by Chuck Cascio, Author and Former South Lakes Teacher
Jerry Volloy, former CEO of the Reston Association, recently received the highest alumni honor awarded by his high school, the prestigious Covington Latin School in Covington, Kentucky. As stated in the school's formal announcement, Volloy was selected for "The Disciplinam (Latin for ‘Discipline’) Award for his outstanding commitment and excellence, and for being someone who truly embodies our motto: 'Teach me goodness, discipline, and knowledge.' "
Covington Latin is one of only three high schools in the country that, after rigorous testing, accepts students from the sixth grade directly into high school, skipping the seventh and eighth grades. The 101-year-old Catholic school emphasizes that it is committed to helping students set, and achieve, their highest goals.
"The education at the Covington Latin School was incredibly difficult and comprehensive," Volloy said. "Each day started with Mass in the morning, and the curriculum included four years of Latin and Greek." Volloy graduated at age 16 in a ceremony that included "The Bishop of Covington coming to the school, calling on each student to proceed forward to a podium, and to open—for example—‘Cicero’s Orations’ to a certain page, translating the page, and defining the tense of each verb on the page."
After receiving the announcement of the award, Volloy attended a ceremony at the school that caused him to reflect: "During my education, there were times when I doubted that I would graduate, but I fought those doubts, throughout the four years, believing I could meet the challenge and achieve so much more than I thought possible."
At age 16, Volloy graduated from Covington and went to St. Thomas More College followed by 24 years in the Air Force, during which time he saw duty in 206 combat missions before retiring as a full colonel. Among his many military honors was the nation’s third highest award, the Silver Star, for Gallantry in Action. After the military, Volloy held executive-level positions in various organizations working in England, Belgium, Germany, Turkey and elsewhere.
Volloy and his wife, Judy, moved to Reston 27 years ago, and in 2000, he became CEO of the Reston Association for four-and-a-half years. "Bob Simon, our incredibly visionary founder, was on the RA Board at the time," Volloy said, "and once a month he would have me come up to his apartment at Lake Anne, and tell me what he believed should be accomplished next in Reston."
Volloy admitted that he and Simon "did not always agree," but during Volloy's tenure, many important initiatives were implemented including "fixing over $80 million dollars of problems in our watershed at no cost to our members." raising funds to build the Reston Association's Nature Center; working to allocate a portion of RA’s property to build the Cathy Hudgins Southgate Community Center; and establishing the Coalition of Reston Organizational Leadership (COROL) "that brought all major Reston organizations to successfully achieve objectives of mutual benefit."
Volloy, who remains active in various Reston-related activities, considers the award from Covington high on his list of honors and clearly values his years there. "I faced many challenges of leadership and management throughout my career," he said, "but my belief that I could meet those challenges started at meeting the challenges to succeed at the Latin School."
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