St. Andrew's 2022 Spring Magazine

nity Research Diversity Ability Inclusion Equity Be longing Justice Race Community Ethnicity Sexual munity Leadership Diversity Socio-Economic Statu earch Growth Sexuality Connection Age Diversity esearch Socio-Economic Status Diversity Ability In uity Belonging Justice Race Religion Growth Sexu Connection Ethnicity Diversity Research Diversity ace Leadership Growth Gender Identity Age Divers Diversity Ability Inclusion Socio-Economic Status SPRING 2022

BELONGING W H AT D O E S B E L O N G I N G M E A N AT S T. A N D R E W ’ S ?

Ethnicity Sexuality Gender Identity Age Diversity S conomic Status Diversity Ability Inclusion Equity B ustice Race Religion Ethnicity Sexuality Gender Id eadership Diversity Socio-Economic Status Divers wth Sexuality Connection Age Diversity Socio-Econ Community Diversity Ability Inclusion Equity Belo nging Justice Race Community Growth Sexuality G

Get ready to

during the Lions Fund Spring Drive May 18 - 19, 2022 The Lions Fund makes “more” happen at St. Andrew’s. Every experience — from the classroom, to the field, to the stage — is enhanced thanks to your generosity.

Roar More is your opportunity to show your pride and make even “more” happen for current and future St. Andrew’s Lions.

LIONS FUND

ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

For more information, contact Mari McDonald ‘95,

Director of the Lions Fund, at mmcdonald@saes.org.

2022 SPRING MAGAZINE Editors Richard Coco Blair Kaine Jen Mohr Kirsten Petersen Designers Nancy Schwartz Kelly Sullivan Photographers Andrea Joseph Photography Freed Photography Jason Dixson Photography Kirsten Petersen Lifetouch 2021-2022 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chair Sheila Maith Vice Chair Thomas Taylor ‘00 Treasurer Kellie Bickenbach Secretary Sandy Horowitz Rana Alarapon William Amick Alfredo Antezana Gail Atwood Rene Augustine Kevin Borgmann Edith Demas ‘83 Brian Harris Diane Hastings Anthony Izzo, III Parisa Karaahmet ‘87 Larissa Levine ’06 Frederick Scarboro DeMaurice Smith EX-OFFICIO Head of School Robert Kosasky Alumni Council President Lane Brenner ‘05 Parents Association President Kelly Green Kahn Bishop’s Representative John Harmon Counsel Marc Kaufman

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

06 School News

02 A Letter from the Head of School

Whether it was receiving recognition from the College Board, resuming live music, dance, and theater performances, or serving the community both locally and nationally, it was a busy year at St. Andrew’s.

20 Belonging at St. Andrew’s When St. Andrew’s was created more than 40 years ago, its founders sought to build a new school that was inclusive and open to everyone regardless of background. Since that time, the School has worked to create a space where

04 A Letter from the Chair of the Board 12 Athletics News 14 DEB News 16 CTTL News 41 Class Notes 57 In Memoriam

every student feels that they belong.

36 Student as Teacher

The first openly transgender student at St. Andrew’s publicly came out during the 2013-2014 school year. Since that moment, he helped to educate the school community, becoming a trailblazer for the students that followed.

St. Andrew’s is committed to a diverse and inclusive community with respect to race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, family status, economic circumstance, age, and physical disability in its student body, faculty and staff. Pursuant to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, St. Andrew’s does not discriminate in the administration of admission, financial aid or loan practices, educational or other school-sponsored programs and activities, or in the hiring or terms of employment of faculty and staff, except that the Chaplain shall be a member of the clergy of the Episcopal Church.

A Letter from the Head of School ear Friends, “Belonging” is an increasingly common word and value in schools – an educational concept and movement which St. Andrew’s has helped to pioneer and popularize. And yet, belonging is a deceptively challenging ideal, particularly in a broadly diverse community like St. Andrew’s. What does it really mean to belong in school – to feel truly welcomed and known as a person and a learner, to believe that your teachers, leaders, and peers really believe in your potential and have your best interests at heart? Why does belonging matter so much at St. Andrew’s, and how could we be even more successful in creating a community of full belonging each day on our campus?

The articles in this magazine seek to answer those questions in the brave and candid voices of those we care about most – our students, teachers, and alumni. As St. Andrew’s Head of School for the past 20 years, I want to honor my fellow Lions by sharing my own answers with you as well. Why do I care about belonging, and how has my and the school’s understanding of its educational value deepened over time?

Belonging at St. Andrew’s has always been rooted in our inclusive Episcopal identity. Even before our doors opened, our founders cared a great deal about the school’s religious identity, and that care had almost nothing to do with dogma or rituals. It had everything to do with the kind of environment that our students and the adults who taught them would feel every day. In the tribute to founding trustee David Beers in this magazine, fellow founder Audrey Demas remembers that our first leaders “came together in our commitment to building a school where every student could find their place.”

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At a time when most mainstream schools expected children to conform to a narrow and prescribed notion of success, when happily accepting students with a broad range of interests and abilities was seen as a weakness, St. Andrew’s Episcopal identity shaped a new kind of school culture – one grounded in each child’s dignity, identity, and belonging.

From its earliest days, St. Andrew’s desired a broadly pluralistic community that would encourage each student’s growth.

For our founders, that meant a coed school for students of all beliefs (explicitly including those without a defined faith), students of varied economic means, and students of the broadest possible range of racial, ethnic, and international backgrounds.

While today those expectations may sound obvious, for a fledgling, under-resourced school in a traditional independent school market like Washington 45 years ago, they were visionary and brave. Our founders’ inclusive beliefs shaped a supportive, student-centered faculty culture, and laid the groundwork for the broadly diverse and growth-minded community that St. Andrew’s enjoys today.

That inclusive, positive spirit drew me to St. Andrew’s 20 years ago, along with the challenges and opportunities I saw in this exciting, young, open-minded school.

During my interview process, trustees and faculty and I quickly agreed that becoming a more deeply diverse and inclusive community – especially racially and economically at that time – should be a priority for their next head of school. Even more importantly, I remember dozens of people asked me why diversity mattered to me as an educator. My answer then is my answer today: We learn best from each others’ differences in communities of true belonging.

In 2002 I wrote to the community that “By challenging assumptions and biases, diverse learning environments develop students’ intellectual depth and agility. In today’s world, educational excellence requires that students experience, understand, and bridge differences first-hand.”

I said yes to St. Andrew’s 20 years ago – and continue to call it my home – because

the school has always understood that diversity and belonging improve everyone’s learning and growth – every classroom and athletic team, every faculty meeting and Board conversation, every story I hear and decision I make.

St. Andrew’s doesn’t accept the toocommon assumption that diversity only benefits “some students.” Our founders knew better, as we do today. No aspect of school or growing up is a zero-sum game or a solo endeavor; we learn in relationship and from each other, in communities of

I said yes to St. Andrew’s 20 years ago – and continue to call it my home – because the school has always understood that diversity and belonging improve everyone’s learning and growth – every classroom and athletic team, every faculty meeting and Board conversation, every story I hear and decision I make.

dignity, respect, and friendship. That’s why diversity and belonging are pillars of a St. Andrew’s education that benefit all of our students, faculty, and alumni Lions.

As you will see in this magazine, over the past 20 years St. Andrew’s has poured its energy, resources, and care into diversity and belonging. The racial and ethnic diversity of our student body and faculty and staff have tripled as a percentage of our total community, as has the percentage of students who receive financial support to attend and fully participate in the life of our community. Unlike many other religious schools, our Episcopal values have guided St. Andrew’s to embrace

students, families, and faculty and staff from across the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity. We have a thriving culture of student and alumni affinity groups that work in partnership to enrich our educational programs and promote a culture of leadership, understanding, and belonging.

And led by our Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, St. Andrew’s has grounded our commitment to belonging in educational research as much as in our school values. More students than ever now feel that they can bring their “full selves” to school each day, knowing they will be welcomed by name and understood as individuals. More decisions than ever are clearly grounded in how we can make each child and adult feel connected, supported, and excited about their growth.

Finally, I hope you will read in this magazine that St. Andrew’s is neither perfect nor satisfied. We know that we have only partly achieved our mission to build and sustain a broadly diverse community of full belonging. In an era when too many institutions have self-sorted for ideological sameness, we recognize that our mission includes bridging differences of thought and perspective through respectful listening and gracious discourse. And we accept that our community ideals have grown more challenging and urgent in a society of increased isolation and decreased trust. While we are proud of our progress, we acknowledge our shortcomings and embrace the challenging work to be done.

Whether you joined our St. Andrew’s community a few months or several decades ago, please know that you will always be welcome and belong here. Thank you for supporting the spirit of our founders, the vision we share today, and the learning and growth of every one of our Lions.

Faithfully,

Robert Kosasky Head of School SPRING 2022

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A Letter from the Chair of the Board of Trustees ear Friends, Welcome to St. Andrew’s Spring 2022 Magazine. I am particularly excited for this opportunity to share the many ways in which St. Andrew’s is living its commitment to being a community that celebrates and affirms all students, in service to our mission to know and inspire each child in an inclusive community.

Building a diverse student body was one of the driving values of our founding Board when they came together to launch a new co-educational Episcopal high school in 1978. Their commitment established a foundational value that has driven our growth and development over the past 44 years. At the same time that St. Andrew’s was being launched in Bethesda, I was a high school student at an independent school down the road in Baltimore. For me, the opportunity to receive a world-class education came with the experience of being the only AfricanAmerican student in a class of 35. It was often isolating and lonely. I was grateful for the handful of African-American girls who became my sisters at an institution which had generously invited us in, but which had not spent much time thinking about the daily lives of its Black and Brown students once they were enrolled.

When I became a parent, I was unwilling to ask my own children to make the same tradeoff I had made 30 years prior – choosing between being part of a community in which I belonged or receiving an excellent education. I instinctively understood that learning to navigate diversity in all forms was essential preparation for life in a richly diverse world. When we discovered St. Andrew’s in 2009 I knew we had found our place. St. Andrew’s offered my children the opportunity to engage 4

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with multiple perspectives, challenge their thinking, and learn from and work with diverse teams. At that time the work was supported by a Diversity Director and the Board Diversity Committee. It sent a strong message about the priority placed in this work and the Board’s commitment.

As I eventually joined the Board, I was able to see the ways in which St. Andrew’s was challenging itself to step fully into its commitment. Our goal was for the composition of our faculty and Board to be reflective of the diversity of our student population. In the past decade we have made important progress on both of those goals, and that work is ongoing.

Over the past few years, many institutions, including independent schools, have rightfully begun to wrestle with the unfinished work of civil rights, including not only diversity goals, but how to achieve true inclusion and belonging. Many schools are asking the question of how curriculum, classroom environment, and language blend to create an environment in which every student can feel affirmed and able to excel. These questions are not new ones for St. Andrew’s. We have always challenged ourselves to examine how we are fulfilling our promise to know and inspire every child. Backed by the research of our Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, we now better understand the ways in which creating a community of belonging is foundational for every child to be a successful learner.

With the excellent work of our expanded Diversity Advisory Council to draft a new Diversity, Equity, and Belonging statement, we have a clearer expression of our commitment to creating a community of belonging for our students, faculty and staff. With the generous support of our St. Andrew’s families, our Black alumni have launched the Black Alumni Collective, reconnecting our alumni with each other and with opportunities to serve and support our students. And our Board of Trustees, now the most racially and ethnically diverse Board in the history of the school, is engaged in ongoing work to attract a diverse group of candidates for trusteeship and service to the school.

While many institutions are struggling to fulfill their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, I have nothing but confidence in St. Andrew’s ability to do so successfully. Our work is not finished and there is more to be done. But our educational philosophy is grounded in a belief in the value of growth through challenge.

Meeting the challenge of creating a truly inclusive St. Andrew’s requires that we do no less than we ask of our children every day. St. Andrew’s is equipped to take on this work with an excellent team of diversity professionals, the support of our families, solid grounding in our researchbased approach to teaching and learning, and a student body, faculty, and trustees who are ready and eager to take on the challenge. It has been a privilege to serve as the first African-American chair of the St. Andrew’s Board of Trustees. It is even more exciting to know that I will not be the last. With the partnership of all of you, we have made tremendous strides. I am proud of all we have accomplished to build on the vision of our founding board, and I look forward to an even stronger St. Andrew’s in the years to come.

... our educational philosophy is grounded in a belief in the value of growth through challenge.

Meeting the challenge of creating a truly inclusive St. Andrew’s requires that we do no less than we ask of our children every day.

Yours,

Sheila F. Maith Chair, Board of Trustees SPRING 2022

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news from st. andrew’s ▼ St. Andrew’s teachers and students continue to earn recognition

Over the past seven years, St. Andrew’s students and teachers have consistently been recognized by Bethesda Magazine for the impact they have had within the community.

Katia Atiyah ’22 became the eighth St. Andrew’s student over the past seven years to be recognized as an extraordinary teen.

She has helped launch a youth sports program in Amman, Jordan, developed her own business to raise funds for the Lebanese Red Cross, started a youth group for Middle Eastern and North African youth, and here at St. Andrew’s, she is President of the Students of Color Association.

Alex Haight, in his 25th year teaching and coaching at St. Andrew’s, was recognized as an extraordinary educator. He is the second St. Andrew’s teacher in the past five years to earn this recognition.  Service learning programs expand across divisions

The return to fully in-person learning has also meant a return to a more robust service learning program. Lower School students began the school year sending letters and notes of encouragement to students in New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Ida. Prior to Winter Break, they wrote holiday 6

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news from st. andrew’s cards and filled snack bags for clients of Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. Preschool students helped make Valentine’s Day extra special for residents of the Potomac Valley Nursing Home with Valentine’s Day cards. The Red Cross Club worked this year with Lower School students to write birthday cards to service members, and eighth and ninth graders visited the Salvation Army and Capital Area Food Bank, respectively, to help sort donations.  Fifteen members of the Class of 2022 recognized by the College Board

Nearly 1 in 6 students in the Class of 2022 earned recognition from the College Board for their exceptional academic promise, as demonstrated by their performance on the PSAT in the fall of 2020.

Students were National Merit Commended Scholars, National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars, and/or National African American Recognition Program Scholars. They include Tinuke Alarapon, Brian Alewine, Oliver Bush, Ana-Lucia Chalmers, Will Clark, David Domanski, Charlie Fernau, Thomas Flecker, Abigail Gaughan, Matías Heitner, Will Kaine, Aaron Lobsenz, Hannah Newman, Valeska Peters, and Charlie Ryan.

The Middle School spring musical, “Willy Wonka Jr.,” is set to take the stage May 13-14. Performing arts assemblies returned as well as the Winter Concert.

This spring, Lower School students took the stage for the annual Showcase of the Stars, virtual the past two years, and there will be year-end performances for students in every grade beginning in April and running through June.

St. Andrew’s Online launches with nine courses offered

This year, nine Upper School elective courses are being offered virtually as part of a pilot program, St. Andrew’s Online.

The program allows students to take electives that are offered virtually prior to the start of the school day. The classes include Advanced Spanish: Language Through Film, Animation, Drawing, Educational Technology and Entrepreneurship, History and Sociology of the Information Society, Honors Capstone Seminar: Questioning Modern Systems of Power, Music Production & Audio Engineering, and Neuroscience. Additionally, CTTL Finn Student Research Fellows received course credit for their work this year.  Live theater and performances take the stage

The St. Andrew’s Players and other performing artists returned to the stage

Two students named winners of signature Great Works Project

this year after 15 months of virtual performances. The fall play was a series of one-acts inspired by relationships and the winter musical was “Les Misérables.”

The signature program for tenth-grade students is the Great Works Project, which allows students in the first trimester to advocate for studying a text in the third trimester. Students compete in their English and Honors English classes before presenting in front of a panel of judges, including past Great Works winners. This year’s winners were Zara Koso-Thomas ’24 who successfully advocated for J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” and Eliora Adu ’24, who was successful in getting “Hey, Kiddo” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka added to this year’s curriculum. “Hey, Kiddo” is the first graphic novel to win the Great Works Project.

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news from st. andrew’s ▼ Student publications continue to grow

This fall, the second volume of the “Journal of Organic Biochemistry of St. Andrew’s” was published online. The scientific review articles chosen for publication were written and anonymously reviewed by students in Will Ferriby’s Organic Biochemistry class. Topics ranged from how to build an inclusive protein database to better address health needs of diverse communities to a chemical analysis of pottery to determine the diet of past civilizations in central Africa.

The Journal of Organic Biochemistry is one of three major student publications. The Mane News is once again printing regular issues after several years of being an onlineonly student newspaper, while Creaturae, the school’s literary magazine, continues to be a year-end highlight of the English department.

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Field trips return for 2021-2022 school year

▼ Fifth-grade students get creative for “This is Not a Box” project

Ask a St. Andrew’s student (or alumnus) about memorable field trips and their answer will run the gamut. Orientation Day bonding for twelfth graders, service learning overnight for eighth graders, Chesapeake Bay trip for sixth graders, or even a trip to Butler’s Orchard for Lower School students. This year, those field trips returned much to the delight of students in all grades. Nothing can replace the joy of our sixth graders wading into the mud and muck on the Chesapeake Bay.

For fifth-grade students in Ms. Poyatt’s class, a signature moment in the school year is the “This is Not a Box” project.

Students must transform a cardboard box into something indistinguishable from its materials and write a persuasive essay explaining why their creation could not possibly be a box. Among this year’s items that were definitely not a box were a lamp, a mailbox, and an aquarium.

▲ Upper School students participate in “Trash on Your Back” Challenge

Most parents can relate to glimpsing in their child’s backpack and noticing lots of things that can only be described as “trash.” For Upper School Environmental Science students this year, there was a week where they really were carrying trash. As part of a “Trash on Your Back” Challenge, students collected and carried their trash for a week to gain a more intimate perspective on how much trash they produce. At the end of the week, students used their analytical skills to measure the mass and composition of their trash and to reflect on choices they could make in the future to reduce the amount of objects thrown away.

 Classroom speakers share their expertise with students

The 2021-2022 school year has featured more than its fair share of impressive speakers on a diversity of subjects. In the fall, Neha Shastry ’09 spoke to the Upper School about her career and how St. Andrew’s helped her develop her point of view as a filmmaker. Shastry’s most recent documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” on which she was a field producer, was nominated for a Peabody and was shortlisted for the Oscar.

It’s rare to be able to have a high-profile author visit class, but not as rare when the text was written by an alumnus. Dresden Koons’ Contemporary Literature class was reading “Dear Evan Hansen” this fall and they were able to have their questions answered by Tony Award-winning Steven Levenson ’02, who wrote the book for the musical.

The fall also saw visitors to the Lower School, including accomplished artist and St. Andrew’s parent James Nyika P ’29. And, Rev. David Wolf from Samaritan Ministries brought former client Ben Morgan, who is now a lawyer and author, to talk about service learning and our school partnership.

For Veterans Day chapel, students heard from Army Col. Dr. Catherine Kimball-Eayrs, the Commandant for the School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University and the Army General Pediatrics Consultant to the Surgeon General. She shared her story of having a family while serving abroad and life at home as a veteran. She encouraged students to think about the sacrifice veterans make as well as the ones their family members make when their loved ones are deployed.

In December, Middle School students engaged with Dr. Michael McElwain, who is the Observatory Scientist for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which launched in late 2021. In February, after watching “También la Iluvia,” students in Advanced Spanish Film Zoomed with Oscar Olivera, an activist who led the campaign in 2000 to stop the privatization of the water system in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

He won the Goldman Environmental Prize for his success. Just one week later, students in eleventh and twelfth grade heard from former St. Andrew’s History Teacher

and alumni parent Warren Marcus as he spoke during Writer’s Week about his memoir “I Shouldn’t Be Here.”

Perhaps the most high-profile was saved for this spring. This June’s Senior Banquet speaker will be actress Kate Siegel ’00, who in the past six years alone has starred in “Midnight Mass” (2021), “Hypnotic” (2021), “The Haunting of Hill House” (2018) and “Hush” (2016). She is slated to share remarks with the Class of 2022 from the set of her current Netflix series, “Fall of

the House of Usher.”

The final speaker of the year will take the podium Friday, June 10, at the commencement ceremony at Washington National Cathedral, when those gathered will get to hear from Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan, parent in the Classes of 2022 and 2023. Ryan will deliver the commencement address and join Head of School Robert Kosasky and Board Chair Sheila E. Maith in awarding diplomas to the Class of 2022.

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CLASS OF 2022

PAUL RYAN TO SPEAK AT COMMENCEMENT

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Head of School Robert Kosasky is pleased to announce that St. Andrew’s parent Paul Ryan will be the commencement speaker at this year’s graduation ceremony which will be held at Washington National Cathedral on June 10.

Paul, who along with his wife Janna are the parents of two St. Andrew’s students, Charlie ’22 and Sam ’23, was the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In office from October 2015 to January 2019, he was the youngest speaker in nearly 150 years. First elected to Congress at age 28, Paul represented Wisconsin’s First District for two decades.

In 2012, he was selected to serve as Governor Mitt Romney’s Vice-Presidential nominee.

The Ryans, who split time between Wisconsin and the Washington, D.C., area, were familiar with St. Andrew’s before enrolling their sons. Janna’s sister, Dana Jackson, was (and still is) a St. Andrew’s parent. Since then, Dana and Janna’s sister, Molly Olcott, has also joined the St. Andrew’s community, bringing the total of cousins in the family attending St. Andrew’s to six.

Now, three years after joining the community, Paul will be on the stage to shake his son’s hand when he receives his diploma in June. This fall, Charlie will attend either University of Chicago, Dartmouth, Harvard, or Notre Dame, where Paul is currently a Professor of the Practice where he lectures as part of the Economics Department.

You had nephews at St. Andrew’s when you first looked at the school for Charlie and Sam. What were your first impressions of St. Andrew’s and what were the factors in your decision to pick the school?

We cast a wide net around the area and with the family connections St. Andrew’s just became a natural choice. Dana Jackson, my sister-in-law, is just a tremendous booster of St. Andrew’s, as is her husband, William. The community really sold itself.

We wanted a school that would be a good fit for them.

St. Andrew’s has great academics, a fun, inclusive community, good sports, and it has a great reputation that preceded it with our family. What struck me from meeting with other parents and faculty was just how welcoming it was to people from different backgrounds, different political persuasions, that it was pluralistic, that’s extremely important to me, and I think the number one thing that sold me on St. Andrew’s was The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. The fact that the school was endeavoring to find out the best way to teach developing minds. The fact that it was focused on the science of learning and orienting the curriculum around that. To me, it told me that the school was focused on the fundamentals, what it should be focused on.

I’m from small town public school Wisconsin and we didn’t want any place too pretentious. We wanted to have a community that kept the boys grounded and a community that accepted anybody

from wherever they came from. And as a conservative, I wanted to make sure our kids wouldn’t be ostracized and would be well accepted. We don’t wear our politics on our sleeves but nevertheless we wanted a community that is accepting of people from different beliefs and backgrounds.

That was very important to us and we found that at St. Andrew’s.

How do you describe St. Andrew’s to people outside the community?

The way I describe St. Andrew’s to other families that have asked is that the school is focused on the basics – a good quality education, the classics, and the science of learning. The school isn’t getting distracted with cultural fights and momentary distractions. The school is focused on what it should – how to teach effectively and how to help every child learn. It’s going to meet your child where he or she is and bring them to reach their potential so they can be the best academic version of themselves.

This is why being a faith-based school was really important to us. It also is a community that teaches the value of community, of thinking about and worrying about other people, of enjoying the solidarity that comes with contributing to the betterment of their community. So we wanted our kids to learn those critically important basic Christian values.

What I typically tell other parents is that St. Andrew’s is a wonderful community, it develops your child to make them the best version of themselves, and it’s a community that’s pluralistic and not doctrinaire, and that means your child will be able to flourish where they are and reach their potential. That was really important to me. It is humble, and modest, and not pretentious, and that’s the kind of academic environment I think is good for high school kids.

On June 10, you will have the opportunity to address the Class of 2022 in some of the final words they will hear before they graduate. What are some of the ingredients to a great commencement address?

Be brief, make one or two points that are memorable, and sit down. Stir the minds of the graduating class so that you can address their affection for their school and just give them one or two good pieces of insight going forward to the next stage of their life. And do it in 10 minutes or less.

How meaningful is it going to be to hand Charlie his diploma in two months?

We couldn’t be prouder. COVID really took away a lot from this cohort. Nevertheless, they persevered mightily through the moment. These kids did not have the typical high school experience because of the pandemic yet for the most part, they flourished. I’m just very proud of what Charlie has been able to achieve at St. Andrew’s and very proud of this class of kids who preserved through very difficult times yet built a very good community of students who really enjoy each other.

With six cousins we have gotten to know a lot of kids in a lot of grades throughout the years at St. Andrew’s and the consistent theme I see are kids from differing backgrounds with great attitudes toward life, with the appropriate degree of modesty, who just have a real positive outlook toward the future. And this, in spite of COVID, is the gift St. Andrew’s has given these kids.

Giving Charlie that diploma will be a rush of memories of the adversity that the global pandemic presented and just the fact that because of the strong community and this academic environment he overcame those things and built himself a great future and I’m very proud of his hard work.

alumni, join us at graduation Each June, we invite our alumni to attend our annual Commencement. This year’s ceremony takes place Friday, June 10, at Washington National Cathedral. Alumni are invited to participate in graduation by processing down the aisle wearing distinguished alumni gowns.

If you would like to participate, please look for an RSVP form in the alumni newsletter, or email alumni@ saes.org with any questions.

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news from the athletics department

▼ Pair inducted into St. Andrew’s Athletics Hall of Fame

This fall, St. Andrew’s inducted two new alumni into the Athletics Hall of Fame – Ashley (Ehrenreich) Carey ’01 and Tim Gregg ’11. Carey was a standout multisport athlete who earned local, regional, and national recognition for her talent on the field. As a lacrosse player, she was Honorable Mention All-American. She captained the 2000 Girls Varsity Soccer ISL A Championship team and was a four-year member of the basketball team.

She was named the St. Andrew’s Athlete of the Year in 2000 and 2001 and received the Lions Award all four years in the Upper School for participating in three varsity sports. Gregg was the most decorated golfer in St. Andrew’s history, earning both individual and team MAC honors throughout his Upper School career. He

was a member of four consecutive MAC championship teams, serving as team captain his senior year, and a three-time All-MAC selection. He led the MAC in low scoring average for two years and was MAC individual champion his junior year.

Gregg also played tennis and basketball for the Lions. ▲ Fall Sports Roundup

It was a busy fall sports season at St. Andrew’s as the Lions returned to MAC and ISL play. The golf team had its most successful season in a decade as it posted a second-place finish in the MAC. Leading the team was Vasilios Doulaveris ’24 who finished second among all golfers with a score of 74 and earned All-MAC honors.

The girls cross country team continued its run of success at the Maryland Small Schools State Championship. For the 15th time in the past 21 years the Lions won 12

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the small school state title. The boys cross country team took home second place at the same meet.

St. Andrew’s students continue to have success with local rowing clubs. Alex

▼ Pair sign to play DI basketball at colleges next year

A pair of St. Andrew’s athletes signed National Letters-of-Intent this fall to play Division I basketball next year. Simone Foreman ’22 and Masai Troutman ’22 received scholarships to continue their highly successful basketball careers on the next level. Foreman will play basketball at the College of the Holy Cross while Troutman will take the court for Northeastern University.

Myler ’23 and his DC National Rowing Club crewmates won the Upper Junior Men’s Fours at the Occoquan Chase. The 4.8 km race is one of the major time trial style races in the Washington, D.C., region. Will Kaine ’22 also spent the spring and fall seasons rowing with TBC Racing and will join Colby College’s crew team this fall.

Eight St. Andrew’s student-athletes earned All-MAC or All-ISL recognition for the fall season. In addition to Doulaveris ’24, Ishan Agrawal ’22 (soccer), Tobi Akinde ’23 (soccer), and Jack McCloy ’22 (cross country) were named AllMAC while Emily Kelliher ’23 (soccer), Katherine Odell ’25 (cross country), Lacey Somwaru ’22 (soccer), and Maya Thompson ’22 (tennis) were named All-ISL. ▼ Winter Sports Roundup

The varsity and junior varsity equestrian teams had standout seasons competing throughout the fall and winter. The varsity team concluded the Inter-School Horse Show Series season as Reserve Champions (second place) while the JV team finished in first place as Champions. Among the riders who earned recognition throughout the year were Kate Schneider ’23, Ella Poffenroth ’25, Chloe ’26, and Kate ’28.

The swim team had another strong season led by the standout efforts of Reagan Phillips ’24 and Joe Umhofer ’24.

They both qualified for the National Club

Swimming Association Junior National Championships after outstanding performances in the 100 breaststroke, 100 and 200 free, and 200 IM (Phillips), and 200 breaststroke (Umhofer).

The varsity indoor track team claimed multiple top three finishes at the Montgomery County Private School Championships with three individuals winning first-place medals. Tinoda Matsatsa ’23 won the 1600 meters, Ryan O’Keefe ’25 won the 3200 meters and the 4X800 meter relay team won behind Charlie Ryan ’22, Matsatsa, Sammy Somwaru ’24, and Graham Storper ’25.

The basketball teams also had exceptional seasons. Playing in the ISL’s top AA Division, the girls team finished in fourth place in the regular season and advanced to the tournament semifinals before losing to Sidwell, which finished the year ranked #1 in the nation. The boys basketball team, which won the MAC conference tournament the last time it was held in 2020 by defeating Sidwell, came up just short of repeating the feat. This time around the #2-seeded Lions lost to top-seeded Sidwell.

Six Lions were named All-MAC or All-ISL. Simone Foreman ’22 (basketball) and Reagan Phillips ’24 (swimming) were All-ISL while Masai Troutman ’22 (basketball), Marcel Gardner ’23 (basketball), Tommy Su ’23 (swimming), and Joe Umhofer ’24 (swimming) were named All-MAC. SPRING 2022

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news from the diversity, equity, and belonging office Student Leaders Come Together to Create Solidarity Statement

Members from all student affinity groups and clubs formally pledged to promote belonging and stand together against acts of racism, sexism, homophobia, injustice, and oppression by collaborating on a solidarity statement. The statement was presented during Morning Meeting on March 14, with each student group reading their own commitments aloud to the Upper School student body. Affinity groups and clubs represented included the Student Government Association, the Students of Color Association, the Black Student Alliance, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, the Asian Student Union, the International Students Club, Latinx, the Middle Eastern Students Association, and the Jewish Student Alliance. ▼ Middle School students improve visibility of all-gender bathrooms

The Rainbow Alliance is a Middle School club dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff at St. Andrew’s. One of their initiatives this year was raising awareness of the all-gender bathrooms on campus, so they created

signs and maps that are now displayed throughout the main building.

“We hope that these signs will help make sure that everyone at our school, of all gender identities and gender presentations, knows that they belong here and that there is a space for them,” Rainbow Alliance members Ariya ’27, Lila ’26, and Zoe ’27 shared when they introduced the signs to the Middle School.

throughout their lives. The conference was facilitated by St. Andrew's students and faculty as well as community members, including Lisa Owens, who led a self-defense workshop, and alumna Edie Demas ’83, who supported a creative art space.

▲ “HER” Conference brings together students for a day of connection

Throughout the school year, clubs organized around affinity groups have helped our students gain a deeper understanding of important holidays and traditions.

For Día de los Muertos, the Latinx Club created an altar and cultural awareness display outside the Diversity, Equity, and Belonging Office. The altar featured photos of loved ones that club members honor for the holiday, including grandparents and pets. For Lunar New Year, members of the International Students Club led a

The “HER” conference, designed for St. Andrew’s students who self-identify with the pronouns she, her, they, or them, brought together students in grades 8-12 for a day of connection and empowerment March 3. The theme of the conference was “Yes Means Yes” and was centered around mentally and physically empowering women as they face harassment 14

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 Latinx, International Students Club share holiday traditions with Upper School

chapel service, during which they introduced their peers to one of their favorite Lunar New Year traditions: gathering with family to watch the Spring Festival Gala, a special broadcast that features acrobatics, songs, and dances performed by a variety of Chinese ethnic groups. ▼ Black Alumni Collective expands and enhances programming with in-person, virtual events

The 2021-2022 academic year kicked off for the Black Alumni Collective with the BAC-2-School Bash, an on-campus

fellowship event for families of color and faculty and staff of color. Designed to be an opportunity for persons of color within the St. Andrew’s community to mix and mingle and begin to make new family ties, the event drew dozens of attendees, including alumni, students, and families from all divisions.

The BAC’s signature event, the HackBAC social justice hackathon, returned once again as a virtual event, this time taking place over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. The theme of this year’s HackBAC was “Creating More Racially Integrated and Equitable Experiences in

Independent Schools that Promote Safety, Trust, Wellness, and Belonging.” Forty students, both international and domestic, participated in the HackBAC, and of those students, three St. Andrew’s students pitched solutions that were ultimately awarded grants.

Miles Hayter ’24 was a member of the first-place team, which proposed SafeZone, an online well-being hub for BIPOC students. In addition to an anonymous chat function that connects students with BIPOC peers as well as counselors and mentors, the online hub would offer tools such as calming music and guided meditations curated for students. To fund the endeavor, students proposed collaborating with BIPOC artists and auctioning NFTs of their work.

Tinuke Alarapon ’22 and Kieran Lamb ’22 were members of the third-place team, which proposed the Independent School Student Union, a national student-led organization that would support BIPOC student leaders as they advocate for systemic change at their schools. The ISSU would be structured with regional boards and school-based chapters, and provide individual students the opportunity to attend conferences like the Student Diversity Leadership Conference if their school is unable to cover their travel or lodging expenses.

In June, the BAC will host an event for families and faculty and staff of color to celebrate the end of the academic year, followed by the annual BAC FAMily Fundraiser. To stay up to date with the BAC’s programming, follow them on Instagram at @saesbac.

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news from the cttl

 Neuroteach Global Student Pilot Program Launches

Building upon the enormous international success of Neuroteach Global ™, a web-based suite of MBE researchinformed micro-courses for teachers, The CTTL is now piloting its offering for students. Neuroteach Global™ Student contains six modules that use Science of Learning research to empower students to take ownership of the study techniques and strategies that help them learn best.

The gamified modules are designed for students in grade 6 through “grade 13” — the first year of college. After vetting as many as 70 responses from interested schools and parents, 10 schools and three parents were ultimately chosen for the pilot program, which began in March.

Neuroteach Global ™ Student will launch this fall; for more information, parents and school leaders can email info@thecttl.org. ▼ Winter Webinar Series Invites Educators to Explore MBE and DEB

More than 300 educators registered for this year’s Winter Webinar Series, which offered participants opportunities to deepen their learning at the intersection between Mind, Brain, and Education Science (MBE) and Diversity, Equity, and Belonging (DEB). Lorraine Martinez Hanley, Dr. Ian Kelleher, and Eva Shultis designed the programming, including case studies that participants explored and deconstructed. The third session featured a panel of esteemed thought leaders and researchers in the field of MBE, including 16

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Elena Aguilar, Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, and Dr. Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa. Recordings of each session, including panelist breakout rooms, are available for purchase; email info@thecttl.org for more information.  In-Person Workshops and Conference Presentations Resume

With major educational conferences and festivals resuming an in-person format, members of The CTTL team are once again traveling across the country and around the globe to introduce educators to promising MBE Science research that they can apply to their teaching. March in particular was a busy month for the team and included appearances at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Conference in Chicago and SXSW EDU in Austin, where Dr. Ian Kelleher led a workshop. Team members

are also visiting new partner schools as well as schools who have maintained partnerships with The CTTL since before the pandemic. On April 29, St. Andrew’s will be the destination for old and new friends of The CTTL when the Center celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a Spring Fling.

▼ CTTL Thought Leaders Articles Published Online and in Print

St. Andrew’s teachers are continuing to elevate the School’s reputation in the educational community by writing articles that have been published in print and online. Lorraine Martinez Hanley, Dr. Ian Kelleher, and Eva Shultis cowrote an article on how applying MBE Science in the classroom can address equity in education, which was published in the Winter 2022 edition of “Independent School” magazine, a publication of the National Association of Independent Schools.

Dr. Kelleher and Glenn Whitman wrote a follow-up to their 2019 EdSurge article on St. Andrew’s research-informed daily schedule and how it has been reimagined during the pandemic; that article, “Don’t Return to Your School’s Pre-Pandemic Schedule: Improve it Through Brain Science” was published in January. ▼ New Case Study Published on Public School Partnership

A case study detailing The CTTL’s long-time collaboration with Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) in Maryland was published online and shared in April. The case study is an important

tool for The CTTL to expand its work with public school systems throughout the country and lean into its public purpose.

The case study features interviews with FCPS administrators as well as teachers who have benefitted from attending the Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy, reading “Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education,” and completing Neuroteach Global ™ micro-courses.  Teacher Resources Expand with Early Childhood Placemat

The Early Childhood Placemat, a research-informed tool created to support

early childhood educators as they integrate MBE Science research-informed strategies into their teaching, will complete the first collection of resources available exclusively to attendees of The CTTL’s signature professional development event, The Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy. The new tool comes off the heels of The Elementary Roadmap, which debuted at the 2021 Academy. Both tools are part of The CTTL’s growing investment in developing programming and resources for early childhood and elementary educators, as well as its commitment to elevating the innovative teaching of St. Andrew’s preschool through fifth grade teachers. In the fall, The CTTL spotlighted Kindergarten teachers Vasilios Pournaras and Tia Henteleff and highlighted their individual journeys as practitioners of MBE Science and the steps they are taking to apply MBE strategies in their classroom this year.

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Community nets $420,000 at Fund-a-Scholar Gala The St. Andrew’s community gathered Saturday, March 19, in the Student Center for the first in-person Fund-a-Scholar Gala in three years.

More than 300 parents, alumni, faculty, and staff came together to support our Fund-a-Scholar Program, and thanks to the generosity of our community, this year's Gala raised a net total of $420,000 for student financial aid.

As a result of this extraordinary philanthropy, more students will be able to attend St. Andrew’s next year – students who otherwise might not have the opportunity. The classroom experience of all students will be enriched by the diversity of perspectives and backgrounds in each class.

The school would like to thank Holly Cirrito, Polly Poffenroth, and Ana Pabón-Naab for their incredible work and leadership, along with the entire auction committee of parent, alumni, and faculty and staff volunteers.

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$420K Amount raised for financial aid

310

45+

Priceless

Number of attendees

Number of volunteers

Generosity of our community SPRING 2022

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W H AT D O E S

BELONGING M E A N AT S T. A N D R E W ’ S ?

B

elonging.

As parents and educators, few things mean as much to us as belonging. When we belong in a space, we feel a sense of trust and inspiration.

How much more can we accomplish in classrooms, on the sports fields, as we navigate social spaces, when we feel like we belong? When we know we belong, we take on new learning and leadership opportunities with greater confidence and focus. We thrive and work toward our full potential.

As parents, when we send our children to school, camp, or anywhere new, we often think – ”I hope they find their people.” St. Andrew’s students are encouraged during orientation to find their people in the first week of school, recognizing that this group might change or grow. As parents and

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educators, we emphasize this because we intrinsically know that if we look around and see people we trust, we know we belong in that space.

For St. Andrew’s to fulfill its mission, to know and inspire each child in an inclusive community dedicated to exceptional teaching, learning, and service, we create intentional spaces where every child knows they belong, and every child finds inspiration. On the following pages, you will learn how students and faculty value diversity within a highly connected community, and how greater understanding of each other is fundamental to belonging. We hope you enjoy the perspectives you will read from students and alumni sharing how they belong as part of the St. Andrew’s community.

BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

G The Value of Belonging in an Educational Environment

BY LORRAINE MARTINEZ HANLEY DIRECTOR OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND BELONGING

In 2022, most workplaces and schools have diversity programs, offices, and/or officers. Too often, we assume these programs exist because of a deficit that needs to be corrected. If there is a space dedicated to equity, does that mean inequity exists? If St. Andrew’s is focused on creating an environment of inclusion and belonging, is it because there already exists an environment where exclusion happens?

This deficit framework, believing a Diversity, Equity, and Belonging (DEB) Office is needed because we are doing something wrong, is a common misconception about present-day diversity work. At St. Andrew’s, the DEB office has many roles including providing our faculty with resources and helping give students the opportunity to share and learn about the diversity within the community. It is not about focusing on

our differences. That is another common misconception about diversity work. It is not about highlighting our differences but rather about celebrating and valuing our diversity – and we all are diverse individuals.

The importance of what we do at St. Andrew’s was never more evident than earlier this year when Middle School students were discussing the book “The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth.”

A student raised their hand and commented that they were tired of reading stories about Black students and Brown students and they just wanted to read a story about a Jewish person like themselves who was questioning aspects of their identity. Why can’t they read about that? Needless to say, a lot of hands went up into the air. But the moments that followed showed the value of diversity, and a diversity program, in an educational environment.

First, we made sure the student knew they Continued on page 22 SPRING 2022

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Continued from page 21

“Taking the time to know students, making sure students have opportunities to know each other and their teachers and creating a classroom that encourages academic risk, academic growth, and promotes positive identity development – this all leads to creating a culture of belonging.”

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were heard. That their view was valid. We hadn’t been reading stories about Jewish students questioning aspects of their identity.

Then we started calling on students. “The stories in the book – we don’t tell these stories. We never hear them.” This created a dialogue where our students, because of their previous diversity experience, knew to speak respectfully and without being dismissive. It allowed the first student that spoke to see how impassioned their classmates were about seeing their story told. It allowed them to understand that they should be impassioned about seeing and reading their own story – we all want to know about ourselves and see ourselves reflected. But from reading this book, what great things did they learn about others?

And now that they want to share – when can we find a chance for them to tell their story?

Not to be discounted was the larger lesson of how the conversation took place.

Students were able to share their opinion and still honor and be respectful of the dignity of someone else. If we don’t start teaching our children to do that now, when will they learn to do it? How do we guide them to have discourse in a way that doesn’t create conflict, to navigate tension?

If we don’t learn it and practice it now, they might not be able to do it later. If our teachers don’t know how to do it, how can they ensure there isn’t “collateral damage” in the classroom?

At the foundation of our diversity work is creating an environment where students feel they belong. As Head of School Robert Kosasky outlined in his letter at the start of this magazine, “We learn best from each others’ differences in communities of true belonging.”

Floyd Cobb and John Krownapple’s research in “Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity” informs the importance of a culture of belonging for learning as it contributes to the personal and academic development of each student. As educators, we think about what is best for each learner individually. Listening to faculty and students share stories to deepen relationships is a common occurrence at St. Andrew’s. It is the sharing of stories, the making of memories, and the deep connections that are the biggest contributors to building safety and trust in classrooms, with peers, and faculty.

Taking the time to know students, making sure students have opportunities to know each other and their teachers and creating a classroom that encourages academic risk, academic growth, and promotes positive identity development – this all leads to creating a culture of belonging.

Within a culture of belonging, we can feel equity and see value in diversity and gain a greater understanding of the world around us. An example of this occurred during a recent impromptu opportunity the diversity office presented for Upper School students to share their perspectives.

One student, when asked why he was there, replied “I just want the opportunity to understand students who aren’t like me. I just think it’s really important. I would really appreciate understanding different perspectives.” This was a white, male, studentathlete who understood that through this simple act of valuing the experience of others he could grow as a person. There were a lot of students in the room and there was an unforgettable silence after that. He demonstrated compassion and empathy and understood that nothing in his life would give him the opportunity to have some of the experiences that were being shared.

At St. Andrew’s, we look to provide students with the agency to build a better world. Without empathy, how can our students hope to create long-term sustainable change? To build a better world, students will be faced with real-world challenges that promote problem-solving, criticality, and the ability to hold multiple perspectives.

In these formative years, it is important to build resiliency that will last throughout adulthood through an environment that supports social-emotional learning and student well-being. A sense of belonging can minimize unnecessary stress, support wellbeing, and promote a positive self-image.

Even before The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning was founded a decade ago, St. Andrew’s was committed to research-informed teaching and learning.

Research shows that belonging is critical to academic success. If a student doesn’t feel like they belong, they don’t feel safe. If they don’t feel safe, their brain will struggle to acquire new information. In order for St. Andrew’s to be committed to researchinformed teaching and learning it must also be committed to Diversity, Equity, and Belonging.

BELONGING BELONGING AT ST.AT ANDREW’S ST. ANDREW’S Lower School students begin each day with Morning Meeting, a component of the Responsive Classroom program. Morning Meeting includes time for students and teachers to greet each other, with everyone having an opportunity to be seen and heard.

Diversity Program Creates Environment for Students to be Known and Inspired Coming daily to a space where you know you belong is an essential part of ensuring exceptional teaching and learning take place.

BY RICHARD COCO

The mission of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is to know and inspire each child in an inclusive community dedicated to exceptional teaching, learning, and service.

Can you inspire someone who doesn’t feel like they belong? Can you know a child if they do not feel safe sharing who they are?

Can a community be inclusive if it doesn’t open its hearts and minds to all who walk through its doors?

While every member of the St. Andrew’s community plays a role in creating a space where students can be open to exceptional teaching, learning, and service, the members of the Diversity, Equity, and Belonging (DEB) Team are often asked to steer the ship, either by guiding teachers, mentoring students, or providing programming for the community.

Lorraine Martinez Hanley is the

school’s Director of DEB and each division has coordinators. Dr. Kenneth Waters is the Upper School Diversity Coordinator, Taniya Williams is the Middle School Diversity Coordinator, and Sung Hee Kim and Danielle Collins are Lower School Diversity Co-Coordinators.

For the youngest students at St. Andrew’s, their day begins with Morning Meeting as part of the Responsive Classroom program the Lower School utilizes. This is when they begin their journey of discovering that St. Andrew’s is a place of belonging.

“Morning Meetings are a place where everyone is seen,” Kim said. “It’s an official place where explicitly everyone is seen by each other and you are acknowledged and that cultivates belonging. We teachers make efforts to greet every single child as Continued on page 24 SPRING 2022

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BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S Lower School students have access to age-appropriate books that explore different identities and perspectives. Resources are supplemented throughout the year.

Continued from page 23 they come in through the door. It’s really important we make eye contact. We greet them, they greet us back. It’s a morning ritual. Those practices are part of Responsive Classroom. Then at the end of the day, we have Closing Meeting, which is a time to acknowledge what happened in the day.

It’s being seen and being heard and that is really important.

“If you don’t feel like you belong, studies have shown you either check out or you are constantly checking for signs ‘Do I belong or not?’ That’s true for any age level. If you’re busy doing that, you’re not focusing on the work you have to do. If something happens and maybe you get something wrong, and you’re checking to see ‘Do I still belong or do I belong less because of that?’ then you don’t feel safe, you’re not focusing on your work, a lot of energy is expended on that. Responsive Classroom helps us build a safe space where you belong no matter what. It’s okay if you make mistakes, we’re a team and we help each other, and this is all part of learning.”

This entry into belonging begins with developing empathy which teachers 24

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“Responsive classroom helps us build a safe space where you belong no matter what. It’s okay if you make mistakes, we’re a team and we help each other, and this is all part of learning.”

SUNG HEE KIM LOWER SCHOOL DIVERSITY CO-COORDINATOR

work to cultivate in even our youngest students. Empathy helps students connect to the various topics of diversity that teachers weave into their curriculum depending on their classes’ needs and interests with a focus on culture through context and

other current events. Programming, such as Family Heritage night, allows students and families to share about their culture and background. Assemblies and chapels are also places where students are shown different perspectives and experiences through the words and eyes of those who have lived it. And no Lower School programming would be complete without the attention to the details. Homeroom and Specialist teachers pour over the toys and materials that their students see to ensure that they serve as mirrors for the students. Alyssa Morris, the Lower School Librarian and Technology Integration Specialist, works with the Diversity Office to find age-appropriate books and ensure that the teachers know they are available for their classes.

The Diversity Program in the Middle School builds upon this feeling of belonging and it happens before students enter the Middle School hallways. Every year, the entire division has a summer reading assignment that plays off that year’s theme — in 2021-2022, the theme was “Be You. Belong” and the book was “The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth.”

This year also began with students filling out an identity wheel. “We remind them that their identities can and will be changing throughout their life,” Williams said. “In advisory groups, we talk about how our identity comes into play and why it’s important to start thinking about who you are and even realizing who you are and why you are that way. I think the book, ‘The Talk,’ definitely opened the eyes of some students, especially students that can’t necessarily relate to any of the characters culturally. It’s beneficial for everyone. Some can see themselves through the book and some can see their classmates or their friends and are like ‘Oh, it’s not okay when I do this or say this but this is how I can build a stronger connection with this person and understand where they are coming from.’”

Middle School, as most adults can remember, is a challenging time when students focus heavily on what their peers think of them. That, combined with the varying developmental stages of students (sixth graders and eighth graders are in very different places) can lead to challenges and opportunities, especially when it comes

Our annual Middle School Diversity Conference is a structured opportunity for students to practice articulating their perspectives and identities.

why they are the way they are, and what types of identities come into play in different situations. So if something does happen in a classroom, in an advisory, during recess, they can assess what they are feeling, why they are feeling that way and everyone can understand the perspective of whoever else might be involved so they can come to a solution that benefits everyone so everyone can be heard and seen and feel like they are valued and belong.”

While the Middle School DEB programming happens in assemblies and advisories, the Upper School program takes its shape heavily in morning meetings and through organic moments. Waters’s goal is to “raise awareness about who we are as a community in the Upper School and create a space where everyone is respecting everyone based on their differences.”

“The programming is quite organic.

The idea is, I want it to be as authentic as possible,” Waters said. To this end, he works within the framework of changing themes throughout the year and allows students, faculty, alumni, and parents to share their experiences and present something of their culture that resonates for them.

Themes typically coincide with preexisting events, such as Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride, Ramadan, and the Jewish High Holy Days.

“I try to address or bring awareness to the myriad of cultural differences we have in the Upper School,” Waters said. “That can be in the shape of student perspective, that can be in the form of faculty members trying to understand students from varying backgrounds, and that can be also students not understanding what bias and biases mean and how they are impacting their social experience on campus.

“I really focus on the humanity of individuals, the humanity of students.”

While Middle School students learn to explore their identities and respect and celebrate their differences, Upper School students are often asked to see beyond identifiers. Waters defines success as seeing the humanity in each other.

“They will see the person for who they are and not what they are,” Waters said. “I believe that my goal and my objective by the time they leave the Upper School diver-

BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

to current events.

“Rather than telling them what they should think, we allow students to share with us what they think and navigate why that is,” Williams said. “A lot of what we focus on in the Middle School is just having conversations and everyone is going to process those conversations at different speeds and they are going to mean different things to different people. We really want students to use their words and if they say something that we know is rooted in some kind of hateful belief, we will get under whatever that is and let them see where that comes from and let them know that it’s not their fault if they say something mean unintentionally but that’s how the world has conditioned you to think or to see this one thing.”

A lot of Williams’s role also includes making it clear that Diversity, Equity, and Belonging is not just for one or two groups of people. “A lot of people think the DEB Office is for people of color or for the LGBTQ+ community or other minority groups. The DEB Office is for everyone.

Whether you’re learning about someone else or learning about yourself, everyone has to look introspectively at who they are,

Conner Nickel ‘22 is a member of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and shared a reflection on his heritage during Upper School Morning Meeting in November.

sity program is that they will gain a greater appreciation for people.

“Because they have been given voice and given space and because they have been able to engage in thoughtful and challenging dialogue with people from different cultures, different races, and different backgrounds, they’ll find out that it’s not about what you are, but it’s about who you are as an individual.”

Whether in the Upper, Middle, or Lower School, through Morning Meetings, assemblies, classrooms, or chapels, coming daily to a space where you know you belong is an essential part of ensuring exceptional teaching and learning take place. As Kim points out, this feeling of belonging is especially important at this moment in time.

“With the kind of year students had last year (with hybrid and distance learning), and a lot of students coming to us from other schools, there has been some learning loss,” Kim said. “If they feel like now I don’t belong, because I’m not where I need to be, they are going to lose enthusiasm. And once they lose that, it’s going to further delay their learning. So no matter where they are, as long as they love learning and love coming to school they’re going to be fine. They’re going to get to where they need to be.”

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Student Q&A: Reflections on Classroom & Social Experiences

BY DR. KENNETH D. WATERS UPPER SCHOOL DIVERSITY COORDINATOR

The mere existence of two people in a shared space creates diversity. At its core, diversity signifies variety, and is the practice of including or involving people from a range of racial, sexual, gender, ethnic, and other backgrounds. With this understanding, diversity is omnipresent, but when including its current day counterparts, such as equity, inclusion, and belonging, this term for some reason ignites a certain level of angst in individuals. In fact, as a result of such actions, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners have been highly sought after, whether in a consultant role or in an actual full time staff capacity – to shed light on why today’s school systems and workplace environments need to have such conversations and practices that value diversity among its staff.

To this end, I solicited the thoughts of a few St. Andrew’s students in the form of a Q&A, to discuss their perspective on how diversity has impacted their lived learning and social experience at the school. The respondents are Julian Haas ’22, Savannah Wilson ’24, and David Stevenson ’22.

Haas came to St. Andrew’s as a ninth grader and has been a key member of both the wrestling and soccer teams.

Savannah Wilson, who is in the 10th grade and plays on the soccer team, has been a Lion since sixth grade and is a member of the school’s Black Student Association (BSA). Stevenson has been at St. Andrew’s since the ninth grade, and is the leader of the school’s A cappella group, captain of the baseball team, and SAES.ORG

SAVANNAH WILSON ’24 has spent three years as a member of the theater ensemble.

Q: How do you perceive diversity as a student?

Haas: I perceive diversity as an opportunity to learn. I believe that exposure is one of the most important tools for learning, yet it is often overlooked. Thus, when I think of diversity, I see another opportunity to learn about someone and their perspective, not just a learner, but as a person.”

experiences, and realizing that no matter if someone talks different, acts different, or looks different, they are just like you. It has taught me to love those differences.

Q: What would you say are the benefits associated with being a diverse community?

Wilson: Throughout my incredible years of being a student here, I was frequently met with the word “diversity.” From what I’ve gathered, diversity produces acceptance, awareness, perspective, creativity, and innovation.

Haas: While I believe there are numerous benefits to a diverse community, I have found that the creativity and innovation that diversity fosters is one of the most significant. With a community like that of St. Andrew’s, [there are] a myriad people who come from different backgrounds and perspectives; thus, many people perceive an issue or formulate an answer differently. This ultimately cultivates the creativity that homogenous communities lack.

Stevenson: I perceive it as having a mix of everyone, not just in terms of race or sexual orientation, but of just overall life

Wilson: At St. Andrew’s we have students from different backgrounds and this has created a unique experience for [us],

where every race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, and ability is accepted.

Stevenson: Overall better understanding of those who identify in other groups (racially, sexually, religiously, etc.). Along with a better understanding, a deeper appreciation, and a love for everyone as well.

Q: How has the diversity of St. Andrew’s student body impacted your classroom experience?

Haas: I feel as though the true beauty of the student body’s diversity lies in the fact that it allows for students to develop more comprehensive views, rather than the myopic ones that often prevail in this country.

Wilson: Diversity plays a part in my everyday life at school, especially in the classrooms, because it gives me confidence and self-acceptance. I was very used to being one of, if not the only person of color in a room, and as a Black woman, I would feel pressured not to be stereotyped which caused me anxiety and hampered my academic abilities. However, when there are different people and people who look like me, it’s allowed me to feel comfortable and prosper.

Stevenson: It has made it so that I can hear from different perspectives and hear of different experiences that I do not go through, as I am a heterosexual, cis, white, male. It truly helps to eliminate ignorance and promote acceptance.

DAVID STEVENSON ‘22 Q: What’s your perspective on having a curriculum that is diverse in nature, where you are exposed to diverse text/ literature/voices?

Haas: I personally have fallen in love with the rich, diverse, texts that St. Andrew’s offers.

I am not sure how many other high school students have the privilege of saying they read Audre Lorde, bell hooks, or Lucille Clifton, but I can assure you the answer is: not many. Yet, what I have found equally compelling, as these texts and voices, are the conversations that they encourage, as many of my classmates who come from similar backgrounds as these writers disagree with them. This allows for rich and transparent conversations that have truly opened my eyes to the complexity of the school’s student body and the world.

Wilson: I think it is very important that all students get acquainted with different points of view and I get particularly excited when learning about cultures different from my own. I’m glad I get to be a part of this diverse community, because I truly believe it has made me more understanding, comfortable, and confident in my everyday life and especially at school. I get the security of knowing that people like me have gone through similar events and are not alone in the community.

JULIAN HAAS ‘22

Stevenson: I think it is extremely helpful to have different voices heard, and to make sure that every perspective is observed. Although sometimes the history department can be lacking in that diversity, the English depart-

ment in my time at St. Andrew’s has been amazing at diversifying the texts we read.

Q: How do you perceive the diversity, equity, and belonging programming at St. Andrew’s?

Haas: As I am not part of a minority, I can only speak for myself, but I believe the diversity, equity, and belonging programming has truly allowed students to feel comfortable sharing their views, and be able understand the danger of a single story. From presentations in the mornings, to workshops, the school not only empowers students to present their experiences, but these presentations prompt the listeners to appreciate and comprehend the beautiful opportunities that our school’s diversity and inclusiveness encourage.

Wilson: Like every school, I believe that [the diversity among faculty members, students, and administrators] can be better; however, at St. Andrew’s, I believe the development and growth of the diversity program is a strong one that has helped me grow as a person and truly feel a sense of belonging.

Stevenson: I believe it to be pretty good at making sure everyone feels safe and loved.

There have been some instances where I have not been too impressed with how situations are handled (ex: someone being racist, homophobic, sexist, etc.), where I felt that punishment should have been dealt out more decisively, but other than that, the faculty, staff, and students all focus on making each other feel loved and comfortable.

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Connecting Across Centuries

BY WANG YUTONG ‘22

When Dr. Seidman announced that this year’s Latin III project would be about researching and learning about Black classicists that have greatly impacted the field of Classical Studies, I immediately became curious. Growing up in Chinese culture, my family and friends constantly told me that I should study a language that is more suitable for someone like me. In many cultures, understandings of ancient civilizations and their contributors are still based on a predominantly white world.

For this project, I researched Phillis Wheatley, who was the first female African classicist poet to publish a book of poetry in the 18th century.

I conducted extensive research on Wheatley’s early life and her famous poem “To Maecenas.” I analyzed how Wheatley drew on Greek mythology and ancient Latin poets to express her struggle with identity. When the United States was a deeply racist society, many publishers in the colonies refused to publish her work.

However, Wheatley earned respect from many people for her enormous talent and bravery. For example, she openly wrote a letter to George Washington advocating for the end of slavery.

This is one of the most powerful and meaningful projects that I have conducted because I personally relate a lot to Wheatley’s struggle to find one’s identity in Classics. By sharing Wheatley’s stories with my fellow classmates and my family and friends in China, I hope that I can reduce the stigma associated with the classical field.

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Inclusivity in the Classics Classroom

BY DR. JESSICA SEIDMAN LANGUAGE TEACHER

When Dr. Dan-el Padilla Peralta, Associate Professor of Classics at Princeton University and a Dominican immigrant, first announced to his college friends that he was thinking of majoring in Classics, he recalls one of his Latinx friends chastising him for “majoring in these white people fields.” This is a critique that deserves to be taken seriously. Classics, the study of the Ancient Mediterranean World, long constructed itself as the study of ancient white people and their superiority over others. That racism has had a lasting impact: when Padilla Peralta glanced around his undergraduate Latin class, he rarely saw another student of color.

Sitting in my own undergraduate Latin classroom, I admit, I never noticed the absence of my Black and Brown peers. It wasn’t until my own students of color began telling me about their experiences that I realized how important it is to address race and representation directly in the classroom. Students of all backgrounds deserve to learn about the historical and social contingency of racial categories and how the history of the ancient Greeks and Romans has contributed to the racism we see in our world today. More importantly,

students should see the people of color who have made critical contributions to ancient Greek and Roman studies.

This January and February, the Latin classes at St. Andrew’s explored all of these issues and presented their findings in a series of projects. The ninth graders in Latin I used their newly acquired understanding of genetics from Biology class to consider the limits of DNA in determining the race of ancient peoples.

For the “Race in Antiquity Project,” the students in Latin II read a series of primary sources to explore how Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Tacitus thought about race, and how that legacy of racism can still be seen today in reactions to a Black Roman cartoon character and in the classical imagery of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Finally, for the “Black Classicist Project,” each student in Latin III researched a Black scholar in the field of classics, from Phillis Wheatley to Dr. Padilla Peralta himself. These projects challenged the students to think beyond the traditional boundaries of Latin class, to grapple with the strangeness and the awful familiarity of racism in antiquity, and to reimagine what a classics scholar looks like. Through it all, I hope that every student felt this truth deeply: everyone in Latin class belongs.

BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

All Students Should See Themselves in the Curriculum

BY ANWEN KELLEHER ‘24

LGBTQ+ people have existed for all of human history. Including LGBTQ+ history in school curriculums gives students like me people to look up to and proves that our identities are not a “modern invention.” Because of the devastating effects of the AIDS crisis on the previous generation, LGBTQ+ people of my generation are often disconnected from this history, which is why it’s so important we learn it, especially with many states passing laws which restrict the teaching of topics relating to gender and sexuality.

Sadly, LGBTQ+ history is barely covered in many classes, even when it would provide valuable insight. It’s a challenge specifically in AP classes, where the cur-

riculum has to be quite rigid in order to prepare for the end-of-year exam.

This year, in my AP Euro class, I was able to find and study some relevant LGBTQ+ figures, and advancements in gay and trans rights, as bonus learning between units. My teacher, Ms. Kelly Anderson, helped me throughout this process, allowing me to do the assignment when I had the idea and finding resources for certain units when I was unable to on my own. Three things about this really stuck with me; first, being able to discuss the history of a community that I identify with in class has been an incredibly valuable experience; second, the sources from this year will remain available for students who take the class in the future; and third, the AP curriculum has missed a lot of

opportunities, in my opinion, to mention this history. I think that eventually, that will change.

I’ve noticed that in the Middle School hallway there are student-made posters of historical figures lining the walls, including notable people who identify as LGBTQ+. I’m happy that students in Middle School are able to learn about activists like Marsha P. Johnson, and events like the Stonewall uprising, things that my grade didn’t learn in Middle School. And although I’m glad I got to study some LGBTQ+ individuals and moments in European history this year, I hope that in the future, students’ ability to learn the things that I learned (and more) won’t depend on a classmate expressing interest, and will be a regular part of the curriculum.

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ST UDENT

&

ALUMNI

PERSPECTIVES St. Andrew’s students and alumni share their thoughts on how diversity and belonging in the classroom enhance their overall school experience.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We realize that while we have shared many perspectives from our current students and alumni, not all identities are represented on these pages.

Given both the challenging nature of sharing these perspectives and the alarming rise in hate crimes recently, we understand why some students and alumni declined our invitation to participate. While we are disappointed we could not bring all perspectives to this publication, we hope you gain some insight as you read through the ones that are included. We also want to remind you that the choice these participants made to share their perspectives is not an invitation to reach out to them or their families to discuss further (unless a specific email was provided). Please remember to respect their boundaries.

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BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

S MILES HAYTER ‘24 “Being a Black student at St. Andrew’s is unique when considering other Black students’ perspectives at other schools.

Ironically, the uniqueness comes in being treated just the same as everyone else. In my five years at St. Andrew’s, I have never felt isolated or lost. The Black community is unified and welcoming and the school as a whole is, too. It has been a breeze making friends of all races here. It’s a privilege to have such a diverse and welcoming environment like St. Andrew’s and that inclusivity comes in all aspects. From the clubs I have joined like the Black Student Alliance and The Mane News, to the students and faculty themselves. I have been able to build many personal relationships with the staff like Señora Hanley and Coach Husam. These mirrors are important for students of color especially in independent schools. However, I would like to see St. Andrew’s have more mirrors for other races at the school. For example, there aren’t many Indian or Latinx teachers or administrators. Having people of color represented in senior leadership positions can help create a more equitable experience amongst all students of color.

“I have also lost two really good Black friends in my grade and although the percentage of Black students at St. Andrew’s hasn’t changed, at times it seems that the Black minority population is dwindling. Many of the new minority students seem to reflect a sports-focused admission more than a general student-body addition. Although the St. Andrew’s community is welcoming and I feel connected, I would like to see an expansion of the Black student population. Despite this, my white friends do value the diversity here considering some of my good friends are white. Overall I would say that my positive experience has come as a result of St. Andrew’s diversity and emphasis on inclusion.”

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DREW LEVINE ‘23

BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

“As soon as someone hears my last name I am given a label.

A definitive last name such as Levine is perceived in many ways; some despise it and others embrace it. Antisemitism is a matter often pushed aside and forgotten about. I have faced my fair share of inappropriate comments, but I feel grateful as these experiences are minute compared to Jews who are discriminated against in the workforce, physically harmed, or even killed because of their beliefs. However, through tragedy Jews are brought together and stand by each other. I am thankful to be a part of this culture that unites and educates us. From a young age, I was inserted into situations such as Holocaust survivor seminars, religious services, Sunday school, and the Jewish Student Alliance at St. Andrew’s; these community events had a sense of belonging in a community that accepted me. I would also learn about the significance of being Jewish during these times. Despite the hate and antisemitism, I am grateful to be a Jew. “My experiences being Jewish at St. Andrew’s have been primarily positive; I feel accepted and embraced. Even when I am at chapel the services are relatively non-denominational and my identity is acknowledged and respected. During fall at least one chapel revolves around the Jewish High Holy Days. There are several Jewish teachers with whom I relate to and help create a nurturing environment. The addition of the Jewish Student Alliance has been a special thing, as it has been great to bring together the members of the Jewish community within St. Andrew’s. I am appreciative of this bubble at St. Andrew’s which allows everyone to be themselves.”

MATTHEW CHENSAVASDIJAI ‘24 “When I was four years old, I suffered full hearing loss in my left ear. At the age of six, the same happened to my right ear. I was lucky enough to undergo successful surgeries for both of my ears and receive Cochlear implants, which helped to restore my hearing. To this day, the implants allow me to lead a fulfilling life because they transformed what would otherwise be considered a disability into a power that lets me interact and work within communities. When I joined St. Andrew’s Episcopal School as a sixth-grader in 2017, the community welcomed me and warmly accommodated all my needs such as enabling closed captioning in videos when possible or allowing me to sit closer to the front of the room so I could hear better.

St. Andrew’s warm embrace has not changed one bit since that year and continues to provide me with a place where I can express myself without limits.”

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BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

CELESTE MONDRAGON ‘23 “Growing up a U.S.-born Salvadoran, I’ve always been proud of my heritage, but I still sought a stronger connection to my Salvadoran roots. The eleventh-grade Oral History Project was the perfect opportunity for me to cultivate something that reflected my identity. I interviewed Moises Linares, a firstgeneration Salvadoran Sports Anchor for Telemundo, on the Salvadoran Civil War. While the task was initially daunting, the project gave me the opportunity to represent my own culture in my studies and grow closer to my community. Along with clarifying my perception of the war, my interview with Moises provided me with specific narratives that helped me understand the sacrifices made by my Latino community. Many of them, like my family, lost family members in the war, were virtually forced from their homes, and made dangerous treks to America; yet, they still demonstrated immense perseverance and resilience to thrive in this country. I’m empowered by the fact that I’m interviewing leaders within my community, and grateful to be able to learn and share my history at St. Andrew’s.”

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ISABELLA DODRO ‘22

BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

“When I first arrived on the St. Andrew’s campus in 2018, I didn’t see a lot of people that looked like me. It concerned me that there was only one teacher of color in the Upper School. This was extremely different from the public school I attended prior to seventh grade, which had faculty of color and religions from around the world. I was hesitant about the transition, but as I look back on my high school experience I know I made the right choice coming to St. Andrew’s. I am proud to be part of this family. The community of Black and Brown people has grown immensely – both students and faculty. This makes me extremely hopeful for future Lions. Learning in a community which makes me feel welcomed and appreciated allowed me to grow into the student and person I strive to be.

In the future, I dream that every student will see a member of the faculty that looks like them, and who can be their role models and mentors. I have felt fortunate to have this experience the last couple of years.

I challenge St. Andrew’s to diversify faculty to help students feel more comfortable in their daily school lives on campus. I also hope to see my school take more risks when it comes to speaking out and educating students about different national and world issues regarding race, gender, and religion, regardless of any possible backlash they may face. It is important to minority students and families at St. Andrew’s to see that our school cares about real world issues that affect students from marginalized cultures in their day-to-day lives. It is important that the leadership of our school keeps learning and growing bold in creating safe space for our inclusive family. I do see St. Andrew’s making progress in hiring more faculty who look like me and other minority students. This gives me hope for the future. I look forward to coming back as an alumna to see the faculty fully diversified in the coming years. Be bold, Lions!”

CHRIS QUINTERO ‘14 “Attending St. Andrew’s while on financial aid was initially a culture shock for me. My classmates would talk about things that were completely foreign to me, like the concept around owning a vacation home or having multiple cars.

The dress code was also a daily visual reminder for me of the differences as many of my classmates wore expensive brands like Vineyard Vines that I had never heard of before. And being the only Latino in my grade made that difference even more stark from a cultural perspective. So, it was hard for me to initially connect with my classmates. This could have been a situation where I would feel ostracized and feel like I needed to leave the school, but this never happened as the St. Andrew’s culture around inclusion really helped me with the transition.

My teachers, school administrators, and classmates would always treat me like they did everyone else and anytime I faced any difficulties at school they would always be there to support me. I am incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had that support. That being said, after my seven years at St. Andrew’s I still remained as one of the few Latino students at the school, so I was never able to connect with many students who came from a similar background as me while I was a student there.

However, all the progress that St. Andrew’s has made since then has been very encouraging to see, especially as St. Andrew’s acts as a leader among educational institutions in equity, diversity, and inclusion.”

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JASMINE WANG ‘24 BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

“Years ago, in an effort to diversify the St. Andrew’s community, the administration began a program for International students.

Although the program was downsized in recent years due to the pandemic, there are still some International students on campus.

They have enjoyed the safe environment the school has provided them and compassion from other local students. As one of the International students, this is my first year attending St. Andrew’s in person. Due to the pandemic, last year was virtual learning, which gave me the possibility to keep up with the schoolwork while I was in China. One of the barriers was the time difference. I needed to stay up every night until midnight which greatly impacted my health. However, I do not regret joining the St. Andrew’s community. I can still remember the first day when I came to this school in person. I did not anticipate having friends on the first day of school.

No matter what kind of person I am or what decision I made, they always support me and treat me with respect. They live up to the values the school has always emphasized: honesty, equality, trust, and respect. Moreover, the research from The CTTL has been successful in creating a teaching and learning process that benefits the students. Instead of boring recitation and note-taking, we broaden our knowledge through research. This flexibility of learning not only taught me the knowledge within the curriculum, but also taught me the method of how to learn by myself, which is extremely crucial for when I will enter college.”

PAMELA KIM ‘24 “Since this was my first experience attending private school, I did not know what changes to expect from the coursework, extracurricular activities as well as the new peers and teachers I interacted with. However, as soon as I stepped onto campus on the first day of school, I knew that this place was going to be my new home. All of the teachers, staff, and students welcomed me with open arms, and I felt so grateful to have met these incredible people at St. Andrew’s.

“There were many instances when I felt like St. Andrew’s was a place for me, from my first soccer practice and scrimmage, my first Students of Color Association (SOCA) meeting, various Robotics and Model UN club meetings, my first Homecoming, assembly, chapel, and my first lunch with friends in person! As an Asian-American student, I was able to bring a new perspective to our SOCA meetings and was given the opportunity to attend various events like HackBAC and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. As there is not a large Asian-American community at St. Andrew’s, I strived to find creative ways to share various aspects of my culture through the events we host in my various extracurriculars. Every day has been so special and exciting, and I believe St. Andrew’s has all the resources I need to reach my dreams and aspirations.”

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BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

The article’s author was an accomplished artist while at St. Andrew’s. The subject of this piece is a peer he met while attending the Student Diversity Leadership Conference.

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Student as Teacher How the First Openly Transgender Student at St. Andrew’s Helped Educate the School The first St. Andrew’s student to publicly come out as transgender did so at Morning Meeting during the 2013-2014 school year. His announcement led to rousing cheers of support as Upper School students embraced their classmate. We asked him to contribute his perspective on being trans at St. Andrew’s. He asked to remain anonymous, although his former classmates and teachers undoubtedly recall one of the most memorable students St. Andrew’s has graduated in the past decade.

B

eing the first student to openly transition, it was inevitable – though not particularly intentional – that I would become a trailblazer.

Day-to-day, I was doing what I needed to do to survive and to be content. The paradox was that I wanted to fly under the radar as any other teenage boy, but to do this effectively I had to be outspoken and visible. While I did what I needed for myself, a path formed behind me, and naturally it required the support of my peers, teachers, and administrators. My experience was generally smooth although it had some rocky, frustrating, and inapt moments. I hope that by sharing this, I can bring attention to policy nuances and ways to support trans students, giving the St. Andrew's community something to reflect on and offering some ideas for the future.

St. Andrew’s small size and focus on the individual worked in my favor when I was first coming out. I started at

St. Andrew’s as a sixth grader, and by the time I was entering my freshman year, I had already confided in most of my friends and many of my teachers, being met with nothing but support. It was increasingly important to me to be able to live as who I knew myself to be, but the need to educate along the way was apparent. I refused to let this knowledge spread as a rumor, opting instead to have one-on-one conversations with everyone I could before eventually making a public statement about it for anyone I missed.

With this, I was able to direct these conversations in a way that would be best received and understood.

I was not willing to simply say the word “transgender” which carries different preconceptions for everyone; it was pointless to come out if I wasn’t simultaneously conveying what it meant to me. Coming out to one skeptical peer, I had already Continued on page 38 SPRING 2022

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Continued from page 37

It is a unique and powerful experience for a student to get to play the role of the educator, to have their voice heard, and to feel that they can affect change.

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prepared links to peer-reviewed research on the biological underpinnings of transgender brains with the hope of proving my validity. In a perfect world, I would have had nothing to prove, but I was living in this world where trans students expect to face bullying, teasing, and harassment, almost always rooted in ignorance or misinformation. I believe it was my commitment to educating and engaging respectfully with my peers, something that St. Andrew’s works to foster in all its students, that made my social transition feel nearly seamless.

Administratively, there was much to be grateful for, but it wasn’t seamless. I enjoyed the breath of fresh air that came as my friends, peers, and teachers adapted quickly to a new name and set of pronouns, but policies never change that fast.

Moreover, once they did start to change, they often did not feel representative of me; bathrooms are one example.

I planned to use the men’s room and, in fact, had been using the men’s room when the hallways were quiet prior to coming out publicly. During this time, I recall entering the women’s room one day and being met with shrieks from members of the women’s soccer team who were changing for practice. It was the fall and many of them were new to St. Andrew’s; since they hadn’t met me before or heard anyone refer to me as a girl, they (correctly) assumed that I was in the wrong place.

The agreement that was reached between my parents, the administration, and the diversity coordinator at the time was that I should use the single-occupancy faculty restrooms. The men’s room was cited as being potentially dangerous, which was disappointing to hear from a diversity coordinator. So as not to single me out, they turned the faculty restrooms into genderneutral restrooms. When I was asked what I thought the restroom sign should say, I proposed the universal pictogram of the man, woman, and wheelchair. Despite having asked for my input, the diversity coordinator rejected the idea on the grounds that it would “just be reinforcing

the very gender stereotypes you’re trying to break.” Temporary signs that conspicuously read “unisex” were installed. This decision left me feeling singled-out and misunderstood. I was not trying to break stereotypes; I was just trying to use the restroom that had the same label as me: male. Although I scarcely used the unisex restrooms, I would actively encourage my friends to use them in an effort to normalize their use, but on more than one occasion I witnessed friends get reprimanded for using the bathroom that – in the words of one teacher – was for “faculty and transgenders only.”

Clearly some of these issues were due to a lack of school-wide or faculty-wide communication, which I recognize was likely aimed at preserving my privacy.

While I appreciated the intent, it helped highlight one vital — and at the time — lacking component of supporting transgender students. That is, it is imperative to understand whether a student is looking to be reabsorbed into a gender binary or to live outside of it. The most common misconception I faced when coming out was the idea that I was “other” or that I would never be “a real man.” For me and many other binary trans people, reinforcing anything that contributed to being seen as neither male nor female was far more dangerous and troubling than whatever threat was supposedly looming in the men's room. In fact, policies that carried an implication that I was different than my male peers ran the risk of sending the message to students that it was okay to treat me differently because I was trans.

I should note that these days there is a growing public consciousness of what it means to be non-binary. As the label suggests, non-binary students may have opposite needs; they may be actively working to be perceived indeed as neither male nor female, in which case having gender neutral spaces would be welcome.

It is crucial, however, to communicate the purpose of such policies and spaces to students, faculty, and administrators alike so that they can better understand and support one another.

Once policies were largely settled and

those we disagree with. It wasn’t directly inspired by anything trans-related and by that time half the underclassmen hadn’t been around long enough to even know I was trans, so I did not include anything about it in the talk.

To be sure, the talk was full of personal anecdotes and stories that were relevant to the topic. I’ll never forget when a faculty member approached me afterwards and said, “Honestly, I’m disappointed. You could have used this opportunity to tell your story.”

Ironically, I got many comments when I first came out about how great it is that I’m now able to live as my “true self.” What was overlooked though was the fact that being a boy was a very small part of my true self.

Really, my gender is just the vessel that carries all the passions, experiences, and traits that make me who I am. It wasn’t unimportant, but rather it was so basic and innate, that it just wasn’t my focus once it was known. I sometimes worried towards the end of my time at St. Andrew’s that the first thing that came to mind when people saw me around school was that I was ‘the trans kid.’

This worry continued even several years after I graduated, when I visited St. Andrew’s while home on a college break. Unbeknownst to me, this break happened to align with Ally Day/ Week, and for multiple years in a row, some of the first exchanges I had with teachers started with “oh, did you come back for Ally Day?” Interactions like these made me feel like I was still the trans kid and no longer the athlete, the artist, the musician, the student, the friend, etc. I felt like I had been flattened into a single dimension that was not representative of anything that really made me who I was. I think most diversity initiatives are susceptible to this pitfall of reducing students to a single identifier, of getting carried away by trying to uplift one dimension that may otherwise be marginalized or persecuted. It is paramount, however, that the school be extra mindful about

how it involves students in diversity initiatives so as not to inadvertently dismiss the rest of what that student has to offer.

Although many of these experiences and interactions were frustrating, they were the growing pains of education. I was the first trans person that many of my peers, teachers, and administrators ever knew, and it was an undeniably positive experience to have so many opportunities at St. Andrew’s to impact policy and to encourage understanding and acceptance. It is a unique and powerful experience for a student to get to play the role of the educator, to have their voice heard, and to feel that they can affect change.

As I’m sure much has changed in the many years since I was at St. Andrew’s, I urge the school to continue prioritizing student input, recognizing that we know ourselves best. Remember that diversity within an individual is as important as diversity within a population, and that students, even those who may appear most passionate about diversity, deserve opportunities to be defined in terms of their interests, personality, academics, service, etc. In fact, those opportunities may be of extra importance to these students as they remind the individual and their peers and teachers that they are known and valued for more than this one identifier.

BELONGING AT ST. ANDREW’S

my being trans became a non-event during the latter half of high school, I did notice some more subtle implications of being the only known trans student at the time that have led me to reflect on the culture of diversity at St. Andrew’s. I couldn’t help but feel like my mere existence became increasingly political at school, despite being a rather apolitical person.

After the 2016 election I remember a teacher walking straight past a girl who was crying about the election results to politely interrupt a light-hearted conversation I was having with my friend to let me know that she was there for me if I needed to talk. The sentiment was kind, but the irony that she had walked past a clearly distraught student to comfort a laughing one (but a laughing trans one) was unsettling. Indeed, little things like this made me sick of everyone knowing that I was trans. I was still very pleased that I had the opportunity to educate a whole body of students and faculty by simply existing in the only way I knew how, but I was tired of people making assumptions about me because of it. These assumptions were not the ones that I had been warned about when I was first coming out. I was never bullied at St. Andrew’s. No one assumed that I was a bad person, a sinner, just doing it for attention, etc. at least not to my face.

It seemed like I had all the right kinds of problems: people assumed that I desired to be an activist, was brave, outspoken, and liberal (with a positive implication). But I wanted to develop my own sense of self completely unrelated to my gender; I came out when I did because I was certain about that part of me, and I no longer wanted it to hold me back from exploring my passions like every other high schooler.

It was frustrating to feel like both students and faculty alike–though mostly faculty–were telling me what I should think, feel, and talk about.

I gave a chapel talk during my junior year that had themes of communication and having compassion towards

Note: Although I did not want my name to be publicly connected to this piece, I do welcome any questions, comments, and conversation that it may spark! I have many more stories and thoughts, and I am interested to hear yours. Please feel free to contact me at st3althstudent@gmail.com.

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A Letter from the Alumni Council ear Fellow Alumni, Do you follow St. Andrew’s on one of its social media channels? Do you read each month’s alumni newsletter looking to stay connected to the school? Or is your current level of involvement limited to picking up the magazine once a year and looking through the class notes to see what your classmates have been up to?

