In Pursuit of Knowledge

Through NCS summer fellowships, 31 Upper School students traveled around the country and the world in pursuit of experiences to expand their horizons and feed their curiosity. Check out a sampling of their projects.

 

Dedicated to National Cathedral School’s core value of service, the Reynolds Service Fellowship encourages students to make a difference in their world. It is intended to help inspire students to serve in meaningful ways, contribute to the greater good, and respond with conscious connection and purpose to the needs of others.

Kaylee Burkett and Morgan Rice headed west for a week of hands-on work with Jewish Family Services of San Diego (JFS SD), a social service organization that supports local children, families, and older adults. Their learning included both practical and more general lessons.

On the practical side, the students learned the fastest ways to sort oranges, how to climb on crates to reach hidden boxes of oatmeal, and how to quickly scoop frozen peas. They also learned important skills and approaches: compassion, through interactions with the populations they served, teamwork, from the other volunteers, and perseverance—working outside in San Diego heat in the middle of summer. Burkett says she learned “how I can take service into my own hands, no matter how big or small.”

The program generated ideas for local solutions. The JFS SD has a “Safe Parking” program where individuals who are unhoused can park on their campus with full security 24 hours a day. Burkett and Rice recognized that there are opportunities to research and get involved with programs in D.C. that serve these populations.

The Haile Climate Change Fellowship gives NCS students an opportunity to explore a climate solutions pathway that addresses one aspect of the climate crisis. Students are encouraged to look at climate change through different lenses—economics, scientific, political, societal and/or design.

Quinn Van Konynenburg’s interest in finding solutions to climate change drove her to apply for the Haile Fellowship. She focused on biomimicry—the practice of learning from and copying materials, structures, and systems found in nature— specifically studying animal adaptations to find solutions to climate change at a camp at the University of North Carolina.

The camp helped Van Konynenburg research biomimicry with the intention to get others interested in the subject. Her long-running interest in plankton and what they can tell us about ocean health started with a fifth-grade science project. Now she is eager to learn more about these microscopic creatures that have such a big impact on the environment.

One highlight for Van Konynenburg was learning about products that use biomimicry already on the market. As part of her research, she read papers on animal adaptations and the products they inspire. Her focus was on the ocean carbon pump's parallels with how plankton, through photosynthesis, suck carbon into the ocean and release oxygen. She intends to continue her exploration of this crucial part of how carbon emissions can leave the atmosphere.

Honoring the life and work of Sandra Adler Leibowitz, former French teacher at National Cathedral School, this fellowship supports students' immersive work and continued learning in a chosen language, spanning an intended period of two years.

Ava Cleary participated in a three-week program to improve her written and spoken Mandarin through linguistic and cultural immersion at National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center.

With this opportunity, Cleary improved her language skills, practicing the language’s four tones. She also experienced the culture of the country, gaining insights into the values, local etiquette, food, clothing, music, and trends among youth. Supplemental cultural experiences included traditional arts exploration, a traditional tea ceremony, language enhancement, field trips, and sports classes.

The Leibowitz Fellowship extends throughout the year; Cleary will continue learning with online language tutoring.

Established in 2017 by Dr. Richard Jonas and Mrs. Katherine Vernot-Jonas, the Vernot-Jonas Family Fellowship is an educational travel and study fellowship that provides financial support for sophomores or juniors with innovative ideas and demonstrated passion in creating a more inclusive and just society.

Corinne Graham and Taylor Guzman examined post-secondary educational opportunities for people with Down syndrome and how neurotypical people can be better allies. They originally focused on legislation, as they thought that current bills or political campaigns regarding people with disabilities would be an engaging topic. However, after attending the National Down Syndrome Congress’s 51st Annual Convention, they found that post-secondary education was a more pertinent and relatable topic.

Guzman and Graham are currently developing a seminar for high school students about the educational opportunities for neurodivergent students and how neurotypical students can be involved. Many colleges in the United States offer skills-based degree programs, and neurotypical students can volunteer to be roommates, mentors, and members of inclusive fraternities with the people these programs serve. Guzman and Graham will give this seminar at NCS and hope to share it with other high schools in the area.

