Rogers named Class of 2012 valedictorian
Derek Rogers arrived at Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro in 2009 as a high-school sophomore in need of some direction.
“My attitude and my grades were horrible,” said Rogers, a native of Richmond who is leaving Fishburne this weekend as the Class of 2012 valedictorian.
The focus and discipline that is the focus of life at Fishburne, a 130-cadet all-boys private school founded in 1879, were keys to Rogers’ eventual success.
And that success, as it came in the classroom and on the drill field, started to feed on itself. Read more
Chandler Bryant: A Summer School Success Story
Chandler Bryant was struggling through his freshman year in high school in Virginia Beach when his parents came to him with an idea.
Let’s send you to summer school at Fishburne.
“My grades were slipping a little bit, and my parents decided, Hey, how about we just send you here? It would be a good place, a good experience. So I was, like, alright. I was on the bandwagon,” said Bryant, who had such a good experience with the five-week summer-school session last summer that he decided to stay on at Fishburne for his sophomore year. Read more
Fishburne Military School contracts with AFP
Augusta Free Press will continue an ongoing relationship with Fishburne Military School to provide web and marketing services to the Waynesboro-based prep school in the 2012-2013 school year.
In addition to building upon the school news website, www.FishburneTimesConnect.org, that AFP built for FMS in the 2011-2012 school year, Augusta Free Press will produce monthly in-depth marketing pieces highlighting students, faculty, administration and programs at Fishburne using the web, digital magazine publishing and video.
FMS cadets take part in review
Tuesday was a nervewracking day for cadets at Fishburne Military School, who were under the watchful eyes of cadets from Virginia Military School for Regional Formal Inspection.
The reason for the nerves: RFI is, for all intents and purposes, “the beginning of the culmination of their school year,” said Susan Johnson, assistant superintendent at FMS.
A group of VMI cadets led by Maj. Charles Beirne conducted the review, which began bright and early at 8 a.m. and included a dress parade late Tuesday morning. Read more
FMS rallies, knocks off Southern Tech, 80-71
Southern Tech led by 16 points with 9:10 to go, but Fishburne had an answer.
The Caisson postgrads held Southern Tech to five points the rest of the way, and took the lead for good on a Jackson Trapp three-pointer with 1:22 to go en route to posting an improbable 80-71 win Friday night on the opening night of the Fishburne Caisson PG Classic.
Tech led by as many as 12 points in the first half before FMS (23-8) rallied in the late stages to take a 38-37 lead at the break on a jumper from the left corner by Trapp just before the buzzer. It remained close in the second half until an 18-3 Southern Tech run opened up a 66-50 lead at the 9:10 mark. Read more
Local photographer captures images of Haiti
From the moment the plane that brought him back from Haiti in 2010, Kevin Blackburn has been pining to go back.
“You read about writers and photographers who travel and search for a place that just pulls at their heartstrings, that sort of cultural touchstone. I love shooting in Appalachia, the work I’ve done there. But if I had to say, Haiti is that place for me – the people, the culture, just everything about it,” said Blackburn, a Waynesboro-based commercial photographer who is leaving for a two-week trip to Haiti as part of a mission trip organized by GCOM International, a faith-based group that coordinates work by photographers and videographers to create images and videos that can be used to draw attention to charitable efforts ongoing in locations around the world. Read more
The FMS Advantage: Personal touch guides cadets on college path
A group of young men in military fatigues are amassed outside Dan Baranik’s office. He has test scores to share.
“I got a 90?” one said in obvious surprise.
His comrades didn’t do as well. One said he “still has some work to do.” The others focused their energies on the cadet with the high score.
“This is every day for me,” said Baranik, the guidance director at Fishburne Military School, whose mission, as the job title would suggest, is to guide cadets at FMS on to a path to a successful, productive adulthood.
The advantage that Baranik has over counselors in public-school settings is part and parcel to the culture at Fishburne. Read more
