A lithe young man stood center stage inside of Collegiate School’s Estes Multipurpose Room this afternoon, beaming as he shared a tale in the traditional South African storytelling style, his words animated with wide sweeps of his arms. A trio of his peers sat rapt at his feet, and dozens more watched from the audience. “We’re going to teach you guys a dance,” he said and suddenly, Collegiate students, parents and teachers flocked to the front, their heads bobbing and feet pounding to the pulsing beat of a pop song by the Distruction Boyz.

The presentation, by four South African students, was part of Friday afternoon’s Cultural Fair, an exciting end to a week of global learning and creative problem solving.

The Collegiate Cougars football games will be broadcast on WHAN Radio out of Ashland, VA. Listen to the live call on either AM 1430 or FM 102.9. Tune in this afternoon for their game against Trinity Episcopal School.

Go Cougar football!

Collegiate's youngest Cougars learned some gardening techniques and collaboration skills during their first time in the JK Tinker Garden, which was installed over the summer. They mixed, poured, scooped and dug all kinds of wonderful concoctions. "Tinkering provides an awesome opportunity for students to think creatively, explore their senses and build social emotional skills," said JK Associate Teacher Alex Dooley.

As a recipient of a Goethe-Institut Transatlantic Outreach Program grant, Collegiate Upper School history teacher Wesley Hedgepeth traveled to Germany for two weeks this past summer. Alongside 12 teachers from across the United States and Canada, he visited Munich, Nuremberg, Geisa and Berlin.

Reed Kellam, a 2015 Collegiate School graduate and football player under Mark Palyo, walked on to the University of Virginia football team when he started school in the fall of 2015. Reed has thrived under the leadership of head coach Bronco Mendenhall and recently received what he described as "the biggest honor anybody can ever get in this program." Click here to read the article and learn more about this honor as well as the hard work put forth by Reed.

We are proud of you, Reed! Keep working hard!

Collegiate School Upper School Biology teacher Sandra Marr worked with colleagues and students over the summer to improve the outdoor classroom spaces on Collegiate’s Mooreland Road and Robins campuses. Important partners in Ms. Marr’s work included  Junior Kindergarten teacher Rives Barksdale, Middle School science teacher Ingrid Dunn, and Powell Institute for Responsible Citizenship Programs Manager Anne Rusbdult.

Collegiate students Abby Fleming, Lily Hunnicut, Sophie Lou and Makai Milton attended the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities Connections Summer Institute, a five-day conference for high school students focusing on human relations, diversity appreciation and bias reduction. Throughout the conference students developed strategies to implement programs designed to reduce conflict, improve communication and understanding and create more welcoming school communities. Delegates will work throughout the year to implement the action plan they created while at the conference and to help perpetuate the ideals of inclusion in the Collegiate community.

Over the past month, 20 high school students from 11 schools partnered with Richmond-area companies to understand their industries and conduct research to help them achieve specific goals. Today, the students presented those six businesses and organizations with their recommended strategies and ideas.

Collegiate School alumni Jack Montague '18 competed in the Virginia State Open as a second year at University of Virginia on Saturday, July 20. He is the first amateur to take the title in eight years! Click here to read the details around his outstanding win. Way to go, Jack!

Collegiate Upper School teacher Esperanza Soria-Nieto traveled to Bolivia this past summer to research and develop curricular material for Advanced Placement Spanish.

Collegiate School’s new Head of Middle School, Tung Trinh, begins his tenure today with a combination of anticipation and nervousness, but mostly great enthusiasm.

Penny B. Evins begins her tenure today as Collegiate School’s Head of School.

Over the past two weeks, 32 Collegiate School students embarked on two service trips, during which they assisted Virginians in the towns of Dungannon and Emporia.

This past summer, Middle School English teacher Wendi Moss and Powell Institute for Responsible Citizenship Director of Global Education and Inclusion Erica Coffey joined educators from across the United States for a deep dive into Mexico-United States border relations and the specifics of U.S. immigration practices.

Continue reading for season finishes for the spring

Summer fun begins at Collegiate School in two weeks as 1,400 campers will fill more than 3,000 spots as they participate in more than 175 activities provided by our Summer Quest program.

