Letter from the Head

Streble Scott

BLUEPRINT FOR THE NEXT DECADE

This issue of SPA Magazine, which includes the Annual Report 2020-21, is our first since the onset of the pandemic, and it offers an impressive overview of how the SPA community flourished throughout these challenging months. Since the onset of COVID in the spring of 2020, there have been moments of anxiety and frustration for our families, our students, and our teachers. But there have also been moments of joy, resilience, and connection, particularly this fall as we resumed in-person classes for five days each week. Even with our COVID precautions, SPA has felt refreshingly like school in September 2019.

Our successful opening this fall reflects the leadership of the three division Principals who are profiled in our cover story. Lower School Principal Beth Nelson, Middle School Principal Virginia Andres, and Upper School Principal Theresa Collins are master educators, visionary thinkers, and compassionate leaders. As a team, Beth, Virginia, and Theresa are a powerful and dynamic representation of the breadth and depth of SPA’S K-12 leadership team.

Beth Nelson stepped into the Principal’s role this summer with a deep appreciation for the culture of the Lower School, an understanding informed by her 23 years as a faculty member that included 14 years as the Lower School’s Assistant Principal. Beth creates a sense of stability in the busy and buoyant world of the Goodrich Campus. Her calm, steady demeanor was and is essential in the time of COVID, and her extensive knowledge of our curriculum (including recent innovations in K-5 math, literacy, and social-emotional learning and wellness) is one of our most valuable assets. Schools work. When the pandemic landed in March 2020 in the middle of Virginia’s second semester, those qualities proved invaluable. Under her leadership, the Middle School has never lost sight of its guiding principles. Virginia knows that her students are in the process of defining themselves as individuals, and she understands how to guide them (and their parents) as they follow the sometimes bumpy and unpredictable path through adolescence.

Upper School Principal Theresa Collins, who joined SPA in July, is the newest member of the team. The virtual nature of our Principal search in early 2021 was unfamiliar terrain for us, but even Zoom could not dim Theresa’s appeal. Her talent, her empathy, and her humor shone through in those conversations. Now, even in these early months of her tenure, she has been extraordinarily deft in using the storehouse of knowledge she gained in her 15-year career as an independent school educator and administrator at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago to frame her evolving perceptions of SPA’s Upper School community.

I am proud and grateful to be working with these three leaders during my final year as Head of School at SPA, and I am thrilled that Beth, Virginia, and Theresa are part of the team that will welcome and support the school’s next leader. As this issue of SPA Magazine goes to press, we have just announced the appointment of Dr. Luis Ottley to be that leader [see page 4 for more details— Ed.], and I am glad that Dr. Ottley will be the beneficiary of our Principals’ talents as individuals and their strength as a team. I know our entire community joins me in The tenure of Virginia Andres, now in her third year as celebrating the remarkable trio of leaders. Middle School Principal, is split evenly into “before” and “after” the onset of COVID. Her first months with us were a wonderfully exploratory and productive time; we came to know her in the fall of 2019 as a perceptive leader and a careful listener, with a savvy sense of how Middle Bryn S. Roberts, Head of School

2021-2022 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OFFICERS

Timothy A. Welsh, President William M. Beadie ’58, Secretary Litton E. S. Field, Jr. ’75, Treasurer

MEMBERS

Mark W. Addicks Bartlett (Bake) J. Baker ’71 Hyung Choi Jennifer Coates ’96 John W. Cosgriff ’93 Elizabeth Driscoll Hlavka Anne Larsen Hooley David W. Kansas ’85 Varun B. Kharbanda ’92 David A. Kristal Amanda Kay Liu Scot W. Malloy Philip McKoy Barbara L. Naramore Tim O’Brien ’77 Thomas H. Patterson ’57 Christopher (Chip) J. Pearson J.P. Peltier Anthony (Tony) Sanneh ’90

St. Paul Academy and Summit School 1712 Randolph Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105 651-698-2451 (main line) 651-696-1380 (fax) info@spa.edu www.spa.edu

Contents

Fall 2021

The Magazine of St. Paul Academy and Summit School

Editor’s Note:

We are pleased that publication of SPA Magazine has now resumed, following a hiatus due to the pandemic. This issue of the magazine includes both a retrospective of the 2020-21 school year and a hopeful look ahead. We are very grateful to the entire SPA community for their support, and we hope you enjoy this issue of SPA Magazine. Ami Berger, Editor, SPA Magazine

Features

2 Letter from the Head 20 Celebrating the Class of 2021:

Commencement and College

Choices

24 On the cover

PRINCIPAL THOUGHTS:

A Conversation with

SPA’s Three Principals

The leaders of SPA’s three divisions–Upper School Principal Theresa Collins, Middle School Principal Virginia Andres, and Lower School Principal Beth Nelson–share their thoughts on leadership, community, and the role of a Principal.

Departments

4 Through the Doors 14 Spartan Sports 32 Alumni/ae News 34 Philanthropy 36 Class Notes 43 In Memoriam

Head of School >> Bryn S. Roberts Editor and Principal Writer >> Ami Berger Principal Photographer >> Scott Streble Design and Layout >> Kimberlea Weeks, CEVA Design

2020-2021 ANNUAL REPORT

IN THIS ISSUE: 2020-2021 ANNUAL REPORT

SPA Magazine is published twice annually by St. Paul Academy and Summit School for alumni/ae, parents, and friends of the school. We welcome your comments and thoughts. Please contact us at spamag@spa.edu with suggestions for stories, news, and photos, or write us at SPA Magazine, 1712 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55105. Let’s be friends. Follow us at facebook.com.

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