the bell tower fall/winter 2011-12

The Bell TowerMILLER SCHOOL of ALBEMARLE MAGAZINE

In This Issue:Gym Renovation: Upper Level is Complete

MSA Eagle ScoutsSpotlight on Performing Arts

Behind the Chapel Talk “Friendship is the Only University”

Fall/Winter 2011-12

A Letter FromHEADMASTERRick France

Dear Members of our Miller School of Albemarle Community:

We wish you well from this great spot in the foothills of Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains. Usually at this time of the year, we can glance to the west and see snow-capped mountains, if not snow throughout the campus. This year, how-ever, those snowy days have been few and far between, despite the wish of 161 teenagers who are hopeful every cool evening when it gets cloudy. We have experienced a number of cool days but seldom something we might call cold. One result, though, is that we are having a great time here on “the Hill.” In fact, we must say that it is a great time to be at MSA.

As we all can appreciate, the “feel” of a school catches your attention immedi-ately when you come onto the campus. It’s not only the smiling faces, the obvi-ous joy our students find in one another, or even those heady, serious conversa-tions we hear regularly; rather, it’s the kindness you sense, the bustle of folks moving with a purpose, and the energy that abounds in our midst that helps us remain eager to be here early and leave late.

While on a different level, we also feel a similar energy among our Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, and families as we all want to achieve one more ac-complishment on behalf of the School. Planning for the completion of the gym renovation, starting to work on restoring the 4th Floor, and getting our students involved in both planning and actual construction add to the excitement of a school in motion. We are doing some wonderful things with children daily, and we continue to explore one more new idea virtually every day.

So, while many schools suffer through the winter doldrums, we are fortunate to be challenged by trying to fit into our limited days and hours all that we hope to do. It is truly the best time to be at Miller School of Albemarle. If you are not on the campus frequently, you need to come by and join in the fun.

Sincerely,

Rick France Headmaster

1 Bell Tower Magazine • Fall/Winter 2011-12

Miller School of Albemarle1000 Samuel Miller Loop

Charlottesville, Virginia 22903www.millerschool.org

HAPPENINGS ON “THE HILL”News and Events

SERVICE SPOTLIGHT: NEW GROUPSThomas Jefferson Foundation & Campus Trails

SERVICE SPOTLIGHT: EAGLE SCOUTSDan Baer and Chris Keeling make their mark as Eagle Scouts

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOMClasses take students outside and off the Hill

PERFORMING ARTS ON THE RISEMr. C’s vision for the future of MSA performing arts

PUBLIC SPEAKING 101Chapel Talks aren’t as easy as Mr. Ross & Ms. Casado make them look!

FALL & WINTER SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

ALUMNI GYM RENOVATION CONTINUESUpper level opens with a JV Volleyball win!

FRIENDSHIP IS THE ONLY UNIVERSITYMr. Wyllie’s Headmaster Dinner Address

The Bell TowerMiller School of Albemarle Magazine

Fall/Winter 2011-12

CONTENTS

On the cover: A standing-room-only crowd supports Andrew White in the newly renovated Alumni Gym

At Right: Helen Hylton, Andrew Bowman, Rawls Fortenberry, Andre Coscia, and Gavin Cutchin enjoy music classPhoto by Kim Kelley-Wagner

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2Bell Tower Magazine • Fall/Winter 2011-12

The Bell Tower is produced by MSA’s Office of Advancement.

Bradley Bodager, JD, LLMDirector of AdvancementAnnie KnepperAssociate Director of Advancement

Contributing Authors:Chris RossSteve KnepperAnnie KnepperBrad Bodager

Contributing Photographers:Kim Kelley-WagnerTom Pallante

23

MSA faculty and staff regularly share their passions with colleagues and students alike, providing a variety of extracurricular activities.


Senior Aaron Barnett won the Charlottesville Rotary Club’s annual speech contest with his address on “Reaching within to Embrace Hu-manity.” Junior Elias Hubbard placed second. Aaron represented the district in the Area-level competition in early March, placing fourth.

Happenings on “the Hill”

New Endurance Program Director Andy Guptill invited everyone on “the Hill” to join him in the Endurance Room bright and early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, November through March, for “Mornings at Miller,” a spin class for all levels. It proved to be a great way to get in some exercise during the short winter days.

After another popular WWOWW course this January, Math Department Chair John Macdonald and his wife Cara are offering weekly tango lessons for the MSA community (below).

During the third grading period, the Miller School of Albemarle experimented with bi-weekly lab period schedules. To introduce the concept, Director of Academics Elizabeth Brann shares a quote from an Independent School Management article: “Achievement is the constant; time is the variable.”

“With the goal of student achievement, we review our schedule to see how we might modify it slightly to better fit the needs of our students,” explains Ms. Brann. “With this in mind, we put into place a trial lab schedule during the third grading period.” The lab schedule consisted of classes with double class length allowing uninterrupted time to complete labs, projects, and activities.

The schedule alternated with our existing schedule and occurred over a Friday and Monday. The trial lab schedule gave a good opportunity for teachers to take advantage of extended classes in order to present different lessons or activities, further reinforcing the material through extensive labs and projects, additional preparation for Advanced Placement exams, in-class writing assignments, and mini field trips. Ms. Brann notes that “the feedback that we received was helpful and we will explore how we may most beneficially include extended class periods in our schedule next year.”

Juniors Sara Vogelgesang and Grayson Gunner were recognized with Certificates of Merit from the Charlottesville chapter of Rotary International for their excellence in leadership, academics, athletics, and community service.

Senior Rachel Leach’s photograph (left) was selected as a finalist for the 32nd Annual Photographer’s Forum Magazine College and High School Photo Contest, sponsored by Nikon. Over 18,000 photographs were submitted to the contest. Rachel’s work will be published in the hardcover book Best of College & High School Photography 2012, and she remains in a group of finalists with the opportunity to receive additional awards andprizes.


N e w s

During our annual Poetry Out Loud contest, sophomore Rachel Odumu was named MSA school champion thanks to her flawless recitation of Dionisio D. Martinez’s “Hysteria.” She moved on to the state semi-final in Richmond, where she recited “Hysteria” and Elizabeth Hands’ “On An Unsociable Family.” After the competition the state-wide coordinator of Poetry Out Loud eagerly took Rachel aside and exclaimed, “Rachel, you are a natural. I think next year you can go all the way!” Fine praise from one who knows.

With the help of the Campus Beautification Service Group, photo teacher Tom Pallante has opened a new gallery to feature student art and photography. Located on the ground floor of Old Main, gallery 1878 is the first space on the Hill completely dedicated to our students’ work. The gallery opened on February 25 with The Portrait: an exhibit of photos from Mr. Pallante’s classes.

English teacher Chris Ross received a generous scholarship from the Charlottesville chapter of the English Speaking Union to attend a ses-sion at the Scottish Universities’ Summer School focusing on Modern British and Irish Literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Says Ross, “I owe much thanks to local Chapter President Patricia Taylor and Education Committee Chairman Andrew Brennan. I am excited to lay my bones down in auld Edinburgh for a spell—especially since one cornerstone text of my A.P. English Literature and Composition course is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Dame Muriel Spark, which is set at the Marcia Blaine Academy, in the Edinburgh of the 1930s. Freshly snapped photos and video of Edinburgh should help to enliven my introduc-tory lecture on Spark’s classic novel!” Ross states the class will also study Beckett, Elizabeth Bowen, T.S. Eliot, Yeats, Joyce, Isherwood, Rhys, and Woolf. Kilts are not required.

