Spark - Spring 2024

SPARK

a greener path forward

ON COLLEGIATE’S QUALITIES

Dear Collegiate School,

The 2023-24 academic year marks my 41st year in teaching, and I can’t think of a better place to conclude my career than at Collegiate. It has been a true privilege to be a part of this community these past two years.

Collegiate is the sixth school where I have had the opportunity to teach. Each of these six will always be important to me. Each has helped me grow as a person and as a teacher and each has noble and notable qualities.

Collegiate’s most important qualities — from my perspective — include:

1. An incredibly capable, kind and considerate student body. I have been touched literally every day by our students’ curiosity and love for learning as well as the very real respect and thoughtfulness they extend to one another and to their teachers, coaches and advisors.

2. Principled and committed faculty and staff — with amazing and wide-ranging talents — who care deeply about their students. Our students notice and appreciate this care and commitment, as evidenced by the large number of alumni who stay in close touch with their teachers long after graduation.

3. A school culture that places great value on the whole person (mind, heart and character), on mutually respectful relationships and on authentic community. Our ethos is one that urges our students to use their gifts and their learnings for the greater good. Given the tumultuous times in which we live, the purpose of our school is more important than ever — focused as we are on being that community striving constantly to nurture excellence in all of its forms.

Given Collegiate’s talented and dedicated people and its timeless and noble aspirations, I shall always be grateful for the opportunity to be here and for all of the support, encouragement and kindness so graciously extended to me. I am counting on you to support the incoming Head of School, Jeff Mancabelli, as fully, as enthusiastically and as genuinely as you have supported me.

With great appreciation for Collegiate and for the privilege of being part of this special community these last two years,

Billy Peebles Interim Head of School

COLLEGIATE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

William S. Peebles IV, Interim Head of School

Sarah Abubaker, Director of Strategic Communications

Sara Boisvert, Director of Powell Institute for Responsible Citizenship

Mike Boyd, Director of the Arts

Jeff Dunnington, Head of Middle School

Louis Fierro II, Director of Information Technology

Patrick E. Loach, Head of Upper School

Deborah I. Miller, Head of Lower School

Phyllis Palmiero, Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer

Andrew Stanley, Athletic Director

Dave Taibl, Director of Admission and Enrollment Management

Tung Trinh, Dean of Faculty

Kristen O. Williams, Chief Development Officer

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2023-24

Carter M. Reid P ’16 ’18, Chair of the Board

W. Hildebrandt Surgner Jr. P ’11 ’14 ’17 ’19, Vice Chair of the Board

William S. Peebles IV, Interim Head of School

Neelan A. Markel ’96 P ’27 ’30, Secretary

Ellen T. Bonbright ’86 P ’24 ’26

Callie Lacy Brackett ’95 P ’22 ’24

Mason T. Chapman ’84 P ’22

Mayme Donohue ’03

Wortie Ferrell ’88 P ’24 ’27 ’31

Lauren Hepper P ’27 ’30 ’30**

Peter E. Mahoney Sr. P ’15 ’19 ’26 ’26

Malcolm S. McDonald P ’87 ’88

Morenike K. Miles P ’24 ’25

*Trustee Emeriti

**Parents’ Association President

***Alumni Association President

Meera Pahuja ’97 P ’30 ’32 ’34

Jasmine Turner Perry ’11***

J. Cheairs Porter Jr. P ’27 ’29 ’32

John H. Rivers Jr. P ’25 ’28

JoAnn Adrales Ruh P ’16 ’18 ’21

Kenneth P. Ruscio P ’08

Julious P. Smith III ’86 P ’20 ’22 ’25

Wallace Stettinius P ’77 ’79 ’84*

R. Gregory Williams ’69 P ’01 ’04*

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD 2023-24

Jasmine Turner Perry ’11, President

Peyton Jenkins ’00, VP/President Elect

Sarah Paxton ’84 P ’19, Past President

Ginny Harris Hofheimer ’96 P ’27 ’29, Recording Secretary

Beth Waltington Marchant ’72 P ’98 ’03 GP ’35, Corresponding Secretary

Stuart Farrell ’03 and Elizabeth Dolan Wright ’01, Annual Fund Co-Chairs

Patricia Hobson Hunter ’80 P ’10 ’15, Stewardship Chair

Graham Mandl ’08, Amrik Sahni ’06 and Lauren Siff ’02 P ’32 ’34, Events Committee Chairs

Lauren Cricchi ’06 and Luke Walker ’12, Alumni/Student Connection Committee

Muffy Greenbaum ’04 P ’30 ’32

Devon Kelley ’05

Toby Long ’98 P ’33 ’35

Lee Moreau ’95

Rishi Pahuja ’04

Chris Pearson ’02

Tyler Negus Snidow ’80

Chas Thalhimer ’97

Bo Vaughan ’97 P’31 ’32

Ben Adamson ’98 P ’33 ’35

Brink Brinkley ’76 P ’11 ’13 ’17

Dominique Meeks Gombe ’09

Virginia Harris ’16

Helen Roddey ’16

Elisabeth Arnold Weiss ’86

Harry Wilson ’01

103 North Mooreland Road/Richmond, VA 23229

804.740.7077 / Fax: 804.741.9797

Collegiate School admits qualified students and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its admissions, scholarships and loans, and its educational, athletic and other programs.

Sarah Abubaker Director of Strategic Communications

Jack McCarthy Writer/Editor

Anne Gray Siebert ’97 Director of Alumni Engagement

James Dickinson Creative Manager

Weldon Bradshaw

Louise Ingold

Ellie Lynch Contributors

Jac Borich ’24

Maggie Bowman ’23 Keller Craig

Taylor Dabney

Ash Daniel

Jimmy Dickinson

Jay Paul

Robin Reifsnider

Anthony Rumley Photography

Think (think804.com) Design

Thanks to all parents, students, alums and friends who generously share their information, photographs and archives. Please note that Spark magazine is posted on the School’s website and may be available on other online platforms accessible through Internet search engines.

Spark is published by Collegiate School. We welcome letters from readers, though we may not have room to publish them all. Submissions may be edited for publication. Photographs deemed unsuitable in quality by Spark’s designers may not be included. We make every effort to return photographs shared with us –please send high-resolution (300dpi) digital images whenever possible (to: spark@collegiate-va.org).

Class Notes and Photographs

Please send your news and photographs, and we will use them in an upcoming issue. Digital images must be high resolution (min. 300dpi).

Address

Spark Editor Collegiate School / Communications Office 103 North Mooreland Road, Richmond, VA 23229

Email

spark@collegiate-va.org

Visit our website at www.collegiate-va.org

Phone

Spark: 804.754.0869 / Alumni Office: 804.741.9757

Entering her new role as Collegiate’s Director of Sustainability, Sandra Marr is connecting the School’s three divisions through her conservation efforts. Practicing What They Teach

Experts in their field, the Upper School visual arts teachers are both instructors and practitioners.

SAME UPSTANDING CHARACTER. HIGHER FIELD OF PLAY. In the fall of 2024, 21 of our student-athletes from the Class of 2024 will continue their athletic careers at the college level. They may wear colors different than green and gold but they will play with the same level of excellence and respect they learned at Collegiate.

* List of commits:

HEIDI ALBRECHT - UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, LACROSSE

LILY BERGER - SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY, BASKETBALL

L.J. BOOKER - VIRGINIA TECH, FOOTBALL

HARRISON BRAY - ILLINOIS TECH, SOCCER

KENLEY CAMPBELL - COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY, SOCCER

RANDOLPH CAMPBELL - PROVIDENCE COLLEGE, LACROSSE

NICHOLAS CHAMBERS - UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON, BASEBALL

KYLA COFFEY - RADFORD UNIVERSITY, VOLLEYBALL

OLIVIA D'AMBROSIA - WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, TRACK & FIELD

PRESLEY GARST - UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON, SOCCER

WARNER LEWIS - VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, LACROSSE

CHARLIE MAYR - NOTRE DAME, SWIMMING

ELIZABETH MENDOZA - VIRGINIA TECH, TENNIS

CHARLIE MILLER - BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY, LACROSSE

JACKSON O'KEEFE - MARIST COLLEGE, LACROSSE

MILES PRUSEK - HAVERFORD COLLEGE, BASEBALL

HARTLEY RAHMAN - JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, BASEBALL

CALLIE ROGERS - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, FIELD HOCKEY

WILL SLATER - VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, BASEBALL

FITZ STANLEY - RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE, LACROSSE

THOMAS WORD - HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE, SOCCER

*List at time of printing

SPACE ASPIRATIONS

A former International Space Station Flight Controller at NASA, Upper School physics teacher Kat Melton ’93 aimed for the galaxy of stars and got there, but not without a few failed launches.

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION, let’s get the impressive, surface-level biography out of the way

first: Kat Melton ’93, who started working at Collegiate as an Upper School physics teacher last fall, received two bachelor’s degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — one in aeronautics and astronautics, and another in brain and cognitive science — and, before beginning her career in the classroom, worked as an International Space Station Flight Controller at NASA. Formerly responsible for creating the daily itinerary of astronauts as they tilt through space, Melton is undoubtedly brilliant, but she often feels the prestige of her résumé is the only piece of her people notice. “The biggest thing I want people to know, really, is that I’m not that special,” she says. “People hear about what I’ve done and assume I’ve never struggled with anything in my life, and that just isn’t true.” She aimed for the galaxy of stars and got there, but not without a few failed launches.

The dream of working for NASA began on April 12, 1981, when she watched on TV as NASA launched the nation’s first reusable space shuttle into orbit. A student in the Lower School at the time, Melton had a vaporous and fantastical idea of space. As the Columbia orbital moved higher and higher into the vast envelope of blue sky, she thought of Star Wars, the only reference she knew of then that explored space. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, that shuttle is traveling to where Star Wars takes place, and I love Star Wars. So, if I work hard, I can somehow be in Star Wars,’” she says, laughing at herself. She wanted to play a role in that fantastical space universe.

She confided to her dad this abstract aspiration, and he responded, with equal impracticality, delivered with the confidence any father has in his daughter, that she should go to MIT. Still years away from earning her driver’s license, she had her dream mapped out. Now she had to walk the path

that led her to the space station. “At the time, as a 5th Grader, I thought you could just select whatever college you wanted and magically get in,” she says, “but then I started to realize how wrong I was. A lot of people — a lot of people — told me I couldn’t do it. At which point I was like, ‘OK, watch me.’”

Ambition, she quickly learned, creates pressure. “My whole academic career, I continued thinking I needed to be good enough and smart enough to get good grades, which would allow me to get into the college I wanted, which would get me an aerospace engineering degree so that NASA would hire me,” she says.

Even as Melton continued to excel at Collegiate, the slightest academic hiccup sent her spinning through tunnels of doubt. Am I good enough for this? Have I chosen the right path? Is this what I really want to do? Do I really know myself at all? When she did finally make it to MIT, her apprehensions only intensified. She found herself struggling at the bottom of her class. As a teacher, she uses this experience to coach students through their own self-doubt. “A lot of students see college as the end goal, and because of that, when they’re taking these AP courses, they’re terrified of failure, especially at Collegiate,” she says. “I can identify that in students. I try reminding them on a regular basis that every single person, at some point in life, will fail. Either you’ll fail yourself internally or you’ll fail very publicly and in a spectacular fashion. And that’s OK! Everybody’s going to have those moments where they don’t think they’re worth anything. And it’s not true. Everybody is worth something.”

She continued navigating her own series of both internal and public defeats at MIT. She had to repeat classes. She struggled silently, seldom asking for help. She found herself less than enthusiastic about aerospace. She considered switching majors. And then she found that, within the complexities of aeronautics and astronautics, there

were equally complex human elements to highly technical problems. She learned that she enjoyed solving the question of how machines could work for people more than she loved building the machines themselves. “I just really didn’t love thinking about how engines worked and building control systems,” she says. “I liked designing things that work with people, and I liked learning how people do things and adapt to things.”

When Melton graduated, she applied to as many positions as she could at NASA. But six months out of college she was still without a job. “I remember thinking, ‘I have a degree from MIT and I’m still living with my parents,’” she says. And then, finally alleviating all doubt, NASA did call back, offering her a job at the United Space Alliance, which operated out of the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas, until they ceased operations in 2019.

As someone who has always liked to manage the beauty of chaos, Melton found her responsibility of regimenting the minutiae of an astronaut’s schedule a unique thrill. The time astronauts took a lunch break, when they conducted tests and ship maintenance, and when they worked out (when

Everybody’s going to have those moments where they don’t think they’re worth anything. And it’s not true. Everybody is worth something.”

in space, every astronaut has to log two-and-ahalf hours of physical fitness a day) was dictated by Melton. “I really like chaos, and there’s all this mess of a schedule and you’ve got to put the pieces together really, really fast for a quick turnaround,” Melton explains. “What made it such a cool job was, to be good at it, you had to understand everything that was going on within a ship and how to put that into that timeline.”

She was 22 years old operating out of the refurbished mission control center, which sat below the same operating room that landed Apollo 11 on the moon. “I was in the same room where it all happened,” she says. “I was working in the same building as Gene Krantz, the same building Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin worked in.” The control center still held a stale cigarette aroma from all those long nights previous NASA employees spent exploring space. The dull brown carpet still showed coffee stains, minor markings of major history. “Those are Apollo coffee stains,” she would say to herself, where somewhere inside her still lived the starstruck girl, hoping one day to get to space, marveling at the attainment of her dream.

Celebrating Festive Traditions

During the holidays, traditions help cultivate the spirit of the moment. They help us return, year after year, to a particular festive feeling. Brunch and the Feast of Juul, two special Collegiate events that vivify the character of the School during the holidays, are some of those beloved traditions. During Collegiate’s annual Feast of Juul, Senior boys and faculty bonded over a festive dinner, light-hearted roasts and laughter. And the warmth of the holidays were felt in the songs and choreographed dances performed by Senior girls during Brunch 2023.

PARTNERS IN MIND

Understood thoroughly and leveraged correctly, ChatGPT can elevate education.

CAN YOU IMAGINE research without academic journals, books and other sources? Imagine the difficulty of moving through the library without ever learning the Dewey Decimal system, or, afraid of repeating yourself, never being schooled on the nifty tool of a thesaurus. Imagine, instead of using a calculator, we were still counting notches of carved wood on an abacus. Advancement doesn’t end; the dictionary becomes digitized. And it’s an educator’s duty to teach students about the tools that can make them better learners and thinkers. This responsibility is why, when it became clear that ChatGPT, released by the artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI in 2022, would soon become embedded in our lives as a helpful but potentially troubling technology, Collegiate teachers and administrators began discussing how to harness its capabilities.

It is true that ChatGPT is efficient, creative and sophisticated. You can ask the program to provide instructions for making an omelet, written in the style of Henry James, and receive pitch-perfect, syntactically sensitive paragraphs in response. It’s an ominous concept — this moment when mechanical minds potentially surpass human brains. But if artificial intelligence, used as a tool for education, is neglected, who’s to say teachers and students aren’t missing an opportunity? By taking the time to investigate how this technology works and its possible applications in the classroom — as Collegiate did when it assembled the ChatGPT test team — we can understand what we’re dealing with.

When discussing emerging technology, Dean of Faculty Tung Trinh, who helped organize the roughly 40-member ChatGPT test team, likes to quote Mark Weiser, the late chief technology officer at Xerox. “He was the father of ubiquitous computing,” Trinh says, “and his whole philosophy was that, when new technologies come out, it’s our job to find out how to use that to our advantage and infuse it into everything — so much so that it becomes normal.”

With curiosity surrounding moral efficacy and pedagogical approach, the test group began asking questions to get the ball rolling. They explored the ever-expanding possibilities of what ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools can do, and then, considering classroom implementation, they began thinking about necessary guardrails for both students and teachers. “We discussed curriculum development and assessment, program generation, communication, comment writing, lesson planning — things like that,” Trinh says. “The guardrails boiled down to obviously maintaining integrity in our work, but we also began to realize that this tool wouldn’t be a replacement for teaching. It would instead be an extension of teaching, a boost. It can be used as something that is going to make us better at our jobs.

“For schools, we realized there’s two really great potential uses for teachers. One is to think about AI as a strong research tool, a Google on steroids. And the second is to consider AI as a thinking partner or colleague.”

Teachers are beginning to welcome that machine-learning colleague enthusiastically. Middle School humanities teacher Danny Wise started looking at how ChaptGPT could help with lesson planning. A logic-driven historian by practice, he will admit that he sometimes struggles writing example sentences for an English class. This is not to say he can’t write those sentences, but, if he has help from ChatGPT, he can then spend more time planning the actual lesson that surrounds those example sentences. “The way I approach ChatGPT is like this: I get to plan side by side with the most knowledgeable and efficient colleague I could possibly imagine,” Wise says. “Knowing how to use it, I can bounce ideas off of it and collaborate. It also frees up my planning time so that I can focus on other parts of teaching — such as giving more detailed feedback to students or making more complex lesson plans.”

When Wise and Liz Haske, another Middle School humanities teacher, began teaching Hel-

en Frost’s novel Hidden, they realized they could promote critical thinking in a way they never had before. The novel, like so many great books, concludes with unresolved questions, with characters still hanging suspended in the narrative. Wise and Haske then got the idea to use ChatGPT, asking the chatbot to take the perspective of the characters and answer questions students might have about where the plot left them.

“We instructed the students to use what they knew about the characters in the book and imagine how they felt about where the novel ended,” Haske explains. “And then we showed them computer-generated responses to the same prompt, and we asked them to compare the answers between their own and ChatGPT’s. The project forced the students to think harder about their own answers because they had to analyze a computer’s.” It was new but exciting territory for Haske. “I find ChatGPT to be an amazing thinking partner,” she says. “It gives you the clay to sculpt with.”

Used at the most basic level, technology makes tasks easier. Lost at night on an unfamiliar street? Pull up Google Maps. But working

with the help of artificial intelligence is still work; it just allows us to be more efficient, possibly even more effective and multifaceted. Need help finding local newspaper articles following the Richmond Theatre fire of 1811? ChatGPT can track those down quickly, allowing you to think more deeply about the event itself. “If AI does become ubiquitous, as some folks believe it will, then it’s irresponsible for us to not create some guardrails and teach our kids how to use it,” Trinh says. “It isn’t just ‘Write this essay for me.’ It’s ‘How do I use this to make me a better learner?’ Considered appropriately and used correctly, this will make us better in all aspects of education.”

STUDENTS HONOR VETERANS DAY

Max Rohn, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who lost part of his right leg while serving in Iraq in 2009 and later became involved with adaptive sports, visited Collegiate in November to celebrate Veterans Day. From speaking to Kindergarteners about his injury and service dog to practicing with our track and field team, Rohn helped students understand the importance of Veterans Day.

DEEP MORAL THOUGHT COOKING UP WELLNESS

The annual faculty and staff cooking class, held, fittingly, just before Thanksgiving, was a delicious success. Learning from our amazing chefs, faculty and staff mastered a baked brie appetizer, stuffed quail and a clementine and almond cake. Learning fun, new skills and bonding with one another outside the classroom is what makes this wellness program a cherished tradition.

In the Senior Capstone Ethics and the Engaged Citizen, students spend the semester studying moral philosophy and its modern applications to prepare for the Virginia High School Ethics Bowl, their culminating activity and assessment. This Capstone challenges participants to apply themselves and think deeply, and, in November, students competed among themselves and the winning group then participated in the bowl. The rest of the Capstone students worked to support the tournament, which was hosted at Collegiate.

Channels of Connection

The connection between Collegiate and South Sudan began, as so many things in the classroom do, with a book. More than a decade ago, to complement the 5th Grade’s yearlong study of water, Middle School teacher Rives Fleming began reading, with his students, Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water. The students read about two South Sudanese children — different in age but both going to tremendous lengths to collect clean water for themselves and their families. They read about the Sudanese Lost Boys that fled their homes during the Second Sudanese Civil War, about refugee camps, about South Sudan’s dry season, about a young girl’s arduous trek to a lake to dig for water, about the toll that having to find clean water can take on a life, and about the wells that were eventually dug to alleviate the strain of having to constantly search for suitable drinking water.

To resist the impulse of having the experience of the story end when the students closed the pages of A Long Walk to Water, the Middle School faculty, with the support of Director of Service Learning and Civic Engagement Suzanne Fleming, began collaborating with a fundraiser that helps people of South Sudan build more wells. Towards the end of their reading, students, outside of school, are encouraged to contribute their own money to Water for South Sudan, an organization that works to provide access to clean, safe water to communities in South Sudan.

Since 2012, Collegiate 5th Graders have raised more than $20,000 to help drill and build four wells in South Sudan.

Since 2012, Collegiate 5th Graders have raised more than $20,000 to help drill and build four wells in South Sudan. The latest well, built in 2023, was completed in the village of New Side in Western Bhar El Ghazal State, South Sudan. The fundraiser is mutually beneficial: By connecting with Water for South Sudan, students develop a deeper understanding of the lives and challenges that other people face. “Reading can help give you empathy and gives you perspective, but this is a more impactful way to connect,” Rives says.

Speaking to John Dau, Global Scholar in Residence and one of the 27,000 Lost Boys of Sudan, the students extend that practice of empathy even further. “We go way beyond reading,” Rives continues. “We talk about what’s going on in South Sudan. We discuss the Sudanese Civil War. We learn on a deeper level from John what life was like for him and the other Lost Boys. We really try to imagine what escaping war would feel like, what walking miles and miles to a river for water would be like.”

In her work as Director of Service Learning and Civic Engagement, Suzanne sees the collaboration with Water for South Sudan as a way to heighten students’ awareness of the systems that help facilitate clean drinking water. Throughout the year, tracing back to Richmond’s historic Byrd Park Pump House and up to the modern-day James River, 5th Graders learn about different networks of water and

their relationship to societies. “Working with Water for South Sudan is a comprehensive service learning program,” Suzanne says. “It fosters civic engagement and connects a variety of things the students are studying — from history to English. But, of equal importance, this work has created a prolonged, mutually beneficial partnership.”

Like the slow trickle of water droplets out of a faucet, the partnership between Collegiate and Water for South Sudan makes positive, steady progress — albeit slowly. But, in the end, every drop counts. “This partnership helps students connect and learn more about the communities in South Sudan,” Suzanne says. “Because students are connecting with South Sudanese people through their reading, they are more encouraged to take action for a cause they care about and possibly make an impact.”

PATTERNS OF LEARNING

The pattern alphabet brings the classroom outdoors, sparking curiosity and enhancing critical thinking.

AROUND THE LOWER SCHOOL playground magnolia trees scratch the sky, holly bushes make dots along the buildings, riverbank grape vines wind around fences — all containing intricate patterns of geometry. First Graders in Laura Domalik’s math class investigate the grounds further, noting the detailed tiling of the roof of Centennial Hall, the cracks in the sidewalk and how they branch out in tiny explosions. Walking around, they stop frequently to take pictures with their iPads for deeper investigation. Guided by the pattern alphabet (patternABC), the students make subtle connections — the structure of monkey bars resemble parallel lines, the flight path a bird takes resembles a spiral. They are playing a simple game of matching the details of the natural world to geo -

metrical and core patterns, but, more subtly, they are learning the language of math and extending that language beyond the classroom.

PatternABC, developed by Alex Wolf, co-founder of na2ure, a design lab focused on creating innovations to accelerate and deepen spatial learning, is a revolutionary approach to education that is easily accessible and usable by young children. Distilling 32 patterns found in nature and design into recognizable icons, this approach to learning focuses on everyday and natural environments, providing building blocks for learning. With an emphasis on play, patternABC connects students’ verbal and mathematical abilities to spatial reasoning. Research shows that leveraging patternABC in early education has been shown to improve school readiness and

Lower School students using the Collegiate-designed pattern alphabet digital app, which incorporates na2ure’s 32 child-friendly icons.

Student art created using patterns found in the pattern alphabet.

potentially enhance STEM and art learning outcomes.

The veins of an Eastern redbud leaf, looked at through the eyes of a student attuned to patterns in nature, become a detailed bloom of various branches, parallel lines and spirals, and seeing these patterns in nature can help a student with math comprehension in the classroom. Students begin seeing that the broccoli they eat has patterns of math within the branching leaves. They see their commute home from school as a winding, spiraling path. “With the pattern alphabet, students can look at those patterns in nature and develop a vocabulary for math patterns,” says Domalik, the Lower School Math Specialist. “The approach helps students make connections across disciplines in the classroom and in nature. Just like you use letters to build words, we can see patterns as a way to build things in nature. Students begin to notice everything and, in their noticing, they develop a common language to talk about these things.”

In the classroom Domalik and other resource specialists at Collegiate extend the visual representations of patterns across disciplines. A novel, intricately plotted, can have a

winding narrative with multiple character arcs running parallel to each other. Students in art class can explore patterns as they refine their skills of spiral designs and cross hatching.

“We began to see the pattern alphabet as a way to connect everything we were doing across science, engineering, art, math and technology,” Domalik says.

“This created a common thread for us. This approach is not just a science approach. It’s not just an English approach. It combines everything.”

Director of Economic Literacy and Entrepreneurship Trina Clemans discovered patternABC’s potential to connect disciplines and study spatial reasoning back in May of 2021, when she happened upon na2ure’s deck of 32 transparent cards of illustrated icons. With an insatiable curiosity, Clemans wanted to learn more, so she reached out to Wolf.

Wolf explained that research from Dr. Karyn Purvis, the Rees-Jones Director and co-founder of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, shows that students require roughly 400 repetitions of practice in any subject in order to reach comprehension but that, by playing a game that covers the same subject, students learn to apply the

skills much faster. “The whole concept is very play oriented,” Clemans says. “A nature-inspired, play-based approach sparks curiosity, enhances critical thinking and nurtures a love for learning as well as an appreciation of our natural world. It’s so simple, but it’s also really detailed in its simplicity.”

Her mind humming with possibilities, Clemans went to the late Daniel Bartels, Middle/ Upper STEAM Coordinator and Robotics Program Leader, who always had a knack for finding creative ways to teach students, for a gut check. “I didn’t really know exactly what to think and had some ideas about what might be possible, so I went to Daniel to see what he thought, and he started to get really excited,” Clemans explains. Bartels and Clemans would hustle back and forth between offices to bounce ideas off each other, ultimately forming a partnership with Wolf and Parikh, na2ure co-founder and psychiatrist, to advance the framework that na2ure developed and support their work with the aim of getting patternABC and the accompanying growing body of research into the hands of more students and educators.

With the added support of David Uttal at Northwestern University’s Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, they landed on the idea of creating a digital app that could incorporate na2ure’s 32 child-friendly icons, mimicking the connections students were making to patterns in nature. Upper School math and computer science teacher Kristine Chiodo developed the prototype of the digital application with input from Upper School computer science students. Lower School students then piloted the application, which displayed a series of images from flowers, to the horns of a moose, sea coral, trees and other natural objects and then gave students the opportunity to select the corresponding patternABC icons

they connected to the image. While the students are playing, the back end of the app collects anonymized data connected to thinking time and pattern recognition benchmarks informed by independent research.

After Chiodo developed an app prototype, the team of Bartels and Clemans from Collegiate, Wolf and Parikh of na2ure, Uttal from Northwestern and Herb Ginsburg of Columbia University entered the product into the 2022-23 Tools Competition, a multi-million dollar competition for education-technology innovation that leverages digital technology, big data and learning science to meet the urgent needs of learners worldwide.

Among more than 1,000 proposals from 73 countries, the pABC app was among 32 winning submissions, with the team receiving $100,000 to continue developing and refining it based on na2ure’s patternABC. “When pairing patternABC with the app, teachers can nurture learning across STEM and art disciplines and receive insights on the thinking of each individual student,” says Clemans, who, in partnership with Technology Integrator Rachael Rachau, continues working with educators at Collegiate to bring this new pedagogy into more classrooms. “This is really just the beginning of what we can do with patternABC. There’s an added level of sophistication to education when you begin to blend digital and analog learning tools and frameworks in and out of the classroom. The work of na2ure, Collegiate teachers and the pattern alphabet app team will serve as a bridge to so many opportunities.”

Remembering Charlie McFall

A friend and colleague of Charlie McFall’s, Charlie Blair reflects on the life of the late Collegiate great.

By Weldon Bradshaw

WHEN CHARLIE BLAIR WAS 10 years old, his parents sent him to Camp Virginia to listen, observe, learn and grow from the friendships he developed with mentors who, they felt, would change his life in a positive way.

One of the first people he met when he arrived was a counselor eight years his senior, a rising sophomore at Randolph-Macon College by the name of Charlie McFall.

Little could Blair have imagined back then that he and McFall would become fast friends and share a personal and professional journey that would truly last a lifetime.

“He was somebody I could look up to,” Blair says. “He was a really decent human being. He was as consistent as anyone could possibly be. You always knew what you were going to get. He was thoughtful and generous. It’s cliché to say, but if he had a dollar and it was his last one and you needed it, he’d give it to you.”

Blair saw that kindness and decency as a novice camper. He saw those noble attributes through the many summers that followed at Camp Virginia and later at Camp Rivers Bend. And he saw them on a daily basis during the decades they shared the Collegiate experience as colleagues.

McFall came on board at Collegiate in 1970 and served in many capacities during his 43 years, including math teacher, athletic director, football coach and baseball coach. McFall Hall, on the North Mooreland Road campus, was named in his honor in 2013. He was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014.

Blair joined the team in 1978 following his graduation from the University of Virginia, and, during his 41 years at Collegiate, served as a history teacher, head varsity boys soccer coach for 38 years and head of the Middle School for 29. The Charlie Blair Field on the Robins Campus bears his name.

“A good part of the reason I got into teaching was Charlie,” Blair says. “I saw the impact he had on others. I found myself following the same path. The quality that I most admired, that Charlie imbued, was that he was more interested in what somebody else was doing than in what he was doing and making certain that others were finding success and happiness. He took absolute joy from that.

“He didn’t do things for others because he wanted them to thank him. He certainly appreciated it, but his motivation was just so intrinsic to decency. I keep coming back to decency.”

McFall slipped peacefully away this past Sept. 21. As his health declined and in the aftermath

of his passing, Blair (among many others) has reflected, reminisced, smiled at the telling and retelling of myriad Charlie McFall stories and shed a tear or two or three.

It was the summer of 1967 that Blair and McFall met.

“Charlie was a counselor working in campcraft, where you learn how to do things like build fires, pack a backpack, hike and cook outdoors,” Blair says. “I remember him vividly up in a tree working on a treehouse we were building. Part of it wasn’t very much fun for us because we carried all the wood and supplies, and they [the counselors] did the building. I remember him down at the river teaching us how to swim. I was not one of his great success stories. I’m not kidding about that.”

Unless you knew McFall in his younger days, you might not realize what a talented athlete he was at Randolph-Macon Academy, where he starred in football, basketball and baseball, and later at R-MC.

“He could do anything,” Blair says. “He could walk by a basketball court every day for a month at camp and never pick up a ball. One day, one would roll over next to his feet, he’d pick it up, and hit shot after shot.”

True story. When McFall was in college, he went out one afternoon to watch a tennis match. A Yellow Jacket player was sick and unable to compete. The R-MC coach asked McFall if he wanted to take his place.

“Charlie said, ‘Sure,’” Blair says. “He hadn’t had a tennis racquet in his hands in years. He goes out there and wins and ends up lettering in tennis. He could play any sport. I’m sure if he’d played golf, he would have been great.”

Just before his health began to decline, McFall accompanied Blair to his house in Mathews County.

“We’re out on the end of the dock,” Blair recalls. “Charlie was sitting in one of those low chairs facing the land. I said, ‘Are you going to fish?’ He said something like, ‘I might throw a line out there.’

“McFall looks over and grabs a rod and reel and says, ‘Where’re they biting?’ I said, ‘Over there’ and pointed toward a crab pot. He kind of looks over his shoulder and throws the thing backhanded over his head within two feet of [the target] from about 35 yards out. He sits there and catches a fish.

“It was unbelievable what he could do athletically. Shoot a rifle. Shoot a bow and arrow. It didn’t matter. He was so athletic.”

From left: Charlie Kollmansperger, Charlie Blair, Charlie Rosenbaum, Charlie McFall.

True to McFall’s nature, there’s more, of course.

“No one ever knew because he never bragged about it,” Blair continues. “When he walked onto the campus here at Collegiate, no one would have ever known what a talented athlete he was if you had to depend on him to let you know. He’s always been so unassuming.”

When McFall served as Athletic Director, he was, on paper at least, Blair’s supervisor.

“You worked with him, not for him,” Blair says. “He had no interest in hierarchy. He understood how you develop teams, how you develop loyalty and how you develop chemistry. He shared the leadership role. You have to be confident in yourself to do that. Charlie was a model for that, although he would never articulate it.”

McFall worked with his football and baseball assistants in much the same manner.

“Watching Charlie and hearing him talk about the authority he gave assistant coaches to make decisions serves as a great example,” Blair says. “He didn’t care one bit about getting credit for anything. He wanted to make sure the experience was right for the kids.

“He had no thought that he was the only one who understood the game of football or that he had all the right answers. He invited assistants to be involved at a level that would be far greater than for people who have more of an ego. That’s what he believed in. That’s how he worked with people.”

While McFall evolved over the years, he remained true to himself and the same humble, unpretentious, sometimes self-deprecating, caring advocate and friend that he had always been.

“Even though I was a camper and he was a counselor and I was a rookie teacher and he was a veteran, we were friends, always,” Blair says. “That didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of learning going on for me, from him, the entire time.”

It’s been almost nine months since McFall passed away. The celebration of life, held in mid-November, was a cathartic moment in time for the Collegiate family. That said, Charlie’s loss still seems surreal for so many. Those who knew him well continue to work through and help each other work through the grieving process.