Both students still follow legislative initiatives relating to minimum wage for neurodivergent employees and shared asset maximums for married couples in which both partners have a disability.

The Lauren Sarah Hester Fellowship, generously endowed in loving memory of Lauren Sarah Hester ’87 by her family, provides an opportunity for rising seniors to undertake a summer independent study project or travel program outside the Washington metropolitan area.

To deepen her understanding of Gothic architecture and the history of cathedrals, Annalise Ross traveled to England and France to visit many notable cathedrals. She also traveled to New York City, to tour the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest cathedral in the world.

She spent hours in each structure, taking photographs and experiencing the details and full scope of each cathedral. Her visits provided a deep appreciation for an intersectional approach to studying cathedrals. Ross recognized that history, religion, philosophy, politics, culture, and art are factors in shaping the spaces. That perspective has expanded beyond her experiences with cathedrals and led her to view the world as an interconnected web where many factors play into a single structure or event.

Ross intended to focus on modernization and restoration efforts, but limited time meant that she focused more broadly on the architectural and historical aspects. She was able to delve into the archaeology centered around cathedrals, which has only fueled her interest in cathedrals, archaeology, and medieval history.

Abbey Shumsky studied sectarianism and polarization for a month in Northern Ireland, specifically in Belfast, Derry/ Londonderry, Ballycastle, and Ballymoney. Her research included meetings with ex-combatants, politicians, community leaders, and academics.
Through her travels and conversations, she observed polarization and sectarianism, particularly surrounding the 12th of July and Marching Season. She also examined issues and implemented initiatives to resolve conflicts and minimize polarization.

“Under the Influence of a Developing Economy: Bangalore’s Women in STEM”
Tara Shivakumar ’24
 
Established in 2020 by Carol Armstrong Dillon ’63 and Tom Dillon, the fellowship honors the leadership of Kathleen O’Neill Jamieson as the 10th Head of National Cathedral School by encouraging students to deeply explore areas of interest.

For Tara Shivakumar’s fellowship, she traveled to Bangalore, India, to engage in a two-part project. First, she interviewed several women and one trans non-binary person in the STEM field. Her questions focused on their professional experiences and how their gender has impacted those experiences. She quickly learned that to conduct a successful interview, she had to understand the experience of her subjects on a deeper level.

For the second part of Shivakumar’s fellowship, she composed a children’s book, Engineering Her Own Path, available on a platform called Storyweaver. The project combined her skills in comic art with her interest in international affairs. On the way, she learned that art can be harnessed as a tool to amplify her own interests and messages, as well as to share the experiences of other people.

Clara Roberti served as an intern at Women’s Campaign International, an NGO that empowers women to engage in public advocacy, entrepreneurship, public health, and international relief in the United States, emerging democracies, and democracies in conflict.

The organization put Roberti to work on social media content creation and grant writing. Through these roles, Roberti expanded her understanding of the situations of women in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and South Korea. She also learned how NGOs work and how they collaborate with governments and peer organizations. In addition to gaining this insight into these types of collaborations, Roberti became more familiar with microfinance and education programs. Both are experiences she will incorporate in her higher education and a planned career in international politics and diplomacy.

 

“A Peoples’ Story: A Study of African American Culture Through History and Fashion”
Bendu Joemah ’24
 
Established in 2017, the Parents Association Visual Arts Fellowship supports the exploration of the visual arts outside the classroom. In encouraging students to develop burgeoning artistic interests, it can reinforce the NCS core value of courage.

Bendu Joemah created an exhibit of African American clothing from different eras to deepen her understanding of African American history and culture. Her project focused on “the story that clothing creates,” and focused primarily on the 1920s, 1960s, and 1990s.

To learn about fashion styles and trends, Joemah studied vintage clothing and interviewed fashion, history, and curation experts. As her project coincided with the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, she analyzed the movement from a fashion perspective.

Through her research, Joemah better understood the importance of individual identity as well as group identity as a way of empowerment. Her goal was to learn more about African American history “through the story that clothing creates." She interviewed fashion, history, and curation experts to inform her collection.