Eighth grade student Helen Hylton has emerged as a master of school competitions. She pre-vailed against thirteen other MSA eighth graders to go on to the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee in Charlottesville this March. Helen represented Miller well, competing against thirty other students from Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Staunton, and surrounding counties.

After several tie breakers and a very close final round, Helen also emerged as the school cham-pion for the annual eighth grade National Geo-graphic Bee. Helen went on to compete for the opportunity to participate in the state-wide Bee, and her name will be added to the plaque on display outside Ms. Cason’s office. Congratula-tions, Helen!

Have a news item you would like to see in the next issue of The Bell Tower? Email text

and photo(s) to Annie Knepper at [email protected].

Two New Additions for 2011-12Service Program

This year six students are volunteering with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello. Work-ing with museum archivists, publication specialists, educational outreach staff, and members of the Foun-dation staff, students assist with preparing and evalu-ating educational displays and materials.

Each student has chosen an object found in Monti-cello to be the subject of an educational podcast he or she will write and record. Objects ranged from a statue of Ariadne specifically chosen by Jefferson for the main entrance hall of his mountain-top home to Jefferson’s personal Bible kept by his bedside. The students conducted original research at the collec-tions of the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello in order to write the podcasts, which will be placed on the Monticello website as part of their educational resources for visitors.

Tho Ahn (Bill) Nguyen, Andre Coscia, Elias Hubbard, Thea Louis, Anastassia Simakina, and Sara Vogelgesang in the recently opened dome room

Photos by Brad Bodager

Thomas Jefferson Foundation


at Monticello

S e r v i c e

Photos (clockwise from left): Marcus Respeto and Jarrett

Phillips “bench” a new trail, Marcus Respeto is ready

to build, Aram Martin uses a clinometer to measure the

elevation change


Two New Additions for 2011-12

Thomas Jefferson Foundation

Campus Trails

One of the greatest attributes of the Miller School of Albemarle is itspicturesque 1,600-acre campus, and the Campus Trails Service Group works to further utilize the land through professional and sustainable trail design and engineering. The service year begins with a seminar covering the basic trail building guidelines the group will follow and outlining the many factors affecting enjoyment and longevity of a trail network. A member of the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club (CAMBC), the foremost local authority on trail building and maintenance, gives an informative presentation before accompanying the group onto the trails and providing constructive criticism regarding what work has been done properly and what could be improved upon. Armed with that knowledge and a quiver of purpose-built, trail-building tools, the service group pours hours of manual labor into both building new trails and maintaining existing ones. Proposed new undertakings are first charted on a high resolution topographic map before being marked off with flags and florescent ribbon. From there, waves of students come through with specific tasks ranging from clearing the superficial brush and branches to “benching” off-camber sections by tirelessly digging into the hillside and mak-ing them more level and thus easier to negotiate. What is left in their wake is a pristine stretch of new trail, suitable for running, hiking, or mountain biking, that can be enjoyed by all on campus. With these new trails opening up previously under-utilized areas, they become a means to further everyone’s appreciation of just how incredible the Miller School of Albemarle campus truly is and of everything we have to offer.

-By group leader and MSA Director of Endurance Andy Guptill

As anyone who has spent time exploring MSA’s 1,600 acres knows, the trail circling the 11-acre lake is a highlight of our campus. Moving through three distinct varieties of forest, the trail provides access to some interesting wild-life, including beaver, ducks, and herons. In recent years, though, the trail had become nearly impassible due to dense overgrowth and the collapse of the bridges spanning the streams feeding the lake.Senior Dan Baer of Crozet, Virginia, tackled this problem in his Eagle Scout project, which restored the trail around the lake. In order to prevent the cur-rent issue of keeping up with several small bridges, Dan extended the trail around the small, branching rivulets to cross only the main stream leading into the lake. There he and his helpers built a single bridge, which is sturdy enough to withstand the many hikers and mountain bikers who will enjoy the revitalized trail.Dan, who has been a Miller School of Albemarle student since the eighth grade, is a member of Crozet Troop 79. His scoutmaster is Gary Conley. Dan says that his Eagle project taught him valuable planning and organiza-tional skills. He also learned that service can be enjoyable. Dan’s favorite merit badges include swimming, wilderness survival, and astronomy. His Eagle Scout court of honor was held on March 31, 2012.

Dan Baer Revitalizes MSA’S Lake Trail

Above: Dan stands on the capstone of his project: the new trail bridgeBelow: Dan and his parents, Jane and Bill Baer


Photos courtesy of Jane Baer

MSA Students Make their Mark as Eagle ScoutsService Spotlight

Another Miller student will also earn Scouting’s highest rank this year. Junior Chris Keeling of Charlottesville, Virginia, is a star on the endurance team. It comes as no surprise, then, that in addition to hiking and wilderness survival, his favorite merit badge was cycling. For his Eagle project, Chris built a much-needed set of access stairs to the Rivanna River in Charlottesville’s Riverview Park. He turned a treacherous mud bank into a safe, convenient access point for kayaking, canoeing, fishing, and swimming. Chris and his team of family, friends, and fellow scouts invested between 400 and 500 hours of work in the project. Chris says that Scouting in general and his project in particular have taught him how much a group of people can accomplish when they work together. A member of Keswick Troop 241, he enjoys the sense of community in Scouting. It brings together boys of different ages and different backgrounds, who all work together and learn from each other.

C o m m u n i t y S e r v i c e


MSA Students Make their Mark as Eagle Scouts

Chris Keeling improves river access at Riverview Park

A History of ServiceWhile this is the first year in recent memory that MSA has had two students achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, MSA is proud of all its alumni who hold this distinction. Only about 5% of scouts earn this rank. Putney Smith, Class of 2010, is the most recent Eagle Scout to graduate from MSA. His project revitalized the picnic area beside the riding ring at Camp Holiday Trails. Other recent Eagle Scouts include Ben Post ’08, and Robert Sullivan ’07. Chris Post, Ben’s brother who has coached at MSA since 2008 and is pictured above with Chris Keeling, is also an Eagle Scout.

Top: Chris Post and Chris Keeling work on the stairsLeft: The stairs are a community effortPhotos courtesy of Johanna Keeling and Chris Keeling


High School Business Competition

Learning beyond the Classroom

Creative Writing at UVAMs. Simpkins’ Creative Writing class, including Alexey Zielinski, Travis Hester, Whitney Martin, Tony Washington, Christian Moraros, Anastassia Simakina, Aram Martin, Jeremy Benner, Elias Hubbard, Andy Mangham, Jonny Milkis, Josh Majors, James Ding, and Grant Harris, participated in University of Virginia Art Museum’s Annual Writer’s Eye Competition. Stu-dents had a full tour of the museum and learned about postmodern art. Each student chose a piece of art and wrote a short fiction piece based on the topics and themes within the artwork. After participating in the contest, students went to McGuffey Art Museum, where they were able to explore a variety of differ-ent private art galleries within the museum. They asked the artists questions directly and were able to get an insider perspective on art in place.