“When you have friends like that…,” Blair says, pausing to allow the emotion to subside. Then he continued, in a halting voice. “Gosh, Weldon, I’m so lucky, so grateful, to have Charlie in my life.”

The quality that I most admired, that Charlie imbued, was that he was more interested in what somebody else was doing than in what he was doing and making certain that others were finding success and happiness. He took absolute joy from that.”

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Pam Sutherland’s Honors Art class masterfully displayed their collaborative exhibition, along with individual pieces, at the Visual Arts Center.

AN INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT, art is often practiced in isolation. An artist descends into the depths of her own mind, returning with work she found there. So, when asked to work with others, as Upper School art teacher Pam Sutherland asked of her Honors Art students, the expressive result becomes a study in varying styles and their entanglement.

In late January, Sutherland’s Honors Art class masterfully displayed their collaborative exhibition, along with individual pieces, at the Visual Arts Center. The collective approach to art making that each group embraced embodies the individual spirit of each of the artists, held together in zesty, chaotic union. “Working collaboratively is not only a good way to reconnect with their peers, but reinforced the team aspect of this class,” Sutherland says of the exhibit. “Students learn things about themselves as makers that they could not learn on their own. Having to share in this way enhances communication and intention at the same time that it multiplies risk. Both of those tendencies, in my opinion, can only make art better.”

Publicly, the risk involved is vulnerability and exposure; privately, in the intimate space of a studio, the risk is competing varieties of artistic ingenuity. Creating art with the intention of displaying it beyond an artist’s studio adds additional intensity to the process. Exhibitions also invariably require a pressurized crunch of a deadline. There is the cloudy thrill of showing your work to a large audience, and there is the problem of creating the work itself and arranging it coherently on the walls of an exhibit, something every curator grapples with. “Knowing you are showing

your work publicly lights a fire under students like nothing else,” Sutherland says. “And having a more compressed amount of work in a single space like the Visual Arts Center generates a larger, more captive audience. This is exciting — and nerve wracking — for students. In other words, another positive stressor.”

Eva Siminiceanu, Alexis Covington and Björn Petersson — all Seniors in Sutherland’s Honors Art class — responded to these positive stressors with dazzling flare. Typically dealing in referential abstraction, Björn found the approach exciting, and, slow to start, the group decided to lean on their individual strengths. “Eva and Alexis are both really talented artists in their own right, and I think we all knew what each of us was best at stylistically,” Björn says. “We decided to stick to what we were good at and build from there, feeding off one another.”

Like an improv group, one artist would make a mark and then another would respond to it, building a symphony of harmoniously cacophonous parts.

Composed of three phases, their piece, like a statue of solitary parts molded together, narrates a story of growth. At the base of the structure sits a transparent box holding children’s stuffed animals, which props up a large piece of wood showing detailed portraits of the three artists. Above the wood, resplendently bundled, is a canvas, vaporous and painted the color of a raincloud, where some future is held, waiting. Art should resist interpretation, the experience of looking satisfying the impulse to analyze, but it’s hard not to see the delicately painted self-portraits and imagine those faces gazing somewhat timidly towards that gauzy and

undetermined future. Looking at the piece echoes the sensation every high schooler once felt when asked the meddlesome question, “So, what are you going to do once you graduate?” The weight of possibilities throws you off balance.

As Seniors, contemplation of the past feels urgently appropriate as they look to what’s to come. But articulating the sensation of an approaching future is disorienting, the unknown difficult to express. The project, for this group, became a way of finding language for that expression. “Art is a way of expressing myself and learning more about myself,” Björn says. “And I’ve learned through this project to work with a group. Having other people rely on you creates a lot more pressure, and so I learned how to trust myself more when it comes to making art.”

Arranging the pieces around a large room in the Visual Arts Center offered a new experience for the students. They had the month of January to complete their work. Then, the day before the show, they collected their work and took it to the Visual Arts Center to display everything together. The show, “Collab x5,” a name that celebrates the collaboration of the five participating groups in Honors Art, was on display for a Sunday evening. Merging their talents, the groups exhibited a collective expression, an extension of themselves as a whole. “Having clean walls and a big space for the art makes the show look so much more professional,” Alexis says. “You don’t have a room full of chaos and color. Instead it’s this exhibit specifically for us and our art — and for everyone to see our art. That makes the show really special.”

STARS BEHIND THE CURTAIN

The small but mighty theater production team working behind the scenes makes those on stage, when the spotlight is on them, look and sound their best.

ELLIE WILDER Theater Production Technician

ANDY SANTALLA Theater Production Technician

GABE YELANJIAN Technical Coordinator

LUKAS DESKEVICH’S ’26 mind raced like a firefly released from a jar as Technical Coordinator Gabe Yelanjian and Theater Production Technician Ellie Wilder showed him how the fly rail in Oates Theater worked. The huge, intricate wall of ropes and pulleys, all of it weighted and hanging mystically, just off stage, responsible for the magical movement of lights and scenery on stage. Pull one rope and night becomes day; pull another and a forest opens to a city scene. The moment was a surge of recognition, gathering gnawing interests and exploding them into a specific passion.

“We finished showing him the system and Gabe and I started walking back to the shop when we heard him shout, ‘This is so cool! I finally found my thing!’” Wilder remembers. “I can’t express how happy that made me, because I like seeing the students enjoying themselves and eager to learn.”

The diligent, hard-working theater production team of Andy Santalla, Yelanjian and Wilder create these moments of discovery all the time for students. No matter the occasion — whether it’s a Lower School play, Middle School choral performance, Upper School assembly or Parents’ Association presentation — this small but mighty group working behind the scenes makes those on stage, when the spotlight is on them, look and sound their best. Think about the magnitude of that work and the areas of the School that work encompasses. Between January and May of 2024, excluding graduations and assemblies, there will be more than 50 performance arts events across all three divisions. Students will get on stage to sing, dance, act, laugh and cry, and, pulling the strings of the fly rail, adjusting the hue and brightness of a spotlight, and building out sets is the theater production team.

“This is the gathering place for so many people,” Yelanjian says from the stage of an empty Oates Theater one Friday afternoon. “In a way this place symbolizes and represents Collegiate. This is where we get people together — to perform, to speak, to give updates. And then, behind the scenes, it’s a place for us and our students to play, explore and be creative.”

And if there’s any place on campus that places a high value on creativity, it’s the theater. Under the high ceilings of pulleys and lights, this is a place that encourages students to indulge in the multitudes of their enthusiasms and dramatize the self. Santalla, laughing, brushing sawdust from his jeans, has been building what he calls theme-setting wagons all afternoon. Small boxes on wheels with rectangular slits in the center, this device allows the stage crew to easily pull scene-setting props on and off stage. Constructing a single box is a multi-layered problem that blends art and math, but Santalla approaches these challenges with giddy alacrity. “Theaters have always been the place where I feel most comfortable,” says Santalla, who has been

working in theaters since he fell in love with the artful arena as a student at Bishop Ireton. “And Collegiate — this space in Oates — feels no different. It’s a place where people come to be themselves and collaborate. I don’t think you can get more collaborative than theater. It’s an inherently collaborative art, and that creates a sense of community. Whoever you are, whatever you’re going through, we’re all here with the same goal. And there’s space for you — even if you just want to come in and cut some wood or paint a prop.”

That morning, the production team taught 1st Graders how to use a microphone. That afternoon, they oversaw an Upper School assembly, where a handful of Seniors delivered Senior speeches. When the Upper School tech crew comes in later in the afternoon, they’ll continue working on the set production for the Upper School’s rendition of Pride and Prejudice. “On any given day, we can work in every single division, focusing on a different thing in each one,” Yelanjian says. “But no matter how seemingly small the production, you are helping students learn and grow. A Lower Schooler learns how a microphone works and you suddenly see them getting more confident on stage. The same thing can be said of a parent speaking at a PA meeting. The variety of things we do can be chaotic — because who knows what’s going to happen on a day-to-day basis — but that is a really great, fun challenge. Those kinds of creative challenges are the reason I got into theater in the first place.”

When the Upper School tech crew arrives, Wilder will go back to work building a giant scuba mask for the production of Finding Nemo KIDS. Her mind hums as she considers the weight of the mask, its colors, its size. She’ll oversee Lukas’s work as he operates the chop saw, tucked safely away behind the stage, cutting out pieces for the next set. She anticipates being needed elsewhere, but part and parcel to the production process is not knowing where creativity and problem solving are necessary until an issue emerges. Her voice rises with excitement just speaking about the upcoming afternoon. “The theater is truly like a haven for creativity for me,” she says. “I get to do a variety of wacky, fun projects with students that bring people joy.”

Convocation. Commencement. Homecoming. Pep Rally. If you look around during any production, you’ll see Wilder — and Yelanjian and Santalla, each of them in their respective positions, too — guiding the show along, the way an airplane pilot silently pulls passengers through the air without them fully knowing it. Every show is different, but each has the same goal in mind: bringing the School together to celebrate those on stage. “Collegiate is at its best when we’re all together,” Santalla says. “We’re all in one spot, being creative, having fun, enjoying a shared experience. That’s what a theater production at a school is all about.”

Ukraine

By Charles Nolde ’24

The echoing anger of guns eat away all the happiness from the world. Choirs of tears and screams are its only mufflers. A dark and cold Russian cloud encroaches on our mundane home, consuming lives and shattering hearts.

Birds sing songs of sorrow and buildings fall like sand castles crumbling into piles of sadness.

Black smoke extinguishes the light. Like dusk, it darkens our lives.

They call this era of war “cold war,” but it is hot.

Nuclear power makes tension boil; anxiety tightens its grips.

We civilians are the bull’s eye; death and ruin is our fate.

Our morale withers like the daffodils in the summer; but that is what they want. We must stay strong and use memories as a light.

A ripple effect, like a rock thrown into still water. But the ripples are waves that wash away the grains and oil. Putin knocked down the dominos, stepping on people even a continent away.

Art courtesy of Upper School ceramics teacher Mary Arzt.

SONGS OF GENERATIONS

Collegiate’s Pageant rehearsal brings generations of Cougars together to sing and celebrate a long-held tradition.

The gravity of the moment didn’t sink in until just before the show. Backstage with her classmates, dressed in satin gowns, the costumes of the crush angles, Katie Cullen ’24 felt as though her mind were flipping through a photo album of memories. This was her last Pageant performance, a play she had participated in since she was a 5th Grader at Collegiate, and scenes from all her previous performances came rushing back to her. The first show, when she was a cherub, always stands out, but so do her roles as a village child and the songs she sang in the choir as a Middle Schooler. Each year carries equal weight and significance, and, like looking at a photograph, each year possesses a unique moment and represents a time distinct in its own right.

“As the years have progressed, I’ve come to appreciate the meaning behind Pageant and all of the special moments each year gave me,” Katie says. “The fun changes depending on what grade you’re in. I remember acting as villagers in 10th Grade, and I remember, during a rehearsal as a 5th

Grader, hearing the alumni cheer for us as cherubs. There’s something really special about seeing your friends dress up each year to put on a beautiful story.”

Held since the early days of the Collegiate School for Girls on Monument Avenue, Pageant tells the Christmas story entirely through music, with the Middle and Upper School chorus groups singing as students costumed as cherubs, angels, shepherds, kings, and Mary and Joseph reenact the birth of Jesus.

“I think what makes Collegiate such a special place is the fact that we have these traditions that span over generations and years,” Katie says. As part of that tradition, the School invites alumnae to return to All Saints Episcopal Church to watch the Pageant rehearsal. It’s a chance to experience the performance in a new way with classmates. During rehearsal, wearing halos of their own and singing along to every song, generations of Cougars come together to celebrate the Collegiate spirit. “Seeing how many people come back as alumni,

wearing halos and participating in the show — I think that speaks magnitudes about Collegiate and the community that we have in place here.”

Among the members of the audience during the Pageant rehearsal are Christina Sweeney Bier ’03 P ’34 ’36 and Blair Northern Williamson ’04 P ’33 ’35. In a way similar to Katie, they had a dizzying experience of falling through memories as they sat in the pews. As the play was unfolding before them, they reflected on their own time performing Pageant. They saw themselves in the shoes of the performers.

For Bier and Williamson, observing the spectacle of Collegiate’s Pageant is a way to both reminisce with fellow alumni and connect with current students. “It feels very important for not only us to come back and experience this, but also for the girls performing to see that we still really care about this tradition,” says Williamson, whose aunt also participated in Pageant when she was a student. “It’s a generational thing. And coming back serves as a stimulation of memory.”

After the performance, Bier and Williamson swapped stories, chatting about which classmates played certain roles during their time at Collegiate. They debated their favorite songs and harped on the rigors of rehearsals. Watching the play, the feelings contained within a certain moment in time, during their own Pageant shows, came rushing back. “Watching the girls perform brings me so much joy,” Bier says, her whole face a smile. “I still love this tradition, and I love that I get to experience it again as an alum.”

Students Earn Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative students. This year, 26 Collegiate School students earned gold, silver and honorable mention honors in the art and writing categories. The recipients’ work was featured in a gallery at the Visual Arts Center.

Alexis Covington

Ellie Becker

Marla Van Deusen

GOLD KEY

Clavio Ascari ’25, Photography

Alexis Covington ’24, Drawing & Illustration

Anneclare Fonville ’26, Painting

Thomas Harrison ’24, Short Story

Maddie Hough ’25, Painting

Marla Van Deusen ’24, Painting

Stella Vetrovec ’26, Personal Essay

Ben Wittkamp ’24, Personal Essay

Catherine Yarney ’26, Photography

SILVER KEY

Ellie Becker ’27, Painting

Adi Brotherton ’25, Photography

Alexis Covington ’24, Drawing & Illustration

Kaelyn Crosthwaite ’25, Drawing & Illustration (3)

Giles Ferrell ’24, Painting

Madelyn Ford ’25, Novel Writing

Thomas Harrison ’24, Short Story

Maddie Hough ’25, Drawing & Illustration

Anne Lewis ’27, Painting

Marissa Milton ’24, Ceramics & Glass

Jane Simkin ’26, Painting

Marla Van Deusen ’24, Painting

Stella Vetrovec ’26, Personal Essay

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Clavio Ascari ’25, Photography

Ellie Becker ’27, Drawing & Illustration

Jac Borich ’24, Photography (2)

Adi Brotherton ’25, Novel Writing

Alexis Covington ’24, Drawing & Illustration

Kaelyn Crosthwaite ’25, Drawing & Illustration (4)

Kaelyn Crosthwaite ’25, Mixed Media

Vivienne Dai ’27, Drawing & Illustration

Anneclare Fonville ’26, Painting

Gracie Gordon ’24, Poetry

Ty Gregory ’24, Photography portfolio

Thomas Harrison ’24, Short Story

Ava Lingerfelt ’24, Painting

Olivia Handley ’26, Painting

Rachel Peck ’25, Drawing & Illustration

Jack Porter ’27, Drawing & Illustration (2)

Ava Robinson ’24, Painting

Kana Sakagami ’25, Drawing & Illustration

Jane Simkin ’26, Ceramics & Glass

AnneClare Fonville

Clavio Ascari

Jane Simkin

Kaelyn Crosthwaite Catherine Yarney

Maddie Hough

THE TRUE MEASURE OF SUCCESS

At the conclusion of the 2023 fall athletic season, Director of Athletics Andrew Stanley discusses the student-athletes’ development and success.

By Weldon Bradshaw

COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE IS not just a goal at Collegiate. It’s an expectation, and it takes many forms.

In the fall of 2022, the School’s varsity athletic teams combined for five league and three state titles. Twenty-nine athletes earned All-League of Independent Schools or All-Prep League recognition, and 18 of those also made All-VISAA.

This time around, both tennis and girls cross country won their third consecutive VISAA championship, and soccer won its second in three years. Girls cross country, field hockey and soccer repeated as league champs, and boys cross country won the Prep League for the first time since 2008.

Twenty-one Collegiate athletes earned All-LIS honors, 10 were All-Prep and 18 All-VISAA. Virginia Harris ’27 (cross country), Charles Nolde ’24 (soccer), Gracie Gordon ’24 (volleyball), Callie Rogers ’24 (field hockey) and Elizabeth Mendoza ’24 (tennis) were cited as athlete of the year in their respective sports.

As was the case in 2022, Matthew Richardson (cross country), Rob Ukrop (soccer), Allyson Brand (tennis) and Rose White (volleyball)

The story of this year was about team, about depth and about how we fought and battled.

were voted by their league counterparts as coach of the year.

“The story of this year was about team, about depth and about how we fought and battled,” says Andrew Stanley, Collegiate’s Director of Athletics. “I was super impressed.”

Examples? There were many. Stanley offered a sampling.

“I think about the volleyball match at St. Catherine’s where we were down 0-2 and came back to win in 5,” he said. “I think about Liam Harbour’s ’24 speech about cross country in the assembly about how this year the boys found the fifth and sixth runners they needed to win a championship.

