Two years ago, acclaimed author-poet Kwame Alexander visited Collegiate School to speak to 5th-8th Grade students about his award-winning book The Crossover. Middle School English teacher Christine Waldron left the assembly inspired.

Collegiate Upper School students Deven Pandya and Jensen Richardson traveled to New Dehli, India, for the 12th Annual Community Development and Leadership Summit (CDLS) from Dec. 1-9.

The Collegiate Parents’ Association will host its annual holiday shopping event, the Cougar Holiday Express, this week.

T Brewer, Collegiate's quarterback for the varsity football team, has been named the Scholar Athlete of the Month by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Way to go, T! Click here to read the full article.

Varsity Awards, Fall '17

Online ticket sales are currently available for the championship football game this Saturday, Nov. 18. The game is being played at Flint Hill School at 1 p.m. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased by clicking here, using the Ticket Spicket mobile app, or by texting "VISAA" to 31996. Click here for more information on the live streaming of the game.

Go Cougars!

Upper School teacher Dr. Leah Angell Sievers’ English elective class, Literature of Elegy & Redemption, welcomed Grace Gallagher of the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation, whose mission it is to be a positive force that works to cultivate awareness and understanding of teenage depression and anxiety.

Five Collegiate School student-athletes signed their National Letters of Intent (NLI) to commit to playing athletics in college next year. The students, along with their families, coaches, Collegiate faculty and friends, gathered to sign their letters in baseball caps of their respective future schools.

T Brewer, Collegiate's varsity football starting quarterback, was named to ABC 8's SportsBlitz player of the week for week 7. Click here to see the full article and video. Way to go, T!

As part of a larger unit studying politics and the government, Collegiate School 8th Grade history classes this week presented and debated their fictional party platforms on the environment, economy, education, immigration, foreign policy and gun control. The students will continue to study these issues and others, culminating in a succinct and concise campaign video that summarizes their party’s stance.

Collegiate School Cougars past and present gathered together on campus today for Homecoming 2017 to connect with each other and cheer on the football team against the Norfolk Academy Bulldogs.

No event revs up Cougar pride quite like the annual Homecoming Pep Rally when the entire Collegiate student body, faculty and staff convene to cheer and cheer some more.

Members of Cougar Enterprise, Collegiate's Middle School entrepreneurship club, hosted their first Market Day of the school year. Fellow 5th-8th Graders purchased a variety of items made and packaged made by their peers during lunchtime.

Collegiate School boasts five field hockey teams across three levels with athletes ranging from Grades 7-12. Every year in the fall season, the entire program sets aside one practice to come together and play. The girls are all divided up into mixed teams, led by the current seniors as the "team coach." The teams then play mini games on the turf until a team is named winner at the end. Players and coaches alike enjoy watching girls from each level and grade mesh with one another, see skills learned and implemented, and view the leadership that comes from the seniors. Yesterday Oct. 18 was the day that All Hockey Day commenced.

There are nine seniors this year: Caitin Allocca, Ellie Angle, Abby Cole, Carson Coulbourn, Kate Ferrell, Katie Fleming, Wescott Lowe, Carter Norfleet and Helen Stoever. The seniors did a great job of leading their teams while also ensuring that the players had fun. The day ended with a surprise visit from the coach who started it all 26 years ago (in 1991!), Sharon Charles. Cougars young and old were excited to see her and hear the tradition of All Hockey Day.

The Cougar Savings Club, which is operated by Collegiate School 4th Graders, opened for business this morning. Student bankers welcomed their fellow Lower Schoolers as they created new accounts or added funds to existing ones. The bank, which is open to customers one to two Thursdays each month, helps students gain confidence in performing tasks such as calculation and customer service. 

Collegiate 2nd Grade teachers Samantha Huber and Beth Albrecht are participating in the 2017 Global Read Aloud, a project created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind: one book to connect the world. This year's book is Fenway and Hattie by Victoria J. Coe. Fenway is a dog that sees the world in a different view. The book is helping the two classes discuss what can happen when we simply change our perspective.