On March 2, juniors Tanya McCarthy, Kyle Ottaway, Anastassia Simakina, and Haokai Xu participated in the first annual High School Academic Business Comp-etition sponsored by Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) at the University of Virginia.

The topic of the inaugural competition was insurance fraud. Prior to the competition, the four students designed and completed a project to educate a target audience on the costs and consequences of insurance fraud, hoping to ultimately reduce one of the most common white collar crimes in the country.

The students’ project centered around a public service announcement, which they scripted and recorded at the Charlottesville Radio Group studio. Their PSA aired during the week leading up to the competition on local station 106.1 The Corner, which was chosen due to the alignment of listener demographics and the profile for a likely insurance fraud offender.

On March 2, the students presented their project to a distinguished panel of judges. In addition to the presenta-tion, they earned points for their team by attending business and accounting lessons and completing related exams. Tanya, Kyle, Anastassia, and Haokai placed fourth overall, bringing home a trophy to display proudly at MSA!

Here is a sampling of the ways MSA students are extending their learning into the community...

Aram Martin and Tony Washington at the art museum

Kyle, Haokai, Anastassia, and Tanya with members of UVa’s Students in Free Enterprise group

Thanks to Dr. Heyward Macdonald’s generous donation of time and expertise, students in MSA’s Design/Build program were able to participate in a short course entitled Introduction to Flight and Basic Aircraft Design. Students learned the basic theories of flight and aircraft control and stability, then applied these theories to designing and building a model aircraft. Students also participated in a field trip to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum near Washington, D.C. Dr. Macdonald is the father of MSA’s math department chair John Macdonald.

The Art of Flight


A c a d e m i c s

Scan for a video of the visit to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum

Back row: Jarrad Moscicki, Dr. Heyward Macdonald, Mr. Steve Hunter (Design/Build teacher), John Lee; Front Row: Mike Oram, Ray Yen, Magic Meng, and Jun Hwang

Here is a sampling of the ways MSA students are extending their learning into the community...

Aram Martin and Tony Washington at the art museum

9 Bell Tower Magazine • Spring/Summer 2011

Students in front of the UVa Rotunda during their trip to the University Research Design Symposium (Photo: John Macdonald)

A c a d e m i c s

Christopher Celella arrived on the Hill in the spring of 2011, bringing with him a contagious enthusiasm and unquenchable energy. His vision for Performing Arts at the Miller School of Albemarle has already begun to transform our students both on the stage and behind the scenes. Here, “Mr. C” discusses his goals for the future of the program, and the progress that has been made thus far.

“In the fine and performing arts, we strive to deliver an ever-expanding student experience, within which all scholars can find a niche. The internet age is upon us and we are bombarded by all sorts of media. Today’s art student must be taught how to sift through all the content and find genuine artistry.

“Therefore, high school music students must do more than play scales and perform in two concerts per year. They must learn how music works: the laws associated with it, the way it is produced, the technological “tricks” that make studio-produced music sound so great, how to listen to it, where to find it, how it fits in with his-tory and cultural changes, why it has evolved the way it has, how it both effects and has affect upon the human experience.”

In pursuit of these goals, Mr. C has already begun to make some basic changes to the infrastructure of his studio. With the help of Director of Operations Brad Lovelace and MSA painter Jacinto Loya, Mr. C and his students have created two new practice rooms to ex-pand the number of practice rooms to seven. They have also begun to construct a sound-reinforced recording space, a sound-reinforced ensemble space (with record-ing capabilities), and a control room to house recording software, computer, mixing board, interfaces, etc.

Mr. C notes, “Both of the sound reinforced areas will be ‘wired’ so that every student can use headphones as monitors as they record live tracks and create compli-cated compositions—just like a REAL studio. There are plans to complete the final phase in the near future. Right now, Jacinto is finishing up the walls and ensem-ble room with wiring set to begin soon.”


Expanding our Repertoire The Future of MSA Performing Arts

These advancements in infrastructure, notes Mr. C, will allow for a “fully integrated studio/recording cur-riculum with traditional music theory, music history, art appreciation, technique and repertoire building.” This will lead to a “Music education experience that involves specifics rather than generalities. Students will gener-ate claims and opinions, will explain their reasoning, and will provide evidence that supports their reasoning using the laws of music, the technology of the modern musical world, and their knowledge of music history.”

Eventually, students will have the ability to record per-formances, share online, and potentially expand into live broadcasting. Performing arts certainly are on the rise at the Miller School of Albemarle!

Photo: Helen Hylton, Andrew Bowman, and Rawls Fortenberry in Mr. C’s music class

Mr. C grew up singing in choirs, playing instruments, and listening to too much music. He cannot remem-ber life without some piece to practice!

Mr. C attended Boston University College of Fine Arts as a student of both music performance and music education. A semi-accomplished singer, he has performed at such venues as Symphony Hall (Boston, MA), Woolsey Hall (New Haven, CT), Carnegie Hall (New York), St. Peter’s Cathedral (Vatican City), San Ignatio (Rome), and Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence, Italy).

After graduating with a history degree, Mr. C pursued a career in business administration. Meanwhile, of course, he stayed active in the arts: as music director, actor, and musician.

He moved to Central Virginia in the summer of 2007, finding more places to remain active in the arts. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Education from The Curry School at the University of Virginia and is “lucky/privileged/blessed” enough to teach music and drama at the Miller School of Albemarle. He LOVES working with young, talented, and focused high school students. They impress him daily, which is an added benefit!

Public Speaking 101 Behind the Senior Chapel Talk

Miller School of Albemarle is well on its way to inculcating public speaking into the overall curriculum. It starts with Poetry Out Loud, for which all students, and English teachers, memorize and recite a poem. This program has been growing exponentially across the nation; last year over 250,000 students participated. MSA has sent a repre-sentative to the regional competition the last four years in a row. We have yet to win the state competition, but our students will keep trying!

During the yearly “Shakespeare Festival,” students memorize a twenty-line monologue and/or one of the great Bard’s sonnets. Following a mini-competition, the winner trav-els to compete against other schools at the National Shakespeare Competition contest sponsored by the English Speaking Union of the United States held at the Blackfriars Shakespeare Theatre in Staunton.

During Winter Week of Wisdom and Wonder in early January, Ms. Casado and Mr. Ross teach a course entitled “The Old Art of Storytelling and the New Art of Fair Trade Coffee.” The students model the storytelling style of The Moth organization, which pro-motes first person, true, short stories performed without the benefit of notes. Says Ross, “Teenagers are natural storytellers. Just take a look at them in between classes in the halls. Their natural ability translates perfectly into the Moth paradigm, and it’s fascinating how memories, details, and voice come to the fore as they craft their stories.” At the end of the week, three or four students showcase their talents in front of the whole school.

