received by all

who teach.

[ c h a P e l ]

academy22

to be a child for a day would be the greatest gift: Everything is new and interest-ing. Children wonder, they are curious about the world, they see things in the best light because society hasn’t yet corrupted their opinions. Children are more creative; their field of imagination has not been narrowed by the ideal thoughts of other people. The littlest things make them happy. For instance, a family orders a new television. While the adults are excited about what is in the box, the children just want the box. The box could turn into anything for them; it could be a house, a castle or a fort. Hours of time could be spent building and playing in their new fort, and their ideas just expand from that one box. While the children are playing with the box and enjoying themselves, the adults are just sitting there watching television.

Adults lose their innocence when society corrupts them into doing other things. Technology is partly responsible for this corruption. Although it offers many learn-ing opportunities; it also has its contradic-tions. Technology makes it harder to grow up because it causes a child to have to worry about so many more things than children did 50 years ago, when there was only simple technology. Being a kid myself, I wish there were not so much technology. It creates an addiction. Addictions cause an unhealthy ob-session over something that detracts from the time you could otherwise spend on more sen-timental things. Kids could otherwise go out-side and play, or work on a passion like art, or music or sports. Technology usually wins and most of the time, stresses everyone out. In my painting, instead of Googling something, or Facebooking someone, I decided to do something I love to do instead. By just doing this project it represents a component of the solution to the addiction of technology.

I painted a picture for a few hours. Instead of wasting time on the computer,

I actually made something. Society shaped technology to fit itself, but the opposite has happened; technology has begun to shape our society. Gandhi felt that factories could turn people into human machines. He was absolutely right in saying this. We overuse technology and therefore misuse it. While the people making the technology become ma-chines, the people using it become no better. Handmade sentimental items are much more important, and I think that is what Gandhi was trying to conclude.

Technology causes children to lose their innocence because they could just look something up on the Internet instead of get-ting the full effect. They will never attain the experience of discovering for themselves; they miss out on the journey if they skip ahead to the destination. But as they say, “It’s about the journey, not the destination,” and by just skipping over the journey, it denotes that the destination is more important than the journey. If children lose the journey, how will they discover themselves?

By going out and learning through hands-on experiences is how people become

who they are. They learn more from the journey than the destination. To miss out on the journey is to miss out on a learning ex-perience. Technology takes away part of that growing up, that necessary key component.

In my painting, the apple represents temptation (like in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve); the baby looking at it with amaze-ment signifies our addiction to the tempta-tion of technology. Our addiction is the apple; we put those things we are tempted with before the things that are more important, that actually make you genuinely happy. In her left eye, very discreetly, there are children playing.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and while the baby may be tempted by an outside factor, what she really wants to do is play. We are blinded by temptation to technology and therefore miss out on in-nocence. Innocence is a gift, and it should not be wasted.

Katie Bonner ’16 composed this essay as part of

a timed exam and created the painting below for

Mr. Laws’ history class.

Innocence


history Lessons

pawPRINTS

I never was too interested in history. that is, until the ninth grade when I took Mr. horstman’s world cultures class.

24 academy

i immediately Was enthralled by his attention-grabbing stories. Every day I found myself eager to at-tend his next class. Whenever I fell behind or struggled with the material, Mr. Horstman was more than happy to meet with me during a free bell to explain. Soon, I was in his office multiple times a week just to talk. He recommended books, and we discussed them. His kind-ness and willingness to help struck me, and I was sad to move on when the year ended.

As sophomore year rolled around, so did Modern European History. I was skeptical that I would ever have another teacher like Mr. Horstman, who could make me want to learn history so much. I was wrong. Mr. Oberdorfer’s quirky sense of humor made MEH interest-ing. The year started off exactly where we had stopped in Mr. Horstman’s class. Coming from Mr. Horstman’s class, I felt completely prepared for European History. And Mr. Oberdorfer’s jokes and antics encouraged me to learn the material. When I struggled, Mr. Oberdorfer would discuss the information and gladly helped me. As we learned about Napoleon Bonaparte, Mr. Oberdorfer explained his appreciation for the French ruler.

And then when I reached my junior year, I was met by another view of Napoleon by Mr. Oberdorfer’s office mate and top rival on the Napoleonic issue. Dr. Rezel-man’s ironic and witty jokes made U.S. history entertain-ing. Dazzling laser light shows and the daily dice roll encouraged me to do my homework and study, and my grades reflected my interest in the class. After every test he was happy to explain my grade and help me to master any information that I could not grasp. Dr. Rezelman taught me how to sensibly argue with others using my now vast knowledge of American history. I enjoy arguing over scholarly topics with him to this day. He explained why he viewed Napoleon in a negative light, and I learned of his ongoing friendly feud with Mr. Ober-dorfer. Dr. Rezelman proudly sipped out of his “I Love

Napoleon” coffee mug, a gift from the European History teacher. I joined in on these academic arguments and many others on Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferso and many other important historical figures. By learning how to argue, I was encouraged to actually learn the material so that I could conduct worthwhile conversations with others.

These three teachers didn’t just teach me history; they taught me how to enjoy history. In 20 years, I may not remember who Louis XIV or Samuel Gompers were, but I will never forget how these teachers changed how I view history. I no longer see history as another senseless chore of a class. I now see it as an engaging review of our past. I can now participate in and even win debates about history. Using my now vast knowledge of world cultures, European history, and U.S. history, I feel confident enough to competently converse with others. After all, as Mr. Horstman taught us, George Santayana explained that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Not only do I now respect and admire history, but I am now considering majoring in some sort of history in college. If not for these three teachers, I would not be the young man I am today. I learned work ethic, patience and more about history than onc can imagine. They have changed my life for the better, and I know that my life would be very different if I had had different teachers. I look forward to winning some more arguments once I return from college.

Matthew Leon ’13

these three teachers didn’t just

teach me history; they taught me

how to enjoy history. In 20 years, I

may not remember who louis XIv

or Samuel Gompers were, but I will

never forget how these teachers

changed how I view history.


what age student is your favorite to work with? what is it like to see your students as they grow up at norfolk Academy?

MS. SiMonE: When Mr. Tucker called years ago to tell me that my teaching assign-ment was 4th grade girls, I was so thrilled because it really is my favorite year. This is my 17th year in 4GB, and it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. People ask, “Don’t you get tired of the same thing?” The answer is no, because it’s not at all the same thing—every year is different because every class is differ-ent. It’s been so much fun to watch the girls grow and develop into young women. It’s cool to see them become more confident and get involved in all the opportunities here at NA.

MR. HaLL: I have only taught 6th grade, but I’ve coached others. So I would probably say that 6th grade is my favorite. Through coaching, I get to see them again. That’s why I like teaching a younger grade. I get to watch them grow up.

MS. GLaSSMan: I love teaching middle schoolers because they are still will-ing to take risks in the classroom and they change so much throughout the three years.

Also, it’s nice because the pressure of college isn’t a factor yet, so they are less stressed. It’s great that we are all together throughout their whole experience, potentially from 1st grade to 12th grade. Because of this, I think of NA as an extension of my family!

what is the most memorable or rewarding moment of your teaching career?

MR. BLyTHE: When you’ve worked with someone for a long time on something and it finally clicks and the student just gets it—that’s awesome.

MS. JoHnSon: Just watching you guys being successful in things, whether that’s in English class where you improve because I did something that helped you or watching you play sports or seeing you in the musical or dance. There’s just something re-ally cool about knowing you and then getting to watch you succeed or perform. That makes me proud of you every time I see you.

MS. SiMonE: “Girl power” is our man-tra, and Rosie the Riveter is our mascot, and I think it’s important for a teacher like me to impart to her students the notion that they

can do anything they put their minds to do-ing—that there are really no limitations today for girls. It’s so rewarding to find that even as young as 9 and 10 years old, my girls get that concept, and hopefully they remember that.

MS. SMaCK: I love just simple sounds like “Ohhhhh!” That’s my favorite sound, because you can tell when all of a sudden that light bulb goes on.

what are some of the most difficult parts of your job?

MS. JoHnSon: When you guys don’t do well on a test, I’m sad. Or when I see that things are difficult for you, it makes me want to help you. In some ways, it’s hard because I have to be the adult.

MS. SMaCK: Some of the hardest moments are when I realize that the year is over, and my relationship with the kids will change. Then I think, “Ooh gosh, we didn’t get to do this, this or this…” And I realize that we just won’t ever have this group assembled again as we do now. So I think saying good-byes are often very hard.

MR. BLyTHE: The biggest challenge for me is trying to find a balance in life. We

Getting to Know Our TeachersFor this issue of paw prints, we decided to interview a few of our teachers to find out more about who they are and what keeps them going.

pawPRINTS

mr . blythe

ms . simone

ms . smack

academy26

work in so many areas that it is sometimes difficult to be efficient at everything I do. One concept that helps me focus is to keep people important, no matter what I do.

MR. HaLL: That’s hard. I want to give personal attention to every kid individually. They all learn differently and I can’t always do what’s best for every single person because they are all so different. Time is a challenge.

what are the benefits and challenges of working with students both in and outside of the classroom?

MS. GLaSSMan: I love working with students both in and outside of the classroom because I get to see all the different sides of them, and they get to see the different sides of me. It helps us appreciate each other more. Also, it gives me a chance to meet every stu-dent in some way. Nothing about what we do and who we are is isolated.

MR. KaSTRouniS: The biggest ben-efits are the face-time with students, always being around them, and being able to act as a source of encouragement for them.

The biggest challenges are developing leaders and teaching toughness. On the field toughness is the challenge. Developing a competitive edge is something that is hard to teach, but it is something that a coach wants for all his or her athletes.

MR. HaLL: There are many benefits. I get to see all sides of the students and how they excel in other arenas. I get to know them in different ways. I think it builds school

community and gives kids different role models that aren’t just academic: athletic, arts, etc. There aren’t really any drawbacks; the benefits outweigh them.”

what are some of the things that you have learned from your students over the years?

MR. KaSTRouniS: There are a lot of adults that don’t think students can handle certain conversations—topics that they don’t have very strong opinions about or that they don’t know how to think about yet. After be-ing in the classroom with Norfolk Academy

6th graders, seeing the way that they think and learn, I know that some are very capable of having very grown-up conversations. Sixth graders still have a lot of things to figure out, but they get it. They’re smart, and they know more than they think they know—not just about the content, but about life. They continue to surprise me.

MS. JoHnSon: You put yourself out there in ways that adults don’t. You’re not afraid to try things that might not work; you take a lot of risks. As we get older, we tend not to try things as much because there’s this scary notion that we won’t be good at it or that somebody else has been doing it for a long time, and students aren’t intimidated by that. You get excited about everything. Just being around you has taught me that the more excited I can get about something, the better my life will be. Being a teacher is a ridiculous amount of fun! I get to work with

a subject I like and then just hang out all day with people who are energetic and happy to be where they are.

MS. SiMonE: I certainly have learned patience. I’ve learned to appreciate all their differences and just how important it is to be a good role model for my students and to encourage them.

MR. HaLL: A lot. Sixth graders are al-ways positive, they keep laughing. Adults are more serious, but kids laugh and that teaches me to live in the moment. Students live in the “right now.” They remind me to be youthful and just have fun.

MS. GLaSSMan: Everything from pa-tience and gratitude to more concrete things like using different apps—and of course the Harlem Shake!

Faculty interviews conducted by: Grace Webb

’13, Ben Klebanoff ’15, Banning Stiffler ’15, Deni

Budman ’16, Wyatt Miller ’16, Cross Birdsong ’18

mr . kastrounis

ms . Johnson

ms . glassman

mr . hall


pawPRINTS

Questions for Our Teachers

All of our English faculty in the Middle and Upper School would be living in Europe—in non-English speaking countries. Hmmmmm.

Ms. Priddy would like to get lost in London, but she’d have to find her husband, Dr. Rezelman, in a history book. While he would also like to get lost in London he’ll have lived there in the 1600’s!

Apparently, many of our faculty have Hobbit-fever. You will find eight of them in New Zealand.

Coach Tom Duquette and Mr. Savage will be in Ireland. Step dancing, perhaps?

Look for Mr. Horstman in Bavaria, Ms. Mays in Paris, and Ms. Moore some-where in Italy (you can stay with Ms. Smack in Rome while you’re searching).

We have ten tropical island castaways— five of whom will be in the South Pacific.

Mr. Warsaw will be in Jerusalem.Ms. Klewans will be in New York City. Mr. Fowler will be in Zion National Park,

while Mr. Newman will be in a different sort of park—Disney World!

Coach Runzo will be in the Congo with Bear Grylls. Don’t forget the anti-venom!

this spring we sent out a fun survey to our faculty and asked two very important

questions. this is what we learned.

Where in the World?If you had to get lost in one place in the

world, where would it be?

Paw Prints’ student editors: Matthew Leon ’13, Grace Webb ’13, Ben Klebanoff ’15, Banning Stiffler ’15, Deni Budman ’16, Wyatt Miller ’16,

Cross Birdsong ’18, Hannah Towler ’18, Patrick Mcelroy ’19, Sarah Yue ’19

academy28

If you weren’t a teacher?

If you had to do something other than

teach, what would you want to do?

fourteen of our faculty are destined for stardom as actors, directors, dancers, singers, musicians, talk-show hosts or voice-over tal-ent. Apparently, one of our teachers wants to be Justin Timberlake.

nine would travel the world while writ-ing, filming, educating or helping people in need.

seVen will be authors, journalists or screenwriters.

six will be involved in professional athletics. Three of them will be professional race-car drivers.

fiVe will be busy solving mysteries. We cannot reveal their identities.

four would go into science or medicine —a marine microbiologist (cheating, Dr. Af-fronti!), a botanist, a medical researcher and a nurse.

tWo would go into law. Mays & Zito sounds like a formidable firm!

Mr. Acra will be a shepherd, and Ms. Holmes will be the flock’s vet.

tWo will be entrepreneurs—stay at Ms. Duquette’s Bed and Breakfast and buy your clothes from Dr. Lonergan’s boutique!

tWo can’t imagine doing anything but teaching.

one wants to be a student again.


Perched at a WorktoP in one of Richmond’s new collaborative workspaces, Eva Colen ’02 engages in conversation with the confidence and sophistication of a veteran stateswoman. Articulate and convincing, Eva is the rare young leader whose passion and profession dovetail into what she describes as a single, achievable purpose: ending educational inequality in Virginia. While many nod in agreement that all children should have access to an excellent education, few put aside complaints or politics to look for solutions and act.

Meet Eva. Fresh off victory in the General Assembly, Eva

championed legislation that provides provisional teacher licensure for participants in Teach For America, a national nonprofit organization that recruits high-achieving college graduates to teach in impoverished public schools. As regional director for recruitment for Teach For America, Eva manages a team that meets with college students in Virginia and West Virginia to recruit new teachers. Last year, her team added nearly 300 new teachers to the Teach For America corps, a 10,000-member troop that operates in 46 urban and rural regions across the country. The only catch: Current requirements for teaching in Virginia prevent

Teach For America teachers from being hired by school districts in the state.

Undaunted, Eva met with parents, civic groups and legislators to tell her story and ultimately garner sup-port that led to a change in the state requirements. She describes the bill (HB 2084/SB 1175), signed into law by Governor McDonnell in March, as her “side project,” and she is already hard at work to find partnering school districts where Teach For America can have the greatest impact. “It’s easy for those who have had the good fortune of an excellent education to forget the his-tory that has perpetuated inequality in the system. Yet with our leadership, thousands of children across the state can get the education they deserve.”

In 2006, after graduating from Columbia Univer-sity, Eva joined Teach For America to teach high school English in northwest Philadelphia. The experience, she acknowledges, was humbling and, indeed, life chang-ing. “At first, I felt like I was failing every day. I had this huge sense of possibility and a big vision for transform-ing these students’ lives. I couldn’t reach them, couldn’t get them to invest.” Yet by rethinking her approach and learning from other teachers, Eva galvanized her stu-dents’ trust. After two years, 70 percent were achieving

The Unstoppable

lives of [ c o n s e q u e n c e ]

“At first, I felt like I was failing every day. I had this huge sense of possibility

and a big vision for transforming these students’ lives.

I couldn’t reach them, couldn’t get them to invest.”

eva Colen

academy30

at or beyond grade level. Seven joined her after school to learn Latin—for fun. She engaged their families and employers. “I connected to them and understood the challenges of the poverty they faced every day. I learned to be comfortable being completely uncomfortable.”

Teach For America holds to the premise that teaching as leader-ship will produce real education reform. The dual mission empha-sizes grassroots change. Challenge motivated young people to teach for two years in a low-income community, and they will see firsthand the real issues facing education. Continue to invest in their leader-ship through ongoing training and career development, and they will broaden their impact. The organization, recently recognized on Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for a third consecutive year, now boasts more than 28,000 alumni nationwide who work in a variety of professions at every level to shape education policy and practice.

For the unstoppable Eva Colen, the opportunities are infinite. She was recently selected to be an Emerging Public Leaders Fel-low through an independent nonprofit organization that focuses on leadership development and advocacy. That she is the youngest fellow in the yearlong part-time program only adds to her understanding that she is part of something much bigger than herself. Her success in the General Assembly aside, Eva remains committed to Teach For America and particularly to reforming education in Virginia from the ground up. Her next “side project”—fueling the revitalization of inner-city Richmond—is decidedly bold. With other young innovators in Richmond, Eva is promoting an effort that positions the state capi-tal as a hub for creativity and economic growth; a place where young professionals gather to share ideas and raise their families; a place that builds the next generation of leaders by engaging them in the transformation of the city and, ultimately, its neighborhood schools. Such relentless enthusiasm for civic engagement evolved through experience and support that Eva appreciates in her family and her own school experience. “I used to be just a crazy activist protesting anything,” Eva admits, “Now, I see myself as an informed citizen sharing a vision with leaders of my generation so that together we can effect real change. I’m hopeful.”

Eva graduated cum laude from Norfolk Academy in 2002 and attended Columbia University, where she graduated with a double major in classics and women & gender studies. She earned a master’s degree in urban education from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Her two brothers also attended Norfolk Academy. Henry ’03 graduates from the University of Virginia Medical School this spring, and David ’08 is completing a master of business administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Gigi Tysinger ’87

In June, eva was named the managing director of community engagement—virginia for teach For America. She will be working over the next 6–8 months to open a new teach For America place-ment region in virginia, and will transition to the position of executive Director of teach For America —virginia in the spring of 2014.


[ a l u m n i ] highlights

1 Fine Arts Reunion

2 Holiday Luncheon

3 Parents of Alumni Care

Package Party

4 Young Alumni Holiday

Bulldog Bash

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academy32

alumni fun

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1 1

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3 3

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[ a l u m n i ] highlights

1 Charlottesville–UVA

2 JMU

3 New York

4 Philadelphia

5 Washington, DC

academy34

2 2 4 4

4 4

5

2

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5

on the road


your support makes the difference

Help prepare our future leaders by making your Annual Giving gift to Norfolk Academy today.

Rise to the Trustee challenge. make your gift to Norfolk Academy today!

www .norfolkacademy .org/giving

Visit norfolkacademy.org/giving to pledge or make a gift.

Text to Pledge! Text “1728, your name and your pledge” to 313131. (Please do not include any commas.)

Preston Moore, Director of Annual Giving, 757-452-6767 or [email protected]

1950John bradshaw has little knowledge of

others from his class, but can share a

few words as one of the younger ones

who turned 80 this past January. “It is

hard to believe one could become that

old. Only yesterday we were sitting

in the yard of the old Academy near

Wards Corner and the group attending

were proclaiming to the dozen and a

half or so of us that we were gradu-

ates and could head out into the wild

world. And we did just that.” He got

an MIT degree, or two, a commission

in the Navy, saw a bit of the world, and

settled down with his wife in Roanoke

in the practice of engineering. John

had his hand in the design of the

Norfolk flood wall, two sections of the

DC subway, a 254-foot-high dam in

Roanoke, and a few other government

buildings and facilities. All along,

he felt that it was important to be

involved in the community and, as

such, received his Commander’s cap

in the Naval Reserve, served 20 years

on the City of Roanoke Planning Com-

mission, and served as treasurer and

president of a few professional and

nonprofit organizations. Along with

all that, John oversaw the operation of

a small family farm and tried to keep

track of three daughters, one a teacher,

another now with Norfolk Southern,

and the youngest recently named an

assistant dean at the University of

Virginia. In addition John currently

serves as an elected director of a soil &

water conservation district and board

member of the local water authority,

but he still hasn’t learned to say no. He

is looking forward to his next reunion,

the 65th, at the Academy in 2015.

