Class of 2026 Honors Accomplishments, Looks to the Future, and Celebrates Lasting Connection to HRA during Senior Parade

During the afternoon of Friday, May 8, the Hampton Roads Academy Class of 2026 observed a cherished tradition as the entire school came together for the annual Senior Parade. Part of the larger milestone occasion of Senior Release Day, the moving event saw the soon-to-graduate twelfth graders don their caps, cords, and T-shirts and sweatshirts from their chosen colleges and universities for one last walk through the halls they have called home for years—in the case of HRA’s Anchor students, since Kindergarten or Pre-Kindergarten.

The parade was not only a moment of celebration, reflection, and pride, but also a testament to the strength of the Navigator community. As the emotional seniors made their way through the Lower, Middle, and Upper School wings, family members, teachers, and younger students lined the halls to clap, cheer, and offer their heartfelt congratulations for an exceptional group of scholars preparing to embark on a new journey.

“The Class of 2026 is especially meaningful to me, as they are the first group I’ve worked with through the entire college [application] process,” said Director of College Counseling Elizabeth Cavallari. “Watching them take this next step is incredibly rewarding. I’m proud of who they’ve become and excited for what’s ahead.”

The Culmination of a One-of-a-Kind Learning Experience

Introduced in 2023, the Senior Parade is a relatively recent addition to the program of Senior Release Day, a highlight of the school calendar that has grown over time to reflect the ideals at the heart of HRA’s mission: celebrating community and equipping learners for a lifetime of success.

At its root, Senior Release Day is the Head of School’s traditional send-off for the graduating class, as well as a reward toward which students strive. Each May, seniors who meet a set of standards—solid academic performance, fulfillment of their community service requirement, and no Honor Code violations—are “released” from campus until the Upper School Awards Assembly and Commencement later in the month, avoiding senior exams.

According to Assistant Head of School and Director of Upper School Ben Rous, a number of years ago, the College Counseling Office saw an opportunity to make Senior Release Day more meaningful by building in programming for graduating students covering mental health, responsible adult decisions, and financial literacy, addressed in partnership with HRA alumni in the financial planning field. As the next group to join the Academy’s vast alumni community, the seniors also meet each Senior Release Day with Director of Alumni Relations Tommy Yevak ’83, who assures them that they will always have a home at HRA.

This rite of passage is “powerful” for each graduating class, Rous said. “There are tears in the room.”

What the annual parade adds to Senior Release Day, the Upper School director explained, is a reminder that senior year is the culmination of an educational journey that begins the moment a student joins HRA. At a Pre-K–12 school where many students—15% of the Class of 2026—are Anchors, the Senior Parade provides an opportunity for longtime Navigators to reconnect with old teachers and with the classrooms where they learned as far back as age three. Little did they know, as the now-seniors began to learn their shapes, their numbers, and the importance of sharing in those early years, they were on their way to tackling calculus, physics, and the works of Shakespeare.

This year’s Senior Parade was thus not only a celebration of the soon-to-be graduates’ achievements, but also a tribute to a learning experience that had come full-circle. As Rous noted, “We can’t forget we’re one school.”

Anchor Zack Patten ’26, for one, certainly has not forgotten. The parade inspired the University of Virginia-bound senior to reminisce about challenging Upper School math teacher Lee Underwood to games of chess, playing Dungeons & Dragons in former Middle School science teacher Bennett Radinovic’s classroom, getting tricked by fourth-grade teacher Gretchen Speece into taking a quiz ending with the instruction “don’t do any of the questions above,” and showing up to Pre-Kindergarten wearing the same sweater as his teacher, Patti Grayson, a moment captured in a photograph that sits on his desk to this day. Almost every year since, Grayson has signed his yearbook. And his Lower School music teacher, Erika Caulford, still teaches him piano every Friday.

“I’ll remember these small moments, these snippets of connection,” Patten said.

Achieving Excellence as a Community

HRA’s faculty members, many of whom have been acquainted with the current seniors since Middle School or before, have found just as much value in getting to know their students over the course of many years.

“This graduating class is the last of the classes that I also taught as eighth graders in algebra 1, so it is a little bittersweet,” said Upper School math teacher Farica Erwin, who teaches many seniors in such courses as AP Calculus and Honors multivariable calculus. “For most of my students, I have taught them for two or three years in a row, so it has been a pleasure getting to know them and see all that they have accomplished.”

According to senior class President Cam Hall ’26, a Navigator since the sixth grade, “the close-knit atmosphere” that arises from such deeply rooted relationships “makes it easier to learn to self-advocate.” As he prepares to enroll at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the fall, he is deeply grateful to have this ability in his toolkit.

Fellow senior Khloe Jobson ’26, soon to attend Randolph-Macon College, agreed. The sort of self-advocacy that a firm network encourages is one of a plethora of life skills that the Academy excels at cultivating in its students. “HRA not only prepares its students by pushing us academically to be our best selves, but also pushes us to take accountability for ourselves,” she said.

Though she joined HRA only at the beginning of her junior year, Jobson remarked, “The thing I will remember most about my time as a student at HRA is the strong community of the school. Everyone supports each other, rooting for each other to succeed, whether that’s going out to sporting events to support friends or donating to a charity drive for a club.”

For Patten, this ubiquitous supportiveness was a source of confidence to “get out of [his] comfort zone” and “try new things.” Despite having hardly considered auditioning for a theatrical production prior to eighth grade, he noted, he was quickly embraced by HRA’s talented student performers and is now “deeply entrenched in that community.”

Teachers will remember the palpable sense of community within the Class of 2026 above all else. “They are united by their shared quest to seek new horizons while simultaneously reveling in their senior year, welcoming four new classmates, and winning both the Spirit Plunger and Spirit Noodle,” said AP Literature teacher and Dean of Student Life Laurie Hager. “They support and celebrate one another and take pride in their many accomplishments.”

Upper School science teacher and REACH Initiative director Dr. Maribel Gendreau echoed Hager. “What makes this class so special is how open and willing they all have always been. They were always there to help, whether it was with clubs, activities, or even staying behind to help clean up after labs when we ran out of time,” she recalled.

“Over the years, we built relationships that go beyond just teacher and student,” Gendreau said. “I’m going to miss the stories, the little complaints, the happy moments, and all the celebrations along the way. I’ll especially miss the smiles and the ‘good mornings’ that made every day start on such a positive note.”

The End of One Chapter, the Start of the Next

Lifted by profound gratitude for the rich memories the seniors have shared with each other, with their teachers, and with the classes of Navigators behind them, the HRA community erupted in smiles, laughter, and applause during the Senior Parade. But as the day wound down and Head of School Jay Lasley prepared to release the Class of 2026, the bittersweetness of the occasion sank in, with the seniors completing their last march through the school where they grew into the confident young adults they are today and bidding it a fond farewell—for now.

As they tossed their caps in the air, the graduating students could take comfort in two certainties. The first was that their achievement in completing a rigorous, years-long college-preparatory experience is tremendous.

“We have high expectations and high love for our students,” Rous said. Observing the seniors’ excitement as they reached the finish line, ready for the challenges of college and life beyond, he remarked, “The thing that jazzes me is watching kids be proud of themselves.”

Perhaps more importantly, the seniors could rest assured that they will always be members of the Navigator family, forever bound to their teachers and to all HRA students past, present, and future. And within this community, they will always enjoy a special bond with their fellow members of the Class of 2026.

“They have done something special, and they are part of something special,” the Upper School director said. “No matter what they do for the rest of their lives, they will be connected to the other 46 kids in the class.”