Responsible Citizenship
Director of Service Learning & Civic Engagement
804.741.9708
sfleming@collegiate-va.org
Responsible Citizenship
Civic Engagement encompasses the informal and formal learning and experiences that prepare an individual for engagement in community and life as an informed participating citizen. At Collegiate, we embrace Civic Engagement as individual and collective action by citizens to promote civic literacy, address issues, and build community locally and globally. The six proven practices of civic education are: classroom instruction in civics and government, history, geography, law, and democracy; discussions of current events and controversial issues; service learning; extracurricular activities in which students become involved in school life and their community; school governance with student participation; and simulations of democratic processes.
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Lower School
Contributing greatly to the overall safety of Collegiate, our 4th Grade Campus Cubs Program provides the Lower School community with an example of civic engagement practices in action.
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Middle School
Our weeklong 8th Grade program, Envision Richmond, provides the Middle School community with many real life examples of civic engagement practices in action.
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Upper School
Throughout the year, Upper School students have opportunities to engage in respectful “public square” debates by participating in both Mosaic and Global Discussions Club forums on topics relating to pressing current issues.
Ignite - Civic Engagement
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Collegiate Seniors Experience Richmond Slave Trail
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.Read More -
Collegiate Students Participate in Model UN
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.Read More -
Collegiate 2nd Graders Host Eco Emporium
Read MoreCollegiate School’s Weinstein Gallery transformed this week into the sixth annual Eco Emporium (formerly the African Market), showcasing handcrafted items created by 2nd Graders in the Studio Two art class. -
Collegiate Hosts 5th Annual TEDxYouth@RVA Event
The fifth annual TEDxYouth@RVA will take place on Saturday, Nov. 17, in Collegiate School’s Hershey Center for the Arts. The general public is invited to hear a wide range of local speakers reflect on the theme Elevate.Read More -
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Lower Schoolers Offer Global Support Through Unique Partnership
Read MoreCollegiate School 2nd Graders have embarked on a letter-writing campaign to secure support and sales for a product that will bring light to children and adults across the globe. -
Collegiate 4th Graders Witness Naturalization Ceremony
Read MoreAs part of their social studies curriculum, Collegiate School 4th Grade students have been studying all aspects of immigration though readings, discussions and a speaker series. -
Upper School STAR Tutor and Mentor Program Begins
Three days a week throughout the school year, Collegiate Upper School students can be found tutoring and mentoring immigrant and refugee students at Quioccasin Middle School through the Tuckahoe YMCA’s Strengthening Teens Academically and Recreationally (STAR) program. Our 2018-19 volunteers participated in their first tutoring session of the school year earlier this week, helping Middle Schoolers with their homework and engaging them in physical activity and in an arts and craft project. All involved are looking forward to a great year ahead!Read More -
Capstone Students Take On Real-World Marketing Challenge
Collegiate seniors in the CreateAthon Capstone class took part in a marketing workshop facilitated by Brand Innovation and Marketing Consultant Dave Clemans. Students experienced a hands-on, real-world marketing challenge to promote NHL.tv, the National Hockey League's streaming service. The seniors learned about Mr. Clemans' creative process in developing taglines and media tactics. These skills will prove invaluable as the students begin their own creative marketing work for local nonprofit companies in Richmond.Read More -
Collegiate 7th Graders Participate in Connect Richmond Kickoff Activity
Read MoreCollegiate School 7th Grade students participated in September in Communities, Challenges and Leadership, during which senior mentors led activities and shared life experiences. -
Upper Schoolers Volunteer with Medical Program
A group of Collegiate Upper Schoolers visited Wise, Virginia with two faculty members to serve as volunteers for the temporary medical program, RAM (Remote Area Medical). RAM provides free health care to uninsured Virginians in remote areas of the state, and during our students' time there helping register and provide snacks to patients, more than 1,300 residents of that region received medical care.Read More -
Service Learning Program works with Homeless Veterans
Liberation Veterans Services (LVS) believes that two words that should never go together are "homeless" and "veteran" and is dedicated to providing a safe haven exclusively for veterans in crisis. As part of a service learning pilot project, Collegiate student volunteers listened to LVS clients share their stories. Based on their interview work, the students then created a video and art work inspired by the veterans they met.Read More -
Capstone Students Consider Richmond’s Relationship to the James River
In the River City Capstone, Collegiate seniors explored how the economic, political and cultural landscape — historically and presently — is inextricably linked with the environmental landscape and health of the James, the city and the citizenry.Read More -
Global Public Health Capstone Explores Challenges for Organizations