1951fielding tyler’s second book was re-

leased in September 2012 and is titled

Service in Two Armies: The Diaries of

Henry Little. The small book is the first

account of the military activity of his

fifth-generation ancestor Henry Little.

Fielding painstakingly transcribed Lit-

tle’s handwritten entries from thirteen

small, leather-bound, unpublished vol-

umes in his possession and presented

the accumulated story as a single

small book. He merged information

from diaries of Henry Little and dove-

tailed it with primary and secondary

sources. A number of photographs

and drawings are included. The book

was first released at the Tishomingo

County Courthouse Museum in Iuka,

MS, directly across the street from the

cottage where Henry Little’s body was

buried after he was killed in action 150

years ago.

Ω Moose TYLeR ’51: [email protected]

1952Ω THe GARNeTT ’52:

[email protected]

1955mo hodges turned 75 and is still going

strong working for the Lord (gospel

music ministry to rest homes). He

stays busy doing accounting for fire

departments and the rescue squad.

He has been able to catch one sport-

ing event involving the Bulldogs. Mo

actively supports his daughter’s animal

rescue in Georgetown, SC, known as

SC Cares. Mo also is still involved with

rescue work as an EMT.

Ω GeoRGe WeBB ’55: [email protected]

1956Ω BiLL sPiCUzzA ’56:

[email protected]

1957richard stone says that things are

good in Southport, NC. He enjoyed

the 55th and wants to thank ashby tay-

lor and tom mansbach for their hard

work. He and Diane enjoy retirement,

travel, golf, kids and grandkids!

Ω AsHBY TAYLoR ’57:

[email protected]

1959bruce Price now has more than 300

education articles and videos on the

Internet. The main site is Improve-

Education.org.

Ω BeAU WALkeR ’59:

[email protected]

1961george burton is in his third year of

working the instant-replay booth dur-

ing ACC football games after working

as an on-the-field official for over

25 years. He worked ten games last

year and concluded with the Army/

Navy game in Philadelphia. He is

looking forward to this coming year

with Syracuse and Pittsburgh joining

the conference and also having some

Notre Dame games on the schedule.

Ω eD LeViN ’61: [email protected]

1962Ω BoB CoLe ’62: [email protected]

class notes

ReUNioN YeAR Ω CLAss CoRResPoNDeNTs †DeCeAseD

class notes or Photos to share? contact Preston moore

at Pmoore@norfolkacademy .org

ABOve Chris Bonney ’54, his brother Roger ’51, his daughter Laura ’82, and his wife, Donna, while making the tour of wineries in northeast Ohio

BelOw Shortly after Thanksgiving, Barton Campbell ’58 visited Bob Herzog (FF) in Beaverdam, VA.


1963 While continuing to practice law in

New York City, bill grant and his wife,

Pat, moved to the North End of Vir-

ginia Beach in July 2008. He contin-

ues to commute but on a decreasing

schedule that has worked out great.

Their old friends from Virginia Beach

have welcomed them warmly and

made them feel like they never left.

They also continue to make wonderful

new friends. Their son, his wife, and

their two daughters (ages 2 and 4) also

live locally. Pat has regular babysit-

ting gigs which she cherishes. Their

daughter is married with a newborn

in Houston. If only they could get

them to Virginia Beach. Their health

is good and life is pretty wonderful.

Paul rippey lives in Portland, OR, with

his wife and a houseful of visitors. He

continues to work as an independent

consultant in international economic

development, making frequent trips to

Asia and Africa. For the last ten years

Paul specialized in the promotion of

savings groups: Imagine 25 people

meeting once a week under a mango

tree, saving small amounts, borrowing

if they want to, and completely manag-

ing the transactions themselves after a

short training, using simple account-

ing. He runs the leading website on

savings groups, Savings-Revolution.

com, and is part of a movement start-

ing savings clubs in Europe and North

America. Two of their four children so

far have given them grandsons—all in

Seattle—and he gets up there when-

ever he can.

1966A few Country Day School gals got

together for lunch in early March in

Virginia Beach, organized by susan

mcgrath slate. The gals included

maggie blighly davis, karen ann mas-

terson graves, koky Woolling hodges,

gloria atkinson shields, Joanne ivey

hudson, and Jo ann mervis hof-

heimer. Koky brought her yearbook

and we shared memories and updates

about our classmates and teachers.

stuart macconochie murphy and molly

upton tarr were expected, but couldn’t

come. Jo Ann especially appreciated

Koky’s memories about her sweet

mother, who was our splendid and

passionate World Geography teacher.

Jo Ann also had a chance to work with

esther beasley Vaughan a couple of

weeks ago, and she is as spunky and

effervescent as ever.

Ω TAze TAYLoR ’66: [email protected]

1967Ω JoHN DoNAHoe ’67:

[email protected]

1968 evelyn mallard rodzianko currently

lives in Summerville, SC, where she

practices veterinary medicine. She

has two sons and one granddaughter.

Winship tower has been a judge in the

Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic

Relations District Court for 13 years.

She has three beautiful granddaugh-

ters and two adorable grandsons, the

youngest of whom is 4-month-old Jack

Denton, son of katie and Jake denton,

both of the NA class of 1994! Winship

and her husband, Guy, are enjoying

life in Virginia Beach and interesting

travel whenever possible.

1969ellen Wilcox ellis says that it is hard

to believe that she is now a Norfolk

Academy grandparent. Her grandson

is in Mrs. Cohen’s 1st grade class and

loves every minute. She now sits in the

carpool line once a week to pick him

up and has been volunteering with his

class’s swim program. She is so happy

to have a new little Bulldog. Hopefully,

his sister will enter 1st grade in 2014.

1970chris bonney, in addition to his

“day job,” serves as chairman of the

board of the Hampton Roads Center

for Civic Engagement, a nonprofit

created to increase the capacity of the

region to work together to make smart

decisions by promoting, designing

and facilitating constructive dialogue

among citizens and between citizens

and government. charles gardner has

been in Alexandria, VA, since 1987

practicing family practice, but he

now works in a concierge practice. In

earlier years he was very involved in

the political side of medicine as well,

but family priorities have limited that.

His wife of 35 years, Linda, has retired

from securities litigation and his son,

Charles, graduated from nursing

school and got married this year; he is

now an RN on the stroke/renal unit

at Rockingham Hospital in Harrison-

burg. Charles keeps in touch with his

brother rats chip beaman and dave

stormont; now, through Facebook,

he has begun to reconnect with some

others like chris bonney, Purnell delly,

gordon baskin, John frazee, and roger

thomas. Charles occasionally gets

down to Virginia Beach to visit his

ailing mother, but not as often as he

would like.

Ω ANNe HARPeR ’70:

[email protected]

1971Ω sAM BRoWN ’71:

[email protected]

1972Ω HeATHeR HoLLoWeLL ’72:

[email protected]

1973 michael Via and his son michael Via

’03 pushed his daughter Ashley Via for

Team Hoyt VB in the Surfer’s Healing

8th Annual 5K at the Virginia Beach

Oceanfront on Saturday August 12,

2012. Team Hoyt VB strives to help

ABOve Dubby Wynne ’63 (left) and Wayne Bowman ’63 (right) ran into each other at their Princeton reunion on June 2, 2012. They are wearing their official Class of ’67 Reunion blazers. This particular photo was taken just before the annual alumni parade—known at Princeton as the P-Rade.

BelOw leFt Paul Rippey ’63 enjoys any visit he gets from his grandchildren. Here he is with one of his grandsons, Finn.

BelOw rIGht Bob Nusbaum ’66 and Stan Phillips ’66 got together with their wives at Bob’s home in Los Gatos, CA. In this photo from Bob’s back yard you can see a palm tree and a redwood at the same time.

academy38

those who are physically disabled

become active members of the

community. Surfer’s Healing helps

children with autism.

1974Ω sUsAN sMiTH ’74:

[email protected]

1975Ω CHARLie NUsBAUM ’75:

[email protected]

1976mike devine had double hip replace-

ment surgery in March 18 by Dr.

Anthony Carter in Newport News. Dr.

Carter told Mike that he will be able to

do almost anything he wanted to do

very quickly, and he will be back on the

tennis courts in no time. craig Jones

is enjoying his new position with

Southern Teachers Agency in Charlot-

tesville, helping great schools hire

great teachers. larry richardson and

his wife, Liz, live in Philadelphia with

their children, Lydia (10) and Philip

(8). Larry is working for Arch Capital

Group, based in Bermuda and splits

his time between Bermuda and the

States. Larry and Liz would enjoy hear-

ing from any Academy alums visiting

Philadelphia or Bermuda.

Ω PoPe WooDARD ’76:

[email protected]

1977dana darden copeland is busy enjoy-

ing her son’s senior year at NA. She

and Darden both feel so fortunate that

he has had the NA experience for a

full 12 years. richard corner enjoyed

his class’s 35th reunion at Jane greer

cole’s house this past October. helen

hayes sommer is celebrating 10 years

of working with Habitat for Humanity

of South Hampton Roads and building

affordable housing solutions for more

than 100 families in South Hampton

Roads. She is now executive director

of the affordable housing developer,

which is celebrating its 25th anni-

versary and has received the Habitat

Virginia award for assisting the most

low-income families in the state for

two years in a row. Helen also received

the 2012 Housing Award from the

Hampton Roads Housing Consortium

and was named an Influential Woman

in Business by Inside Business.

Ω RAY seARs ’77:

[email protected]

1978 Ω sTePHANie CALLioTT ’78:

[email protected]

1979Ω TRiCiA AFFRoNTi ’79:

[email protected]

1980frank kollmansperger is doing well.

He ran into tom harrison ’85 at the

Collegiate Auction. He had a great

time talking to him, as Tom has a great

sense of humor like his brother Randy.

