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Sixth grader Waverly Adams Parrish’s depiction of a nature space won her $2,000 in a national contest sponsored by Scholastic. (Photo by Katie Adams Parrish)
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Image courtesy Riverside School
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Image courtesy Riverside School
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Image courtesy Riverside School
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Image courtesy Riverside School
Drawing Attention
A Riverside School student wins a national contest from Scholastic
Waverly Adams Parrish, a sixth grader at The Riverside School, used her watercolors to paint her way to first prize in Scholastic’s The Really Great Outdoors contest in May.
Contestants were tasked with creating a nature space for their community, and Adams Parrish’s winning entry depicts an environmentally friendly community space she named The Community Tree. The 12-year-old’s submission included panels of art depicting a community garden, a farmers market, a lake, an outdoor pavilion and an environmental learning center.
Adams Parrish says drawing is a way for her to express herself. “I love doing it, and [drawing] just helps me kind of vent without having to write, because writing is really hard for me with my dyslexia,” Adams Parrish says. “So it’s kind of like my own little journal of life.”
She plans to donate some of her $2,000 winnings to the Black Lives Matter organization and other charities.
While a student at St. Christopher’s School, Walker Wallace played several sports, including lacrosse. He will attend Cornell University in the fall. (Photo courtesy St. Christopher’s School)
Playing for Success
Standout athlete also named co-valedictorian
Walker Wallace has had an eventful senior year of high school.
His last year at St. Christopher’s School was cut short due to COVID-19, he was the winner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Sports Backer’s Scholar Athlete Award, and he was named co-valedictorian.
During his time at St. Christopher’s, he played lacrosse, basketball and football in the upper school and was captain on all of the teams, all while maintaining a 4.5 GPA.
“St. Chris does a really good job of teaching students time management and giving you time to get your work done during school. … I was able to find a good balance of having fun at school but also getting some work done so I could get home and get some rest because that’s always important,” Wallace says.
While playing on the lacrosse team, he was mentored on and off the field by Associate Director of Athletics and Leadership Programming Andy Taibel. They both started their time at the upper school at the same time, which may have contributed to their close bond.
“He’s a really good man, which has been huge for my development. Even after graduation, we still keep in touch, and we’re still working out together to get me ready for college. He’s definitely been a big part of my time at St. Chris,” Wallace says.
All of Wallace’s hard work paid off. In May, he was nominated by Associate Director of College Counseling and Coach Scott Mayer as a Scholar Award finalist. In June, he won the award along with a $5,000 scholarship.
“I was really excited. ... I felt like I put in a lot of work over high school and those four years, and it was a really good feeling to feel like I’d gotten something back from that. I’ve never had that in mind when I was doing the work, but it feels good when you get some recognition,” Wallace says.
In the fall, Wallace plans to attend Cornell University, though he hasn’t decided on a major yet. He, but he does know one thing for sure, he’ll be playing lacrosse all four years.
New School Leaders
In January, Benedictine College Preparatory and Saint Gertrude High School merged to become The Benedictine Schools of Richmond. The schools, which have had a long relationship, were located almost next door to each other for years, before Benedictine moved from its Museum District home to its current River Road campus in Goochland several years ago. The schools will now be housed on the same campus, sharing some facilities while maintaining their separate academic identities as boys’ and girls’ schools. Both institutions also announced new heads of school earlier this summer, with former assistant head of school Amy Pickral now leading Saint Gertrude, while Michael Bussman, formerly the associate head of school, is now the head of school at Benedictine College Prep. They will join new Principal Michael Ashton, previously the superintendent of the Archdiocese of Omaha, who started working at the school in July, and Jesse Grapes, who became the school’s first president in March.
All Saints Committee to Examine Equity, Diversity
As the protests and demonstrations for racial justice spread across the country in recent months, many institutions and schools have chosen to reconsider the part they play in addressing this systemic problem. All Saints Catholic School is among them. The school, located in Richmond’s North Side, established a Diversity & Equity Committee to begin conversations about culture and race, as well as to develop practices that are “culturally relevant and supportive,” according to its website. One of the committee’s projects is called “Listening Sessions & Community Conversations,” to discuss student and school issues. The sessions begin in September.
“All Saints will not grow complacent in how we console, defend and support the members of our community,” school leaders wrote in a June letter to parents, teachers, staff and students. “These two initiatives are acts of systemic change in our school that have the ability to ripple out to bring justice, mercy and humility to our world.”