BATTEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

OPPOSITE: Quinn, Will, Liam, and Fred, all students in the Class of 2023, have been working on growing the concept of aquaponics, which uses less water than traditional farming and can be set up in urban areas.

Fellows Come Together for Outside the Box Project

To learn more, please visit the Fellows’ aquaponics website, blpaquaponics.weebly. com. Cohorts of the Batten Leadership Program have come together for a project that’s teaching an outside the box way to grow plants and food.

The BLP encourages highly engaged students to work hard to understand and contribute to solving complex problems. The program has five sections: Chesapeake Bay Fellows; Engineering, Design, and Innovation; Global Affairs; Global Health; and Literacy.

Quinn Carroll (Global Affairs), Liam Sullivan (Global Health), Fred Ward (Chesapeake Bay), and Will Ward (EDI), all in the Class of 2023, are in different BLP programs. While brainstorming concepts to explore, they decided to dig into aquaponics.

In aquaponics systems, fish produce waste that bacteria convert into nutrients for plants. Plant roots absorb these nutrients, allowing the plant to grow while also filtering the water for the fish to live.

“The most impressive topic we could come up with that touched on all Fellows,” Fred Ward said.

Among the benefits of aquaponics, which the students explained during an Earth Week Chapel last school year: Such systems use less water than traditional farming that uses conventional irrigation. Systems can also be set up in urban areas, reducing costs associated with transporting the plants and vegetables that are grown and cutting down on travel pollution.

“The farming system has a lot of flaws,” Fred Ward said. “It’s going to have to change, considering how fast our population is growing.”

After thoroughly researching the topic, the students went to work building a small-scale aquaponics system. They succeeded in growing various vegetables while keeping the fish alive in the tank.

“It felt reassuring that it would work,” Liam said.

Buoyed, the students considered ways to educate a larger community about the values of aquaponics. They plan to visit other Hampton Roads schools that the BLP engages with during their senior year, to teach the lessons they’ve learned.

They’re also working on improved aquaponics systems for some Academy classrooms. They’d like to find ways to cut costs — systems require significant amounts of energy, which can make them prohibitive for some growers.

Their breakthroughs so far have them optimistic about what they’ll be able to accomplish before they graduate, as well as how future Fellows students could continue to teach and apply the benefits of aquaponics. ◆

Mike Connors is Digital and Social Media Specialist.

VICTORIA KAUFFMAN ’22: NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR

Victoria Kauffman ’22 was honored this spring as a National Merit Scholar.

About 1.5 million high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program each year, gaining consideration for awards based on scores on Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying tests, as well as other academic considerations. Only a

few thousand — less than 1% — earn scholarships.

Toria is attending Harvard University. She won several awards at graduation, including the High Honors Award, given to the senior girl with the best grades. She also was involved in many extracurriculars during her time at Norfolk Academy. She served as Co-President of the German Club and volunteer for a German Cultural Exchange; Vice President of Lifesavers Club; and a Peer Counselor. She was also an Engineering, Design, and Innovation Fellow in the Batten Leadership Program, did work for Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, and was an avid horseback rider, serving as an Interscholastic Equestrian Association state representative at the Virginia State Legislature in 10th grade.

“Victoria is an extraordinary contributor to school life, balancing co-curricular involvement in the EDI Fellows, Peer Counseling, and leadership of an array of clubs with her commitment to academic excellence,” Headmaster Dennis Manning said when Toria was named a scholarship finalist. “She has tremendous enthusiasm for learning across a wide array of disciplines, from English class to computer science, and teachers know that Toria brings her full curiosity and energy to every class.”

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization, conducts the scholarship program. Applicants are whittled down to semifinalists and finalists before scholars are selected. Only about 1% of applicants qualify for the finalist stage; Gavin Goss ’22 joined

Toria this year as a finalist. ◆

Mike Connors is Digital and Social Media Specialist.

ANNA CATHRYN PERRY ’22: MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLAR

Anna Cathryn Perry ’22’s journey as a newly minted MoreheadCain Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill began far away from the edifices and manicured lawns of the much-photographed campus.

This summer, she went to Alaska for an immersive wilderness adventure. It was her first step as part of the MoreheadCain Class of 2026, which is comprised of 75 top scholars from around the nation and world. Anna Cathryn, known as AC around Norfolk Academy, is the only one from Virginia. The highly competitive program fully funds four years of study at UNC-Chapel Hill and provides an

abundance of extras — access to

a network of peers and mentors, access to internships and summer experiences like the one in Alaska, and international travel. After graduation, many in the program go on to win further prestigious scholarships, like the Rhodes to Oxford University in England.

AC will join another recent Academy grad in the MoreheadCain program, Michael Hostutler II ’20. Before that, Stuart Luter ’16, who now works at Well, a digital health start-up in Boston, earned the scholarship.

AC was captain of the varsity girls tennis team at NA, a six-year member of the junior varsity and varsity swim team, and a varsity girls lacrosse goalie. She also found time to serve as manager of the varsity girls soccer team. As a member of the Global Affairs Fellows of the Batten Leadership Program, she learned about the many difficulties for indigenous people in Peru.

This spring, she ran a fundraiser for Awamaki (awamaki. org), a cooperative that provides access to markets for women weavers in rural villages, many in remote parts of Peru. The Global Affairs Fellows organized a fundraiser by purchasing woven items from Awamaki and selling them ahead of Mother’s Day; all profits were sent to

Awamaki. ◆

Esther Diskin is Director of Communications.