Frank’s best pal, allison mcduffie, and

her husband, Duff, continue to care

for him when he is allowed in Virginia

Beach. Frank hopes dJ covington ’10

will take VMI to the Big Dance next

year.

Ω ARCH BRoWN ’80:

[email protected]

1982John brown lives in San Francisco with

his wife, Bridget, daughter, Anna Kate

(3), and son, Paul (1). steve colye had

two amazing travel weekends this past

fall. First, at his 30th NA reunion, he

saw many folks that he hadn’t seen in

almost 30 years. Two weeks later, he

was playing lacrosse with Team Easton

at the Hawaii Invitational Lacrosse

Tournament. There he got to hang

out with the nation’s premier lacrosse

players (off the field). Meanwhile,

Steve and Team Easton won the

Grandmasters (really old men’s) divi-

sion, defeating the Tri-City Canadians!

david costenbader’s company, The

Contact Group, along with their

partners, established a new Guinness

world record for the largest conference

call ever. For the call, 2,034,998 calls

were completed to potential partici-

pants, 626,653 people answered the

call live, 372,001 participants stayed

on the call for at least 90 seconds, and

16,972 participants were on the call

during the highest 10-second period,

shattering the old Guinness World

Record of 10,424 set in 2004. John

cooper cannot believe he is the father

of a rising 12-year survivor senior. He

and his wife are so proud of Matthew,

who plays three sports, excels in the

trumpet, and is a stellar student.

Norfolk Academy has been great for

him. Missy and John heely are enjoy-

ing their 20th year living in southeast

Pennsylvania, with their two hounds.

They are both founding partners at

Applied Testing & Geosciences (envi-

ronmental engineering and consult-

ing), which keeps them busy during

the day. On nights and weekends John

is usually running (currently prepar-

ing for his seventh consecutive Boston

Marathon and 71st lifetime marathon)

and coaching running (seventh season

coaching the Crohn’s and Colitis Foun-

dation’s Team Challenge Philadelphia

Chapter). It was great to see so many

classmates at their 30th reunion in Oc-

tober. He had a great reunion weekend

run with fellow ’82-ers steve coyle,

shelly gough Johnson and taylor dunn

kelly (and Taylor’s husband, Michael).

John katsias is proud to say his daugh-

ter stephanie ’12 finished her first

semester at UVA and is very happy.

His son christopher ’14 left Virginia

Beach in March for Argentina with 13

other classmates and had a great time.

Thank you to ann liles cox as well as

everyone else who helped with their

30th reunion! Good times were had

by all who attended. grey randolph’s

band, Locals Only, played at The Jew-

ish Mother to a sold-out show for the

band’s reunion. carol ann smallwood

says she is headed to the Galapagos for

two weeks and will let everyone know

ReUNioN YeAR Ω CLAss CoRResPoNDeNTs

ABOve leFt Michael Trueblood ’73 with his granddaughter Emelia

ABOve rIGht Michael Via ’73 and his son, Michael Via ’03, pushed his daughter, Ashley Via, for Team Hoyt VB in the Surfer’s Healing 8th Annual 5K at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront on Saturday, August 12, 2012.

BelOw This winter NA alums Nick Szoke ’06, Polly Pereos ’03, Keith Hope ’83, Chris Neikirk ’84, Ned Lilly ’86 and Whitney Nexsen ’06 enjoyed an evening together at CHKD’s “Trivia and Tunes Night” held at the School of Rock in Norfolk.


about her travels when she returns.

Ω DUDLeY WARe ’82:

[email protected]

1983 Ω ALiCiA DeViNe ’83:

[email protected]

1984lauren slepin antonino continues to

enjoy practicing law in Atlanta, GA.

Lauren has her own law firm, The

Antonino Firm LLC, and concentrates

on business litigation and sports &

entertainment law. She and her hus-

band Tom keep busy with their four

kids. Tommy is a freshman at Georgia

Tech. Matthew is graduating from In-

terlochen Academy of the Arts and will

be entering college somewhere next

year. Jamie is thriving in ninth grade

and David is enjoying seventh grade.

Lauren and her family are celebrating

their youngest’s bar mitzvah this May.

doug berman and his wife, Jodi, con-

tinue to live in South Florida, where

he is the executive managing director

of H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm

with $11 billion of equity capital under

management. They have three boys

who keep them busy full time: Zach-

ary (14), Ethan (12) and Charlie (9). A

more recent addition to the family is

Grover, a mixed cocker spaniel/poodle,

whose hobbies include begging

for table food, barking at mailmen,

and chasing ducks (which he never

catches). They all spend the summer

(and some ski time) in Park City, UT,

and encourage anyone who is in Park

City to look them up! mary ruffin

hanbury has started her own business,

Hanbury Preservation Consulting. In

addition to traditional preservation

services such as architectural surveys

and compliance, she also provides

consulting for National Heritage

Areas, heritage tourism assessments,

and strategic planning for preservation

nonprofits and local commissions.

Find her on line at www.hanbury-

preservation.com or on Facebook. In

less than five years since its inception,

the firm has worked on projects from

New Jersey to Mississippi. Owning a

small business has helped keep Mary’s

professional skills sharp and given her

the flexibility to be able to spend more

time with her husband and her son,

Jack, now 5 years old.

Ω eRiC ACRA ’84:

[email protected]

1985sherry boone is portraying Nettie

Fowler in Virginia Opera’s upcoming

production of Carousel. derek tur-

rietta’s daughter anna graduated from

NA in 2012. His younger daughter,

elise, is in the class of 2016 at NA.

karen swanner schanck, her husband,

Hillery, and their children, Carley (16)

and Carter (12), are enjoying life in

Virginia Beach. They just went on a

family mission trip to Nicaragua and

saw God’s work everywhere they went.

It was a privilege to serve and a trip

that will not be forgotten. Karen also

recently returned to work part-time as

a psychotherapist at Christian Psycho-

therapy Services. danielle schweikert

made a quick trip to Virginia Beach

in January and had a great time catch-

ing up with Angie and steve zahn,

Joanne ’86 and Jamie young ’84, and

kay morgan stockwell. If anyone is

in Charlotte, definitely reach out as

Danielle would love to see you.

Ω DANieLLe sCHWeikeRT ’85: DANieLLe.

[email protected]

1986scott alperin has recently been ap-

pointed to the Board of Directors of

the Southeastern Virginia Chapter

of the Alzheimer’s Association. Scott

has expanded his estate planning, real

estate and business law practice to

include elder law, special needs, and

senior estate planning services. In

working with seniors, he has devel-

oped a professional relationship with

allison fall’s mother, Marilyn Fall, who

is a geriatric care manager based in

Virginia Beach. Scott invites all of his

aging classmates to give him a call.

daniel etheridge enjoys producing The

Carrie Diaries for The CW in NYC. It

is especially great to have greg gordon

and his daughter Greta visit the set.

danny rosin received the 2012 Good-

mon Award for Community Service

from Leadership Triangle. He serves

as volunteer president and co-founder

of Band Together NC, a Triangle

organization that uses live music as a

platform for social change. John ryan

and his wife, Kristi, are busy raising

their lads, Jack (9) and Nicholas (6).

John works as a lawyer in Norfolk,

specializing in commercial litigation

and the representation of business

and consumer borrowers, and he can’t

wait to spend another long weekend

barking at the moon with charlie

kollmansperger, danny rosin, robert

fiveash ’87, and rob trundle ’87 in

Nags Head this August. dan stallings

owns and operate Thee Dog House, a

dog daycare, boarding, grooming and

training facility in Virginia Beach. He

also founded Mid-Atlantic Weimaraner

Rescue shortly after opening the busi-

ness. The businesses are well-known

up and down the eastern seaboard for

their training and rescue work. His

first book, One Unforgettable Journey,

details the story of one of the rescue

dogs, Maverick, who was abused and

neglected prior to coming to him.

His rescue business nursed Maverick

back to health, trained him, rebuilt

his confidence, and put him in the

show ring. Maverick is now a Grand

Champion and most recently showed

at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog

Show. It was such a popular story that

they were featured on ABC’s World

News Tonight with Diane Sawyer and

local ABC news with Joe Flanagan,

and Westminster themselves put

Mav’s story on their own Facebook

page. All of the support and emotional

outpouring led Dan to write Maver-

ick’s story and publish the book, which

is already receiving worldwide ac-

claim. Mav’s story was featured in an

Australian newsletter and in February

he completed a live interview with a

radio show in Scotland. Dan has done

and continues to do TV interviews and

has had a couple of school libraries

express an interest in acquiring copies

for their collections.

leFt Several NA alums return to campus to play basketball. Kneeling, left to right: Hunter Sims ’97, Chris Duquette ’98, Scott Flax ’96 and Hannon Wright ’95. Standing, left to right: Michael Sacks, Bryan Duquette ’96, Chamie Burroughs ’95, JP Stewart ’91, Mike Duquette ’99, Coach Dave Trickler (FF), Jay Denny ’97, Russell Carter ’96 and Russell’s daughter.

rIGht Dan Stallings ’86 with his first book, One Unforgettable Journey, and the rescue dog, Maverick, who inspired it.

academy40

The book’s website is www.oneunfor-

gettablejourney.com.

Ω CHRis DoToLo ’86: CDoToLo@

NoRFoLkACADeMY.oRG

1987After a bunch of years in Washington,

DC, then six in Virginia Beach, cam-

eron kitchin and his family settled in

Memphis in 2008. It is a great town,

and he says come visit anytime as he

has guest rooms available for you and

your family. He married an NA grad,

katie ash kitchin ’89, in 2000. They

have three children: Robert (8), Yates

(6) and Maisie (1). Katie is executive

director of the Community Alliance for

the Homeless. Cameron serves as the

director of the Memphis Brooks Mu-

seum of Art. He has given up running

but taken up coaching kindergarten

soccer and remedial tennis instead. He

hopes to see everyone again soon any-

where your paths may cross. They get

back east to see the parents and grand-

parents as often as they can, usually at

the holidays. On January 11, chris zoby

married natasha fedyszyn ’86.

Ω RiCHARD oTTiNGeR ’87:

[email protected]

1988 alexis karageorge is a senior nursing

student at ODU and traveled to the Do-

minican Republic with Physicians for

Peace to provide training for Las Madres

Tuteleras (Resource Mothers) in support

of their work with pregnant mothers

in the barrios outside Santo Domingo.

She is looking forward to graduation in

August, some much needed rest, and

spending more time with her husband

and three children: twins Anders and

Evan (2) and sophia ’21.

Ω J.J. BURRoUGHs ’88: [email protected]

1989cindy gayton andersson is doing

great in Sweden, but she wrote in

with an update not on herself, but on

your classmate beth shepherd buc-

cini. Beth and her business partner,

Sarah, own Kirna Zabete in New

York. They just did a collaboration

with Target in the fall. They designed

a more than 100-piece collection that

was in all of the nearly 1,800 Targets

in America, and in their own store

and on their website. Right now

they are in the midst of a six-month

collaboration with 9 West being sold

in 9 West stores. The shoes are also

at their store and website, plus a

few specialty partners. Check it out

at www.kirnazabete.com. They are

doing a capsule collection of shoes

from February to July with a different

theme every month. braxton hill

and his wife, Katja, have been busy

soundproofing their house, as their

boys have started a band—creatively

called “The Hills.” Walker (9) plays

guitar and Braxton (9) is on piano and

drums. He says that in a futile attempt

to recapture the athletic glory of their

youth, steve mccoy and Braxton ran a

Tough Mudder race in Maryland this

past September and are preparing for

the Virginia Beach Tough Mudder in

June. On the work front, this past year

Braxton was elected to his law firm’s

executive committee, was appointed

by the Supreme Court of Virginia to

teach a mandatory professionalism

course to new lawyers, and served

as president of the John Marshall

American Inn of Court. stewart laster

is still working as an orthodontist in

Raleigh, NC. He has been married to

Christine for almost 12 years. They

have three kids: Cate (9), Caroline (7)

and Will (3). He enjoys making great

smiles every day! Stewart sees sean

lassalle and bryan spurrier regularly,

as they both live in the area, and Bryan

and Stewart go to some orthodontic

meetings together. Stewart also sees

NA elementary schooler carrie Wells

White around Raleigh. He enjoys

the pleasure of treating the kids of a

few NA alums for their orthodontic

work, and he would always be happy

to give advice to non-locals seeking

orthodontic treatment for their kids.

gail legaspi-gaull is enjoying working

for herself and spending more time

with her family—especially with her

8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.

Her strategic planning and market re-

search agency, Hat Trick 3C LLC, is in

its second year of business. todd ma-

gee and his business partner opened

a biodiesel plant. Their fleet of trucks

with American By-Products picks up


ABOve Mollie Sessoms Korte ’98, Torrey Breeden ’93, Sarah Joyner ’93 and John Reed ’94 were honored for the Top 40 Under 40 in Hampton Roads for 2012. Mollie is a senior associate at CBRE Hampton Roads and her focus is on retail and office leasing and sales. Torrey is the executive vice president of development for The Breeden Company. Sarah is a physician at Cardiovascular Associates Ltd. John is a partner at Kaufman and Canoles, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and private equity. Hal Yuill ’97 was also recognized and works as director of leasing, First Potomac Realty Trust.

MIDDle Billy Burns ’94 with his wife, Kate, and daughter, Gracie, born December 11, 2012, in their home. The family resides in Antigua, Guatemala.

BelOw Tom and Rachel Reda McCarthy ’94 with their kids: John (at about 6 months), Sammie (8), Dave (7), Ginny (7), Abby (7) and Maisy (2)


waste cooking oil from restaurants

across New York City and New Jersey.

Trucks are positioned on a daily basis

back to their 24,000-square-foot

biodiesel plant, Planet Earth Biodiesel.

The opening of their biodiesel plant

allows them to vertically integrate their

companies from picking up waste oil

to recycled production of biodiesel.

Check out the press release section of

website: americanby-products.com/

press-releases. Peggy brown morland

moved to a new house on 55th Street

in Virginia Beach. Her daughter Zoe

(7) is in second grade at Linkhorn Park

Elementary. Bella (4) is in a 3-days-

a-week morning class at Parish Day

School at Eastern Shore Chapel. len

shropshire is a global account man-

ager for Neustar. Len works from his

home in Virginia Beach; he is respon-

sible for maintaining corporate client

relationships regarding DNS service,

external website monitoring, load test-

ing, and DDoS attack mitigation.

Ω eLeANoR DeMooRs ’89:

[email protected]

1990dara blachman demner and Maury

Demner welcomed Zachary Blachman

Demner on September 26, 2012. They

are having fun and adjusting to their

new lives. Zach took his first family

vacation to San Francisco in February

to celebrate his cousin Ben’s first

birthday with his aunt erica blach-

man hitchings ’96 and Uncle Seth

and looks forward to many trips to

the beach this summer. Dara is slowly

adjusting to being back at work and

continues to enjoy her job as a social

science analyst at the National Insti-

tute of Justice. becky levin was thrilled

to participate in the September bris of

Zachary Demner, son of dara blach-

man demner and Maury Demner, and

to be his first babysitter. She enjoyed

catching up with fellow NA alums at

the fall DC Reunion and has had a lot

of fun biking and going to DC events

with lance orchid ’88. She enjoyed

catching up with Melissa and neil

zemmel and their beautiful daughters

at the Richmond Purim Carnival and

looks forward to more visits with old

friends this summer at the beach. In

addition to her day job as a lobbyist,

Becky is leading the Wellness Club at

her daughter’s elementary school, and

having fun encouraging kids and their

families to explore yoga and different

healthy foods, including roasted brus-

sel sprouts, butternut squash soup,

healthier nachos, green (kale) eggs and

ham, beets (in red velvet cupcakes),

and watermelon smoothies. Check out

kid-tested recipes at capitolhillmontes-

sorischool.org/tag/recipes.

Ω CURTis RoMiG ’90: [email protected]

1991Ω JANe FiNNeY ’91:

[email protected]

1992darren leung finally completed

principal photography on the Wong

Kar-Wai [Chungking Express, 2046,

In the Mood for Love, Ashes of Time]

movie The Grandmaster. Billed cast

included Tony Leung Chiu-Wai [Hero,

In the Mood for Love] and Zhang Ziyi

[Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon].

Participation spanned nearly 10 years

and production began over three years

ago. Darren had a small role in the

film, was responsible for training the

actors in Wing Chun Kung Fu, and as-

sisted with fight choreography as well

as English subtitling. Currently he also

participates in translation and martial

arts demonstration efforts in support

of the publicity push throughout Asia,

Europe, and soon the U.S. The Grand-

master was picked up by the Weinstein

Company and should see distribution

sometime in the summer of 2013.

martha robertson norton is now an

assistant commonwealth’s attorney for

the county of Spotsylvania.

Ω JeN HeiLiG ’92: [email protected]

1993 amanda horstman smith and her hus-

band, Mike, welcomed Brynn Kathleen

(Horstman) Smith on October 10,

2012. Amanda and the squeaker are

doing well.

Ω sARA PoPe AGeLAsTo ’93:

[email protected]

Ω sARAH JoYNeR ’93: [email protected]

1994Parker agelasto was elected to Rich-

mond City Council during November’s

election and sworn into office on Janu-

ary 2. He will serve a four-year term

representing the Central 5th District.

He was appointed vice chair of the

Finance & Economic Development

Committee as well as member of the

Education & Human Services Com-

mittee. Parker continues to also work

with museums and teach entrepre-

neurship for UVA. When Will brock-

enbrough and his wife, Sarah, moved

to Virginia, Will took advantage of the

opportunity to reopen Woodson’s Mill.

His father, the late J. Gill Brocken-

brough, Jr., purchased the property

in the early 1980s and subsequently

set about a massive restoration effort.

Woodson’s Mill served as the backdrop

of Will’s childhood and formed much

of his appreciation for history, archi-

tecture and historic preservation. He

spends his time improving the Mill

and spreading the good word about

Woodson’s Mill flours and meals.

Katharine Grace Burns was born on

December 11, 2012, and weighed

7lbs., 12oz. She is the daughter of billy

burns ’94 and Kate Flatley Burns, a

Greenwich Academy and Yale gradu-

ate. Billy owns several businesses in

Guatemala and Kate founded a NGO

called Women’s Justice Initiative. They

are especially thrilled that Gracie will

soon meet Jack Denton, son of Jake

and katie Patterson denton. rachel

reda mccarthy and her family are still

in Falls Church. They are enjoying

their six kids and all their sports and

other activities (soccer, basketball,

swimming, track, girl scouts, boy

scouts, gymnastics, dance, etc.). She

is coaching her oldest daughter’s track

team this spring, which will be a new

ABOve leFt Amelia Zontini with her fiancé, Michael Moran. They are excited about their June 2013 wedding at the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo, VA.

ABOve rIGht Mia Noffsinger Franz ’98 with her son, Owen (9 months)

BelOw Nancy Clark Cours ’99, Jennie Isakoff ’99, Katherine Baker ’00, Wynne Patrick ’99 and Frances Wood ’99 visit Katie Higham Kessler ’99 in San Diego, CA, in January 2013. This photo was taken at sunset along Ocean Beach.

academy42

experience for her.

Ω sARA DAiLeY ’94: [email protected]

Ω NATALie MANN ’94:

[email protected]

1995chamie burroughs and wife anne

marie nash burroughs ’99 welcomed

Richard Chamberlaine “Laine” Bur-

roughs III on August 29, 2012. Piper

Grace Welburn was born on January

30 to Peter and liz feakins Welburn

at 5:15 a.m. Mother and baby (10 lbs.!)

are doing great. ken and Whitney

Whitehurst are proud parents to ken-

neth ’22. Whitney enjoys volunteering

at NA and Stratford preschool. Ken

is a trial attorney in the Office of the

United States Trustee and was recently

elected president of the Tidewater

Bankruptcy Bar Association. amelia

zontini is engaged to Michael Moran.

They each received their bachelor of

arts degrees from Virginia Tech but

met after graduation. Amelia owns

Zontini Productions, LLC, a television

and film production service company,

focusing on acting, wardrobe styling,

and design. Michael is employed as

a senior multimedia producer with

Dupont Sustainable Solutions.

