Northern Virginia

Principal Registered Apprenticeship Program hopes to grow future school leaders

Sarah Holland — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:56:26 +0000

Principal Registered Apprenticeship Program hopes to grow future school leaders Sarah Holland Wed, 11/12/2025 - 09:56

Research has shown that school leadership and student outcomes are strongly related: the better the leaders, the better the student outcomes.

But as school districts struggle with teacher retention in the aftermath of COVID-era lockdowns, school divisions are facing a drought in their hiring pools for school leaders. Now, they’re looking for ways to rebuild those pipelines.

�鶹��Ƶ, in partnership with Alexandria City, Arlington County, Stafford, Loudoun County, and Franklin City school divisions, received more than $150,000 from the Virginia Department of Education to pilot the Principal Registered Apprenticeship Program. This initiative is part of a nationwide expansion of Registered Apprenticeship programs supported by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Farnoosh Shahrokhi. Photo by Office of University Branding

“School leaders have an incredible impact on the culture and climate of the school, and this grant acknowledges that it is equally important to invest in school leaders as it is to invest in teachers,” explained Farnoosh Shahrokhi, associate professor of education leadership in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) and coordinator of the grant.

Apprenticeship programs are critical to the development and retention of educators across various levels, including school leadership.

“It’s one thing to know that something will be part of your job, and another to do it,” said Corey Kapelski, director of professional learning at Arlington Public Schools. “School leadership is such a wide-ranging job, and the apprenticeship gives them the opportunity to really dig deep into all the different roles a school leader has to fill.”

As such, principal apprenticeship hours are a core part of the curriculum for leadership certificate programs: the means by which educators receive their endorsement, which opens the doors for them to apply to leadership positions in school divisions.

While apprenticeship is critical to the experience, one major roadblock is the time and cost. Along with the cost of tuition, books, and other expenses, educators must complete 24 credit hours and at least 2,000 apprenticeship hours. Usually, this requires them to leave their full-time positions for a year and thus sacrifice their annual salary.

The grant provides full funding to those selected by their school divisions to participate in the certificate program, removing those barriers and giving more individuals the opportunity to advance their careers in education.

In this first grant cycle, 12 participants were selected from the five school divisions. And in thinking about long-term sustainability of school divisions, the program has the potential to solidify a leadership pipeline.

“Because Alexandria City Public Schools is a small school division, the leadership pipeline is important. We like to build strong candidates from within,” said Pierrette Finney, chief academic officer of Alexandria City Public Schools. Finney graduated from George �鶹��Ƶ in ‘06 with her MEd in education leadership.

George �鶹��Ƶ’s Education Leadership Program is well-established as a top-tier program for aspiring leaders in education. In addition to Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the coursework is aligned with National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) standards and holds Specialty Professional Associations (SPA) accreditation for high-quality standards by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration. Other hallmarks of George �鶹��Ƶ’s program are the inclusion of improvement science pedagogy and tools in its curriculum, its faculty that span a wide range of professional backgrounds, and its coordination with an advisory board that represents its partnered school divisions, Shahrokhi said.

“George �鶹��Ƶ has been a long-standing and trusted partner of Loudoun County Public Schools in leadership preparation. Their programs combine rigorous academic study with practical, job-embedded experiences that align with our district’s vision for leadership development,” said Tanisha Holland, director of human resources and talent development for Loudoun County Public Schools. “Their program emphasizes reflective practice, equity-centered leadership, and systems thinking, all essential for success in today’s schools.”

Out of the six Virginia universities that received a portion of the grant money, George �鶹��Ƶ is collaborating with the most school divisions for the grant. That speaks to the university’s and CEHD’s intentional and sustained investment in the local community and commitment to building strong, lasting partnerships with school divisions, as well as serving as a hub for collaboration amongst educators and leaders across the region.

“The wealth of knowledge and collaboration with other school divisions only fosters a greater partnership and makes us stronger as a school, stronger as a school system, and stronger as a region,” said Finney.

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George �鶹��Ƶ’s recreation program is helping bring parks to the people

Sarah Holland — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 18:12:27 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ’s recreation program is helping bring parks to the people Sarah Holland Wed, 01/08/2025 - 13:12

One of the special things about Northern Virginia is its blend of thriving city life with vast green spaces. Visitors and residents can enjoy more than 12,000 acres of parks and recreation areas across three counties and three cities thanks to the work of NOVA Parks. This fall, a brand-new park opened in Ashburn, Virginia, with a few familiar faces from �鶹��Ƶ at its helm.

