Exciting New Additions
Opening of the New Lower School Wing and Dining Hall
In a ribbon cutting ceremony on a crisp morning in early January, Hampton Roads Academy celebrated the conclusion of the largest campaign in the school’s history and the official opening of the Mary and Larry Pope Dining Hall, Rona and Erwin Drucker Lower School and the Martha H. Patten Hydroponics Lab.
Through the generous support of more than 350 donors, including 100 percent of HRA’s faculty and staff and 100 percent of HRA’s Board of Trustees, the “Navigating Our Course” campaign funded the 400-seat full-service dining hall, new Lower School wing with 12 spacious classrooms, an Innovation Lab/Makerspace and a unique 1,000 square foot hydroponics lab. Hampton Roads Academy worked with W. M. Jordan Company, James River Architects and Bayfront Development on this project.
HRA Head of School Peter W. Mertz, Campaign Chair Wendy Drucker ’76 and Board of Trustees Chair Keith Vander Vennet ‘83 led the ceremony and student leaders cut the ribbon to open the doors to the new building while students, faculty, staff, donors and invited guests celebrated. “HRA is committed to a process of continual improvement for our students, their families and the broader Hampton Roads community,” said Head of School Peter W. Mertz. “The addition of the Lower School wing, dining hall and hydroponics lab represents a milestone on this journey in pursuit of excellence.”
Hampton Roads Academy’s new state-of-the-art Mary and Larry Pope Dining Hall, with a full-service professional kitchen, provides every student with a daily selection of healthy meals. It is conceived as a space in which the HRA community can come together to break bread, develop social skills and build relationships. Fostering a sense of community and closeness is a hallmark of HRA and this new space reflects the school’s commitment to healthy bodies and healthy minds.
The new Rona and Erwin Drucker Lower School wing features 12 large, bright classrooms with enhanced 21st-century learning opportunities. A large, flexible Innovation Lab/Makerspace is at the center of the Lower School and accessible to all HRA students.
A unique feature that connects the dining hall and Lower School wing is the 1,000-square-foot Martha H. Patten Hydroponics Lab. The laboratory includes vertical growing towers of leafy greens for HRA’s dining hall with the potential to grow other fruits and vegetables. Beyond providing produce for the dining hall, this space has become the perfect backdrop for innovative academic lessons and supports HRA’s concentration in community service as extra produce. In its first gift to the community, HRA donated nearly 60 heads of lettuce and nearly 40 pounds of perishable items to the Peninsula Foodbank.
Barely three months later, having settled into the smooth routine of creating and delivering hundreds of daily lunches into the hands of eager and happy students, Covid-19 arrived and large indoor gatherings were prohibited. The dining hall ceased to be the joyous gathering space it had become. Nevertheless, there has been an unforeseen silver lining. With the addition of twelve new classrooms and the cavernous space of the dining hall, HRA has had the good fortune to have ample room in which to spread out and accommodate physical distancing, allowing a full complement of current and new students to start school this year safely. Meanwhile, in a monumental and swift undertaking, Chef Uwe and his staff re-envisioned the menus, sourced individual packaging for the food, and scheduled staggered delivery of lunches so that HRA could continue to provide healthy meals for the students. We are very happy to have our lunches still - but looking forward exceedingly to the day when we can come together again and enjoy them in the great new hall.
Through the generous support of more than 350 donors, including 100 percent of HRA’s faculty and staff and 100 percent of HRA’s Board of Trustees, the “Navigating Our Course” campaign funded the 400-seat full-service dining hall, new Lower School wing with 12 spacious classrooms, an Innovation Lab/Makerspace and a unique 1,000 square foot hydroponics lab. Hampton Roads Academy worked with W. M. Jordan Company, James River Architects and Bayfront Development on this project.
