BATTEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

th anniversary10

A Decade of Growth & Exploration

BATTEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM FELLOWS CONTINUE TO BUILD A BETTER SOCIETY

Norfolk Academy has a longstanding commitment to producing moral, civic-minded leaders. In fact, our Statement of Philosophy and Objectives calls us “to develop leadership capabilities so that students can put those talents to the service of others.”

Yet the Fellows Programs, which began 10 years ago to make this aspect of a Norfolk Academy education more intentional, are something quite new for our school. As the program reaches a significant decade milestone, we continue to surge ahead, and innovations from the Fellows Programs are influencing many other aspects of our school’s overall approach to learning.

The years have passed swiftly, and we’ve come far from our days as an Academy “start-up” in 2010.

At that time, I was working as the Director of Athletics and had worked with coaches to develop a Bulldog Leadership Program, also known as the Captains’ Club, where coaches and outside speakers would work with team captains to help them develop into better leaders on the field. One guest speaker, Admiral Scott Moore, encouraged me to expand our efforts, noting that our world was in desperate need of engaged and ethical leaders.

Headmaster Dennis Manning had been thinking along similar lines. He had long been impressed by the substantial percentage of Academy alumni who returned to the area to work professionally and raise a family. These thoughts prompted his galvanizing questions: “What moral and civic obligation and opportunity do we have to educate our students about the challenges of living in Hampton Roads — and what, specifically, are those challenges, such as environment, health care, poverty, infrastructure? What portals into these challenges and issues might we open to our students to deepen their understanding of this community and, indeed, all human communities?”

Mr. Manning’s concept was to combine experiential learning, leadership development, and community-based problem solving into one single program, which began as the Fellows Program of the Center for Civic and Global Leadership.

From its inception, the Fellows Program was infused with a spirit of experimentation and entrepreneurship. The first of the Fellows Programs focused, appropriately enough, on the region’s critical resource, the Chesapeake Bay.

The school received a grant from the E.E. Ford Foundation to start the program. Chris Nelson, an avid environmentalist, kayak-builder, and longtime German teacher, was tapped as founding director of the Chesapeake Bay Fellows Program. He and I collaborated on a mission statement, designed curricula, and accepted six gifted and highly motivated ninth graders, members of the Class of 2015, through an open application process. Off we went! From the outset, the program was envisioned as an opportunity for depth and growth, where Fellows would be motivated not by grades or what was in it for them, but by a spirit of civic engagement where they would be tasked with solving hard problems that face our community.

The following year Dr. David Rezelman and Price Hall ’02 approached me about ideas they had for new Fellows programs. David suggested an International Relations Fellows Program (now called Global Affairs) and Price, who had spent her early professional years working on public health initiatives in Malawi and India, suggested a Global Health Fellows Program. We developed their plans and formalized the admissions process, which came to include, as it still does, essays, teacher recommendations, and an interview. The Literacy Fellows, led by Dr. David Kidd, and the Engineering, Design, and Innovation Fellows, led at that time by Erica Newland, were quick to follow.

OPPOSITE: Michael Hostutler ’20 and William Smythe ’20 at Machu Picchu in Peru. BELOW: EDI Fellows Nathan Williams ’19, Sarah Haugh ’20, and Leah Smith ’20 work on a project.

Each program has added its own take on the formula: admit extremely talented students with a passion for solving hard problems; remove the extrinsic motivation provided by grades; deliver an academic program during the school year that combines reading, research, and project-based learning as a foundation for sustainable engagement with community partners both locally and abroad.

We now have 90 students in five different programs led by 13 directors, and civic partners that include the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Tidewater Park Elementary School, Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Hampton Roads, the New E3 School, Hampton Roads Refugee Relief, and many, many more. Our students have traveled extensively, including to rural Haiti, mainland China, central Belize, Peru, the Silicon Valley, Cuba, the Maine Island Trail, and more.

As they traveled, they were working. The project examples are too numerous to list, but here are a few examples:

Global Health Fellow Stuart Luter was struck by the lack of health education provided to young women in rural Haiti. She worked with Price Hall and our partners from Midwives for Haiti to construct a culturally appropriate curriculum and returned the following summer to teach young women about how to live healthier lives. Future Global Health Fellows groups built upon Stuart’s work to create a curriculum for young people in San António, Belize.

Our Literacy Fellows have enjoyed a long and enduring relationship with Tidewater Park Elementary and the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Virginia. Committed to the idea that literacy levels in young people deeply impact their future opportunities, our Literacy Fellows spend time each week with these students to teach reading and writing, and they have published several books, highlighting the hopes and dreams of these talented young students.

Today the Fellows Programs are a part of the Batten Leadership Program, made possible by a transformational gift from Mrs. Jane Batten to honor her late husband, Frank Batten, and his pioneering work as a media executive, which included serving as chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications, publisher of The Virginian-Pilot, and founder of The Weather Channel. He also served as president of the Academy’s Board of Trustees (1975–79).

During his many years in publishing, including as chairman of the national Associated Press, Batten emphasized the importance of strengthening the civic life of communities. He said, “The earlier in their careers that exceptional students begin to think of themselves as future public leaders who can promote a better society, the greater the likelihood they will become such leaders.”

The Fellows Programs embrace that wisdom. Whatever we have learned and wherever we have gone, we have always been mindful of the issues we face right here in Hampton Roads.

The Fellows Program exists to develop these future leaders every day, and we will. ◆

Sean Wetmore ’86 has served as Director of the Batten Leadership Program since its inception as the Center for Civic and Global Leadership. He teaches history in the Upper School.

TOP: Chesapeake Bay Fellows take a canoe trip to Watts Island and Tangier Island in the Bay. MIDDLE: Noa Greenspan ’18 with a young student at a book launch at Tidewater Park Elementary. BOTTOM: Global Health Fellows conduct home health visits to screen for diabetes and high blood pressure in San António, Belize.

Fellows Programs Alumni

They graduated from Norfolk Academy and zipped off to college… and another graduation. Now, they’ve taken adventurous paths. We caught up with a few of the Fellows who have launched into the working world or graduate school, and whose paths reflect learning they gained as Fellows.

ELISE TURRIETTA ’16, CHESAPEAKE BAY FELLOW COLLEGE: WILLIAM & MARY WHAT SHE’S DOING TODAY: MASTER’S DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES AT UVA

“My research group oversees the world’s largest seagrass restoration project with environmental and economic implications for Eastern Shore residents. Through this work, I try to mirror the principles espoused by the Batten Leadership Program: It is our duty to use our skills and the opportunities bestowed on us to aid our communities and help solve their problems with integrity.”

STUART LUTER ’16, GLOBAL HEALTH FELLOW COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA – CHAPEL HILL, MOREHEAD SCHOLAR WHAT SHE’S DOING TODAY: WORKS FOR WELL, A DIGITAL HEALTH START-UP, IN BOSTON

“At Well, we believe that every individual deserves access to a trusted health partner, tailored to each person’s unique needs and goals. At Well, I work on our clinical team as the manager of Strategic Partnerships and Content Operations. The Fellows Programs challenged me to observe and understand who I was and where I came from, and grow toward who I wanted to be.”

SOPHIE KIDD ’16, GLOBAL AFFAIRS FELLOW COLLEGE: WILLIAM & MARY WHAT SHE’S DOING TODAY: RESEARCH ANALYST AT POLICY STUDIES ASSOCIATES IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

“In my role, I work with clients at all levels of education (from early childhood to higher education) and in the foundation and nonprofit sectors. I assist with a wide range of tasks and deliverables for our clients, including developing and analyzing surveys, creating policy scans and briefs, conducting focus groups, and creating final reports. I will always be grateful to the Fellows Programs for providing me a community to learn, grow, and discover new ideas — from classrooms in Tunstall to the Great Wall of China.”

ANEESH DHAWAN ’16, GLOBAL HEALTH FELLOW COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA WHAT HE’S DOING TODAY: FOUNDER AND CEO OF KNIT IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

“Knit is the Gen Z insights platform that connects brands with a network of 60,000-plus Gen Zers, who share their opinions over 30- to 90-second videos to raise money for their favorite charities. Knit has raised over $2.5 million from investors like Techstars and bread-and- butter ventures, and has grown from a dorm room start-up to a team of 15-plus across the U.S. The Fellows Programs gave me the confidence, the tools, and guidance to think big and act to build a better world.”

PABLO VAZQUEZ PARAMO ’16, GLOBAL AFFAIRS FELLOW COLLEGE: YALE WHAT HE’S DOING TODAY: WORKS FOR A TECH START-UP CALLED NEWTONX IN NEW YORK CITY

“While NA as a whole — with classes, clubs, and sports — puts you in that arena, the Fellows Program pushes you to go beyond the delineated limit. To me it became a place of initiative, inventiveness, and drive that sticks with me now. After NA I went to Yale. I studied government but decided to pivot and enter tech in New York after graduating, working for a start-up called NewtonX.”