highland magazine - spring 2014

SPRING 2014 ISSUE: A LOOK AT HIGHLAND’S

‘STEM’ SUCCESSES

Spotlight on Leadership with Ronnie Ross

Historian John Toler Looks at Highland’s 85 Year History

Faculty Profile: Michele Daniel-Shenk

www.highlandschool.org

HIGHLANDThe Magazine of Highland School | Spring 2014 Issue

Board of Trustees

Mr. Tim Dunn* Chairman

Mrs. Olympia Moshos* Vice Chair

Mr. David Young* Treasurer

Mrs. Heather Iasso* Secretary

Mr. Ike Broaddus

Mr. Richard Chadwell

Mrs. Karen Flikeid

Mrs. Hilary Gerhardt

Mrs. Samantha Gravett

Mrs. Anne Hall

Mr. David Hazel (8th, ‘79)*

Mrs. Jodi Johnson

Mr. Mark Melvin*

Dr. Brooke Miller (8th, ‘74)

Mr. Randy Minter

Mrs. Vaughan Myers

Mr. Lewis Pollard

Mrs. Wendy Rodgers

Mrs. Darlene Smith

Mr. Herb Soles

Dr. Beejal Taylor

Mr. Mark Van de Water*

Mrs. Jody Warfield*

Mrs. Terri Cameron Parents Association President

Mr. William A. Hazel Sr., Trustee Emeritus

* Indicates member of the Executive Committee

At Highland School, our mission is to provide

a demanding academic and co-curricular program

that develops the skills and character essential

for students to meet the challenges of college

and leadership in the twenty-first century.

To carry out this mission, Highland School has assembled

thoroughly modern facilities, a large, diverse, and

highly qualified staff, a student body ready to meet

the challenges, and an academic philosophy and

strategy that makes maximum use of these resources.

Head of School Henry D. Berg

Editor Briar Bogin

Designer David Henrickson

Writers and Contributors Tim Bartz Joe Johnson Will Mackie-Jenkins Amanda Miller-Kita Chelsea Patry Marissa Ray Ronnie Ross John Toler

Photography David Henrickson

Copy Editor Lora Mackie

Class Notes Coordinator Archie Catalfamo

Director of Advancement Joy Willey

Highland Magazine is produced by the Office of Communications for alumni, parents and friends of Highland School. Letters and comments are welcome. Please send inquiries to: Director of Communications, Highland School, 597 Broadview Avenue, Warrenton, VA 20186, e-mail to [email protected], or telephone 540-878-2794

On the cover: Since its launch in 2010, Highland’s Robotics team has embodied the collaboration and experiential learning that are cornerstones of a Highland education. In this image, team members Jamie Willey (‘14) and Elijah Kidd (‘17) work together to resolve a challenge in the construction of this year’s robot.

Highland School does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational, employment, or admission policies, its scholarship, athletic and other school-administered programs.

Letter from the Head of School 4Science, technology, engineering and math are an integral part of Highland’s core curriculum.

Spotlight on Leadership 12Assistant Basketball Coach Ronnie Ross examines the role that failure plays in success on and off the court.

Feature: Focus on Highland 16Students and Alumni Four alumni and two graduating seniors reflect on how Highland has positioned them for success.

Faculty Profile: Lower School 30 Teacher Michele Daniel-Shenk Michele Daniel-Shenk is an innovative educator who is using new ideas to make a wide range of complex topics accessible for Highland School’s youngest students.

Table of Contents

Learn about Highland’s ‘STEM’ successes on page 16

85 Years of Highland School 35Author and Historian John Toler takes a look at Highland School’s first 85 years.

10th Anniversary of Highland’s 46 Center for the Arts This year marks the 10th anniversary of The Highland Center for the Arts.

Departments

News from Around Campus 5

International Week Images 10

Images from ‘110 In the Shade’ 28

Grandparents Day Images 34

Alumni News and Notes 45

facebook.com/HighlandSchool

Spring 2014 Highland Magazine 3

Spring 2014

“Challenge students with a real world problem that is difficult and let them solve it to the best of their ability… Our students respond to this.”

Over the past few years, the Highland Magazine has featured our programs in character and leadership, global studies, working with learning differences, the teaching of writing, the role of athletics, the redesign of our Middle School program, and purpose-built facilities. This issue features the increasing development of our STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and STEAM (which adds art to the equation) programs. Nothing has been more exciting to see than the evolution of this synergistic approach to learning. It is decidedly 21st century in its applications and, more important than anything, it is authentic to students. Challenge students with a real world problem that is difficult and let them solve it to the best of their ability. This type of learning is active, requires collaboration and is real. Our students respond to this. Examples of this abound across our campus. Highland’s FIRST® Lego League (FLL) program is in its sixth year of operation and began with Claire Mello and others in the Lower School and continues on thanks to the dedication of Michele Daniel-Shenk, who is profiled on page 30. Our Lego Robotics program started as an outgrowth of our emphasis in hands-on natural science and experiential learning. It remains the most popular co-curricular activity in the Lower School. Highland’s Upper School robotics program was officially born in 2010 when two then-seniors, Zack Dennis and Will Ellswick (both are currently in engineering programs at the United States Air Force Academy and the Rose Hulman Institute respectively) came to me with an organized pitch. They were barely going to benefit, but they had experienced the power of the FIRST® robotics competition and thought we should be doing it. The rest is remarkable history, as we now have a dedicated Robotics lab and compete in regional events against teams from all over the nation. In an interesting twist, our ‘business team’, which promotes the Robotics program to potential sponsors, is now bigger than the original Robotics team that started things off in 2010!

Other elements of this kind of educational approach are in evidence in the MakerSpace movement. Innovation and creative solutions to tasks and problems are the products of this type of learning. In the past five years, more than twenty Highland School seniors have matriculated to engineering schools and they were admitted into 43 different programs. While we are balanced in our approach to academics and we are renowned for our strength in the humanities, our students achieve great results in the technical and quantitative fields as well.

Several years ago, the academic leadership of the school identified what it meant to Highland to develop skills for the 21st century. From a process, we identified the critically important skill sets needed for the future and we have implemented programs to develop those skills known as the Five C’s. They are Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Leadership, and Character. We are seeing the results of that work. Enjoy this issue.

Sincerely,

Henry D. Berg Head of School

Hank Berg, who has served as Highland’s Head of School since 2004, has overseen an expansion in both facilities and curriculum.

4 Highland Magazine highlandschool.org

Letter from The Head of School

Our Focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is Paying Off

Each year, Highland Leadership students and select faculty take part in the “This I Believe” assembly in the Upper School. The assembly serves to help students focus on who they are: something the course teaches them they need to know before they can begin helping others. In addition to the student speakers, Upper School Science teacher Leslie Ziegler gave her own “This I Believe” speech. In a poignant tale of her own life, she talked about acceptance. She said “learn to be accepting…not of the things that happened in the past, but of the people associated with those past circumstances not knowing what

they themselves have endured in their lives. “This,” she vowed, “is the most important part of change.” “I hope these words will continue to resonate into the future lives of the students and adults, making life more peaceful for all who listened,” she noted. The “This I Believe” essay was started by NPR in 1951 as an exercise to have both famous and “everyday” people explain a core belief. The show ran for four years, and was later revived in 2005. Since then, it has flitted in and out of existence on several different radio stations (Continued on page 7)

Leslie Ziegler is a science teacher in Highland’s Upper School

To see a video of Ms. Ziegler’s ‘This I Believe’ speech, check out the QR code link below:


News from Around Campus

Ziegler Delivers Memorable ‘This I Believe’ Speech“Beliefs, it is important to understand, are, in the normal sense of the word, not opinions.”

FIRST® Robotics event March 20-22 at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond tests team against regional competition

Highland’s Robotics Team Completes Preparations for Spring Competitions The six week build period for Highland’s FIRST® Robotics team ended on Tuesday, February 18, 2014. Students, industry mentors, and faculty worked long hours in the days leading up to this season’s deadline for robot construction. This year’s challenge, dubbed ‘Aerial Assist,’ required the team to design, engineer and build a versatile robot that can pass, catch, and shoot a 2’ fabric-coated exercise ball. In their first competition of the season, March 20-22 in Richmond, the RoboHawks compete in a series of matches that combine the excitement of sports with the rigors of science

and technology. Three teams from different schools and their robots form an alliance that works together to score more points than their opponents. In each match, which lasts two and a half minutes, the robots must navigate an area about the size of a tennis court while being controlled remotely by team members. The RoboHawks were required to integrate a selection of parts that were provided to teams around the country. From that starting point, the students and their industry mentors designed and programmed a nimble robot with a wide range of high-tech components and capabilities including a hydraulic

launcher, remotely-controlled swing arms, and an on board camera for targeting. “The FIRST® Robotics program is a great way to bring excitement to engineering for our students” said Cassin Bertke, Highland’s Upper School Director. “Thanks to the involvement and expertise of our industry mentors, team members learn creativity, problem solving, and teamwork in a fun and competitive way.” For more images from this year’s build season and competitions, please visit Highland School’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HighlandSchool.

Mentors Dr. Pat Hewitt and Michael McGill work with Gordon Wallace (‘16), second from left, Garrett Hundley (‘11), and Richard Vann (‘11) on this year’s robot.



Spotlight on Athletics Moshos Wins Third State Swim TitleHighland sophomore wins 100 yard Breaststroke at VISAA state meet in ManassasHighland sophomore Reni Moshos won the girls 100 yard breaststroke at the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) State Championship meet held on Saturday, February 15, 2014. Reni won the finals with a time of 1:05.17 while topping current VISAA record holder, Sommer Harris, of St. Catherine’s School, who finished third in the finals. Reni also briefly held the state record at the meet in the 200 yard individual medley, an event that combines butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, with a preliminary time of 2:03.80. Reni ultimately finished second in the individual medley to Jordan Kylie of Madeira, who set a new state record time of 2:01.19. Her win in the 100 yard Breastroke is her third state title, each in different strokes, in the past three years. Reni was recently named All American and selected as the Delaney Athletic Conference’s Female Swimmer of the Year. Congratulations Reni!

Spotlight on Advancement Mobile Bidding Added for ‘Stuck in the 70’s’ Auction

Ziegler Delivers Memorable ‘This I Believe’ Speech (continued from page 5)

(currently it airs on XM Radio). Edward R. Murrow, the show’s original host, believed that writing a “This I Believe” essay is an important practice. Our beliefs are core things by which we organize the world. They are the fundamental stories we tell ourselves about how the world works. They are bedrock upon which our whole paradigms rest. Beliefs, it is important to understand, are, in the normal sense of the word, not opinions. These are things we hold close to our hearts and from which we are unlikely to be moved without significant evidence to the contrary. We can have very few of them, generally less than five. What is at stake in this essay, it then becomes clear, is an explication of what it means to be us. Highland’s leadership program shares this same belief (it’s one of our fundamental ways that we organize the class). It is important for our students to examine how they view the world. Before they can lead others, they must know who they are themselves. This is not an easy process. While Socrates might have said, “the unexamined life is not worth living,” Malcolm X is said to have retorted back that “the examined life is hard.”