Read MoreSeniors enrolled in the Global Public Health senior Capstone class at Collegiate School spent the second half of the spring semester working on service learning consulting projects with four nonprofits in the public health sector. -
Collegiate Hosts New York Lacrosse Players
A group of high school students from New York visited the Richmond area last weekend as guests of Collegiate School lacrosse players and their families. It was the third time Harlem Lacrosse & Leadership (HLL) has come to the area to participate in clinics and play pickup games with athletes on lacrosse teams at Collegiate and Highland Springs High School.Read More -
Envision Richmond Capstone team returns to Oakgrove-Bellemeade Community Center
As part of Phase II of Envision Richmond, Collegiate School's 8th Grade Capstone experience that immerses students in the local community with an intensive leadership and civic engagement focus, eight students traveled to Oakgrove-Bellemeade Community Center over the weekend. The students assisted in the beautification and grand opening of the neighborhood bike shop and lawn maintenance business being developed to help youth in the community.Read More -
Fifth Graders Visit the Pump House
Read MoreAs part of their yearlong study of water, Collegiate School 5th Graders took a field trip to the Pump House last week and experienced three stations with the James River Association: water quality testing, tour of the Pump House by Friends of the Pump House and community service (painting and picking up trash). The second phase of this Project Based Learning project starts this week when students collaborate to answer the question: How would they revitalize the Pump House? In the next two weeks, the 5th graders will meet in Advisory and come up with prototypes of their ideas, which they will present at a later date. -
Capstone Explores Richmond's History and Impact of the James River
Read MoreAs part of their ongoing research for a senior Capstone class The River City, a group of 12th Graders met with two James River advocates yesterday to learn about Richmond's history and the impact of the river on the city's evolution. -
Upper School Students Participate in Model UN
Read MoreCollegiate Upper School students recently attended the Johns Hopkins University Model United Nations Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. -
Senior Capstone Explores Eradication of Polio
Read MoreIn Collegiate School’s senior Capstone course, Global Public Health, students are challenged to answer the question, In an increasingly globalized world, how should we best address public health for human populations given their unique cultural, economic, environmental and political situations? -
Senior Capstone Students Visit Richmond’s Vertical Slot Fishway
Collegiate School seniors enrolled in the Senior Capstone course, The River City, met a James River Park System biologist at the vertical slot fishway on the river’s Bosher's Dam this week to see firsthand the intricate "fish ladder" that enables native species such as the American shad to return upriver to spawn, despite the presence of the dam.Read More -
First Graders Research the Potential of Repurposed Buildings
Read MoreAs part of a Collegiate 1st Grade social studies unit Richmond Then and Now, students visited the defunct hydroelectric power plant on Belle Isle for research and discovery. -
Upper School Students Attend Princeton Model Congress
Read MoreSeven Collegiate Upper School students attended the Princeton Model Congress from Nov. 16-19 in Washington, D.C., with economics and history teacher Nate Jackson. -
Collegiate Students Honor Veterans
Read MoreCollegiate students in all divisions this week honored those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces as part of separate Veterans Day observances. -
Collegiate Seniors Prepare for 4th Annual TEDxYouth@RVA Event
Read MoreThe fourth annual TEDxYouth@RVA will kick off next week on Saturday, Nov. 18 in Collegiate School’s Hershey Center for the Arts. The general public is invited to hear a wide range of local speakers reflect on the theme Monumental. -
Collegiate Middle Schoolers Debate Fictional Party Platforms
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.Read More -
Collegiate Students Raise Funds for Hurricane Survivors
Read MoreThe Collegiate School community united today to help survivors of Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma, which tore through Florida and led to flooding in parts of South Carolina and Georgia, by hosting a bake sale and “special dress” day. -
Collegiate Students Assist Remote Area Medical Facility
Read MoreSix Collegiate School rising seniors, accompanied by two faculty chaperones, participated in the Remote Area Medical (RAM) program in Wise County, Virginia, July 21-23. -
Articles in "The Match" Reflect Responsible Citizenship
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.Read More -
Collegiate Launches 4th Grade Capstone Pilot Program
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.Read More -
Inaugural 4th Grade Capstone Program Concludes
Read MoreCollegiate School 4th Graders presented creative ideas for a Lower School learning garden this afternoon as the culmination of their grade-level capstone program, Envision Collegiate. -
Librarians Lead Session on News and Information
Read MoreLower School and Middle School librarians Allison Williams and Carolyn LaMontagne worked with 4th, 5th and 6th Graders to discuss “Where Do We Get Our News and Information?” -
Middle Schoolers Attend William & Mary Model UN Conference
Read MoreCollegiate Middle Schoolers represented Mexico and Poland at the 17th annual William & Mary Middle School Model UN Conference, hosted by the College of William and Mary's International Relations Club this past weekend. -
Guest Speaker Discusses Guatemalan Issues
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.Read More -
Collegiate Upper Schoolers Mentor Immigrant and Refugee Students
Collegiate School senior Kate Kinder shares the STAR program in the School's newspaper, The Match.Read More
