Incomparable campus. Incomparable coaching. Incomparable culture.
A dedicated academy within a school where students master sculling and rowing, blending rigorous academics with intensive training on the water. Here, rowers learn the sport’s intricacies, beginning with sculling—technique, teamwork, and strategy—while excelling in their studies. The Academy seeks students for the “love of the sport” dedicated to improving and strengthening their skills for a life of fulfillment on the water.
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Unlock the full potential of your rowing aspirations at our school, located beside the expansive beauty of a noble and historic river where John Smith’s crew rowed a shallop in 1608. We champion a unique and effective approach to sculling. Unlike typical rowing programs, which prioritize large teams and standard training on rowing machines, we believe in a philosophy that nurtures true skill development from the ground up.
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Our new Head Coach and Director of Rowing, Troy Howell, brings a fresh perspective steeped in decades of experience. Since 1993, Troy has been at the forefront of sculling-centric programs, emphasizing the importance of mastering small boats to excel in larger ones. He famously compares rowing to musicianship: "Joining a crew and thinking that you can make an eight go fast when you can't row a single or a pair very well is like joining an orchestra before you know how to play an instrument."
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At St. Margaret’s School, we focus on individual skill development, starting with singles and pairs. This approach ensures that when our rowers progress to fours, quads, and eights, they are more competent and significantly faster. Coach Howell insists on cultivating genuine, profound competence in each athlete, much like a football or basketball coach who values actual game performance over theoretical strength.
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Situated next to a major river, our campus is the ideal setting for our rowing philosophy to thrive. Here, small boats do not just build faster big boats; they foster more complete student-athletes. We prioritize real skills, teamwork, and the personal development of each rower.
Join us to experience a rowing program that values quality over quantity, where each stroke in the water is a step towards excellence. With Troy Howell's visionary guidance, become part of a legacy of rowers who excel in every dimension of the sport.
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“I’ve tried various water sports, but nothing compares to the exhilaration of sculling and rowing at St. Margaret’s. The coaches are amazing, and the location is simply breathtaking!”
“We can row in all conditions as we have two venues, one on the Rappahannock River, literally walking 30 feet from our dorm rooms, and our Hoskins Dock affording calm water on windy days. So it’s all about the water.”
Coach Howell's extensive experience offers students an unparalleled opportunity to learn from one of the best in the field. Learn more about our coach and his remarkable career!
A mastery for a lifetime.
If you just want to win medals and get a fine secondary education as a rower or sculler, there are dozens of prep schools where that can happen. If you want to do all of that, live 100 feet from the river and be coached by long-time Director of Sculling at Craftsbury, Troy Howell, there’s only one: St. Margaret’s. Located on the banks of the mid-Atlantic’s finest river, the Rappahannock, St. Margaret’s offers an idyllic setting to anyone, and to rowers most of all. On windy days, nearby Hoskins Creek offers an opportunity to train in small boats on sheltered water. In good weather, we can row for as many miles as we wish in either direction.
Our crew’s uniqueness is augmented by a programmatic commitment to mastery of singles and pairs in preparation to row well in any boat class from 1X to 8+. At St. Margaret’s, our outlook is that small boats are the true measure of oarsmanship and that erg scores are analogous to the SAT: valuable data but a poor reflection of the totality of who you are as a student in the case of the latter or an athlete in the former.
Coach Howell honed his coaching skills with masters rowers at the Rivanna Rowing Club while pursuing his graduate studies in U.S. History at the University of Virginia. After earning his M.A., he transitioned to Wichita State University in Kansas, where he coached the freshman/novice men’s 8+ under Coach John Bancheri. Following a successful season, he accepted the role of Head Coach for both the Boys and Girls Crew teams at The Episcopal School of Dallas, a position he held for fifteen years. During his tenure, he coached sculling, taught history and English, and led his teams to multiple medals and championships at the U.S. Rowing Youth Nationals and the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. Notably, his teams achieved consecutive wins in the Girls Junior and Senior 4X at Stotesbury, marking a first for any scholastic crew from Texas.
Later, as Sculling Director at Craftsbury, Coach Howell also took on the role of assistant coach to athletes of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, collaborating with head coaches such as Larry Gluckman, Dan Roock, and Steve Whelpley. His coaching journey included guiding scullers at the 2015 U23 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the 2019 Pan-African Olympic Qualifying Regatta in Tunisia, and the 2021 Henley Royal Regatta. Despite these global experiences, Coach Howell is drawn to Tappahannock by the St. Margaret’s motto, “As we grow in age, may we grow in grace,” and, of course, the unparalleled sunrise views over the Rappahannock River from his back porch.