Photo provided.

Reservoir Park is a 600-acre park around Beaverdam Reservoir. Built and operated as a partnership between NOVA Parks and Loudoun Water, the park has conservation and education at the forefront of its design. From plants that filter water runoff into the reservoir, to butterfly roofs that drain water down a singular center path onto rocks to avoid excessive soil erosion, to sustainable build materials, the park preserves the landscape while educating visitors on the lifecycle of a drop of water. Educational installations along the trail also give visitors tactile lessons: a hand pump that demonstrates the amount of force required to bring water from the reservoir to a faucet, for example.

“Most parks are built up over time, with facilities developing as community needs change,” said Paul Gilbert, executive director of NOVA Parks and the executive-in-residence of the recreation management program at George �鶹��Ƶ. “I've never seen a park like this one, where everything is designed intentionally with a clear purpose and story in mind. It’s both beautiful and thoughtful.”

The benefits of parks are immense: increased property values, opportunities for physical activity, and mental health improvements, to name a few. “Numerous studies show that the benefits of exercise in nature far exceed exercise indoors,” Gilbert said. “It enriches lives, and it will continue to enrich lives, not just for this season but for generations to come.”

For George �鶹��Ƶ students, the benefits of NOVA Parks extend to their education and, for some, even their careers.

Paul Gilbert (left) and Bella Trimner. Photo provided.

“There’s a strong connection between NOVA Parks and George �鶹��Ƶ,” Gilbert said. “Through NOVA parks, students have access to internships, practicums, and careers. We help make their education not just academic but very actionable. And in return, we get high-quality employees excited to work in the parks they’ve grown up around.”

One shining example is Bella Trimner, a winter 2024 graduate with a degree in recreation management.

Trimner has a long history with NOVA Parks. She started working at Fountainhead Regional Park as a junior park ranger at 17, quickly rising through the ranks to site supervisor. “I absolutely loved it and realized that this was something I could see myself making a career out of,” she said.

Her supervisor at Fountainhead Regional Park David Deem, a current George �鶹��Ƶ student, recommended George �鶹��Ƶ for her education because of its nationally recognized recreation management program.

When Trimner made the decision to get her degree and make a career out of parks management, she told the park operations superintendents that she hoped to become a parks specialist in the future.

“My plan was to take that role in five years. Instead, when I had that conversation, they said, ‘Well, we’re actually building a new park that will be similar to Fountainhead. It might be exactly what you’re looking for.’”

It was. Within a year, Trimner became the first parks specialist for the new Reservoir Park. Her days are varied—from running chainsaws for trail clearing, to being an ambassador for the park, to planning park programming—but she believes her education has directly impacted how quickly she has acclimated to this new managerial role.

“I have used assignments from my classes as starting points for programming plans and shared templates with my staff. When we formalized the 8-mile trail around the reservoir, I directly referenced what I'd learned about trail planning and grading from my classes on land acquisition, resource management, and accessibility. We’re implementing an interpretational signage plan that is directly influenced by the course taught by Dr. Ellen Rodgers. There’s so much from my courses that I’m using every day in every aspect of my job,” she said.

Trimner, Gilbert said, is a rock star. “When you step into a manager position at an existing park, you’re improving upon existing procedures, programming, and facilities. But as part of the management team of a brand-new park, Bella is creating all those things. We gave her a blank slate to work with. And she’s done an amazing job.”

As a fellow George �鶹��Ƶ graduate, Gilbert firmly believes in the great contributions George �鶹��Ƶ offers the community. “NOVA Parks relies heavily on the recreation program at George �鶹��Ƶ, and it’s great to have such a strong program with great talent right in our backyard,” Gilbert said.

Trimner agreed. “Seeing George �鶹��Ƶ on a resume is a green flag for us."

From left: Recreation management faculty Laurence Chalip, Ellen Rodgers, Brenda Wiggins, Hung-Ling Liu, and Sammie Powers pose with Bella Trimner (far right) and Paul Gilbert (back center). Photo provided.

Explore Recreation Management at George �鶹��Ƶ