Collegiate School’s 104th Commencement took place this morning, with members of the Class of 2019 seated onstage in front of the 2,000-plus family member and friends who gathered to celebrate them.

At Collegiate School’s annual Honors Assembly this afternoon, Upper School students were recognized before their fellow classmates, family and friends. The 10th-12th Grade students, selected by Upper School faculty, received honors and awards that reflect their level of commitment, character and excellence in their studies and extracurricular endeavors during the past year.

Welcome, friends! Please meet the latest class of Unsung Seniors, Collegiate athletes who represented their teams with distinction during the spring season but did so beneath the radar.

Continue reading for the awards distributed at the Spring Varsity Athletic Awards Ceremony on Monday, May 20, 2019.

Chief Academic Officer Susan Droke knew by 6th Grade that she wanted to be an educator. Listen in as she shares the transformative experiences along her journey that have cemented her love for both teaching and learning, and for academic excellence while honoring each learner.

For the second year in a row, Collegiate's girls' soccer team has finished the spring season as VISAA champions. On their journey to the championship game, they beat Seton School, 6-0, and Norfolk Collegiate, 5-0. The final game was played Saturday, May 18, against Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School at Glover Park in Glen Allen. The Cougars came away victorious with a 3-1 win. Way to go, Cougars!

Collegiate School Head Boys' Varsity Basketball Coach and Program Leader Del Harris is among seven high school coaches from across the nation seleccted to serve on the USA Basketball Men's U16 National Team coaching staff at training camp later this month.

Collegiate School held its Third Annual Giving Day, a 24-hour, online fundraiser, today.

The Middle School ChangeMaker Club pitched it’s product idea to an internal Collegiate audience of faculty, staff, students and administrators for feedback. Their work is the culmination of three semesters of design thinking. With their feedback, the students will continue to evolve their product with the the ultimate goal being to create a nonprofit or a business that will use it profits to help others.

Four senior Capstone classes presented projects that are the culmination of their semester-long studies:

Collegiate School 7th Graders have worked with 13 Richmond-area nonprofit organizations as part of Connect Richmond, their grade-level community service program.

Collegiate faculty members Dave Privasky and Ginnie Kurtz led six Upper School students on a hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park over an April weekend. Their excursion was supported by Outdoor Collegiate, and the group canvassed Hawksbill Gap and Byrd's Nest #3, passing through Skyland, Stony Man Cliffs, and the Pinnacle. They also visited with other hikers and toured the Harry F. Byrd, Sr. Visitor Center. "I definitely plan to offer this (to students) every year and look forward to trying new places each time," said Mr. Privasky.

Christina Mastroianni, Director of Civic Engagement at the Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond, spoke to Collegiate School's entire 9th Grade at the conclusion of its yearlong Community Engagement program. 

Beginning in Centennial Hall, Collegiate School 3rd Graders escorted parents and friends throughout the Lower School this morning to showcase the Colonial Living Museum, the annual culmination of the grade-level social studies curriculum.

The inaugural Sarah Portlock Fellman ‘03 Speaker Series launched this morning at an Upper School assembly with five guests discussing The Past, Present and Future of American Journalism.

Today is Earth Day, and some 4th Graders talked with one of our groundskeepers, Robyn Hartley, about her work on our campus, with plants and trees. Mrs. Hartley received a degree in horticulture from Virginia Tech.

Collegiate's Junior Kindergartners and Upper School Biology II students take time to garden in honor of Earth Day while another group of Upper School student volunteers met a group of Lower School students at the Outdoor Classroom to prepare and plant native wildflower seeds as part of an Earth Week pollinator planting project.

Collegiate School 4th Grader Catherine Conner was recently interviewed by NBC12 reporter Terrance Dixon about how she started a Kindness Club. She and other students in the club have collaborated during "working lunch" periods to find ways to spread kindness throughout the Lower School. 

Collegiate School's 54th Annual Village Green Fair will take place this Saturday. The fun-filled event, which is the School's largest fundraiser, is spearheaded by the Parents' Association.