Get all the latest news atwww.highlandschool.org

This year’s Highland School annual auction on Saturday, April 5 will feature mobile bidding for silent auction items. For the first time, attendees will be able to register for the auction in advance, preview and track favorite auction items, and place bids automatically right from any mobile device that can connect to the internet.

“Mobile bidding is easy and fun to use,” said Briar Bogin, Highland’s Director of Communications & Special Events. “ It is sure to transform our silent auction into an exciting and fast-paced bidding experience for all of our guests.”

You will receive an introductory email before the auction with complete details on how to register and place your first bid. Don’t have a mobile device? Bidding stations will be available around the room. To order tickets or secure your VIP table, please go to www.highlandauction.org.



Spotlight on Athletics Three Seniors Will Play at Division 1 Schools Next FallHighland School celebrated three members of its 2014 senior class last month when they joined athletic staff, coaches, and parents to sign their letters of commitment to play sports at NCAA Division 1 universities this Fall.

Michele Micciche will play soccer at High Point UniversityMichele Micciche will be playing soccer at High Point University in High Point, North Carolina. Michele played varsity soccer and basketball at Highland and was awarded DAC Player of the Year in basketball in February. She is the daughter of Carmen and Rene Micciche of Leesburg.

Adam Fenton to play tennis at Elon University Adam Fenton has chosen to play tennis for Elon University located in Elon, North Carolina. Adam has played varsity tennis and soccer at Highland and is a top-ranked junior in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region. Adam is the son of Andrew and Cindy Fenton of Middleburg.

Jack Thomas to play tennis at Wofford College Jack Thomas, the top-ranked player on Covenant School’s state champion tennis team in 2013 before joining Highland for his senior year, will play tennis at Wofford College located in Spartansburg, South Carolina. Jack is the son of Mark and Susan Thomas of Charlottesville.

As many as six other Highland seniors are planning to sign spring letters of intent in the coming weeks. Please check our website at www.highlandschool.org for updates.

Cochrane to Oversee Security and Facilities

Chris Cochrane is Highland’s new full-time Director of Security and Facility Operations. Chris retired from law enforcement after 26 years of service with Fairfax County, and comes to Highland from The Madeira School in McLean. “Chris’ skill set and outgoing personality will make him a tremendous addition to the Highland staff,” said Head of School Hank Berg. “We are looking forward to what he will bring to our campus.” At Highland, Chris will hold dual roles. First, as Facilities Management Director, Chris will develop and administer programs to maintain Highland’s buildings, grounds, and equipment. Second as Head of Campus Security and Safety, Chris will maintain a safe and secure campus for all students, faculty, staff and visitors. “I am very excited about joining the Highland family and appreciate the warm welcome,” Chris said. “My goal is to enhance the current services and security programs that work, but also improve processes, information flow, and generally help to make things run more efficiently and cost effectively.”

Former Head of Security at The Madeira School, Retired Fairfax Police Officer joins Highland as Director of Security and Facilities

Chris Cochrane joins Highland as the new Director of Security and Facilities



Michele Micciche (‘14)

will play D1 soccer at

High Point University

this fall.

After upsetting local rival and second-seeded Wakefield School a night earlier, Highland’s boys varsity basketball team earned a spot in the Delaney Athletic Conference (DAC) Division I Tournament championship game on Saturday, February 22. Hosted in their home gym, the Hawks were listed as visitors and considered underdogs against top-seeded Fredericksburg Christian High School from Fredericksburg. Although the Hawks were visitors on the scoreboard, two vocal student sections on opposite ends of the jam-packed Upper School gymnasium made it clear who the animated crowd was supporting. Dressed in blue and gold, some students wore hard hats, seemingly in anticipation

of all the tough work ahead for the third-seeded Highland team.

Hawks Channel Fervent Supporters From the opening tip, the Hawks rode this outpouring of support, and a relentless, attacking style of play, to a first quarter lead. Led by Seniors Logan Miller, Matt Kelly, and Rahji Johnson, the team rattled the “home” Eagles with strong rebounding and accurate outside shooting. The team sealed victory down the stretch with critical free throws. The student sections spent the fourth quarter singing and cheering their team to a convincing 60-45 victory and their first DAC tournament title since 2008. Congratulations Hawks!

For more images of the boys’ basketball team’s run through the DAC tournament visit facebook.com/HighlandSchool


Boys Varsity Basketball Team Wins DAC Season-Ending TournamentConvincing victories over second seeded Wakefield and top seeded Fredericksburg Christian lead to first DAC tournament title since 2008

2014 International WeekThis year’s International Week, from February 3-7, celebrated Russian history and culture through a range of events and speakers held across all divisions.

Events included a visit with Temuri Yakobashvili (lower right), former Ambassador of Georgia to the United States, Russian folk music, and folk tales by storyteller Beth Lalonde. Below are some images from around campus during an engaging and enlightening week.


In The Spotlight

Coach Jacob Shechtman (l) and Assistant Coach Ron Ross (r) Highland’s coaches encourage their players to take chances, make mistakes, and learn from the results. By encouraging a “growth mindset” in their players, our coaches help players understand that failure is not the final measure but simply shows where they are in their learning.


However, there are also the titans of the game, and of those perhaps no coach stands out more than the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden. Besides winning more national titles than anyone else, Coach Wooden was also famous for aiming at success obliquely; that is, he strove to teach his players life lessons and believed that by doing so he would have athletic success. This particular approach means that Wooden is famous for many aphorisms. One of his most famous is, “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” At first blush, I’m sure that most people will willingly agree with this sentiment. Of course it’s important to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. However, practically this is a much harder sentiment for someone to agree with. If a basketball player makes too many mistakes, the coach takes him out. If a musician or an actor makes a mistake, the audience immediately hears. If a student makes a mistake, she receives a poor grade. Enough of these mistakes and all of a sudden a student feels as though everything is in jeopardy. This issue of the magazine highlights all of the wonderful successes that our graduates have had, especially successes getting into elite colleges. However, many of our students feel as though, in order to imitate these past students, they cannot make mistakes; they cannot slip up. And yet, as Wooden indicates, to learn and to be a “doer,” we must make mistakes. Often fear of failure can lead to a kind of paralysis where an athlete is afraid to act or a student to try a difficult assignment. This, then, starts a vicious cycle in which, by not doing anything difficult or great,

a student gives herself no chance to get into that great school. In athletics, that same athlete might still get taken out of the game, this time because he didn’t do anything. The trick, then, is to learn how to frame failure. In her work on people’s mindsets, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck identified two mindsets, growth and fixed. People in the fixed mindset believe that “failure means you lack competence or potential— that you are a failure…success is about being more gifted than others…Failure measure[s] you.”* In short, people in the fixed mindset believe that failure points out a deficiency in the person that failed; they weren’t good enough. This is the same mindset that causes students to believe that the college that they get into is somehow a reflection of who they are. Fixed mindsets, according to Dweck, place the priority on the outcome, not the process. On the other hand, people in the growth mindset frame failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. Dweck says that they “take the challenge, learn from the failure, or continue their effort.” Failure is not a measure of who they are but at what stage they are in their learning. She goes on to write, “the growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues.” Growth mindset people see instruction as a way to get better, not as a condemnation. Their work is intrinsically valuable to them as something they are learning from. Highland’s leadership program strongly believes that knowing how to frame failure is important. In fact, it is such a strong belief that

As a basketball coach, I have no shortage of examples to look to for guidance and inspiration. Obviously there are those coaches close to me: Coach Leake, Coach Shechtman and the coaches of our other programs.

Framing Failure &Aiming Obliquely

Written by Ronnie Ross, Assistant Coach, Highland Boys Varsity Basketball


Spotlight on Leadership

the leadership class has invited Highland parent Colonel Peter Petronzio, USMC, retired, to talk to the class about failure. Col. Petronzio already spoke to the class about what makes someone a leader, and he shared examples from his time commanding operational units in deployments around the world. He has served in and commanded units from platoon to Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). His next class will be entitled “Making Friends with the F Word” in which he will explain how, as a leader in charge of the lives of men, he and his men had to learn from and frame failure. He will extend the lessons to include what the students face in their own lives. All of this information is so important for our students. Rather than taking Wooden’s approach and aiming at success obliquely through focusing on learning, the fixed mindset student focuses only on the outcome of the college she gets into.

However, as Dweck relates to us, “Many growth-minded people didn’t even plan to go to the top. They got there as a result of doing what they love. It’s ironic: The top is where the fixed-mindset people hunger to be, but it’s where many growth-minded people arrive as a by-product of their enthusiasm for what they do.” I think that this quote describes the best of Highland’s students. Yes, they are at schools like Yale and Princeton and Columbia and Stanford and Dartmouth and Duke and Brown and on and on and on. However, these students got there through learning. They did what they loved and they took feedback as a chance to get better. They tried new things even when they risked being incompetent at them. They stepped out and lead assemblies, organized poetry slams, shredded on a guitar, rallied their teammates. In short, they embraced learning and by doing so succeeded. n

*All quotes from Dr. Carol Dweck taken from her book Mindset.

“Many growth-minded people didn’t even plan to go to the top. They got there as a result of doing what they love.”

~Dr. Carol Dweck

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Spotlight on Leadership

Groove TrainFeaturing Charlottesville’s

Get You

r Groo

ve On!Annual Highland Auction • Saturday, April 5, 2014, at 6pm • Upper School Gym

Go online to highlandauction.org to order your tickets and VIP tables

That‘s right. Engineering. At Highland, we’ve been steadily building our STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and STEAM (which adds art to the equation) programs. Our students, who have always been up for a new challenge, are responding in record numbers and college admissions offices are taking note. While Highland School has always provided students with opportunities to discover their interests, unique abilities, and passions through challenging college preparatory academics and independent study, we’re now encouraging them to take on new high-tech challenges like software application, computer programming, and mechanical engineering. Challenge and support go hand in hand. Our low student-teacher ratio ensures that Highland students receive the individual attention needed to dive deeper into these complex topics. They maintain the freedom to develop their unique, inherent abilities, including independence and confidence – skills essential for success in college and in life no matter what area of study they choose. Our STEM programming begins at the lowest grades and then progresses through

all divisions. For example, Junior Lego League participants in our Lower School can move into FIRST® Lego League (FLL). Then, interested students can join our Upper School’s extracurricular Robotics program, in which students create complex, task-oriented robots for regional competitions with the support and direction of experienced industry mentors. Once our students reach Highland’s Upper School, they can translate these experiences into independent study, real-world internships and Senior Projects during their junior and senior years.