“I think about the number of guys in football who played different roles for that team to compete, and the way they battled, especially defensively, to hold good teams to small numbers, even when undersized.

“Some of the biggest goals scored this season in soccer — Cooper Winston-Evans’s ’24 game-winner that put us into the (VISAA) finals, Joshua Parker’s ’25 game winner in overtime in the finals, some of the biggest goals against St. Christopher’s in the Prep League — were scored by people not named Charles Nolde ’24 (the league and state player of the year, who scored 28 goals, including seven game winners, and contributed 21 assists). You can only have role players doing that when your best players do their jobs. That’s a statement about growth, teamwork, character and confidence. When we were at our best, our depth was showing, and we were able to excel across the board.”

There’re more, for sure.

“The fifth [and deciding] point we got to win the state [tennis] championship was a win by Abby Rosenstock ’24 in No. 6 singles,” Stanley continues.

“Our hockey team lost 7-1 to Norfolk Academy the first time we played them and then played them again in the state finals. They accepted a game plan and executed a game plan against the No. 2 team in the nation. We were down 4-0 and scored three straight goals (before losing 4-3). Growth was on display. Teamwork was on display. The character of the competitors was on display. That’s what we want sports to be here.

“We knew our girls could win the cross country state championship. We finished second, third and seventh. You have to have five. There’s character required to win that race in the 24th and 28th spots. That, to me, is the beauty of the cross county, track and field and swimming type sports.

“I was impressed by the way our athletes almost universally accepted and embraced their roles to give our teams the best chance to compete day in and day out.”

Stanley, a longtime varsity boys lacrosse coach before he stepped back two years ago to focus on his duties as AD, commends the leadership provided by the varsity head coaches.

“We have exceptional coaches in the fall season,” he says. “Because they were willing to do the right thing, the kids were willing to do the right thing. We punched above our weight a number of times. Whether we won or lost those games is almost irrelevant. You knew you’d seen something.

“One of the best stories of the fall was the fact that we lost the LIS tennis tournament (by one point to St. Catherine’s) because it gave us a chance to show how dominant we could be if we decided to be. There’s value in losing. It stinks, but it is part of the process.

“I really enjoyed watching our girls react to that loss in the moment and watching their response the whole next week. That was a really cool lesson in teamwork, because the kids who didn’t play had to show up to practice ready to rally the kids who did. That team came together and smoked their competition 5-0, 5-0 and 5-0 in the state tournament.”

While winning is great, Stanley says, the true measure of coaching success is providing athletes the tools to succeed, then humbly stepping back and taking quiet pride is seeing them become the best versions of themselves, both individually and collectively.

“We’re so fortunate that our head coaches, our program leaders, have an absolutely high level of expertise in their sport, which is a gift,” he says. “They have a commitment and passion for their sport. They also have the presence, the awareness, the acumen, the ability to detach from their own knowledge and emotion and see the moment in front of them and the students in front of them and make good decisions, make the right tactical maneuvers, support the children emotionally in the right way and put the right kids in the right spots more often than not.

“The kids had room to breathe and become themselves because the coaches allowed that to happen. We’re in a really good spot with fall coaches and fall sports.”

THE PROCESS OF SUCCESS

Collegiate’s wrestling team has struggled to regain its momentum after COVID-imposed restrictions, but coach Andy Stone’s team has bought into the premise that achieving success is a process. By Weldon Bradshaw

IN THE POST-COVID YEARS, Collegiate’s wrestling team has struggled to regain its traction following a season of cardio-vascular workouts but no contact, no mat time, no Middle School feeder program and no competitions.

For Andy Stone, his coaching staff and the athletes who participated during that like-none-other winter of 2020-21, the road back has been long, devious and, let’s face it, sometimes frustrating.

Following their return, the Cougars have often been defeated on the scoreboard even before they began matches because they didn’t have enough healthy wrestlers to fill several of the 14 weight classes and because those who competed were still working to hone their skill.

Nevertheless, the few and the proud showed up each afternoon at the Jamie Robertson ’04 Wrestling Room and trained as if championships were on the line. They stayed the course. They persevered. They achieved small victories, and they celebrated them.

“Individually, we’re competitive,” says Stone, who’s in his 21st year at Collegiate. “We have kids who will compete for league titles and topfour in the state. As a team, I think we’re still a year or two away from pushing ourselves into the top five in the state, but that’s the goal. We

as coaches have high expectations. The kids do too. It just takes time. There are no shortcuts.”

This year, 48 wrestlers (22 JV and varsity, 26 Cub) comprise the wrestling program.

Seniors Braden Bell ’24 (175 weight class), Walker Bain ’24 (126), Everett Hatfield ’24 (165) and Cabell Chenault ’24 (who’s been a presence despite injury issues) are veterans from the COVID year and have been the linchpins.

Their classmate Kevin Johnson ’24 (heavyweight) is new to the program, and Junior Alexander Tan ’25 (138) has returned after a hiatus. The rest of the lineup is 8th Graders and Freshmen plus a motivated group of Sophomores (among them Pierson Harris ’26, at 144, Ferran Salhab ’26, at 150 and Thomas Shaia ’26, at 157) who joined the program as Middle Schoolers post-COVID.

“Our Seniors are the backbone of the program, but they lost a lot of time and couldn’t develop,” Stone says, referencing the 2020-21 downtime. “Wrestling is such a high-skill sport. Even if you’re a naturally great athlete, it takes multiple years and effort and focus to develop your skills. The next jump is being able to do it in a live match.

“You also need role models, not just the character things, but you need to see people using the

If you go out there and fight and fully try your hardest, you feel very accomplished, more so if you win.”

techniques in a live match. That builds on itself. One person does this skill or that technique, and it acts like a positive virus.”

Braden, who serves as team captain, joined the program as an 8th Grader, persevered through the off-year and has found fulfillment through the challenges and team experience.

“The part of the sport that I enjoy the most is the sense of accomplishment you feel regardless of the outcome of a match,” he says. “If you go out there and fight and fully try your hardest, you feel very accomplished, more so if you win.”

As a younger wrestler, he looked up to previous captains, especially Marshall Campbell ’20 and Walker Clemans ’22, both of whom competed with passion and intentionality.

“I’ve tried to replicate what they did and how they helped me,” Braden says. “I try to help people because I know how they feel. Wrestling as long as I have, I understand a lot of the problems that they come to me with and how they feel after a loss and how they feel after a win.”

While he’s looking forward to the championship competitions, he’s trying to process the end of his five-year journey.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “It’s sad to leave the program. I like the sport. It makes me feel very

good, very accomplished. I feel like I’m leaving it in a good place. The future is bright. I’m happy about that.”

The journey continues for Collegiate wrestling. Stone’s crew has bought into the premise that achieving success is a process and you pay for that success, however it presents itself, with sweat equity.

“That’s definitely true,” Stone says. “It’s not even something we talk about. It’s just the way we do things. We don’t have to raise our voices. We don’t have to push them. They motivate themselves. They understand what wrestling is about and what it takes. Kids that stick it out graduate with the skills of hard work, resilience and perseverance that are built into the process and prepare them for life.”

Editor’s

Photography courtesy of Jac Borich ’24.

Team-First Mindset

Lily Berger ’24 plays basketball with a pass-first mindset that has generated team success on the court. By Weldon Bradshaw

AWEEK IN MID-JANUARY

was topsy-turvy, which is hardly ideal for coaches and athletes who thrive on routine.

To say that the roller coaster ride had tested the mettle of Lily Berger ’24 and her Collegiate varsity girls basketball teammates would be an understatement.

The craziness began on Jan. 9 when a monsoon forced postponement of their much-anticipated home game with Catholic High and cancellation of practice.

Two days later, they traveled to Christchurch to play the Seahorses, but the referees never arrived, so it was back on the bus for the 90-minute ride home with nothing but bonding time to show for their efforts.

The next day, they defeated a stronger-than-expected St. Margaret’s squad 46-40 on the Steve Hickman Court after trailing by as many as 10 points early on.

Then, there was the long Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend with practice on Monday, but another weather event created treacherous conditions, and another practice was canceled.

Finally, on Jan. 16, they took the court against a solid Trinity Episcopal squad in a key League of Independent Schools matchup, quickly fell behind and trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half. After rallying a bit in the third quarter, they entered the fourth down 34-26.

“We’d had a rocky week,” says Lily, the Cougars’ 5-4 Se-

nior point guard, a five-year starter, two-year captain and a Shenandoah University signee. “We just had to remain calm and stick to what we knew.”

Few remain calm better than Lily. She’s preternaturally unflappable. She never panics, even in the most intense and challenging moments.

A seasoned AAU player, she’s performed under pressure more times than she can count, so a mere eight-point deficit with eight minutes left didn’t faze her one iota. In fact, it provided yet another moment when her under stated passion shined through.

Thirty seconds into the fourth quarter, the Cou gars, playing their trademark man-toman, forced a turnover that resulted in a Clare Aman ’26 layup off an assist from Josie Smalley ’27.

After another turn over, Lily, basketball in hand, scoped out the landscape from just above the top of the key, saw that her teammates were covered and drained a three-pointer to cut the Cou gars’ deficit to three points.

Yet another turnover cre ated an offensive opportunity, which Makenzie Weiss ’26 con verted into a three-pointer from the left wing to forge a 34-all tie at 4:57.

Trinity retook the lead (3534) with a free throw at 4:19, but Abby Craig’s ’24 strike from behind the arc at 3:41 sent the

Photography courtesy of Maggie Bowman ’23.

Cougars ahead 37-35 en route to a 41-36 victory.

“When you look at the fourth quarter,” Lily says, “we held them to two points and scored 15. We just tried to win that quarter, not even looking ahead to win the game. Take it 30 seconds by 30 seconds. Let’s get a stop. Let’s get a bucket. Just keep that repetition going.”

Her poise under pressure has always resonated.

“I’m trying to show them that if I’m not shaken, they shouldn’t be either,” she adds. “Stay calm. Stay cool. Stay collected. Lock into the game. Don’t worry about anything else.”

Lily scored just five points in the Trinity win. Make no mistake, though. She ran the show as she has the past four years.

“[Lily] has been a great presence on the court, especially for the younger players,” says Clare, a 5-11 Sophomore. “If there’s a stressful situation at the end of a game, the clock is winding down and we’re down a couple of points, she keeps us all under control.

“One of her greatest strengths is her ball handling, especially in the back court. That’s one of the things that keeps us together when she’s out on the court.”

Through 15 games in the 2023-24 season, Lily had a statistical ledger of 4.5 points and 4.6 assists per game. She also notched 53 rebounds and 20 steals.

For her career, she’s scored 399 points and contributed 286 assists. Her 67 threepointers places her sixth in program history.

She’s also dealt 286 assists, which ranks second (64 behind Anna Wilson ’16) in program history.

“[Lily is] one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever seen,” Clare says. “She’s very much pass-oriented and looking to get her teammates open.

“If she has a good shot but feels like a teammate has a better shot, she’ll pass to the teammate, no matter who it is. That’s something everyone can learn from. She opens up the floor and makes opportunities for everybody else. It’s great to have somebody like that on your team.”

Lily has been playing sports for as long as she can remember.

“My parents put me in everything,” she says. “I did dance for a year. I did gymnastics, soccer and softball. But playing RockIt basketball in first or second grade was where it all started.

“In basketball, you’re constantly moving. You’re running and gunning. I really enjoy that.”

Her coach and mentor through the RockIt program was Luchel Sylvain, whom she credits with much of her early development in the sport.

She played Cub basketball at Collegiate as a 7th Grader, made the varsity team the next year and earned a starting position on a talented team that included future college players Chandler Eddleton ’20 (Marymount) and Abby Freeman ’20 (Bridgewater).

Competing with and against athletes five years older never fazed her. In fact, she embraced the opportunity.

“It was another day, another challenge,” she says. “I think AAU prepared me for that. You might be playing against a kid who’s six-feet tall. OK. You just have to brush it off.”

Lily’s pass-first modus operandi comes from her team-first mindset.

“It’s more about winning,” she says. “Sure, a double-double, 10 points-10 assists, looks nice, but it’s about making sure my teammates can score.

“It’s kind of like running a pick and roll. I feel like a lot of guards want to peel off the pick and score them-

I’m trying to show them that if I’m not shaken, they shouldn’t be either. Stay calm. Stay cool. Stay collected. Lock into the game. Don’t worry about anything else.”

selves whereas I’m more looking for the roller or the next pass for a three instead of my shot.”

Playing tough defense is also part of Lily’s team-first mindset.

“It really started once I realized I love the run-and-gun offense,” she says. “The fastest way to get there is to lock up on defense, get a quick steal and then pass it up ahead. That actually makes me enjoy defense a little bit more.”

During many mornings over the years, Lily has shown up early at Collegiate to work on her game in solitude or with Rives Fleming ’83, the Cougars’ longtime coach.

“I feel like Lily has been around forever,” says Fleming. “As an 8th Grader, she was happy to be an understudy for two girls (Chandler and Abby) who are now successful college players.

“Since then, it’s been her team. She handles pressure really well. She sees angles and foresees what’s going to happen. She’s also provided some offensive spark at times, but, really, she loves to set up her teammates. She’s a totally unselfish player.

“Lily has spent a lot of time playing basketball over the years. I think it’s her happy place. She really enjoys the team element of basketball. She’s just a great team person.”

a greener path forward

Entering her new role as Collegiate’s Director of Sustainability, Sandra Marr is connecting the School’s three divisions through her conservation efforts.

By Jack McCarthy

Oh, look,” Sandra Marr says, pointing to a crepe myrtle, branches bare in late February, “it’s an Eastern towhee.” Momentarily sturdy, the bird flinches along the branch, its silhouette stamped against the pale blue sky, and belts out a call, breaking the silence of the afternoon like a stone dropped into a still pond. “Listen,” Marr says, interpreting its song, “it’s saying, ‘Drink your tea. Sweet. Sweet.’” She’s right: the twittering does sound that way. Taking in the Eastern towhee’s bright white belly flanked by crescents of orange, I hear and see the bird with sharper focus, as if looking at the creature through binoculars. It’s a strange urge — our impulse to attach a name to a thing — but, putting language to an object, we feel a deeper sense of connection. I ask Marr why this is the case. “Since our brains have evolved to name things, we care more about things that we can name,” she explains. “If you go through the world and all of the plants are just anonymous green things, then you won’t pay attention to them. You won’t notice if they suddenly have a viral infection, or that they’re blooming earlier — and earlier. You won’t notice when you stop seeing the butterflies coming

to your flowers. If you go outside and you’re able to share with someone the name of a plant and some of its traits, your brain begins to pay more attention to the world.”

Walking around the North Mooreland Road campus, listening to Marr, who was named the School’s Director of Sustainability in 2021, I notice nature developing more detail. The spindly branches of maples in winter tangle with the clouds, the morning frost bluish in pockets the pale sun hasn’t touched. Among her many gifts is her ability to infuse more life into the natural world; speaking to Marr is similar to the experience of walking through a garden, where, listening to her, life blooms and becomes more poignant. It’s a practice she performs with students constantly: offering up nuggets of knowledge, the world and students’ place within it become more recognizable. In her new role overseeing sustainability projects and programming at Collegiate, Marr’s intention is to heighten the School’s awareness around the realities of climate change and detail the small, daily actions everyone can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

It’s a big task — a job that goes beyond the borders of a single locality — and there is tremendous

“You can watch a video or documentary or look at a worksheet, but nothing connects with students as much as firsthand experience does. People are more invested in a solution to climate change when they’ve spent time in the ocean snorkeling and they see the plastic floating around them. It’s all about engaging students with the environment that we’re trying to get them to care about.”

work to be done. In 2015, world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Paris, called for emissions to be reduced by 45% by 2030, keeping global warming to a modest 1.5 degrees celsius, and 2050 has now emerged as the consensus target for many countries to go carbon-neutral, with the two intervening decades between these years seen as a great cleaning up of our planet. In the meantime, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen roughly two degrees fahrenheit since the 19th century, with the ocean absorbing most of that heat. Ocean acidification is increasing and sea levels are rising. The number of record-high temperature events in the United States is also increasing and, not coincidentally, the number of record-low temperature events is declining. Snow coverage in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the last 50 years and snow is melting earlier — and earlier.

The hard breaks with the status quo — how we think about our daily lives as it relates to the environment — have to change in the next six years. “That’s really soon,” Marr says, letting out a nervous laugh. But Marr is a self-proclaimed “stubborn optimist.” She believes change

is possible and has ideas of how Collegiate can have a positive local and global effect on the environment, some of which she’s already put into practice.

As a signature placed at the bottom of each of her emails, Marr includes a quote from the social, environmental and political activist and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Wangari Maathai: “Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking.” Certainly a call for action, Marr sees this quote as a mantra for her own approach to sustainability. “I need to feel like I can do something about a problem — or else I fall apart,” she says. “So I’m very action-centered. If there’s something wrong with the world, I need to feel like I have the power to do something within whatever spheres I’m in about it.”

In her capacity as both Director of Sustainability and an Upper School biology teacher, Marr believes part of that action is simply bringing classrooms of students out into nature. She takes Upper Schoolers whale watching off the coast of Virginia Beach. She organizes hikes for the Lower Schoolers in the Pagebrook Outdoor

Classroom on the Robins campus, where students study the characteristics of oak trees and explore organisms like the bess beetle, noting how they break down tree limbs into soil. “You can watch a video or documentary or look at a worksheet, but nothing connects

with students as much as firsthand experience does,” she says. “People are more invested in a solution to climate change when they’ve spent time in the ocean snorkeling and they see the plastic floating around them. It’s all about engaging students with the environment

that we’re trying to get them to care about.”

Natalie Harwood ’25, a fouryear member of Collegiate’s Earth Society, was one of the students that went whale watching this winter. The tour boat skipping along the Atlantic coast, she saw

the ocean jump with bottlenose dolphins, minke and humpback whales. Amazing, seeing firsthand that you exist in the same world as creatures of such magnitude. “I felt really small in that moment,” Natalie recalls. When the boat returned to shore, students walked the coastline of First Landing State Park, along the Chesapeake Bay, picking up trash. Piles of plastic bottles accumulate. Hundreds of cigarette butts discarded among jellyfish and other sea creatures that have washed to shore. Then Marr explains to the students that even something as small as a plastic water bottle can harm something as large as a humpback whale, and, suddenly, Natalie felt big — that her existence alongside other lifeforms had a major impact.

Marr realizes that speaking of whales ingesting plastic water bottles is potentially disturbing, that these conversations are daunting. But she approaches the work required of slowing an increasingly warming planet with a joviality that inspires hope. In all her conversations she speaks lightly, her voice, when discussing her work or nature, often reaches pitches of childlike enthusiasm. She emphasizes the small actions that, when

done collectively, generate large results. “I think about the word capacity a lot,” she says. “Not all of us have the time or motivation to go out and clean a beach. And that’s OK. But what else can you do?” Maybe it’s finding alternatives to single-use plastics in the Estes Cafe, as some Upper School students are researching, or maybe the School can distribute Homecoming T-shirts without the individual plastic wrapping, as Director of Student Life Beth Kondorossy realized this fall. With Marr’s encouragement, teachers have become more cognizant of their use of paper in classrooms and have begun switching to PDF versions of worksheets. Students and teachers both are using the composting stations around campus. All small acts, sure, but these are the ripples that begin a wave of cultural change. “It’s about creating the capacity for this work, creating the cultural norms that enable this work, establishing the stubborn optimism that changes the attitude from ‘Nothing we do is really going to matter,’ to saying, ‘Every little thing we do matters.’ These little choices add up.”

But Marr can’t change the culture around sustainability by herself. The work requires the ef-

forts of everyone. “I know that my approach to sustainability cannot only be housed in me or any one person,” she says. “When you shift a culture — one where students, faculty and staff are all thinking about how we can reimagine our community — we become better stewards for the environment, and magic starts to happen.”

Some of that magic lives within the Earth Society. A club of Upper School students, the Earth Society partners with organizations around Richmond to clean up local spaces. For two years they’ve been volunteering with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to help establish a 15,000 foot rain garden at a local Richmond elementary school. At Collegiate, they’ve created no-mow zones around the Upper School’s native pollinator garden. Constantly planting native perennials on Collegiate’s grounds, they have established diverse ecosystems around campus. But their work goes beyond mending greenery. Equal to the slow, silent gathering of life beneath the surface of soil are the conversations Earth Society members are having with their peers to promote this culture of sustainability. “We sometimes see ourselves as living in this little

bubble that is Collegiate,” Natalie says. “And our work in Earth Society is to try getting people to see outside this bubble and notice how much of an impact each of us has. We try fixing what’s both inside of Collegiate’s bubble and outside of it. Small actions making a big difference has a tremendous butterfly effect on a larger community.”

On a faculty and staff level, the same kind of work is being done with the help of the Sustainability

Task Group. Established by Marr in the spring of 2023, the Sustainability Task Group is composed of faculty across all divisions and staff members with a unified intention of making a large impact through small, intentional actions. The group gathers frequently to discuss ways they can make individual classrooms more sustainable and create conversations with their peers to encourage them to adopt some of these prac -

tices. “What creates community and culture around sustainability is about interacting with others and sharing ideas and finding common ways of how to proceed with a problem,” says Middle School technology teacher Dan Bell, a member of the task group. “We’re no longer just individual teachers doing something on our own. We’re a group of people coming together and creating a culture of change. This is the start

“When you shift a culture — one where students, faculty and staff are all thinking about how we can reimagine our community — we become better stewards for the environment, and magic starts to happen.”

of creating larger ripples throughout society.”

When Marr works with students, she likes to provoke what she calls “huh.” moments. These are serendipitous instances of discovery meant to inspire curiosity within students. “It’s h-u-h period,” she explains. “That period at the end of ‘huh’ is important. We want to lean into our curiosity, not question it.” It’s a method of reducing fear when approaching something scary, similar to the way

she approaches climate change. If a student is apprehensive about holding a praying mantis, Marr will encourage the student to say, “huh.”; she invites them in. She’s inviting everyone to join in the work of creating a more sustainable Collegiate. “It’s a chance to use knowledge and excitement to replace fear and avoidance,” she says. “Humans have no problem hurting something they’re afraid of or ignoring something that feels too big.” She sees her job as both

a teacher and Director of Sustainability as a process of reducing that fear surrounding climate change and illuminating the small possibilities of what can be done. “I want to model that work and plant seeds that allow for other people to do similar work. It’s scary — and there’s a lot of emotional resistance around climate change — but our work is urgent and important. And if we each make the choice for ourselves to do our part, really great things can happen.”

At Collegiate School, the maxim “Those who can’t do, teach,” could not be further from the truth. Masters of their craft, the Upper School visual arts teachers are both instructors and artists. For Pam Sutherland, Mary Arzt and Taylor Dabney, their work as professional artists translates seamlessly to their work in the classroom. Their artistic temperament informs their instruction and gives deeper insight to students. They teach, as Sutherland says, through the lens of artists, which offers students a more creative and intimate view of the profession and its applications. Whether they’re putting together an exhibit of their own or helping a student find and develop their taste, these three artistteachers transform their classroom into vibrant studios of invention.

By Jack McCarthy

Pam Sutherland

The materials in Pam Sutherland’s work are manipulated and made fresh, but the pasts they bear still cast shadows.

Talking to Pam Sutherland is similar to the experience of engaging with any art: your sensibilities become hyper-focused, more gently attuned to life outside the frame. Serious but friendly, wearing big glasses and decisively colorful clothing, she is the kind of person that relishes accidental beauty, understanding that the aesthetic isn’t found only in art but instead helps concentrate it. Her pieces, primarily dealing in collage for the last 20 years, aim, she says, to make the impermanent permanent. Secured in a frame, the items she works with — fabrics, debris, colored tape, wire, wood — become something new. The things other people discard she takes pleasure in, polishing them through the virtues of her art. “My practice starts with the material,” she says. “It leads me, but often I don’t know where it’s going. Everything I choose to work with sparks joy for me, but convincing the viewer that it is more than meaningless ephemera is the challenge.”

The physical facts of these items and the former lives they carried are manipulated and made fresh, but the pasts they bear still cast loving shadows on the work, haunting it. “I think that’s what art does in general,” Sutherland says, “it allows you to hold on to things.” A purple jacket zipper, in one of her pieces, fashioned to a student’s discarded styrofoam paint palette, blooms as though it were a flower among grassy paint. The zipper remains a zipper but now carries an additional form, the same way a cup can become a flower vase. As collage, these objects, heavily worked but still light, are held together disparately — not necessarily harmoniously joined, for no two things exist together completely without friction, but comfortable.

“I think my materials, at their

core, are sentimental, which is sometimes a bad word in art,” she says. “Some relationships fade and loved ones die, but art allows you to hold on to these people through the quotidian evidence of their lives.”

Sutherland’s work is featured in several public collections, including the Try-me Collection, the University of Virginia, the Federal Reserve Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. With a Bachelor of Arts degree from William & Mary and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, she’s been a practicing professional artist for decades, but, even with such distinction, it wasn’t until the early 2000s that Sutherland found the form of expression she was most comfortable with. By training a painter, she found collage the same way so much art is made: by serendipitous, happy accident.

“If I’m truthful, there was always an element of something physical in the paint, even when I was in undergrad,” Sutherland explains. “I would make a painting on a huge canvas, a self portrait, for example, and I would cut up scraps of canvas and glue them into the pieces. So I often had a 3D element embedded in a 2D work.”

The winner of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts fellowship in 2005 for drawing and the 2009 recipient of the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in Fine Art, given by Richmond Magazine, Sutherland enjoyed early success in her career as an artist, but she feels that only now is she making her best work. “I really love making stuff in a way now that I don’t think I felt as much when I was younger,” she says. “Even though I have an MFA in painting, I always felt somewhat of an imposter as a painter. When I started collage, and appropriating color, my work started to feel much more my own.”

An artist’s style is a fulfillment of one’s sensibilities. That sensibility, the endless process of becoming yourself, is always there, but an artist needs to find that within themselves. “For me, it’s taken wisdom and confidence and trust in myself to get here,” Sutherland says. “When I’m working on something now I just feel it in my gut if it’s something I need to pursue. In the past, selfdoubt might have precluded action. Now I just go for it.”

As the arts program director and an Upper School art teacher, Sutherland tries to help students develop their own confidence and creative intuition. “I definitely teach through the lens of being an artist, not necessarily an art educator,” she says. “I want my students to think like artists. Teaching through the lens of an artist builds in an appreciation for the open-endedness that can inform both process and outcome. It’s less formulaic.”

She recognizes that, like every artist, every student is different. The work of an art teacher is to help each student discover their own form and taste. That sometimes involves moving through uncertainty and doubt, but the reward, when it comes, is worth it. “My job is to tease out each student’s ‘special something’ and have them invest in it,” she says. “Everyone has something that sets them apart. You just have to help them find it. The mystery of self-discovery is the capital A of art. Every year I try to get students to be comfortable with not knowing where they and their work are headed. It requires them to get lost in what they’re doing, silence their inner critic and enjoy what’s happening.” Knowing the process well, Sutherland is helping students find themselves. Any art, in a way, fulfills itself; the work is just waiting on the artist.

MARY ARZT

Upper School ceramics teacher Mary Arzt paints tangible realities that melt into more luxurious abstractions.

At her home in Ashland, Virginia, Upper School ceramics teacher Mary Arzt has what she calls her “cabinet of curiosities.” The cabinet contains a collection of oddities, random natural objects that in some way strike her as interesting or beautiful — natural crystals, shells, a moose antler. Like her own mind, it’s a well of inspiration she draws from without complete comprehension of the inspiration’s origins or where it will lead her. “These things I collect I see, in a way, as an accumulation of what engages me,” Arzt says. “What I look at and what I think about are what inspire me, and this begins the creative process. My mind — it’s like a soup in there. Sometimes you drop in a ladle, pull it up and it all comes together.” As both an artist and teacher, she’s come to embrace the confounding chaos of her creativity.

To help make her point, she pulls out a resplendently pink barnacle, huge, about the height and shape of a hand, with five pencil-sized holes sprouting from it. She likes to begin each semester of ceramics classes with a group project, Arzt explains, but, this spring, she

wasn’t sure what kind of path to pursue. “And then I thought of pinch pots, and I thought that maybe the students could join each pinch pot together. Then, suddenly: barnacles!” She lets out a laugh, giddy with her assigned project. “I thought, ‘How did I make that jump? How did I get from group project to pinch pots to barnacles?’ Well, that’s the creative process, and it’s there in teaching just as much as it is in art.”

Formerly the arts department chair, Arzt, a professional painter, now focuses her class time on ceramics, and she encourages her students to embrace that murky process of creation. “Especially if you’re teaching art, instruction becomes a creative act,” Arzt says. “But, like art, there’s also that aspect of human connection and finding answers to the question of how to share something you care about in a way that others can understand. That matter of connection, of helping students make that extra step of really putting something of themselves in a piece, is what I try to foster in the classroom.”

In her own work, Arzt paints large canvases with unusual depictions of trees that slip between the natural and the relentlessly abstracting memory of the natural. They approach realist figuration but, similar to the dizzying sensation of staring at trees, the tangible reality melts to a more luxurious abstraction. Light swirls around the leaves, the branches, the two humming together and creating something deeper than all nature. Each leaf, each branch, makes a shape for itself while also describing shapes around it. The visions blur splendidly. “I’m interested in positive and negative space,” Arzt explains. “I’m playing with how the object and the space interact. And if you think

about that as a whole — not just as leaves and sky — but that whole form of how those shapes work together — that is interesting to me. It’s an ongoing exploration in my work.”

Like the turning of leaves, Arzt works seasonally; she lets inspiration come to a steady boil before, each winter and spring, making her way to the studio she has in her house. She typically aims to have a collection of pieces ready to exhibit by summertime. Work begets work, she says; the process of teaching informs, subliminally, her art, and her art finds its way into the classroom. “I’m not a person who is going to sit and meditate,” she says, “but I do love the quiet, total engagement that art offers. It takes discipline, but once I’m really in my space, everything just comes together, very similar to teaching.”

TAYLOR DABNEY

Taylor Dabney’s photographs visit unsentimental dignity on subjects that rarely receive such courtesy.

Look at any of Taylor Dabney’s photographs and you feel as though you’re talking to the subject. Each image operates as a conversation held between viewer and sitter, a kind of meeting ground where a stranger can recognize another stranger. You look at a photo and connect with a life breathing within the frame. “What excites me about photography is that it allows me to meet people and tell their stories,” says Dabney, who has been teaching photography courses at Collegiate for the last 20 years. “My work is to form a relationship with someone and then make a picture of them that says something about them.”

Dabney arrived on North Mooreland Road circuitously. Studying at the Pratt Institute, in New York, where he received his BFA, he picked up jobs around the city working for audiovisual companies. He came to Richmond via a job at The Valentine shooting photography catalogs, slideshows and films. With an insatiable interest in others, he has always stumbled into his next job by way of connecting with people. Once in Richmond, he quickly began working as the chief photographer for Richmond Lifestyle magazine, and, shortly after that, in 1986, he received the Virginia Commission for the Arts Photography Fellowship. The following year he was selected as one of the Top Five New Photographers at Photography’s Annual Awards in New York City. In the social network of his work, Dabney connected with the former visual arts department chair Alice Massie ’79 through his gigs at The Valentine. Massie asked him if he had any interest in teaching at Collegiate, and he’s been teaching students what he calls visual competency ever since.

“In whatever work I do, I make connections with people,” he says. “And so I’ve been lucky enough to have this running joke that I’ve never looked for a job. Instead, through the people I’ve met, I’ve made my job.” Listening to him speak about his photography, you begin to understand how he draws the personality out of his subjects. He speaks with a sedate, excited chatter, like a late night radio host eager to tell you about the next song on the queue. He has made his way by reducing the space that exists between two people, the camera his magical medium.

In the early 90s, working with a number of community agencies and art centers, Dabney visited teenage mothers and photographed them in their homes. The images, like so many photographs in his oeuvre, visit unsentimental dignity on figures that rarely receive such courtesy. In one photo in his “A Portrait of Teenage Mothers” series, a couple, sitting on a couch with a baby between them, balance this living uncertainty on their knees. Each parent places a hand on the baby’s naked stomach, and their faces wear a precarious confidence, a thin, fragile smile. We, the viewers, with the assistance of Dabney’s framework, sit across from them in their living room. We look around them and pick up on pieces of their natural lives — clothes beside them on the worn plaid couch, wood veneer walls sparsely decorated, a guitar case, a poster of a bald eagle — in the sharp but shallow way of a first encounter, fragments of information congealing around comprehension and understanding.

In all of his portraits, Dabney’s intention is to invite understanding. For another project, he partnered with the writer and oral historian Anne Radford Phillips, Ph.D, to document the lives of tobacco farm women

in Stokes County, North Carolina. The photos, compiled in the catalog “Voices and Reflections of Tobacco Farm Women: Field, Home and Family,” show the women’s mastery over the land and the toll it takes on the body to assume that mastery. The women pose in fields, in kitchens, in sheds and on porches. Their relationship to the land they tend is expressed primarily through their bodies — the clothes they wear, their posture, the tools they pose with. “The photos help explain what it’s like to be a farm woman to an urban population,” Dabney says. “They connect you to these women.”

His pictures, often in black and white to elevate detail but remove the distraction introduced by color, are vigorous in the way a handshake can be vigorous, a common gesture that can hold an abundance of meaning. In his classes at Collegiate, he tries nourishing that same kind of vigor in his students. Dabney introduces various styles of photography to students — abstract, thematic, portraits — with the hopes of honing their skills and developing a specific interest. “My intention is to teach students visual literacy, to help them understand how a photograph works, how it can be manipulated and how to frame a story,” he says.

