Middle School Celebrates Student Achievements and Gives Fond Send-Off to Eighth Graders at Annual Division Awards and Crossing Ceremony

The Hampton Roads Academy Middle School student body, faculty, and families gathered in the Svein J. Lassen Auditorium on the morning of Tuesday, May 19, to recognize the accomplishments of Navigators in Grades 5 through 8 and honor the eighth graders’ transition to the Upper School at the annual Middle School Awards and Crossing Ceremony.

A time-honored tradition, the assembly provided an opportunity for the HRA community to celebrate the remarkable work and growth of our students during the crucial middle chapter of their Navigator journeys. Awards presented recognized excellence in scholarship, the arts, character, and citizenship.

For the rising ninth-grade class, the Crossing represented the culmination of four years of learning and achievement that have laid a strong foundation for an academically rigorous final stage of their college-preparatory experience. With a joyful car parade in these students’ honor following the assembly, the day marked a spirited tribute to their many successes and a warm welcome to the Upper School.

“This is an outstanding group of 50 students,” Interim Director of Middle School Karen Gillespie said of the Class of 2030. “They have proven themselves in so many ways.”

Honoring Student Excellence across the Middle School

For more than three decades, the Middle School has assembled at the end of the spring semester to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of students throughout the division. In keeping with this tradition, after opening remarks from Gillespie, the 2025-2026 division-wide year-end ceremony kicked off with recognitions for exceptional students at all grade levels.

This year’s honorees have distinguished themselves not only in academics, but also in a wide variety of pursuits beyond the classroom, reflecting their growth into compassionate and engaged leaders.

Highest Honors

Students earn the designation of Highest Honors by achieving a grade of 90 or above in all courses through the third marking period of the current academic year. This year’s honorees are:

• Fifth grade: Emma Angus ’33, Jordyn Brown ’33, Shloak Joshi ’33, and John Lamm ’33
• Sixth grade: Paolo Ibba ’32, Leila Myagas ’32, Alex Nguyen ’32, and Liam Quinlan ’32
• Seventh grade: Henry Barnhart ’31, A-Ri Chae ’31, Bridget Kaplow ’31, Luke Lam ’31, Liliana Mercado ’31, and Haze Skinner ’31
• Eighth grade: Blaine Averett ’30, Lauren Cash ’30, Alex Chen ’30, Ady Heder ’30, Mark Hospodar ’30, Suhani Joshi ’30, Bella Nguyen ’30, Arnesh Paul ’30, Madeleine Wells ’30, and Elizabeth Yancey ’30

Scholarship Award

This award honors the student with the highest cumulative grade point average in each grade. This year’s winners are:

• Fifth grade: Shloak Joshi ’33
• Sixth grade: Liam Quinlan ’32
• Seventh grade: Bridget Kaplow ’31
• Eighth grade: Suhani Joshi ’30

Faculty Award

This prize recognizes a student in each class who is an exemplar of HRA’s core values of honesty, respect, and responsibility, maintaining high standards of conduct in every aspect of student life. This year’s winners are:

• Fifth grade: Jordyn Brown ’33
• Sixth grade: Grayson Godfrey ’32
• Seventh grade: Bridget Kaplow ’31
• Eighth grade: Elizabeth Yancey ’30

Citizenship Award

This award is presented to a student in each grade who, through upstanding behavior and positive action, upholds and enhances the life of the school. This year’s recipients are:

• Fifth grade: Sarah Beaudin ’33
• Sixth grade: Audrey Colburn ’32
• Seventh grade: Henry Barnhart ’31
• Eighth grade: Harrison Bursi ’30

Blue and Gold Award

This honor, named for the Academy’s colors, is conferred upon a student in each class who demonstrates genuine enthusiasm for the HRA community and serves as a role model for others, fostering school pride through participation in varied activities and an infectious attitude. This year’s awardees are:

• Fifth grade: Crew Sorensen ’33
• Sixth grade: Virginia Hankins ’32
• Seventh grade: Marin Mazzurco ’31
• Eighth grade: Bella Pacheco ’30

Performing Arts Award

This special recognition is presented to a student who exhibits outstanding abilities and mastery of varied performance techniques in the classroom and on stage.

The recipient is Arnesh Paul ’30.

Visual Arts Award

This prize is awarded to a student who demonstrates exceptional skill, understanding, and pursuit of mastery in all artistic techniques, both within the studio and beyond.

The recipient is Claire Blancett ’30.

Compass Award

This is the highest award presented in the Middle School, honoring an eighth grader who stands as a model of spirit, determination, positivity, high personal standards, involvement in the life of the school, and commitment to others, along with overall academic excellence. The winner of the Compass Award embodies what it means to be a Navigator.

Congratulations to this year’s honoree, Blaine Averett ’30.

Crossing into New Waters

Following the presentation of awards and a special acknowledgment of Middle School Parents’ Association representative Holly Jeffreys, a slideshow tracing each eighth grader’s growth from infancy through their Lower and Middle School years marked the beginning of a much-anticipated rite of passage: the Crossing.

Introduced twenty years ago under then-Director of Middle School Susanne Swain ’78 (now HRA’s Director of Lower School), this cherished tradition highlights a major academic milestone for the eighth graders, soon to embark on a new adventure in the Upper School, as well as the cohesion between the Academy’s divisions.

Head of School Jay Lasley opened this year’s Crossing Ceremony by inviting the students to reflect on a challenge they had faced in the past year and how their teachers, coaches, and mentors helped them not only navigate, but also grow, through the process.

“We are there, walking with you [parents] and your children, when it’s dark and cloudy—when the seas are not smooth,” Lasley said. “This is what sets Hampton Roads Academy apart: the constant and consistent care, the support, the commitment by every adult with whom your children interact.”

Next, two speakers chosen by the eighth-grade class took the podium. First came Middle School math teacher Jemma Kennedy, who likened the rising ninth graders at this moment of possibilities to a compressed spring or a stretched rubber band, full of potential energy.

“Realizing your goals and becoming who you are meant to be requires a willingness to be compressed, to be stretched, and to be able to hold the tension of ideas and viewpoints that challenge your current understanding,” Kennedy told the students. “As you do this, I have no doubt that you will launch into an amazing journey and soar into the next four years.”

Eighth grader and Performing Arts Award winner Arnesh Paul ’30 then addressed his fellow students and the assembled guests, highlighting treasured memories ranging from his class’s fifth-grade trip to Operation Smile headquarters in Virginia Beach to their yearly volunteering experiences at the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank in Hampton.

“Being in this community has deeply developed our characters,” Paul said. “However, the path has not ended yet. There is still a lot more to do in high school, and wherever else you want to go after that. What I can say with full confidence is that every single person in my class has a gift.”

Following the speeches, eighth-grade TEAM leader and history teacher Kerry LiBrando, soon to take on the role of Middle School Dean of Students, read the rising ninth graders’ names as they crossed the stage to shake hands with Gillespie, then Assistant Head of School and Director of Upper School Ben Rous. Rous extended an enthusiastic welcome to the newest Upper Schoolers before Gillespie brought the exercises to a close.

Parading in Style

The proud eighth graders were invited to leave campus with their loved ones to celebrate after the assembly. Before they departed, though, one last joyful HRA tradition awaited them: the annual car parade. First instituted by then-Director of Middle School Rhonda DeChirico in 2020 as a way to salute the eighth-grade class amidst COVID-19–era social distancing, the parade has since become a beloved fixture of the Academy’s end-of-year festivities.

With many of their cars vividly decorated for the occasion, the students and their families took a turn past the front of the school as teachers and peers cheered them on from the sidewalk with noisemakers, bubbles, and applause. Lining the parade route were members of the seventh-grade class, themselves just one year away from this momentous milestone.

According to Gillespie, the annual Crossing Ceremony and car parade give the HRA community a chance to celebrate not only the eighth-grade students, but also the supportive parents and guardians who have invested their time, energy, and resources in their children’s education. Their engagement is extraordinary, and the Middle School’s springtime traditions pay tribute to how far they and their students have come as a family as they together look forward to the next step.

“We have a great parent body, and they’re very much connected to the school,” Gillespie said, noting that her colleagues in the public school system regularly lament a level of parental involvement that falls far short of what is simply the norm at HRA. “We are very fortunate.”

Ready for What Lies Ahead

As the eighth graders revel in their triumphs over the past four years, Gillespie noted, meaningful challenges—and opportunities for growth—await them in Upper School.

First and foremost, they will tackle a rigorous curriculum designed to shape them into well-rounded and creative thinkers who are equipped to excel in all their pursuits after graduation. From the start of ninth grade, their performance in their academically demanding courses will be reflected in the transcript with which they will eventually apply to colleges.

Along with heightened expectations in the classroom will come considerably greater freedom—a challenge as well as a privilege. As Upper Schoolers, the current eighth graders will have the opportunity to select courses and co-curricular activities that align with their interests and goals, dress to their personalities in accordance with a more flexible dress code, complete independent research projects, and pursue internships and other invaluable pre-professional experiences that will help shape their visions of the future.

“It’s all about growing up and learning to make mature choices,” Gillespie said.

Crucially, according to the Middle School director, the students have benefitted from studying with “an amazing group of eighth-grade teachers, who have a real understanding of what the next step is going to require. They have been working all year to get them ready for this.” Gillespie pointed to numerous examples, including English teacher Hannah Hislop’s exploration of challenging literature with her students, Jemma Kennedy’s extraordinary efforts to lay a foundation for upper-level math courses, and Kerry LiBrando’s brilliant use of project work in American studies to build collaboration and critical thinking skills.

Entering Upper School with this strong academic base, Gillespie confidently asserted, the Class of 2030 is poised to thrive. “They are much more like high schoolers than they are like middle schoolers at this point,” she said.

Assured that they are ready for what lies ahead, the eighth graders have embraced the celebratory spirit of a season full of memorable traditions. From their grade-wide visit to Busch Gardens on May 1 to the landmark Crossing Ceremony and car parade to an exciting three-day applied learning trip to Washington, D.C., starting the following morning, the students have capped off their Middle School years with an array of incredible experiences that they will surely never forget.