22 minute read
A Letter from the
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
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.
Yours,
Sheila F. Maith Chair, Board of Trustees
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
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.
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 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 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.
Two students named winners of signature Great Works Project
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.
▼ 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.
Journal of Organic Biochemistry at St. Andrew’s VOLUME 2, SEPTEMBER 2021 Review articles researched and written by Upper School students.
Spring 2022 The Mane News The Mane News Library Secrets Page 2 Maddy Friedman ‘25 - SAES The St. Andrew’s Boys Varsity Basketball team, led by longtime Head Coach Kevin Jones, is off to a blazing start this season, with a record of 11-5 and 7-2 in the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC). With last season canceled due to the pandemic, this year’s varsity team ran into a roadblock of inexperience. “All things considered, we are probably overachieving,” said Coach Jones. “I’ll give [the players] credit; I think they work hard every day. I think they’re giving us their best.” As the season comes to a close, Coach Jones and the team are beginning to look ahead towards the upcoming postseason MAC tournament, in which the team will have to win two games before reaching the final. Currently, St. Andrew’s team is the #2 seed in the MAC. Regarding the championship, Coach Jones said, “I do think that there’s a lot of parity in the league, any team can beat anybody.” The Washington Post recently rated the team as 15th in its weekly DC-area high school basketball rankings, an impressive feat. Nonetheless, Coach Jones said that he and his team have never talked about rankings in practice. “I know that the kids know it, of course; it’s promoted on social media, but it’s not something that we really talk about,” he said. It can be difficult for players to manage both academic and athletic demands. Although free time is more limited during the season, Coach Jones argues that academic performance actually improves. “There’s not a lot of time to spare. You’re going to school, going to practice, going home, eating, doing homework, and then you have to maintain that discipline for a long period of time.” The players are in game mode, fully concentrated on their performance both on and off the court. With the Varsity Basketball team finishing up regular season play and ready to make a statement in the MAC postseason tournament, there is definitely a reason for the St. Andrew’s community to get excited. After all, who needs March Madness when we have a tournament of our own? DL while still building a loving, Love Advice from the Class of 2024 Sam Berman ‘22 - SAES Sports Finish Strong, Lions! Photograph by SAES Student section at Lions Court
SAES Black History Page 3 Baseball Update Page 4
The School
Scoop
Do you ever wonder what the seniors talk about? How about the freshman? With whispers escaping into the buzzing halls of St. Andrew’s, who’s to say what our students could be talking about? Bridging the gap between these worlds, I took a deep dive into this question for a couple of days to bring the best answers to our St. Andrew’s students. The ninth grade halls were hard to listen in on, but I was able to catch a couple of interesting conversations from unknown students in between classes. There was quite the commotion as I managed to hear people talking about their basketball season so far. Some eager students were sharing with their friends their improvements and weaknesses. In addition, many students have been discussing their hopes for their courses for next year, and hilarious, friendly conversations have sparked my interest here and there. However, there is more on people’s minds than interesting basketball games and upcoming classes. A remark from a senior caught my attention too. In conversation with a faculty member, an unknown student said, “Well at least I’m going to college!” The seniors definitely have college on their mind and who
Field trips return for 2021-2022 school year
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.
▲ 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.
▼ Fifth-grade students get creative
for “This is Not a Box” project
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.
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.
CLASS OF 2022
PAUL RYAN TO SPEAK AT COMMENCEMENT
COURTESY PHOTO
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.
