April 4, 2008

The Tayloe Enrichment Scholarship is not being awarded this year because investment earnings are insufficient to make an award.  Your understanding is appreciated

Tayloe Enrichment Scholarship

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Hal Tayloe (1946-2000) established an Enrichment Scholarship to encourage students to engage in independent research projects in the areas of their interest. In his own words, Hal stated, "I want to give students the opportunity to discover themselves through their active participation in their dreams through the establishment of this scholarship fund, perhaps I can help this happen for a few students." Little did Hal realize when he began teaching at HRA in 1979 that he had found a new home.  His impact on his students, their families and the programs here will long be remembered.  It will be reflected in the special programs from his community service leadership to the 9th grade river trip.  He will be remembered each year as students benefit from the Enrichment Scholarship.  Of course, Hal's real legacy will be seen in the faces of the many students he taught over more than twenty years. The essays written by the scholarship recipients follow:

Marina Snetkova
Graham Cochrane
Chris Elton
Andy Nagraj
Joe Rubinstein
Marika Yasuda
Nora Blalock

Marina Snetkova '00
This summer I had an opportunity to conduct research in political science in my native country Latvia, a small country on the coast of Baltic Sea that received its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. My family moved to the United States when I was just fifteen years old, so politics did not interest me that much then.

At the time of my award, I was a senior at Hampton Roads Academy, getting ready to enter Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. to double-major in political science and German.
The Tayloe Scholarship helped me satisfy my interest in the politics of my native country, and has also given me food for thought about my other interest-foreign languages. My visit let me practice my Russian and Latvian, and I have realized that knowledge of a language comes back to a person with practice. I was afraid that I had forgotten Latvian completely, since unlike Russian, it is not my native language. Fortunately, I was proven wrong with the help of Mr. Tayloe's Scholarship. Back to top

Graham Cochrane '01
Last summer I attended the Virginia Governor's School for the Performing Arts in the field of drama. It was a great honor and a life-changing experience for me. Before that summer, I had decided that I wanted to study acting in college. I had picked out all the major acting schools in the country to apply to in the fall. Little did I know that after living at the University of Richmond for a month with the most talented high school kids in the state, I would do a complete 180 in my career interests. I ended up spending most of my time writing, playing and even recording music. Two friends and I wrote, recorded and sold 100 copies of an original 8-song CD. Music has always been a passion of mine, but I never realized how drawn I was to the whole process of creating an album from start to finish. In my mind, it is an art form. Not just writing music, but taking the creativity and making a final "draft". It's harder and more in depth than I could've imagined and we were just making an album in a dorm room!

This was a life-changing experience for me and wouldn't have been possible without the money that was graciously given to me by the Tayloe Enrichment Scholarship. My heart goes out to you, Mr. Tayloe. I thank you for giving me an opportunity to do something different with my life. Back to top

Chris Elton '01
I first heard of the Philmont Scout Ranch from my brother, Norman, who made the trip in 1998. Since then, I had been waiting for a good chance for me to go for a challenging 10-day backpacking trek in the mountains of New Mexico Mr. Tayloe got up in homeroom to offer his scholarship to anybody interested in doing an extra-curricular, yet educational program. I quickly signed up for it and a few months later found out that I had been accepted.
Training for Philmont consisted of a lot of hiking around the area with a 40-pound backpack on. Most of this took place at either the Noland trail at the Mariners Museum or walking around the moat at Fort Monroe.

One of my favorite highlights of the trek was climbing Mount Baldy, a 12,500 ft mountain (which was kind of hard being acclimated to about 10 ft above sea level). After struggling to the top (towards the end I could barely get in 5 steps without stopping for breath), the view that we saw was incredible.

