News & Events

The Batten Leadership Fellows Program at Norfolk Academy encourages highly engaged students to work to understand hard problems and contribute to solving them. 

Fellows involve themselves with one of five cohorts: Chesapeake Bay; Engineering, Design, and Innovation; Global Affairs; Global Health; and Literacy. All of these groups traditionally explore complex issues, then go into the community to provide help, often going to different states and countries. 

The program has returned to its usual array of experiential learning activities off campus, following a time that was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Students are traveling to public schools to provide support, making trips to Virginia's Eastern Shore for community engagement, and heading to service projects at nonprofit organizations. In summer 2023, they also will go on five separate trips, learning and bonding with their own group projects.

Students enter the Fellows program in 10th grade. New Fellows for the 2023-24 school year, who will graduate in 2026, were recently selected. The Fellows programs continue to draw intense interest from students; almost 60 excellent students applied, highlighting the program's excitement level and value. The process, which includes essays, recommendations, and interviews, was organized by Director Sean Wetmore and Jack Gibson, assistant director.

To learn about experiential learning in the Batten Leadership Program, please visit the website. For more about the activities of the Fellows, follow the student-run Instagram page. 

2023 Fellows selections

Literacy: Gabby Crass, Jay Fernando, Eliana Mopper, Anna Pang, Quinn Parvin, Kayden Stone 

Global Health: Aarush Desai, Eliza Everett, Uzair Jawad, Aubrey Rowland, Keese Shamblee, Charlotte Shumadine

Chesapeake Bay: Carson Gaddy, Jackson Henry, Sam Light, Davis McNulty, Grace Robertson, Caroline Willis 

EDI: Quinton Innis, Michael Long, Taylor McDonald, Siya Patel, Cameron Read, Sophia Yang

Global Affairs: Julia Dodd, Aditya Jain, Alejandro Lawson, Addie Lesley, Bowden Porcaro, Adaline Scott, Ella Stufflebeem