Christopher Newport University and Newport News Community Walk visits Riverside Elementary
Published October 30, 2026
A bright fall morning helped the Riverside Elementary School community welcome Christopher Newport University President William Kelly's series of community walks on October 30.
This was the fifth time the CNU and Newport News Community Walk has visited Newport News Public Schools. Past walks were to Riverside Elementary School on November 13, 2023; Hidenwood Elementary School on March 22, 2024; Gildersleeve Middle School on April 1, 2025; and Warwick High School on October 31, 2025.
"Today is about more than a walk," said Riverside Principal Katherine Jenn. "It's about building connections and strengthening partnerships and showing our students that their futures are full of possibilities."
The Community Walk contingent of approximately 200 people included Delegate Shelly Simonds, Mayor Phillips Jones, City Councilman Cleon Long and CNU First Lady Angie Kelly.
Kelly continues to lead members of the CNU community as they join local education, law enforcement, civic leaders, and CNU students and alumni on walks on campus and to surrounding schools. The latest route sent walkers on a warm morning the short distance down Warwick Boulevard and back to CNU.
Riverside's Boomin' Bears Drumline greeted the CNU contingent with a performance in front of their school as students along the sidewalk waved pom poms to warmly welcome the arriving visitors.
Riverside's partnership with CNU helps bring possibilities to life, according to Jenn. When Riverside students see college students, university leaders and community members walking through their neighborhood and visiting their school, they see that higher education isn't something far away.
"It's part of their community and it's a future that they can envision for themselves," Jenn said. "That's why our message today is simple: From Riverside to CNU, the walk is already paved. Together we are helping our Bears recognize that that path to their future is within reach, and that they have a community ready to support them every step of the way.
"Thank you for walking alongside of us, investing in our students and showing them what is possible."
Jenn presented gifts to Kelly, who gifted a wagon load of sidewalk chalk to Riverside students.
"We're grateful that you are our neighbor and that we're able to walk with you," Bill Kelly said.
Kelly also presented a challenge coin to Jenn inscribed "an exemplar energizes excellence."
"We can only be the hometown university when schools like yours, communities like ours, embrace us and allow us to serve in that capacity and we are so grateful for that," Kelly said.