With any photograph, the first step is to understand the moment, the subject, in front of you before you raise your lens to your eye. It’s what Dabney has been doing throughout his career, and, with his students, he’s trying to train a similarly keen eye, a careful and bountiful vision. “You want to tell a story inside that little rectangle,” he says, “but to tell that story correctly you need to know how to frame and capture it.”

The

Penny and Billy Peebles Endowment for Faculty and Staff

The Collegiate School Board of Trustees is pleased to announce The Penny and Billy Peebles Endowment for Faculty and Staff. This Endowment will provide support for recruitment initiatives, competitive salary assistance and professional development opportunities. It may also be utilized to offer mentoring opportunities such as the Fellows’ Program, which aims to nurture and mentor early career educators and the Leadership Academy, which enhances the leadership skills of current faculty and staff.

This Endowment was created by a Collegiate family in recognition of Billy’s leadership as Interim Head of School 2022-24. All gifts will be matched dollar for dollar up to $250,000.

Please consider honoring Penny and Billy Peebles with a gift to this newly created endowment.

Contact: Kristen Wiliams Chief Development Officer 804.741.9722

kristen_williams@collegiate-va.org

collegiate-va/make-a-gift

Letter from Co-Chair of the Student-Alumni Engagement Committee

Lauren Cricchi ’10

There are a number of things I look on with pride as a member of the Alumni Board. Organizing our respective alumni classes for Homecoming activities and volunteering at various events, supporting our various fundraising initiatives and generally being the voice of the alumni community to school leadership, we take on some exciting activities.

The initiative that stood out the most to me this year, however, was the inaugural Alumni Career Fair, held with the Class of 2025 in October. It was an event borne out of a Board meeting earlier in the year, when we were brainstorming how to solve two challenges at once: Addressing student feedback that they wanted more tangible opportunities to connect with Collegiate alumni, and, two, reaching alumni who have not been as connected with the School since graduating.

When thinking of these challenges, I put myself in the shoes of these young alumni. Suddenly it dawned on me: I had once been in their exact position. Just a few years ago, I was living in D.C., focusing on hitting my stride in my professional career. In order to reach these new graduates, I realized, we had to create an event that was centered around their experience and what they could give back — and also get in return — out of reconnecting with the School.

The event was a tremendous showcase of engagement between current and former Collegiate students. More than 40 alumni across a number of classes participated. We had college coaches, international lawyers, Google engineers, nurses, wedding planners, veterinarians, consultants, fitness professionals, authors, investors, entrepreneurs, chefs, operators, news anchors, advertisers — you name it — share their experiences with the Juniors through a series of “speed networking” style sessions.

While I’m not sure I was able to successfully explain what exactly a consultant is to a group of Upper Schoolers, I felt immense pride in our alumni community as I looked around the

Craigie Board Room. I saw alumni that had not been back to campus since graduation effortlessly lead conversations and offer guidance to current students. There were connections made, reunions among old classmates and even some productive networking.

Most importantly, we met the alumni where they were, recognized their individual talents they could offer to the Cougar community and gave the Juniors an opportunity to see what life could look like in the “real world.” With so much pressure on young kids today and so much focus on the college admissions process, the Collegiate alumni community was able to demonstrate in one morning how many different opportunities await a Cougar — and how Collegiate had impacted all of us in a positive way.

The work of connecting alumni across generations continues. Here’s to a great spring — complete with growth in many forms.

All the best,

Lauren Cricchi ’10 Co-chair, Student-Alumni Engagement Committee

WELCOMING NEW STUDENTS

This fall, we welcomed a number of new students to the School, some of whom are legacies of Collegiate alumni.

What stands out the most to Loïc Streetman ’33 during his first year at Collegiate are the writing assignments. Well, the writing assignments, which allow him to embrace his budding enthusiasm for writing, and his P.E. classes, where he gets to play basketball. It’s this range of activities he gets to do during an average school day, he says, that makes Collegiate engaging.

To view the full list of students admitted for the 2023-24 school year, please scan here.

For Apolline, the friendships she’s already made within her first months on campus have deepened her connection to the School. “All of the friends I’ve made here make this place such a nice community,” says Apolline, whose mother and grandmother graduated from Collegiate. “My friends have made class much more fun.”

LANDON ’29, ELLIE ’27 AND JACK ’27 BECKER

In late November, after Ellie Becker ’27 attended her first Brunch performance, she knew she found a school environment that offered both rigor in the classroom and fun social events. “All the anticipation and planning around Brunch, the excitement of the performance and the memories I made with the other girls made it a really great community event,” says Ellie, whose mother, Stephanie Becker, graduated from Collegiate in 1994.

Her siblings Landon and Jack, both of whom are new this year too, have enjoyed all

AIDAN GREGORY ’26 LOÏC ’33 AND APOLLINE ’30 STREETMAN

One of the first moments Aidan Gregory ’26 felt at home on North Mooreland Road was, appropriately, during Homecoming. Enjoying time with new friends, seeing the campus bathed in green and gold — it felt like a rush of affirmation. Until that day he had been absorbed in classes and making the necessary adjustments to a new educational environment. “Everyone was just having a good time,” he says of Homecoming. “We were all being ourselves and I felt like I was a part of everything. Getting adjusted to a new school takes some time, so Homecoming and all the events surrounding it made for a day where I really felt like I was a part of Collegiate. It was special.”

the extracurricular offerings that have allowed them to expand their academic interests. Jack is starting to take animation courses, igniting a passion he hadn’t realized previously. For Landon, the care and enthusiasm his teachers invest creates an energized learning atmosphere. “My teachers are always willing to help me and go the extra mile,” Landon says. “Anytime I’ve struggled with something they’ve been there to guide me.”

The academic transition to Collegiate, similar to his social life, has felt seamless, especially with math teachers like Beth Ann Bell, who Aidan credits with making algebra both engaging and rigorous. Now that he’s settled, he’s looking forward to taking more art classes and creating memories with his friends. “I’ve felt at home here from the very beginning,” he says. “Everyone really tries to make you feel like you’re part of something bigger. I can’t wait for what’s to come in the next few years here.”

A Labor of Love

Many of the School’s coaches were once Collegiate athletes themselves, and now they work to instill the lessons that were once imparted to them.

By Weldon Bradshaw

YOU WON’T GET RICH coaching at Collegiate. Not dollars and cents rich, anyway.

Sure, you receive a nice stipend, but if you put in the time both in the arena and in the planning and reflection, your hourly rate might buy you a cup of coffee. Emphasis on the “might.”

There’s swag involved, too, and it’s all great stuff, but if you wear the T-shirt, hoodie and cap long enough, you’ll eventually wear them out. That, I promise.

What never gets old, though, are the experiences, and what you’ll never wear out are the connections, life lessons and memories of time well spent together. That, I promise as well.

Sounds cliché, but it’s cliché for a reason; it’s a thousand percent true.

For years, Collegiate’s athletic program has prospered because of career coaches who consider preparing young women and men for competition as well as life a calling rather than an afternoon job.

It has prospered also because of adjunct coaches, many of whom are Collegiate graduates, who make time in their busy schedules to pay forward the gifts that they received back in the day on the fields, courts, track and trails at their alma mater.

“We at Collegiate cherish the opportunity to have our current students positively impacted by former Collegiate athletes who are very knowledgeable in the sports they coach and continue to care about the School,” says Director of Athletics Andrew

Stanley. “Their presence teaches an incredible lesson about what it means to be part of something bigger than themselves. I’m very grateful that dedicated, committed alums can reinforce the enduring core principles — sportsmanship, competitive spirit, loyalty and fair play — that have been trademarks of our program for generations.”

What follows is a compendium of thoughts, insights and reflections of seven graduates (among many over the years) who were so inspired by their Collegiate athletic experiences that they found ways to balance family and outside professional responsibilities to serve their alma mater as adjunct coaches.

Carter Reifsnider Toohers ’12, a three-time VHSL Class 5 state champion, is in her

Carter Reifsnider Toohers ’12 is in her first year as the girls varsity lacrosse coach and program leader.

Jake McDonald ’07, volunteer varsity lacrosse coach.

first year as the girls varsity lacrosse coach and program leader after serving as an assistant at Douglas Freeman. She also works full time as the manager of strategic analytics for McKesson Medical-Surgical.

“A coach’s impact goes beyond sports,” she says. “Annie Richards was my head lacrosse coach at Collegiate. She was great and always so positive. Karen Doxey, my field hockey coach, is a legend. She had a massive impact on my life. My time at Collegiate was always a positive experience. I hope to be a positive influence on the lives [of the athletes I coach] once they leave Collegiate.”

Rob Ukrop ’88, boys and girls varsity soccer coach and program leader. He also assisted Charlie Blair with boys soccer and coached club soccer for years. He serves as CEO of the Richmond Kickers and involves himself in numerous community outreach endeavors.

“I had great teachers and role models at Collegiate like Charlie Blair and Charlie McFall who invested in me as a human being and encouraged me,”

he says. “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to repay some of the great lessons I learned and pass them on to the next generation. I see so much hope in these young people.”

Jake McDonald ’07, volunteer varsity lacrosse coach who coached both football and lacrosse while serving as associate director of summer programs at Collegiate. He is a co-founder of The Peavey Project and a certified mindfulness facilitator.

“The drive to coach comes from my love for sports as well as the appreciation for the experiences I had when I was young,” he says. “Coaching is really fulfilling. Just to be around sports gives me a lot of energy and joy. To serve others in a meaningful way is also really special. The quality of the relationships I had with Coach (Charlie) McFall, Coach (Trip) Featherston and the other coaches I admired and looked up to when I was young has stood the test of time.”

Stephen Spraker ’92, assistant coach of Cub green football who served as a JV football assistant for five years after he graduated from Hampden-Syd-

ney. He’s a financial advisor and vice-president of investments for Raymond James.

“I was inspired to coach by the people that I was around — whether they were teammates or coaches or the support staff around athletics,” he says. “It was always a place where I felt comfortable and could be who I wanted to be. I had success there, and I also had fun. Coaches like Bubba Lawson, Joel Nuckols and Charlie McFall in football and Don Pate and Ted Penick in wrestling, and Skip Johns in the weight room made me want to compete. “[I enjoy coaching] because it’s the chance to make a difference.”

Cooper Moelchert ’15, assistant boys Cub green soccer coach the past three years. He’s a data analyst at Strange Ventures.

“At the Cub level, the kids are really raw to the game and haven’t had a lot of eye-opening soccer moments,” he says. “Being able to facilitate some of those moments and prevent kids from getting stuck is a big thing for me. I don’t like to see a kid beating himself up if he can’t figure out how to push for-

ward. [I enjoy] watching them fight through failure to eventual success or to eventual mental stability in the sense that they know the next steps they need to take to achieve their goals. I find a lot of personal value in illuminating that process. That’s something I strive for when I coach. The look on kids’ faces in those moments tells you much more than words can.”

Chrissy Thexton Chappell ’11, assistant varsity volleyball coach this past fall and JV lacrosse coach this spring. She’s coached both sports at several levels since graduating from Harvard in 2015. She’s an associate commercial real estate broker at Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.

“Collegiate is one of the most influential places that helped me become who I am,” she says. “My time on the volleyball court, around the track and on the lacrosse field had just as much impact as my time in the classroom. I played lacrosse in college thanks to the lacrosse program at Collegiate and the support from Annie Richards, who was my coach at the time and got me

to Harvard and put me on a trajectory to where I am today.

“I just love watching these girls enjoy the same sports that I did and watching these programs building them up both as young ladies and as athletes. I make the time to coach because it’s worth it. You don’t ever really leave Collegiate.”

Matthew Richardson ’07, head varsity cross country coach, track distance coach and program leader for both cross country and track. Among several outside endeavors, he serves as director of Camp River’s Bend.

“My interest in coaching came first and foremost from my love and passion for distance running that was instilled in me by my coaches,” he says. “[My experiences as an athlete at Collegiate] changed the course of my life. I like to think that in some small way, I can give back. I tell the [distance] kids all the time that I enjoy being out there and watching them grow. It’s hard getting out there when you’re not on campus and have other things going on, but it’s worth it. It’s a labor of love.”

A SENSE OF THE PAST

With an encyclopedic knowledge of the city, Historic Richmond’s Executive Director Cyane Crump ’87 shepherds the past into the present.

By Jack McCarthy

DESIGNED BY THE ARCHITECT Robert Mills, Monumental Church sits on East Broad Street, in Richmond, just below Old City Hall. Erected in 1814 through an effort led by then-U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, the church stands on the site of the Richmond Theatre, which, before it burned down in 1811, was one of the largest auditorium spaces in the city. Just outside the church’s entrance, in the shape of an urn embossed with funerary symbols, is a monument memorializing the victims of the fire, with each victim’s name etched in its smooth marble base, the arrangement of names reflecting the social hierarchy of the period.

That’s a lot to take in at once, but Historic Richmond’s Executive Director Cyane Crump ’87 offers this information up like a greeting card as soon as I enter the high-ceilinged church. I notice the windows from the cupola above us casting a white blade of sunshine on the pews, and Crump begins talking about the architectural distinction of the structure — with its cupola attached to a dome, which is in turn attached to an octagon. Equally unique is that this is one of five auditorium-style domed churches Mills designed, a technique he learned from Thomas Jefferson, and it’s

the only one still standing. As Crump speaks I feel something deeper than the sensation of goosebumps; currents of the past begin reaching the shore of the present, where we’re standing, and the room and the figures that used to inhabit it feel intensely alive.

In a way, the practice of history is the practice of fighting against amnesia. “Over time, there are so many stories that we’ve forgotten,” Crump says. “Some of those stories are complicated and challenging. But all of these stories get woven together and become the fabric of Richmond’s history.” Dressed in a crisp blue jacket blooming around a white turtleneck, she tells me that the pew we’re sitting in was occupied by Chief Justice John Marshall every Sunday he was in Richmond from 1814 until the end of his life, and that, in the pews behind us, sat Edgar Allan Poe and his adoptive parents John and Frances Allan. “The story of this building and the Richmond Theatre fire tells some of the worst of Richmond but also some of the best of Richmond. It’s construction was borne out of Richmond’s collective grief for those lost in the fire. It is an architectural masterpiece and an asset to the community, but it also recognizes each and every one of the victims who died here centuries ago by name.”

But she also reminds me, in her calm, contemplative voice, sometimes rippling with measured enthusiasm, that the work of Historic Richmond transcends this building. Since its founding in the mid-1700s, Richmond has harbored and been home to events that have shaped the trajectory of the country. Like a family’s photo album, every characteristic of the city weaves together different perspectives from different decades — and not all of it points to halcyon days. While Richmond’s story is a fundamentally American story of the search for freedom, the city’s 19th century history is complicated by its role as a key hub in the domestic slave trade and the capital of the Confederacy. Richmond also was not excluded from the 20th century’s formal and informal practices of racial residential segregation, such as redlining by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, which classified areas populated predominantly by African Americans as risky, limiting lending

by banks and investment. The city still bears the scars of the past, and, as citizens occupying the present, it would be irresponsible to ignore those scars.

Part of the organization’s intention is to simultaneously preserve and build on the city’s history. The path forward is illuminated from behind us. “We’re a little bit history, we’re a little bit housing, we’re a little bit architecture and we’re a little bit economic development,” she says. Collaborating with local government, neighborhoods, businesses and organizations, Historic Richmond works to preserve, restore and find adaptive uses for historic buildings in the city with important stories to tell. “Many historic buildings and places can continue to produce some sort of viable economic use and be useful to the community.” In the right hands and with the right eye and mind for history, a tobacco factory can maintain its form but function as apartments or offices.

It’s a job Crump serendipitously fell into but is well suited for nonetheless. After working for 19 years at Hunton & Williams, where she focused on corporate and securities transactions, she realized her life, up to that point, had been a sprint, allowing for very little time to connect with any community. Like a passenger on a train, she watched the world streak past her. “I worked my butt off, and there was not a lot of time to stop and smell the roses,” she says. “It was only after I made partner that I was able to get more involved in the community through a number of nonprofits. And I realized that the important, fulfilling and rewarding things were the handson work in the Richmond community.”

One of the nonprofits she was involved with was Historic Richmond, and she is grateful for the opportunity to now work more closely with the organization as Executive Director.

The work marries her love of detail and history. The foundation’s advocacy efforts involve strategizing and negotiating with state and local lawmakers, outlining why a building should be saved and how it can bring value to a community. Some of the work involves historical digging. Sifting through land records, reviewing deeds, studying maps of the city. As if watching sand

pass through an hourglass, Crump can see properties disappear and others rise up in their place. To tell the story of the city, her job involves stitching those often invisible rings of time together and making them visible.

“My background in corporate law of putting deals together and developing strategies or plans for getting a project done is helpful now for developing or redeveloping properties,” she says. “A lot of what we do is problem solving and partnering and really thinking about what the community needs.”