Through The Tuckahoe Family YMCA’s program Strengthening Teens Academically and Recreationally (STAR), Collegiate students tutor immigrant and refugee students at Quioccasin Middle School (formerly Byrd Middle School). The program began when its creator, Meg Billet, met with the principal of Quioccasin Middle School, Cheri Guempel, to discuss the needs of the school, which is only about a mile from the Tuckahoe Family YMCA facility. Ms. Guempel informed Ms. Billett of the growing refugee population, and she shared that she felt that the refugee students were getting lost in the shuffle of the school community. -
3rd Annual TEDxYouth@RVA Begins Next Week
Read MoreOn Saturday, Nov. 19, the third annual TEDxYouth@RVA will take place in Collegiate School’s Hershey Center for the Arts, and the general public is invited to hear local speakers expound on the theme “What Now?” -
Collegiate Students Honor Veterans
Read MoreCollegiate School students in the Middle School and Lower School honored our country's servicemen and women with separate Veterans Day observances today. (The Upper School plans to acknowledge veterans in an Assembly on Monday, Nov. 14.) -
Collegiate Students Experience Election Day
Read MoreAs Americans headed to the polls on Election Day 2016, Collegiate School students in each division learned about and participated in the democratic process with activities geared toward each age group and grade level. -
City Leader Informs Upper School Students Studying Poverty
Read MoreGuest speaker Reginald E. Gordon joined Collegiate School students in their Senior Seminar: Poverty and Prosperity, along with members of the Collegiate Community Council and the Mosaic Club yesterday to talk about his work as Director of the Office of Community Wealth Building for the City of Richmond. -
Students Explore Housing Issues in Richmond
Read MoreIn Erica Coffey's Poverty to Prosperity Senior Seminar, students investigate the cycle of poverty, its seemingly endless continuation and the great difficulty experienced by individuals and families who, once below a certain level of resources, very often experience a chain of events that can perpetuate their circumstances. Students make site visits to HomeAgain and Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School, as well as hear from Reggie Gordon, Director of Office of Community Wealth Building for the city of Richmond, and JoLinda Jones, Director of the family shelter at HomeAgain, to learn about the poverty cycle, understand multiple perspectives and experience how complicated breaking the cycle can be. -
Eighth Grade Designs Go From Concept to Creation
On Day 5 of Envision Richmond, Collegiate School’s weeklong capstone program for 8th Graders, students presented their creative solutions for issues facing 20 Richmond-based nonprofit organizations. Each idea was generated from the students’ visits and candid conversations with leaders and patrons of the nonprofits they toured.Read More -
The Presidential Race: What do Collegiate Upper School Students Think?
From Donald Trump’s inappropriate comments about women, Muslims, and Latinos, to Hillary Clinton’s role in Benghazi and her questionable use of her personal e-mail address, the candidates for the upcoming US presidential race certainly provide a platform for colorful discussion. With the election less than 30 days away and two presidential debates already completed, Americans are trying to decide who they will vote for.Read More -
Envision Richmond, 8th Grade Capstone Program, Kicks Off
Read MoreBeginning Monday, Oct. 17, the entire 8th Grade at Collegiate School will embark on its weeklong capstone project, Envision Richmond. Now in its fourth year, the unique experience provides 8th Graders with the opportunity to explore their city, learn the issues it faces and develop viable solutions as creative designers and problem solvers. -
JK Students Build a Model Community
Read MoreMost afternoons in Junior Kindergarten, the students are engaged in ExploreMore. This is an opportunity for them to have dedicated time in Spanish lessons, math games, exploring science concepts, or learning about their community in social studies. An indepth look at the social studies time reveals a Collegiate Town that has come to life. Two of the JK teachers, Kim Turner and Wendy Wilson, have guided the children during a semester-long study of communities. The children have learned about community jobs and workers, and they have been building a community with roads, signs, trees, parks, cars, and of course a large football field. The children suggested town names and voted on Collegiate Town as the name for this place in miniature. -
Collegiate Students Organize TEDx Youth@RVA
The following was an article written in Collegiate's student newspaper The Match about the recent TEDxYouth@RVA written by Senior Editor Helen Roddey. The event engaged students in an intensive collaborative leadership expereince that embodies our Civic Engagment pillar but also asked students to manage the finances of a high cost public event, helping them further develop their Economic Literacy skills.Read More
As the November 14th date of TEDxYouth@RVA approached, there was definitely a buzz in the air around school.TED Talks are a popular source of information on the Collegiate campus, and both students and faculty were excited to get such an up close and personal insight into the process. The TEDx team, made up of Collegiate’s TEDxYouth@RVA senior seminar class, Glen Allen’s Caroline Sindelar, James River’s Anna Davis and Maja Gabrielson, and mentors/teachers Timothy Couillard, Rhiannon Boyd, Allen Chamberlain, and Andy Stefanovich, had been working tirelessly for weeks. Posters were everywhere, tickets were sold out, and the list of outstanding speakers coming to pitch their ideas for modeling the future was released.
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