Benedictine student Sean McGranahan leads Saint Gertrude student Kara Gallagher onto the field as part of the schools’ combined homecoming court. (Photo courtesy Benedictine College Preparatory)
When you’re a student, you’re aware of things that some parents and educators have forgotten from their days of instruction and mandatory attendance. One of those things is that what happens outside of the classroom is just as important as what happens when you’re at your desk during class. The things you do and the relationships you build at school can help determine your path after graduation. The bell may have rung, but the learning doesn’t have to end.
“Extracurricular activities are always a benefit to education and mental health,” says Dan Kniffen, a licensed social worker and therapist who specializes in work with school-age children. “I always suggest to my clients that they participate in school activities — anything from pole-vaulting to robotic teams. “It can challenge your mind, but also, it feels good to belong to a group.”
While mathematics and English still take up time in the classroom, many Richmond private schools offer a variety of programs for student enrichment that go far beyond the classical scope.
Dungeons and Dragons summer camp at Richmond Montessori School is on a roll. (Photo courtesy Richmond Montessori School)
At Richmond Montessori School, summer camps are usually open to the entire community. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the camps were virtual, but this summer, the camps are back to being in person, albeit with attendance limited to Montessori School students. The themes for the camps include “Under the Sea,” in which children learn about ocean life; “Passport Around the World” teaches kids about the customs and cultures of other nations; and a camp for music and movement, during which youth sing and dance.
For grades 4-6, there was a weeklong Dungeons and Dragons camp. Director of Montessori Enrichment Shanthi Wickramasinghe says it was a hit.
“I thought it was going to be more of a guy thing, but both boys and girls really loved it,” she says. “I personally tried to go up there and learn myself.” Two staff members — Chris Ercolano and Cassidy Houston — served as dungeon masters, guiding the kids through the game.
Normally, older kids have the chance to serve as interns and assistants, but this year, camp staff was restricted to teachers. “Things looked really different this summer,” Wickramasinghe says. “Despite having been open all year long, we didn’t want to jinx anything, so we took a lot of precautions.”
Last year, the pandemic limited activity to two low-contact outdoor sports: soccer and ultimate Frisbee. For the upcoming school year, the Montessori school’s extracurricular schedule includes classes in classical Indian dancing, Chinese language and baton-twirling.
“We’re excited to bring in the cultural aspect,” Wickramasinghe says. “We think that’s something that defines education at Montessori.”
“Extracurricular activities are always a benefit to education and mental health.” —Dan Kniffen, social worker and therapist
In contrast to these in-house programs, some schools in the area utilize Little Scholars, a third-party academic program that sends in teachers of their own. St. Catherine’s and St. Christopher’s schools take advantage of this for summer camps. But at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, first-grade teacher Wendy Sellers has been certified with the Little Scholars and runs a Little Scholars program herself.
“The Little Scholars program offers different subjects to different age groups,” says Sellers, who just completed her fourth year running the show at OLL. “This year, the K-2 program will focus on arts and crafts, and grades 3-5 will be building things.”
The Little Scholars program is an hour each week for eight weeks. For parents, there is the bonus of additional supervision. Older students at the school can volunteer to help, in this case earning necessary service hours.
“The focus is on the arts and on STEM subjects, but it’s not books and studying. The kids love it,” Sellers says. “They like coming to do something different, and they like making something and leaving with it.” This is the first year that the program is open to grades 3-5; Sellers said she made that decision because a group of boys who loved the program were about to age out.
Students who continue private Catholic education into high school can attend Benedictine College Preparatory and Saint Gertrude High School. The former is an all boys’ school, the latter an all girls’ school, and both are under an umbrella organization called the Benedictine Schools of Richmond. Jesse Grapes, who served as Benedictine headmaster for 10 years before becoming president of the Benedictine Schools of Richmond, extolls the unique programs available to students at both schools.
The annual song contest at Saint Gertrude brings students together to sing and perform. (Photo courtesy Saint Gertrude High School)
“The biggest leadership tradition at Saint Gertrude’s is the song contest,” Grapes says. “That’s a singing and stationary dance competition in which 60 to 70 girls from each class perform. It’s connected to the choir, which performs at a number of places in Richmond.”
The Benedictine corollary to the Saint Gertrude’s choir is the schola, a traditional boys’ choir that sings Latin hymns. “The traditional language of the church is Latin, so it’s a unique aspect of what we do,” Grapes says. “A lot of the boys that perform in the schola are also in the Latin club, which competes in the national Latin competition each year.”
Benedictine is also a military school, and there are opportunities for students to participate in performative military groups, including a drill team and a military band. The 20-member band, in which half the boys play bagpipes and half play the drums, has twice been invited to Normandy in France to perform at the World War II D-Day battlefield at Omaha Beach. Grapes describes the music as both beautiful and traditionally masculine. Benedictine also boasts a rifle team, a competitive organization designed to teach marksmanship.
Next year, a new club is forming that will be open to students at both schools — the Hunt Club, which focuses on hunting and other outdoor sports, like fishing and hiking.
“I think that’s the activity we’re most excited about for the near future,” Grapes says. “We think it enhances a student’s appreciation of God’s creation and the interaction of all living things. But it’s also a fellowship opportunity for both boys and girls.”
