COVER S TOR Y
planning something hands-on and creative, but BIL
Director Cary Jamieson and BIL Lead Technologist
Shane Diller are constantly planning innovative
programming of their own.
One small example of many took place in 2017.
The BIL hosted a professor and several students
from VCU’s Department of Fashion Design and
Merchandising, who held a two-hour seminar on
upcycling denim. Emory Sutton, now a junior at
Steward, was inspired by the experience and sees
fashion in a whole new light after taking part in this
project.
“I had a previous interest in fashion, but ever since
then, it’s been my biggest passion,” Emory said.
“I study it; I watch runway shows; I became really
interested in embroidery and taught myself to
do different patterns. Just one little experience
that was totally optional completely changed my
mindset.”
Emory plans to pursue an internship with the
VCU professor she met that day, and is excited
about her potential future in the fashion industry.
“My interest in entrepreneurship also blossomed
after the fashion project at the BIL,” she said.
“The entrepreneurship program at Steward was
kicking off, and I was interested in starting my own
company, hopefully involving fashion. So when
thinking about what to major in when I go
to college, I’m hoping to major in business and
incorporate fashion into that.”
This is exactly the kind of enriching experience
that Ms. Jamieson hopes her students have when
they come to the BIL. “As the Director of the
Innovation Lab, it’s really important to me that
we take advantage of the wonderful opportunity
for exchange between Steward and the Richmond
community,” she said. “I encourage students to talk
to the experts, and I make it a goal to put those
experts in front of them. You can, of course, Google
something and figure it out on your own, but it’s
so impactful to be able to talk to someone that is
actively doing it in the world.”
REAL-WORLD APPLICATION
As often as Steward hosts innovators and experts
on our campus, we make every effort to get our
students out into the Richmond community as well.
Each September, the entire Middle School heads
off-campus during what we call Community Week.
It’s a time that students and teachers alike look
forward to every year, because it involves a kind of
engagement and education that doesn’t happen
in the classroom. This fall, the Middle School,
along with the Bryan Innovation Lab, debuted a
redesigned Community Week curriculum for grade
7 entitled “River Stewards,” centered around the
James River.
“We were the first independent school to ever do
a week-long program exploring the ecology of the
James River,” Ms. Jamieson said. “We worked with
some of the most established nonprofits in Virginia,
experts in ecology and restoration education on the
James River.”
Seventh-grade students participated in an
immersive experience led by the James River
Association and VCU’s Rice Rivers Center during
which they learned how living species all coexist
and depend on one another to make a sustainable
system. This included an overnight trip to Presquile
Island on the James River to return recycled oyster
shells to the riverbed with the VCU Rice Rivers
Center. This process aids an effort to restore
decimated oyster beds, which limits erosion and
improves water quality. The students were able to
learn not only what the impact of humans is on our
local ecology, but how they can help with solutions
and mitigation in their own lives.
“I believe being more hands-on should be the
future,” said Taylor Littleton, a representative from
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service who accompanied
the students on one of their trips to the river.
The seventh-grade team plans to continue this
program next year, and hopes that it will become a
pillar of the Middle School.
Thank you so much for
an amazing hands-on
experience. Thank you
again and I hope you
continue to inspire people
as you have me.
– Ethan Dumeer ’24, in a thank you
note to the James River Association
and the VCU Rice Rivers Center
Scan here to watch a video
about The
the Colonnade
seventh-grade
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“River Stewards”!