Founded in 1956 with the intention of saving the Church Hill area surrounding St. John’s Church, Historic Richmond has since had an impact on more than 300 sites and buildings. With a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the city, Crump is a shepherd of the past, making sure it has space in the current moment. “Understanding all of a city’s history and all of the various threads that go into that history is really important,” she says. “That helps people fully experience a place.”

Placed on one of the exit doors in Monumental Church is what Crump calls a reveal, a large piece of transparent plexiglass that displays the condition of the original faux graining. From this reveal, you can see the evolution of the building’s decorative paint scheme — from the very first layer of faux graining behind the reveal to the later, less sophisticated faux graining to the most recently completed graining, which replicates the original. These doors, hand carved two centuries ago and painted by the hands of several artists over the intervening centuries, bear the marks of history, and, similar to the painted surface, Richmond is trying to build on its past, holding the two poles in balance. A vertiginous sensation, seeing the past presented as it once was. I register a little glint of pride in Crump’s smile as she explains this, happy with her involvement in this preservation of history. “These historic places help tell us who we are as a community,” she says. “By reconnecting with those who came before us and understanding their struggles and achievements, we can better understand where we came from, who we are and where we can go. Connecting to the past connects us to the future.”

CREATIVE DUO

The foundation Bennett Hayes ’17 and Michael Warker ’17 formed at Collegiate is evident in their work today as writers and directors, and it’s been paying off.

Years before founding Celestra Productions, an LA-based production company, Bennett Hayes ’17 and Michael Warker ’17 created short films together at Collegiate. Their interest in the artfulness of cinema was ignited in English classes taught by former English teachers Pete Follansbee and Josh Katz, where the young filmmakers were shown classic movies during their lessons. Inspiration taking hold, the two wanted to try making stories of their own.

“Really our careers come down to the fact that we just both like telling stories,” Hayes says. “Over the years, we’ve developed our creative process, where Michael solidly takes the reins of writing and acting and I work on the production and direction.”At Collegiate, whenever they had free time, Warker would write scripts for the two to act out. Stretching a nebulous idea into a fully formed story was liberating. It felt like they were building a world together, one of imaginative proportions.

When the two went away to college — Warker to USC and Hayes to William & Mary — both of them pursued fields in film and production. Despite their cross-country separation, the duo kept busy and kept in touch. During winter and spring breaks, they traveled back to Richmond and, together, executed projects they had been working on in silos. “We continued growing on our own, but we seemed to work on our own projects with each other in mind,” Warker says. “And we would come together on our breaks and, from whatever script Michael wrote at college, we would act out and produce the film. Between the two of us, we had the ability to put our talents together and make these films. We feed off each other, and we’ve always made things between us that kind of fill the gaps of the other person.”

Throughout college, the creative duo had the idea of moving out to Los Angeles together once they graduated. Once the two made it to the West Coast, the duo began their creative life in earnest. They founded Celestra Productions, which, as Hayes and Warker describe it, helps bring other peoples’ stories to life with production consultation. In their free time, they collaborate on new film projects — just as they have been doing since their time on North Mooreland Road.

The foundation laid for them at Collegiate is evident in their work today, and it’s been paying off. The pair won “best use of line” at the 2022 LA 48 hour film contest, and they continue shooting short films and music videos for artists. “Collegiate has such a great arts program,” Warker reflects, “and there are just so many amazing teachers that have taught me everything I know. I think Collegiate definitely pushed both of us towards pursuing the arts, and I’m grateful for that. ”

No matter where our life takes us beyond North Mooreland Road, we are always uniquely connected by our time spent at Collegiate School. Class Notes offers a bridge leading toward that shared bond between fellow alumni.

Collegiate students pictured at the 1965-66 Golden Anniversary, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the School.

To commemorate the first 50 years and imagine the next, students planted 21 trees around campus.

1938

Betty Ratcliffe Marshall, aunt of Cathy Ratcliffe Plageman ’82 and Anne Ratcliffe Chamblee ’80, died Dec. 7, 2023.

1957

Mary Roy Ellerson Durden, who attended Collegiate from 7th to 9th Grade and graduated from St. Catherine’s, and sister of Elsie Ellerson Morris ’54, died Sept. 17, 2023.

Dianne Sawyer Nielsen, who attended Collegiate from 1953 to 1956, died Oct. 12, 2023.

1961

Nancy McDonald Lanier, who attended Collegiate from 7th to 10th Grade, died Oct. 10, 2023.

1964

1963

Judith Jamieson died Oct. 23, 2023.

Elizabeth Harwood died Nov. 24, 2023.

1965

1969

James Henderson died Nov. 16, 2023.

Jane Shumate, brother of John Shumate ’72, died Jan. 31, 2024.

1970

Frank “Rusty” Bruni, father of Ben Bruni ’10, father-in-law of Lower School

Math Specialist

Liz Bruni ’09, brother of Betsy Bruni Downey ’73, and uncle of Corbin Downey ’98, Rob Downey ’01 and Elizabeth Downey Rand ’04, died Oct. 7, 2023.

Nelson

“Skeeter”

Pollard died Jan. 19, 2024.

Bill Porter shares that he and his wife, Chris, have recently moved to Avery Point. In addition to all the activities he has enjoyed, Bill has joined one of the Resident Advisory Committees (RAC).

1967

May Ellen Oakley writes, “On Jan. 8 some of our class had lunch at Amuse at the VMFA. Various class members meet three to four times each year to connect.”

1973

“Reunited and It feels so good” was the theme for the 50th reunion for the Class of 1973, held Sept. 29 and 30. Six months in advance, Bob Siff started updating emails and getting the classmates excited about the reunion. Many people were involved with the planning and preparation.

On Friday, the Collegiate Alumni Office held a special 50th social event in the Watt Library at the Lower School. Fifty classmates and spouses enjoyed appetizers and drinks. They continued reuniting at the annual Alumni Oyster Roast where they enjoyed music, a barbecue dinner and oysters. It was wonderful catching up with other alumni classes too. Some of the group members continued celebrating at Buckhead’s.

The special class celebration was held Saturday night at the lovely home of Mary Ellen Pauli and Tim Smith. Seventyfive classmates and spouses enjoyed appetizers and a dinner buffet catered by Champagne Taste. Lewis Little and Bill Stinson provided the bar. Bob Siff designed a 50th banner and the class had pictures taken under it. People watched a memory DVD created with pictures from Kindergarten to 12th Grade and included reunion photos all set to 70s music. Bettie Chandler Hallberg made photo displays from the 25th-45th reunions, a “where we live now” map and a memory board recognizing classmates who have passed. Reverend Gail Merrick Ebersole acknowledged those who have died and read a poem. Gifts were given to those classmates who traveled the furthest to attend. The class was pleased to have Chris Conlon, who flew from Oxford, England.

All evening, classmates enjoyed chatting and catching up. Travel, retirement and grandchildren seemed to be the main topics of conversation.

Some of the classmates attended the football game, the Head of School program and campus tours. They realized 17 classmates had children who graduated from Collegiate and eight have grandchildren who attend now, so their legacy continues. They are looking forward to their 55th reunion in 2028.

1974

David Williams writes, “I am retiring this year after a long career in commercial real estate in Richmond. Looking forward to opportunities to give more back to the people, communities and institutions that have helped me along the way all these years. (Of course, Collegiate was a big one!)”

David M. Dumville writes, “We welcomed grandchild number five, Owen Rylynn Craig, on Aug. 30.”

1975

Martha Fleming Moore has been serving as a Vice President of The Garden Club of America, an organization of 18,000 members across 40 states, for a two-year term that finishes June 2024. She has been active in the areas of horticulture, garden history and design and conservation. It has been an honor for her to serve. She is looking forward to retiring soon and spending more time with her grandchildren Mason and Lilla French and Henry and Frances Moore. She had fun seeing other Cougar grandparents from her Class of 1975 on Halloween on Tuckahoe Terrace and ran into the Richardsons and the Sweeneys.

Elizabeth “Whiz” Harris, twin sister of Mary L. Harris, died Nov. 4, 2023.

Sarah Kay writes, “Last year, in March, Ann Rowland Beauchamp, Beth Jones Geraghty, Pem Boinest Hall, Karen Pauli Wells and I spent a few days together in Asheville, North Carolina. We enjoyed taking a tour of The Biltmore, exploring fun shops and good restaurants in downtown Asheville and seeing a beautiful sunset at the Grove Park Inn. In October, Bootsie McCracken Rogers and I had a good visit with Ellie Garnett Ferguson and her sisters, Anne Garnett and Clay Garnett Boden at a memorial service for their parents. Finally, Katie Oates Nixon visited Richmond in October and a group of us enjoyed a fun evening together at Cynthia Luck Haw’s new home!”

1. May Ellen Oakley and other members of the Class of 1967 got together at Amuse at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Pictured in the back row from left to right: Mary Chris Waldrop, Sally Hall, Sally Ryland, May Ellen Oakley, Vickie Romaine, Ranny Nichols, Martha Clark. Pictured in the front row from left to right: Isabel Spilman, Betty Wood, Elizabeth Coleman and Lucy Correll, who was visiting from Amsterdam. Not Pictured: Betsy Conner.

2. Martha Fleming Moore ’75 had fun seeing other Cougar grandparents from her class of 1975 at Halloween on Tuckahoe Terrace.

3. Sarah Kay ’75 spent a few days in Asheville, North Carolina with classmates Ann Rowland Beauchamp, Beth Jones Geraghty , Pem Boinest Hall and Karen Pauli Wells.

4. Sarah Kay had fun with a group of Class of 1975 friends at Cynthia Luck Haw’s new home when Katie Oates Nixon visited Richmond.

5. Quigg Lawrence ’77 released a new bluegrass single that is getting some good press and plays.

6. Mark Merhige ’78, Jeff Modisett ’78 and Philip Goodpasture ’78 at the Richmond Riverfront Amphitheater ground breaking on Jan. 25, 2024.

1976

Robert Call retired June 30 from the allergy practice that he held for 27 years at Richmond Allergy and Asthma Specialists and is continuing his clinical research business (Clinical Research Partners), while also opening a Wellness business called Vita Pure infusions. He and his wife have started Tabbs Creek Flower Farm in Whitestone, Virginia,

where they sell bouquets in Irvington and Richmond.

1977

Quigg Lawrence just released a new bluegrass single with several 12-17-year-old prodigies. It is getting some good press and plays. For his next project he would like to get John Bullard to sit in with them.

1978

Mark Merhige, Jeff Modisett and Philip Goodpasture were at the Richmond Riverfront Amphitheater Ground Breaking on Jan. 25, 2024. Mark, in his role on the board at Downtown Present/Venture Richmond, has been working on this project for decades. Philip urged his client to do it and then represented him on the project. Jeff’s firm, Conquest Moncure and Dunn, is

now co-lead contractor to build it. They suggest calling the project the “Class of 1978 Amp.”

1981

Charles “Pat” Cardell died Aug. 7, 2023.

1. Cathy Ratcliffe Plageman ’82 and classmates Kira Heizer Biber, Claire Rosenblum Cohen and Teresa Alvis Given and their husbands joined Cathy and Charles Plageman for the wedding of Cathy’s daughter Carolyn Mitchell ’12.

2. Andy Schneider’s ’83 sons are both soon to be married. Bradley, pictured left, will marry Jessica Bernstein in Capri, Italy in May 2024. Joel, pictured right, is now engaged to Emma Hutchinson, and they will be getting married later this year.

3. Greg Robins ’83 and his wife Tina celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary last May.

4. Rob Levit ’84 pictured with three students he has mentored since middle school. Shawdae (center), Bryanna (left) and Cristal (right) have professional careers and two served on the board of directors of Creating Communities, the first former students to do so.

5. Rob Levit ’84 with Creating Communities’ fantastic arts mentors and staff from Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Creating Communities was acquired by Maryland Hall on Jan. 1, 2023.

6. Chuck Brown ’84 and his wife Beth continue to enjoy Wellesley, Massachusetts with their two children Daniel (five) and Lily (two).

7. Ernie Dettbarn ’94 founded his own real estate brokerage, Dettbarn Real Estate, in Richmond, Virginia, in June 2023.

8. Claud Crosby ’99 enjoyed a memorable Christmas in Eswatini, Southern Africa.

1982

Cathy Ratcliffe Plageman and classmates Kira Heizer Biber, Claire Rosenblum

Cohen and Teresa Alvis

Given and their husbands joined Cathy and Charles Plageman for the wedding of Cathy’s daughter Carolyn Mitchell ’12, who married Ryan Fitzgerald Oct. 7, 2023.

1983

Greg Robins writes, “my wife Tina and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary last May.”

Andy Schneider writes, “Both boys are engaged! Bradley is marrying Jessica Bernstein in Capri, Italy in May 2024. And Joel is now engaged to Emma Hutchinson, and they will be getting married later this year. We love our future daughtersin-law and can’t wait for all the celebrations. To get ready for all the festivities, Nancy and I are taking our first-ever cruise and heading to Antarctica.”

1984

Rob Levit recently stepped away from Creating Communities, the nonprofit he started 15 years ago. The organization brought the power of the arts to youth and families in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Creating Communities partnered with schools, community centers and public housing communities to offer world-class outreach and mentoring through the arts at no cost to participants. The organization was acquired Jan. 1, 2023, by Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, a multimillion dollar arts center and performance space in Annapolis. Maryland Hall will continue the use of Creating Communities’ mentor artists, programs, logo, brand and other intellectual capital. For over 15 years,

Rob has personally worked with hundreds of children and families, adults with severe mental illness, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, hospice patients, adults in addiction recovery and many more, bringing a sense of purpose, commitment and compassion to the mission. For his community work and leadership, Rob has received the Martin Luther King Peacemaker Award from Arundel Peace Action, Innovator of the Year Award from the Maryland Daily Record, Excellence in Arts Leadership Award from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County and Community Trustee Award from Leadership Anne Arundel, with numerous additional citations and honors.

Rob has developed a thriving leadership development and strategy consultancy and works with Fortune 100 companies, many nonprofits large and small and government agencies to cultivate cultures of excellence, effectiveness and inclusion at all levels. He lives in Annapolis with his University of Virginia college sweetheart, Elaine (a speechlanguage pathologist), a 10 year-old son (Joshua) and a three month-old puppy (Cookie) and enjoys tennis, reading, meditation and being on the lakes of New Hampshire in the summer.

Chuck Brown has had an eventful last two years. He and his wife Beth celebrated the birth of their daughter. Then, after 19 years working for larger investment firms, he launched LongView Investment Advisors (longviewinvestments. com), with the former vicechairman of Fidelity Bob Pozen, which serves their small nonprofit and family clients along the East Coast. “We’re grateful that all of our clients came with us from our prior firm,” he says. Chuck and Beth continue to enjoy Wellesley, Massachusetts with their two children Daniel (five) and Lily (two). “While I no longer have a boss at work, I still have three at home.”

1987

Hugh Milmoe, brother of Mary Kaye Milmoe Chryssicas ’83 and Caroline Milmoe Pugh ’85, died Dec. 11, 2023.

1990

Andrew Chernack writes, “My wife Shari, my dog Moonshine and I are back in Austin, Texas, for a second time. If you’re in town to experience the live music capital of the world, feel free to say hello.” Andrew is a managing director with Deloitte, Shari is an associate partner with a competing

management consulting firm, and Moonshine hunts squirrels and alerts her humans to the presence of delivery vans. The Texas Chernacks, in November, made their first visit to Israel since before the pandemic to celebrate two weddings. And for the first time since 1976, there are no Virginia Chernacks, with Andrew’s mother Ellen having relocated to Maryland, nearer Andrew’s sister Karen and nieces Cecilia and Lydia.

1994

Ernie Dettbarn writes, “In June of 2023, I founded my own real estate brokerage, Dettbarn Real Estate, in Richmond, Virginia. With 20 years experience in the industry, I enjoy more than ever using my skills to protect and promote the best interests of my clients, especially under the banner of my own brokerage. On a personal note, my wife Sarah and I have loved being a part of the Collegiate community as parents. Our daughter, Margot, started Kindergarten this year and loves being a Cougar.”

1998

Greg Gresko is presently located abroad on Christian foreign missions, serving as a university professor in Asia teaching psychology, ethics and global leadership, and English. “Our university has student

representation from over 80 countries, and I regularly have students from more than 20 countries in my classroom, with many of them coming from very difficult situations in their respective countries,” he writes. “I am especially privileged to serve as a tutor for North Korean refugees who have escaped from life-threatening situations, as well as to mentor young teachers in training who are learning how to tutor such refugees. I continue to write on theological issues related to marriage and family as well as ethical matters concerning AI in education.”

1999

Claud Crosby shares that the Crosbys enjoyed a memorable Christmas in Eswatini connecting with Busisiwe’s relatives, and they are so excited about Nondumiso’s high school graduation later this spring. “We continue to travel to east Africa often to provide free surgical services, and our family is Miami bound this summer for a fellowship in gynecologic oncology,” Claud writes. “If any Cougars living in south Florida want to connect, please reach out!”