I learned a lot from Philmont, especially teamwork and a sense of self-respect. I pushed myself harder than I have for a long time. I am proud that I was able to make it. Now, facing a challenge, if I don't back down but instead keeping on taking more and more steps, I will overcome whatever lies ahead of me. I think that this is why I now look back and enjoy Philmont, and am sincerely thankful for Mr. Tayloe's scholarship for helping to make this a reality. Back to top

Andy Nagraj '02
I have been following in my older brother's footsteps and training my voice since the fall of my ninth grade year.  Singing is a passion that I hope to study further in college and to one day pursue professionally.  Last year, I began venturing out into the local music scene of the Hampton Roads community.  It so happened that I was selected to participate in a youth choir sponsored by the Virginia Chorale.  During the course of this program, I came to know the director, Bob Shoup, who also happens to be the chorus master for the Virginia Symphony Chorus.  At the end of the youth choir sessions, he asked me if I would like to join the Symphony Chorus on their summer European concert tour.  It would be the experience of a lifetime, he told me.

With the generous contribution of the Tayloe Scholarship, I was able to finance my participation in this breathtaking trip.  We sang concerts in the cities of Prague and Brno, Czech Republic; Salzburg, Austria (Mozart's hometown); and Munich, Germany.  When we were not singing, ample time was left for taking in the sights of Central Europe.  Traveling with a group of Czech musicians in lands foreign to us, we thus used music to bridge the gap in language and culture.

Perhaps the greatest gift of all was the wealth of experience I gained from other, older singers who shared their wisdom on musical technique, education, and career planning.  I am forever indebted to the Hal Tayloe Summer Enrichment Scholarship Fund for giving me the motivation to move ahead in the field of vocal music.  No matter where my singing career takes me, I will always remember my European concert debut and the gift that allowed me to get there. Students wishing to take advantage during this summer should stop by either the Upper School or Middle School office to pick up an application. Completed applications are due by the first of April. Back to top

Joe Rubinstein ‘04
This past year I received the Hal Tayloe Memorial Scholarship, which I used to help study music composition at Interlochen World Center for the Arts Summer Camp outside Traverse City, Michigan.  The program was eight weeks long.  This past summer was Interlochen’s 75th season, and its primary purpose has been to help young artists, musicians, actors, and writers develop their skills and delve further into their art.  As a composition student, my day consisted of various classes related to composition, as well as time to compose.  There was also ample opportunity for talking to friends or playing ping-pong, swimming and going to concerts.  Five days out of the week I took classes in Jazz Composition, Orchestration, 20th Century Musical Styles and Music Theory.  I also took private lessons from Zae Munn, a composer who teaches at St. Mary’s College in Indiana.  Every week there was a composer’s colloquium, in which all the composition faculty and students would get together and either talk about issues affecting composers today, or have a presentation about some composition related topic. In the sixth week guest composer Don Freund from the University of Indiana came and gave lectures and lessons. I personally wrote three pieces which were performed and recorded.  Interlochen was a truly amazing place where I learned more than I ever thought possible.  I came back with more confidence and better sense for composing. It was also fun meeting kids from around the country and the globe.  I would encourage any one who is interested in the arts to look into Interlochen, and most of all I would like to thank the Hal Tayloe Scholarship Committee for helping to make this summer possible.

Marika Yasuda  '11
I have been learning the piano for nine years and my passion for it grows bigger and bigger each year.  This year, thanks to the help of the Hal Tayloe Enrichment Scholarship, I attended an internationally recognized piano summer academy called the “International Institute for Young Musicians”.  It was held on the campus of the University of Kansas in Laurence, KS. The nature and purpose of this academy are to offer instructions of the highest caliber to serious piano students from around the world who wish to improve their mastery of piano performance.  The Hal Tayloe Scholarship made it possible for me to stay for a full four weeks of this summer academy as well as to have special private lessons by the distinguished guest teacher/legendary pianist, Mr. Emilio del Rosario.  During these incredible and intensive weeks, I’ve experienced lots of wonderful things: 12 lessons by the internationally acclaimed teacher, hours of daily practice, student recitals every night, and classes such as music theory, ear training and piano mechanism. In spite of those intense schedules, I never felt like leaving there.

I was surrounded by so many amazing talented students.  I was so inspired and motivated by them, and felt like “I’d do anything if only I could play like her/him…” And it is just priceless to make life-long friends with them who have the same dream, share the same passion and understand what it takes to do great at school and at piano as well.  The bond among us gets very strong.  Instead of being competitive, they are very nice, funny, encouraging, and extremely fun to around. It was definitely the best and most meaningful summer of all in my life.  I thank my school HRA and the beloved teacher Mr. Tayloe who created such a wonderful scholarship. Now I am not afraid of dreaming big and would not give it up easily no matter how hard it is.

Nora Blalock '09
Nine outstanding days.   The best nine days of my life.  The World Leadership Congress I attended in July 2007 absolutely changed my life.  How many people can say that they have learned practical jokes from teenagers from Taiwan, bet on a baseball game with girls from the Dominican Republic and Mexico, or played basketball with a boy from Germany?  What about that two of your best friends live in Texas and Ethiopia, or that you have discussed the health care crisis with a friend from Toronto.
After receiving the Tayloe Scholarship last May, I was able to fund my trip to Washington, D.C.  After arriving, the 500 attendees from all over the world were divided into separate sections which were then split into four or five groups. You ended up knowing the people in your section very well.  The first night in my dorm room, I was pleased to discover that my three roommates were all very interesting, open-minded and a lot of fun.  The four of us got along magnificently and would stay up until dawn discussing the day’s events. 
During the program, we were trained to be better leaders in our community, as well as better people.  We spent about four or five hours of the day in panel sessions, facilitated by leaders from various fields.  For example, we were able to listen to and meet a co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, the Secretary of Education, the inventor of the Hubble Space Telescope and Miss Teen U.S.A.  While some of the panels were more exciting than others, they were all helpful and applicable to our lives.
It was not a case of “all work and no play” however.  We were able to do a lot of enjoyable activities around D.C.  We saw a Nationals baseball game (which I’m happy to say they won), visited various museums and monuments, went on a cruise on the Spirit of Washington and had a few dances.  One day had a community service theme, and my group participated in Habitat for Humanity.  We were able to help build and paint houses in the less affluent districts of the city and really helped make a difference.  After five hours of hammering, dry-walling and nail-gunning, I was exhausted.  There was never a free moment though, as that night we had a cookout with Hugh O’Brian (the actor who started the program) and a talent show.  We had an authentic Hawaiian dance, a Kenyan drum beat, an English punk rocker and many more.
The Hugh O’Brien Youth World Leadership Conference  was the most amazing experience of my life and taught me so much.  I am still in contact with all of the friends that I made, whether through face book, phone conversations, E-mails, or letters.  These people changed my life, especially the international ambassadors, who gave me a whole new perspective on life.  Abel from Ethiopia was blind and impoverished but had amazing talent on the piano and had his way paid there by a missionary who had visited his hut.  Mandy from Taiwan deals with the pressure that China imposes on her country’s government every day, and it is a very emotional topic for her.  Alexa was the only girl in her family to ever go to high school, or even leave her small town in Argentina.
These people all influenced my life and made me a better person.  All of the participants’ amazing accomplishments encouraged me to do something of my own.  This year I formed a club supporting CHKD, which has made a difference in my life.  We have had amazing success for this new club.  I am so proud of all of my members and the enthusiasm they have to the program.  CHKD Club consists of fundraising, which goes directly to the hospital, raising awareness and actually going to visit and do fun activities with the sick children. 
For any rising or current sophomores, I encourage you to sign up for HOBY VA and HOBY WLC.  It will be scary at first – I   spent many sleepless nights nervously anticipating – but it will be better than you could ever have imagined.  Come prepared with a good attitude and a willingness to make a difference, and you won’t regret it.  If anyone has any questions, or wants to know more, feel free to contact me.

The Hal Tayloe Scholarship Fund
For more information, please contact
Audrey Smith, Director of Development
at (757) 884-9151
Email: asmith@hra.org