September 2026

Columbus Academy’s 116th school year began last week with 1,186 students, the school’s largest-ever enrollment. Special highlights to the start of this school year were an expansion to our Explorers program for 3-year-olds, the opening of a high-tech innovation lab called the Viking Shipyard and new academic courses such as Synthetic Biology, Japanese History, Dystopian Dilemmas (one of our new honors English classes) and Machine Learning (a new computer science offering). This year’s senior class consists of 94 students including our first senior who is the child of an alumna (and alumni couple): Harper Bean, daughter of Dr. Brittany Kistler Bean ’93 and James Carter Bean ’93.

Get Involved!

Are you interested in volunteering at Columbus Academy? Join us for the first PACA Connect meeting of the year on Friday, September 11, at 8:00 a.m. on the fireside of the dining hall. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the Academy community and learn more about the initiatives and activities that help make our school vibrant and thriving. Hear from PACA committee chairs & parent affinity groups and explore meaningful ways to contribute through a volunteer fair. Discover all that PACA has to offer and learn how you can get involved by clicking here! Also, PACA is looking for volunteers to serve as Book Fair Co-Chair and PACA Resource Manager. If you are interested in either of these opportunities, please complete the PACA Volunteer Form. For more information about either role, please contact Carrie Stieg at stiegc@columbusacademy.org. All current and interested volunteers should plan to attend the Volunteer Kick-Off & Breakfast on Tuesday, September 15, from 8:00-10:00 a.m. on the fireside of the dining hall (RSVP here). Thank you for helping make PACA a success!

News to Celebrate

In addition to 151 new students, we welcomed 18 new faculty and staff members this school year: Tiffany Al-Lateef, Sophie Appelbaum, Juliana Buonaiuto, Mark Burnett, Liz Carr, Charles Chandler, Jessica Dopkiss, Dr. Nicholas Geis, Kayla Gholson, Danielle Hall, Erin Jones, Dr. Will Matsuzaki, Mayling McKinley, Dr. HG Morrison, Sarah Reed, Tony Rogers, Carla Sprankle and Ashley Turk. Click on their names to learn more and on the links below for more recent highlights in our community.



• Record-High Number of Students Participate in Band Day
• Academy Singers Perform at World Choir Games
• Faculty/Staff Helps Clean Up Campus & Gahanna Parks
• New Morris Hall Art Exhibit Spotlights Unique Painting Method

Things to Do

When our athletic teams take their group and individual photos each season, we bring in a videographer to capture fun "media day" clips that are used in promoting contests and displayed on screens throughout the school. Sometimes our student musicians also partake in the shenanigans. Enjoy these fall media day highlights and clink on the links below for details on upcoming events.

• US Back-to-School Night on September 2
• LS Back-to-School Night & Conferences on September 3-4
• MS Back-to-School Night on September 9 (details coming soon)
• PACA Connect Meeting on September 11
• Fall Spiritwear Available Through September 13
• PACA Volunteer Kick-Off Breakfast on September 15
• Charlie David Dinner on September 25
• Apple-Picking Service Event on September 27
• Annual Golf Outing on September 28 (spots are filling fast!)
• ISACS Parent Series Webinar on September 29

Please feel free to share feedback by replying to this email or sending a message to info@columbusacademy.org. Thank you for being a part of the Academy community!