Ω MARY GARRis ’95:

[email protected]

Ω keNDeLL GRiFFiN ’95:

[email protected]

1996Julie finley married Matt Liebler over

Easter weekend at the Greenbrier Re-

sort. Julie continues to work for Dollar

Tree and travels to Hong Kong a few

times a year. They reside in Virginia

Beach.

Ω LAURA CokeR ’96:

[email protected]

Ω TeDDY RiCe ’96:

[email protected]

1997In August 2012 lauren alder reid, her

husband, Mike, and big brother Camp-

bell, welcomed Tyler Daniel Reid into

the world. He was 9 lbs., 9 oz., and

they are loving life as a family of four.

Ω LAUReN ReiD ’97: [email protected]

1998 mia noffsinger franz is enjoying life

in Fredericksburg with her husband,

Robert, and son Owen (9 months).

elizabeth rice giffen had her second

baby boy in October. Tucker A. Giffen

is almost a year old and doing great.

They have relocated to Winnetka, IL,

to work at North Shore Country Day

School, a school very similar to NA.

susan kesser was a 2011 recipient of

the Publicist Showmanship Award

for Television at the ICG Publicists

Awards. She is among the Warner

Brothers TV team members who

handle all things Chuck Lorre. Kesser

and her colleagues have good news to

promote, including the showrunner’s

recent hardcover book, Lorre’s overall

deal to expand into cable and film,

and the ratings dominance of The Big

Bang Theory. She was featured in the

November 16 issue of The Hollywood

Reporter. When she wasn’t working,

Susan married Robert Benvenisti on

Saturday, June 2, 2012, at Saddlerock

Ranch in Malibu, CA.

Ω ANNe MARie BURRoUGHs ’98:

[email protected]

Ω MiCHeLLe seTTY ’98:

[email protected]

Ω seAN THoMPsoN ’98:

[email protected]

1999meredith buzas returned to Los

Angeles to pursue a master’s degree

in clinical psychology at Antioch Uni-

versity, with the end goal of becoming

a licensed marriage and family thera-

pist. thomas deal continues to reside

in Washington, DC, and investigates

and recommends determinations on

claims of discrimination in employ-

ment, housing, public accommoda-

tion, and education in the District of

Columbia as part of his duties as a

specialist with the District of Colum-

bia Office of Human Rights. Thomas

continues to study tenor solo voice.

This year marks a big milestone for

John zontini. He started his own web

development/social media manage-

ment company called BirdMad Media

(www.birdmadmedia.com). It is geared

toward small businesses and entrepre-

neurs alike (artists, bands, musicians,

MLM & B2B) and has begun gaining

ground. He has also decided to go

back and study music and plans on

coming out with a new album before

the end of 2014. The Influence (with

Will clarke and matt stephenson) went

as far as opening for bands such as

Paramore, Papa Roach, Jimmy Eat

World, and Silverchair. John has also

switched from psychology to graphic

design, specializing in marketing and

advertising, to help support the devel-

opment of BirdMad Media. This year’s

goals are to build the company to a

prosperous level and look to secure a

solid label and tour the country while

maintaining the business from the

road. Mobile business is becoming

one of the hottest ways to do business

these days.

Ω JeNNiFeR THoMPsoN ’99:

[email protected]


ABOve leFt Kat Baker ’00 addresses the crowd at the Naro Theater in Norfolk after her film From Nothing, Something had a special screening.

ABOve rIGht Matt Ganderson ’01 with Jamie Summs ’02 at Jamie’s new restaurant in Norfolk, 80/20 Burger Bar

BelOw The NA Class of 2002 attendees at the October 1, 2011, wedding of Elliott Hauser and Erin Richardson in Corolla, NC, from left to right: Bay McLaughlin, Price Massey, Erin Richardson, Elliott Hauser and Victoria Jacobs


2000kat robison baker finished editing

the feature length documentary, From

Nothing, Something. Since April it has

screened at Independent Film Festival

Boston, Montreal World Film Festival,

the Architecture & Design Film Fes-

tival in New York City, New Orleans

Film Festival, Virginia Film Festival,

and Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilm-

ington, NC. They also have screenings

in Los Angeles, Chicago and Cleveland

planned for 2013. Fast Company called

the movie “Inspiring and motivating!”

Kat hopes to bring FNS to Norfolk in

early 2013. Josh Canada and charlie

burroughs launched Back Bay Brew-

ing Co. late last year. They make the

beer in rented space at the Weeping

Radish brewery in Grandy, N,C. More

than two dozen Beach restaurants,

including Chick’s, serve it. They hope

to expand soon to Norfolk. This winter

the brewery participated in a project

to make it easier for others to hunt. At

a Super Bowl party at Chick’s Oyster

Bar, Back Bay Brewing Co. said it

would help finance and build a duck

blind for injured veterans at Back Bay

National Wildlife Refuge. The brewery

is working with the Virginia Gentle-

men’s Foundation, a civic group, and

Freedom Hunters, which sponsors

hunting trips for veterans. Sarah Kath-

ryne Ripley was born on December 13,

2013 to kathryne gresham ripley and

Matt Ripley. cart rixey married Craig

Reilly on April 6, 2013, in Virginia

Beach. The reception was at the Old

Cavalier hotel. Cart and Craig live in

Norfolk where she is an attorney and

he is president of Norfolk division of

Monarch Bank. John snellings con-

tinues to work toward completing his

combined residency in family medi-

cine and internal medicine at Eastern

Virginia Medical School. He gave the

case presentation, “Patching Together

Diagnosis and Treatment,” at the Janu-

ary 2013 Associates meeting of the Vir-

ginia chapter of the American College

of Physicians, and was subsequently

selected to give the presentation again

to the entire chapter at the annual

meeting in March. He has also been

selected to present his research on the

duration of medical residency training

at the annual spring conference of the

Society of Teachers of Family Medicine

this May in Baltimore.

Ω BLAiR MUsTiN FiNe ’00:

[email protected]

Ω MARiA kiTCHiN MooRe ’00:

[email protected]

Ω ALLisoN WATsoN ’00:

[email protected]

2001matthew ganderson is pursuing his

MBA at Duke University, The Fuqua

School of Business (class of 2014), and

will intern at Frito-Lay outside Dallas,

TX, as an associate marketing brand

manager this summer. charlotte

gripka kainth and husband Manav

welcomed Liam Kumar into the world

on January 8, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs.,

9 oz., and was 21 inches long. They

are adjusting to all the new adventures

and loving every minute. Charlotte

teaches at Flint Hill Elementary in

Vienna. She taught 4th grade for four

years and 2nd grade for three years.

michelle mallet loves Seattle, where

she helped open a new restaurant for

multiple James Beard award–winning

chef Tom Douglas. She is also work-

ing on her first novel, which involves

time travel and cookery and the Black

Death in 14th century England. She

says, “I have a parrot named Rilke,

who is trying to eat the keyboard as I

type.” Currently in the midst of her

master’s-level counseling internship,

christie sears thompson sees all kinds

of clients. She is excited to gradu-

ate with a master’s in marriage and

family therapy from Regis University

in Denver, CO, on May 4. The next

step is licensure to become an LMFT

(Licensed Marriage and Family

Therapist) and an RPT (Registered

Play Therapist). This will take a little

bit longer to complete the necessary

hours, but she’s on her way.

Ω JeNNiFeR BYRD ’01:

[email protected]

Ω kATHeRiNe Lee CoLeMAN ’01:

[email protected]

Ω CARRie GeRLoFF YUiLL ’01:

[email protected]

2002chris del Vecchio teaches Advanced

Algebra and AP Statistics and coaches

varsity basketball at Bartlett High

School in Webster, MA. He will

pursue a master’s degree in educa-

tion leadership at Teachers College

at Columbia University beginning

in June, with hopes of becoming an

urban public school principal upon

graduating. brian donahue moved to

San Francisco in March for a new job

and is excited to be around all of the

other Bulldogs pushing the boundar-

ies in the Bay Area. michael downing

recently moved to San Francisco as

well to join the entrepreneurial world

of technology startups as a founder of

Swapt.com. Michael has been working

on Swapt.com full time for nearly

eight months now and his co-founder

leFt The members of the Young Alumni Council gather quarterly to discuss Norfolk Academy and ways they can get involved and give back. Pictured here are Christina Thames ’04, Elizabeth Snyder ’02, Ian Holder ’03, Will Nexsen ’02, Bobby Beasley ’06, Logan Schmidt ’02 and Taylor Denslow ’04.

center Willis Robertson ’04 married Caitlin Johnson on February 11, 2012, at Bel Air Presby terian Church in Los Angeles, CA. They currently reside in Los Angeles, where Willis works for Bunim/Murray Productions in reality TV development. The wedding party is pictured and includes NA alums Clark Whiteway ’04, Eric Carlson ’04, Jay Rawles ’04 and Abby Robertson ’08.

rIGht Vince Gomez ’05, David Colen ’05 and Max Padrick ’05, close friends and UVA ’09 graduates, are all attending UVA for Medical School. David is finishing his fourth year and graduating this spring. Vince has just completed his third year, and Max has just finished second year.

academy44

joins him in April in San Francisco,

along with their new CTO, to get

their site up and in the hands of the

public. Swapt believes that finding and

renting an apartment in urban areas is

an awful experience and is looking to

disrupt the current industry on behalf

of both the renter and the landlord.

elliott hauser has been busy working

on his PhD in information sciences

with the proceeds of his $250,000

grant from UNC. That isn’t enough

to keep Elliott’s mind busy, so in

searching for a business idea for

which he was both passionate and able

to execute, Elliott started Course-

Fork. Presenting at Startup Weekend

Education in the Research Triangle in

March, Elliott and his team won the

event and tied for the crowd favorite.

CourseFork is currently applying for

the YCombinator summer class of

2013, is finalizing the technical team,

and raising financing from friends

and family to begin their alpha proto-

type. amber Jenkins is graduating this

year with a PhD in English (rhetoric

and composition) from the University

of Kentucky. She is the recipient of the

Daniel R. Reedy Quality Achievement

Award. In 2008, she earned an MFA

in creative writing (poetry) from the

University of Virginia and was a recipi-

ent of the Henry Hoyns Fellowship.

