Impact Report
Your involvement and interest in our school is a blessing. Thank you! Families are drawn to the EMS experience, where about 375 students are known and nurtured to explore their gifts and interests.
We are grateful for the supporters, volunteers, and friends who helped keep us strong. In 2023-2024, we worked together to:
- Renew our 10-year accreditation through the Virginia Association of Independent Schools with commendation for our strong sense of community, professional culture, and commitment to individual student development. As part of this process we affirmed and updated our vision and mission (see below).
- Launch a new dynamic strategic plan. Board, faculty, and staff develop goals within each trimester that will help achieve the vision of the plan.
- Successfully met a $1 million challenge match in the fall to construct and care for the Gathering Space, an addition on our elementary building. Thank you to our generous donors! A parent-lead campaign to furnish the space was launched in the spring, as construction began.
- Built on a culture of generosity where people are affirmed for sharing their God-given gifts in academics, athletics, faith, service, and more.
With gratitude,
Paul Leaman
Head of School
Highlights from the 23-24 School Year
376 K-12 students | 77 faculty and staff | 42 faith communities
4,309 active alumni | 977 donors | $6.9 million operating budget
VISION
EMS aspires to embody the love of Jesus as a learning community where every student belongs, thrives, and joins God’s work in the world.
MISSION
EMS, with home and church, invites students to faith in Jesus Christ, academic excellence, personal integrity, and compassionate service.
Faith
EMS emphasizes Christian faith, requiring a Bible course each year and a senior presentation reflecting on spiritual, academic, and co-curricular experiences. Students are invited to join Jesus's way, while developing respect for others.
In her senior presentation, Rhiannia noted, "I struggled with anxiety my whole life, starting in 2nd grade, and this made me even closer to God because I was truly trying to cast all my anxieties onto him."
Integrity
Restorative practices take time, thought, and effort to build meaningful relationships before conflict happens. Restorative justice involves listening to each other to understand, working together, and finding solutions that benefit everyone involved.
Teacher Shannon Roth notes about restorative justice, “It comes down to the biblical principle of loving the Lord our God and loving your neighbor as yourself. It’s hard and it doesn’t always work right but we are committed to it for a reason.”
Service
Students learn new skills, experience joy, develop awareness about complex issues, and join God’s work while serving others. Students served with Gift and Thrift, Booksavers of Virginia, VMRC, Pleasant View Homes, Jubilee Climate Farm, Mennonite Disaster Service, and beyond.
Teacher Nathan Herberger challenged seniors to walk near people who suffer. “Will you be the one to sit and listen to them? Will you be a joyful presence?”
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