Professional actor, director and photographer Bob Turton ’01 will serve as the guest speaker at Columbus Academy’s 109th Commencement on June 6.
Bob is a 2001 graduate of Columbus Academy and 2005 graduate of Northwestern University who worked in the Chicago theatre scene before relocating to Los Angeles to build a career in film and television. He has also been a company member of The Actors’ Gang Theater – led by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins – in Los Angeles for the past 12 years. “I’m so honored to meet the Class of 2022 and speak at this year’s commencement ceremony,” Bob told us. “It’s a privilege I never could have imagined 21 years ago during my own graduation from CA. Through all of my work and experience, I’ve held the core values I learned at the Academy close to my heart. I’m thrilled to return for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Performances Postponed
After a successful opening night, the last two shows of “MAMMA MIA!” were postponed due to illness. Ticket orders will be held for our new dates, which will be announced soon and will not conflict with any other school events. Click on the following links for the cast list and teaser video. “The show was so much fun and has left the songs ringing through my head,” wrote ceramics teacher Charity White after attending Thursday. “It felt great to be back in the theatre, and I assure you it is well worth the wait if you haven’t seen it yet!”
COVID Response Team Update
Over the past several weeks, positive cases of COVID-19 have been gradually rising on our campus and in our area. Updated dashboard numbers can be viewed on our Covid Information Page. With so many special year-end activities coming up, we encourage everyone to consider extra mitigation efforts, such as wearing masks, to provide students with the best chance to attend those school ceremonies, concerts, sporting events, year-end gatherings, etc. Thank you for all of your efforts to keep students in school this year!
PACA Forum on May 11
All are invited to attend the final PACA Forum of this school year from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11, on the fireplace-side of our dining hall.
Taste of Academy Moved to Fall
PACA’s “Taste of Academy” event originally scheduled for May 13 has been postponed until the fall. In order to successfully plan this event and host more community activities next school year, more parent and guardian volunteers are needed. If you have questions and/or interest about a volunteer role, please email PACA co-presidents Robin Hammond and Jenn Nester at pacapresidents@gmail.com.
More Parent/Guardian Notes
The next ISACS webinar will be “Helping Our Children of Color Thrive in Independent Schools” from 7:30-8:30 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday, May 3). After you pre-register here, attendees will receive a Zoom confirmation email with a personal URL to join.
All are invited to the next United CA next discussion at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday, May 12, in the dining hall.
Rising-grade parent meetings for current third grade families (May 9) and fourth grade families (May 11) will take place from 8:15-9:00 a.m. in our Schoedinger Theatre. Recordings from all of our recent Lower School Parent Coffees will be included in the next Viking Voice in early June.
Please remember that there will be no school for middle-schoolers on May 13 (advisor conferences), for lower-schoolers on May 20 (Celebrations of Achievement) and for all students on May 30 (Memorial Day).
Celebrating the Academy Experience
Thank You for Supporting All Day 4 CA
How can we say enough about our community? It was so uplifting to see our community come together in a most inspiring way to support and honor our students, faculty and staff. An incredible 1,022 Vikings from 36 states (and three other countries) contributed an astounding $697,311 (view complete results). Thank you for showing your spirit and support in such a powerful way! Photos posted on social media from throughout the event can be viewed at: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5.
New Student Officers Installed
Congratulations to incoming Service Board President Emily Motta, Service Board Vice-President Lia Hempel and Student Council Co-Presidents Samuel Braveman and Alicia Deng on officially being installed as next year’s student leaders last week (view photos)! Also, a huge amount of gratitude to this past year’s leaders Gurby Vaziri, Davey Agrawal, Cyrus Hannallah and Sari Shocket!
Seventh-Grader Excels in Spelling Bee
Over spring break last month, seventh-grader Drona Gaddam competed in the 2022 Ohio Regional Spelling Bee at Ohio University's Walter Hall Rotunda, where he advanced to the fifth round before valiantly bowing out of the event. Drona qualified for the regional competition after placing among the top-50 scorers in the state on an online test given to all individuals who won their school's spelling bee (watch recording).
Fourth Grade Changemakers Fair
Last month, our fourth-graders hosted a Young Changemakers Fair where they reflected on and presented about what they have been learning regarding kindness and service. “Throughout the school year, we have focused on acts of kindness, inspirational quotes and service-learning with our students,” wrote the fourth grade teachers in their community announcement about this event. “We hoped to open their eyes to the many challenges individuals in our world face and then encouraged students to do something about it.” See more pictures from the event at columbusacademy.org/photos.
Third-Graders Host Wax Museum
The annual Wax Museum is a rite of passage in our third grade when students read an autobiography of a historical person, write a speech as that person and then dress up to share their speech at a public event in our gyms. In addition to these photos by our school photographer, you can view and download individual portraits at columbusacademy.org/photos.
Concert Season at Academy
We are in the midst of spring concert season at Academy. To view photos and video from Cabaret, click here. Coverage from our recent Upper School Orchestra and Concert/Pep Band performances will be coming soon. Upcoming concert dates for our Lower School include May 4 (pre-kindergarten), May 6 (third grade) and May 27 (fifth grade) while All That Jazz is scheduled for May 6 and middle-schoolers will be performing on May 10 (choir), May 11 (orchestra) and May 12 (band).
Spring Athletic Celebration
All are invited to the athletic signing ceremony tomorrow (Tuesday, May 3) at 2:00 p.m in our dining hall as we celebrate seniors Johnny Hill (baseball at Hobart and Wiliam Smith Colleges), Carter James (football at Marist College), Parker Logan (football at University of Mount Union) and Henry Rubey (football at Hamilton College). Click on the following links for more athletics coverage:
In less than two years as our strength and conditioning coach, Shelby Reichle has earned the Program of Excellence distinction for Columbus Academy from the National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA)! This honor recognizes that Academy’s strength and conditioning program operates at the highest level of professionalism. To earn this honor, Coach Reichle and her staff have displayed excellence in safety, quality, efficacy and outreach. They have additionally displayed excellence in continuing education and technology usage in our strength and conditioning program. Learn more by clicking here. Click on the following links for more faculty/staff news:
After a COVID hiatus, our first-graders returned to Marmon Valley Farm for lessons on Ohio Homesteading in the 1800s that included hands-on educational sessions presented by costumed interpreters on candle dipping, frontier cooking and pioneer tools! Last Tuesday's trip was the culminating event of their Then and Now unit (formerly known as Going West) according to first grade team leader Sarah Hansen, who provided these photos. Additional coverage of recent events happening within our classrooms, campus and community on our social media has included: