January Scholars of the Month

This month’s scholar of the month for the class of 2022 is going to a student who seems to have found their place at VA. Grace’s English teacher Ms. Hodgson writes, “Grace is hard-working and diligent. She genuinely seem to enjoy learning and see value in putting in effort. She is a steadfast contributor to class discussions and have the ability to grasp important universal concepts.” History teacher, Mr. Lavoie says, “ Grace has done a great job this month becoming a real leader in the classroom. She leads discussions on a number of very complex topics and truly embraces all of the challenges that are presented to her. Her hard work really has shown in the recent weeks and I can't wait to see her push on even further.”

The class of 2021’s Scholar of the Month has an energy and drive that is infectious to ALL! Those of you that saw Thomas completing in this year’s Winter Carnival saw this exhibited throughout several events with his exuberant “THERE IT IS!” every time his floor demonstrated the strength and high standard he was looking for! He student applies this level of excellence and focus to all that he does and strives for academic achievement daily with a course schedule jam packed with 5 academic classes, Jazz ensemble, 2 music lessons and Health-that’s 9 commitments comprised almost entirely of A’s and Commendables.

His Health teacher writes, “Thomas is consistently an enthusiastic and engaged Health class student. His homework is completed with care and he always has positive contributions and relevant questions when we are having a discussion or working on an in-class activity.” His English teacher writes, “he has been solid as a rock lately! He had an animated performance in Poetry Out Loud semi-finals, a well-written poetry analysis essay, and is always cheerful and thoughtful in class participation.” His History teacher says, “Thomas has a fantastic attitude in class. He recently had to hold his own on a debate in class even when all of his group members were missing. He was able to complete the assignment without missing a beat.”

For the month of January, the class of 2020 scholar of the month goes to Barbora. Barbora is described as being a true joy to work with by many of her teachers. Her cheerful personality always lightens the mood of the room. She is very reliable, Mr. Cady applauds her for never missing an 8 a.m. music lesson. Barbora’s reliability extends to her other classes as well. According to her English teacher, Mr. Schilling, Barbora can always be counted upon to have something insightful to say about readings they are working on and in the words of Ms. Mcnealus, Barbora is a “solid contributor” in art class. In the words of Mrs. Frey, “Barbora is very successful because she is focused, studious, and motivated.”

The class of 2019 scholar of the month goes to Sam Kendrick. Capstone coordinator, Ms. Frey notes, “after his first meeting with his off-campus mentor who is a former head of school and history teacher, I received a call from her simply to tell me how extremely impressed she was with Sam’s preparation for the meeting, the depth of his questions, and his overall ability to articulate and present information. She noted, what Sam is producing at the high school level I did not come close to doing until I was a sophomore or junior at Brown." In French II class, He brings positive attitude, enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, maturity to the classroom.

His advisor, Ms. McNealus said, “Sam has always been an A level student and a strong scholar. His weekend binge is to read multiple books. His love of learning earns him kudos across the board from all of his teachers and his strength in making good grades and being a model student in the classroom has always been one of his super powers. But Sam is also interested in using his powers for good and has become a mentor and tutor on campus. And, this year, he has gone one step further through his Capstone work which has progressed from helping Mr. Lavoie teach a class to actually helping design and implement a history course for the study abroad program. Sam is an exceptionally compelling choice for this honor.”