As their weeklong Envision Richmond Capstone program continues, Collegiate School 8th Graders gathered in teams today to create prototypes for the solutions they’ve imagined might solve issues facing more than 20 local nonprofit organizations.

Lexus of Richmond has just announced its week three Leadership Award nomination to Izzy LeBey. Izzy is now in the running to win a $10,000 scholarship. The nominees represent top notch athletes and scholars in the Richmond area. Congratulations, Izzy! Click here to see the full article and an interview.

Teams of Collegiate School 6th Grade students in Mike Ferry's social studies class are answering the question How would you help a country with a low gross domestic product per capita improve its economy and standard of living? Students select a country to research and then leverage DollarStreet, CultureGrams, the CIA World Factbook and Google Earth Virtual Reality to explore and understand each country’s people, culture, natural resources, geography and climate.

When Collegiate School parent Cornelia Moore Hall invited the first exchange student to the School in 1963, she probably had no idea that years later, her commitment to helping students appreciate their counterparts around the world would become a signature feature of a Collegiate education.

Collegiate School students, faculty and staff are grateful for the support the school community has shown over the past month for fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.

Collegiate Upper School students gathered during a special assembly this afternoon to welcome and acknowledge the 41 students from 10 countries visiting for the 7th annual International Emerging Leaders Conference (IELC).

Collegiate School Kindergartners worked together to harvest an abundance of tomatoes, basil and rosemary in the Lower School garden. The students delivered the vegetables and herbs to Centennial Hall, the Lower School cafeteria, where chefs will incorporate them into the menu. Delicious!

Two visitors to Dr. Leah Sievers’ Upper School Literature of Elegy and Redemption class last week brought their unique perspective to the students’ discussion of the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Visualize excellence.

During the first week back for teachers, an entire day was dedicated to allow faculty to learn from one another.  This year, many of the Visual Arts faculty led sessions in several different areas entitled: Collegiate Makes!

The only thing missing during yesterday’s grand re-opening of McFall Hall, Collegiate School’s renovated Middle School and Upper School cafeteria, were the TV home renovation show cameras and a dramatic “big reveal.”

Centennial Hall buzzed with the arrival of 360 enthusiastic Collegiate School faculty and staff for the annual All School Opening Meeting, led by Head of School Steve Hickman.

A new cohort of Collegiate School faculty members are immersed this week in the mechanics of what it takes to bring lessons to life for students through Project Based Learning.

Congratulations to Collegiate Middle School student Amelia Chen on being named Virginia Swimmer of the Year in the 9 year old division. Amelia swims for NOVA and had the highest Power Point total of any 9 year old female. For more from Virginia Swimming, click here.

Seven teams comprised of area high school students shared today with local business leaders and educators how youths their age can contribute to industry and economic innovation, when given the opportunity.

Stephen D. Hickman shared with the Collegiate School community on Thursday that he will be stepping down as Head of School in two years, at the end of the 2018-19 school year.

Just released from the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association is the award lists for the 2016-17 season. In the NISCA's National Dual Meet Power Point Program, the Collegiate girls finished 11th in the independent school 1-900 enrollment category with the Collegiate boys finishing 13th. In the Team Scholar completion among schools nationwide, Collegiate girls were named a Gold team recipient, placing 22nd based on the team's 3.869 cumulative GPS. The boys recieved a spot on the silver team with a cumulative GPA of 3.549. Way to go, Cougar swimmers!

Excellence Perry '17 makes news again as a person who is truly living up to the definition of his name. Perry has received numerous awards in athletics as well as academics as he strives for living his best life and upholding his birth name. Click here for the full article from Richmond Free Press.

Jack Rusbuldt, a '16 Collegiate graduate, has transferred from Penn State to University of Richmond to pursue his desires to play lacrosse at the college level. He has high hopes with U of R to help the school compete for the national title. We wish Jack the best of luck at U of R! Click here for the full article from Richmond Times Dispatch.

Two Collegiate student-athletes were awarded All-Metro players by Richmond Times-Dispatch in tennis. Scott Phillips was named All-Metro boys tennis first team, and Georgia Beazley was named All-Metro girls tennis second team. Click here for the full article.

Evan Justice '17 was named to the All-USA Virginia baseball team. Evan, and other players, was elected based upon his athletic achievements in the 2016-17 spring season. Click here for the full article. Congratulations, Evan!

Collegiate athletes Mia Jackson and Julia Edwards were both named to the Richmond Times-Dispatch 2017 All-Metro soccer team. Click here for the full article.

Jordan Marcus and Gwin Sinnott were named to the All-Metro team by Richmond Times-Dispatch, with Maggie Bostain being named  All-Metro Second Team. Click here to read the full article.

Joe White and Excellence Perry have both had successful seasons on the Collegiate lacrosse team this spring. Joe White was named by the Richmond Times-Dispatch as the All-Metro boys lacrosse Player of the Year. For the full article, click here and here. Excellence Perry and Joe White were both also named All-Metro First Team by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. For the full article, click here.

Every year, Richmond Times-Dispatch names the eight top performers in each Track and Field event to receieve All-Metro honors. Collegiate School is proud to stand behind six of our student-athletes who were honored. The athletes awarded are Jess Speight in shot put, K.J. Rodgers in the 400, K.J. Rodgers, Willie Hunter, Carson Groce-Wright, and Barry Burgess in the Boys 4x400, and Brigid O'Shea in the high jump.To read the full article, click here.

Evan Justice, a recent graduate of Collegiate, was just selected by the Richmond Times-Dispatch as this year's baseball player of the year. Please click here to read the full article.

Collegiate School Lower School faculty explored global aspects of their social studies curriculum over the summer and into the fall. Many grade levels are bringing connections and understandings from Collegiate's international partner schools into their classes. Junior Kindergarten teacher Rives Barksdale visited Collegiate partner school Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School in Yangzhou, China, this summer and spent time with Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes. She will bring these experiences back to Collegiate students this fall.

School may be out, but Collegiate School students are busy traveling the state, nation and the globe to get the most out of their summer.

Collegiate 1st Graders presented a check in the amount of $1,028.50 to SPCA representatives Melissa Howdyshell and Kari Hosack in May. The money raised was from the 1st Graders' entrepreneurial experience of selling handmade stationery, Critter Creations.

Read more about Critter Creations opening for business here.

During the past month, Collegiate musicians and dancers have been busy showcasing their talents at various concerts and recitals.

Students in Brian Ross' History: America in the 1970s study the often misunderstood yet complicated and contradictory time period. Set between the radical 1960s and conservative 1980s, the "Me Decade" witnessed a series of dramatic social, cutural and political shifts. To better understand the dyamics of the time, Ross' students welcomed Vietnam veterans to Collegiate's campus and conducted small group interviews.

Giving Day invited all parents, alumni and friends to give in honor of a cherished Collegiate teacher who has impacted them and/or their children. The event was scheduled to coincide with National Teacher Appreciation Day.

Congratulations to the 12 Collegiate School students who participated in the Penn Relays over the weekend. Our girls 4x400 team finished 5th in their heat, with a time of 4:16. Our boys 4x400 team - KJ Rodgers, Barry Burgess, Carson Groce-Wright and Willie Hunter - set a new school record, with a time of 3:24.26! 

Go, Cougars!

Go Cougars! The first pitch is scheduled for 4pm.

The Middle School Leadership Team is composed of 8th Grade students who have expressed interest in service and leadership throughout their Middle School experience. This year, the Middle School Leadership Team interviewed and learned about the roles of the staff and administration who work beyond the classroom to operate and maintain Collegiate School.

As a culmination of their seminar, CreateAthon: Working with Nonprofits, and their experience participating in a CreateAthon on Campus, five teams of Collegiate School seniors this morning presented their work to help area organizations with their marketing campaigns. (A sixth group will present at a later date.)

Each semester, a group of Collegiate School student journalists in the Writing For Publication English class produce a series of Honors feature articles for The Match, Collegiate's student-run online news site. These articles are the result of months of research, reporting, writing and editing, as each author delves deeply into a topic of their choosing.

