Faculty & Staff Recognition

“They can be agents of change, right now,” said Rashad Lowery, coordinator of campus life and community stewardship at Steward. “Everyone has a voice, and they are empowered to use it for good.”

Mr. Lowery was describing what he hoped students in his Upper School seminar course, Justice and Civil Society, would learn from his class.

In his schoolwide role, Mr. Lowery has the opportunity to spread that message to students JK-12 through classwork as well as service learning opportunities and clubs.

“Justice is at the foundation of service learning,” Mr. Lowery explained. “It creates space to understand why certain problems exist and how we as individuals can help. We become better together when we learn to empathize.”

Head of School Dan Frank concurs that understanding justice is central to understanding our place in the world: “At Steward, students develop both critical thinking skills and compassion. This is a mission-driven part of our program: It helps our young people grow into the problem-solving, ethical adults our world needs for the future.”

• Mr. Lowery’s Justice and Civil Society seminar course

• Interfaith panels in Upper School history teacher Eliza McGehee’s class

• The partnership between Upper School students in Upper School English teacher

Jessica Conley’s Research Writing seminar and Enrichmond, in which they helped create a written historical record for Black individuals buried at two local cemeteries

• Middle Schoolers learning about homelessness with the Daily Planet

Health Services and Mr. Lowery

• Fourth-grade teacher Janell Kauffman’s project about unsung heroes during the

American Revolution

Last year, Middle School math teacher and swim/dive coach Diane Maiese led the varsity girls swim/dive team to its first VISAA DII state championship in program history. It was a huge victory for the swim/dive program and the entire Steward community. Of course, it wasn't the first big win in Coach Maiese's career.

As a collegiate diver, she was a four-time NCAA All-American diver at Trenton State College, as well as the first Black diver to win a DIII college national championship. In addition to having coached at DI schools like the University of Denver and the University of Richmond, Coach Maiese spends ample time in her role as CEO of the nonprofit DiveRVA, which aims to make diving accessible to everyone in Central Virginia.

We love that Coach Maiese continues to push our academic and athletic programs forward while also working to ensure that the wider community can participate in the sport she loves.

"A rush and a relief." That's how Middle School English teacher Shannon Elsea described learning the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) had renewed her National Board Certification, the teaching profession's highest credential. "I saw the message in my inbox and my heart stopped," she said. The email's header — a picture of fireworks — quickly squelched any panic.

Only 3% of the nation's teachers, and 40% of candidates, receive this voluntary credential, which goes beyond state licensure as a performance-based, peer-reviewed method for assuring faculty expertise in their chosen subject(s) and classroom practice. The initial certification takes an estimated 200-400 hours from start to finish, while renewal takes about half as long.

To call the work challenging would be an understatement. Mrs. Elsea said the certification process was even more rigorous than graduate work, because while graduate work typically asks teachers to create theoretical assignments, her recertification portfolio was grounded in actual classwork with real students.

"Everything I was working on, I was doing with my students," she said. "I had to reflect on every aspect of each assignment I gave them — why was I asking this question about this book to these students in this class at this point in time? It required me to meet my own students where they were."

NBPTS allows candidates to choose two readers who can mentor them and provide feedback on their portfolio submission. Mrs. Elsea tapped her sister — a college English professor — and fifth-grade teacher Heidi Bailey, who also successfully completed recertification a few years ago.

"The process was life-changing," Mrs. Elsea said. "It helped me make my instruction more intentional on every level." Of course, that sort of tireless dedication to detail is exactly what makes her a valuable member of the Steward community.

Scan to watch WRIC's feature video on Coach Maiese.

These faculty and staff members were honored for their years of service at The Steward School.

YEARS Melissa Calkins Peter Hurley Diane Maiese Maria McCarthy Chris Petrie Laura Pruitt Susan Welk Kimberly Wharram

10 Wendy Aldaz Moran Elizabeth Simpson YEARS Barbara Filler Drew Forlano Becky Groves Katy Koppanyi Chad Montgomery

15 Jane Carter Jenny Haar YEARS Eric Hopp

25 Katherine Goodpasture

At the end of each school year, faculty and staff are asked to nominate co-workers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty throughout the school year. Congratulations to the following winners!

