Community School Roanoke VA

📣 Breaking News!! The Community School Class of 2026 has officially graduated!

This morning, our Seminarians took the stage at Celebration, delivering heartfelt and inspirational speeches. We are so proud of them and cannot wait to see all that lies ahead. Congratulations, Seminar Class of 2026! 🎉

A huge thank you to Elena and the Spanish III class for hosting an epic Water Day! It was the perfect way to wrap up the school year and so much fun to see students from all levels come together for some well-deserved fun in the sun! 🌞

Community School alum Alex Bentley, a scientist living in the Ecuadorian Amazon, partnered with a 101-year-old farmer to catalog his lifelong amateur snake collection. What began as a personal passion project has since grown into a full scientific survey of one of the most diverse snake habitats on Earth. Their remarkable collaboration was recently featured in the New York Times.

A Hidden Treasure of Rare Snake Specimens In the foothills of the Ecuadorean Amazon, a 101-year-old farmer and a young scientist turned an amateur collection into a scientific survey of one of the most diverse snake habitats on Earth.

This year’s Arts Festival was a vibrant and exciting showcase of our students’ talent and months of hard work.

At Community School, the arts are not an extra but a core part of every student’s experience. Watching our students perform, display their artwork, and share their creativity is a powerful reminder of why that matters. These experiences build resilience, confidence, collaboration, and a love for the arts that extend far beyond the stage and the art room.

A huge thank you to our Arts Team: Karen Childers, Kim Mucha, Melanie Fox, and Ruth Ann Hannah. We are so proud of our students and grateful for this wonderful community!

Here's a sneak peek at the 2026 Arts Festival Visual Arts Showcase! Our students from preschool through middle school have created a beautiful ocean-themed exhibit featuring collage, oil pastel, ceramics, mosaic, and more. Be sure to join us at the Hollins University Athletic Center on May 21 and 22 to see the full show.

The Arts Festival also comes to Hollins Theatre this week. Catch the middle school musical on Thursday at 4:30 pm, and on Friday at 10:00 am enjoy drama and music performances from all levels including a repeat performance of the MS musical.

We are looking forward another wonderful Arts Festival and can't wait to share it with friends and family.

We recently caught up with CS alum Riley Studebaker (Class of 2010). Riley earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and a Master’s in Robotics & Autonomous Systems from the University of Pennsylvania and is now a professor at the RPI School of Architecture.

Looking back on his time at Community School, Riley shared that Friday Groups made a big impression. He described it as "extremely exciting and rewarding to dedicate an entire day to a specific course" and noted that "fort building on Emilie's farm"—a retired CS teacher's—was a particular favorite.

You can read more about what Riley is up to on our website blog at communityschool.net/alumni-update-riley-studebaker/.

Thank you to our incredible volunteers! From rolling dough and capping berries to carrying heavy supplies in the rain, dipping chocolate, selling tickets, problem-solving, and keeping everything organized- you did it all with smiles on your faces.

We are so grateful for the support of our local businesses, CS families, and the many friends of the festival who helped make this weekend such a success. Your time, energy, and generosity made all the difference.

We couldn’t have done it without you, and we’re already looking forward to next year together! 🍓

Come on down to Elmwood Park and grab a shortcake! We’ll be here until 6! 🍓🍓

The camera has gotten smaller, but the Festival vibes have stayed the same!

‘s camera man Sam has been covering Community School’s Strawberry Festival for over 30 years now!

Be sure to come down to Elmwood Park today at 11 am! 🍓

We’ll see you at Elmwood Park tomorrow! 🍓🍓

It starts Friday! As Kaira Willis reports, Community School Roanoke VA brings back the Strawberry Festival.