{"id":9423,"date":"2026-03-20T07:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hra.org\/?p=9423"},"modified":"2026-06-30T08:26:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:26:59","slug":"vmfa-field-trip-2026-interdisciplinary-juggernaut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hra.org\/vmfa-field-trip-2026-interdisciplinary-juggernaut\/","title":{"rendered":"An \u201cInterdisciplinary Juggernaut\u201d: HRA\u2019s Seniors Explore Intersections of Art, History, Psychology, Mathematics, and More during Annual VMFA Field Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"HRA

Seniors Nancy Arena \u2019<\/span>26, Carys Casper \u2019<\/span>26, and Khloe Jobson \u2019<\/span>26 take in historic works of art at the VMFA<\/p><\/div>\n

Hampton Roads Academy embraces the ideals of a <\/span>liberal arts education<\/span><\/a>, providing students with both broad and meaningful exposure to a diverse range of disciplines. The goal of this approach is not merely to equip students to quote Shakespeare and evaluate integrals. Rather, the Academy\u2019s well-rounded <\/span>curriculum<\/span><\/a> challenges students to think critically and <\/span>draw connections<\/span><\/a> between topics to arrive at deeper insights\u2014an ability that will serve them well both in college and throughout their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

HRA\u2019s soon-to-graduate twelfth graders spent a full day practicing this crucial skill on Thursday, March 19, during the fifth annual senior field trip to the <\/span>Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA)<\/span><\/a>. Featuring more than 50,000 works from throughout history and across the globe, this world-class art museum, conveniently located just up the road in Richmond, provided a perfect environment not only to admire breathtaking paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and more, but also to use art as a lens for exploring subjects ranging from history to mathematics.<\/span><\/p>\n

As in past years, in organizing the trip, AP Literature teacher and Dean of Student Life Laurie Hager made an effort to invite Upper School faculty members from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to facilitate this experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among them were two veteran chaperones: Upper School <\/span>counselor<\/span><\/a> and psychology teacher Elizabeth Rous, who explored cognitive phenomena through Impressionist paintings, and English Department Chair Scott George, who discussed mythology with students in the ancient world gallery. New to the trip were math teacher Farica Erwin, who highlighted the mathematics behind Renaissance artwork; <\/span>visual arts<\/span><\/a> teacher Jack Westervelt, who tackled the intermingling of Eastern and Western cultural traditions in the East Asian galleries; and Director of <\/span>Theatre<\/span><\/a> Kate Goddin, who used the VMFA\u2019s collection of Faberg<\/span>\u00e9 eggs to open up conversations about Russian history and contemporary drama.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher Jack Westervelt challenges students to consider how works on display at the museum reflect the meeting and intermingling of cultures throughout world history<\/p><\/div>\n

During their visit, the students freely moved between the chaperones\u2019 stations, along the way completing a hunt for literary motifs in works of art that reflected their readings from throughout the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

This \u201cinterdisciplinary juggernaut,\u201d Hager explained, provided \u201ca platform for <\/span>different [teachers] to bring in their expertise and their ideas\u2014and for students also to bring in <\/span>their <\/span><\/i>experiences and be able to perceive fresh inspiration by looking at art in a different way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOut in the world, being able to synthesize information will be vital to being a lifelong learner and will enrich their lives,\u201d Westervelt added. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A Nexus of Interdisciplinarity<\/h3>\n

When Hager initiated the tradition of bringing the senior class to the VMFA in 2022, she was drawing on a deep background in interdisciplinary education.<\/span><\/p>\n