MSA continues to build more public speaking assignments into the curriculum grade by grade, but the cornerstone piece remains the Senior Chapel Talk. As Ms. Casado says, “Over the last ten or eleven years, the Senior Chapel talks have taken on a life of their own. There is a sense of continuity and a sense of community— every senior has to deliver their speech, and every underclassman realizes that someday they’ll be up there addressing their peers too. There is a sense of both anticipation and appreciation throughout the whole process. And that’s the real lesson: a successful Chapel Talk is built through a step-by-step process that in- cludes listening, brainstorming, composition, revision, rehearsal, more revision, more rehearsal, and final delivery. ”

Adds Ross, “The peer support is phenomenal. On any given speech day, you may find more kids sitting on the lip of the stage than in the pews. This peer support is heartening, and adds to the shared concept of a rite of passage.” Recent messages have included such food for thought as “Who is your role model, and who are you a role model for?” “Who pushes you? How hard do you push yourself?” “Why are we sometimes afraid to try something new?” and “How is fishing a metaphor for how to live our lives?” Though the talks are born out of the individual, the messages are often universal; this universality, says, Ross, “adds to the overall sense of a shared community, and to the thought that we’re all in this together, and therefore, can learn from one another.” Like many other successful ventures, Ross points out the Chapel Talks are truly a group effort. “It begins with Ms. Kathie Cason, our Director of Student Life, who coordinates the schedule. With forty-plus seniors, this is no easy task. Ms. Debbie Casado provides indispensable insight on

Scan for videos of this year’s chapel talks

Nelly H

awley-H

ayes, Janeil Jenkins, Justin Cooper, and Yiming Zhao give their chapel talks

A c a d e m i c s

Public Speaking 101 Behind the Senior Chapel Talk

In their own words...The Class of 2012 describes the Chapel Talk experience:

“Including middle school, I’ve spent six years in America and I had powerful experiences I wanted to share. The Chapel Talk process allowed me to think about and ar-ticulate these experiences; this is a really important skill for me to use for the rest of my life.” Juhong Kim

“The Chapel Talk allows you to express your own expe-riences, and you’re able to offer certain wisdom to the school. The process may seem challenging and never ending, but once you one figure out what you want to talk about, and two, write it, then your motivation goes up until three, when it’s your day to present you feel as if the whole school hears you, and once it’s done you wish you could have done it again!” Leela Young

“Usually, in public schools, it is cruel, and winner takes all. The winner takes all of the speeches, groups, and clubs. This Chapel Talk is unique at MSA. Before leav-ing, the seniors have to time to think both about their past and their future. Underclassmen have the time to listen and learn how to do it. It is a great chance to share ideas, and there is not only one winner.” Theodore Kim

“I loved the experience of getting up on stage and tell-ing something about myself. It made me face my fear of public speaking and work on an important paper. I got more time with teachers, so I gained a lot in the end. It is a great thing Miller does!” Eric Ponton

“The Chapel Talk gave me the opportunity to unveil some of my personal experiences to the whole school. It gave me satisfaction to share the facts of my life and give

Service Wednesdays, when she and Mr. Ross pull the next three speakers to help with the editing and rehearsal process. Mr. Tim Bradley, MSA’s I.T. man, lends his expertise in the sound and projection arena, while Ms. Kim Kelley-Wagner serves as videographer—all of the kids get a video copy of their speech. As you can imagine, this is especially valuable to our international parents who are unable to attend. Photography teacher Tom Pallante has helped many a student cre-ate spectacular slide shows to accompany their speech, and Annie Knepper compiles the Chapel Talk books which are distributed to the Seniors at the end of April. Latin teacher Mary Jo Burke, librarian Connie Gilchrist, and English teach-ers Alice Simpkins and Steve Knepper take the time out of their busy schedules to write incisive comments for the kids based on posture, eye contact, clarity of voice, substance, and flow. Particular kudos goes out to the judges for how much thought they put into their comments, which serve to close the loop as powerful teaching moments.

“In terms of the future,” Ross says, “the idea is to continue building public speaking nodules into every class, so that when the kids take the stage for their Senior Chapel Talks, it will not be the first time they will have ever delivered a major speech.” In the meantime, ends Ross, “They’re seniors now. They’ve been in school for many years. Now is the time for them to engage in a process of reflection. What have they learned? What do they think about the world? Who are they? It takes a lot of guts to get up there, and I like hearing what the seniors have to say. Ultimately, it’s about them navigating the process and expressing their own voices.”

everyone a chance to know me better as a person. Al-though it’s nerve-wracking standing in front of the entire school for the first time, it helped me gain public speak-ing skills that I can use for the rest of my life. Overall, it was a great experience.” Casey Matthews

“When you’re up there talking to the entire school about personal experiences, it can be pretty scary. The great thing about Miller though, is that you can do that and the school is with you 100%. Seeing all your friends and peers in the audience supporting you and listening to what you have to say makes it so much less scary. Half-way through it’s like a conversation because you’re so at ease. It’s a great personal and community experience.” Savannah White

“I actually really liked giving a chapel talk, even though it seemed scary at first. It was fun to put something togeth-er and tell everyone something they may not often think about. It seems stressful, but you get a lot of help putting everything together.” Olivia Garcia

“I liked being able to show a different side of who I am and maybe change how people view me. DRINK A LOT OF WATER!” Sam Ridenhour

“Terrified doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt the days leading up to my Chapel Talk. Never had I spoken in front of more than twenty people, but now it was 150 plus. Ironically, the moment I stepped behind that lec-tern, all of my butterflies and fears vanished. I could feel the warmth and support of the Miller School community. After doing my Chapel Talk, my confidence and public speaking ability have reached an entirely new level. As I head to college, I have the charisma and skills I need to captivate another audience!” Rachel Leach


Scan for videos of this year’s chapel talks

Girls Volleyball


Above: The girls JV team prepares to receive a serve on the new courtBelow: Tatiana Eubanks subs in for Lauren SprouseBelow right: The girls varsity team with Coaches Knepper and Melis NOTE: see the JV team on page 23!

Fall Sports Highlights

The girls varsity volleyball team put in a lot of hard work and kept a positive attitude throughout the whole season. Although winning more games is a goal the team has set for the future, the season’s lone victory was a great achievement as some of the players had not won a volleyball game while at Miller. The team was carried offensively and defensively by Ashleigh Claybrooks, Taylor Sandidge, and Tanya McCarthy. These three girls set a great example with their leadership and hustle. Rachel Odumu also contributed a great deal and showed a remarkable amount of improvement from start to finish. In fact, the whole team improved tremendously from start to finish and received a lot of compliments from opposing teams regarding the progress they made. Overall, the team rep-resented MSA well with their great work ethic and positive attitude.

-Coach Ralf Melis

This past fall saw the MSA Cross Country Team achieve one of its most successful seasons to date. Lead by team captain Elias Hubbard, the squad netted an unprec-edented five wins at competitions throughout central Virginia, which culminated with the team winning the VIC Conference Championship on November 1! The confer-ence victory was truly a special moment as the meet was hosted by the Miller School of Albemarle and runners were enthusiastically cheered on by classmates and family members. Showing the true depth of the team, MSA finished with Elias Hubbard, Sam James, Chris Keeling, and Jake King all inside the top ten, earning each of them the designation of All Conference. Two weeks later, the team finished an im-pressive third place in a closely contested State Championship race. With Elias, Sam, and Chris inside the top ten and numerous personal records, MSA finished a mere ten points away from the state title. Without a single senior on the already established team, the bar has been set high and everyone is looking ahead to an extraordinary 2012 season.

-Coach Andy Guptill

Cross Country

A t h l e t i c s

16Bell Tower Magazine • Fall/Winter 2011-12Photo by Christian Cassity

Right: Elias Hubbard finishes a race at MSATop & Right Photos by Grant Dinwiddie

Girls Volleyball

Fall Sports Highlights

Boys Soccer


Above: Ben Keller dribbles around an opponent, Below: the JV Boys team

Left: Bo Yoo takes the ball down the field Below: the Varsity Boys team

Led by top scorers Harry Charwat and John Armstrong, the boys varsity soccer team put up a good fight in a tough conference. John Armstrong was awarded team MVP, Jun Hwang earned Most Improved, and Ben Keller was given the Coaches Award. The team will definitely miss seniors Dan Baer, Ha Neul Jin, Max Johnson, Ben Keller, Casey Matthews, Magic Meng, Peter Syverud, Spencer Valade, and Chris Wygand next year!

The boys JV soccer team worked hard and enjoyed a rewarding season. Awards went to John Lee (MVP), Alex Zielinski (Coaches Award), and Andre Coscia (Most Improved).

The MSA equestrian program was in its sixth season this fall with a full group ofstudents ranging from novice to intermediate riding levels. All of the riders prog-ressed over the course of the season improving their riding skills, practicing thebasics of natural horsemanship skills, and caring for horses in general. Studentshad the opportunity to meet legendary rider and trainer Harry de Leyer in Crozet at a book signing with him and the author of The Eighty-Dollar Horse, Elizabeth Letts, at Over the Moon Bookstore and Artisan Gallery. Students enjoyed meeting the de Leyers and learning of Mr. de Leyer’s story that Elizabeth Letts put into print. Drawing on that inspiration, students worked hard and displayed their skills in our sixth MSA In-House Fun Show which was held on October 25. The Most Improved Rider award went to Ke “Kate” Zhao, who made great strides in her hunt seat equitation. Two students received Coaches Awards. Alyssa Fickley received this award for her outstand-ing leadership and her enthusiasm to share her knowledge of horses with others. Lauren Hawkins also received this award for her willingness to share her knowledge of horses with others. The equestrian season was a wonderful success.

-Coach Elizabeth Brann

Equestrian

A t h l e t i c s


Alyssa Fickley

Above: Helen Hylton, Darya Evans, Kate Zhao, Lauren Hawkins, Alyssa Fickley, and Yingru Guan

Boys Soccer

Kate Zhao, Helen Hylton, and Yingru Guan

Photo: Raiza Vega

The 2011-2012 varsity boys basketball team posted an impressive 20-10 record on the season. Playing argu-ably the most competitive schedule in the history of the school, they traveled to play in select showcases in Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Raleigh, N.C. This year’s team featured seven returning players with four newcomers to the group. The team was led by seniors Janeil Jenkins, Devon Anderson, Chase Cannon, and Andrew White. Andrew White head-lined the senior class with his commitment to Kansas, and the other three seniors were all voted first-team all conference and have received full scholarships to play in college next year. With seven returning players suit-ing up for the Mavericks next year, they will no doubt continue to build on their success in the classroom, on the court, and in the community. -Coach Scott Willard

Boys Varsity Basketball


Winter Sports Highlights

To pump up the boys varsity team for a home game against archrival Blue Ridge School, ju-nior Meghan Noga organized an impressive Pep Rally. Everyone enjoyed an afternoon of spirit and competitions, including a faculty-student basketball game and dance competition, and the school-wide “blackout.”

GO MAVS!

The JV boys basketball team enjoyed a success-ful season. From start to finish the team worked hard, played together, and improved significant-ly. Throughout the year the team received con-tributions from every player, with every player scoring at least once. Offensively the team was led in scoring by Christian Moraros, with Miles Gagg being the second offensive threat. Bo Yoo really improved throughout the year, and he did a wonderful job leading the team from the point guard position. Defensively the team was anchored by John Armstrong and Haokai Xu. Both big men also did a great job on the boards. Although the team certainly would have liked to win a couple more games, they represented Miller School of Albemarle in a positive manner on the court and showed they understand what it means to be a team through their hard work and positive attitudes. -Coach Ralf Melis

The girls varsity basketball team finished the season with a 26-8 record. The Lady Mavs finished state runner-ups in the VISAA tournament in their first year at the Division II level. They won the Daily Progress Holiday Classic for the first time in school history and won the Blue Ridge Conference regular season title for the fourth year in a row. The team was very balanced in scoring as Whitney Martin, Taylor Sandidge, Ashleigh Claybrooks and Rachel Odumu all averaged at least 8 points or more per game for the season. These four players were all named First Team All Blue Ridge Conference. Defensively, the team was led by Taylor Sandidge and Rachel Odumu in steals, while freshmen Adrianne Darden led the team in blocks. Taylor Sandidge led the team in assists and minutes played. -Coach James Braxton

A t h l e t i c s

Girls Varsity Basketball

Boys JV Basketball


Photo: Raiza Vega

Left: The Lady Mavs in their special edition pink uniforms, a gift from Ms. Jessie Haden Below: Whitney Martin launches a jump shot

Boys Varsity Basketball

Winter Sports Highlights

Table Tennis

Robotics


The robotics team continued to work extremely hard this year. For the first time, we had our competition here on campus. Besides building and programming our robot, we built the field on which we held our competition. Our team captain, Ray Yen, has been with the Robotics team for the last three years. He was a major contributor in designing and building our robot. We are very proud that Ray is going to pursue an engineering degree in college. Jennie Wang, our co-captain, has been with robot-ics team for the last two years. She was our chief programmer. Both Ray and Jennie, who received the team’s MVP awards, will be graduating this year. They will be sorely missed, but there are many promising young programmers and designers on the rise. Eighth grade student Alex Chan received the Coaches’ Award for consistently being proactive in asking for more work to do!

-Coach Esther Tian

James Quirk and David Wu work on the arena for the Robotics Competition held in the MSA gymnasium

This winter, MSA students got to try their hand a new sport: table tennis. Eighteen students played on the team, learning singles and double play, and the mechanics of serving and ball placement. After honing their skills, students had the opportunity to compete against local rivals, The Blue Ridge School. While Miller made it to the final rounds, our top two seeds were defeated in the final rounds of the two-part tournament. Despite being around only a short period of time, the table tennis team has made a big impact on campus life, with plenty of students swinging down to the basement of the gym before sports or after dinner for a quick game. The team hopes to be back next year, with more rivals to play, as more local schools discover the competitive—and fun!—side of ping pong. -Coach Kelly Winck

Table Tennis

12 Angry Men

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum


The Performing Arts program at Miller School of Albemarle continues to blos-som! This year the students worked cooperatively with parents, faculty, and staff to produce two high-quality drama productions: the courtroom drama Twelve Angry Men in the fall and the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in the winter. Involvement in the Performing Arts provides students with an opportunity to explore passions on and off stage. Whether a veteran of past performances or a newcomer to the theater, every student finds a niche! Actors, actresses, singers, and dancers are not the only performers. MSA students build the sets, design costumes and make-up, and run the lighting. Student instru-mentalists provided the pit orchestra for our winter musical, a first in the history of our performing arts program. We are so lucky to have such a talented student body. The students work together and take ownership of their productions, and the shows are STELLAR! -Mary Jo Burke and Chris Celella

Spencer Valade, Andy Mangham, and Aaron Barnett in A Funny Thing Happened...