Regardless of your level of engagement with the school in the past, I hope you’ll consider being engaged with St. Andrew’s in the coming months and years. There are so many ways to be involved both in person and virtually. Before you flip ahead and try to spot some familiar names in class notes, I want to take a moment to update you on the work of the Alumni Council so you can learn more of how to be engaged with your St. Andrew’s alumni community.

In the past year, we have been preparing some new initiatives to better serve our community of almost 3,000 graduates.

Our traditional role has been to keep you connected to St. Andrew’s through events. Moving forward, we will also create lifelong learning opportunities related to the school’s goals around Diversity, Equity, and Belonging (DEB).

In the area of belonging, I want to thank the leadership of the Black Alumni Collective (BAC) which includes Delonte Egwuatu ’12, Kiah Simms ’12, Jamee Williams ’13, Husam Shabazz ’15, and Gillian Sanford ’18. The BAC is the first alumni affinity group to come together, and we are deeply grateful for their early work, which includes student mentoring, scholarships, and advocacy. The Alumni Council is working to supplement the BAC’s work with a program to engage more alumni of color, LGBTQ+ affinity, or those of other identities who may have felt marginalized during their years at 40

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2021-2022 alumni council President Lane Brenner ‘05 Vice President Edie Demas ‘83 Members Paige Cooper ‘93 Alex Bierlein-George ‘95 Jessica North Macie ‘96 Hallie Sherard ‘96 Jennifer Hawkins ‘99 Tom Taylor ‘00 Madeline O’Brien ‘05 Alisa Kaswell ‘05 Larissa Levine ‘06 Hannah Harlan ‘08 Jamee Williams ‘12 Katie Jannotta ‘13

St. Andrew’s.

The Alumni Council’s first engagement effort will be the launch of an annual “Diversity, Equity, and Belonging” alumni trip. Stay tuned for details about the forthcoming Civil Rights Tour in Alabama in Spring 2023, being organized under the leadership of Jennifer Hawkins ’99. Future trips may be focused on the LGBTQ+ movement and immigration. The Alumni Council hopes that, in the coming years, other affinity groups will form. To this end, we will work with staff on a summer survey asking you how you identify and whether you would like to be involved.

As President of the Alumni Council, I often hear stories about how alumni connect with each other not just to maintain bonds of friendship, but also to support each other professionally.

St. Andrew’s AlumniFire is an online community where alumni can connect for professional advice, internship opportunities, and access to industry experts. In May, instead of receiving our annual appeal to support the Lions Fund Spring Drive with a monetary gift, you’ll instead be asked to help us reach our registration goals on AlumniFire.

While we may not have a formal Giving campaign this spring, we want to thank all those who made a gift this year. My own family benefited from the St. Andrew’s community’s care and generosity of spirit when my sister and I were students. All alumni benefited from the exceptional teachers and administrators who make the school what it is. The Council is passionate about making sure that current and future Lions have the same access to a great education, campus, and outstanding teachers and employees.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with my fellow council members, especially our four new members, on this meaningful work. I encourage any alumni or community member who wants to be involved with our work to connect with me, any of the council members, or any of the dedicated administrators who make our work possible.

Yours,

Lane Brenner ’05 President, Alumni Council

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class notes

New email, phone number or mailing address? Simply fill out the form online to submit your updated information: www.saes.org/classnotes.

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82 Please contact Jen Mohr to join the Reunion committee.

Sharon Smith retired in the fall of 2018 after a career as a special agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Her final assignment was at the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York City. After retiring, she and her husband, James, decided to split their time between New York and Hawaii and engage in the typical retiree activities of traveling and taking classes.

In January and February of 2020, they traveled through Southeast Asia and spent some time in the Philippines helping out a Japanese dental volunteer mission. During the pandemic, their traveling stopped but NCIS offered her a telework position counseling agents on mobility and transfers.

Now she is back at work, temporarily, until travel becomes a bit easier.

welcome to our new director of alumni relations

Sharon Smith and her husband, James, traveled through Southeast Asia and spent some time in the Philippines helping out a Japanese dental volunteer mission.

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1983 Edie Demas’ kids, Grace and Theo, are enjoying their second year at St. Andrew’s and will be heading off to middle school next year. She and her husband, Chuck, are thrilled to have moved into their new home in Bethesda, close to Glen Echo.

The one way bridge on MacArthur and the Clara Barton building bring back St. Andrew’s memories on a regular basis. Edie is delighted to have expanded her consulting work this year to include executive search for arts and cultural organizations in partnership with the NYC-based, Tom O’Connor Consulting Group. She is particularly proud to share that she joined the Board of Trustees at St. Andrew’s last fall. “It’s truly wonderful to be back in this community.”

Steve Meima, Phil Parkinson, Frank Kannappel ’84, and David Daniel ’84 enjoyed a day of hunting on the Chesapeake Bay in January. The four are

Edie Demas’ kids, Grace and Theo, are enjoying their second year at St. Andrew’s and are looking forward to middle school next year.

St. Andrew’s is excited to welcome Jen Mohr as the new Director of Alumni Relations.

Jen joined the St. Andrew’s community in January. She is a Montgomery County native and currently resides in Kensington with her husband, three young boys, and dog. Jen has been an exercise specialist for the past 14 years while spending many hours volunteering to help rebuild her neighborhood association.

Jen is looking forward to connecting with St. Andrew’s alumni in the months to come and hopes to meet you on campus Oct. 15, 2022, for Homecoming & Reunion.

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Steve Meima, Phil Parkinson, Frank Kannappel ‘84, and David Daniel ‘84 enjoyed a day of hunting on the Chesapeake Bay in January.

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Kirsten Becker-Valero is now living in Singapore.

Ellen Kramer moved from Bangkok to Panama with her work for the UN World Food Program, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “It’s great to be back on this side of the globe after so many years.”

The Class of 1986 celebrated their 35th reunion in October at Pizzeria Paradiso.

avid outdoorsmen and regularly enjoy days at the range and in the field.

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1984 Courtney McCollum is happy in Siesta Key, Florida! She has been married to Jim Woodman for 10 years and raising her children, Grace (19), and Marshall (12). “I see Sarah Sweeney Watkins regularly which is a great joy to me. I retired early due to chronic illness, but live my life with gusto and gratitude.”

1986 Sharon Leach’s son graduates high school this year her other child is finishing their junior year in college.

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Patrick Reed and his wife, Jana, live on California’s central coast.

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There are lots of changes happening in Sharon Leach’s life as her son is graduating this year from high school and is applying to colleges and her other child is finishing their junior year in college. She will be single again, too.

“Life has its hurdles. I’m looking forward to recovering a social community as the pandemic moves on. Hope we can all head to healthier times across the nation and around the world.” Sharon also attended the reunion in October. “Our class had an amazing reunion last October where many of us gathered to reconnect, some not having seen each other since high school graduation!”

Mark Otto lives in downtown Washington, D.C., and serves on the Board of Penn Quarter neighborhood association. He enjoys golf, skiing, and running.

Patrick Reed is living on California’s central coast and is happy to report that he recently passed the five-year anniversary of his brain surgery, and all of his scans are clean! His wife, Jana, has been working for the California National Guard for much of the past year, and she is about to transition to a new concierge medicine position in nearby Cambria. Their daughters are now 16 (Lucy) and 14 (Anja). Lucy is playing sweeper for her high school’s varsity team.

Anja is an equestrian and is training on her new horse, Stormi.

1988 Geoff Dye and his team at Cushman & Wakefield continue to advise law firms, corporations, and nonprofits on the future of the workplace and the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial office tenants in the local real estate market. Geoff is an active member of the Leadership Council with Miriam’s Kitchen whose mission is to end chronic and veteran homelessness in Washington, D.C. Geoff stays in regular contact with several of his St. Andrew’s classmates which he considers one of the unique aspects of the school. The teachers, mentors, lifelong friends, and positive school culture are all part of a tradition that continues to live on. Geoff and his wife, Dori, are actively planning a visit to Amalfi Coast this spring to celebrate a special birthday!

1989 After 12 years living out West and 20 years working with Microsoft, Michael Clark and his family moved back to

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Michael Clark and his family moved back to the Washington, D.C., area in 2018. All three of his children currently attend St. Andrew’s.

the Washington, D.C., area in 2018 to be closer to extended family and for a new leadership opportunity with Google Cloud. Will ’22, Charlotte ’24, and Alice ’28 are enjoying being part of the St. Andrew’s community and still don’t believe that Mr. McMillen could be older than their dad. “It is hard to believe that our oldest is off to college next year at Lehigh University.”

1990 Kevin Vendt hosted an informal 30th reunion. He sent his five kids out of the house to various family members so he could have his high school buddies from outside the Washington, D.C., area stay in his house. “We had a blast and drank beers and told stories by the fire pit till 2 a.m.”

During the pandemic, Tony Wright went back to serve as interim CEO of RescueTime, a company he founded in 2008. “It was a quick/rewarding phase and I was really happy to have something to focus on during the most lockdown-y phases of the pandemic.” Now he’s back to semi-retirement. “I’m doing a bit of investing and advising in the startup world, remodeling a 1965 Airstream, and spending time with the amazing humans in my life.”

1991 The Class of 1991 celebrated their 30th reunion in October. Fifteen members of the 55-member class were able to attend.

Warren Marcus and John McMillen added to the evening full of reminiscing.

Kevin Vendt hosted a 30th reunion celebration at his home in October.

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The Class of 1991 celebrated their 30th reunion in October.

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Vivienne (Hess) Barry and her children, Sophia and Tyler, went on a three-week trip to Vienna, Austria to visit family and friends.

Tony Wright and his wife, Lacy, enjoyed a trip to Portland, Maine.

Dan Anixt and his wife Stephanie, along with their hound Calvin, recently moved into a new home in Loudoun County, Virginia after living for 16 years in Alexandria, Virginia. Dan continues to practice law as the head of the legal department for a global telecommunications and network company.

Vivienne (Hess) Barry started homeschooling her children, Sophia and Tyler, when COVID-19 began. In September, they went on a three-week trip to visit family and friends in Vienna, Austria where Vivienne was born. They saw Lippizaner horses and went on a carriage ride in downtown Vienna. They visited a children’s museum attached to Schonbrunn Castles so her kids, who are 8 and 9 years old, were able to dress up and experience what it was like when Sissi was alive. They also visited the Upper Belvedere in the art museum and saw lots SPRING 2022

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research laboratory studying the circuit and genetic mechanisms for learning, memory, and social communication. This past year, Todd received a Transformative Research Award from the National Institutes of Health. This award is being used to identify the genes needed to learn vocal behaviors like speech and language.

93 Etaine (Norris) Raphael recently published her second book called “The Rhyme-Time Twins.”

Greg Portner’s daughter, Hannah, is enjoying her sophomore year at St. Andrew’s, and is an intern in the Alumni Office.

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Todd Roberts is living happily in Dallas with his wife, Jen, and their menagerie of dogs.

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of paintings by Gustavo Klimt. “It was wonderful getting to see everyone and experience it with my kids.”

Brendan Norris has been living in Aberdeen, Scotland since 2011 and works as a Person-Centered Therapist, helping people with a broad range of mental health issues. He currently works in private practice and also as a counselor with Third Sector (charitable) organizations in the Aberdeen area. In the last year, and throughout lockdown which began in the United Kingdom in March 2020, he has been working to provide therapy remotely (via phone and Zoom) to regular clients as well as vulnerable people on the margins of society, many of whom have had a particularly difficult time since COVID became a part of everyone’s lives. “I remember St. Andrew’s fondly and wish the entire Lion community – past and present – the very best for a happy and healthy 2022.”

Greg Portner lives in Northern Virginia.

His daughter, Hannah, is enjoying her sophomore year at St. Andrew’s. “We are so proud of her accomplishments to date!”

Edith (Edie) Symons Stanton lives in Chevy Chase with her wife of 25 years, Kristen, and their daughters Jacqueline and Suzy.

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Todd Roberts is living happily in Dallas with his wife Jen and their menagerie of dogs. Todd earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland in 2003. He is now a tenured professor in the Department of Neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center where he directs a

Karen (Mann) Sitrin moved in March 2021 with her husband and daughter to Westminster, Maryland to be closer to her daughter’s school. In August of 2021, Karen started graduate school! She is at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., getting her Master’s in (pediatric) Occupational Therapy.

Edith (Edie) Symons Stanton lives with her wife of 25 years, Kristen Stanton, and their daughters Jacqueline and Suzy in Chevy Chase. There was a sea of change for Edie and Kristen in 2020 as they renovated Edie’s childhood home while teaching virtually. It was certainly a balancing act but they are happily settled now that the house projects on a 1913 home are dwindling and plan to stay put for the next decade, at least. Both Jacqueline (seventh grade) and Suzy (fourth grade) attend Holton-Arms. Edie looks forward to seeing her St. Andrew’s friends throughout the year celebrating birthdays, holidays and summer fun. “Thank you for these lifelong friends St. Andrew’s!”

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Please contact Jen Mohr to join the Reunion committee.

1993 Etaine (Norris) Raphael recently published her second book, which she is hoping will be the first in a five-part series called “The Rhyme-Time Twins.” It is a series about friendship, kindness, inclusion, empathy, and teamwork. She is currently working on the next one in this series - it’s all about trying to find the silver linings in tough situations. The manuscript is done and she is working her way through the illustrations. ”I really love the whole process!”

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Pamela Saunders is still living in McLean, Virginia, celebrating 20 years of marriage to her husband John. They have two awesome teenagers, Emma (17) and Holden (14) and their rescue cat, Piper (9). Last summer, she launched an international monthly art membership club for families with creative children.

Pamela continues to teach art in person in private schools, art galleries and through PTA programs. “Many of my St. Andrew’s friends are on my daily text threads, and I cherish our long-lasting friendships!”

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1994 Renee Barnett lives with her husband, Mike Bomba, and their two children, Charlotte (14) and Luke (10) in Kensington, Maryland. She is Senior Counsel at an association that advocates to ensure that all Americans have access to professional financial advice. She is excited to reconnect with the St. Andrew’s community, this time as a parent – Luke started at St. Andrew’s this year and is in fifth grade.

1995 Jennie Norton left Washington, D.C., in July 2021 and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida for her husband’s job. She also quit her job to stay at home with her 3-year old son. “Mari McDonald ’95 and I speak every day and have kept each other sane throughout the pandemic! Alex BierleinGeorge ’95 put me in touch with some of his close friends who had just moved to St. Pete too, so I had instant friends here!”

1996 After being closed for a 16-month gut renovation, Tim Finn’s brick and mortar shop Hub Comics in Somerville, Massachusetts, reopened in August.

“Initially we were shut down for the pandemic, but had long planned rebuilding an exterior wall. The pandemic offered an opportunity to take the work further – new floors, electrical, windows, logo, everything.” Tim has shot, edited, and posted weekly one-minute video updates

Victoria Hutchen and her husband, John, and their three children have lived in the mountain town of Evergreen, Colorado for nearly 10 years.

through the whole process. He’s also in his 18th year as adjunct animation and animation history professor at Lesley Art + Design, and with fellow alum Nick Nadel and creative partner Kevin Maher, produces online videos as the comedy collective Atomic Abe. For the past year, Finn has co-hosted the weekly G.I. Joe comic book podcast, “Talking Joe,” and he continues to write his history book on G.I. Joe in the background of it all.

Victoria Hutchen and her husband, John, have been in the mountain town of Evergreen, Colorado for nearly 10 years. This past year was their biggest for transitions! They bought Mile High Landscaping (milehighlandscaping.com) in April 2020 and after teaching in-person for 2020-2021 Victoria was ready to “retire” from nearly 20 years of the classroom!

Turned out taking over a landscape architecture design/build firm was great timing with everyone being stuck home in a pandemic. “We’ve always been “project people” so we’re happily working hard with our fantastic team.” Their daughter Taylor started ninth grade, Charlie’s in sixth, and Connor’s in third. They also coach lacrosse, cheer on Taylor for cheer/ freestyle skiing/lacrosse, cheer on Charlie

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Pamela Saunders lives in McLean, Virginia, with her husband, John, and children, Emma and Holden.

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Jennie Norton moved to St. Petersburg, Florida in July 2021 for her husband’s job.

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The Class of 2001 celebrated their 20th reunion at the home of Allie (Beyda) Kendall.

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Michael DiPaula-Coyle and his wife, Torie, welcomed their first child, Charlotte, born on December 13.

Meghan Ball is married with two lovely little girls, Hazel Jean Dudley and Argentina (Argie) Louise Dudley.

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00 Nick Mikhalevsky helps nonprofits effectively fundraise with cryptocurrency and was pleased to make a recent crypto donation to the school.

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Emily Williams marks 15 years of living in Boston and took her oldest son, Gavin (9), to his very first Red Sox game – Game 4 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) .

Katie Ballou married Christopher Sheeron on October 2, 2021. They celebrated with their family and friends with a beautiful ceremony and reception in Middleburg, Virginia at Goodstone Inn.

03

Marian (Goddard) Carpenter with family — George started first grade and Teddy started preschool.

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for football/basketball/lacrosse, and cheer on Connor for Park & Pipe/lacrosse. “We love hosting when anyone’s in the area and had so much fun showing Evergreen off to Claire Burgess and her family this fall.

Feel free to reach out if you’re ever in our neck of the (literal) woods!”

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Please contact Jen Mohr if you would like to join the Reunion committee.

Lexie Doud and her family are happy and healthy. She and her husband live in Northern Virginia with their three young sons. “The boys and my real estate career keep me very busy. If any alumni are in need of real estate help or advice, I’d love to be a resource!”

1998 Michael DiPaula-Coyle and his wife, Torie, welcomed their first child, Charlotte, born on December 13. They have relocated back to the U.S. from Singapore and just bought a house in Chevy Chase. “We are obviously thrilled.

Hopefully Charlotte is a future Lion!”

2000 Nick Mikhalevsky is still living in New York’s Hudson Valley about an hour north of Manhattan. With a job that will be forever remote, he gets to enjoy more time at home with his kids James (9), Andrew (7), and Nora (5). Professionally, he’s deeper in the digital asset space, moving from past roles in global anti-money laundering to helping organizations safely transact with cryptocurrency. Today, he’s helping nonprofits (like St. Andrew’s) effectively fundraise with crypto and was pleased to make a recent crypto donation to the school. Nick’s wife, Alana, continues to enjoy a great career in energy and government affairs, leading her company’s corporate communications division.

2001 Ben Fishel visited St. Andrew’s for

Jill (Collier) Silbert lives outside Baltimore with her family.

the Class of 2001’s 20th reunion this year. Attendees met up at the home of Allie (Beyda) Kendall in Bethesda.

Ben, and other members of the Class of 2001 watched as Ashley (Ehrenreich) Carey was inducted into the St. Andrew’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

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Please contact Jen Mohr if you would like to join the Reunion committee.

Meghan Ball is married with two lovely little girls, Hazel Jean Dudley and Argentina (Argie) Louise Dudley. They are happily living out in Paso Robles, California, on a small ranch with their 19 goats. After university, Meghan moved to Japan to work as an English teacher for three years, then moved to New York City to become a Sommelier for Jean Georges.

In 2013 she decided to leave New York, and while traveling up and down the west coast fell in love with the Paso Robles wine region. She became an assistant winemaker, and then, after getting married and pregnant, moved over to be the Director of Sales at Linne Calodo Winery. Paso Robles is a wine destination for visitors from all over the world, famous for big bold red wines. “Be sure to reach out if you ever want help planning a trip to our town!”

Katie Ballou married Christopher Sheeron on October 2, 2021. They celebrated with their family and friends with a beautiful ceremony and reception in Middleburg, Virginia at Goodstone Inn.

03 Sarah (Taylor) Bower recently joined the Maury Home Team at COMPASS as a licensed real estate agent.

Emily Williams marks 15 years of living in the Boston area this year. It was an eventful fall for the Williams family.

She took her oldest son, Gavin (9), to his very first Red Sox game – Game 4 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) no less. He definitely learned some colorful language in the Fenway bleachers but they had a ball (pun intended) and it was an exciting game. Emily’s younger son, Henry (5), participated in his first fishing derby in their town and won a trophy ... for the smallest fish caught in his age group!

This spring, Emily accepted a job as the Director of Alumni Engagement and Lifelong Career Development at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

2003 Sarah (Taylor) Bower is thrilled to announce she recently joined the Maury SPRING 2022

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class notes Home Team at COMPASS as a licensed real estate agent in Maryland, with various members of her team licensed in both D.C. and Maryland. She is excited to contribute to the team’s almost 100 years of collective real estate experience.

Please be in touch if you or someone you know is looking to buy or sell in the D.C./ Maryland area. Sarah would love to help!

04

The Wallace siblings — Jake Wallace ‘04, Madeline O’Brien ‘05, Abbey Eddy ‘08, and Sam Wallace ‘12 — gathered this winter in Park City, Utah.

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It’s been an exciting year for Marian (Goddard) Carpenter both personally and professionally. George started first grade and Teddy started preschool. The whole family enjoyed ice skating this winter. At work, The Siena School, where Marian is the college counselor, opened a second campus in Oakton, Virgina, and her article, “Screening and Onboarding: Assisting students with learning differences to ‘hire’ a college learning center” is slated for publication in the Spring edition of “Link for Counselors.”

Jill (Collier) Silbert is living outside of Baltimore with her husband and 20 month old son, Jordan, and their puggle, Simba. She has been working as the nurse manager of the ICU step down unit at Sinai Hospital.

2004 Madeline (Wallace) O’Brien enjoys life in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Graham and now 18-month-old son, Parker.

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Courtney (O’Dell) Snavley and her husband, Brian, welcomed their son Jackson Lee Snavley on June 22, 2021.

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Lauren (Brown) Albenesius and her husband welcomed their first child, Jackson Drage Albenesius, on June 22, 2021.

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Lexi Heywood married Nick Generous in August 2020, and welcomed their daughter Telluride in October 2021.

David Magida has just kept on running, ever since he left St. Andrew’s, this past year diving into a few new adventures. In September he finished fifth overall at the Hyrox World Championship of Fitness Racing, and just six weeks later ran the New York City Marathon in a personal best of 2:37:41. His personal life went even better, as he got married to his wife Kait in October and they are expecting their first child together.

Sarah A.O. Rosner premiered 10 short films in 2021. Those 10 screened in 14 countries at 24 festivals over the course of the year. They started 2022 by making the jump to full time work as the Creative Director of their studio, AORTA films, and are excited to be courting angel investors for AORTA’s next phase of growth. They’re thrilled to be living the dream as a full time artist, and are looking forward to top surgery this February.

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Alisa Kaswell just celebrated nine years of living in New York City. She is also enjoying startup life - Alisa works as a product marketing manager at Qualia (a SaaS platform for real estate transactions).

Madeline (Wallace) O’Brien is enjoying life in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Graham and now 18-month-old son, Parker. They spent the winter months in Park City, Utah with family including siblings Jake Wallace ’04, Abbey (Wallace) Eddy ’08 and Sam Wallace ’12.

Courtney (O’Dell) Snavley and her husband, Brian, welcomed their son Jackson Lee Snavley on June 22, 2021.

2006

Kelsey Freeman Saelens and her husband, Drew, recently welcomed their second child, a daughter named Molly, in August.

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Tim Rogan was featured in the American Express Shop Small campaign for the Winter 2021 season.

Lauren (Brown) Albenesius and her husband welcomed their first child, Jackson Drage Albenesius, on August 4, 2021.

Elizabeth Kukla founded a custom software product development firm in February 2021. They specialize in full stack custom web & mobile applications with an emphasis on usability. They are based in Alexandria, Virginia but service many clients remotely and several clients based in the New Orleans area.

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Please contact Jen Mohr if you would like to join the Reunion committee.

Lexi Heywood married Nick Generous of Potomac in August 2020, and they welcomed their daughter, Telluride Generous, in October 2021! They’re moving to Santa Fe this summer.

Kelsey Freeman Saelens and her husband, Drew, recently welcomed their second child, a daughter named Molly, in August. Molly joins 2.5 year old Jack and their yellow lab, Puck at their home in Alexandria, Virginia. Kelsey recently took over leading the federal government relations team for the U.S.-

Abbey (Wallace) Eddy welcomed her first child, James Gust Eddy, who was born in October in Park City, Utah.

based agricultural and food supply chain company, Cargill Incorporated.

Tim Rogan was featured in the American Express Shop Small campaign for the Winter 2021 season. Over the course of three days, Tim performed in musical advertisements that were recorded at Pinewood Toronto Studios, the largest film and television studio complex of its kind in Canada. In total, more than 30 spots were recorded. Fun fact – the vocals for the ad jingles were produced and engineered by Bri Holland, who worked with Steven Levenson ’02 on “Dear Evan Hansen” and “tick, tick...BOOM!”

2008 Abbey (Wallace) Eddy welcomed her

08 Vesna Harasic-Yaksic married David Van Voorhees on October 10, 2021 at the Four Seasons in Georgetown.

first child, James Gust Eddy, who was born in October in Park City, Utah. Gust loves playing with his aunts and uncles, Jake ’04, Madeline ’05, and Sam ’12, and feels like an honorary Lion already.

Vesna Harasic-Yaksic got married to David Van Voorhees on October 10, 2021 at the Four Seasons in Georgetown.

A ton of her St. Andrew’s friends were in attendance! “Shortly after our minimoon in Cabo (we’re saving our big Asia SPRING 2022

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honeymoon for next year due to COVID), we added a new member to the family: a new German Shepherd puppy named Spartacus Van Voorhees!”

Bryn (Whiteley) Seabrook is enjoying her position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia. The switch to virtual teaching and learning actually enhanced her class discussions about engineering ethics! She continues to serve as a council member of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), an international organization that fosters interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship in social studies of science, technology, and medicine. Personally, Bryn and her husband Tom purchased their first home near Charlottesville, and welcomed their first child in March 2021!

The Class of 2010 celebrated their reunion in October at Andy’s Pizza in Washington, D.C. Andy’s is owned by fellow alumnus Andy Brown ‘08.

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2009 Jacob Horn recently left the Whitney Museum of American Art after almost nine years to take a role as grants coordinator for the Shubert Foundation.

The Foundation - the charitable arm of Broadway theater owner and producer The Shubert Organization - is the nation’s largest funder dedicated to unrestricted grants to nonprofit theatres and dance companies. Jacob completed an MA in Theatre at Hunter College in December and has also been serving as an adjunct lecturer in the department this academic year.

In late 2021, Lisa Rokoff successfully defended her dissertation entitled the “Impact of Environmental Chemical Mixtures on Maternal and Child Mental Health.” She will graduate with her Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences from Harvard University this spring.

Several members of the Class of 2010 attended Steve Webster’s wedding in September.

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Dylan Thayer got engaged to Lindsay Schappell in December of 2021, and they plan to wed in October.

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10 Ben Wald got engaged to Rachel Kaufman this past September.

Dylan Thayer currently works at St. Paul’s K Street in the District. He enjoys the satisfaction of building up God’s Kingdom and serving his community.

Dylan continues to compete in marathons regularly, continuing a passion for running that began at St. Andrew’s when he was 12. He got engaged to Lindsay Schappell in December 2021, and they plan to wed in October.

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class notes

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Krissia Rivera Perla recently matched with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore where she will start her residency in plastic surgery.

2010 Jonah Orr graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in 2021 and is now a second-year plastic surgery resident at Washington University in Saint Louis, where he lives with his wife Natalie and their two dogs.

The Class of 2011 celebrated their reunion in October at Andy’s Pizza in Washington, D.C. Andy’s is owned by fellow alumnus Andy Brown ‘08.

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Ben Wald placed fourth nationally in World’s Top Whiskey Taster presented by Bardstown Bourbon Company. He also just started a job as the new Beverage Manager of CORE: Club, a private member’s club in Midtown Manhattan, and will be part of their expansion to Milan and San Francisco. Ben also got engaged to Rachel Kaufman, a Broadway General Manager, back in September.

On September 4, 2021, Steve Webster and his wife, Marielle, were married in Brooklyn, N.Y. They met in college. He’s been a freelance TV producer in New York City since moving there in 2014.

Steve is currently working at TLC editing and producing videos for their social platforms. Before that he was directing and producing live cooking classes for Food Network.

2011 Caroline Worthy Dyer and her husband, Kevin, welcomed their first child Edward in September of 2021. She and Kevin were married in July of 2020 and are enjoying life in Washington, D.C.!

Tim Gregg enjoyed the honor of being inducted into the St. Andrew’s Athletics Hall of Fame this past October.

Tim Gregg enjoyed the honor of being inducted into the St. Andrew’s Athletics Hall of Fame this past October. He is living in San Diego and running a solar business. He is continually trying to get better at golf, and recently set the Speed Record at The Cradle par-3 course at Pinehurst by playing all 9 holes in 6 minutes and 49 seconds.

Krissia Rivera Perla recently matched with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore where she will start her residency in plastic surgery.

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Please contact Jen Mohr if you would like to join the Reunion committee.

In May 2021, Janice Freeman graduated with her Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University. She is now working at Ernst & Young on the Global Public Policy team, focused on sustainability and technology policy. In August 2021, Janice married Ben Nussbaumer in Washington, D.C, with fellow St. Andrew’s alum, Adam Barton, as her man of honor.

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class notes

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The classes of 2015 and 2016 gathered at Caddies in October to celebrate their respective five-year reunions.

assigned to the Department of Commerce headquarters to be the new Uniformed Aide to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Having spent the last year and a half working for the Director of the NOAA Corps, he is excited to be wrapping up his time in the Washington, D.C., area with the opportunity to work for senior leadership in the US Government. In June of this year, he will change assignments again and prepare to head to Bahrain with the U.S. Navy, working on applications of uncrewed underwater vehicle technology.

Margaret Kenworthy is living in New York City and just started her second year of teaching kindergarten at the New Amsterdam School in the East Village.

The fun part about her job is that it’s a fully outdoor nature program right in the heart of Manhattan!

Randi Kontner is enjoying her career as an architectural designer at STUDIOS Architecture designing corporate and multi-family residential projects. She has also recently launched her own art business, Randmade, through which she has created custom apparel and footwear for local brands and painted murals for restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area.

She donated some of her work to the St. Andrew’s auction.

2013 Alexia Jacoby lives in New York City and works in marketing at an education 52

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Scotty Matthewman recently traveled across Europe to photograph and draw the unique architecture in cities including Paris and San Sebastian in Spain.

technology company. In her free time, she enjoys writing and recently had one of her short stories published in a literary magazine.

Jacob Reiskin is living with his fiancée in Washington, D.C. after graduating from The George Washington University Law School in 2021. He passed the bar and is now working as an international trade associate.

2014 Brian Bies is Head of Publishing for New Degree Press. Since its founding in 2017, New Degree Press has published 1,200-plus authors with 25 National Book Awards &

Finalists in the past year. New Degree Press was also ranked #293 in the Inc. 5000 of fastest growing private companies in the US in 2021, and they were also ranked #5 for education companies on the same list. New Degree Press operates as a public benefit corporation (B-Corp certification pending).

Over the last year at Defenders of Wildlife, Kristin Butler worked with Congress and federal agencies to draft and pass legislation, secure funding, and build support to address a variety of ocean, endangered species, and biodiversity issues. To satisfy her ocean craving while living in Washington, D.C., she spent a few months teleworking from Miami with her mom, and a couple weeks in California and Hawaii with family.

Blair Ezra worked for Kate Spade New York (corporate/headquarters) for two years doing their social media content and digital design. She shot most of their social media images, videos, and made all the stories. She switched jobs in October of 2021, and now works for Victoria’s Secret (corporate/headquarters) where she manages their social media content (editing and shooting both photos and videos), and is the digital designer for all their social platforms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube). During college at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Blair majored in Fashion Marketing and Management; however, she picked up photography and videography for fun (and

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never took a class in it). Her hard work learning photography, videography and editing paid off, as she has shot content for two huge fashion brands. You can view her work on her portfolio website at www.

BlairEzra.com.

class notes

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Claudia Heesen proudly works for Ovia Health, a company that serves millions of people with clinical programs, predictive interventions and personalized pathways spanning the spectrum of family health and parenting.

Ethan Lockshin is working in the DevOps space, specifically Continuous Integration (CI) & Continuous Deployment (CD). He also invested in the pre-seed round of Alongside Finance, the “Vanguard for Crypto.”

Chris Quintero just returned from a trip to Colombia where he got to see a lot of his family for the first time in a few years given the pandemic. Now he has started a new job at Morgan Stanley in New York City where he is a research analyst covering enterprise software stocks.

In his free time Chris has joined Angeles Investors, an angel investing group that looks to find, fund, and grow promising Latinx startups.

2015 The classes of 2015 and 2016 gathered in October to celebrate their respective five-year reunions. They met for drinks and appetizers at Caddies on Cordell and spent the night catching up with one another. They’re looking forward to their 10-year reunions in 2025 and 2026!

