Woodlawn Selects Paul Capodanno as School's Athletic Director

Written on 22 July 2019.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Woodlawn School is proud to announce that Paul Capodanno has taken the helm of its Athletic Department. “Coach Cap,” as he is known, brings a wealth of experience to the school. He played college basketball at the Division III level; he has coached boys and girls basketball and tennis at the Varsity and JV levels at independent schools such as Cape Fear Academy and The John Carroll School. He has extensive experience coaching Amateur Athletic Union basketball teams and led teams that competed successfully at the national level. Over the years, twenty of his players have progressed to play at the Division I college level, and dozens more have enjoyed competing at the D II and D III level.

Paul Zanowski Selected as Head of School

Written on 14 February 2019.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Board of Trustees of Woodlawn School is pleased to announce the selection of Paul Zanowski as our next Head of School, beginning July 1, 2019. Mr. Zanowski comes to Woodlawn from Kenston Forest School in Blackstone, Virginia, where he currently serves as Head of School.

The selection is the result of an extensive national search conducted by the members of the Board-selected Search Committee and assisted by Educational Directions, a search consulting firm based in Providence, Rhode Island. The committee selected three candidates as finalists who visited Woodlawn in January and met with students, faculty members, and parents. Mr. Zanowski received the enthusiastic support of the Board of Trustees, who made the final selection.

McGeough Selected as NCISAA 1A Cross Country Athlete of the Year

Written on 14 November 2018.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Woodlawn sophomore Jackson McGeough dominated the North Carolina independent school 1A cross country scene this season and was an easy selection as 1A Cross Country Athlete of the Year by the NCISAA coach's association. In addition to winning the 1A state championship race, Jackson was undefeated in SPAA conference races this season. The Athlete of the Year honor is no stranger to Woodlawn, as Jackson's former teammates Quinn Schneider '17 and Tripp Berini '18 won the award in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Jackson's varsity cross country journey started even before he entered upper school - as an eighth grader, he set a personal best 5K time of 19:24 at the 1A state championship meet. More importantly, he placed 14th at that meet (fourth for Woodlawn). Normally, the fourth spot on any given team does not affect the team standings (in 1A competition, the top three runners for each team determine the team score), but in this meet both Woodlawn and Halifax ended up with 16 points and tied for first place. To break the tie, the fourth runner's finish for each team is used - and Jackson handily outran his counterpart from Halifax, allowing the Trailblazers to squeak by for their third straight state title.

As a freshman in 2017, Jackson amped up his training and lowered his personal best 5K time to 18:45, good for the #8 spot on Woodlawn's all-time 5K performance list. He achieved this mark at the SPAA Conference Championship meet, where he finished as the runner-up to teammate Berini. He followed up his All-Conference performance with a 3rd place finish at the 1A state meet in a nearly identical time.

This year, Jackson knew that the front-running responsibilities would fall on his shoulders, and he reported to practice in much better shape than his freshman season By mid-September, he had already equaled his 5K personal record from the previous year, spurring him on to work even harder. A couple weeks later at the United Way Invitational in Newton, Jackson ran a brilliant race in driving rain and sloppy conditions, finishing in a new personal best time of 17:46 and taking over the #5 spot on Woodlawn's all-time 5K list. The following week at the NCISAA 1A state meet, he dealt with terrible course conditions and a surprise contender from Greenfield School before powering across the finish line to win the individual title - the fourth straight year that a Woodlawn runner claimed that prize.

Coach Dwayne Bowman noted that Jackson clearly enjoys the team aspect of cross country and is quick to shift the focus from his individual honors to the team goals and achievements. Coach Bowman stated, “Jackson's only disappointment this year was that our team could not quite manage to win the state title - losing by a single point to an upset-minded Greenfield team. But his personal accomplishments this year were outstanding and I look forward to his continued improvement and team leadership over the next two years.”

Jackson was joined by three other Woodlawn runners as a 2018 first-team 1A All-State selection: Jesse Jacobson '20, Ally Fleming '19, and Adina Jacobson '23.

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Woodlawn is an independent school founded in 2002 and located just north of Davidson, North Carolina. Enrolling students in grades K through 12, Woodlawn is accredited by both the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and offers a challenging, project-based academic experience.

Bob Shirley Honored with 2018 SAIS Distinguished Service Award

Written on 01 November 2018.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) announced that Woodlawn's former Interim Head of School and current Board Member, Dr. Bob Shirley, has been selected as the recipient of its 2018 Distinguished Service Award. The award is given annually by SAIS to a head of school or senior administrator in recognition of a long and distinguished career in independent education.

Bob Shirley's journey through the world of independent school education spans over 50 years and has touched thousands of lives, especially in the Carolinas. A large portion of his career was spent at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, SC, where he was head of school from 1978-2000. From 2000-2012, Shirley was the executive director for the National Center for Independent School Renewal, but also held other school positions during that tenure. In 2000, he took on the role of interim head at Gaston Day School in Gastonia, NC, and in 2001 served as interim head at Bimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill, MA. In 2003-2004, Shirley took a short departure from education as the interim executive director at the Columbia Museum of Art. He served as head of Charleston Collegiate School in Charleston, SC, from 2005-2011, and as interim head at Woodlawn from 2014-2016.

"Bob came to Woodlawn at a critical juncture," stated Woodlawn Founder and former Board Chair Dwayne Bowman. "We were very fortunate to benefit from his wealth of experience and knowledge, as well as his down-to-earth and empathetic style of leadership. He succeeded in bringing together our school community and growing enrollment to the highest level in school history." Bob resides in Columbia, SC with his wife, Thrace. He has served on Woodlawn's Board of Trustees since 2016.

Two Seniors Named 2019 National Merit Commended Students

Written on 25 September 2018.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Interim Head of School Rob Blackwell announced today that Jack Hager and Morgan Klein have been named Commended Students in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, will be presented to these scholastically talented seniors. Both Jack and Morgan reside in Davidson and have attended Woodlawn since the third and fourth grade respectively.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2019 competition for National Merit Scholarship Awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2019 competition by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

“The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

Seven graduates named Advanced Placement Scholars

Written on 25 July 2018.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Seven of the eleven 2018 Woodlawn graduates have qualified for an Advanced Placement award, given to students who earn high scores on Advanced Placement exams during their high school years. Out of Woodlawn's 103 graduates over the past 9 years, 59 (57% of graduates) have earned an AP award.

Advanced Placement is a program offered by the College Board that gives students a chance to take college-level courses while still in high school. Woodlawn offers eight AP courses to upper school students who are looking for a challenging academic experience. Many colleges and universities grant college credit and/or accelerated class placement to students who score well on AP exams. Exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5.

Among our 2018 graduates, six students earned the "AP Scholar" designation, which requires scores of 3 or higher on at least three AP exams. Additionally, one student was named an "AP Scholar with Distinction", which requires scores of 3 or higher on at least five AP exams, with an average of 3.5 for all AP exams taken. Looking ahead to 2019, 12 students in that graduating class have already qualified for an AP Scholar award.

The 59 Woodlawn AP Scholars represent each of our nine graduating classes, and six of those students have earned the highest AP award - the National AP Scholar designation. Only about 1% of AP students nationwide receive that award each year.