Collegiate 1st Graders have been learning about entrepreneurship, business models and consumer needs and wants, while also creating a product they could sell - handcrafted and creatively-designed stationery. 

Collegiate School introduced a capstone program for the 4th Grade this week, called Envision Collegiate, to build upon the existing capstones for 8th Grade (Envision Richmond) and 12th Grade (Envision Your World). All three programs bring to life students’ classroom learning in a real-world context.

Members of Zhangyi Shi’s Honors Chinese IV class learned firsthand about traditional Chinese medicine from guest speaker Dr. Huiwen Liu. Dr. Liu, who practices in Glen Allen, Virginia, engaged students with a hands-on presentation of Chinese medication treatment. 

Collegiate School held its annual Village Green Fair this morning, despite clouds and lingering showers. Organized by the School’s Parents’ Association, the spring tradition serves as the School’s largest fundraiser as well as a fun community-building event.

Collegiate School transformed into an art gallery this evening, showcasing a campus-wide exhibition of more than 700 JK-12th Grade student works during the annual Art Walk.

Collegiate School Lower Schoolers were delighted to spend the afternoon with their loved ones during Grandparents and Special Friends Day today.

Fourteen Collegiate School seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society today during Upper School Assembly and were recognized onstage with the 13 students inducted in the fall.

Three classes of Collegiate School 1st Graders performed their spring play, The House That the Pigs Built, and brought the house down this morning in Estes Building.

First pitch is at 4:30 p.m.!

Click to see the link to Collegiate Athletics Streaming!

Afshin and Shahrazad Mohammadi, parents of Collegiate School Junior Kindergarten student Andreas Mohammadi, shared how they celebrate Norwruz, the Persian New Year, in their home. 

This year, Collegiate School's Middle School Cougar Enterprises club, spent time thinking about its mission through word play exercises and writing challenges ultimately drafting, voting on and declaring the club mission "Create. Inspire. That's what we Do."

Emily Mendelson, a junior at Collegiate School and a member of the robotics team TORCH 5804, has been selected as one of nine semifinalists for the FIRST Chesapeake District's Dean's List Award. (FIRST is an acronym that means “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”)

As part of a Project Based Learning unit on alternative energy resources for residential establishments, 10th Grade biology students in Shayna Cooke’s class presented their 3-D designs to their classmates and members of Collegiate’s faculty and administration. The students used the processes of photosynthesis or cellular respiration as a guide and created devices that would hypothetically power a home on these products and byproducts.

Collegiate School’s 4th Grade classes presented An American Mosaic – From Sea to Shining Sea in the Estes Building this morning to highlight their study of U.S. history and the country’s citizens.

First Draw at 4pm!

Jasmine Turner ‘11, a reporter for WWBT NBC12, returned to Collegiate School today to talk to Middle Schoolers during their assembly about what’s it’s like to be a journalist. Middle School English teacher Weldon Bradshaw, Ms. Turner’s former track coach, introduced her.

Two teams of faculty and staff met on the court of the newly renovated Seal Athletic Center last night in the Cougar Classic, Collegiate School’s annual contest of basketball skill and staying power.

A group of Lower Schoolers and Middle Schoolers spent a morning collaborating on a service project while simultaneously learning from our campus grounds staff.

Twelve Collegiate School student-athletes were named to the 2016 National Field Hockey Coaches Association/Keith Waldron - Optimal Performance Associates High School Academic Squad.

Tip off is at 5:30 p.m. in Seal!

The Collegiate Upper School Jazz Band performed during the Richmond Peace Education Center’s annual Generation Dream concert on Wednesday at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the city. Generation Dream 2017 is part of an “edu-concert” series held during Black History Month to honor of Dr. King. It features dozens of talented youth from the Richmond metro area.

As part of Collegiate’s inclusion programming, Middle School students listened to eight fellow classmates speak about their experience at the Prejudice Awareness Summit last October. The students hoped to lessen the prevalence of cliques, and talked about expanding your circle of friends and not limiting yourself to one group.

Varsity tip off is at 6 p.m. at Trinity!

A group of 12 college deans and directors of admission from across the country met today with Collegiate School juniors for an annual workshop to provide insight into the college search and application process.

