Last week, November 8, 2021 – November 14, 2021, was a particularly busy week for Ann Chappell Ellington. As a senior, Ellington is involved in multiple activities including the Menchville Swim team, National Honor Society, French Honor Society, Lion’s Roar newspaper, and serving as the SCA President. She is committed to continue her swimming career at JMU. Some of her friends call her ACE (since those are her initials). Let’s dive into a week in the life of Ann Chappell.

Monday morning, Ellington woke up at 3:50am before the sun had risen. She drove herself to her two hour swim practice that started at 4:30am. By 7:20am, she is discussing article topics with her fellow writers in her Journalism class. Last week, Ann was writing an article on the College Signing Day at Menchville and this week she is writing an article about the World Language Honor Society Induction Ceremony. She went to her AP English, AP Government, and honors physics classes after Journalism. Ellington said that physics is one of her more challenging classes because it is hard to “contextualize and implement the math equations.” Ms. Ellington attends the SCA meeting with Ms. Michaelian and her fellow SCA leadership after school. After the meeting, she went to the pool once again for her Menchville swimming tryouts. Ann Chappell arrives at home by 5:00pm concluding her day with homework and dinner.

The next morning, Ann Chappell Ellington attends her Journalism, AP Psychology, and AP Statistics classes and works as an office assistant. She enjoys her Journalism class because “it challenges [her] in a new way.” After school, Ann Chappell goes to her swim practice with her friend and teammate, Britney Denny, class of ‘22. ACE concludes her day celebrating her brother’s birthday who is a freshman at Menchville.

Britney Denny, close friend and fellow swimmer, said that Ann Chappell is “one of the most positive people [she] has met.” She doesn’t “dwell too much on what happened in the past or what is coming in the future.” whether it’s pertaining to swimming or school.  ACE  is “very good at taking things one moment at a time,” and is the kind of girl that is “friends and can get along with anyone.” She rarely meets “someone who has anything negative to say,” about her.

On Wednesday morning, Ann Chappell went to her 4:30am swimming practice and her AP classes. At 2pm, ACE signed with JMU for Swim and Dive in the Menchville Cafe. Afterwards, she goes to her swim practice once again and heads to Williamsburg for her close friend’s signing with Towson University for swimming. She ends her day doing homework for her classes and dinner with her family.

Ann Chappell attends her swim practices and classes like normal on Thursday and Friday and concludes the school week with a swim meet succeeding school and ending at 6pm. She spends her weekend swimming at Midtown Aquatic Center with her team. At the meet, ACE ranges from swimming the 200 yard Breaststroke to competing in a 200 yard individual medley, IM, where she swims one quarter in each of the four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. She enjoys swimming because of the “community of people she gets to see everyday.” In her free time, Ann Chappell attended the JMU vs. William and Mary football game to show her school spirit and get a feel for college life. The game ended with a victory for JMU winning 32-22.

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Ann Chappell with her Coastguard Swim teammates on signing day

Ann Chappell continues to show her dedication and determination for swimming, exemplifies hard work to maintain her high GPA, and involves herself in many school activities to better herself and her community. She encourages underclassmen to “stay organized” and to “manage your time.”