Above: The Cast of 12 Angry Men

The Cast of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Upper Level Reopens with JV Girls’ First Win of the SeasonAlumni Gym Renovation

On October 7, 2011, the Miller School of Albemarle JV Girls Volleyball team christened the newly reno-vated gymnasium floor with their first win of the sea-son. Fans who came to cheer on the team watched from new, expanded bleachers as the girls battled St. Anne’s-Belfield to a 3-1 victory.After a month spent practicing outside on a grass court while the renovation was underway, the girls were happy to be back inside Alumni Gym. Both the team and the rest of the MSA community agreed that it was well worth the wait. Head JV coach Raiza Vega noted that “all members of the team commented how the renovation of the gym gave them the motiva-tion to win our first game [inside the gym].” In their own words, here’s what some other MSA fac-ulty and students have to say about the renovation:

The JV girls celebrate their win! Photo: Sharon Kennedy

“The renovations to alumni gym have made a fan-tastic addition to MSA’s campus. The renovations allow us to spread out during games and school events. They enhance the resources available to the students as well as the overall beauty of our campus.”

-Kyle Ottaway, Class of 2013

“The upper level renovation was a success given that we were able to upgrade the space with mod-ern design elements without compromising the history of Alumni Gym.”

-Scott Willard, MSA Athletic Director

“It looks very classy and well-done”-Helen Hylton, Class of 2016


A t h l e t i c s

Upper Level Reopens with JV Girls’ First Win of the SeasonAlumni Gym Renovation

Kyle Ottaway, Lauren Sprouse, and Aaron Barnett with the new bleachers Photo by Christian Cassity

“It’s brighter and the space feels bigger. It feels good to walk into a gym that you love to show off!”

-Ashleigh Claybrooks, Class of 2012

“It was a much-needed upgrade. It brings us to-gether and improves school spirit.”

-Travis Hester, Class of 2013

“I love it! It gives you a good vibe, makes you feel more prepared, and makes you more excited to play.”

-Tatiana Eubanks, Class of 2014

“I’m excited for volleyball next year and not having to play in the grass!”

-Rachael Breving, Class of 2016

“I’m excited because it gives us a nice-looking fa-cility to show off to our prospective students. The renovation gives us more space, and it brightened up the gym quite a bit.”

-James Braxton, Girls basketball coach and Director of Discipline


“It’s awesome!!”-Alex Chan and Sanders Evans, Class of 2016

The first Headmaster Dinner of the schoolyear was held on September 28, 2011. Newaddition to the history faculty Robert Wyllie spoke about what makes friendship central toschools. Mr. Wyllie has recently finished hisM.A. in Political Theory at UVa.

Special Feature “Friendship is the Only University”


Thank you, Mr. France, for inviting me to speak this eve-ning. This was helpful for me to think about an important question—why am I here?

I teach history, as many of you know, but my training is in philosophy. For the last two years I have been writing an article about why a favorite philosopher of mine—Søren Kierkegaard—does not believe in historical knowledge. So it is ironic that I teach history. But Kierkegaard thought the best teachers—Socrates, Jesus...—were ironic.

Tonight I am not going to speak ironically. And I am not going to speak about Socrates, or Jesus, or even Kierkeg-aard. And I am certainly not going to speak about myself.

•••

Tonight I am going to speak about one of the great eternal topics of ethical philosophy. Perhaps it is the greatest sub-ject ethical philosophy can contemplate.

I would like to thank Miss Landseadel for suggesting this topic to me. I mean Miss Laina Landseadel, age two, my newest friend here at the Miller School.

This evening I am going to talk to you about friendship.

By the end of this little talk I hope to show you something that will look strange. I hope to show you that friendship is the best university in the world, that friendship is the only real university in the world. To see this we’ll need to open up two questions, like two eyes.

What is friendship? Why is school first and foremost a place and a time for friendship?

•••

Being friendly is not being a friend. The Miller School is a friendly place. We are a small community. If we do not all know each other already, we soon will. The Miller School is cozy, close-knit, warm. Mr. France is kindheart-ed, welcoming, affectionate. I have not been here long, but already I have heard him say many times, “We stick to-gether, and we take care of each other.” Bodies sticking to-gether make warmth. People sticking together, in the same way, act warmly towards each other. They show concern for their fellows. In this way, I think, we are friendly. Insome ways, we are like a family. That’s nice.

But being friendly is not friendship.

After all, you can be friendly to people you don’t like ter-ribly much. I hope you are. You can be warm, caring, and supportive of people you do not regard as your friends. Being friendly and being a friend are two different things altogether. Two very different things.

Being a friend is more than being friendly. An analogy will help us see this more clearly. Being an athlete involves a great deal more than being athletic. After all, to be an athlete, and to be a good athlete, takes practice. It takes a specific practice of athletics: basketball, soccer… baseball if you consider that more refined activity athletics.

Being a good athlete will involve good coaching. Being a good athlete takes more than raw natural athletic ability. Being an athlete requires being a good teammate and a good sport. In the same way that being an athlete requires more than being athletic, being a friend is about more than being friendly.

You are probably very friendly to many people, even other students at the Miller School, who you would not call your friends. That’s OK. I think that’s right. Friendship is more than being friendly.

•••

Coming to Miller School, surely you have left some friends behind. No doubt you had friends at other schools, per-haps you left friends behind in different parts of the world. I am sure everyone here can remember someone who used to be her friend, but is not really her friend any longer.

At this very moment, I am losing friends I had in college. Some I will never see again in my life. Some I will never

Friendship is the Only Universitythink about again. Why do you stay friends with some people and lose track of others?

I have been a little misleading already. We are probably not interested just in knowing what [friendship] is, but in becoming friends. I paraphrase Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: “we are not investigating to know what virtue is, but to become good.”

“What is friendship?” I am also asking, “How can I make good friends?” “How can I be a best friend?” A good thing to wonder.

Aristotle says that the activity of friendship, more than being friendly, is this: “wanting for someone what one thinks good, for his sake and not for one’s own, and be-ing inclined, so far as one can, to do such things for him.” A friend is someone who you wish the best, or what you think is best for them, and someone you will help out.

That’s pretty broad.

Good thing Aristotle has a particular way of teaching called analysis. He breaks down complex ideas into parts to help us understand what he is talking about. This tech-nique makes him such a good teacher, so clear a guide to important subjects, that for many centuries the great teachers of humanity (Aquinas, Maimonides, Averroes, etc.) called him “The Philosopher.” Well then. How does “The Philosopher” break down friendship?

Aristotle breaks friendship down into three categories. Let’s see how they might work here on the Hill.

Scene one… It is good to be on good terms with Chase Cannon, your Old Main RA. After all, if you’re on good terms with Chase Cannon, I presume, you get the advan-tage of not having to go to bed after check-in. Being friends with Chase Cannon, it seems to me, is a useful thing.

Scene two… It is good to hang around with Jake Sorrels. After all, if you hang around with Jake enough, you will have the distinct pleasure of hearing a lot of funny things come out of his mouth. I certainly do. Being friends with Jake Sorrels, it seems to me, might be a fun, pleasing, or pleasant thing.

Scene three… It is good to have a friend who tells it like it is. A teacher like Mr. Ross who uses a story, Fahrenheit 451, to teach you the virtue of being an independent thinker. Or a parent who gives you good advice. It is good to go to Yiming, I have heard, to have him settle a dispute you may have. Being friends with Mr. Ross, your mom and dad, or Yiming, it seems to me, might be a good way to learn what you think is right.

Now what among these three kinds is the best friend to have?

First, utility-friends are people who are useful to us. He is my friend because he cheers me up when I am discour-aged. She is my friend because she helps me with my

homework. Here, friendship arises from usefulness: “util-ity friendship.” Perhaps you might find a great advantage in being friends with Chase Cannon; after all it is useful to stay up after nightly check-ins. You might gain an advan-tage from his friendship.

Second, pleasure-friends are people that make us happy. Friends please us. He is my friend because he is hand-some. She is my friend because she is funny. This friend-ship arises from pleasure: “pleasure friendship.” Perhaps one would enjoy being friends with Jake Sorrels, because after all, he is funny. You might enjoy or gain pleasure from his friendship.

Third, virtue-friends are people who we admire for their good character. We see in these friends a person who is of the same mind as us about what is right and virtuous. We can call this friendship of character or friendship of the good “virtue friendship.”

Perhaps Chase and Jake, as well as Yiming and Mr. Ross and your parents, are virtue friends. What kind of friends are your friends?

Virtue friendship, Aristotle believes, is the highest form of friendship. Virtue friendship is the whole shebang. Vir-tue friendship is the ultimate pleasure friendship, because you will find the deepest enjoyment in people whom you respect and admire.

Virtue friendship is the ultimate utility friendship, be-cause your virtue-friends will be useful to who you really are, to your soul, Aristotle might say.

A virtue-friend is not simply someone who both pleas-es you and works to your advantage. Virtue-friendship is not a combo pack of pleasure-friendship and utility-friendship.

For Aristotle, a whole is always greater than the sum of their parts. So is virtue-friendship greater than the high-est pleasure, better than the greatest advantage… Virtue-friendship endures the times when friends aren’t making you very happy. Virtue-friendships last even when it’s not very useful to be someone’s friend.

Virtue-friendships will last because virtue-friends admire each other for who they are.

We all have friends who make us laugh, and friends who help us out when we’re in a rut. But hopefully we have friends, maybe best friends, who are virtue friends. If you don’t, Aristotle says, hurry up and make such friends while you are still young. “Among sour people and older people, friendship is found less often,” Aristotle says, “since they are worse-tempered and find less enjoyment in meeting people... That is why young people become friends quickly but older people do not…”

Make your friends, especially your virtue-friends, soon. After all, that is why you are at school.

•••


“Friendship is the Only University”


I got ahead of myself a little and stumbled into our second question.

Why is school a place for friendship? A story first.

This summer I was sent to a New Teacher Institute, where I learned some things. A woman who was there, a re-ally nice woman, warned me of the perils of getting too “friendly” with students. I never have this problem, be-cause, thank goodness, I am not too terribly friendly.

But then she said, “Be professional,” she said, “you are your students’ teacher, not their friend.” The disjunction is improper. Why can’t you be a teacher and a friend?

I do not think this woman knew the first thing about edu-cation or friendship.

So I didn’t ask why you can’t be both a teacher and a friend.

She may have known some things about education, but she did not know what Aristotle calls the archai, the “first things.”

She may have thought that the first thing about friends are that they are equals. Not so. Friendship is not about equality. Your parents are your friends, I hope, but in an important sense they are not your equals. They do, how-ever, teach you about virtue. I hope.

And first thing about friendship… about the best kind of friendship… is not that you like someone. The first thing about the first, or best, kind of friendship is that you ad-mire someone for being a good person, a person who can show you meaningful and virtuous ways to live your life.

I hope your teachers do that. I hope they are good friends of yours. Friends in the highest sense I am talking about.

•••

I was starting to say that school was first and foremost a place for friendship.

School is a place where you ought to get an education, and we have begun to see how the best kind of education comes from friendship. Admiring what is good, true, and meaningful. Friendship is for school; school is for friend-ship.

I realize you are expected to do more than make friends here at school. But schoolwork is a contradiction in terms. The word school is derived from the Greek word skhole, meaning leisure. If a school is really a school, it is sup-posed to be a place not for work but for leisure. For enjoy-ment. A time to kick back and relax with your friends.

It is!

But remember who your friends are. Your real friends, I mean. Your best friends. They’re not just people you have fun with, not just people who you like, not just people who are useful to you. A good school should be a place where you and your friends delight yourselves with the highest kind of enjoyment, education.Education is supposed to be leisurely and delightful. Or so

the ancients thought. Is that ridiculous?

No doubt some of you think that education is not terri-bly fun. (But no doubt some of you are not really being educated.) Education does not mean imparting outside knowledge you never knew upon you, impressing knowl-edge into your brain like stamp into hot wax.

Education means educing, leading you out of yourself. Leading who you really are out from under a jumble of mindless habits and unthinking routines and stupid things people have told you during your life. Education assumes that you are not the real you. Not yet.

Who are you? You are a basketball player, a favorite son, a scientist, a becoming young lady, a cyclist, an aspiring engineer, a precocious student. Sure. You may be those things right now. But someday, if you are lucky, you will be old. And you will no longer be a basketball player or a favorite son or a scientist or a becoming young lady or a cyclist or an aspiring engineer or a precocious student. But you will still be you.

Education is meant to bring out who you are that you will always be. What are the values, the virtues, the commit-ments, the passions that will make you you? And of course finding a good friend means recognizing these values, vir-tues, commitments, passions. Friendship, good friend-ship, is the highest education.

If you do not think about these things, the first things, you will never become the master of your destiny or the cap-tain of your soul. Without taking the time to think about what you believe in, life will just be one thing after anoth-er. You will never take a stand for what you think is right, or good. I am afraid Aristotle thinks this is what life is like for animals and slaves.

•••

True or not, it is fun to imagine that right now all of your teachers, my colleagues, are squirming in their seats and squirming the backs of their minds, saying, “Nonsense! Students are here to learn facts and figures they will need in life. Skills they will need for jobs. Grades they will need to go to university. Miller School isn’t some place for them to relax and enjoy each other’s company!”

Maybe more than one of them sits there thinking, “Why did Mr. France let Mr. Wyllie talk about this philosophical nonsense? Sure it sounds nice. But the fact of the matter is that I teach good writing, or I teach ideal gas laws, or I teach differential equations. If these kids never learn how to write or perform sums, they will never go to college, they will never get good jobs, they will never be able to do work…”

That’s true. Work is making something useful, something external… an object… something that is not you. You can work on a kayak in design/build. You can work on your homework, sure. It is important to know how to do these things.