For a number of years prior to joining the faculty at HRA, she taught for the summer <\/span>Virginia Governor\u2019s School<\/span><\/a> for the Humanities at the University of Richmond, where cross-disciplinary dialogue between students focused on disparate topics, from history and journalism to visual art and theatre, was an integral facet of the curriculum. In previous roles, she also taught AP European History and AP World History, as well as the strongly interdisciplinary IB Theory of Knowledge course. Since pivoting to teaching English at HRA, she has made a point of incorporating elements of her prior disciplinary foci to challenge students to consider the historical context, the musical soundscape, and the popular culture of the eras in which literary works were produced.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Cam Hall \u2019<\/span>26 and Ares Marvell-Nguyen \u2019<\/span>26 study a glazed ceramic vessel from eighteenth-century Japan<\/p><\/div>\n

The VMFA, Hager noted, is perfectly designed to facilitate similar connections between subjects that are too often siloed from one another. Boasting extraordinary collections spanning the European Renaissance, the ancient world, twentieth-century modernism, and rich Asian and African art traditions, all presented with \u201ctop-notch\u201d interpretation and arranged in a space that is manageable within a day, the museum naturally invites visitors to consider links between a variety of periods, movements, and cultures across all continents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the year, Hager has helped students develop the skills they would eventually apply on the field trip. Asking seniors to examine works of art from throughout world history, she has challenged them to articulate how these images visually mirror the themes and characterization they have encountered in linguistic form in the works they have read.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I\u2019m asking them to do when we get to the museum,\u201d she said. \u201cMake these broader connections. Make these stronger links. Find meaning. Don\u2019t be intimidated by art. Don\u2019t be intimidated by literature. You bring something fresh and new to the experience based on your <\/span>own<\/span><\/i> experiences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As an instructor who works with twelfth graders every day, Hager is confident that her students are ready for this challenge each spring. \u201cOne of the wonderful things about being a teacher of seniors is that I get to walk with them through this final stage of their high school experience,\u201d she observed. \u201cWe reflect back frequently on the ways in which their knowledge and their expertise and their interests can play into their interpretation of literature within the context of the class, but we can also extend this <\/span>beyond<\/span><\/i> the classroom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Dean of Student Life, applying what one has learned in a new setting like a museum is valuable practice for taking ownership of new experiences <\/span>in college and in one\u2019s career<\/span><\/a>\u2014and the key to finding meaning and connection in each phase of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The World Reflected in Art<\/h3>\n

During the trip, students were presented with a list of literary motifs, harkening back to works they had encountered this year in their AP Literature and comparative literature classes, for which Hager and George tasked them with hunting throughout the museum. Subjects included a forest scene reminiscent of <\/span>A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/span><\/i>, a work symbolizing the sort of control wielded by Nurse Ratched in <\/span>One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/span><\/i>, and a piece that thematically echoes absurdist fiction. There was no one work students were to identify for each theme. Rather, the goal was for them to provide an evidence-based justification for each of the connections they had drawn.<\/span><\/p>\n

As they navigated the galleries, the students encountered and engaged in intellectual boundary-bridging activities with their faculty chaperones, whom Hager described as \u201cpivotal in making this annual trip such a meaningful experience for our senior class.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

English Department Chair Scott George and Nancy Arena \u2019<\/span>26 discuss a statue of the Roman Emperor Caligula in the ancient world gallery<\/p><\/div>\n

George, for example, explored mythological stories reflected in works in the VMFA\u2019s ancient art collections. His goal, as he explained, was not to dwell on the particularities of millennia-old cultures, but rather to highlight universal themes with which thinkers and artists have grappled across time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to focus on how \u2018we\u2019\u2014as in humanity\u2014express ourselves, because we\u2019re all asking and trying to answer the same questions, no matter what era we live in,\u201d George said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Westervelt similarly strove to cross chasms of time and space during his workshop in the East Asian galleries. Centering creative expression, he asked students to observe and meditate on a piece of art and compose a haiku. To guide the seniors\u2019 reflections during this activity, he drew their attention to such works as an eleventh-century Chinese bodhisattva and eighteenth-century pottery from Joseon-period Korea to discuss the differences between Eastern and Western artistic and philosophical traditions and the eventual \u201cmeeting\u201d of the two through trade and the emergence of composite styles like Dutch Delftware and Art Deco. The art teacher connected these changes to the modern phenomenon of globalization, inspiring students to consider how the Internet has allowed for an intermingling of cultures and artforms on an unprecedented scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as Westervelt drew on East Asian pieces to explore a larger history of cultural exchange, Goddin leaned into her love of storytelling by using the VMFA\u2019s priceless F<\/span>aberg\u00e9 eggs as an entry point for telling the story of their former owners, Russia\u2019s ill-fated royal family, the Romanovs. Focusing on the dramatic tale of Anna Anderson, the imposter who claimed to be the princess Anastasia, having escaped execution by the Bolsheviks, the Director of Theatre explained how art could provide a window into a gripping story that lives on through film and television adaptations and the Broadway musical <\/span>Anastasia<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unexpected Connections<\/h3>\n

The day\u2019s presentations demonstrated that one cannot fully understand a work of art without contemplating subjects often treated as wholly separate from creative expression.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the clearest illustrations of this idea was Erwin\u2019s presentation in the Renaissance gallery. This year\u2019s trip marked the first time that the Math Department had been included in the VMFA field trip, and Erwin, certified to teach both mathematics and art, seized the opportunity to explain \u201chow those worlds intersect.\u201d Addressing such topics as perspective and composition, she challenged students to identify the math underlying the construction of Renaissance masterpieces and noted how these precisely crafted works reflect a movement to explain the world scientifically in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Upper School counselor and psychology teacher Elizabeth Rous asks students to examine their subjective experience of paintings through the lens of perceptual grouping principles<\/p><\/div>\n

Rous took a similarly surprising tack when she referred to paintings by such artists as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Eug\u00e8ne Boudin to illustrate the Gestalt theory of perception in psychology. Rous explained how the Impressionists implicitly took into account five principles of perceptual grouping, which she outlined in a brochure, in order to convey messages and emotions through their works. As she explained to the students, \u201cWe use these grouping principles throughout our lives\u2014not just in art galleries, but while watching a football game, at a performance in the theatre, listening to music, and even when shopping on Amazon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As students began to grasp the connections between century-old artwork and the incredible complexity of human psychology and everyday experience, Rous said, \u201cThe \u2018a-ha\u2019 moments are so cool to witness!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Making Memories before Graduation<\/h3>\n

Every year, according to Hager, the VMFA field trip makes for an unforgettable day for the graduating seniors. As she noted, this tradition marks \u201cone of the <\/span>rare times that they all get to come together as a class to have an experience that\u2019s external to the building.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HRA

Students enjoy lunch\u2014and reflect on connections they made in the galleries\u2014in the VMFA\u2019<\/span>s Robin Sculpture Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

The experience was made more meaningful by the freedom and trust the faculty chaperones extended to the students as a testament to their growth as they prepare to begin their next chapter. Their teachers allowed them to explore the galleries independently, confident that they would interact respectfully with other museumgoers and with the works on display. Inviting the students to dress in jeans and college sweatshirts, Hager hoped their fellow museum patrons would view them not as high school students on a field trip, but rather as young adults, perhaps university students who had simply taken a morning to visit the VMFA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hager\u2019s favorite part of the day, she remarked, was sitting on the grass with the students in the museum\u2019s Robin Sculpture Garden, where they enjoyed boxed lunches prepared by <\/span>Chef Uwe Schluszas<\/span><\/a> and reflected on everything they had encountered in the galleries. As she interacted with the seniors, she was delighted by their surprise at their teachers\u2019 depth of knowledge about topics entirely apart from the focus of their courses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so much the art itself,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s that they\u2019re coming to a new meaning and a new appreciation by listening to the expertise of the faculty members and being challenged to think about art in a new way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Connections are everywhere if we\u2019re willing to look for them,\u201d Goddin observed. \u201cWe have to stay curious and be open to taking in new information.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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