Ode to Summer in Photos

Katie Botha • August 7, 2022

Did your kids relax by the pool this summer or maybe your family hit the road? We would love to hear from you and feature photos of SMCS families in our Ode to Summer online album which we will share in our first Friday Flash e-newsletter.

Send your best shots and a short note via email to Katie Botha. Submissions may be edited for brevity and clarity. We can’t wait to see what our Mighty Monarchs have been doing with their summer break!

Check out these early submissions from recent graduate, Ella W. and rising 8th grader, Emma B.

A note from Ella & Priya’s Dad: “Ella (Class of ’22) recently completed the north ridge of Mount Baker in the north cascades of Washington state. Her summit of the north ridge of Mt. Baker (10,700 feet) took 15 hours from tent to tent and required two nights sleeping on the mountain side. Prior to her climb in the North Cascades, Ella has done some rock climbing in Seneca Rocks, WV and summited Mount Washington in New Hampshire in February 2020 at age 11. That particular endeavor took 11 hours in conditions that were below freezing with winds up to 40 mph (summit picture below). As some of you know, Ella will attend the Maggie L Walker Governor’s school this fall and will continue to focus her extra curricular activities on art and tennis. Thank you for permitting a proud father to share his daughter’s success with you. I give credit to the SMCS community for helping shape Ella and Priya (her younger sister) into responsible, diligent young women!”

Above: Rising 8th grader, Emma B. poses with Dr. Shari Barkin, the newly named Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

Note from Emma’s Dad: “In late July, Emma was asked to interview Dr. Barkin as part of a fun introduction video for Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. She did such a great job, they have promised to reach out to our ‘news anchor in the making’ again soon! You can check out the YouTube video of the interview below.”

Above: Emma B. conducts a “Get to Know” Dr. Barkin interview now live on VCU Health’s YouTube channel!
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