Student and Alumni ProfilesIn this section, we have six profiles from current students and recent alumni who credit Highland with helping them build their academic successes, both in engineering programs and our more traditional Liberal Arts studies. Our first profile, by Marissa Ray (‘14), tell us how her opportunity to “experiment with engineering” grew into a real world internship with a software development firm and is shaping her Senior Project before she attends Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering in the Fall.

Student and Alumni Profiles in this Issue:

Marissa Ray (‘14) Tim Bartz (‘14) Joe Johnson (‘09) Chelsea Patry (‘09) Will Mackie-Jenkins (‘09) Amanda Miller-Kita (‘06)

At Highland School, we take pride in cultivating strong students through a demanding yet individualized curriculum. We consistently place Highland graduates in some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the United States. But did you know we’re also placing Highland graduates in some of the country’s best engineering programs?

Select Colleges & Universities Accepting

Highland Students Since 2008:

Bowdoin College

University of California –Berkeley

Carnegie Mellon University

Columbia University

Dartmouth College

Duke University

Middlebury College

University of North Carolina

Northwestern University

Princeton University

University of Richmond

Stanford University

Vanderbilt University

University of Virginia

Wake Forest University

Washington and Lee University

Wellesley College

Yale University


Focus on Highland Students & Alumni

Highland Embraces Engineering

Next, we hear from Tim Bartz (‘14). Tim will be attending Clemson University as part of their new Packaging Sciences program. An entrepreneur at heart, Tim talks about how he landed in this highly specialized program and where it might take him in the future. Continuing with the engineering focus, we reconnect with Joe Johnson (‘09), who recently graduated from University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Joe shares some insights into how his Highland education helped him thrive in UVA’s rigorous engineering program. After graduating as Highland’s Valedictorian in 2009, Chelsea Patry (‘09) graduated from Wellesley College in 2013 and is gaining real

world experience at Boston Children’s Hospital before embarking on medical school. Will Mackie-Jenkins (‘09) checks in from Chicago, where he is a graduate teaching assistant while working toward a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. Will, who is a Highland “lifer,” tells us how the real-world experience he gained, especially while in the Upper School, prepared him for his current work. And finally, we hear from Amanda Miller-Kita (‘03) who graduated from The College of William and Mary in 2010 and earned her J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law at Pennsylvania State University in 2013. Amanda is currently clerking for the Honorable Jay. J. Hoberg, a Judge in Pennsylvania. n

Select Colleges & Universities Accepting

Highland Students Since 2008:

Bowdoin College

University of California –Berkeley

Carnegie Mellon University

Columbia University

Dartmouth College

Duke University

Middlebury College

University of North Carolina

Northwestern University

Princeton University

University of Richmond

Stanford University

Vanderbilt University

University of Virginia

Wake Forest University

Washington and Lee University

Wellesley College

Yale University

Why are Students Drawn to STEM?Solid Career Opportunities, Great Pay, and Collaborative Work There are a number of reasons students are attracted to careers in engineering, science, technology and math. Professionals in these fields are in demand even during the recession, the salaries are among the highest, and the work is interesting to this generation. As the 21st century places demands on new skill sets, more and more students are drawn to the team-based, problem-solving nature of the work. We see it in the increasing interest in robotics and in our younger students who are already accustomed to creative, group-oriented work.

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Highland Admissions to Top-Tier Engineering Programs In the past five years, 20 Highland seniors matriculated to schools of engineering. Those 20 students were admitted to 43 different programs, including UVA, Virginia Tech, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin, Syracuse, Georgia Institute of Technology, NC State, University of Pittsburgh, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Southern California, and Rensselaer.


When kids are little, adults often ask them what they want to be when they grow up. These kids might answer with replies like a princess, the President, or an astronaut.

Marissa Ray

Then, as years pass, these same kids change their minds and choose more ‘grown-up’ jobs. But not me. I have always wanted to be a spy. In a time when technology is making exponential leaps, what job could possibly look more exciting and glamorous to a 7 year-old girl than that of a spy? Simply pushing a few buttons, a seemingly mundane action became something powerful enough to fight bad guys.

Freedom to Experiment in Engineering Now, however, I look at gathering information through programming and software development more seriously; something I want to make a career out of. My time at Highland

School has been especially influential in helping me to refine career choices. As a freshman, I knew I wanted to be an engineer, I just didn’t know what kind. Over the past four years, Highland School has allowed me to experiment with many different types of software programming through the wide variety of technology and software engineering courses I’ve taken. The range of programming experience I gained at Highland School helped me earn an internship in my Junior year with InCadence Strategic Solutions. InCadence is a software engineering firm located in Manassas that delivers cutting edge software solutions for

QUICK FACTS: Marissa Ray (‘14)

Virginia Tech (‘18)

National Honor Society Member

Highland Scholar

Marissa Ray (‘14) is a Senior at Highland School and will study at Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering in Blacksburg this Fall.



regional and national commercial and government clients.

Unique Internship Opportunity Offers Insight into Potential Career During my time with InCadence, I had the opportunity to test a new biometric system called MARS, or Multilingual Automated Registration System that the company was developing. During my testing of the system, I created various dossiers in the program to try to root out bugs in the programming. Through this testing, which took place over several days, I found a major bug that caused the device to crash when the cursor was placed over a specific text box embedded in the user interface.

Junior internships and senior projects offer opportunities to apply classroom learning to real-world settings.Highland School requires all Upper School students to

participate in two distinctive opportunities to apply the

work they are doing in the classroom in a real-world

professional setting during the school day.

Junior Internship

Highland’s Junior Internship program provides students

with the opportunity to explore and clarify potential

career interests, discover what skills and education

are essential for success, and develop maturity and

responsibility. This experience will help students as they

embark on the college and academic program selection

process, and will allow them to refine their interests

before choosing their three week-long Senior Project.

This year’s Junior Internships start June 2, 2014.

Senior Project

Highland’s Senior Project, which is three weeks long

and takes place in between May and June of their

senior year, allows students to experience a meaningful

closure to their Upper School years. During the last

weeks of school, seniors are given the opportunity

to explore a career, academic, or service interest by

developing an internship or pursuing an independent

project. Projects include a reflection component

and culminate in an evaluation by the sponsor and

a presentation to Highland students and faculty.

When you combine the programming techniques I’ve learned from my technical coursework and the practical experience from my internship at InCadence, I gained enough insight into the engineering field to inspire me to explore the possibility of a career in software development or computer engineering. This experience brought me to apply to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, which I will be attending this Fall. While I am at Virginia Tech, I plan to co-op with the CIA or private software development companies so that I will be able to gain work experience and narrow the focus on my studies on the areas of engineering that I find especially interesting. After I graduate from Virginia Tech, I hope to become an intelligence officer for the CIA. Even though a seven year old’s dream job may be written off as a mere childish phase, if you’re as passionate about your dreams you can achieve anything you want. n

“Now, however, I look at gathering information through programming and software development more seriously; something I want to make into a career. My time at Highland School has been especially influential in helping me to refine career choices.“


In less than a year, I will be eight hours away, ten degrees warmer, and on a journey which will result in a lifestyle rather than a diploma. I chose Clemson University in South Carolina for a specific program called Packaging Science. However, just like so many high school students, had you asked me a year ago what I wanted to do with my life, you would have received a blank stare and the rhetorical question, “Isn’t that what college is for?” But just because I think I know what I want to do now, does not mean things cannot change over the next four years – and that

As I prepare mentally for one of the biggest physical transitions of my life, it is impossible to forget those experiences and relationships that have not only lead me to this infamous stepping stone, but also defined my legacy as a Highland Student.

Tim Bartz

is what it means to be a Highland Student. Packaging Science is a College Major introduced in the past ten years to only four University curriculums nationwide. Clemson, being the highest ranked and most selective of the universities, is followed in suit by Rochester Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, and University of Wisconsin. At Clemson, the program is comprised of about fifty students per class out of around 15,000 undergraduates. Packaging Science combines marketing, advertising, engineering, product

QUICK FACTS: Timothy Bartz (‘14)

Clemson (‘18)


Founder’s Scholar

Tim Bartz (‘14) is a Senior at Highland School and will be attending Clemson University in South Carolina


Clemson’s Packaging Science Program Offers Hands-On Learning


The LEED Certified Harris A. Smith Building is home to Clemson’s Packaging Sciences Program

design, and interactive problem solving. As students progress into their junior year and beyond, they begin to specialize in different aspects of the Packaging Sciences major. If you were to ask any of my family or friends they would tell you that I have been an entrepreneur since the day I held my first dollar, which is why I plan to specialize in the business part of Packaging Science rather than the chemical or engineering part. After hearing about Packaging Science from Ms. Norden and then meeting with one of the head professors, I was instantly hooked because it was the first profession I had heard of that I could actually envision myself doing. However, I will always be open to change.

One of my greatest fears is finding myself stuck in a job that I cannot stand and absolutely dread waking up to every single day. So if it turns out that Packaging Science is not for me, then so be it, because I know Highland School has instilled a sense of curiosity and a willingness to try everything and anything – a trait that will allow me to find passion in what I do. To be a Highland Student is not an easy task. It takes determination, balance, and mental toughness. An A+ on a test does not make a Highland Student, the winning shot does not make a Highland Student, the lead in the musical does not make a Highland Student – it is the courage it takes to find what makes us happy that makes us Highland. n

“One of my greatest fears is finding myself stuck in a job that I cannot stand and absolutely dread waking up to every single day. So if it turns out that Packaging Science is not for me, then so be it, because I know Highland School has instilled a sense of curiosity and a willingness to try everything and anything…”

One of Only a Few Packaging Programs

Students in Clemson University’s Packaging Science

program participate in one of the country’s only

university program that ties together packaging

science, graphic communications, environmental

science, manufacturing principles, and marketing.

What is Packaging Science?

Packaging is an essential part of industrialized economies

by protecting, preserving, and helping to market products.

Packaging Science combines knowledge and skills from the

sciences, engineering, design and business, and is a highly

competitive, innovative field. More people are employed

in packaging than any other industry in the United States.

Students Work in Stunning, LEED Certified Space

The multidisciplinary program, which started in

2009, is located in the Harris A. Smith Building,

(shown above), Clemson’s first U.S. Green Building

Council certified LEED Gold building.


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Joe Johnson

Having been through UVA’s full Mechanical Engineering curriculum and with a couple of years to think back on the impact Highland School had on my college career, several key points come to mind. Highland’s reputation for delivering a premium education helped me in the college search process. Having attended a well respected and always improving high school bolstered the significance of my academic and extracurricular accomplishments. My first choice was to attend The University of Virginia and looking back now, UVA was the perfect place for me. Graduating from Highland School gave me a leg up in a very competitive admissions process.

Highland’s small community. Having experienced lectures with 500+ people and engineering courses with 100+ people during my second and third years at UVA, I have come to realize the significance of the personal attention I received at Highland. I feel that I am able to comprehend and retain the information being shared better because of the increased personal attention I received in smaller classes. The people who work at Highland are fantastic and really want each and every student to reach his or her full potential. Highland, as an organization, is always working to improve. Instead of ignoring potential shortcomings, the faculty and

After graduating from Highland, I attended the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science for four years and earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, with high distinction, in May 2013.

QUICK FACTS:

Joe Johnson (‘09)


Founder’s Scholar

University of Virginia (BS ’13)

“Having experienced lectures with 500+ students and engineering courses with 100+ students during my second and third years at UVA, I have come to realize the significance of the personal attention I received at Highland.”

I again realized the impact Highland had on me when I walked into my first college Calculus class at UVA. During my senior year at Highland, the highest level of math the school offered was AB Calculus. While many of the other students in the engineering program had taken BC Calculus in high school, they hadn’t had the opportunity to learn how to develop a meaningful relationship with their teachers. My time at Highland School helped me feel comfortable reaching out to my teachers and advisors whenever I needed help. From my first year Calculus professors to my fourth year thesis advisor, there is simply no better way to really learn and absorb challenging material than to approach them personally. I can say firsthand that, when courses get rough, the relationships that you have built with friends, classmates, professors, and advisors will be what save you. And this may be the biggest benefit of

staff are willing to address issues head on. While I was in the Upper School at Highland, an amazing Center for the Arts and a brand new turf field were added to the physical plant. Since my graduation in 2009, a state-of-the-art academic center has been built in the Lower School, the Middle School has undergone a dramatic renovation, and advanced classes like BC Calculus are being offered in the Upper School. Highland prepared me well for a successful college career and the school is constantly improving with the times. It is exciting to envision how Highland will continue to evolve and prepare young men and women for the path ahead. n



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I graduated from Highland in 2009 and ever since then, I have been happily living my life to the fullest. While at Highland, I learned some important lessons and developed essential qualities that have served me well in all my endeavors.

Chelsea Patry

I developed the work ethic and perseverance necessary to tackle any task by taking eleven Advanced Placement (AP) classes. I established the desire to always challenge myself and to never be complacent. Additionally, by taking many types of classes, like two languages, I developed a thirst for learning, especially in entirely new subject areas. However, I believe that the most important thing I learned at Highland was to believe in myself and my abilities. Having this

QUICK FACTS: Chelsea Patry (‘09)


Founder’s Scholar

Wellesley College (BA ‘13)

confidence and determination to succeed resulted in me being certain I could accomplish anything that I set my mind to. My biggest accomplishment after graduating from Highland was attending and graduating from Wellesley College. I chose Wellesley for its rigorous academics and to be in an environment where both the students and academics challenged me to be a better student and person. I kept my plate full by being pre-med, double majoring in biology and Chinese, and participating in two varsity sports. My goal was to take full advantage of all the opportunities I had in college. For example, before college, Chinese was a new and completely different language from anything that I had ever studied. However, learning the language provided me with an exciting and intellectual stimulation. Furthermore, I enjoyed being at a school where I could participate in varsity soccer and varsity swimming and diving. I swam my freshman year and, after being asked by the coach,

I decided to learn diving at the age of 19. Learning a new sport in college was a good reminder for me of the importance of never giving up. One of the most memorable experiences from college was the five months in the spring of 2012 that I spent studying abroad in Krakow, Poland. As I have mentioned, I love learning new things, whether it be new experiences, cultures, or history. I chose to go to Poland because I am Polish and although I grew up with some Polish traditions, I wanted to get to know my heritage better. Plus, I have always wanted to learn Polish, but never had the opportunity. Choosing to go to a central/eastern European country was the best decision I ever made. I immersed myself in a country different than my own and experienced a society molded by World War II and the Cold War. The Polish people taught me to be happy and enjoy every day by doing things that make me happy. (Continued on page 29)

“I knew I wanted more experience within the scientific community before I went to medical school so I found a job as a research assistant in the Hematology/Oncology lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. The lab studies genes involved with the formation of human leukemias.”


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By nightfall, it’ll be down to negative four degrees. The Channel 5 reporters are warning about prolonged exposure and facial frostbite. Polar Vortex the third is on its way. A few days ago, my friend and Highland Alumni Relations extraordinaire Archie Catalfamo wrote to me asking for a few words on how Highland School affected my experience as a college student and beyond. My first thought: It must be nice to be in a place where your nostrils don’t freeze together immediately upon going outside. The city is remarkably serene covered in snow and ice like this, but I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for those

Presently, I’m writing this in my studio apartment located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois Through the window I can see the entrance to the city zoo and a section of the park. Everything’s covered in about a foot and a half of snow, the cars parked along Clark Street included.

comparatively mild Virginia winters. But I’m making too much of all this cold when I have a warm apartment to be thankful for. I also have good reason to be in the Windy City for one of the most brutal winters of the last several decades—I’m a creative writing graduate student at Columbia College Chicago, where I’m working on a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in poetry. The program is, like other MFAs, centered on the development of a specific artistic craft. This means I spend most of my time writing poems, reading poems, and “workshopping”— or discussing the creative

Will Mackie-Jenkins (‘09), with microphone, is currently a creative writing graduate student at Columbia College Chicago where he is working toward a Master of Fine Arts Degree in poetry.

Will Mackie-JenkinsQUICK FACTS: Will Mackie-Jenkins (‘09)


Founders’ Award Recipient

Virginia Tech (BA ‘13)

Columbia College Chicago (MFA ‘15)


works of my peers in a non-traditional classroom setting. I was accepted to the program at the end of my senior year of college, along with ten others from all over the United States, and I was named one of three Follett Graduate Merit Award recipients. The program is two years long, with the endgame of producing a substantial publishable manuscript. This is a great situation I’ve found myself in—I get a rare chance to pursue a passion while living in one of the most exciting cities in the world. Now this isn’t purely an autobiographical piece (and I’m well aware personal memoir has become grossly overrepresented in contemporary

program was listed in the national top 25. So, by chance (or kismet, however you’d like to think of it) I unexpectedly found myself in a niche of academia well-tailored to my desires and abilities. The choice to attend Virginia Tech led me to discover the world of MFA programs and end up in the great Midwestern cultural hub of Chicago. But before this, before Virginia Tech, I attended Highland School. Before we continue with the inevitable self-centering of this personal narrative, take a moment to consider a relevant application of the term “ripple effect.” When a hand tosses a stone into a pond, for instance, the stone

writing), but I include this information for reasons extending beyond my recent academic and personal situation. I believe that one’s roots—the place or places where a person grew up, childhood friends, family, a sense of belonging, etc.—are directly related to the development of maturity, effective personhood, and success—however you’d like to define the term. To think that my current or future station in life is or will be solely the result of my own gumption would be, frankly, ignorant. In fact, most days, when I’m riding the Brown line to the Loop downtown or crossing the Chicago River on the 22 bus, I wonder, “how did I get here?” Well, here’s one answer. Before I enrolled in the MFA program and moved to Chicago, I attended Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, class of 2013. I graduated with a BA in English, Creative Writing option (though curiously my diploma doesn’t reflect the “Creative Writing option”). I know what you’re thinking: Virginia Tech+Creative Writing=??? At least that’s what I thought during the first meeting with my advisor when she suggested I look into the Creative Writing route. After a semester or two, I figured out that even though the program had been around for fewer than ten years, it has some of the best American poets as instructors—as recently as 2012, the Graduate Creative Writing

produces a series of ripples that extend outward incrementally over the water, expanding, touching lily pads or pieces of grass. The hand is responsible for how hard the stone is tossed and thus how far the ripples will extend. If you’re a stone and your goal is to make the most, farthest-reaching ripples that you can, would you not want to be in the hand that tosses the best? I graduated from Highland in 2009 as a “lifer,” meaning I attended the school from pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade. I know Highland very well. In Pre-Kindergarten, we had class (read: nap time) in the Chilton Building. Now all that remains of my first classroom are a few pieces of brick in the possession of various faculty and alumni. I’ve seen whole sections of the school torn down and built up, two different headmasters, the hiring and retiring of faculty, state champion teams, students getting into their dream schools, a veritable renaissance in the arts program; I was a cast member in six Rice Theater productions and one of the first students to be a part of the guitar program. For the vast majority of my life, I’ve had an intimate relationship with Highland—as a student, employee, and alumnus. Think of these facts as my credentials to speak knowledgeably on the status of the school if you’d like; the truth is a very small number of people can claim to

Focus on Highland Alumni & StudentsFocus on Highland Students & Alumni

“I’m a creative writing graduate student at Columbia College Chicago, where I’m working on a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in poetry. The program is, like other MFAs, centered on the development of a specific artistic craft.”


have seen Highland from as many different angles and for as many years as I have. With all my experience of being affiliated with the school, I can reputably and objectively state that the great effectiveness of the Highland School program (the Upper School, in particular) lies in two areas. First, Highland is a Mecca of opportunity. I’ve heard over the years that people don’t really see Highland as a prep school; rather, it’s viewed among those who don’t know it well as a smaller, more expensive version of a typical education. This is false. As early as my freshman year at Highland, my fellow students and I began attending regular college speaker events. Admissions representatives from various local colleges would come to speak to us in the black box theater or the Library nook, thoroughly

experience and new options for themselves should the impossibility of matriculation arise. In the “revolving door” state of modern academia (or “get in, learn what you can, now get out,” as I think of it) it is indeed rare and refreshing to find an institution so dedicated to assuring futures for its students. Now here we are back to Chicago. The temperature is hovering in the low single digits and the Channel 5 reporters are more interested in the Olympic medal ceremonies than frostbite. Maybe the third Polar Vortex won’t be as bad as we thought. Since the start of my second term at CCC, I’ve been teaching Writing and Rhetoric I on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to a crop of undergraduates. The prospect of not having to wake up to subzero temperatures is doing wonders for my motivation to lead an especially spirited discussion tomorrow morning. So far, I’ve

answering any questions we may have in preparation for the eventual application process Every student was expected to attend. In recent years, it has come to my attention that this is incredibly uncommon among most other high schools. Many of the nation’s students are lucky to have a few college reps visit their campus; I must have sat through over a dozen during my years in the Highland Upper School. This is a rare form of direct encouragement from an academic institution; this, combined with dedicated college application counselors, allowed each student to feel that attending college was not just a possibility—it was a must. This leads to the second great effectiveness of Highland School, which is an ingrained no-nonsense attitude when it comes to having a plan for each student’s future. Here, I could quote figures such as the consistent 100-percent matriculation rate, but I’m more interested in the attitude itself as a part of the school’s culture. By the end of senior year, students will have completed required internships, assuring some work

found teaching a college class to be an immensely personal endeavor that is both draining and exhilarating. This is as true for seasoned professors as it is for new instructors like me. Yes, I will admit that the prospect of being responsible for a classroom full of influential minds was and is a terrifying notion—and yes, I will admit that I was incredibly nervous in the hours leading up to my first class. But as I arrived to the room forty-five minutes early, turned on the projector, and obsessively reviewed my lecture notes and the course roll sheet, a calming memory came to me. In my senior year at Highland, I took part in an independent study where I co-taught a beginning guitar class. I stood at the front of the Center for the Arts classroom explaining chord charts and melodies. I remembered that action of sharing, and that everything felt right. And as my Writing and Rhetoric I students trickled into the classroom and I began to call roll, I thought, This is where I want to be. n

