St. Christopher’s students meet with the Richmond Kickers. (Photo courtesy St. Christopher’s School)
Focus on the Game
Richmond Kickers help student athletes improve their mental approach
Students from St. Christopher’s and St. Catherine’s schools visited the Richmond Kickers professional soccer team in May to observe how the athletes develop the mental and physical skills necessary to win in competition.
The trip was part of the students’ Sport Psyching class which teaches high schoolers how to apply the techniques of sports psychology, a growing industry centered on improving athlete performance, says the course’s instructor, Jay Wood, who’s also the varsity soccer coach and English department chair at St. Christopher’s School. The class is part of X-Term — a coed program offered to students at the single-sex St. Christopher’s and St. Catherine’s that pairs real-world applications with academic pursuits.
“These skills will not only serve them well in both the short term for sports performance during high school and college,” Wood says, “but it will also serve them well in the longer term for their career pursuits.”
While visiting the Kickers’ training facility at City Stadium, the students observed the focus the athletes and coaches put into preparation. There also was a presentation in the locker room on tactics employed before players hit the field for drills.
Mason Stocks, a sophomore at St. Christopher’s who plays lacrosse, golf and basketball, appreciated the inside look at what life is like for the players. “That was pretty cool to have that unique perspective that is not really open to the public,” he says.
Richmond Kickers Assistant Coach Mika Elovaara says the goal was for students to see a professional team employ sports psychology and strategic training: “I think it’s always exciting to look for opportunities to connect the real world with what you are learning in the classroom.”
Students pitch their ideas at Steward’s Entrepreneurship Forum. (Photo courtesy The Steward School)
Mind for Business
Steward School students tackle entrepreneurial experiences
Minding your own business? Try making your own. That is what some students at The Steward School are learning. Entrepreneurship is part of The Steward School’s focus on “modern knowledge,” says Upper School Curriculum Dean Melissa Freed. From partnerships with local businesses to a “Shark Tank”-style event for students, Steward’s 3-year-old Entrepreneurship Studies program gives high schoolers a glimpse into the business world.
“It’s a way for us to basically prepare our students for really anything that they want to do,” Freed says. “I just feel like empowering our students to have the skill to really go out there on their own and start their own business is such an important skill.”
Students visit local businesses and talk to professionals. Past trips include The Martin Agency, Project: Homes and Capital One, Freed says. The program also gives students opportunities to create their own products.
Some students have worked on creating health care products. A team of Upper School students devised a medication dispenser for elderly patients recently at the Virginia Commonwealth University “HealthHacks,” a 24-hour competition to create solutions to address medical needs.
“Within the 24 hours we created a 3D-printable pill dispensing device that could alert the user when to take the pill and alert a guardian when the user didn’t actually take the pill so they could make sure it was on schedule, at a low price,” says Callen Smith.
The students, honorary winners of the competition, presented their product alongside other student creators at Steward’s Entrepreneurship Forum, an event similar to TV’s “Shark Tank,” but “not quite as cutthroat,” Freed says. The students’ projects were judged by local business owners.
Products presented in past years have included a shoe insert to help amputees, a lanyard to prevent headphones from tangling, and a buzzer clip to remind you to sit up straight.
“It actually puts our kids in front of actual business owners,” Freed says. “And it has led to jobs, it has led to internships. It has really just taught them making a connection is important.”
Carmel School Expansion
Construction will start this fall on an expansion at The Carmel School that will move roughly half of its student body from mobile units into a brick-and-mortar building. The Caroline County school provides education in a Christian environment to 200 students in preschool through 12th grade. The new building is scheduled to open in fall 2020 and will hold the school’s middle and upper schools.
Carolyn Williamson, head of school, said the expansion demonstrates the school’s progress.
“My biggest excitement is that we are in a position to have grown out of the space we occupied seven years ago to an additional 19 classrooms, and we continue to grow,” she says.
Students Volunteer at Mercy Mall
This year Members of Banner Christian School’s Key Club volunteered at Mercy Mall, an area nonprofit that provides clothing and housewares to families in need.
Rising sophomore Casey Gilman helped Mercy Mall visitors retrieve items during their appointments. Other students organized donations and assisted families with finding household goods.
Gilman was impressed by the resilience of the families she served.
“These are families that have gone through so much, but they were happy and thankful for everything, and they were just so sweet and nice,” she says.
