Around the Courtyard

AroundtheCourtyard

STUDENT SCHOLARS AND LEADERS…

Elizabeth Bell ’14 was selected as a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist. Seniors Schuyler

Cottrell, Haley Lieberman,

Ruth Blair Moyers, and Ainsley Walker were all commended.

Seniors Forrest Sprouse, Morgan Rose, and Emily Dodson were chosen to participate in the Cochrane Summer Economics Institute hosted by Collegiate this past summer.

Jimmy Hull ’14 was selected to participate in the 2014 Summer Institute on Leadership and Public Service hosted by St. Christopher's School. Elizabeth Bell ’14 and Ruth Blair Moyers ’14 were nominees for the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA.

Seniors Kira Tomenchok, Allie Neal and Elizabeth Bell were all named finalists in the Lexus of Richmond Pursuit of Perfection Leadership Award Scholarship.

Owen Ayers ’15 was selected as a Richmond Forum Scholar. He was one of five selected from hundreds of Richmond area students after a lengthy interview process.

Reid Barden ’14 and Andrew Elgin ’16 will be participating in All-District Band. This is Barden’s fourth consecutive year of being in the group and Elgin is a repeat member from last year.

The robotics team got off to a great start this year with two off-season events. In October, the team competed in the Ultimate Ascent competition held at the Arthur Ashe Center. The team received an award for being the “Best Climber” at the competition.

Elgin was also chosen to be a member of the VCU Greater Richmond High School Jazz Band. This group, conducted by VCU Jazz Studies program director Antonio Garcia, is made up of the top high school jazz musicians from the greater Richmond area. They will appear as the finale for Trinity’s Jazz & Art Festival held on Trinity’s campus on Saturday, April 26.

Later in the month, the team accepted a challenge to build a machine that could throw pumpkins. Working with Richard Harman’s physics classes, the team built a catapult in one day. Henry Choisser ‘15 was the acting lead engineer on the build. Seniors Benoit Lapotre, Schuyler Cottrell, Nathaniel Paul, Davis Catherman, Jack Poindexter and junior Callaway Sprinkle worked along with Harman.

In November, the team competed in a second off-season event in Haymarket Virginia and took first place. In January, the team was chosen to receive a $500 grant from RichTech for its commitment to involve young women in robotics.

Headmaster Tom Aycock led the students in Trinity’s annual snow dance in Dunn Courtyard.

This year’s Battle of the Brains team made it to the round of eight out of 32 teams. “This is the best record we have had in the five years I have coached the team,” said sponsor and science teacher Pauline Crowling

Faculty News

In November 2013, Director of Academic Resource Center Katie Best presented at the 36th Annual Conference for the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The aim of the session was to propose an innovation for professional development that uses the frameworks of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), How People Learn (HPL), and Adaptive Expertise (AE) to create learning opportunities that engage and prepare teachers to address learner variability and teach 21st century skills. She also presented at the Division on Career Development and Transition, illustrating research regarding the universal design for transition approach (UDT) to instructional planning, delivery, and assessment that is aimed at bridging the gap between academics and functional/ transition goals. Best is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in special education and disability policy.

Trinity had a number of faculty members present at this year’s VAIS Conference. Katie Best, Director of Academic Program Sarah McDermott, and Academic Resource Teacher and English Department Head Amy Tarsovich Carroll ‘98 presented “Meeting the Challenges of Learner Variability.” Their presentation focused on how we teach students with different learning styles through the research-based framework of UDL. English teachers Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell presented “Completing Writer's Workshop: Resuscitating Literary Analysis in the Secondary Classroom.” In their presentation, they argued for the inclusion of literary analysis, demonstrating that it can be dynamic and playful and relevant in a workshop setting. The two also presented at the 2013 National Council of Teachers of

English (NCTE) conference in Boston.

Allison Marchetti received a grant from author and educator Penny Kittle’s Book Love Foundation which seeks teachers who demonstrate a commitment and passion for promoting reading for all students. The foundation supports teachers by donating independent reading libraries of a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books proven to engage adolescents.