Beaming families and friends, proud sponsors, and delighted fellow students and faculty filled Saint Ignatius Church as the Class of 2011 graduated from the Academy on Thursday, May 26.These 22 outstanding young scholars are all headed to rigorous, college-preparatory high schools, and were awarded more than $240,000 in scholarships towards their high school education. The Honorable Andre M. Davis, Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, urged our graduates to make smart, thoughtful decisions as they continued their education and to be aware of the impact these decisions will have on their lives.  Special student awards were presented to four students: The Arthur Ashe Award for excellence, teamwork, leadership and sportsmanship in athletics to Jeremee Tripp; The Anthony Capizzi Award for traits of civility, unselfishness, helpfulness and service to others to Joseph Alston; The Gonzaga Award for exemplary conduct and commitment to William Purnell; and The Ignatian Award for the student who has exemplified in an outstanding way the Ignatian spirit and Jesuit tradition of the Academy awarded to Nicholas Finch.  Our sincere congratulations to the Class of 2011.

Graduation also marked the final official role for longtime Principal Christopher Wilson who is leaving the Academy to lead a NativityMiguel school in New England.  We wish Mr. Wilson all the best as he leaves to share his talents with one of our  sister schools.                            

Thank you to Academy friend Michael Owsianny for these wonderful photos of graduation.

Reading Partnerships Engage Our Students 

The Academy is fortunate to have a strong partnership with the National Park Trust.  In addition to the spring break trips the NPT has afforded some of our students, they have also provided many wonderful academic enrichment activities for our boys. They donated fifteen books to the Academy that are part of the Mysteries in our National Parks series, and have recently arranged for skype interviews with the authors of the series, mother-daughter Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson.  The authors called in from their homes in Colorado and Idaho and chatted with the boys.  Gloria shared that when she started writing when she had five little daughters at home, it took fifty-seven tries before she could sell her first story, but her daughter had her first book accepted for publication on her first try.  Each has gone on to write prolifically, both as a team and alone, with Gloria having published sixty three books and Alane thirty four.  7th grader Evan asked in how many countries and how many languages their books had been published, and was amazed that they were in ten or more countries and had been translated into languages like Chinese and Turkish!  Thank you NPT for the exciting opportunities you give to our boys.  The Academy is fortunate to have a strong partnership with the National Park Trust.  In addition to the spring break trips the NPT has provided for a group of our students to spend a few days in the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the NPT has also provided many wonderful academic enrichment activities for our students.