Karen Ashworth, Kara Bacile, Carlee Cutchin, Shannon Elsea, Melissa Freed, Crystal Hamlin, Rebecca Heck, Janell Kauffman, Aaron Jay Ledesma, Mike Mailey, Ingrid Moore, Scottie O’Neill, Betsy Orgain, Chuck Robinson, Adam Seldis, Elizabeth Simpson, Susan Welk, and Megan Young

20 Roberta Wiener

YEARS

YEARS

Cindy Arrington, Nathan Blake, Amy Cooper, Violet Cox, Tom Gallo, Katie Kesler, Michelle Khalife, Scott Ludlow, Kathleen Mearns, Kelly Neale, Laura Sims, Patrick Tucker, and Greg Young

Robin Oliff Doane, Bev Fox, and Catesby Jones

There are people who are as recognizable and as much a part of the Steward community fabric as the Colonnade and Wilton Hall. Catesby Jones is one such person. He is the longest serving faculty member in the School’s history, and after 39 years of selfless service, he has seen us — and helped see us through — every phase of our growth. He has watched buildings go up, fields appear in our landscape, countless faculty and staff members arrive, and has shepherded the vast majority of our alumni through some aspect of their time here. Cates is steady, reliable, and unflappable. He is funny, wise, and kind. Steward is better — much better — as a result of his efforts, and we are lucky to have had among us, for so long, such a gentleman, scholar, teacher, coach, and friend. - Dan Frank, Head of School

A teaching career that began with the offer to create a class all his own has ended with a similar promise of academic opportunity. "I told him to take the class and run with it," Middle School history teacher Catesby Jones said, speaking of the teacher who will take over his World Studies course after 39 years at Steward.

During his distinguished tenure, Mr. Jones has had a hand in nearly all aspects of Steward's community life. He taught history to students in grades 6-11, served as both dean of students and Middle School division coordinator, and coached numerous sports, including Middle School and JV soccer, JV basketball, and Steward’s two-time state-championship-winning golf program, which he also founded.

"He's the Middle School dad, a common voice of reason, and a man with true integrity," Director of the Middle School Susan Atkinson said at the annual Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony.

Mr. Jones, who says he is still connected to his favorite teacher from his college years at Hampden-Sydney, has inspired his own legion of former students who will always remember him. Here's a sampling of messages his former students shared in a series of Flipgrid videos.

• "You were one of the defining personalities at this school."

• "The way you appreciate all students equally will always stick with me."

• "You helped me learn to love history and world cultures in general."

• "Whenever I think it's all over, you think it's just begun."

Thus one chapter comes to a close in Mr. Jones' life as a new one begins. He plans on spending ample time traveling the world in retirement with his wife. And for a man who claims to have never missed a summer in Cape Cod in his life, he's not about to start now. When he's not picnicking on a sunny spot at the beach, we bet we know exactly where to find him: out on the links.

"It is truly once in a lifetime that an educator like Bev Fox comes along," Director of the Lower School Ingrid Moore said as she honored Mrs. Fox's career during the annual Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony.

Mrs. Fox retired this year after 32 years of service in Steward's Lower School. When she was hired in 1989, Mrs. Fox was Steward's sole fifth-grade faculty member. Since then she has worked in a variety of subjects and grade levels, and for the last seven years she has visited classrooms in her part-time role as the Lower School math coach.

"Her passion for her subject and her students, her commitment to Steward, her love of her colleagues, her complete willingness to help anyone with anything — she's one of a kind," Mrs. Moore continued.

The seventh recipient of the Cramer Award, Mrs. Fox notably popularized the use of math journals in the Lower School following an online course with leading math educator and former Bryan Lab Visiting Innovator Jo Boaler, a teaching practice that meets each student where they are while empowering them in a supportive environment. Mrs. Fox forever changed the Lower School math curriculum, and we are fortunate to have had her among our ranks all these years.

"Bev is one of the kindest and most sensible people I know, and that always showed up in her classroom," said Head of School Dan Frank. "She taught several generations of our students and every single one is better off from having learned from and known her."