HRA Head of School Peter W. Mertz, Campaign Chair Wendy Drucker ’76 and Board of Trustees Chair Keith Vander Vennet ‘83 led the ceremony and student leaders cut the ribbon to open the doors to the new building while students, faculty, staff, donors and invited guests celebrated. “HRA is committed to a process of continual improvement for our students, their families and the broader Hampton Roads community,” said Head of School Peter W. Mertz. “The addition of the Lower School wing, dining hall and hydroponics lab represents a milestone on this journey in pursuit of excellence.”
Hampton Roads Academy’s new state-of-the-art Mary and Larry Pope Dining Hall, with a full-service professional kitchen, provides every student with a daily selection of healthy meals. It is conceived as a space in which the HRA community can come together to break bread, develop social skills and build relationships. Fostering a sense of community and closeness is a hallmark of HRA and this new space reflects the school’s commitment to healthy bodies and healthy minds.
The new Rona and Erwin Drucker Lower School wing features 12 large, bright classrooms with enhanced 21st-century learning opportunities. A large, flexible Innovation Lab/Makerspace is at the center of the Lower School and accessible to all HRA students.
A unique feature that connects the dining hall and Lower School wing is the 1,000-square-foot Martha H. Patten Hydroponics Lab. The laboratory includes vertical growing towers of leafy greens for HRA’s dining hall with the potential to grow other fruits and vegetables. Beyond providing produce for the dining hall, this space has become the perfect backdrop for innovative academic lessons and supports HRA’s concentration in community service as extra produce. In its first gift to the community, HRA donated nearly 60 heads of lettuce and nearly 40 pounds of perishable items to the Peninsula Foodbank.
Barely three months later, having settled into the smooth routine of creating and delivering hundreds of daily lunches into the hands of eager and happy students, Covid-19 arrived and large indoor gatherings were prohibited. The dining hall ceased to be the joyous gathering space it had become. Nevertheless, there has been an unforeseen silver lining. With the addition of twelve new classrooms and the cavernous space of the dining hall, HRA has had the good fortune to have ample room in which to spread out and accommodate physical distancing, allowing a full complement of current and new students to start school this year safely. Meanwhile, in a monumental and swift undertaking, Chef Uwe and his staff re-envisioned the menus, sourced individual packaging for the food, and scheduled staggered delivery of lunches so that HRA could continue to provide healthy meals for the students. We are very happy to have our lunches still - but looking forward exceedingly to the day when we can come together again and enjoy them in the great new hall.
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Chef Uwe Joins Hampton Roads Academy
Meet HRA’s new Executive Chef Uwe Schulszas! Chef comes to HRA after serving more than 18 years as a Chef at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg. He has extensive training and more than 40 years of experience beginning in his native country of Germany.
Chef’s culinary career has taken him to many locations around the world including Austria, Luxembourg, France, England and Switzerland. After serving as the Executive Pastry Chef at Castle Harbor Resort in Bermuda, Chef held head chef and front of house positions at major hotels in San Antonio, Denver and Atlanta before moving to Williamsburg. We are beyond fortunate to welcome him to the HRA community.
Chef Uwe provides every student and faculty an individually packaged meal this year to ensure we are maintaining a safe environment during Covid-19. We are very thankful for Chef’s deification to providing healthy and safe meals for the HRA community!
Chef’s culinary career has taken him to many locations around the world including Austria, Luxembourg, France, England and Switzerland. After serving as the Executive Pastry Chef at Castle Harbor Resort in Bermuda, Chef held head chef and front of house positions at major hotels in San Antonio, Denver and Atlanta before moving to Williamsburg. We are beyond fortunate to welcome him to the HRA community.
Chef Uwe provides every student and faculty an individually packaged meal this year to ensure we are maintaining a safe environment during Covid-19. We are very thankful for Chef’s deification to providing healthy and safe meals for the HRA community!
Hampton Roads Academy
HRA is accredited through the Virginia Association of Independent Schools, a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and is a National Blue Ribbon School.
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