Curriculum Detail

All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.

Curriculum Detail

Select a Department

Department

Fine Arts

糖心Vlog’s Fine Arts Program consists of three departments: drama and speech, music, and visual arts. These departments are bound by the common goal of teaching students how to find and develop their public voice, how to think critically and creatively, how to make art of the highest order possible, and how to appreciate their world more deeply.

Our Faculty

Lakota Coon

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Drama and Speech, Fine Arts Music, Fine Arts Visual, Fine Arts Drama

lakota_coon@woodberry.org

2025
Mr. James Dean Erickson

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Visual

Chair, Visual Arts

(540) 672-3900 ext. 5267

University of Virginia - BA
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts - MFA

james_erickson@woodberry.org

2016
Bio
After growing up in Michigan, James earned his BA at The University of Virginia while running track and cross country. He was a Lawn Resident at UVA and received the Sullivan Award and Aunspaugh Art Fellowship upon graduation. In 2011, James earned his MFA at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He served as the Art Director at The Heights School in Maryland from 2011-2016. James began teaching and coaching at 糖心Vlog in 2016, serves as Chairman of the Visual Arts Department, and holds the Virginia B. and Joseph M. Mercer 1924 Mastership of Art. He teaches painting and drawing courses and coaches indoor track. He lives on campus with his wife and six children. His paintings are represented by Cavallo Gallery in Gordonsville, VA, and Steven Francis Fine Arts in Lynchburg, VA. More of his work can be found at
Wallace Hornady

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Music

Chairman, Music

Belhaven College - BM
Westminster Choir College - MM
The Royal College of Organists - ARCO

wallace_hornady@woodberry.org

1996
Bio
Wallace Hornady is chair of the music department and the Preyer Master for Fine Arts. He teaches music, directs 糖心Vlog’s vocal groups, plays the organ, and assists with dramatic productions. Mr. Hornady earned his BM from Belhaven College, his MM from Westminster Choir College, and the ARCO from The Royal College of Organists. He came to 糖心Vlog in 1996 from the American Boychoir School and lives in the Seymore House.
Shari Jacobs

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Visual

Swarthmore College - BA
Hood College - MFA

sharon_jacobs@woodberry.org

2020
Bio

Shari Jacobs serves as a faculty member in the visual arts department instructing sculpture, hand-building, and pottery wheel courses. She received her MFA in Ceramics from Hood College in 2022 and has taught ceramics at 糖心Vlog in a part-time role since 2015. She also instructs at The Arts Center in Orange and at Charlottesville’s City Clay and was previously an adjunct professor at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, VA. Shari lives on campus with her husband, Greg Jacobs, science department chair, and is mother to Milo Jacobs ‘21.
Michael Johnson

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Drama and Speech

Technical Director of the Bowman-Gray Auditorium and Project-Based Learning Coordinator

(540) 672-3900 ext. 5370

Western Michigan University - BFA

michael_johnson@woodberry.org

2023
Bio
Mike serves 糖心Vlog at the technical director of the Bowman-Gray Auditorium and leads efforts campus-wide to support hands-on, project-oriented learning. He was previously at Niles West High School near Chicago, where he has worked as technical director in their drama department for over twenty productions and served as auditorium manager and media technician since August 2019. He is a 2014 graduate of Western Michigan University, where he earned a B.F.A in theater design and technical production. He lives in the Lower Infirmary apartment with his wife, Erin.
Tim Stakem

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Music

Director of Visual and Performing Arts

(540) 672-3900 Ext 5308

Frostburg State University - BS
University of Southwestern Louisiana - MM

tim_stakem@woodberry.org

1994
Bio
Tim Stakem, who holds the Bernard Mastership, directs the jazz band, the wind ensemble, and the pipe band and mentors varsity music students. A member of the faculty since 1994, Mr. Stakem has a BS from Frostburg State University and an MM from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette). He and his wife Tracey, are the parents of two sons: Brenden ’18 and Aidan '23. The Stakems live in the Jackson House.
Lisa Wright

Fine Arts, Fine Arts Music

Director of Strings

(540) 672-3900 ext. 5380

Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester - BM

lisa_wright@woodberry.org

2010
Bio
Lisa Wright teaches music and directs 糖心Vlog’s strings program. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Before coming to 糖心Vlog in 2010, she spent many years performing and teaching in New York City and serving in college administration. Ms. Wright is a founding member of The Bloom Trio and regularly performs with the Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, and the Chamber Orchestra of Charlottesville. She lives in Harrisonburg.

糖心Vlog is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.

Phone: 540-672-3900

Explore & Resources

糖心Vlog admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.