Dear BRS alumni, parents of alumni and dear friends:

What a memorable few days it has been! We hope this finds you and yours well, safe, and making the best of these unusual times. In this time of infection curves, economic stress and more questions than answers, we bring you news from campus about how Blue Ridge School is managing through the COVID-19 situation.

First and foremost, please know that things in St. George remain positive and productive. While this is an unprecedented challenge for us all, we are very proud of our community in responding to the pandemic thus far.

Here are several reasons why:

• Headmaster Darrin and our team were quick to respond to news of COVID-19. Early decisions about campus safety, staffing and facilities are serving our community well. Campus is surprisingly lively, albeit with social distancing! Most of our faculty and families are here, a small group of students are in the dorms, and our amazing housekeeping, dining, and facilities teams are doing a great job supporting us all. Spring flowers and trees are emerging, and the grounds are as beautiful as ever.
• In just six days, our Dean of Faculty Pete Bonds, Director of Technology Wayne Peterson and Technology Coordinator Chuck Pace led a remarkable effort to create – from scratch! – an online learning platform for our students. What Pete designed is far more than a simple Google classroom where you exchange documents, read, and report. Instead, we are having live video classes, and our boys have a full academic schedule – including college counselling, guidance, and advising sessions. This is simply extraordinary, illustrating yet again the abilities of our remarkable faculty.
• Admission work for Fall, 2020 continues. Our External Affairs team is literally in seven different places across Central Virginia. Yet, we are staying closely connected, and the essential work of reviewing, accepting, and contracting students for September continues. Led by Senior Director of Enrollment Jamie Miller ’94, we are in touch with families across America and around the world and the student body for 2020/21 is already coming together.
• The BRS Parent Council, led by Sherry Sinor (Jack ’21 – Houston, Texas), is playing a hugely important role. Next week, Sherry and her leadership team will initiate parent-to-parent group video chats, as a support to moms and dads who suddenly find themselves managing their sons learning at home under very unusual circumstances.
• Also of note, our coaches are designing physical fitness challenges and competition to keep our boys active, using an app called Strava. Our Honor Council and Student Council are also learning how to do their important work via video and email.
• Perhaps most important, we have not yet given up on 2019/20! We aim to come together again at some point to celebrate the Class of 2020 with a graduation by the lake the Blue Ridge way. One Blue Ridge 2020, our annual effort on behalf of The Baron Fund, will also continue – hopefully bringing our year to a triumphant close on May 31.

Earlier this week, I was writing an email to one of our most loyal supporters and these words emerged – “more than ever, the world needs more Blue Ridge Barons.”  You and yours are examples of what makes our wonderful school unique, and this extraordinary place would not exist without you. As always and more than ever, thank you.

We are here and we would love to hear from you! If you have questions of any kind just let us know, or better yet – send us updates about you and just say hello. Especially at a time like this, we are all fortunate to be members of the Blue Ridge School family.

Go Barons!

D. Franklin Daniels, Jr.
Associate Headmaster for External Affairs
434.992.0503
fdaniels@blueridgeschool.com