2000

Laura Selene Rockefeller shared a new stage adaptation of Jane Eyre that she co-wrote with Sally Boyett. It was produced by the Classic Theatre of Maryland and ran from Feb. 8-25, 2024, with Laura playing the title role. A production of the bio-drama about Marian “Clover” Adams that Laura co-wrote with Ty Hallmark is scheduled for a New York production with Fledgling Theatre in May of this year.

2001

Michael Thalhimer writes, “The FCSP Foundation is excited to announce our expanded 2024 summer schedule of Dunk-for-a-Cure fundraising events, with gatherings planned for Richmond, Denver and now our third city, Washington, D.C. We hope you’ll consider joining us at

any of these family friendly, funfilled afternoons where fellow Collegiate alums of all ages come together to raise critical funds in support of our ongoing fight against pancreatic cancer.

“Save the date or Washington, D.C. (June 15), Denver (Aug. 17) and Richmond (Aug. 24). More information can be found at FCSPfoundation.org.

“This journey started five years ago in memory of our Class of 2001 classmate Geoff Shudtz following his battle with pancreatic cancer.  Since then we have raised more than $600,000 to fuel research for cancer-related causes and carry forward our mission to ensure we make a better future for those affected by this terrible disease, all driven by Geoff’s mantra to ‘fight cancer, stay Positive.’ Thank you for your continued support of FCSP!”

2004

The Luck and Robertson family Christmas gathering featured plenty of Cougars and a lot of good times.

2005

Since Ashley Davis Young and her family moved from Crozet, Virginia back to Richmond over the summer, she has had the best time watching her daughters Mary Claire Young and Merrylou Marks become best friends.

2007

Caroline Terry Turner writes, “My husband Selwyn and I welcomed our third child, Whiting Vaden Turner, in October 2023. Our sons, Selly ’37 and William, are so excited to have a little sister.”

Laura Kirby writes, “Greeley Beck visited us in Durham, North Carolina on his monthlong trip to the US from his home in Norway. We went on a run to the Duke chapel and reminisced about our Collegiate cross country days with Weldon Bradshaw.”

2010

Kathleen Melnick Corsello shares that Virginia Stanley Corsello was born Nov. 15, 2023.

2011

Cassie Wagner welcomed a new addition to the family, Charlie Wagner, who was born Dec. 22, 2023.

Steven Vranian is completing a fellowship in Interventional Pain Management at Duke University and starting practice with Pain Specialists of Charleston in South Carolina.

1. Laura Selene Rockefeller ’00 shared a new stage adaptation of Jane Eyre that she co-wrote with Sally Boyett.

2. The Luck and Robertson family Christmas gathering included Will Farmer ’05, Molly Farmer Newland ’08, True Harrigan Collier ’09, Ned Bowden ’10, Elise Harrigan Keenan ’11, Harrison Bowden Akers ’12 and Claiborne Haw ’12.

3. Since Ashley Davis Young ’05 and her family moved from Crozet, Virginia back to Richmond over the summer, she has had the best time watching her daughters Mary Claire Young and Merrylou Marks become best friends. Here they are celebrating Merrylou’s fifth birthday in January!

4. Caroline Terry Turner ’07 and her husband welcomed their third child Whiting Vaden Turner, in October 2023.

5. Greeley Beck ’07 visited Laura Kirby ’07 in Durham, North Carolina on his month-long trip to the US from his home in Norway.

6. Kathleen Melnick Corsello ’10 welcomed Virginia Stanley Corsello, born Nov. 15, 2023.

7. Cassie Wagner ’11 welcomed a new addition to the family, Charlie Wagner, who was born Dec. 22, 2023.

8-9. Miller W. Golliday ’12 and Emily Younts Golliday ’11 married June 23, 2023. The couple celebrated their wedding and reception Sept. 16, 2023 at Country Club of Virginia.

Miller W. Golliday ’12 and Emily Younts Golliday married June 23, 2023. The couple celebrated their wedding and reception Sept. 16, 2023 at the Country Club of Virginia.

Christine Thexton Chappell married Daryl Chappell on Nov. 11, 2023 on the beach in front of her family’s beach home on Topsail Island, North Carolina.

2012

Carolyn Mitchell married Ryan Fitzgerald Oct. 7, 2023, at her family home in Charles City, Dogham Farm. Many Cougars were in attendance, including mother Cathy Ratcliffe Plageman ’82, sisters Frances Mitchell ’14 and Julia Mitchell ’16, and bridesmaid Becca Naurath ’12.

Paul Rossetti, who graduated from James Madison University

in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and then went on to Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry and graduated in 2020, is set to practice oral and maxillofacial surgery in private practice with an academic appointment at Loyola University Medical Center.

2013

Patrick Mosman writes that 2023 was a year of big life changes. “In July, I got engaged to my long-term girlfriend, Alex. She is a Richmond local who grew up south of the James, in Midlothian. She also attended James Madison University like myself,” he says. “We didn’t connect, however, until we ran into each other three years ago at a local coffee shop in the Museum District. Our wedding is set for June 1, 2024 in Keswick, Virginia.

“In September I started a new job as a real estate agent with PH Partners at Providence Hill Real Estate. We are a fast-growing team that started here in the city of Richmond two years ago. Our main office is located at the Tuckahoe Shopping center, just a few short minutes away from Collegiate’s campus. It’s been a blast working in and around the river city and serving the communities that have given me so much.”

2014

Erin M. Cross is opening an artist workshop and class space, called The Glass Ceiling, in Richmond. Come learn the art of glass and much more on Robinson Street, with projects for all levels and ages.

2015

Drew Cornell recently moved to Virginia Beach.

Meriwether Roberts recently earned an MBA, graduating with distinction, from City, University of London and is now working for a consulting firm specializing in system selection and digital transformation.

2017

Taylor Thackston purchased Frying Pan Anglers, a flyfishing outfitter and retail store located in Basalt, Colorado, in 2023. Prior to the purchase, Taylor guided for and managed the business after graduating from Virginia Tech in 2021.

2021

Becky Pahren will graduate early from Duke University. In the fall, she will begin a business program at the Fuqua School at Duke University, where she will pursue a master’s degree.

1. Christine Thexton Chappell ’11 married Daryl Chappell on Nov. 11, 2023 on the beach in front of her family’s beach home on Topsail Island, North Carolina.

2. Carolyn Mitchell ’12 married Ryan Fitzgerald Oct. 7, 2023, at her family home in Charles City, Dogham Farm, with many Cougars in attendance.

3. Patrick Mosman ’13 got engaged to his long-term girlfriend Alex. Their wedding is set for June 1, 2024.

4. Taylor Thackston ’17 purchased Frying Pan Anglers, a fly-fishing outfitter and retail store located in Basalt, Colorado, in 2023.

1 3 4

2

IN MEMORIAM

Katharine Ruhl, mother of Sports Communications Manager Bill Ruhl, died Aug. 6, 2023.

Anne Rhodes, mother-in-law of Susan McElroy Rhodes ’87, died Oct. 5, 2023.

Rosa Branch, mother of facilities employee Tyrone Branch, died Oct. 9, 2023.

Russ Knapp, father of Middle School French teacher Tamara Ingram, died Oct. 15, 2023.

Peggy Rudder, mother of John Rudder ’79 and Suzanne Rudder ’80, died Oct. 20, 2023.

George Scott III, father of John Scott ’96, died Oct. 25, 2023.

Mary McCormack, mother of Joan McCormack Ferrill ’73 and Anne McCormack Jones ’79, died Oct. 26, 2023.

John Wynne, uncle of Luke Walker ’12 and Strib Walker ’15, died Oct. 26, 2023.

Sheila Janus, mother of Kenny Bendheim ’83, died Oct. 28, 2023.

William Hoffler, step-father of Troy Shapiro ‘06, died Oct. 29, 2023.

Anne Savedge, grandmother of Riley Savedge ’26, died Oct. 29, 2023.

Paulina Anderson Harris, mother of Upper School art teacher Pam Anderson Sutherland, died Oct. 31, 2023.

Warren Koontz, father of Warren Koontz ’79 and Mary Koontz Hayes ’82, died Nov. 1, 2023.

Bessie Roupas, grandmother of Andrew Roupas ’16 and Troy Roupas ’16, died Nov. 4, 2023.

John Dillehay, father of Valerie Dillehay Hubbard ’77 and grandfather of Matthew Hubbard ’07 and Ellen Hubbard ’10, died Nov. 23, 2023.

Timothy Smith, husband of Mary Ellen Pauli ’73 and father of Sarah Elizabeth Pauli Smith ’08, died Dec. 2, 2023.

Scott Thomason, father of Brandon Thomason ’24, died Dec. 7, 2023.

Thomas Hontzas, father of current parent Anastasia Seevers and grandfather of Jay Seevers ’22, John Seevers ’25 and Alex Seevers ’29, died Dec. 11, 2023.

Lawrence Hutchison, fatherin-law of Angie Ledford Hutchison ’90 and grandfather of Molly Hutchison ’23, died Dec. 15, 2023.

Charles Cheek, grandfather of John Wilson Cheek ’22 and Charlie Cheek ’24, died Dec. 19, 2023.

Betty Wilton, mother of Peggy Wilton Copeland Larmore ’73, grandmother of current parent Scott Copeland, and great-grandmother of Ann Douglas Copeland ’37, died Dec. 20, 2023.

Andrew Daffron III, father of Andrew Daffron IV ’81 and Charles Daffron ’83, died Dec. 21, 2023.

Theresa Barbieri, grandmother of Rachel Barbieri ’13 and

Matthew Barbieri ’19, died Dec. 22, 2023.

Timothy Dalke, grandfather of Quin Timmerman ’20, died Dec. 23, 2023.

Cindy Clisham, mother of Leah Clisham ’12 and Britney Clisham ’06, died Dec. 26, 2023.

Robert Nolley, a former Trustee and father of Scott Nolley ’78 and Catherine Nolley Triantis ’81, died Dec. 27, 2023.

Donald Koonce, father of Cara Koonce McDaniel ’90 and Amy Koonce Chestnutt ’93 and grandfather of Ella McDaniel ’22 and William Chestnutt ’33, died Dec. 28, 2023.

Barbara Wiltshire, wife of Richard Wiltshire ’64, mother of Richard Wiltshire III ’97 Drew Wiltshire ’99 and Anne Wiltshire Henry ’03, grandmother of RIV Wiltshire ’36, Miller Wiltshire ’37, Avery Wiltshire ’30, Bailey Henry ’34 and Eliza Henry ’37, and sister-in-law of Jean Wiltshire Massie ’61, Buck Wiltshire ’67, Weezie Wiltshire ’67 and Boodie Wiltshire McGurn ’71, died Jan. 1, 2024.

Joan Brandon, grandmother of Alex McDonald ’17 and Edan McDonald ’20, died Jan. 4, 2024.

Ann Bowling, mother-in-law of Upper School Spanish teacher Liz Bowling and grandmother of Paige Bowling ’20, died Jan. 7, 2024.

Ginger Levit, mother of Richard Levit ’81, Robert

Levit ’84 and Darcy Levit ’86, died Jan. 11, 2024.

Thomas Kirkup, father of Lower School Kindergarten Assistant Katherine Hall and grandfather of Brooks Hall ’21 and Anne Carrington Hall ’24, died Jan. 17, 2024.

Robert Gregory, grandfather of Thomas Gregory ’26, died Jan. 31, 2024.

James DeVoe, husband of Mary Bruce Garner DeVoe ’56, father of Mary Garner DeVoe ’78 and Libby DeVoe Lewis ’84, grandfather of Mary Weston DeVoe ’14, Catherine DeVoe ’16, Warner Lewis ’24 and Rebecca Elliott, died Feb. 5, 2024.

ALUMNI

Betty Ratcliffe Marshall ’38

Mary Roy Ellerson Durden ’57

Dianne Sawyer Nielsen ’57

Nancy McDonald Lanier ’61

Judith Jamieson ’63

Elizabeth Harwood ’64

James Henderson ’67

Jane Shumate ’69

Frank “Rusty” Bruni ’70

Nelson “Skeeter” Pollard ’70

Elizabeth “Whiz” Harris ’75

Charles “Pat” Cardell ’81

Hugh Milmoe ’87

These notices were received as of Feb. 5, 2024. This In Memoriam section is taken from printed obituaries, which may be edited for space. Please contact our office if the information is incomplete. The information included is compiled from our database, which is continually updated. To submit a condolence, email spark@collegiate-va.org.

Our condolences are offered to these members of the Collegiate family.

TEACHER’S TAKE Antenette Stokes

Upper School Counselor Antenette Stokes is a holder of stories. A therapist by trade, she understands the difficulty of opening up about mental health and the challenges of vulnerability. Whether she’s leading community education symposiums, assuming the role of faculty sponsor for United Sisters and Brothers affinity group or welcoming a student into her cozy office that bears the comfort of a living room, Stokes works to create spaces within the School for students to find themselves. Starting July 1, she’ll continue that work in a different capacity when she assumes the role of Director of Inclusion and Belonging, the first position of its kind at Collegiate. “I try to show up in every room as my most authentic self,” she says, wearing a smile that warms the room. “Being authentic can give others the permission to do the same — to drop their mask and be themselves. I want to create spaces where you can happily be whoever you are and fully feel whatever emotion you have. We’re going to build trust and hopefully embark on the journey together.” Stokes sat down with Spark to discuss the joys of working at Collegiate and the importance of placing an emphasis on mental health in education.

Antenette Stokes

SPARK TALKS WITH UPPER SCHOOL COUNSELOR

WHAT MAKES WORKING AT COLLEGIATE SO SPECIAL?

I think the common thread throughout my four years here has been the amazing people I get to work with. Through their own disciplines, our faculty and staff are passionate about students. I have always preferred a community counseling approach to meeting people where they are in hopes of addressing the stigma surrounding mental health support. It has been extremely rewarding to see how the faculty and staff truly engage in that work. And because of the many layers involved in working with students, I see it as an honor to come to work every day and partner with our entire Upper School community.

AS A THERAPIST, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MEET SOMEONE WHERE THEY ARE?

It can be scary opening up to someone you don’t know or aren’t comfortable with. So, for me, I find that taking the time to assess where someone is emotionally and do the work on my end to better see eye to eye allows me to meet students where they are. In my career, this aspect of connection — whether it be in the clinical setting, school setting, domestic or abroad — builds genuine trust with whomever I am supporting. It’s important to me because it involves an honest attempt at mutual understanding, trust and dissolving any kind of hierarchy in our conversations.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE STUDENTS

TAKE WITH THEM WHEN THEY LEAVE YOUR SPACE?

I hope that they take with them an understanding that they matter. I hope they leave my space knowing they’ve actually been heard. I want my students to be uplifted and empowered, and I want them to find themselves in whatever form that may be.

They might realize that the road to empowerment is not easy, that the journey is hard, but that with that difficulty comes growth. I hope that they leave this space thinking, “OK, opening up was hard, but it was way easier than I thought it would be.” Earlier this year, one of my students said, “My entire friend group talks about the importance of seeing the counselors, like, Ms. Stokes, you are a real person!” Though this made me chuckle at the time, it made me feel good because our students are starting to feel comfortable investing in themselves in the most authentic of ways.

WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOUR STUDENTS HAVE TAUGHT YOU?

They’ve taught me the importance of being transparent and honest with them even when I don’t have the answers. That sitting with them in silence is OK, because just allowing us to share space can sometimes be enough. They’ve taught me to always strive for growth.

As adults, we can be stuck in our ways, but kids are always evolving – and I feel inspired to also evolve beyond my own understanding.

TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH IN AN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT.

As a therapist and counselor I will always prioritize mental health. If you’re not OK mentally then nothing will be OK. If you aren’t mentally healthy then you aren’t able to be your true self. You can’t do the things you strive to do because, if you don’t make time for your mental health, your body will. There is power in prioritizing your mental health, because the academic, social and physical pieces in your life will become better. Especially in education, if you’re not well mentally then everything else is negatively affected. We want to be as preventative as possible.

AS AN EDUCATOR, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

I’m proud of the growth that I’ve seen within our students prioritizing their mental health and seeking out the support that they need. We have data [HASS, 2022] that proves our Collegiate students are twice as likely to seek a school counselor in times of trouble. And I love the opportunity to see a student advocate for themselves. I’m just proud of the entire Upper School community for being open to moving along in their journey of helping students through the holistic lens. I’m excited about the work we’ve done around creating positive and preventative conversations surrounding mental health. Of course, we still have work to do, but the sky is the limit.

103 North Mooreland Road Richmond, Virginia 23229

Reducing the Earth’s carbon footprint is a big task — one that goes beyond the borders of Collegiate — and there is tremendous work to be done. By working in the Lower School garden and learning about the effect composting has on soil enrichment, Kindergartners are playing a small role in the large collective effort to become a more sustainable school.