Previously, she graduated Phi Beta

Kappa with an MA in humanities, a

BA in humanities, and a BA in writing

seminars from Johns Hopkins Uni-

versity in 2006. She was a Bloomberg

Scholar and was the recipient of the

Most-Accomplished Writer Award.

bay mclaughlin left Apple after

almost four years to begin a period of

searching for his next calling in life.

During the last six months, Bay has

joined Intercom.io as their director

of business development, became the

operating executive and newest owner

at FrenchPressFilms.com (creative

video production for Google, Gap,

Uber and more), has taught classes

for CreativeLive.com to over 6,000

students live on the Internet, and has

started to become an executive and

career coach. In October, nick osgood

bit the bullet and moved to San Fran-

cisco to live with bay mclaughlin and

join the world of technology startups.

Though Nick’s three degrees don’t

focus on technology, Bay’s guidance

and network in San Francisco have

been the perfect springboard for a

quick immersion. Nick currently

works for Advisor, where he manages

over a dozen high profile technology

customers around the Bay Area. With

Advisor, Nick advises and partners

with founders on various operational

issues from accounting and finance to

HR and growth strategy.

Ω eVA CoLeN ’02:

[email protected]

Ω kATHLeeN o’BRYANT ’02:

[email protected]

2003 rebecca cohn graduated from the

University of Virginia School of Law in

May 2013 after a wonderful three years

in Charlottesville, VA. Over her time at

UVA, she dedicated herself to public

interest law. Rebecca has worked

with the Innocence Project and Child

Advocacy Clinics as well as the Molly

Pitcher Project, an independent study

that launched a lawsuit that helped

bring down the U.S. military’s ground

combat exclusion as an unconstitu-

tional equal protection violation. In

May, Rebecca moved to Palm Beach,

FL, to study for the bar and begin work

for the Palm Beach County Public

Defender’s Office. zach hecht-leavitt

married Julie Singer, June 24, 2012,

in Boston. charles land and henry

colen are first-year MBA candidates

at UVA’s Darden School of Business.

Jenny hammond ’02 is as well, while

tip brown ’01 is a second-year about

to graduate. Charles is interning

this summer in investment bank-

ing with SunTrust in Atlanta, and

Henry is doing investment banking at

Morgan Stanley in New York for the

summer. emily steinhilber married

Dylan Hawkins, August 18, 2012, in

Michigan. Many NA alums attended

the wedding. kathryn tipora married

Ryan Trainor on September 15, 2012,

at Heritage United Methodist Church

in Virginia Beach. Kathryn and Ryan

are both graduates of the University

of Richmond, class of 2007. The wed-

ding party included Kathryn’s fellow

Norfolk Academy classmates lauren

Varboncoeur and cara Watts and her

brother, nate tipora ’07. Kathryn

and Ryan live in the East Village of

Manhattan. eric unger married Leslie

Rothman, June 2, 2012.

Ω PoLLY PeReos ’03:

[email protected]

2004After managing LA Fitness for four

years, Jessica chou took a new position

this past July as an account executive

at KFMB in San Diego. With her com-

munications major and experience in

sales, she decided that this position

will be the perfect fit for her long-term

career. KFMB is a television station

with two sister radio stations, 760

KFMB AM and JACK FM. Jessica is

responsible for the overall design and

implementation of on-air and online

leFt Ruth Acra ’86 and Nene Dougherty caught up in New York with alums Emmy Ill ’06, Lindsay Brown ’04 and Lauren Dougherty ’10 (pictured).

rIGht Charlie Nusbaum ’75, Andrew Downing ’04, Steven Goldburg ’04/NA faculty, Stephen Nusbaum ’10, Michael Nusbaum ’05 and Amy Nusbaum ’08 gathered in Nashville and went to a hockey game to cheer on the Nashville Predators.

ReUNioN YeAR Ω CLAss CoRResPoNDeNTs Norfolk AcAdemy mAgAziNe | summer 2013 45

marketing campaigns to new prospec-

tive clients and existing clients. She

also assists clients in creative copywrit-

ing, marketing strategies, and provid-

ing qualitative research in order to

produce competitive campaigns. Other

than her new career, life has been

great! Her main activity this winter

has been snowboarding, which she is

definitely taking advantage of this year!

taylor denslow began working with

the Ganderson Law firm in downtown

Norfolk in December 2012. She is one

of four attorneys doing trust and estate

administration and litigation, some

corporate structuring, and some mari-

tal and premarital agreement drafting.

After a year spent traveling and

volunteering in South America and

Southeast Asia, kimberly ellenson will

be a first year at the Darden School of

Business at the University of Virginia

beginning this fall. anne franklin is

currently living in Washington, DC,

and working as a registered nurse at

Children’s National Medical Center

in their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

She recently got engaged to Heath

Bergman and will be married this

October in DC. William a . gresham,

Jr ., and Laura Ellen Crisler were mar-

ried October 20, 2012, in Birming-

ham, AL. Serving as groomsmen were

charlie gresham ’14, tom gresham

’08, Phil hage, dr . andrew Johnson

and clay mccoy. Numerous Norfolk

Academy alumni were in attendance.

After a honeymoon in Costa Rica, the

couple now resides in Norfolk where

Laura is a speech language pathologist

at Children’s Hospital of the King’s

Daughters and Billy is working for the

family general contracting firm, E.T.

Gresham Company. After graduating

from Columbia Law School in 2011,

gillian horton moved to Washington,

DC, where she works in national secu-

rity. She is excited to marry fiancé Car-

los Bortoni on June 1, 2013, at a family

property on the James River. meaghan

doviak got engaged to William Hakala

in December. They will be married on

October 26, 2013, in Norfolk. lauran

kellam is currently working toward a

master’s in osteoarchaeology at Bour-

nemouth University in the U.K. This

past Christmas she got engaged to

Antonio Nicholls, a Virginia Beach na-

tive. lindsey randlett myhr graduated

from the University of Nebraska with

an MFA in creative writing in Decem-

ber 2012. She and her husband, Sean,

welcomed their daughter, Andalyn, to

the world on November 2, 2012. emily

neumann moved back to the area after

finishing graduate school in New York

City and now lives in Virginia Beach.

She works as a certified registered

nurse anesthetist for Sentara.

Ω LiNDsAY BRoWN ’04:

[email protected]

Ω CHRisTie keLLAM sNoDGRAss ’04:

[email protected]

2005erik abriss has relocated to Houston,

TX, where he works at Music World

Entertainment (Mathew Knowles

record label and entertainment compa-

ny) as the digital marketing coordina-

tor. Molly Alston is the clinical care

coordinator for the infectious bowel

disease program at Children’s National

Medical Center for the Department

of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and

Nutrition. She works mainly with

Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis patients

and is also part of the research team

to help find more effective treatment

regimens for these kids living with

IBD. drew conner is living in New

York City, where he has been for three

years, and is working at Signpost, a

tech start-up in SoHo. alyssa Jenkins,

cliff cutchins, and david colen are

graduating from UVA’s Medical

School this year. Whitney stewart is

graduating from the Medical College

of Virginia, and catherine Wilkes is

graduating from Eastern Virginia

Medical School. They will be matched

for their residencies on March 15.

Alyssa Jenkins and David Colen have

been elected into Alpha Omega Alpha

honor society and were inducted on

March 16. Alyssa is excited to be going

to Duke for her pediatric residency.

She previously graduated Phi Beta

Kappa with a BA in psychology and

a minor in biology also from UVA in

2009. erika schlichter is still living

happily in Denver, CO, working to-

ward her MA in international human

rights, with concentrations in gender

and education, at DU’s Josef Korbel

School of International Studies. Out-

side of class time, she serves as grants

and development intern for Edge of

Seven, a Denver-based nonprofit that

seeks to improve access to education

for girls throughout the developing

world. Erika is especially excited for

the upcoming summer, which she

will spend as associate director at her

beloved Camp Carysbrook for Girls in

southwestern Virginia.

Ω kATie FLiPPeN ’05:

[email protected]

ABOve leFt Caryn Cobb ’11 traveled to Hangzhou, China, over the summer to study traditional Chinese medicine.

ABOve rIGht Tyler Cole ’11 recently made her first trip to New York through the architecture program at UNC-Charlotte.

BelOw Mary Rives Dougherty ’12 returned to campus this winter and reunited with her advisor Eric Acra ’84 during one of his basketball practices.

ABOve leFt Mary Rives Dougherty ’12, Krissy

academy46

2006carley freese spent the last two winter

seasons living in Jackson Hole, WY,

working as a children’s ski instruc-

tor—which was an awesome experi-

ence! Last summer she moved back to

Virginia Beach and has been working

as an advertising account executive at

BCF, an advertising agency specializ-

ing in travel and tourism.

Ω eMMY iLL ’06: [email protected]

Ω Lexie PiTTs ’06:

[email protected]

2007derwin gray is finishing his first

year at EVMS. During the spring of

2013, he traveled to Pucallpa, Peru, to

prescribe eyeglasses and serve local

patients in the medically underserved

community. Jason kennedy received

an honorable discharge from the

U.S. Army and is now with General

Dynamics Advanced Information

Systems as a senior systems engineer;

he lives and works in McLean, VA.

Ω LizA BRoWN ’07: [email protected]

2008 Jean goodman and blair lindsey are

working as English teachers in South

Korea as the proud first self-made

millionaires (in Korean Won, W=) of the

class of 2008. After graduating with a

double major in Studio Art and Ameri-

can Studies from the University of Vir-

ginia in May, meredith mckee moved

to Seattle, WA, with Kevin Ruth.

Meredith and Kevin met their second

year at UVA and plan to marry in

Charlottesville in the spring of 2014.

Meredith started her own photography

and design company in 2010 and

has booked over 25 weddings in the

Pacific Northwest for the 2013 season.

Meredith travels occasionally back to

the east coast to photograph weddings

and to visit her family in Virginia, Ten-

nessee and Alabama. leigh nusbaum

moved to Alexandria last year, but just

recently joined the Ralph Northam for

Lieutenant Governor campaign as its

regional political organizer. If anyone

is interested in helping State Senator

Northam, a fellow Tidewater resident,

become Virginia’s next lieutenant

governor, please don’t hesitate to get

in touch with her. mike o’donnell

wanted to say thank you to Norfolk

Academy and the career connection

program. He is working at xTuple

software in Norfolk; he began at

xTuple through the career connection

program as an intern, which led to this

full-time job in his field of study after

graduation.