After cleaning out filterras around Collegiate School’s campus, Elizabeth Andrews’ and Marcie Moyer’s Kindergarten classes began to notice trash around the storm drains on the Lower School playground known as Fort Cougar. This observation led the children to collect, sort and label the trash.

Middle School teacher Nathan Goodwyn grew up understanding the value of hard work and a great education. When his Middle School years threw him a curveball, he was grateful to have caring adults help him transition smoothly to the next stage. Listen as he shares how as an English teacher and coach he has gone on to provide a similar level of care to his students.

Collegiate’s Upper School thespians, the Collegiate Players, will present Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl this week.

In October, six Collegiate Middle School students attended The Prejudice Awareness Summit at VCU chaperoned by Carolyn Villanueva and Amasa Monroe. The Summit is designed to increase awareness, knowledge and acceptance of ethnic and cultural differences. The students returned to Collegiate and worked with Ms. Villanueva and Mr. Monroe through the fall and winter semester on a presentation summarizing their learnings that they then presented to the Middle School in assembly.

As the second phase of Envision Richmond, Collegiate School’s Capstone program for 8th Graders, students this week continued their connection with the Richmond-area nonprofit organizations they learned about last fall.

Several Upper School students traveled to Venice, Italy, in mid-March, with trip leaders Anne Rusbuldt and Wesley Hedgepeth. While in Venice, students stayed with host families from our partner school, Liceo Foscarini, and participated in the school’s annual Model UN conference.

As part of the Middle School's annual series of religion assemblies, our 5th-8th Graders learned about Sikhism from sisters Manleen and Sachpreet Kaur. Wearing traditional Sikh dress, they taught students about the basic tenets of Sikhism, with a focus on music. They showed students traditional instruments and performed a sacred piece.

Collegiate Middle School students in the Cougar Entrepreneurship Club visited the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Richmond to learn more about the history of the Federal Reserve, its central bank functions and its role in the economy and key economic events in U.S. history.

Collegiate School 2nd Graders spent time in class pondering the responsible use of money including needs, wants, spending, saving and sharing in partnership with TowneBank's Making Money Count program.

Hui Zhai, a graduate student in product innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University’s da Vinci Center, visited Collegiate’s campus to research the use of virtual reality in classrooms and clubs overseen by Daniel Bartels and Dan Bell, as well as watch Middle School students use technology in their computer science coursework.

Collegiate 2nd Graders learned about sustainability through their yearlong service learning project with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. They planted grass seeds and will transplant the seedlings when they return to the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach later this month. 

Continue reading for the awards distributed at the Winter Varsity Athletic Awards Ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019.

Collegiate School 1st Graders this morning presented The City Mice and the Country Mice as their annual spring play in front of parents, grandparents and friends in the Lower School’s Estes Building.  

Collegiate School 7th Graders in Laura Zyglocke’s and Jennifer Brost’s science classes met Dr. Rohan Hazra ‘84, via Skype and learned about the work he does for the National Institutes of Health with infants, children and adolescents who are infected with HIV, as well as his work with other infectious diseases.

Collegiate School students in the Global Public Health senior Capstone are exploring the role of social, cultural, economic, environmental and political factors as they relate to access to health care and quality of life.  

Carolyn Villanueva's 6th Grade English classes met up with 6th Grade students from Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School at the Richmond Children's Museum and shared our poetry out loud. The Poetry Slam experience helped students build confidence, explore their voices and identity, and connect to their community.

Kindergarten Assistant Teacher Aster Kidane learned early in life how to adapt to new people, places and cultures. Those broad and meaningful experiences have shaped who she is as a person and parent, and as a longtime Collegiate School Kindergarten Assistant teacher. In this Podcast, listen in as she shares how her foundation of global-mindedness began with a singular message instilled in her daily: You matter.

Continue reading for season finishes for the winter.

Collegiate School’s Burke Hall was abuzz with excitement this morning as 3rd Graders enjoyed the STEAM-related games and activities that 4th Graders created with them in mind.

Collegiate is honored to be the Exclusive Education Partner for @vmfa’s 2019 Family Day Series, which launched today with ChinaFest. Members of the Collegiate community supported the event by volunteering, attending performances and even participating onstage.

