By Allis Derian

As I walked through the colorful hallways of Flippin Hall, the sounds of Middle Schoolers yelling, lockers slamming, and teachers trying to control their students transported me back to my own Middle School years. Although it’s been seven years, I clearly remember my 5th Grade advisory, thanks to Middle School teacher Kate Cunningham. 

As a teen, Cunningham attended West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia. After high school, she attended Radford University and majored in political science. She transferred to University of Virginia for a year but chose to go back to Radford because of the small size and friendships she had with other students there. After graduation, Cunningham attended graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University for a masters in education, and after she began her teaching career, she went back to VCU for a second masters degree in reading. Since 2009, she has also been an Inclusion and Belonging Representative for the Middle School, working hard to make sure our community is a “stronger and more inclusive one.” She has two sons who graduated from Collegiate as well: Spencer (’21) and Eli Billings (’24).

Cunningham began teaching Middle School history and language arts at Collegiate 21 years ago, after four years of teaching 8th graders at Pocahontas Middle School. She actually started the school newspaper there and taught the first journalism class. During her first week at Collegiate, a student introduced herself to Cunningham by telling her that she “Liked soccer and playing outside with her friends,” and Cunningham found that delightful. She explained that “5th Grade is such a magical age, because they are still kids, but their minds are developing into being such deep, analytical thinkers. It is fascinating to watch it unfold.”

When asked about her favorite part of teaching 5th Grade, she said, “It is a privilege to watch students grow up and see where their journey takes them, beyond Middle and Upper School.” 

Cunningham and her 5th Grade Advisory, The Pink Preppy Penguins, at Great Shiplock Park on the James River in October. Photo courtesy of Kate Cunningham.

One of my personal favorite memories of her all-girls advisory was the “Student Of The Week” tradition. At the beginning of the year, the whole class votes on what their class name should be for the rest of the year. Cunningham has kept this up, and this year her students from the class of 2033 are the Pink Preppy Penguins. Each student will choose another classmate’s name and wait until they are the Pink Preppy Penguin of the week. When a student is chosen at the end of the week, it is the person who has their name’s responsibility to decorate their locker. When it’s someone’s special week, the advisory plays a game where they guess different facts about her while she’s out of the room. The goal is to see how many they got right. The Pink Preppy Penguin of the week also gets to decorate the bulletin board with things that represent them and present it to the rest of the advisory. 

When I asked the Pink Preppy Penguins what they’ve been loving the most about Middle School so far, most of them said something about having a locker, or how much better the lunch is. 

Cunningham’s favorite thing to teach in her history classes are world religions, because she “loves how kids find connections between them.” When I visited her classroom on a recent morning, the students were taking a summative assessment in place of a normal test. They were drawing detailed pictures with notes about Judaism and were allowed to use the class notes that they had previously taken. The girls had a list of things that needed to be included, like two important people, a few locations, and more specific aspects of the unit. When I asked a few of the girls what they thought about this assessment, they all seemed to like it. They all used many different colors, and one girl in particular had a really amazing drawing. When I complimented it, many of her classmates were quick to tell me how great of an artist she is. 

Another tradition her class has is the “Books Read” chart on the whiteboard. There are three categories: Graphic Novel, Novel, and Verse. When a student reads a book in their free time, they get to add it to the number on the Books Read list. At the time of my visit, the girls had read, in total, 46 graphic novels, 170 novels, and ten verse books. Reading is another one of Cunningham’s favorite things to teach: “I love when a kid finds a book that they can get lost in, or that they can find themselves in.” Her students have nightly homework to read a book of their choice for 20 minutes, or to read about 20 pages. Cunningham checks in with her students often to see how much progress they’ve made, and whether or not they’re enjoying their book. 

One of my favorite things about Cunningham is that it’s very clear that she loves what she does. She loves teaching kids and watching them grow into who they become by the time they graduate. She loves seeing a student learn to love school and love reading. She puts extra time into getting to know each one of her students and helps them the best way that she can for their personal learning style. She is an amazing teacher, and I’m so lucky to have been in her advisory.