Collegiate School 9th-12th Graders are spending the day serving others, learning about themselves and preparing for their futures during their annual Spring Retreat Day.

Collegiate 6th Grader Naadia Rashid served as a guest speaker in Ms. Cunningham's 5th Grade Advisory and shared information about her Muslim faith and family's hajj to Mecca in 2014. Mrs. Cunningham's history students concluded their study of Islam and welcomed Naadia and her insights.

Go Cougars! Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Rich Brown, an instructor from Where There Be Dragons, a pioneer in the field of cross-cultural experiential education, visited seven Upper School classes today. Mr. Brown has also worked with community groups while living and working in Guatemala for four years. He spoke to students in the Global Discussions Senior Seminar, the International Emerging Leaders - Americas Seminar and Spanish 4 and Spanish 5 language classes about Maya activism and migration in the country.

Collegiate's Middle School Mosaic Club visited Postive Vibe Café, a Richmond restaurant that offers comfort food and catering. The eatery is also a nonprofit organization dedicated to training and employing people with disabilities in food services. 

In an epic Middle School spelling bee on Jan. 20, Collegiate School 7th Grader Amanda Tan correctly spelled "zephyr" and "hippopotamus" to emerge the victor and advance to the Richmond Private School Division Spelling Bee a week later. 

The 3rd Annual International Emerging Leaders (IEL) - Asia program concluded today as 11 Collegiate seniors and 12 students from our partner school in Yangzhou, China, presented solutions for economic and social issues facing both countries to Richmond-area business leaders.

Chinese language students at Collegiate School entered in the Year of the Rooster last evening with the Fourth Annual Chinese New Year Celebration in Oates Theater. The celebration also marked the 10th anniversary of the Chinese language program at Collegiate.

The second of five assemblies that make up the Middle School Religion Assembly series took place this week. The religion assembly theme is "Sacred Stories and Storytelling in Five Major World Religions." Director of Responsible Citizenship Clare Sisisky and 9th Grader Shreya Sharma discussed stories from Hinduism. Shreya shared the importance of Hindu stories that emphasized the values of loyalty and hard work.

Students in Melanie Barker’s DIY/Maker Senior Seminar took a trip to Build, RVA, a product accelerator and maker workshop in Scott’s Addition designed to foster entrepreneurial innovation. While there, the students played in the augmented reality sandbox, which was developed at the University of California, Berkeley, and constructed at Build, RVA. Most of the code used to develop the sandbox is open source, which the class has been talking about this semester.

Read more about the students' experience in Patrick Kirchmier's article in The Match. The Match is Collegiate School’s student-run online news site. It is dedicated to bringing the latest and greatest from the Collegiate community.

Collegiate Swimming has a home meet on Friday, Jan. 20 hosting St. Christopher's School, Trinity Episcopal School, Saint Gertrude High School, Benedictine College Preparatory and Steward School. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. at the Collegiate School Aquatics Center.

The JV Green game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. and Varsity tip-off is at 6pm at St. Christophers!

Collegiate School 10th Grader Caroline Curtis earned the junior girls golfer of the year award from the Virginia State Golf Association. It is the second straight year she has won the award.

Collegiate School is co-sponsoring a day of free heart screenings for Richmond-area youths and young adults next month, and all students ages 12 and older are encouraged to register.

The screenings are open to individuals up to age 26, and athletes in particular are invited to take advantage of the no-cost evaluation, which will allow participants to be screened for heart conditions that might otherwise go undetected.

Collegiate School’s Oates Theater will be transformed into a black box setting for the annual Upper School winter play next week. This year student actors will perform “Photosynthesis and Dramamine,” a collection of works by Christopher Durang and Jane Martin, on Thursday, Jan. 12 and Friday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Senior field hockey and lacrosse standout, Gwin Sinnott '17, has been selected as this week's winner for the Lexus of Richmond Pursuit of Perfection Leadership Award.

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During the month of December, Collegiate School students spread holiday cheer to others throughout the community, amid their own classroom celebrations. A few of those efforts included the following: