Rockbridge Academy

• Oral exams have students thinking on their feet
• Freshman deliver WWII speeches
• History comes alive during feast
• Rockbridge junior a finalist in national essay contest

Courtesy photo Oral midterms are a good preparation for the rigors of Rockbridge Academy’s Senior Thesis. Above, senior Rachel Crawford presents her thesis as upper school principal Ralph Janikowsky listens.

Comprehensive written midterms, typically requiring hours of study and review, have been replaced with oral exams in Rockbridge Academy's upper school for the past three years.

Orals are midterm exams given face-to-face, by at least two teachers, who ask questions meant to integrate the knowledge from all the student's subjects. The questions are as hard as the student makes them; that is, the questions get harder as the student competently answers throughout the exam.

They are not a series of questions and answers, but rather a conversation. They test students' knowledge, ability to integrate subject material and their ability to answer a real person with poise and grace.

Orals also reflect the true basics of the curriculum. 'Since we're teaching students the art of rhetoric and training them to think biblically, it seemed wise to conduct exams in such a way to capitalize those things,' said Headmaster Michael McKenna. 'Who wouldn't prefer that to hours of study and three days of written tests?'

As with all tests, students are never completely comfortable, but the nature of the exams relieves much of the pressure. Junior Ellie Stevens said that she 'knew what was coming,' making the experience even easier. 'I was much calmer this year,' agreed her classmate Noelle Meiser.

The orals prepare the student for real-life situations. Literature and rhetoric teacher Corrina McKenna said, 'I have heard students say that college interviews are nothing compared to oral exams.' Biology teacher Carolyn Sproul said that after the exams, 'It's easier for [the students] to see the big picture.'

That big picture is very important. 'We live in a universe, not a ‘pluriverse,'' Ms. McKenna said. 'If it's really true that all knowledge coheres with its Creator, then a person who is able to think biblically should be able to understand how math intersects with science, for example, or how history and literature are related.'

Courtesy photo Freshmen Cory Sentz and Amy Brenninkmeyer make their group presentation about World War II.

Culminating their studies in European history, Rockbridge Academy ninth graders delivered World War II speeches at the Historic Manor House on Belvoir, Scott's Plantation. Topics included the Battles of Normandy, the Polish Concentration Camps and the lives of the P.O.W.s. Freshman Suzanne Duvall presented her paper on the lives of the P.O.W.s , using as a source a recorded interview of her grandfather who served in World War II and spent time in a prisoner of war camp.

The Manor House was decorated with authentic army gear and pictures of soldiers who served in World War II. After each speech, time was allotted for questions and answers. At the end of the morning, students and teachers enjoyed an authentic 1940s meal which included Spam, corndogs, M&M's, Coke and Rice Krispies treats. Each student received a replica of the K-ration kits that soldiers would have received on the battlefield.

These kits were composed of bubblegum, chocolate, instant coffee, sugar and chicken bouillon flavoring.

Courtesy photo Third graders at the Greek and Roman Festival take part in the Olympics. Pictured from left are teacher Debbie Cavallaro and students Alex Craig, Hannah Howe, Ashley Diekemper, and Haden Mackowiak.

By NOAH DIEKEMPER, Rockbridge Academy

Continuing fairly long-standing traditions at Rockbridge, the kindergartners, second-graders and third-graders all feasted during the first half of February. These elaborate events 'help history come alive for the kids,' said Debbie Cavallaro, a third-grade teacher at Rockbridge.

The kindergartners had a luau, jam-packed with food and fun. The idea for this originated four years ago as the kindergartners were learning about the fifty states.

'One year we were having a long stretch of winter weather, and I thought it would be fun to do something unpredictable and plan a ‘trip' to Hawaii for the children in the middle of a Maryland winter,' said kindergarten teacher Monica Hinz.

Lori Crawford, the kindergarten assistant, started the day off with teaching the kids the hula and a Hawaiian song.

'I love to see the children's faces as [the kindergartners] arrive and see all of the Hawaiian decorations. Their eyes get so big as they try to take it all in! I also love to teach them a little bit about hula, and I enjoy introducing them to some Hawaiian foods,' remarked Mrs. Crawford. Later in the day the seniors of Rockbridge Academy came by to add to the atmosphere by wearing Hawaiian shirts and leis.

But the kindergartners weren't the only ones who got to eat exotic food and study lands far away. The second graders, who have diligently studied the Old Testament and ancient Israel this year, got a chance to experience them first hand on February 14th as they participated in a traditional Jewish Seder.

'A Seder is typically celebrated during the Jewish festival of Passover. It is an elaborate teaching experience, especially for the children, intended to call people to their identity as the people of God,' said Nancy Hulting, mother of second-grader Katherine Hulting.

The second-graders learned about the Passover and the Trinity by connecting them with Jewish foods. For example, bitter herbs and radishes represent Israel's bitter slavery in Egypt, and three squares of matzo represent the Trinity. 'My favorite part of the Seder is when the students are able to see Christ as the Passover Lamb that shed His blood to give us life,' said Brooke Voelp, second-grade teacher.

Last, but not least, the third-graders had quite a time of their own on when they donned their togas and sandals to drink grape juice, eat squid and learn about the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The day started off with the traditional Panhellenic games (known to the rest of us as the Olympics).

The events included the Pheidippides run (marathon), the discus (Frisbee) throw and the chariot races, followed immediately by the awards ceremonies where various third-graders were crowned with olive-branch wreaths as the Olympic champions.

'[My favorite event was] maybe the four-horse chariot race or the discus throw; … the discus throw was kind of long, but it was fun to watch and see who got most of the discs in the hoop,' said third-grade student Ashley Diekemper.

The students were also visited by Homer (Gilbert Horst) who introduced the seventh graders who recited the opening lines of Homer's Iliad as part of the third graders' agora experience.

They explored various aspects of Greek and Roman culture. They made their own mosaics and discovered how an aqueduct works.

The day ended with a dinner party at the house of Mark Antony who was there in the likeness of Tyler Antkowiak. They feasted on exotic food ranging from octopus to goose, stuffed with flamingo tongues and peacock brains.

Third-grader Paul Meiser said, '[My favorite part was] listening to the harp [in the agora]. It was really cool and they told us about the history of it and I thought [it] was really cool because I had never heard a harp before.'

Fabulous feasts in February where learning comes to life!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Kristy Trovato is a junior at Rockbridge Academy. She is a state finalist in the 'Letters about Literature' contest, a national competition associated with the Library of Congress, which encourages students to think critically and interactively with their favorite literature. Kristy was asked to write as if explaining to an author how a work of their literature impacted her life. Kristy chose Pat of Silverbush, a novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author most famous for 'Anne of Green Gables.' Her entry follows:

'Dear Lucy Maud Montgomery,

For as long as I can remember, your novels have enchanted me. Wherever I go, whether to the library or to an old, shabby book store, I find myself scanning the covers for your name. Your books first attracted me to the realm of literature. They caught me up vividly in the lovely world you portrayed and intimately connected me with your characters. There was something unique in the way you captured the world — ethereal, yet real all at once.

I remember the first time I cracked open your novel 'Pat of Silverbush.' It was a crisp fall evening and the wind blew softly through my open window. Several hours passed and I was finished. I did not usually read books that fast, but it captured me and would not let me go. I remember the soft tug of sadness I felt at turning the last page — I could not believe it was over. In a sudden moment fiction was reality again and I was no longer Pat of Silverbush. But I never forgot your book. It changed me. I know I was not the same person when I closed it again. My world was a different place, a much better place.

If I had read your book 8 years ago, I probably would have told you that I was nothing like Pat. My home was anti-idyllic. I lived in a grumpy neighborhood right off the highway, with barely a quarter acre of land. We bought it from some long-time friends and I could not stop calling it 'their house.' I never thought of it as home, just a place to live. Long before I read your novel, it was my dream to own a Silverbush-type home, full of things like Pat's 'whispering winds' and 'forgotten fields', but I never truly believed I could hold a home so dear. A home to love and cherish, seemed something only of pretty novels, not real life.

Just before I turned ten, our family moved again. We bought a worn down, two-story house, at the end of a long, neglected dirt road. The only things around it were the thick walls of amber trees and the faded green blades of long, uncut grass. Within this little hollow the world seemed miles and miles away, like something foreign and forgotten, whispered only in the wind.

The first time I visited the house, I was shocked. My pretty little wishes of colorful walls and spacious rooms that needed only the little touches of flavor and decoration to complete it, were crushed entirely. I could not believe my parents had actually fallen in love with this plain, little cast-off of a house. The yard was a dump and the inside was twice that. The exterior was faded where it should have been brilliant, and the white walls had turned a sort of stale yellow with age and neglect. The doors were old and cracking, with rusty, jammed door knobs and peeling white paint. Inside, the hardwood floors were eaten away by termites and the rooms all smelled of must and mold. It seemed a place repellent to laughter. But somehow it grew on me. A year or so after we moved in, our house became a new place. We cleaned, painted, swept and replaced. But something intangible changed as well. People came over. We had campfires and soccer games in our yard, laughter came and memories were made, all the things that make a house a home.

Amidst this change, I read your Pat of Silverbush. For the first time in my life I understood completely what few understand even partially: home is not a structure with shutters, doors and a little paint. It does not have to be that lovely home on the water, that illustriously landscaped mansion, or even Pat's Silverbush. Home is what you make of it. The memories made there and the laughter shared. It is where you can always feel welcome and comfortable, and where you can make others feel welcome and comfortable along with you. Its not a building, but an identity. Silverbush was beautiful to Pat because her family was there and her memories were there. Because each flower was familiar and each tree a friend. People who did not 'know' Silverbush often saw it as 'old fashioned' and 'plain,' but it was not that way to Pat, because she loved it and her love made it beautiful.

Ever since that evening, home was something more to me. I forgot that I ever hated the place and began to think of it much as Pat thought of Silverbush. Not only did I feel the laughter and catch the memories, but I saw a beauty I never saw before. Each season brought something new. In winter home glistened, in fall it smiled, in spring it dreamed and in summer it laughed. I noticed for the first time how lovely home was with its black shudders and candlelit windows, and I caught the beauty in the way the wind shuddered so mournfully through the dry, red-gold leaves of autumn. Every sky had its own expression and each gust of wind told a tale. Now, whenever I come home, I stop to smell the air around me and taste the breath of the wind. Like Pat, I love it 'in morning rose and sunset amber…' There are few things in this world so wonderful as home.

For that I thank you,

Kristen Trovato
Crownsville, Maryland