Viking Voice: November 2021

Academy news & updates

November 2021

National Academic Honors

The College Board recently recognized 14 students from Columbus Academy for their academic prowess. Quinn Hulme, Emmett Leo, Charlotte Rose, Christopher Shen, Charles Stoner, Jaswanth Vandrasi, Raaghuv Vazirani and Vernon Wright have been named Commended Students in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program while Aniah Crockett, Imani Munene, Kennedy Jackson, Lucas Jones, Naimah Edwards and Maya Walter received academic honors in the College Board National Recognition Programs. “We are so proud of these outstanding students who share their varied talents in such tangible ways at our school and in their communities,” stated Head of School Melissa Soderberg.

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Golfers Excel at States

Last month was a historic one for our varsity golfers as our girls placed fourth in their first state tournament and the boys claimed their fifth-straight Division II championship. Playing at NorthStar, our boys overcame a 10-stroke deficit after the opening round to win by three strokes for their sixth state title in eight seasons under head coach Craig Yakscoe. Individually, Stephen Ma was third, Russell Ahmed fifth and Aditya Reddy eighth to earn all-state honors. And in just their third year as a program under head coach Maggie Freytag, our girls earned their first league and district championships to advance to states, where all five golfers – led by Grace Luo in 19th place – finished in the top 50 individually on Ohio State's Gray Course. Click here to learn more about how our girls golf program got started, and read a Columbus Dispatch recap of both teams' performances by clicking here.

Special Parent Forum

This month's PACA Forum is the return of the very popular and much-anticipated Wandering Wednesday! All parents and guardians of Academy students are invited to meet inside the dining hall at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 10, for a quick overview and then a guided walk through our campus woods. The school's experts in outdoor learning will demonstrate what kids experience when they leave the classroom for regular and intentional immersions into nature. You won't want to miss it!

Youth Basketball Clinic

Columbus Academy students in grades 2-5 are welcome to register for the Junior Vikings Basketball Clinic taking place in the fieldhouse on Sundays in December and January. This six-week clinic (December 5, 12, 19 and January 9, 16, 23) will be led by Renny Tyson, head seventh grade boys basketball coach, with December being a training month and January a mix of training and mini-games. Cost is $75 per child, and registration closes on November 26 at columbusacademy.org/youthsports.

Summer Internships

Would you like to have a Columbus Academy upper school student intern at your organization? The summer internship program is now recruiting partner organizations with in-person and virtual opportunities for Summer 2022. Contact Director of Internships Jennifer Conti at ContiJ@columbusacademy.org or click here to learn more.

College Counseling News

A mandatory college counseling night for all juniors and their parents/guardians will take place in our Schoedinger Theatre from 7:00-8:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 11. Also, thank you to everyone who attended College Financial Aid Night. If you missed it, click on the following links for the event's video recording and presentation slides.

Final School Photo Day

The final makeup/retake session for school pictures will be from 10:00 a.m. until noon this Friday, November 5. Please direct any questions to 740-233-6529 or CAphotos@irisheyesphotography.net.

Celebrating the Academy Experience

Students Make Their Voices Heard

In addition to all they are doing here on campus, Columbus Academy students have been active this fall making their voices heard to much broader audiences. For instance, senior Aniah Crockett (top left) made a video about justice in mathematical spaces and submitted it to the National Math Festival “Imagine Math Class” challenge. This student in Mr. Bolognese’s Advanced Calculus class was even recognized by Dr. Francis Su, a professor at Harvey Mudd College and author of an address that Aniah used in her video reflection. Fellow senior Malachy Sullivan (top right), meanwhile, was recently featured in a Ken Burns project for PBS about “Diplomacy with Native Nations.” Malachy was invited to participate after he produced a National History Day award-winning documentary related to the topic. And it was a busy fall for Stephen Ma (bottom left), who – in addition to helping our boys golf squad win its fifth-straight state title – was also presenting a proposal (starting at the 5:52:19 mark) to the Ohio State Board of Education to add student representation to its 19-member adult board. The Board overwhelming supported his and his sister’s recommendation, and their next steps are to contact the Ohio legislators on the Education Committee to draft legislation to make the addition of a student representative legal. Stephen also teamed with fellow Academy junior Arya Narayan to win Global Innovation Awards for Design Process and Communication in the recent Invent Future Global’s Global Innovation Challenge (bottom right). They developed a game app, SociEmoti, that helps individuals with autism better understand and react to social situations during their daily lives.

Fall Athletic Signing Celebration

We are excited to announce our first Athletic Celebration of the school year at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10, in the dining hall as the following student-athletes will sign to play collegiate athletics next fall: Evie Gee (lacrosse at Radford University), Ella Morris (field hockey at DePauw University), Blake Skilken (diving at The Ohio State University) and Zach White (lacrosse at The University of Utah).

Parent Education Opportunity

Our Parents' Association (PACA) invites all Columbus Academy parents and guardians to attend an in-person Watch Party on November 9 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. on the fireplace-side of the dining hall. This edition of the ISACS Parent Series will feature psychiatrist Dr. Janet Taylor, M.D., MPH, as she will help educate parents on how to maximize their children's social and emotional well-being, along with how to identify mental health red flags and when additional help is needed. Food will be provided. Kindly RSVP for this event by clicking here.

Kudos to Fall Play Cast & Crew

"Bravo! Brava! Bravi!" wrote Performing Art Department Chair Jessica Sneeringer after the opening show of our upper school fall play. "Congratulations to the cast and crew (and Mr. Dillon) for tonight’s performance of The Dining Room! You all were FABULOUS!!! Thanks for an enjoyable evening! It felt good to see a live performance again!" For a terrific preview of "The Dining Room," including interviews with cast members Colin Harrison and Vaanika Jindal, click here. And to watch the final scenes and curtain call from opening night, click here.

New Ice Hockey Head Coach

Director of Athletics Jason Singleton recently announced that Adam McHugh is the new varsity head coach for Columbus Academy’s ice hockey program, which had been guided by Corey Taber since being founded as a JV squad in 2017. Adam, a resident of Lewis Center, is entering his 10th season of coaching ice hockey. “Our goal is to grow the sport of hockey within the Lower School, Middle School and Upper School,” he stated. "We will provide anyone interested in hockey at Academy opportunities to get involved. The season is right around the corner, our young men and women on the varsity team are excited to get to work. We hope to see you at a game this season!”

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More Academy Coverage

The Academy Life is up-and-running again so check out work by our student journalists at https://ca-life.org. Also, recaps for all our fall sports will be shared soon in addition to a new photo-sharing site that will include galleries since the start of this school year. And in case you missed it, recent coverage of events happening within our classrooms, campus and community on our social media has included: