Denise’s Story: In the summer of 1995, a friend from my church introduced me to a new school called Rockbridge Academy. She had enrolled her daughter, and I was homeschooling my oldest son. She invited me to an open house for Rockbridge Academy. It was in the home of the Tuckers where I first learned about classical Christian education.
In the fall of 1998, my sister, Jan Horst, began to teach music at Rockbridge. By that time, I had enrolled both my older children in public school. I remember crying because my children were singing “Frosty the Snowman” at holiday concerts, while my sister’s children were singing “God’s Son Has Set Me Free” at Christmas concerts! At that time, we earnestly began to pray that God would open a door for us to enroll our children in Rockbridge.
“We earnestly began to pray that God would open a door for us to enroll our children in Rockbridge.”
In the fall of 2001, when the school was beginning its seventh year and offered classes from K-10th grade, my husband Steve began teaching physical education at Rockbridge, and I began teaching third grade. All four of our children were enrolled, and Steve stayed for three years, beginning the athletic program with soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. He obtained permission to use the fields in the Arden Community that are still being used today!
I stayed to teach third grade for 10 years. Through the curriculum provided by the administration and the blessing of many continuing education opportunities by the school, I grew more than my students. I learned about Shurley grammar and about the history of Ancient Greece and Rome and their impact on scientific discovery. I even taught myself how to write in Zaner-Bloser cursive so I could model it for my students. Also, I loved singing with my students, so I was able to develop and introduce much of the needed curriculum through songs that are still used today, especially in Bible class.
During this time, I witnessed much development and growth throughout the school. A significant part of the growth began in the 2004-05 school year. Rockbridge’s newly-hired Upper School Principal helped fuel growth in numbers and leadership opportunities for upper class students. My oldest son graduated in 2007 with a class of seven students and my daughter graduated in 2009 with a class of eleven, but by the time my younger daughter and son graduated in 2013 and 2015, they were part of classes that had two sections with totals of 26 and 32. Rockbridge began partaking in competitions on a state and national level, including oratory, art, music, debate, and athletic competitions. The emphasis on godliness and pursuit of excellence in all these opportunities made Rockbridge a place that parents began to hear about and seek out for their own children. All of us are very grateful for those first pioneer families who diligently forged first-time oral exams, grand tours, soirees, thesis presentations, and graduation ceremonies, creating a beautiful counter-cultural pathway for all who followed.
In the spring of 2011, halfway through my 20 years at Rockbridge, my husband had open heart surgery, and I needed a long-term substitute. God provided, and her name was Jacque Touhey! She did a great job, and I sent my lesson plans and grading back and forth to her with my daughter, Mary, a sophomore who had just gotten her driver’s license. During this challenging time, the headmaster came to my home to visit. I thought he wanted to see how my husband was recuperating, but the visit involved more than that. He informed me that our Director of Instruction was leaving and that he wanted me to take the position. By that time, apart from fourth grade, I had experienced every grade in the school as a parent. I believed that God was calling me into the administration and that He would equip me to come alongside and assist Headmaster Mike McKenna and Upper School Principal Ralph Janikowsky in leading the school.
During the next five years I focused much of my attention on training new teachers, assisting foreign and special-needs students, overseeing annual testing, being a thesis advisor for many juniors and seniors, providing annual professional development, and much more. The school was growing, and the tasks of shepherding a growing number of students and faculty were exhausting. The following year, Roy Griffith, was “stolen” from fifth grade to oversee the entire grammar school. I then had the privilege of assisting both lower and upper school principals in addition to the headmaster! There were many “other duties as assigned” in those years.
In 2015, our headmaster of 15 years moved from the area along with our upper school principal. Both talented and godly men went on to lead other classical and Christian schools, but this presented a significant change in leadership. Wisely, the board selected Roy Griffith to the headmaster position. I slipped into Roy’s grammar principal slot, Jerry Keehner became upper school principal, and I argued for two “directors of instruction,” one to assist each principal. It was at that point that I hired Brooke Voelp to be my right hand (probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done). My five years as grammar principal were filled with change. A full-day kindergarten option began, before-care Bible times and after-care homework help were initiated. A fun Christmas event in PE called the Reindeer Run developed into running each morning recess, and in 2017 Monday Morning Catechism began with K-3 students at the Rock. The biggest surprise of all was the Rockbridge board leading us into our own building just in time to provide the space that Covid laws would require. Being able to stay open when public schools went online and many private schools closed made us the best option for parents who may not have heard about us yet.
I am very grateful for my 20 years at Rockbridge Academy. Being a contributor to this work of God in our area is one of the greatest blessings of my life.