But school is not school unless you learn how to work on yourself. If the things we have you do, like homework, are not part of you working on yourself… well we’re forgetting the first things.


First things first. Working on yourself is not working on something external. It is not working on an object like a kayak or a homework assignment. In the true sense it is not work at all, but leisure. School is a time to escape working on things and work on yourself.

School is not school unless it is leisurely.

If Miller School was simply a preparatory, a place to pre-pare you for the next step, college… And then college is a place that simply prepares you for a profession or a career like medicine or professional ski-jumping… Well then we could do a much better job.

Over Christmas break in the ninth grade you could pick a career. You would get ahead of so many other kids learning about medicine or ski-jumping. And why not? Mr. Hufnagel could teach the ultimate English course, “Writing for Business and Law,” to some of you. For others, it could be Ms. Simpkins, “Writing for Medical Science.”

Aristotle would call this slave-training. Whoa there, Ar-istotle, I just want to get a good job, man! But Aristotle is not being melodramatic or hyperbolic. If all you learn at school is how to do work. If all you learn are skills. If all you do is get disciplined… then where is your freedom?

Because you cannot be free unless you take responsibil-ity for the citizen you are going to be, not just the worker you are going to be. You will not be free unless you gain some thoughtful insight… a look inside… thinking about who you are. You will not be free unless you become inspired by the great questions of our history. Only then can you act freely and make your own decisions.

You cannot call someone free if they have no control over the person they are, if their life consists merely of auto-matic responses to one thing after another.

Take a quick look sometime at the mission of this school: building responsible citizens, insightful thinkers, and compassionate individuals… We promise to give you an education, and it looks like that education will come from friendship.

•••

There is no higher education than this.

Of course we talk about college, university, and higher education. I hope all of you will go to college. But I don’t want to grant that higher education is for later, for when you leave here, for down the road.

Virtue-friendship is when two people, or a group of people, all look to the same one good. The real meaning of university, “the many looking to the one,” is synony-mous with virtue-friendship.

Virtue-friendship is when two people or a lot of people look towards the same good. The many look to the one. Universitas. Friendship is the school of virtue, and virtue-friendship is university.

There is no higher education than this.

There are only more specific skills to learn. Many, many

techniques to be learned at a polytechnic institute, per-haps a polytechnic institute that tells you on every shirt and jersey and mug and building that it is a university. But at these places many people do many different things and nobody is looking to “one” good. At these places there may not be universal agreement about what is right or good. At these places there may not be virtue-friendship.

So while you may go somewhere called a university, and be at a place called a university, you will never really be in university.

You will not be in university until you make strong friend-ships, and until your friendships help you acquire the virtues you think are important. You could be in univer-sity right now.

If you do not do find true friendship, you will be tricked into being what Hegel calls slaves without masters. Slaves to others’ ideas, or animals because you have no ideas of your own. If you do not find true friendship, you will never be an educated person.

•••Has anyone told you this before?

I suspect that you are going off to face a world that has forgotten what it means to be a friend. One of my friends is one of the best-read bloggers in the United States. Here is what he says in his book Love Undetectable: “We have almost forgotten how to achieve [friendship] today. [Friendship] is a form of union which is truer than love, stabler than sex, deeper than politics, and more moral than the family.”

Sociologists in June 2006 said Americans have fewer friends then they once did. That is not a problem. Aristot-le figures you’re lucky even to have a few real friends. Your classmate Ian Kim figures about three.

The problem in the study is that 25% of Americans report having no real friends. Do you think it is a problem?

Perhaps they have never looked.

In your life, you may look for a good job. You may look for true love. But you probably don’t think of looking for true friendship. That would be a real mistake, I think.

•••

Look for it here. Look for friendship, now, with new eyes.

The best kind of friendship is the admiration of a good person, a person who will display the virtues you will need to be a person with a handle of your life and some control over your destiny.

Have friendships of the many looking towards one idea of what is good or right. Virtue-friendship is the definition of university.

You will forget many things we teach you here at this school. You would be wise to have friends that you will not forget. Perhaps even your teachers. Perhaps even me. You would be wise, because friendship will be a higher education.


“Things never change really, you get what you give.”

-Catherine Mummau

After nearly thirty-three years on “the Hill,” Mrs. Catherine Mummau continues to play a vibrant part in the life of the Miller School of Albemarle. Each day she supports faculty, staff, and students in her role as the Business Man-ager. With impeccable organization and attention to detail, she is the linchpin that holds many of our operations together. Here she looks back on the many aspects of MSA she has experienced, how they relate to her current posi-tion at the school today, and how the school is keeping up with the times:

“I was hired by Dr. Lawton during the Summer of 1979 and started to work in September. I worked part-time for several years before 1979, doing all of the uniform alterations when Miller School became a Civil Air Patrol School. I ran the U. S. Post Office that was on campus and managed the Supply/Laundry Departments. At that time the Supply Department was responsible for all of the clothing/uniforms that the students received. The military clothing that the students had were ordered through Andrew Air Force Base and Bowling Air Force Base. We would have to make several trips each school year to pick-up the items ordered.

“In 1985 I was asked by Col. Peyton Robertson to help out in the Business Office. I started working in the Business Office each afternoon after finishing my work in the Supply Department, and went full-time in the Business Office in 1986. I still have the privilege of working in the Business Office.

“In my opinion, the school is keeping up with the times. We have especially done well in keeping up with tech-nology. New computers, flat screen TVs, Smart boards, etcetera. The Internet has changed a lot of the way we operate, but has provided a lot of opportunities for learning.

“Things never change really, you get what you give. You give these students love and care and show them that you care about their success, and that’s what you get. It’s pretty simple, really. Treat them well, and they should treat you well. They’re all good kids. Some just need a little more care than others!”

It should be noted that Catherine also helps mentor and manage a farm with her loving husband Mark in Amherst County. Every break, Catherine is kind enough to “adopt” faculty plants, and when she returns them, they’ve been fed her “special” liquid fertilizer and appear as brand new beings. Catherine also is the primary quilter on campus, and one of her custom-made quilts forms the keystone of a parents auxiliary auction in the winter time.

For birthday celebrations, we know who to ask for a delectable cake; Catherine’s Hershey’s chocolate cake takes the prize for miles around and brightens up many a child, or faculty member’s, special day. In fact, at last year’s Junior class cake auction, one of her masterpieces brought a final price of $120!

In short, Catherine’s kindness emanates to one and all from her corner business office. Over the decades, many a hidebound child has received not only petty cash from Catherine to get them through the weekend, but also the guid-ance of her caring eye. We are lucky to have Catherine Mummau here at Miller School of Albemarle!

Catherine Mummau the Pearl of Miller School


1000 Samuel Miller LoopCharlottesville, VA 22903

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. Postage Paid

Miller School of AlbemarlePermit No.

Come see us on the Hill! Each Thursday at 10:30 a.m., MSA Student Ambassadors hostprospective students for an Admission Open House and lunch.

Visit millerschool.org to register, or call 434-823-4805 x240.

the bell tower fall/winter 2011-12

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different level

great spot

number of cool days

limited days

snowy days