“…a calming memory came to me. In my senior year at Highland, I took part in an independent study where I co-taught a beginning guitar class. I stood at the front of the Center for the Arts classroom explaining chord charts and melodies. I remembered that action of sharing, and that everything felt right. ”

Focus on Highland Alumni & Students Focus on Highland Students & Alumni


Despite the comfort and familiarity, I was unsatisfied with the education that I was receiving. I felt bored in every aspect of the high school experience. My classes were less than challenging, the extracurricular programs and sports teams were uninspiring, and the majority of my teachers seemed unmotivated. When I chose to leave public school and attend Highland, I was eager to start fresh. Highland turned out to be everything that I hoped it would be. I found the community to be very welcoming and friendly. Teachers wanted not only for their students to master the material, but to be challenged as well. In public school, I was used to going to class, maybe studying (probably not…) and still getting A’s. No more. At Highland, I remember spending many nights staying up late after basketball games to work on homework assignments. While the teachers wanted to push me, I never feared failing. My teachers always encouraged me to come to them with any questions I might have, and often spent their personal time during lunch, or after school to go over a topic that I was struggling with. Only when I attended college and law school, did I fully understand how much

Amanda Miller-Kita

I benefited from attending Highland. From 2006-2010 I attended the College of William and Mary, where I received a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, with an emphasis on Linguistics. Upon graduating from William and Mary, I attended The Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law. I received my Juris Doctor in May of 2013 and I took and passed the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bar Exams last summer. I am currently clerking for the Honorable Jay. J. Hoberg, Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County Pennsylvania. Throughout all of these academic endeavors, I watched students around me struggle for the first time. They had not been challenged in high school, or perhaps even college, like I had. They did not learn early on how to study effectively, and were resistant to seeking help. Looking back on my academic career, I realize that choosing to attend Highland School was the first “adult” decision that I made. I have to say that it is one of the best decisions I made as well. Life is challenging and hard work is required. I believe that Highland truly helped prepare me for college, law school, and life in general. n

I transferred to Highland from Rappahannock County High School in 2003, at the beginning of my Sophomore year. It was a big decision to leave; all of my friends and family were in Rappahannock, and it was all I had ever known.

QUICK FACTS: AmandaMiller-Kita (‘06)

College of William & Mary ( BA ‘10)

Pennsylvania State University (JD ‘13)

David Miller, Ella Miller (‘09), Dr. Brooke Miller (8th ‘74), Amanda Miller (‘06), Matt Kita, Ann Miller, and Henry Miller (‘12)


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Spring Musical ImagesUpper School students presented ‘110 In the Shade’ in The Rice Theater. For more images, go to facebook.com/HighlandSchool

In The Spotlight


(Continued from page 23)

I became more independent, traveled on my own, ordered food in a new language, and I loved it! Every day I look fondly on that semester and think how much better of a person I am for the experiences. Having graduated from Wellesley College in May 2013, I was ready for my next adventure in life. I knew I wanted more experience within the scientific community before I went to medical school so I found a job as a research assistant in the Hematology/Oncology lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. The lab studies genes involved with the formation of human leukemias. I love what I am doing because the research is translational, meaning the results directly go into medicine and saving lives. I have learned many

research techniques, such as working with cells and mice. I have learned to dissect specific organs from mice. Additionally, I collaborate with doctors about the experiments and the future of our projects. I feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to conduct research because this “behind the scenes” work gives me another perspective on medicine. I am proud of the accomplishments I have achieved since graduating from Highland. Although I have grown and matured since then, the attributes that I developed at Highland are always with me and have helped me through college and in my current job. I know that my desire to learn and my determination to succeed will continue to help me in all aspects of my life, especially in medical school. Just as I was at graduation in 2009, I still am confident in my abilities to reach all my goals and dreams. n

Chelsea Patry

Save the DateSunday, October 26, 2014 (the day after Fall Gold Cup)

85th Anniversary GalaJoin fellow alumni, students, families, and faculty as we celebrate Highland’s past 85 years.

Please check the website for more details at www.highlandschool.org

Focus on Highland Alumni & StudentsFocus on Highland Students & Alumni

Michele Daniel-Shenk (top) created Highland’s first MakerSpace in the Lower School in 2013. She is also coach of the Lower School’s Lego Robotics team.


Spotlight on Faculty

From Lego League to music, and computer class to MakerSpace, Michele Daniel-Shenk says she continues to learn something every day not only from her teaching, but also from her students. “They help me to see things through their eyes. With their help, I can approach each day with excitement and enthusiasm. I’m often amazed at the way children can offer a fresh perspective to something I’ve taught dozens of times. The way that they can make parallels between what I’ve taught them and the world at large never fails to amaze me,” she said. Michele has been at Highland since 2000, and has been adding to her talents ever since. Her newest endeavor is MakerSpace, simply described as a community center with tools. “I believe that MakerSpace has changed the focus of education. It is slowly filtering into the various other disciplines in our division. Rather than having to learn by rote, students can actually apply what they have learned in a way that excites them personally. They are given a space and materials and are encouraged to think outside the box and explore their creative side,” she said. For example, science students can learn the basics about electronics and the various types of circuits in the science classroom. However, when they put what they have learned into effect by creating a new game in the MakerSpace, they

have applied that knowledge in a real world situation in a way that will help them to better understand the concept. “Our 3D printer has also helped to change things for our students. This new technology allows them to design their ideas on the computer and then actually print them,” she offered.

Freedom to Fail Fuels Learning Earlier this year, third grade students designed houses for crayfish. Once they had learned the basics of the Computer Aided Design (CAD) program, they put what they had learned into action. They were tasked with building a crayfish house of a certain size with an opening that would accommodate the crayfish. Students quickly learned that roofs cave in if they are not properly supported and that putting too many supports into their structure did not give the crayfish enough room to move around. “By allowing them the freedom to fail and learn these things on their own, I taught them that failing is simply part of the process of learning and that they needed to evaluate what went wrong and try again. Our students are also learning to look at the things around them and see the possibilities rather than just the object. They no longer see a

Innovative Educator Looks to New Ideas to Nurture a Life-Long Love of Learning Michele Daniel-Shenk, Highland’s Lower School music and computer teacher and resident tinkerer, incorporates the ‘MakerSpace’ movement and Lego® Robotics to engage and educate not only her students but herself.


Spotlight on Faculty

box as something to throw away, but something that can be used to create another item entirely. Incorporating technology into their projects allows them to bring their creations to life with animation using programs such as Scratch, EV3 programming and WeDo kits. Our MakerSpace allows them to see how important what they are learning is to the real world,” she said. Michele also spends a great deal of time in Highland’s robotics program for students at the younger levels. Much to her excitement, more than 50% of Highland’s third grade students participate in the Jr. FLL (First Lego League) program this year, as do more than 40% of our fourth graders.

Everyone here is like one big family. “I enjoy being a part of the joys and struggles of the students and I enjoy the larger community of parents and faculty. The students are energetic and enthusiastic about learning and it keeps me motivated to do my best. I also enjoy the support of Highland School. Highland does an excellent job of supporting their teachers’ learning so we can keep up and explore innovative ideas,” she said. She carries this strength of community into her own life as well. She remains active in her own community by volunteering at local domestic abuse shelters, child abuse organizations and the SPCA. She enjoys time with her husband Kenny, and children Nathan and Hunter.

“Robotics and MakerSpace both bring real world experiences into our curriculum” she noted. “I can teach students to program in the computer lab, but until they actually put that into practice they won’t see the value to that knowledge. When they build a robot and are given a challenge, they must put the entire design engineering process into play. They must design, build, test and then adjust their design and/or programming until the challenge is solved. This helps students learn perseverance and the joy of accomplishment.”

Unique Programs Add to the Experience She added that these kinds of programs add to the overall academic experience by helping students apply what they have learned in their various classes into the real world challenges. They can delve further into those concepts that interest them and have the freedom to design and explore whatever they can come up with. “Students have the freedom to allow their imaginations to flow. Students are encouraged to broaden their horizons and try new things. They are learning to understand that the process is just as important as the final product,” she said. Michele feels like the strength of the Highland community is what makes her job so special.

And she, too, continues to learn. She stays aware of the growing role of technology in the classroom and seeks new ways for students to implement this in their classroom activities. “I hope to teach my students the love of learning,” she concluded. “I hope to show the students that they don’t always have to be perfect. Whether it’s exploring an instrument in music or designing on the computer, I hope to encourage their creativity. I teach them about the design engineering process early in their school career with the hope that it will help the students reach their full potential. I believe that if we teach children to love learning, give them the tools that they need to succeed, and give them the opportunity to shine they will be successful in all aspects of life. Failing and learning from that failure is just a part of that process and it’s okay.” n

“Robotics and MakerSpace both bring real world experiences into our curriculum. I can teach students to program in the computer lab, but until they actually put that into practice they won’t see the value to that knowledge. When they build a robot and are given a challenge, they must put the entire design process into play.”

Remember a Favorite Teacher? Have a favorite teacher you’d like to see profiled in an upcoming issue of Highland Magazine? Contact us via email at [email protected].

~Michele Daniel-Shenk



S U M M E R

Highland School’s Summer Camp Program provides a safe and supervised environment that stimulates creativity and fosters participation, no matter

the age and/or proficiency level. Our programs emphasize friendliness and cooperation and encourage students to be the best that they can be.

Fine Arts • Academics • Athletics • Special Interest

Learn more or register online today To learn more about our complete listing of summer camp options, please

visit us online at www.highlandschool.org or call 540-878-2750.

What Do You Like to Do?

No matter what you like to do, Highland School offers more than forty fun summer camp options for students from PK to Grade 12.

2014 Grandparents DayIn March, students and faculty welcomed Highland grandparents into their classrooms. Here are a few images from the day.

In The Spotlight


Over the years, a number of independent schools have existed in Fauquier County, starting with Hezekiah Balch’s Warren Academy, established in Warrenton in 1777.

Originally Founded in 1928 Highland School, located on a 42-acre campus on U.S. 17 at the northern entrance to Warrenton, was founded in 1928 as the Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School, with nine elementary school students. Eighty-five years later, Highland has an enrollment of 489 students in grades Pre-K through Grade 12, and a teaching staff of 70. In addition to its core mission of providing its students with a broad education and opportunities for personal development, Highland has played a significant role in forming the character and traditions of our area. Many of Fauquier County’s oldest and best-known families have sent their children to Calvert, then Highland, with graduates from three successive generations not uncommon.

From Warrenton Branch to Highland School Celebrating 85 Years

Founded by Dorothy Montgomery and Lavinia Hamilton The Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School was started by Miss Dorothy Vernon Montgomery (1909-2004) and Miss Lavinia Downman Hamilton (1893-1971), two local women with roots in the community, and a devotion to learning. Dorothy Montgomery was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hamilton Montgomery, and grew up at “Magbie Hill,” the family home near Warrenton. She graduated from the Warrenton Country School (where French was the spoken language) and received her higher education at the University of Tours in France. After completing her studies abroad, Miss Montgomery returned to Warrenton, where she was a tutor for the children of the James R. Nash family. Miss Lavinia Hamilton, known as “Binnie,” was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Downman Hamilton. As a youngster, Miss Hamilton lived with her maiden aunts at the “Hamilton Cottage,” at 215 Winchester Street in Warrenton, and later

Written by John Toler | Article reprinted with permission from December and January issues of Warrenton Lifestyle Magazine

Celebrating 85 Years of Highland School



in an apartment in the Hillary Building on Main Street. Miss Hamilton received her teaching certificate from the old Fredericksburg Normal School (today’s University of Mary Washington), and like Dorothy Montgomery, she was initially a private tutor for area families, including the John Chauncy Williams family who lived at “Rockhill,” in Casanova. “Our mother was concerned about the rural schools where we would go, so Miss Binnie was hired to tutor us – my brother Jack, sister Anne, and me,” recalled Mrs. Richard Gookin, nee’ Elizabeth Williams, of Warrenton. “Later, Miss Dorothy Montgomery was hired to help her. At some point, they realized, ‘we’re teaching three students, why not more?’”

The Calvert Program The Misses Montgomery and Hamilton learned about the progressive Calvert School, which had been founded in 1897 by a group of Baltimore parents as the Boys and Girls Primary School. In 1899, they hired Virgil M. Hillyer as headmaster. Once in charge, Mr. Hillyer developed a comprehensive study program for reading, writing and arithmetic, combined with history, mythology, geography and art appreciation that could be taught to even the youngest students. He also changed the name to the Calvert School. Impressed by the Calvert School’s successful, comprehensive program, Misses Montgomery and Hamilton envisioned a Warrenton branch, based on Calvert’s home schooling program, but taught in a classroom environment. From the beginning, Mrs. Robert H. Montgomery was also

involved in the school. The Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School opened in the fall of 1928, first meeting in the lower level of the Warrenton Library (today’s John Barton Payne Building) on Courthouse Square. The first year, nine students were enrolled. The following year, the school moved from the library to St. James Episcopal Church on Culpeper Street, where classes and activities were conducted in the lower level and the Parish Hall. A co-educational school, the Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School was open to boys and girls up to 13 years of age. By the second year, enrollment increased dramatically. “Tuition is set at $240 per year for first year pupils, and $280 second and following year pupils, payable half-yearly in advance,” according to a school brochure. From the early days of the school, students were encouraged to participate in fox hunting and hack riding. Miss Montgomery was a skilled horsewoman, and for a time, the MFH (Master of Foxhounds) of the Casanova Hunt. It is recalled that on mornings when the Hunt was in the field, she might show up at school a little bit late.

“We had no playground at St. James, so we played outside on the sidewalk, but we didn’t care, since we knew that we would be going home by 1 o’clock, to ride our ponies,” recalled Mrs. Gookin. “On rainy days, we used the big downstairs room at St. James for exercising. But during my time there, the number of students was very small.”


Learning at Warrenton’s Calvert School In line with the Calvert curriculum, core academic subjects at the Warrenton Branch were layered with music and the arts. Mrs. Albert Power, nee’ Ann Chilton of Warrenton and Jeffersonton, was a long-time teacher and librarian at Highland, and her mother, Mrs. Taylor Chilton, taught first at Calvert – then Highland – for many years. There was also a family connection: Mrs. Power’s father was Binnie Hamilton’s first cousin. “The children read from the Bible and recited poetry in daily opening exercises,” according to Mrs. Power. “There were many dramatic performances from Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, Gilbert and Sullivan, and original works by Mrs. Robert Montgomery. All the children became accustomed to speaking before an audience. “Art appreciation was a three-year course. Painting, sculpture and architecture illustrations were given to the students to keep in their handmade portfolios. On field trips to Washington, D.C., students enjoyed recognizing the architectural examples they had studied in the classroom.”

her eyes, and such a sweet, dear person. I never heard her get angry or cross. She was very much a lady, and a good influence on a lot of people.” Mrs. Porter counts the three years she spent at Calvert as among the happiest times of her life. “I absolutely adored the school, and just hated being away on the weekends,” she said. “I had seven of my best friends at that school, and if they were alive today, they would still be my best friends.” In keeping with the Calvert program, once a student completed a lesson, it was kept in a portfolio. At the end of the month, all of a student’s work was reviewed, and had to be “made perfect.” The final product was then bound in a booklet, for which the students would design an original cover. “Up in the attic, I still have some of the books I made at Calvert,” said Mrs. Porter – 75 years after completing her education there. Over the years, Miss Montgomery and Miss Hamilton stayed in contact with Mr. Hillyer at the Calvert School in Baltimore, and he was so impressed with their programs that he allowed them to use the name, “Warrenton Branch

Many Calvert students remained at the school until completing seventh grade, including Mrs. Gookin, who continued her education as a boarding student at St. Catherine’s Girls School in Richmond. “Dorothy Montgomery Rust showed us that learning was fun, and this lesson has lasted all our lives,” recalled Mrs. Gookin. “She was our first teacher, and we were here at the beginning. She taught us without our knowing it... And we absorbed her love of reading, poetry, music and art.” Warrenton resident Mrs. S. P. Porter, nee’ Hope Wallach, started at the Calvert School in 1934 as a fourth grade student. Previously, she had been home schooled, and came to Calvert with her mother, Mrs. Robert Wallach, for an interview with Miss Montgomery, Miss Hamilton and Mrs. Montgomery. “I was asked to write a composition about Robin Hood. I knew all about the story, but I couldn’t write,” she said. “When I was finished, they looked at my scrawl, which meant absolutely nothing, and told my mother I couldn’t possibly start there in my age group.” But Mrs. Porter’s mother convinced them to let her try, and she quickly caught up with her class. Her teachers, who she describes as “wonderful people,” made her adjustment easier. Looking back, Mrs. Porter remembers Binnie Hamilton as “...very beautiful, especially

of the Calvert School,” an honor bestowed on only a few of the schools using the program.

Growth and Change The Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School left St. James at the end of the 1942-43 school year, at which time enrollment had grown to 36 students. It was necessary to find a new home for the school, and the co-principals determined that a stable behind Randolph Carter’s home on Culpeper Street could be converted for that purpose. Arrangements were made, and Mr. Carter began work remodeling and adding on to the stable, which was accessed from Green Street. In the meantime, the 1943-44 school year was spent at Magbie Hill, at which time 26 students were enrolled. Completed in time for the 1944-45 school year, during which 24 pupils were enrolled, the new school building had five classrooms, a separate kindergarten, a meeting hall with a stage, and space outside for a playground. Faculty that year included Mrs. Sam Hall Jr., kindergarten; Miss Arabelle Laws (Arrington); Mrs. Philip Campbell, physical education; Miss Minnie C. Fisher, music; Mrs. Marian D. Venable, dancing; Capt. Besil Prikashikoff, drawing; and Miss Montgomery and Miss Hamilton, teachers and co-principals. Dorothy Montgomery was a devout Christian, and in

“Highland School, located on a 42- acre campus on U.S. 17 at the northern entrance to Warrenton, was founded in 1928 as the Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School, with nine elementary school students. Eighty-five years later, Highland has an enrollment of 489 students in grades Pre-K through 12, and a teaching staff of 70.”


addition to a prayer at morning exercises, local pastors and ministers visited the school once a week to speak with the students on a non-sectarian basis. In their new home, the Warrenton Branch of the Calvert School experienced steady growth during the 1940s and 1950s. The Sept. 11, 1947 edition of The Fauquier Democrat announced that, “Mrs. Taylor Chilton, who will teach Year 1, is the new teacher at the Calvert School this year. Miss Dorothy Montgomery, co-principal, reports that a new course entitled, “It’s Fun to Learn,” which includes first grade work, will be started this year, with Mrs. Sam Hall as teacher. “Other teachers returning this year are Mrs. James Lockwood, Year 2; Mrs. Ted Cox, Year 3; Miss Montgomery and Miss Hamilton will teach Years 4, 5, and 6; and Mrs. Campbell will teach physical education.” In 1950, Dorothy Montgomery married William Smoot Rust (1913- 1977), of Leesburg, who she had met earlier that year at a dance at Clovelly Farm, on the Springs Road near Warrenton. Mr. Rust had worked at the National Savings & Trust Co. and later for his father’s real estate business, the H.L. Rust Co., both in Washington, D.C., before moving to Leesburg to manage two of the family farms. Their son, William Montgomery “Monty” Rust was born in October 1952. To further her pupils’ interest in equestrian sports, in 1950 Mrs. Rust started the Calvert Riding Club, and the students held their first horse show and gymkhana at the Warrenton Horse Show Grounds later that year. According to a contemporary account, the Calvert show was organized and run by the students, and “...classes were well filled, and the entire exhibit was run off without a hitch by the youngsters.” In 1954, Binnie Hamilton and her siblings bought the Hamilton Cottage back from William R. Robins. It was a happy homecoming when she and Miss Fisher moved there from their apartments in the Hillary Building. It was also a good place for Miss Fisher to conduct her music class.

The Search for a New Home Begins By the mid-1950s, the Calvert School had outgrown the facility on Green Street, and Mrs. Rust enlisted the aid of her brother, Warrenton real estate broker Ian Montgomery, to find a new location for the school. At the time, open land on the north side of the Warrenton Bypass was being eyed for development, and Mr. Montgomery found a 12.28 acre parcel fronting on Oak Spring Drive and U.S. 17 owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. North Fletcher and Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Middleton that was up for sale. According to an oft-repeated school legend, while Mrs. Rust was walking the property with her brother and Miss Hamilton, she found numerous four-leafed clovers – clearly a good omen – and quickly contracted to purchase the property. The deed was recorded on Oct. 19, 1956. The Sept. 13, 1956 issue of The Fauquier Democrat reported, “Plans for the school are being completed by an architect, and construction is expected to be started soon.

The school will include classrooms for eight grades (there are 90 pupils enrolled this year), offices, a teacher’s lounge, kitchen and athletic fields. A junior gymnasium or auditorium may be added later.” Warrenton builder Lawrence T. Grant was selected as the general contractor for the project. A follow-up article published Dec. 27, 1956 noted that construction of the school would be starting in early 1957, and “Calvert alumni and parents are seeking to raise funds on a loan basis for the construction of a gymnasium and auditorium... Letters have been sent to friends of the school asking them to subscribe to $250 notes, secured by a mortgage on the entire school property. The cost of the gymnasium/auditorium is estimated at $20,000.”

New Calvert School Building Completed in 1957 The new Calvert School building was completed in time for the 1957-58 school year, at which time enrollment stood at about 100 students. There were eight classrooms, and the building could accommodate as many as 125 pupils. As a result of the growing student body and the opportunities offered by the new facility, alumni and parents became more involved and invested in the school. But things were going to change. The closing of the Warrenton Country School, and later the Stuyvesant School, awakened Calvert School supporters to the fact that new initiatives needed to be tried, or their school could possibly share the same fate. The school was incorporated and a board of trustees appointed. “Amory Lawrence and Bill Schleushmeyer were involved, as well as Bobby van Roijen, even though he didn’t have any children in the school,” recalled Mrs. S. P. Porter of Warrenton. Mrs. Rust wanted at least one person on the board who had graduated from the Calvert School. Mrs. Porter and Mrs. William Rochester, nee Babs Batchelder, were appointed to serve the first year. Support for the new school came in different forms. Several alumni and parents served on the teaching staff, and faculty and students provided much of the maintenance and janitorial service. In order to help keep the school clean, students removed their shoes and put on slippers upon entering the building. “The school day was lengthened until 4 p.m. in grades three through eight to accommodate an athletic program,” according to Mrs. Ann Power, who started her long teaching career at Highland in 1963. “Much of the credit goes to Amory Lawrence and Mary Harrison for their contributions in starting these programs.”

The Fauquier Education Foundation Inc. The board of trustees later became the Fauquier Education Foundation Inc. Officers were William E. Schlusemeyer, chairman; Max Tufts, president; Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Rochester, vice presidents; William D. Doeller, treasurer;



and F. Cleveland Hendrick Jr., secretary. Other directors were Mr. van Roijen, Mr. Lawrence, Douglas R. Smith and Edward L. Stephenson. Co-founder Miss Binnie Hamilton retired in June 1960. Other staff changes that year included the retirement of first grade teacher Mrs. Sam Hall Jr. Among those in her last class was Marshall D. Doeller, son of foundation treasurer William D. Doeller. In the years to come, three generations of the Doeller family would be involved with Highland. According to an article in the Aug. 8, 1961 edition of The Fauquier Democrat, the Fauquier Education Foundation Inc. had purchased Highland School from Mrs. Rust, and that for the 1961-62 school year, Mrs. Rust and Max Tufts served as co-principals. It was also announced that Thomas B. Dingman, head of the science, physics and chemistry departments at the South Kent School in South Kent, Connecticut, had accepted the position as headmaster of Highland. By then, a committee of the Fauquier Education Foundation Inc. was studying the long-range needs

recalled Mrs. Porter, who served on the board at the time and supported the decision. “Max Tufts spearheaded the effort. It was extraordinary to me that a guy from Massachusetts was able to accomplish that, over terrific opposition.” In 1967, Alexander R. Dearborn replaced Mr. Dingman. Before coming to Highland, Mr. Dearborn was a teacher at Belfield School in Charlottesville, and served at Kinkaid and St. John’s School in Houston, Texas. That year, the Fauquier Education Foundation Inc. board was expanded. Joining Chairman Robert D. van Roijen and President Edward L. Stephenson were Vice President Mrs. Benjamin H. Davis and Secretary Joseph W. Trundle. New directors included Alan L. Day, Miss Lucie Duer, John H. Berne, Nelson “Monk” Noland, Mrs. Ann Marie Lindgren and Fredrik Wachtmeister. A “four module addition” for students in kindergarten through second grade was completed in 1968. The building was designed by Remington architect Claude Ritchie, and cost $80,000, with major funding by Mr. Edward L. Stephenson. Five years later, the unique structure was named the Chilton

of the school, including the addition of ninth and tenth grade classes. In March 1963, the directors voted to add a ninth grade class, beginning in September 1964. It is worth noting that the ninth grade class lasted one year in 1964-65, and was not instituted again until 1984-85 – again for just one year. That summer, construction was started on two new classrooms for art and science, which were dedicated to the late Peter Farrar, a Calvert alumnus. In addition, Latin and French were added to the curriculum, taught for many years by Mrs. Erica Wallach. In September 1964, Highland School was integrated, largely through the efforts of Mr. Tufts, who was also instrumental in the desegregation of Warrenton’s restaurants. Sam Stevens, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Stevens of Warrenton, was Highland’s first African American student. Young Mr. Stevens was a good choice to initiate the effort, as both of his parents were teachers in Fauquier County Public Schools and were devoted to education. In the early years of integration at Highland, other African American pupils followed, including children of the Addison Lightfoot family. In spite of the noble effort, the decision to integrate was not popular with all of the Highland parents and board members at the time. “This caused a terrific rift, but the board did it anyway,”

Building, in honor of educator Mrs. Gladys Chilton who started teaching first grade at Highland in 1963, and served as the first head of the primary department.

Growth in the 1970s and 1980s Mrs. Sandra Harris Mitchell, an alumna of the Calvert School, joined the faculty of Highland School in 1974, teaching primary classes in the Lower School, and Art History in the Middle School. She recalls that the classes were small, and that the pupils in kindergarten through second grade were finished for the day at 1 p.m. – a lot like it was in the old Calvert School days. After Alex Dearborn left Highland at the end of the 1975-76 school year, Mrs. Mitchell was asked by the Highland Board to serve as interim headmistress. She accepted, and before the start of the 1976-77 school year, she was appointed headmistress. At that point, Highland was struggling financially, and had outgrown its existing facilities. Once again, if the school were to succeed, it had to grow. A large expansion of the school infrastructure started in 1978, with the addition of the Stephenson-van Roijen Wing. “We started from scratch, and doubled the size of the school,” recalled Mrs. Mitchell. “It was a parent, faculty and board effort, and I couldn’t have done it without the help

“The school day was lengthened until 4 p.m. in grades three through eight to accommodate an athletic program,” according to Mrs. Ann Power, who started her long teaching career at Highland in 1963.


Highland’s class of 1999. Front row from left; Sasha Albani, Christian Golden, Alex Montans, Maya Willner, Kirsten Stopper, and Nick Vogel. Middle row; Strick Payne, Ricki Wells, Jeanie Brundage, Torie Bubb, Melissa Dixon, Mike Cross, and Jim O’Connor. Back row; Andrew Winfree, Adam Ortberg, Alex Utz, John Kushner, and Erik Thamm.


of board chairman Beverley H. Scott, Bill Hazel, and others.” The building, designed by Warrenton architect J. Tucker, included new classrooms for grades 6, 7 and 8, and an auditorium/gymnasium. The gymnasium was remodeled as the school library. Along with the additional new space, walls were taken down in some of the small, older classrooms to accommodate larger classes. The building was dedicated on Dec. 9, 1979. Several projects were implemented to augment existing financial gifts and tuition. The first Annual Giving Plan, designed to encourage greater participation over time was instituted, as well as the Highland Auction, a fundraiser organized by alumna Gina Farrar. Another fundraiser was the Highland Sampler, a cookbook project led by Mrs. W. N. Tiffany Jr. It was during Mrs. Mitchell’s tenure that Highland

originated by Mrs. Rust years before to encourage competitiveness in sports and academics, and continued until the students finished the eighth grade. Highland’s Annual Field Day was always fiercely contested. Points earned by each team were totaled at the end of the year, and the winning team awarded a silver cup. “There was always a big rivalry between the Blue and Gold teams, much like the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys,” said former Blue Team member Ben Merchant, who attended Highland from 1975 to 1982. “Even today, alumni can recall who was a Blue, and who was a Gold. The teams would compete in intramural sports, including track and field, basketball and soccer. According to Mrs. Ann Power, “Highland was the first school in Fauquier County to have a field hockey team, coached by Mrs. Mary Harrison, who with her daughter Beverley also coached gymnastics.”

“Under Mr. Osier’s leadership, the 1957 building was completely remodeled. New construction included classrooms for grades 3-6, two science rooms, a music room, the school’s first computer lab and a new gym.”

acquired its first school bus, a used vehicle purchased from Fauquier County Public Schools. The new bus service made it easier for parents living in nearby areas like Haymarket and Manassas to send their children to Highland. Another change was the opening of Highland’s athletic fields for use by the Fauquier County Parks and Recreation Department. Allowing others to use the fields resulted in a closer relationship with the community. For years, Highland had been accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools and the Virginia Association of Independent Schools, of which it was a charter member. One of Mrs. Mitchell’s final undertakings was to have Highland accredited by the Virginia State Board of Education as well. The three-year process began in 1979. “The teachers at Highland were wonderful. When I went into a faculty meeting and told them that we needed this or that, they were always ready to do what was necessary,” recalled Mrs. Mitchell. “I also had to tell them that we didn’t have the money to do everything, but they still were willing to go ahead, at their own expense.” The family of W. F. “Toby” Merchant of The Plains was very involved with Highland at that time, with Mrs. Barbara Merchant teaching Latin at the school, and children Fewell, Ben and Evie enrolled there. Ben recalls that when a student reached third grade, their teacher assigned him or her to either the Blue Team or the Gold Team. It was a carefully planned system

Moving into the Future Mrs. Mitchell resigned in 1982, shortly before Highland was granted Virginia State Board of Education accreditation. William Osier succeeded her. Under Mr. Osier’s leadership, the 1957 building was completely remodeled. New construction included classrooms for grades three through six, two science rooms, a music room, the school’s first computer lab, and a new gym. A 16-member Highland Board of Trustees, drawn from parents, alumni and community leaders, was established during Mr. Osier’s tenure. In 1985, Marshall Doeller returned to Fauquier County, and in the early 1990s, his daughters were enrolled at Highland. “It seemed like the logical thing to do,” recalled Mr. Doeller. “That was my first foray back into Highland, and I realized that the school had changed a lot since I was a student there.” Openly critical about what he thought was needed to improve the school, Mr. Doeller was invited to serve on the Board of Trustees. He accepted, thinking, “It was better to be part of the problem if I were going to change it.” Soon, the board began work on a strategic plan to grow and expand Highland. “There were a lot of stakeholders in the plan – parents, alumni and faculty – and we did a pretty extensive survey to make sure that there would be support for the plan.” David Plank became headmaster in the fall of 1992 and the following year, the trustees unveiled a 10-year Master



Members of the cast of ‘Into the Woods’ includes (from left) Warren Mackie-Jenkins (‘07), Alex Harris (‘09), Meredith Nichols (‘07), Megan Clifford (‘07) Will Mackie-Jenkins (‘09), Ally Rice (‘08) and Emily Dale (‘08).

