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. 

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 2024, they also will go on trips, learning and bonding with their own group projects.

Students enter the Fellows program in 10th grade. New Fellows for the 2024-25 school year, who will graduate in 2027, 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. 

2024 Fellows selections