Student Profiles

It is an overcast spring day on the Middle School campus, and the rockets are flying. Students in Rodshell’s science class have spent hours doing research on rockets and the forces that act on them, and now it’s time to watch those forces in action. After a few energetic pumps of the launching pump, potential energy turns into kinetic energy, kinetic energy does its thing, and WHOOOOSH!

Timers time. Rodshell and classmates measure distance traveled with their hand-held altitude trackers. And rocket science comes to life.

“It’s a different way of learning,” Rodshell says.

It’s a way of learning that Rodshell has taken quite a liking to since arriving at BB&N a couple of years ago looking for an academic challenge. He has succeeded because of teachers that inspire him, support systems that help him when he’s struggling, and, most of all, because of the attitude he brings to his education. “I look forward to anything new,” he says.

That attitude is on display in the classroom—where Rodshell excels in history and French and is getting better at math—and elsewhere, like, for instance, on the gridiron. A backup halfback on the Middle School football team, Rodshell points to a 10-yard run against Milton Academy last fall—his longest of the season—as one of his BB&N highlights. “I may not be very big,” he says confidently, “but I know I can get it done.”