A group of Collegiate seniors who are taking the River City Capstone class visited the Richmond Slave Trail this week with faculty members Rhiannon Boyd and Brad Cooke in their ongoing efforts to understand the James River and its impact on the Richmond region.

Since late January, eight Middle School students from St. Denis International School in Loches, France, have experienced life at Collegiate School as part of a partnership that began six years ago.

In the 30-plus years she has been a teacher, the source of Upper School faculty member Susan Fourness-Ewell's joy has been the wonder she sees filling students' eyes when they push themselves to learn something new - a process that also has been her passion. Her path from her native England to teaching science at Collegiate is a journey for which she's grateful. Learn more on Torch Talk, the Collegiate School community podcast

Collegiate JK-4th Graders participated in the Lower School's second Book Gathering this week, which was centered around the theme of sustainability - one of Collegiate's eight Pillars of Responsible Citizenship.

At February's Middle School Entrepreneur Market, Collegiate students sold a variety of handmade products to their fellow classmates. Rita Taylor, a 5th Grader and budding artist, proved to be quite a success, selling eight of her paintings to very satisfied customers.

Collegiate 9th Graders in Upper School math teacher Sally Williams’ advisory joined Upper School science teacher Sandra Marr for a day of ecological service projects.

Over the first weekend in February, 28 members of Collegiate School’s Model UN team headed to Washington, D.C., for the American University Model United Nations Conference (AMERIMUNC). The group participated in an earlier conference at the College of William and Mary in November.

Balancing creative — and sometimes massive — hats on their heads, Collegiate School 2nd Graders marched this morning in an exciting States Fair parade, before performing songs and dances and displaying artwork in Oates Theater to celebrate the "Fifty Nifty" United States.

Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. This year, 10 Collegiate School students earned gold, silver and honorable mention honors in the art category.

Collegiate School's 12 guest students from China ended their weeklong visit to campus today by participating in design thinking presentations with Collegiate seniors who are enrolled in the International Emerging Leaders - Asia Capstone class.

This week Collegiate School is hosting 12 students from Yangzhou, China as part of the Upper School’s International Emerging Leaders - Asia senior Capstone program.

Our Middle School students are enjoying classes, lunch and after-school activities this week with 8th Graders from our partner school in France - St. Denis International School. The 10 students will spend four weeks with Collegiate host families and immerse themselves in life at the school as well as in American culture. In mid-March, 15 Collegiate 8th Graders will travel to France to live with their St. Denis friends and be fully immersed in French language and culture.

A group of Collegiate students and faculty enjoyed participating in the MLK Jr. Day Symposium at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. hosted in partnership with the Virginia Diversity Network. This year's theme was "Building Bridges: Shoulder to Shoulder, Lifting All Our Voices." Several of our students and faculty led presentations.

Collegiate Middle School teacher Kate Cunningham’s 5th Grade girls advisory took a proverbial trip around the world today when a special guest shared her experiences with education, literature and equal rights.

Due to icy campus conditions as well as inclement weather conditions, Collegiate School will be closed today (Monday, Jan.14) instead of operating on a late arrival. 
Cougar Quest and all of the Quest after school programs are also closed. Please stay safe and warm.

On Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, Collegiate School hosted a wrestling match and welcomed Model Secondary School for the Deaf, St. Christopher's School and the rest of the Collegiate wrestling program, including its youngest crowd, the MatCats.

Collegiate School’s 2019 winter play, ENiGMA VARiATiONS and OTHER CRiSES, will feature a collection of contemporary scenes and one-acts. Performances will be held in Oates Theater on Friday, Jan. 11, and Saturday, Jan. 12, at 7:30 p.m.

A group of recent Collegiate School graduates took time today to share their experiences with 11th and 12th Graders about the college application process and what they’ve learned since beginning their matriculation.

Wearing their green and gold Cougar colors, Collegiate School’s entire student body — including Kindergartners atop their senior buddies’ shoulders — marched into the Seal Athletic Center this morning for the School’s annual school-year celebration.