Dominique Sapozhnikov Schmieder
Dominique will be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall, with a focus on Engineering Exploration in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. Dom earned a Presidential Scholarship and a Recognition Scholarship. In thinking about the move to the Rochester, New York, area, Dom’s immediate plans are to buy warm coats and maybe even a shoe-dryer. Dominique is looking forward to opportunities to work at co-ops and internships, study abroad as well as travel in general, learn a new language, and to get back to a pre-Covid work/life balance that includes sports such as diving.
Dominique’s dreams are to have a comfortable life, doing a job that they don’t hate that pays for a life that’s full of pets, travel, fun activities and chances to be the fun aunt. Dom plans to be a really fun aunt.
Most of Dominique’s best memories from Roadstead are connected to full-day activities, such as beach days, or the trip to UVA, because each is filled with moments of memory-making, such as running back to the van in the pouring rain, or seeing the University campus together.
The one thing Dom is taking away from their years at Roadstead that they most appreciate is preparation for adult life—for being accountable for your work and your time, and to your community. As Dom said, “When you see that your suggestions have an effect, get debated and discussed, it helps you care more about your community.”
Dylan Doss
Dylan will be entering Old Dominion University in the fall with tentative plans to study psychology.
His immediate plans are to “go to school and see what happens,” but his dream is to establish and run a center that is both a dispensary and an office offering psychotherapy services.
Dylan’s favorite memory of his years at Roadstead is a particular end-of-the-year beach day when he sat and talked with (2021 graduates) Jack and Phillip for a couple of hours and they “became the three musketeers.”
The one thing Dylan is taking from his education at Roadstead that he values above all else is confidence–the confidence to speak in front of a crowd, to talk to people and make them laugh, to order his own food like everyone else, and just have a conversation with another person.
Ainsley John Darling
Ainsley will attend Sweet Briar College in Amherst, Virginia, where she plans to study psychology. She won a Dean’s Scholarship and earned placement in the Sweet Briar honors program. Right now, her interests in psychology have her considering a career in diagnosing and working with people who have autism.
Her dream is to buy her mom a sheep farm in Virginia, somewhere near Mom’s beloved mountains.
Ainsley John’s best memory of her time at Roadstead is from a particular day at 757MakerSpace, a white-hot day, when all the work was done. The students piled as many of themselves as they could, clown-car style, onto a wheeled lift cart, while one or two others pushed it as fast as possible down the length of the workroom, and everyone yelled in terror and delight.
Important things Ainsley John will take away from her schooling include the work she did with Troy Vallos at the Slover Memorial Library, documenting the slave ships that passed through Norfolk, because, she said, “nobody knows about that stuff,” and it is vital work. Ainsley John also values the hands-on experience she had the chance to learn with Beau Turner at MakerSpace, such as using a flamethrower!