Highland students Lydia Reynolds (8th, ‘00), left, and Heather Fischer (‘04), right show off their Highland pride with an unidentified student. If you know her, please let us know at [email protected]!



Plan for the school, which would have a direct impact on its future. Highland began offering Pre-Kindergarten for children ages four and five in 1993, and launched an extensive building program that provided 12 additional classrooms, a new music room, art studio, and the Loeb Library in the center of the school. In 1994, Highland was given 22 acres adjacent to the school by the Hazel family. This generous gift would provide space for the immediate and the long-range needs of the school. The next major goal was taking Highland up through 12th grade. “At the time, there were concerns about starting the high school,” noted Mr. Doeller. “It was a leap of faith, taking the school from what it was then up to what it is now, nearly 500 students.” He points out that for the plan to work, the number of students in the lower grades had to increase, in order to provide an adequate student body for the high school. A major milestone was reached in 1996, when Highland commenced its high school plan. Grades nine and 10 were established the first year, and grades 11 and 12 were added as the students moved up. The first facilities completed were a new gym, science labs, additional classrooms and administrative space. High school students were housed in the new Upper School building, completing Phase I of the Master Plan. In 1998, Highland’s Academic Committee began work on a Global Studies Program, combining existing courses with new offerings, establishing global connections for students in the Upper School. One of the elements of the program was the creation of a “sister school” relationship with the Enkijape School in Kenya. Work on Phase II began in 2001, and included the addition of more classrooms, the Hazel Library and administrative offices. Pre-Kindergarten for three- and four-year-old children was added in 2003. Phase III was completed in 2004, adding five more classrooms and the Highland Center for the Arts, which includes The Rice Theater, with 355 seats. Not used exclusively by the school, the Highland Center for the Arts is also the home to the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra, the Warrenton Chorale and the American Children of SCORE. Mr. Doeller notes that while others have made significant contributions in support of the school, without the Hazel family’s gift of the land, donation of site work by William A. Hazel Inc., and additional financial support, much of the growth that Highland has enjoyed would not have been possible. Mrs. Dorothy Montgomery Rust died on Jan. 17, 2004, at the age of 95. Her funeral service was held at St. James Episcopal Church on Jan. 20, 2004, where she was remembered by former students Mrs. Richard Gookin (nee Elizabeth Williams), Mrs. Max Tufts (nee Sally Spilman) and C. Hunton Tiffany.

Highland Today Henry D. Berg has been Highland’s headmaster since 2005, bringing an educational philosophy defined as a blend of traditional, time-tested practices, and experiential, process-oriented methods. Along with the core academic skills and background knowledge needed to prepare students for college and beyond, Highland offers numerous other opportunities for students to learn beyond their classic education. “Experiential education continues to be one of the key tenets of a Highland education,” wrote Mr. Berg in a recent letter to parents. “In its simplest form, it is learning by doing, and reflecting on the experience in order to transform learning into change.” “Our experiential curriculum includes outdoor activities like ropes courses, backpacking, dog sledding, whitewater rafting and Outward Bound courses,” according to Mr. Berg. “It also includes junior and senior internships, Robotics and Lego League, and service learning.” The evolution of the Global Studies Program has continued under Mr. Berg, with the creation of a Global Studies Certificate in the Upper School, and expansion of the International Week programs. During Mr. Berg’s tenure, both the physical plant and the student body have grown considerably, now with 183,300 square feet of facilities on 42 acres. Recent construction includes a new Humanities wing added to the Upper School, and a brand new, LEED- certified William A. Hazel Family Lower School that opened in 2011. A major renovation of the Middle School was completed in 2012. “We are in such an exciting phase in our school’s history,” said Mr. Berg recently. “The expansion of our program and improvement of our facilities are providing really extraordinary opportunities for our students. We have become global in our reach while maintaining our deep roots in the Warrenton community.” n

About the Author John Toler is a writer and historian and has served Fauquier County for over 50 years, including 4 decades with the Fauquier-Times Democrat. He has written and lectured about many legendary characters in Fauquier County’s history. Toler is the co-author of 250 Years in Fauquier County: A Virginia Story, and author of Warrenton, Virginia: A History of 200 Years.


“It’s a pretty interesting market, and a wildly different place. We’re literally on the Mexico border (busiest land port of entry in the United States) and the Mexican culture is very much embedded in the city.”

“So far, my work has mostly focused on local high schools — covering games, digging up and writing feature stories, breaking news, etc. — and I also run the sports desk a few times a week. There’s a minor league baseball team, a developmental pro soccer team, a Division II college, and a few other things around town, so it’s a fairly diverse sports market.”

Jamie Pezza (‘09) recently resigned from AT&T. “The Business Sales Leadership Development Program was wrapping up, and it came to the point where we needed to sign a contract guaranteeing that we would work in an assigned territory for 18 months.”

“The program was incredible, with a lot of great consultative business-to-business sales training, but I wasn’t incredibly passionate about the industry. I have always been interested in business processes and what makes some companies more profitable than others, so consulting really appealed to me. I had been looking around for the past month or so, and I just officially accepted an offer from CEB, a management consulting firm based in Arlington.”

Stay Up-to-Date with ClassmatesWant to stay up-to-date with classmates and friends? Send along your story and photos to [email protected] and we’ll do our best to include it in an upcoming issue.

Kate Avril Roehr (‘01) wed Thomas William Merrihew of Queensbury, New York on November 9, 2013. The wedding took place at Montaluce Vineyard in Dahlonega, Georgia. The couple currently lives in Decatur, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, where Tom is the Chief Technology Officer of Gather, a restaurant software company. Kate works with private families and art collectors in Buckhead. Mother of the bride is Polly Roehr, current first grade teacher at Highland School. She has been teaching at Highland for over 20 years. This March, Polly’s first grade will perform Kate’s 14th play written especially for the class.

Hunter Guerin (‘03) and Katie McKinney were engaged in Washington D.C. at the National Arboretum in the summer of 2013. They will be getting married on April 26, 2014.

James Thorsen (‘04) was engaged on January 25, 2014 to Kristina Scherer. “Thank you all so much for the love and congratulations! We feel beyond blessed and are thrilled to start planning for our big day.”

Maureen Bishop Ankrom (‘05) got married August 4, 2012. She and her husband had a baby boy, Jack L. Ankrom, on May 17, 2013. “I am a stay at home mom and my husband is a Project Manager of review attorneys at a Richmond, Virginia law firm.”

Alex Wright (‘06) and his wife Emma Louise Elizabeth Wright, had a baby boy on January 6, 2014 in the Naval hospital in Guam. Shelton Alexander William Wright was 7 pounds 6 oz.

Seong Kim (‘09) recently accepted a position with the Denver Nuggets as an Account Executive. After graduating from Indiana University in 2013, he worked in promotions and sales with the Indiana Pacers organization.

Ian McCue (‘09) graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2013 with a degree in journalism and then moved to Denver, Colorado about a week later for an internship covering the Colorado Rockies for MLB.com. “I had a fantastic time in Denver and the job was great, so I stayed there through the end of the season.”

“I cast a really wide net when I started looking for a full-time job and got a few offers before eventually deciding on, of all places, Laredo, Texas. I moved here at the end of September for a job as a sports reporter at the Laredo Morning Times.”

Alumni News & Notes

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News & Notes from Highland Alumni

Save the Date for Alumni Reunion Weekend: Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31, 2014. Check the website for details!


This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Highland Center for the Arts. The Center has showcased such performers as Nickel Creek, Livingston Taylor, John McCutcheon, John Eaton, Robin and Linda Williams, The Capitol Steps, Aquila Theater, the American Shakespeare Center, Second City, the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, the Virginia Opera, Doc Scantlin and His Imperial Palms Orchestra, as well as the United States Air Force Jazz and Swing bands. And of course the Highland Players, which showcases the work of hundreds of actors and musicians performing in over 200 productions since 2004, when the first group

produced Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. Since that play, over 200 students have been on stage or backstage in nineteen Upper School productions, and numerous Middle School students have also “trod the boards” in Middle School plays.

A Resource for the Community The Highland Center for the Arts is also proud to be the rehearsal and performance home to the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra, celebrating its eighteenth season this year. The PSO has performed over fifty concerts in The Rice Theater. In addition, the Highland Center for the Arts is the home to The American Children of SCORE (celebrating their twentieth

anniversary). We are also the home of the Bridge Community Church and the rehearsal venue of the Warrenton Chorale. “As we reminisce and celebrate the many accomplishments of the past decade, we look forward to continuing Highland School’s tradition of excellence in the arts for many more years to come,” said Fine Arts Director Mike Hughes. “We are pleased to host a 10th anniversary gala on May 31 and wish to invite our entire community to join us in recognizing this milestone.” For more information on the gala, please visit the school website at www.highlandschool.org. n

2014 Marks 10th Anniversary of the Highland Center for the Arts Plan to attend the Highland Center for the Arts Anniversary Gala on Saturday, May 31, 2014 to include music, food, and performances from current students, alumni

The Highland Center for the Arts, shown on completion in 2004, will host a 10th Anniversary Gala on May 31, 2014.


[ What door will your gift open? ]

Support Highland School’s Annual Fund Today Your tax-deductible gift to Highland School’s Annual Fund can change the lives of students across all divisions. Through your generous donations, you’re opening doors for Highland students by maintaining small class sizes, offering engaging programming, and providing a wide range of activities and educational experiences to complement our core curriculum.

To make your gift, go to highlandschool.org


Honorary Gift Club Levels

Founders Circle $25,000 and above

Trustees Council $10,000 – $24,999

Hamilton-Rust Circle $5,000 – $9,999

1928 Society $2,500 – $4,999

Head of School Club $1,000 – $2,499

Blue/Gold Club $500 – $999

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Defense!At Highland School, character development is equal in importance to academic development. One way we achieve this is to encourage participation in organized athletics in our Middle and Upper Schools through 20 varsity, four junior varsity, and 19 Middle School teams. In this picture, Kyle Blackburn and his teammates on our junior varsity basketball team learn first-hand the importance of the ‘growth mindset’ discussed by coach Ronnie Ross in his article on page 12.

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Warrenton, VA Permit No. 96

highland magazine - spring 2014

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