Ω WiLLiAM kiTCHiN ’08:

[email protected]

Ω ANGeLA NeLsoN ’08:

[email protected]

Ω CLARk ReeD ’08: [email protected]

2009christian Joy, a four-year member of

Sigma Nu, will graduate this spring

from the University of Kansas with

a BS in finance. He has accepted a

position with Sabre Holdings—a

global technology company—based

in Dallas, TX. He will be living and

working in the Dallas area starting in

June. michael Protacio is currently a

rising senior English major at Yale and

is wrapping up a year off from classes

as a member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs,

the nation’s oldest collegiate a cappella

group. This winter, the Whiffenpoofs

had the honor of performing at NA,

and they embark on their 90-day

world tour beginning in May. Michael

currently works full-time as lead

recruitment coordinator for the Yale

University Office of Undergraduate

Admissions.

Ω ANNesLeY BeRNDT ’09:

[email protected]

Ω RYAN LARoCk ’09:

[email protected]

2010dJ covington was awarded the 2013

Big South Defensive Player of the

Year award. He averaged over seven

ABOve leFt Mary Rives Dougherty ’12, Krissy Gorsline ’12 and Naadira Moyston ’12 returned to watch the Bulldogs play this winter and witnessed Riley Tata’s (’13) 1,000th point on January 4, 2013. Gorsline ’12 and Naadira Moyston ’12 returned to watch the Bulldogs play this winter and witnessed Riley Tata’s (’13) 1,000th point on January 4, 2013.

ABOve rIGht Krissy, Mary and Naadira are pictured with the team.

BelOw Sean Noona ’12 participated in an annual “young NA alumni” traditional “Turkey Bowl” football game on Thanksgiving Day. Sitting, left to right: Sean Noona ’12, Mac Weaver ’10 and a neighborhood friend. Standing, left to right: Brac McKee ’14, Charlie Blakeley ’10, Freddie Fletcher ’10, Matt Freeman ’10 and a neighborhood friend.

ReUNioN YeAR Ω CLAss CoRResPoNDeNTs Norfolk AcAdemy mAgAziNe | summer 2013 47

rebounds and three blocks a game this

season. eric friddell studied emerging

markets through the University of

Virginia’s International Studies Office

in India this January. He attends the

McIntire School of Commerce and

will be interning for Credit Suisse this

summer in New York City. margaret

furr interned at the Tennessee Shake-

speare Company in Memphis, TN,

during summer 2012. This spring she

studied digital media, Scottish history

and Scottish literature at the Universi-

ty of Glasgow. She will be interning in

Boston, MA, during the summer 2013.

lucas kanter served on the execu-

tive board for the JHU chapter of the

Alpha Kappa Psi professional business

fraternity. He interned at PiYi Invest-

ment, a private equity firm in Beijing,

China, during summer 2012. This

fall he studied abroad at the Johns

Hopkins University–SAIS campus in

Nanjing, China. While overseas, Lucas

completed the Shanghai International

Half-Marathon. kaki kiger serves as

director of social enrichment and risk

management/property manager for

Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. Her chapter

received many awards including the

Outstanding Social Program Award

at Greek Awards and the November

2012 Joan of Arc Leadership Program

Psi Chi–National Honors Fraternity

in Psychology. While at Longwood

she works for the Alumna Relations

Office, where the call center is called

Lancer Line. She calls alumnae

and parents asking for gifts for the

Longwood Fund. Last summer, Kaki

shadowed Dr. Jennifer Gildea, forensic

psychologist. This upcoming summer

she has an internship with SOAR,

ADHD/Learning Disability Adventure

Therapeutic Summer Camp. kelly

luker has had an exciting year be-

tween studying abroad in Siena, Italy,

last spring, traveling to Costa Rica

and Nicaragua, and holding the R.A.

position of house supervisor at her

sorority house during the past school

year. Jayme Pounders lived in Buenos

Aires for the duration of summer 2012

and traveled around Argentina. He

interned under the marketing director

at Oasis Collections in BsAs and plans

on launching his second company this

year if all goes as planned. Also, while

at Emerson College he walked on the

lacrosse team. Jessica smith studied

abroad with UVA’s Semester at Sea

program this past summer, where

she traveled to Bahamas, Spain, Italy,

Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Morocco and

Portugal. She also took course work in

cultural studies and advanced fiction

writing. She finished her term as chief

panhellenic officer for the social soror-

ity Kappa Alpha Theta. This winter Jes-

sica completed event-planning and PR

internships for the W&M Global Film

Festival. Her spring project is intern-

ing for Rent the Runway and Seren-

getee, a young, cause-driven startup

(check them out at Serengetee.com).

bryan Whitt was recently recognized in

Wrestling Magazine for being in the top

10 all-time in career pins. He is listed

9th with a total of 166 pins.

Ω JessiCA sMiTH ’10:

[email protected]

2011caryn cobb is currently a sophomore

at Brown. This past summer she went

to Hangzhou, China, for a little over

a month to study traditional Chinese

medicine. Caryn learned about

acupuncture, massage therapy and

herbal medicine, and the cultural ties

that are related to the medicinal beliefs

and health within traditional Chinese

medicine. She also interned with a

neurologist who specializes in epilepsy

patients, as well as a neurosurgeon.

This past winter break Caryn came

back to NA and spoke to the Global

Health fellows and the International

Relations Fellows as well as some of

the students who are going on the

China exchange trip. It was great for

her to be able to connect with them on

questions about China and health. She

has decided to major in neuroscience,

with a focus on long-term memory.

Currently, Caryn is an undergraduate

research assistant in a lab that focuses

on long-term memory and the effects

feedback can have on people’s confi-

dence in how well they remember cer-

tain events. She is also head of a club

at Brown called Women in Science

and Engineering. This coming sum-

mer she plans on going to Edinburgh,

Scotland, and doing research with the

University of Edinburgh Neuroscience

Department and the Scottish Chamber

Orchestra on how music can affect

neurodegenerative-diseased patients.

Being the only graduate from Norfolk

Academy to attend UNC-Charlotte,

tyler cole found herself growing and

broadening her viewpoints. While

she misses NA and her old friends,

it’s been a great way to explore her

potential in new ways as she’s broken

out of her mold. As a 2nd year in the

Architecture School, life is tough, but

it is amazingly rewarding. Tyler loves

her major and has truly found where

she belongs for the rest of her life.

One of the nicest things so far about

working in architecture is the studio

environment, where she practically

lives amongst her fellow ‘archies,’

working side by side on individual as

well as collaborative projects. Recently

they took a studio trip to the Big Apple!

Tyler had never been before so it was

an amazing five days spent traversing

the city and learning about the wide

range of architecture within it.

Ω kYLie PHiLBiN ’11:

[email protected]

2012Ω MARY RiVes DoUGHeRTY ’12:

[email protected]

2013annika Jenkins is graduating this year

from the Juilliard School Pre-College

Division (New York) with all honors.

She is concertmaster of the Juil-

liard Pre-College Orchestra and is a

2013 Presidential Scholar in the Arts

candidate.

class notes reflect notes received

through march 2013 . log on to your

class page to see the latest notes .

weddingsBetsy Gilliam to fielding tyler ’51

natasha fedyszyn ’86

to chris zoby ’87

Julia salter finley ’96

to Matthew Liebler

susan leigh kesser ’98

to Robert Benvenisti

louise cartwright rixey ’00

to William Craig Reilly

Erin Richardson

to elliott hauser ’02

Julie Singer

to zach hecht-leavitt ’03

Polly marie Pereos ’03

to Jonathan T. Gellman

emily steinhilber ’03

to Dylan Hawkins

kathryn tipora ’03

to Ryan Trainor

Leslie Rothman to eric unger ’03

Laura Ellen Crisler

to William a . gresham, Jr . ’04

Caitlin Johnson

to Willis robertson ’04

in memoriamn . gorham Parks ’30

bruce f . backus ’63

martin r . Wittersheim ’63

katharine m . Whitely ’73

catherine zech ’91

former faculty

arthur a . macconochie

academy48

What is a charitable Gift Annuity?

Planned Gifts. Gifts that give back.www .norfolkacademy .org/giving

For information on how you can give a Charitable

Gift Annuity to Norfolk Academy, please contact:

M.B. Walker III ’59

Director of Planned Giving

Norfolk Academy

1585 Wesleyan Drive, Norfolk, VA 23502

Tel: (757) 461-6236 • Fax: (757) 455-3181

[email protected]

A Charitable Gift Annuity is a legal contract in which Norfolk

Academy, in return for a gift of cash or stock,

commits to pay you, the donor, a specified sum

every year for as long as you live.

The annuity rate varies with age: the older you are,

the higher the rate. If funded with appreciated

securities, capital gains are spread out over your

expected lifetime. Additionally, you receive a

charitable deduction the year you make the gift.

It is a great way to make a gift to Norfolk Academy

and receive income for the rest of your life.

here’s an examPle:

John Q. Donor, age 70

Gift: $10,000

Annuity rate: 5.1% ***

Charitable deduction: $3,582

Annual income: $510

*** Based on age (see table)

single life gift annuity rates *

Age Rate Payment **

60 4.4% $ 440

65 4.7 $ 470

70 5.1 $ 510

75 5.8 $ 580

80 6.8 $ 680

85 7.8 $ 780

90+ 9.0 $ 900

* Effective January 1, 2012 (subject to change)

** Based on a $10,000 gift

Your gift provides for Norfolk Academy’s

future and for your own. It will help ensure the

quality of the Academy experience for future

generations. Membership in The 1728 Society

accompanies all planned gifts.

1585 Wesleyan drive

norfolk, va 23502

Nonprofit org. U.s. Postage PAiD Burlington, VT Permit #19

facebook.com/NorfolkAcademyBulldogs

@NorfolkAcademy @AthleticsNA @PMcLaughlinNA

757-461-6236

NorfolkAcademy.org thesavagechronicles.org chesapeakebayfellows.org internationalrelationsfellows.org naglobalhealthfellows.org mr-o-zone.org

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The Academy - Summer 2013

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Transcript of The Academy - Summer 2013