In 2021, Danny Knauss received his MSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He now enjoys working full time at Northrop Grumman in Dulles, Virginia designing a GEOSTAR line of satellites, one of which will implement on-orbit repair of other satellites.

Husam Shabazz has been promoted at St. Andrew’s to the Assistant Director of Admission for the Upper School. He will begin his new role on the Admission team

Liz Naab served as the Interim Director of Alumni Relations at St. Andrew’s and enjoyed planning Reunion weekend, which took place in October.

in July of 2022. This new position will give him the opportunity to continue his work with the Black Alumni Collective, as well as welcoming prospective families into our community.

Scotty Matthewman is a User Experience Designer at Wondersauce, where he works with companies such as golf.com and Folx Health. Recently, Scotty traveled across Europe to photograph and draw the unique architecture in cities including Paris and San Sebastian in Spain. Scotty credits Lauren Cook’s AP Studio Art class for encouraging him to pursue a career in design. “The support at St. Andrew’s was incredible. Nobody questioned the decision to study art/design in college, and being around other artists in my class, like Noa West and Yueqi Sun, made it feel more normal to pursue creative efforts.”

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Husam Shabazz has been promoted at St. Andrew’s to the Assistant Director of Admission for the Upper School.

After serving as the Interim Director of Alumni Relations at St. Andrew’s, Liz Naab began working as the Marketing Coordinator for a local construction firm in February 2022. She traveled in March to San Diego and Phoenix with her sister, Ría Naab ’18, to visit with friends and family.

After working at St. Andrew’s for two years as a Teaching Assistant and Associate Teacher, Jordan Reilly is moving back to Los Angeles this summer to continue working in television.

15 After working at St. Andrew’s for two years as a Teaching Assistant and Associate Teacher, Jordan Reilly is moving back to Los Angeles this summer to continue working in television.

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class notes

2016

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In April 2021, Amelia Heesen accepted a position working for a biotech company that does t-cell process development for pre-clinical stage cell and gene therapy.

She graduated in May 2021 from Northeastern University with a M.S. in Chemical Engineering.

Anthony Duruji just scored his 1,000th collegiate point during the 2021-2022 season at the University of Florida.

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Stephanie Quintero recently received a grant from the Rajendra Foundation Social Impact Fund, which is awarded to innovative young women leaders in the United States and Mexico seeking to create sustainable change within their communities. She will be using the grant to fund the creation of workshops called Preparing for My Big Day which is a community-based health intervention aimed at reducing maternal morbidity and mortality disparities among pregnant adolescents who are victims of physical and psychological abuse in one of the lowest income sectors of Cali, Colombia.

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Jennifer Clogg graduated from Gettysburg College in May 2021 with a Double Major in English and Spanish and a Minor in Writing.

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After graduation Lily Velazco intends to pursue a Ph.D. in cancer immunotherapy.

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Please contact Jen Mohr if you would like to join the Reunion committee.

Ben Wang is in a five-year B. Architecture program at Syracuse and set to earn his degree in May of 2023. His senior thesis and Honors thesis (he won a grant) is on coastal flooding in New Orleans and Ho Chi Minh. He did a summer interior design internship at Baskervill.

Jennifer Clogg graduated from Gettysburg College in May 2021 with a Double Major in English and Spanish and a Minor in Writing. She started a new remote job as a Government Account Representative at Carahsoft Technology, which is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Jennifer is currently living in Maryland but will be moving to Virginia to work in person this coming fall. “I absolutely love my job and co-workers; it’s truly a great fit for me. Go Lions!”

Since graduating from the College of Charleston in 2021, Alex (Sandy) England worked for six months as a recruiter before taking some time off and

beginning pilot lessons. He is working towards his private pilot license and considering making it a career down the road. In the meantime, Sandy recently started a new job (remotely) as a Public Relations account manager for Energent Media, doing extensive work with blockchain and cryptocurrency startups.

“Although there are so many terms and companies that overlap with each other, it’s an exciting field and a great time to start learning about everything blockchain/ crypto-related. I still live in Charleston and have great things to say about the city, but I’m excited about my next city and adventures wherever that may be.”

Bridgette Kontner graduated from New York University’s Music Business undergraduate program in May, where she uncovered a passion for artist discovery and development. She currently works as an A&R Scout at AWAL, a record label/ distributor under Sony Music, where she finds and signs new and emerging artists.

Anthony Duruji just scored his 1,000th collegiate point during the 2021-2022 season at the University of Florida.

Alex Smith earned his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and is currently completing his Masters at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Last season was the second time Alex was named Big Ten All-Academic as the men’s lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Division I National Championship Game. After winning the Big Ten title, they came up one victory shy of the national title. This year, the Terrapins are ranked #1 in the nation (as of 4/14/22).

After completing his graduate degree, Alex will join Goldman Sachs in New York.

2018 Megan Blaine made the Dean’s List at Washington College. She plays softball at college, and has coached at St. Andrew’s.

After graduation Lily Velazco intends to pursue a Ph.D. in cancer immunotherapy. She recently applied to do postbaccalaureate research at NIH

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through the IRTA. Lily is currently working under the mentorship of Dr. Lawrence Mylin, a biology professor at Messiah University. “This past semester we designed an efficient screening assay to screen for T4 neutralizing antibodies.

I also presented my research at Messiah University’s Fall SEH symposium where both Mr. Ferriby and Mrs. Robinson attended my talk virtually. This semester we are working on the actual hybridoma fusion and I am scheduled to present my research at this year’s Pennsylvania Academy of Science Annual Conference held at Desales University in May. I will also present my research at Messiah University’s Spring SEH Symposium.

My most recent work so far is the transformation of antibiotic resistant E. coli B for the screening assay.

2019 Joshua Joseph spent two years after graduation training and competing as a member of the U.S. Whitewater Slalom Kayak Team. In the fall of 2021, he started at Lehigh University studying computer science. Joshua has continued training on his own while at Lehigh, working on technique and conditioning using the local Lehigh River in Bethlehem as his training ground. “Not an ideal training environment, but making the best of it while working on my undergraduate degree. I spent winter holidays training in Pau, France – somewhat warmer weather and great whitewater training.

I plan to increase whitewater training throughout the spring prior to the U.S. Team Trials and presuming I retain my place on the team, 2022 World Cup Races this summer in Prague, Czech, Krakow, Poland, Ljubljana, Slovenia and World Championships in Augsburg, Germany.”

Sarah Kirby is a junior at Georgetown University studying political science, Arabic, and justice and peace studies.

This semester, Sarah is studying abroad in Amman, Jordan working as a research assistant at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan where she is researching the impacts of refugee integration and also working towards proficiency in the Arabic language. In

class notes

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Sarah Kirby is studying abroad in Amman, Jordan through Georgetown University working as a research assistant at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan.

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Joshua Joseph spent the winter holidays whitewater training in Pau, France.

the fall, Sarah will return to Georgetown for her senior year where she helps organize the University’s Farmer’s Market and writes for the Georgetown Voice magazine.

2020 Brooke Anya just completed a highly successful season playing for the Longwood Lancers. In one week, Brooke was named to the Big South All-Academic Team and then helped lead the Lancers to their first-ever appearance in March Madness. Longwood (21-11) won the 2022 Hercules Tires Big South Women’s Basketball Championship with an 86-47

Alex Smith was named Big Ten All-Academic for the second time as the men’s lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Division I National Championship Game.

win over top-seeded Campbell. Brooke was sixth on the team in rebounding and shot 49% from the field.

Chase Noah and Nikos Karayiania ’21 are playing lacrosse for Howard Community College and both are doing well academically and enjoying being starters on this year’s team. Chase is a starting attacker and Nikos is starting defensive midfielder.

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class notes

After spending a year in Israel, Coby Kapner is enjoying a freshman year that has “truly been an amazing experience.

While the transition into a big university can be scary, the skills I learned at St. Andrew’s have really helped me both academically and socially.”

Nick Tsintolas is currently a sophomore at Duke University studying Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Economics.

COVID-19 restrictions put a damper on his freshman year experience, but he’s been using this year to make up for lost time. Upon returning to campus in the fall, he joined Duke eNable, an undergraduate club that collaborates with the School of Medicine to design and 3D-print prosthetic limbs for local Durham residents. Nick has also been an active member of the Duke University Stand Up Troupe since freshman fall, and this past November he was able to perform for the first time live and in-person! This spring, Nick started working as an undergraduate research assistant in the Bursac Lab. His work involves the impact of immune cells on engineered skeletal muscle tissue.

Kane Worch is a sophomore at Xavier University in the Williams College of Business. This upcoming summer he will stay in Cincinnati pursuing an internship in his field of Business Marketing. He is also playing for the Men’s Club Lacrosse Team. This past summer his family realized an opportunity to move to Florida and they currently reside in Delray Beach.

“We could not be happier with our new home in the sunshine state!”

2021 Kyle Boozer is a freshman at Kenyon College in Ohio. He has joined the ultimate frisbee team, which has helped him stay active, make new friends, and go to some awesome parties. “College right now has really helped me break out of my shell and make myself more social.”

Samantha Ojeme is enjoying college, studying nursing, and on the rowing team at La Salle.

Caroline Schneider is in her first year 56

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Brooke Anya just completed a highly successful season playing for the Longwood Lancers.

20 Coby Kapner is enjoying a freshman year that has “truly been an amazing experience.”

20 Kane Worch is a sophomore at Xavier University in the Williams College of Business.

at Clemson where she has enjoyed being on the swim team and joined Alpha Delta Pi. She also started an undergraduate research assistant position doing breast cancer research and enjoys her classes as a biology major in the Honors College. “My first semester has been amazing so far at Clemson! Clemson has made me realize how much of an impact St. Andrew’s had on my education and I’m extremely lucky to have a great high school education to prepare me for college.”

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Nick Tsintolas is currently a sophomore at Duke University studying Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Economics.

in memoriam

David Booth Beers was dedicated to the Episcopal community David Booth Beers, one of St. Andrew’s founders and a Board member for more than 14 years, died on April 3. He is survived by his wife, Peggy, and their children.

Beers, who in 1976 was on the Board of St. Patrick’s and the Vice-Chancellor to the Bishop, was in the room when discussions took place concerning the founding of St. Andrew’s. He later served on the Board of Trustees in a variety of roles, including Secretary and Bishop’s Representative.

He authored the school’s initial bylaws and helped create a new type of school in greater Washington: an independently governed Episcopal school with an inclusive mission and a warm relationship with the Bishop and the Diocese of Washington.

David became Diocesan Chancellor in 1977 and served in that role for 14 years. In 1991, he was appointed as Chancellor to the Presiding Bishop, a position he held until 2019. David did not stop founding schools with St. Andrew’s. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Bishop Walker School and served on its Board. He also served on the Board of the Episcopal Center for Children.

In her email to the Episcopal Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde wrote “David was a friend and a mentor to countless leaders, lay and clergy. If you didn’t know David personally, I’m certain that you know someone whose leadership he helped develop or you are part of a community that he once guided through a turbulent time.”

Audrey Demas, another one of St. Andrew’s founders who took part in those very first conversations shared this remembrance of David.

“David never gave up and never missed a meeting,” Demas said. “He just loved learning, we even joked that he perhaps

“He was dedicated to building an Episcopal community where spiritual life, academic rigor, and service would come together to inspire every student.”

AUDREY DEMAS

loved it too much as he advocated for Latin to be required of every student. He was passionate in his drive – and we argued from time to time, but always came together in our commitment to building a school where every student could find their place. He was dedicated to building an Episcopal community where spiritual life, academic rigor, and service would come together to inspire every student. We so enjoyed being together at the 40th Anniversary. It was a wonderful opportunity to share our pride in the school’s growth, its expression of the founding vision, and, most importantly, its tremendous impact on the lives of so many kids.”

Head of School Robert Kosasky knew David for two decades and reflected on the warmth he shared daily.

“He was a font of wisdom, counsel, and wonderful humor – a good friend of the school and its leaders for decades,” Kosasky said. “From the first time I met David 20 years ago over lunch at his beloved Tastee Diner, he made me laugh and learn with his wry humor, enthusiastic storytelling, and clear love for St. Andrew’s and the larger Episcopal community to which we belong. I was lucky to call David and his wife, Peggy, my friends, and I will miss him greatly.”

David Booth Beers served in a variety of roles at St. Andrew’s throughout the years, including being one of the founders of the school, Board of Trustees, Secretary and Bishop’s Representative.

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in memoriam St. Andrew’s mourns the loss of those who have died yet remain a beloved part of our community. We pray that God’s loving embrace welcomes them and comforts us. In memoriam include notices for alumni, former faculty and staff, former trustees, and school founders who have recently passed away.

Gabe Hodziewich

Former faculty member and coach

Beloved former teacher and coach Gabe Hodziewich died peacefully Oct. 7, 2021 after a long illness. Hodziewich began his teaching career in 1982 when he joined the St. Andrew’s faculty as a biology teacher.

He also began coaching soccer that year and, by the end of the season, would lead the team to its first PVAC title.

Hodziewich coached soccer until 1986, then coached boys’ varsity tennis from 1987 to 1994.

Gabe was a demanding educator who was passionate about teaching and interacting with students.

“He was very dedicated. He would be one of the first people in and one of the last people out,” said science teacher Irene Walsh, who was there with Hodziewich in the early ’80s. “He had a big impact on a lot of kids, in sports and in the classroom.” Hodziewich taught at St. Andrew’s until 1999, then returned as a volunteer in the tech office from 2001 to 2006. He said it was the students—who were “always more interesting”—that kept him at St. Andrew’s over the years.

Gabe is survived by his wife Betsy Proch; daughter Erika Hodziewich and her husband, James; sister Stephanie Cohen and her husband, Victor; and brother Stan Hodziewich and his wife, Vicki; three nieces, one nephew, three grand-nieces, and one grand-nephew.

John Nicholson

Parent of alumni and former Board of Trustees

John Nicholson, father of Peter Nicholson ’86, and the late Wendy Nicholson Bailey ’87, died earlier this 58

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year. John served on the Board of Trustees from 1983-1984.

Science teacher Chuck James remembers John as “never too busy to pause and chat. Often, a five minute conversation would turn into an extensive conversation about theology, St. Andrew's, Haiti, children, and life. His knowledge of the national Episcopal Church and specifically the Diocese of Washington was encyclopedic. He possessed a remarkable memory for names of family members and would often inquire about them.”

John is survived by his wife, Marnie Nicholson; and son, Peter Nicholson.

Shana Stein Class of 1989

Shana Stein died Sept. 20, 2021, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

After graduating from St. Andrew’s, Shana attended Tufts University where she earned a B.A. in Child Development and a B.F.A in Fine Art. A few years later, she completed her Masters of Fine Arts at Cranbrook Academy, where she studied print media and developed a series of psychologyinformed interactive art installations.

Shana then embarked on a period of art production and taught art at all levels, from preschool to university.

Her students remembered her as a supportive yet critical teacher and a fierce advocate for their creative voices.

After moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Shana ran the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), which paired first-generation college students with research faculty and co-taught the Research Seminar.

As a lifelong learner with a deep interest in psychology, Shana transitioned

careers from academia to mental health and attended Northwestern University, earning a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She loved working with individuals and couples (as a Gottman Certified Therapist) on various challenges, including communication and parenting.

In recent years, she started and ran a private practice.

Shana is survived by her husband, Mathew J. Rappaport, and two daughters, Aviva and Liora.

Nathan Yoder Class of 2000

Nathan Yoder died on April 21, 2020.

“Nathan was a great kid, and had a lot of friends,” said math teacher John McMillen.

“He had a lot of surgeries while he was here at St. Andrew’s. I was impressed at how he handled life given all he had to deal with. I can’t imagine being a high school student with all he had and being so positive. You could tell by the way he carried himself that he was comfortable in his own skin.”

Nathan’s mother, Joyce Yoder, shared that Nathan loved his time at St. Andrew’s.

“Nathan had short stature syndrome, and had lived with chronic pain for many years before he got cancer,” Joyce said.

“He had a lot of surgeries to lengthen his bones when he was a student, and had a lot of good friends who were there for him.”

After graduating from St. Andrew’s, Nathan completed two years of academic work at Rochester Institute of Technology as an electrical engineering student.

Nathan is survived by his parents, Joyce Yoder and Galen Yoder, and brother, Michael Yoder.

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save the date

HOMECOMING & REUNION OCTOBER 15, 2022 We’re excited to welcome alumni to campus

this fall! We will celebrate alumni in milestone reunion years ending in 2s and 7s.

For more information: