"Virginia Boarding School Blog"
A Great Boarding School Teacher Nears Retirement: FUMA’s Fletcher Arritt
As a young teacher watching him coach, I knew Fork Union Military Academy’s Fletcher Arritt was good. I didn’t know how good. Twenty+ years later and thanks to Erik Brady’s USA Today article, “Outgoing Coach Molded Men for Four Decades,” and Phil Wall’s documentary work I’m in awe.
Read MoreNational Football Signing Day: A (Very) Rough Boarding School Report
I’ve done this in past but never found it so difficult to find press and announcements of boarding school players signing football letters of intent.
Read MoreTwo Boarding School Alumni in Tonight’s BCS National Championship Game
LSU’s roster includes two players with boarding school backgrounds, Ego Ferguson (Hargrave Military Academy) and Tabari Williams (Culver Academies). Ferguson, a defensive tackle, is playing in his redshirt freshman season; he’s seen time in 12 games. Williams is a sophomore running back majoring in computer science. I didn’t find any boarding school alumni on the [...]
Read MoreStarting the Year Off Right: Communicating with Your Roommate
Celeste Brooks at Randolph-Macon Academy has posted, “Boarding School: 12 Ways to Ease into Living with a Roommate, Part 2,” the second half of her school arrival piece. Again, she’s hit some topics that we haven’t paid quite so much attention to in our writings. This second installment looks directly at strategies, and ways, to [...]
Read MoreA Successful Year Begins with Successful Communication: Tips from Randolph Macon-Academy
Thanks to Cleseste Brooks of Randolph-Macon Academy for making us think on this front. She penned her first installment of “Boarding School: 12 Ways to Ease Into Living With a Roommate, Part 1,” where she puts more emphasis on the personal, and interpersonal, parts of arriving to school in the fall. We’ve written extensively over [...]
Read MoreBringing Boys Education Back into Focus
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy I’m not a big television watcher, so thanks to our friends at Blue Ridge School (an all-boys boarding school in St. George, VA) for sharing this story. Earlier in March, NBC Nightly News ran a series titled, America at the Crossroads. After an [...]
Read MoreChristchurch School Boarding Program To Go Coed in 2012
Christchurch School announced last week that girls will become part of the school’s boarding program beginning fall 2012. Founded as a boys school in 1921, girls have been part of Christchurch as day students since 1973. From the Christchurch announcement: “…In 2009, the Christchurch School Board of Governors commissioned a consultant to study coeducational boarding [...]
Read MoreWhat China Means to American Boarding Schools
I recently returned from a trip to China – my sixth trip in the last four years. The trip was part of the MBA for Executives Program at UVA’s Darden School of Business – a week of studying Chinese business and economics under professors of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, the first private [...]
Read MoreLocal Players Find Opportunity in Blue Ridge School Football
The annual rivalry between Blue Ridge School and St. Anne’s-Belfield School earned a storyline on NBC affiliate WVIR this past Thursday (Albermarle Natives Lead Blue Ridge Football). Blue Ridge features three local Albermarle players leading the team Cameron Anderson, Mayn Francisco, and Andre Roberts. Blue Ridge coach Del Smith describes them as “program type players.” [...]
Read MoreShe’s a Leader: Randolph-Macon Academy names first first female Corps Commander
On August 24, 2010, Allyson Doran became the first female opening day Corps Commander at Randolph-Macon Academy. She was kind enough to share her story about how she came to the position and the qualities she brings to the rank. Brian Fisher (BF): How did you come to RMA? Were you interested in military school/living [...]
Read MoreLiving and Working the World’s Fiercest Negotiators: Our Kids
Last week, we shared opening of boarding school thoughts for students from Episcopal High School dean, Kevin Soja. Today, we look at the opening of school through the eternal parental quest- meaning what we say and following through when we say ‘no’. We (parents/guardian of adolescents and their teachers) live and work with the world’s [...]
Read MoreThoughts on the New Academic Year
This is the first of two posts that address two sides of the same coin- the opening of private school for fall and what it means for adults (parents and faculty) and students. For each group the beginning of the school year comes freighted with expectations and responsibilities. Faculty must work with students to take [...]
Read MoreFork Union’s NFL Alumni: A Long and Deep Roster
Many college athletics fans know some of the military boading schools for their prowess in preparing athletes for collegiate athletics and academics. Radio and television announcers enjoy tossing in a player’s background after the play. I know from my own boarding school experience that strong athletes have been a part of the boarding school equation [...]
Read MoreFork Union Alum Anthony Castonzo Distinguishes Himself On and Off the Field
Anthony Costonzo gave up one sack last year- a play during the Boston College Eagles 31-13 loss to North Carolina. A consumate left tackle, Castonzo can beak down his technique and tell you exactly what he did wrong on the play: “I can run it over and over…I know exactly what I did. I stopped [...]
Read MoreThe Academic+Athletic Post Graduate Student Combination Done Right
It’s no secret that the grade improving, transcript burnishing, transcript mills that work to qualify students for NCAA division I athletic programs have been newsmakers of late. The stories leave us all shaking our heads at the complicity and willful ignorance of coaches and schools. On the flip side, competitive men’s basketball and football teams [...]
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