St. Andrew's 2021 Spring Magazine

SPRING 2021

Science & Faith at St. Andrew’s

STAND with ST. ANDREW’S!

S P R I N G G I V I N G W E E K | M AY 1 8 — 2 1 , 2 0 2 1

St. Andrew’s is turning the page on a year that challenged us all. Our remarkable students discovered new ways to pursue their passions. Our exceptional educators developed new teaching strategies and shared that knowledge with the world.

Our alumni community served and led like never before. At St. Andrew’s, we stand together. Because of you, as we emerge from this crisis, we are stronger than ever.

During Spring Giving Week, show us that you stand with St. Andrew’s by supporting the Lions Fund.

W W W. S A E S . O R G / G I V I N G

2021 SPRING MAGAZINE Editors Richard Coco Blair Kaine Kirsten Petersen Class Notes Rachel Kimble Designer Nancy Schwartz Photographers Rebecca Drobis Photography Freed Photography Andrea Joseph Photography Kirsten Petersen 2020-2021 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chair Sheila Maith Vice Chair Anthony Izzo, III Treasurer Christopher Dymond Secretary William Amick Rana Alarapon Alfredo Antezana Gail Atwood Rene Augustine Kellie Bickenbach Kevin Borgmann Elizabeth Drucker Brian Harris Diane Hastings Sandy Horowitz Parisa Karaahmet ‘87 Andrea LaRue Larissa Levine ‘06 Frederick Scarboro DeMaurice Smith Salim Suleman EX-OFFICIO Head of School Robert Kosasky Alumni Council President Tom Taylor ‘00 Parents Association President Kathryn Steinman

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

12 Innovative Teachers

02 A Letter from the

Head of School

Innovation happens when a solution is needed. No solution was needed

04 School News

more for students across the globe than a year ago, when teaching and

63 Class Notes

learning could no longer happen in person. St. Andrew’s faculty stepped up to the challenge, innovating their teaching practice.

18 Science & Faith During a global pandemic, some people turn to science for answers, others turn to faith, and some turn to both. Here is a look at how St. Andrew’s teaches science and how we teach religion, as well as the skills students take from each curriculum.

58 Commencement Speaker Jennifer Hawkins ’99 has devoted her life to having a positive impact on the

Bishop’s Representative John Harmon

lives of others. Fifteen years ago, that meant working with individual children

Counsel Marc Kaufman

policy that impacts millions of women and girls around the world.

and families as a social worker. Now, it means creating and implementing

ON THE COVER Shown on the cover is the Space Window at Washington National Cathedral. The window, which contains a small piece of moon rock at its center, “symbolizes both spiritual and scientific connections to the mystery of the cosmos.”

The equations are some of those Katherine Johnson devised to help NASA during the space race and can currently be found on a bulletin board near the math office at St. Andrew’s.

Cover art by Sally Deng

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

We value both faith and reason, and we cherish the life of the mind. Ours is a faith that seeks understanding. We are eager to question and to explore the most fundamental questions in life.

— Excerpted from St. Andrew’s Statement of Episcopal Identity ear Fellow Lions, I’m sure many of you quickly recognized the famous Space Window from Washington National Cathedral on the cover of this magazine. Each September our Lower School cubs see that window as they participate in Opening Chapel, and each June our newly graduated seniors pass by it as they exit the Cathedral as Lion alumni.

Think for a moment about that intricate stained-glass window and the soaring building which surrounds it. Conceived and built by generations of masons and artists, Goth-

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ic cathedrals are far more than religious and artistic symbols. They are sublime feats of physics, engineering, and design that revolutionized optics and architecture and have inspired centuries of wonder.

Dedicating a school magazine to the importance of science and faith may seem provocative these days. We have seen elected leaders and other “influencers” devalue scientific facts and expertise, worsening the pandemic and misusing public health as a cynical “wedge issue.” Religious literacy and moral reasoning — cherished and effective tools for ethical living and decision-making — don’t fare well in a media ecosystem driven by reflexive outrage and trolling. Most sadly, science and religion are routinely described as hostile to one another, rather than as complementary ways of understanding the world and our existence in it.

That narrow, shallow way of thinking has no home at St. Andrew’s. Our students take more courses in science than in any other academic discipline. Lower Schoolers’ eager curiosity in the D!Lab grows into Middle Schoolers’ focus on lab-based experimentation and engineering calculations. Upper Schoolers’ dedication in AP Biology and Robotics fuels college majors and careers in applied research, medicine, and policy. Scientific exploration is a central way that our students understand their world and their agency in protecting and improving it.

Equally importantly, our inclusive and pluralistic Episcopal environment — including Chapel, religion and philosophy courses, and service learning — provides students with mindful reflection, knowledge, and the habit of open-minded inquiry that help them grow into good, hopeful, and rational adults. Our Episcopal identity provides a framework for moral reasoning and intellectual development. Our Lions graduate with a penchant for asking “why,” for working hard and collaboratively, and for constructing and following an ethical compass built on reason and service to others.

On the pages that follow, you will see many examples of our students, faculty, and alumni using their St. Andrew’s education to advance equity, research, teaching, policy, and ministry. Our Lions are prepared and “eager to question and to explore the most fundamental questions in life.”

Thank goodness for that!

Faithfully,

Robert

A Letter from the Chair of the Board of Trustees ear Friends, I first joined the St. Andrew’s family over a decade ago, as the parent of an incoming freshman in the class of 2013. Like all parents, we came filled with hopes and ambitions for E.J.’s success as a student, an athlete, and a young man. In addition to his experiences, we were also able to be a part of the St. Andrew’s family through an era of unprecedented growth and change, with the creation of an intermediate school, the building of a new Lower School and Student Center, and so much more. Yet in retrospect, those milestones now pale in comparison to what we have all been called upon to navigate in this past school year.

My family has been fortunate. Despite St. Andrew’s moving to distance learning in mid-March, my daughter, Ella Douglass, was able to finish her senior year strong. She took part in one of the nearly 80 individual graduation ceremonies on campus this summer, and this fall she began her freshman year at Fordham University. I am grateful for the support the school showed each student and family as it showed its agility and ability to innovate both with and for the community.

As Chair of the Board of Trustees, I have had a front row seat to this nimbleness in action, witnessing some of the work that has gone on behind the scenes in making the 2020-2021 school year a good one for the students and entire St. Andrew’s community. It began with designing a schedule that would support learning for students across all ages and divisions. Holding in-person orientations on campus gave new students the opportunity to meet so many of their teachers and classmates in person. Welcoming back

preschool students in September was critical for our youngest learners and showed that it was possible to safely hold in-person classes, allowing St. Andrew’s to transition to hybrid learning for our K-12 students in October. The health and safety protocols proved so successful, a case could be made that the safest 19 acres in Potomac was the St. Andrew’s campus.

During the school year, our faculty have gone above and beyond to engage students and keep them on track academically. Leadership has slowly expanded opportunities for students to come to campus, including resuming interscholastic athletics this spring. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team built connections through programming designed to strengthen each student’s sense of belonging. The Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning has pivoted to meet the demands of educators looking for ways to be better teachers during hybrid and distance learning.

All of these accomplishments were made possible because of the support and trust of the parent community. From March of 2020 through this spring, the school has strived to be creative, clear, and transparent about its plans and decisions and the parent community has responded with patience and understanding. With this wise leadership and deep support, St. Andrew’s has delivered vital in-person instruction and community when possible, exceptional distance learning when necessary, and a safe environment always.

When we reflect back on the 20202021 school year, some will remember it as a year in which students were forced to balance learning at school and learning at home. Others will remember shortened sports seasons and performances over

Zoom. I’ll remember it as a year when St. Andrew’s students and teachers rose to the challenge. A year when hurdles were overcome and our community rallied to support one another. A year full of successes, accomplishments, and perseverance.

Yours,

Sheila F. Maith Chair, Board of Trustees

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news from st. andrew’s

 St. Andrew’s Successfully Navigates Hybrid Learning

St. Andrew’s students experienced a truly uncommon school year in 20202021. It began in late August with on-campus orientations by advisory for students in grades 6-12. It continued with a first day of school that saw preschool and Pre-K students having the campus to themselves.

Students in K-5 enjoyed their own in-person orientations that first week of school as students were able to begin building new bonds and rekindling friendships that may have waned over the summer months.

By mid-October, all students through grade 6 were welcomed back to campus daily while students in grades 7-12 were split into the Hope and Brumbaugh Cohorts and given the opportunity to come to campus every other week. From mid-October through Spring Break, the school helped facilitate more than 8,200 COVID-19 tests on campus with just seven positive test results, all of those coming prior to returning to campus after Winter Break.

With Maryland making the vaccine available to school employees, infection and positivity rates declining throughout the spring, and the proven success of the school’s health and safety protocols, the decision was made in March to make in-person learning available full-time to students in grades 7,8, and 12. Additionally, students in grades 9-11 will be able to learn on campus two out of every three weeks over the final seven weeks of the school year.

A wonderful springboard to the anticipated return to on-campus learning for all students every day in 2021-2022.

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news from st. andrew’s

SEPTEMBER Two seniors co-author childrens book about managing difficult situations

Inspired by their experience volunteering with refugees and immigrants, seniors Zara Blake and Janine Junaideen wrote a workbook designed to help children develop strategies for navigating difficult social situations. Their book, titled “What to Do When… 26 Child Friendly Strategies to Manage Emotions and Difficult Social Situations” (available on Amazon) was a product of their 2019-2020 academic-year fellowship with the non-profit leadership development organization LearnServe International. It stemmed from their work with Solutions in Hometown Connections, a non-profit organization that provides durable programs and solutions to refugee and immigrant families transitioning to life in the United States.

Chuck James selected as mentor for MIT COVID challenge

Chuck James, Science Teacher and Director of the D!Lab, was selected to be a mentor for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s COVID Challenge Series. In his role, he mentored teams of medical professionals, technologists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and civic leaders to develop new ideas around the challenges presented by COVID-19. Successful ideas had the opportunity to be funded by MIT, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and other partners.

Matías Heitner serves as correspondent for Planet Forward

Matías Heitner ’22 has another two years before attending college but he is already making a mark on the collegiate level as the high school correspondent for Planet Forward, an environmental

storytelling outlet at The George Washington University. After writing for the news website during the summer of 2020 as the only high-school-age intern, Matías is continuing to report throughout his junior year on the impact of the climate crisis on Generation Z. “Our views are not usually represented in the media, and we’re going to be voting in a few years,” he said. “The truth is, we’re the people that in two, four, six years are going to be the key voters and the people who are making decisions for the country.”

OCTOBER

▲ Lower and Upper School students participate in “art handshake”

Inspired by the popularity of exchanging “artist trading cards” in the late 1990s as a way for visual artists to own original works, Upper and Lower School students created small hand-made artworks and sent them to each other via snail mail.

This art handshake allowed students to form connections with an open-ended artistic theme. Between 80 and 90 students were involved in the project.

Blessing of the Animals service expands to virtual, all-school audience

There were two major benefits of holding a virtual Blessing of the Animals. First, rather than just being limited to the Lower School, all students were able to attend.

Second, pets that might not ordinarily be able to be present were on hand. Whether it was dogs, cats, birds, chickens, turtles, guinea pigs, snakes, or even a treasured stuffed animal, every beloved non-human family member was able to receive a blessing.

Coding takes off in Middle School and with Upper School competition

The 2020-2021 school year brought a new initiative into the Middle School as every student learned and practiced with Ozaria, a narrative-based Python coding platform. To introduce students to the fundamentals of programming, math teachers followed student-written step-bystep instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Students quickly learned the importance of syntax, and the hilarity that ensued when you accidentally wrote “spread jelly” as an infinite loop.

Later in the year, students advanced to writing code to direct their avatar, a fantasy hero, to move and jump over obstacles as they make their way through a mysterious dungeon.

In the Upper School, juniors Jason Gan and Owen Whitman, leaders of the St. Andrew’s Coding Club, created a Python competition for the St. Andrew’s community, collaborating from different parts of the world – Jason in China and Owen in Maryland. The goal was to introduce students and teachers to the basics of the Python computer programming language through an engaging learning experience.

▲ More than 200 community members join virtual Walk for the Homeless

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school’s traditional Walk for the Homeless couldn’t take place. So instead, the St. Andrew’s community hosted a virtual Monster Walk for the Homeless to coincide with Halloween weekend.

The end result – 230 walkers brought in nearly $4,400 for Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. The money raised SPRING 2021

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news from st. andrew’s by students, parents, alumni, grandparents, faculty and staff will help fight to end homelessness in the greater Washington, D.C., area.

advocating for why a book should be considered a Great Work and studied by all sophomore students in their third trimester classes. This year, in lieu of an in-person culminating event, all speeches were recorded and presented online for students and families to view. This year’s winners were Cov Jackson (“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury) and Ethan McNamara (“Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer). ▼ St. Andrew’s Players produce virtual performances for fall and winter shows

▲ Preschool celebrates fall at on-campus pumpkin patch

When you can’t bring preschoolers on their annual trip to the pumpkin patch, you bring the pumpkin patch to them. Preschool teachers created a pumpkin patch on the lawn outside Kiplinger House and preschool students were able to visit it and chose one to take home.

The St. Andrew’s Players were undeterred this season as they put on fall and winter performances as scheduled. The fall shows were readings of Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” The winter musical was a virtual performance of “Working,” a Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor adaptation of Studs Terkel’s book which was updated in 2012 by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

For “Working,” the cast utilized green screens and BandLab, an online music program that allowed performers to record their audio takes within the same project file. The crew edited recordings in Premiere Pro and the show was streamed to audiences in March.

Caroline Zebrak ’21 serves in leadership role for Girls Who Start

Valeska Peters ’22 fundraises to cure leukemia and lymphoma

Finding a cure for leukemia and lymphoma has inspired and motivated Valeska Peters ’22 for years. As a freshman, she was a member of a top fundraising Student of the Year team for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This year, she is leading her own team, organizing virtual benefit events and drawing art commissions to raise funds for a cure.

JANUARY Jim St. Germain speaks to sophomore English class

Teachers use Amanda Gorman’s poem to spark literary analysis

NOVEMBER Sophomores complete Great Works Project

Students from different divisions collaborate on monster mashup project

The Great Works Project took place as scheduled this year with sophomores

Upper School Latin students and fifthgraders collaborated on a unique project

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DECEMBER

Jim St. Germain, author of the memoir “A Stone of Hope” spoke with sophomores in Dr. Kenneth Waters’ English class about his experience overcoming poverty and violence with the support of “Boys Town,” a non-secure detention facility designed for rehabilitation. Students were able to speak with St. Germain about the challenges of writing a memoir and reliving painful moments of his life.

Girls Who Start is a national high school-based organization founded several years ago to inspire girls to become entrepreneurs. Despite the St. Andrew’s chapter being just a few years old, senior Caroline Zebrak has quickly made a mark in the national chapter, being named the Director of Multimedia Operations. In her role, she supports more than 30 individual chapters across the country as they promote Girls Who Start at their schools.

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in November as they imagined their own mythical sea monsters. Fifth-grade students illustrated and colored their creatures, which included polar bear sharks and peacock eels, and Upper School students helped them name the monsters using Latin grammatical forms and binomial nomenclature.

Inspired by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem, “The Hill We Climb,” St. Andrew’s teachers from Lower to Upper School challenged students to analyze and make meaning from modern day poetry. In Dresden Koons’ class, juniors also explored the political message of Gorman’s work; after watching Gorman’s recitation and reading the transcript, students

For second-straight year, St. Andrew’s student chosen for selective Posse Scholarship

identified and discussed the lines that align with their definitions of America.

FEBRUARY ▲ St. Andrew’s artists honored with awards

Four St. Andrew’s artists were honored with Scholastic Art & Writing Maryland Art Region awards, headlined by Hannah Portner ’24 earning a Gold Key Award, the highest recognition at the regional level. Her award came in the Photography category for a shot she took of artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg’s installation memorializing the lives lost due to COVID-19. Her photograph “The American Nightmare” also earned a nomination for an American Visions Award, one of just five artworks from the Maryland Art Region selected for the honor. Other honorees were Maddie Diamond ’23, Tyler George ’21, and Christina Wray ’21.

Upper School students make connections in Cameroon

Upper School French students led by Dr. Anna Gilcher made several connections with Cameroonians this year. First,

students corresponded with girls who participate in the Aumazo tutoring program in Fonkouakem, Cameroon. Later in the year, students had a chance to speak with Cameroonian lawyer Michel Togué about his career defending vulnerable populations, particularly those facing discrimination for their sexual orientation and gender identity. Togué, who faces persecution in his home country for doing his work, encouraged students to explore how they can put their own mark on the universe.

Students participate in workshop to support and uplift each other

Building off a program begun by students two years ago, St. Andrew’s Upper School and rising ninth-grade students came together for a half-day workshop in late February designed to build community and create a safe space for students to support and uplift each other. The event, “Relax, Recharge, and Move Forward: Empowerment, Leadership, and Community Building (She/Her/They/Them),” was designed, planned, and led by Upper School students Asia Quarles ’21, Tinuke Alarapon ’22, Isabella Dodro ’22, Celeste Mondragon ’23, and Olivia Tillman ’21.

Read more about this on page 9.

Stefen Rincon ’21 will attend Sewanee: The University of the South in the fall of 2021 on a full-tuition Posse Foundation scholarship, thanks in large part to a nomination by alumna Michaela James-Thrower ’20.

The Posse Foundation’s goal is to train the leaders of tomorrow by carefully selecting and supporting a small, diverse group of talented students — a Posse — that has the potential to serve as a catalyst for individual and community development. Of the 16,000 Posse applications nationwide, only 5% were selected this year for a full-tuition scholarship.

Independent schools cannot nominate their own students for Posse awards; the only pathways for St. Andrew’s students are to be nominated by a community organization or by a current Posse student.

James-Thrower, a freshman at Sewanee who won her scholarship in 2019, said she nominated Rincon because he is a motivator and a leader whose passion for helping others is inspiring.

Rincon is the president and a cofounder of the Students of Color Association, president of the Latinx Club, captain of St. Andrew’s Dance Team, and an alumnus of the Student Diversity Leadership Conference as both an attendee and a peer facilitator.

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news from the athletics department

St. Andrew’s resumes athletic competition

After 11 months of quiet fields and empty courts, St. Andrew’s athletics returned to interscholastic competition in February with a five-week fall sports season that saw boys and girls soccer, girls tennis, golf, boys and girls cross country and girls volleyball hold practices, scrimmages, and games against other area schools.

The return to “unofficial” competition came with stringent health and safety protocols. Players, coaches, and referees were required to wear face coverings and no fans were allowed in attendance. Soccer and volleyball teams set up on opposing sidelines with significant spacing for players not in the games to properly social distance. Most importantly, schools played all of their sports against one co-ed school per week, or two single-gender schools.

This limited exposure by student-athletes allowed St. Andrew’s to face other schools with similar COVID-19 testing and safety protocols.

With the fall season a success, St. Andrew’s transitioned to a spring sports season in late March, with practices and scrimmages scheduled into early June.

Additionally, the Middle School resumed its athletics program in mid-April with students transitioning from the Physical Education/conditioning program they had been participating in to their traditional spring sports offerings.

Gadsden, Levin sign D-I scholarships

Senior TJ Gadsden realized one of his dreams this past fall when he signed a National Letter of Intent to play Division I basketball. The small forward who helped lead the Lions to the MAC regular 8

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Spring teams, including boys lacrosse, have been gearing up for the season by practicing on the new turf fields.

Girls and boys soccer matches were livestreamed online, allowing family members outside of the Washington, D.C., region to catch the games.

season and tournament titles in 2020 will play men’s basketball at George Mason University.

Senior Mason Levin will continue his baseball career next year at Elon University. The right handed pitcher added 10 mph to his fastball over his time at St. Andrew’s and will get an opportunity to pitch on the collegiate level.

This is the third straight year the Lions have had a player sign to play NCAA Division I men’s basketball and the fifth time in the past six years. Gadsden joins Anthony Duruji ’17, Kamari Williams ’19, Heru Bligen ’19, Spencer Hayes ’20, and Colin Smalls ’20 in wearing a Division I men’s basketball jersey next year.

TJ Gadsden ‘21, a small forward, will play D1 basketball for George Mason University.

news from the diversity, equity, and inclusion office Students Broaden Awareness of Minority Cultures, Inequities

Throughout this school year, members of Upper School associations, clubs, and affinity groups have led weekly assemblies and chapel services with the goal of increasing awareness of issues faced by underrepresented groups. In September and October, the Latinx Club presented on Hispanic Heritage Month and what it means to them to identify as Hispanic and Latino/a or Latinx. In November, the Students of Color Association (SOCA) organized and led an assembly for the Middle School to debunk myths about Native American and Indigenous culture. In February, the Black Student Association presented on several topics related to Black history and culture, including a deep dive into the obliteration of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s “Black Wall Street” and the economic consequences that persist today. In March, SOCA created a video highlighting the voices and stories of women of color in the St. Andrew’s community. In the spring, International students compiled a video featuring St. Andrew’s community members who shared their experience of identifying as Asian American or Pacific Islanders during the COVID-19 pandemic and offered solutions to combat hate crimes.

Girls Conference Expands to Include More Gender Identities, Divisions

St. Andrew’s Girls Leadership, Empowerment, and Networking conference (GLEAN) was reimagined for a virtual format by student leaders. Recognizing gender as a spectrum to be more inclusive and create a sense of belonging for all, Upper School students and rising ninth graders who identify with she, her, they, and them pronouns were invited to attend the half day event in February, titled “Relax, Recharge, and

As Upper School Diversity Coordinator, Dr. Kenneth Waters supports students as they plan diversity initiatives, such as the Upper School Black History Month assemblies.

Move Forward: Empowerment, Leadership, and Community Building (She/Her/ They/Them).” The event was designed to build community and create a safe space for students to support and uplift each other.

in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.

This year’s theme was “The Racial Wealth Gap in BIPOC Communities: Fostering Innovation, Strengthening Networks, Building Solutions for Financial Literacy.”

Inaugural HackBAC Focuses on Financial Literacy

Black Alumni Collective Hosts Virtual Workshops

In partnership with St. Andrew’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the D! Lab, and The Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning, the Black Alumni Collective organized the inaugural HackBAC, a social justice hackathon for students identifying as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC). The virtual hackathon, which took place April 9-11, was designed to be an “invention marathon” through which students who have an interest in solving the persistent issues, challenges, and problems related to social justice would learn, build, and share their uniquely creative solutions over the course of a weekend

Coming off the heels of a successful crowdfunding event in August, members of the Black Alumni Collective organized virtual social events, including a gathering for new and returning Black families in October, as well as workshops for the broader St. Andrew’s community. In January, the BAC hosted a workshop on the dynamics and evolution of Black identity with an emphasis on intersectionality and allyship. This event was followed by a workshop for Upper School students and young alumni on the importance of internships and practical job readiness.

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news from the cttl

Students Advise on New CTTL Project, Offer Hybrid Learning Feedback to Teachers

St. Andrew’s students participated in two projects with The CTTL this school year.

During the first and second trimesters, Upper School students in the Ed Tech and Entrepreneurship class supported the CTTL as it designed Neuroteach Global Student, a webbased platform that will introduce students to the science of learning. Students assisted with market research by testing similar products and offering suggestions for Neuroteach Global Student. They also shared their insights as learners and recommended product features to the design team, which includes top educational neuroscience researchers David Daniel and Mark McDaniel.

Finn Family Student Research Fellows surveyed Middle and Upper School students on their experience of distance and hybrid learning. They analyzed the qualitative data, coding for themes, as well as the quantitative data, and shared their findings and recommendations with Upper and Middle School faculty during an employee meeting in January. Additionally, student fellows resumed work interrupted by the transition to distance learning last spring: making recommendations for a “new and improved” effort grade rubric. Their research methods include student and teacher surveys, interviews, and focus groups. They plan to have this work completed by the end of the academic year.

St. Andrew’s Faculty Facilitate Workshops on National, International Stages

The conference circuit went virtual this year, but that didn’t mean The CTTL slowed down. In fact, its professional development offerings expanded to include a new four-part workshop event, 10

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Students in the Ed Tech and Entrepreneurship Class shared their recommendations for the design of Neuroteach Global Student with educational neuroscience researchers in December.

(From left) Stephanie Tellis, Lorraine Martinez Hanley, and Eva Shultis gave their presentation on the intersection of MBE and DEI at the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference and at Learning & The Brain.

The Winter Webinar Series, which was attended live and asynchronously by more than 250 educators around the world.

St. Andrew’s teachers Lorraine Martinez Hanley, Eva Shultis, and Stephanie Tellis, who presented one of the workshop topics, the intersection of Mind, Brain, and Education Science and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, reprised the workshop at the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference in February and at Learning & The Brain, the premier science of learning conference, in April. This July, The CTTL will host two virtual Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academies, one for high school and middle school educators, and one designed exclusively for elementary school educators.

Christine Lewis (right) is also the Lower School Teaching & Learning Strategist at St. Andrew’s, supporting students and teachers from preschool to grade 5.

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Thanks to funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Omidyar Group, The CTTL launched the Neuroteach Global Pilot Access Program, which allowed The CTTL to offer three Neuroteach Global micro-courses to groups of public school teachers free of charge.

The goal of the Pilot Access Program is to help schools and districts adapt to the academic, social, and emotional impact of COVID-19. Since the program launched in January, 88 public school teachers have enrolled in Neuroteach Global, hailing from Texas and Georgia.

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Pilot Access Program Boosts Public School Enrollment in Neuroteach Global

Historically, attendees of the Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy received a Mind, Brain, and Education Science Placemat, a resource with research-informed ideas and tips to support them as they returned to the classroom. However, the placemat’s content was primarily targeted to high school and middle school teachers. In preparation for the elementary Academy, Lower School Research Lead Christine Lewis led a team of St. Andrew’s teachers as well as public and international teachers as they developed a new placemat for elementary educators. This new tool includes sections focused on numeracy and literacy as well as Mind, Brain, and Education Science strategies specific to this developmental group.

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Neuroteach Global, the CTTL’s web-based professional learning platform, now boasts nearly 2,300 users.

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Lewis Leads Design of New Professional Growth Tool for Elementary Teachers

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INNOVATIVE We celebrate St. Andrew’s teachers in all divisions who stepped up

TEACHERS

to the challenge and innovated their curriculum during an uncommon year.

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Innovative Teaching During an Uncommon Year Faculty rise to the challenge of distance and hybrid learning, with strategies that are enhancing teaching and learning for the better.

BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN

I

nnovation is in the DNA of St. Andrew’s. The school itself was an innovation, created to solve a problem faced by parents who wanted a co-ed Episcopal education for their high-school aged students. Every day at St. Andrew’s, a teacher innovates, finding a new way to connect with a student, or to present their topic, or to spark interest in a subject.

Last March, teachers around the world were asked to innovate as the way teaching and learning happened changed dramatically for nearly every student and teacher. First they were asked to teach virtually for the first time.

Then they were asked to deASSIGNING sign a hybrid classroom with SPECIFIC ROLES students learning in person TO MAINTAIN and remotely.

ACTIVE LEARNING Every St. Andrew’s teacher created an alternative to the examples from 13 faculty “in-person” version of their members who teach preschool teaching, whether it was mounting through 12th grade. an iPad to record a chemical reaction or In language courses, including redesigning their visual art courses to be Dr. Anna Gilcher’s French classes, the intentionally and equitably structured for first trimester was focused on answering distance and hybrid learners. Here are the question, “who are we?” Conduct14

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ing “La Personne Précieuse,” or “special person” interviews with each other opened windows into students’ personalities and passions. Additionally, this project was enhanced by the at-home learning experience; students could bring their pets to the camera or perform a special talent like

STUDENT REFLECTION ON DISTANCE LEARNING

BY CAMERON BEHRAM CLASS OF 2021 AND FINN FAMILY STUDENT RESEARCH FELLOW

ONE-ON-ONE CHECK-INS WITH STUDENTS

doing a cartwheel because they had the space to do so. “For language learning to happen, students must understand the message, be interested in the message, and be comfortable. We do that by creating relationships,” Dr. Gilcher said.

Math teacher Deidra Henderson prioritizes one-on-one hallway meetings with her students to check in and set goals; the only thing that changed about this during COVID-19 was how they met. As students in person and students at home split off to do independent or group work, Henderson always reminds students at home that they can ask to meet her in a breakout room if they have questions. And when they do, she’ll roll her standing desk out of the classroom and speak with them in the hallway – as she would in person. “The kids are finding that to be really valuable time,” she said. “It has been really helpful to maintain that connection when they are not here.”

In Kristin Webster’s Latin in-person classes, each day begins with checking the classroom climate; students put stickers on a “blob tree” to show her how they are feeling that day, and from there the entire class can see and respect what energy each person is bringing to the classroom.

To gauge the well-being of her students during distance learning, Webster created a weekly check-in form, where students

are encouraged to not only share how they are doing, but also share their concerns for other students who could use support. “It kickstarts that someone is watching and cares,” Webster said.

For Webster, starting the year in distance learning was key to building trust among her students; while they couldn’t be in a physical classroom together, they could see each other’s faces, which was essential when it came to learning different personalities. “We need to read someone’s face when they’re telling a joke,” Webster said. “They saw my face, saw me laughing, and that’s what bonded us.”

Fostering connection among learners at home and learners in the classroom was a priority this year for all teachers. In preschool, ensuring students at home could share experiences with students on campus was a priority. “I would bring my laptop outside with me,” said preschool curriculum coordinator Margy Hemmig. “We went to observe the monarch butterfly chrysalis, right under the front wall of the school. I zoomed in close to all these things to show our students at home. It’s not like being there, but I’m grateful I could go out there and show it.”

A holiday tradition in the Lower School is when Head of School Robert Kosasky reads “The Polar Express” to pajama-clad preschoolers, followed by hot cocoa and Continued on page 16

It’s been almost a full year since our “two-week break” as a safety precaution against the coronavirus, and, as a junior at the time, I could not have fathomed that I would be spending most of the rest of my high school career from the desk across my bed.

As cases continued to climb, teachers realized that some fundamental aspects of school would need to be changed in order to thrive in this new environment.

The teachers at St. Andrew’s have risen to the challenge and have armed themselves with an arsenal of researchbacked techniques that have proven to be remarkably effective in counteracting the pitfalls of virtual learning and providing a full educational experience.

As a student who is heavily involved in STEM subjects, much of my concern when it came to virtual learning revolved around how hands-on labs would be done; after all, certain scientific concepts, such as protein folding or genetic modification, are incredibly difficult to visualize, and virtual labs tend to feel more like repeatedly clicking the “next” button than conducting an actual experiment. With a little creativity and a dash of inventiveness, however, my AP Biology teacher has come up with numerous at-home experiments and interactive projects, including activities like stop-motion animation, that force my class to be creative and flex our frontal cortices. By thinking critically about what household items I could use to represent a cell transduction pathway, I am not only gaining a deeper understanding of the material, but I am also feeling more motivated to work on a project that is fun yet challenging.

The CTTL has encouraged innovation in the virtual classroom to shake up the monotony of the day and enhance our learning, and, as a student, I have certainly reaped the positive benefits of teacher ingenuity and creativity.

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STUDENT REFLECTION ON DISTANCE LEARNING

BY SAMANTHA OJEME

CLASS OF 2021 AND FINN FAMILY STUDENT RESEARCH FELLOW The pandemic completely changed the way that students learn, and teachers teach. Last year, St. Andrew’s students and teachers adapted together as we all navigated the uncertainty that was online learning for the first time.

Coming back to school in the fall gave both teachers and students a chance to improve their online learning skills. As a CTTL student fellow, I got to see up close how hard teachers were working to make this year go as smoothly as possible.

While I attended classes, I was able to experience that effort first hand. My teachers have worked hard to make the lessons as interactive as possible while still making sure that we are learning the information.

In AP Biology, that meant utilizing Pear Deck, which is an interactive PowerPoint website. It allows teachers to check in with students while they are presenting the information.

Frequent and easy check-ins were just one of the strategies that the student fellows presented to teachers earlier this year. During our presentation, I was taken aback by how much teachers took away. They asked engaging questions, and really wanted to hear the students’ feedback.

The very next day, I saw every one of my teachers utilize something that was suggested. They pointed out where they kept extra resources, slowed down the pace and repeated key points often, utilized the chat as a way to participate, and adapted to the situation. Online learning could have been much harder, and significantly more stressful for students if it wasn’t for the hard work and determination of the teachers at St. Andrew’s. Their willingness and ability to adapt, listen, and innovate is what allowed us to be successful as a school during the COVID Pandemic.

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STUDENTS RECORD PROJECT PROCESS, BOTH AT HOME AND ON CAMPUS

Continued from page 15 holiday treats. With all preschoolers in distance learning during December, the preschool team brought the holiday magic of the tradition to them, driving to all of their homes to deliver goodies to enjoy during the reading.

The effort pays off when Hemmig’s students ask about their classmates at home. “The kids who are in person know that child, they ask about that child, we wish that child well when he’s not there,” Hemmig said. “We made that connection with a child we have never met in person.

That’s something for all of us to be pretty proud of.”

In the Upper School, Brittany Shields builds connection by entrusting her students with new responsibilities. Students learning in the classroom serve as lab assistants, each taking a turn at completing steps in a chemistry lab. Students at home read the instructions to the lab assistants on campus, resulting in active learning regardless of the student’s location. “It gets them into the mind frame of, ‘I am the helper right now, and everyone’s results depend on me. I need to do (my job) well enough so everyone can benefit,’” Shields said.

And in Maxwell Horowitz’s fifth grade class, students at home and in the classroom affirm their connection by reciting a class motto at the end of the school day,

inspired by the work of educator Rita Pierson. “They stand up loud and proud, close out the day, and build community,” Horowitz said.

In some Upper School art classes this year, different learning models afforded students to hone in on their process and technique. Tracey Goodrich adapted her ceramics and 3D art classes to distance and hybrid learning by combining the courses; students in-person focused on clay during their weeks on campus, then 3D sculpture with found materials during their weeks at home. Regardless of the media, Goodrich required students to record their process, from ideation to experimentation to the final product, in an online slide deck. With each project, students were asked to talk about challenges and moments of pride specific to the skill experience. “Reading those comments from kids – what they’re proud of about their artwork, what was successful, acknowledging the challenging moments – that is why I do what I do,” Goodrich said.

In Peter Fraize’s Jazz Band and Symphonic Rock Orchestra class, students could not come together for live practices and performances, and often could not play their instruments during class time, when students at home could be disrupting parents and siblings working and learning in the next room. So instead, the ensembles focused on the details that

USE OF GREEN SCREENS TO “TRAVEL” SOMEWHERE NEW OR THROUGH HISTORY

make a great performance; how do you practice with a metronome? How do you physically interact with instruments? How do you master the finer points of improvisation? And when students could practice at home, they utilized tools like iReal Pro, an app that allows musicians to play their instruments with the backing of a live band recording.

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that what we’re trying to do is the same thing, but in an interactive way that works in this particular situation,” Fraize said.

Many teachers embraced the opportunity of learning online to reimagine classroom lessons. In Corey Null’s Geometry classes, instead of writing geometric proofs, students practiced algorithmic thinking and cause and effect by learning Javascript coding through code.org.

Horowitz utilizes the virtual whiteboard tool Nearpod for many of his classes, noting that the ability for students to anonymously post work has made them more comfortable sharing it with the class.

And in Justin Pyles’ Lower School art classes, a green screen and Zoom have allowed him to expand his lessons to include geography and art history. In one class, Pyles is projecting landscapes of Mexico behind him as he teaches a lesson on Aztec art and culture, and in the next, he’s in outer space, imploring pre-K students

CREATE AND ASSIGN TOPICAL PROJECTS FOR HOW TO CREATE CHANGE

to help him restart his spaceship’s battery by building wires with pipe cleaners. “It made me rethink how I convey information,” Pyles said. “I would love to bring that to the in-person classroom and reinvent it in a way that uses the entertaining and enriching concepts I learned from teaching in the hybrid format.”

Several teachers harnessed the historical moment to design lessons and projects that motivated and engaged students.

In Alex Haight’s History capstone class, students brainstormed ideas for the book they would research and write together, ultimately choosing to compare the impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black communities.

Dresden Koons pivoted her lesson plans for her English elective, “Contemporary Literature: Race, Gender, and Power” to address the impact of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life upon her passing in September and, in January, devote an entire class to journaling as students processed their feelings following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building.

In lieu of reading another book, English teacher Susheela Robinson invited her seniors to take everything they learned in their English classes, and everything this year has taught them about themselves, to create a project that spoke to a change they wish to create in the world. The Make a Difference project tasked students with taking a cause that was personally meaningful to them, such as combating antisemitism, racial injustice, or mental illness, and designing a solution they could implement. The project proposals, which required students to use argumentative writing and rhetorical devices to make their pitch, as well as research skills to document their process, included a food truck that would deliver fresh produce to food deserts, outdoor experiential learning programs as a form of alternative education, and veterinary care services for the homeless.

“They needed something different, and it seemed like this was the year,” Robinson said. “Things have to change, and you have to continually iterate, even if they are tried and true projects. You have to ask, ‘Is this meeting your kids’ needs, or is it time for it to completely change?’”

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WHY SCIENCE MATTERS Science is a way of making sense out of the world around us. It relies on evidence which can be seen, or measured, or known through our senses to be true.

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BY PHYLLIS ROBINSON | SCIENCE TEACHER AND INAUGURAL FINNERAN FACULTY SCHOLAR (2010)

science & faith at st. andrew’s

A

s they observed the world around them, ancient Greek philosophers divided everything into four categories – Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. They were not wrong. But they were not fully correct, either. That’s where science enters.

Science is observing a phenomenon or pattern, raising a question about how or why it occurs, then testing out your potential answers to those questions. The rest is details, and acting on what you have learned. Here’s an example: More than 7,000 years ago, an Aztec farmer noticed that this group of maize plants has been growing larger seeds than that group of maize plants. Every time the farmer harvests and plants them again, the next generation of seeds grow a little bit larger. Because they noticed this pattern, and then acted upon it by deliberately selecting the largest seeds, over time corn on the cob as we know it evolved. Via selective breeding (though our ancestors might not have known it), maize changed from being a type of grass with up to 12 rock-hard seeds to what is now a delicious summertime treat with hundreds of larger, softer kernels.

This example of selective breeding was not because an Aztec farmer went to college and learned agricultural techniques.

It was likely the result of natural human curiosity and willingness to explore new ideas. That is one of the hallmarks of being human – we are driven by curiosity and we search the universe for answers. With science, these answers can be accepted as true, because the evidence we have supports a new way of thinking built on observation.

Science is a way of making sense out of the world around us. It relies on evidence which can be seen, or measured, or known through our senses to be true. The bedrock of scientific thinking is observing a pattern, developing a testable hypothesis about that phenomenon, then rigorously testing that hypothesis until it is either strongly supported with evidence, or it is not supported and needs to be altered or abandoned Science is key to understanding who we are, where we fit into the universe, and how we can improve life. For example, developing vaccines that ward off debilitating or deadly illnesses clearly improve life.

Children and their parents no longer fear the specter of polio or smallpox. As we gain

more understanding about how specific viruses function, scientists can and do refine their explanations, with the goal of developing the most effective defense possible.

Currently, vaccines are generally the best option to protect against viruses. Might this be different in the future? Perhaps we can develop even safer and more effective ways to combat dangerous or deadly viruses. But not without science.

Science matters. Just imagine what things might be like if we had never developed scientific thinking. By noticing patterns of traits in pea plants being passed from one generation to the next, throughout hundreds of generations of plants, Gregor Mendel, in the middle of the 19th

Science matters because it explains the world around us, opens us up to new possibilities and ideas, allows us to create a better world, and provides us with the means for building a sustainable future. century, derived fundamental genetic laws of inheritance, without even knowing what genes were. Alexander Fleming inadvertently discovered mold growing in his bacterial cultures, leading the way to discovering penicillin and the power of antibiotics – a true game changer only about 100 years ago. Without science, we might still believe that bad air causes malaria, or that too much bathing brings on illness. We would never have sent rovers to explore Mars, or to examine the deep sea vents thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean.

As science is more than just a body of knowledge, scientific thinking is more than just “the scientific method” many of us have been taught. Thinking scientifically means that you notice patterns, and wonder about them. As you observe patterns and

wonder “What is happening here?”, you begin to ask questions. In doing so, scientists actively seek evidence to support what is “believed” to be true. They also actively seek evidence that might refute that truth.

Contrary to some popular opinions, changing your explanation because of new data does not mean that science is wrong! It means that, while science relies on factbased evidence, it is also flexible, resulting in refined, upgraded, improved, and more accurate knowledge.

In the millennia since the ancient Greeks first made their decision to divide the world into four categories, we discovered that air is actually composed of several different elements. Diving even deeper, we discovered that a single atom contains protons, neutrons, and electrons. Even more, each proton is composed of quarks and gluons.

By discovering and understanding the most elemental parts, we better understand the whole.

Why does this matter? We humans are driven by curiosity. To explore, to try to make sense of the world around us and the universe beyond. Developing new ways to perceive that universe drove engineering improvements that resulted in telescopes and space stations that will ultimately provide some of the answers to our questions about our place in this universe.

And our modern life has been improved by biological discoveries! These include developing sustainable harvest methods, developing ways to mitigate pollution, and obviously reducing the prevalence of disease and better methods to treat it. Don’t forget that engineering has given us all sorts of tools, from our ubiquitous smartphones that we can’t live without to pens that write upside down. The Mars Rover expeditions have given us vastly improved TerrainRelative Navigation as well as microphones that captured the first sounds we ever heard from another planet, among other inventions.

Science matters because it explains the world around us, opens us up to new possibilities and ideas, allows us to create a better world, and provides us with the means for building a sustainable future. Science matters because without it, we would still be struggling to turn grass with rock-hard seeds into a food crop that helps feed the world.

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science & faith at st. andrew’s

The lessons and labs that develop a student’s scientific mindset are put to the test in Upper School courses such as William Ferriby’s Organic and Biochemistry class.

Teaching a Scientific Mindset From exploration to experimentation, students learn by doing.

BY WILLIAM FERRIBY SCIENCE TEACHER

Children are great experimentalists.

Send a Lower School student into the kitchen and give them free reign, and see what they bring back. They might return with green eggs, or fish sticks with orange juice, or a million other concoctions beyond your greatest culinary imagination.

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They wanted “to see what would happen.” They want to try, to do, to explore – in short, to perform their own scientific experiments on the world around them.

Self-guided discovery is critical for early learners.

As students progress through the Lower and Middle School at St. Andrew’s, they begin to learn the language of the scientific process. A sixth-grade student will

learn about experimental and control variables as they study solubility by dissolving sugar candies. They then have to analyze results to see if they can draw a consistent conclusion. An eighth-grade student iterates through the design process in building a marble roller coaster and analyzing the ways in which they can apply laws of motion.

At each stage there are two critical

science & faith at st. andrew’s components. First, the lab or project will help students better learn the core course concepts. Equally important, however, is that these investigations aid students in understanding the scientific process and mindset. They learn how to take their results, evaluate the evidence, and draw conclusions. It is not enough for students to learn only that information that is known today. Science is constantly changing and evolving. Each new generation will learn and develop a myriad of technologies. In just this past year, we have seen the monumental importance of new mRNA vaccines. Thus, our students must learn the process of acquiring and analyzing new information. To inspire our next generation of leaders and innovators, our students have to learn how to understand novel information in new and complex systems. This is critical in giving students a foundation in the scientific mindset.

As students grow, they continue to add more skills in understanding and recreating the process of science. Cross-curricular work in the humanities, math, and the arts is critical to this growth. Geoscience students learn how to conceptualize a scientific question based on human or environmental problems. They use skills developed in visual arts to design and 3D print their ocean buoy to further study the issue. Biology students read and write about cellular respiration and yeast fermentation in detail, steadily building their scientific literacy. They practice how informational writing is supported by evidence statements, much as they have done in historical and textual analysis. As they progress to AP Biology, they gradually improve their reading comprehension in scientific works. Physics students learn careful data collection and analysis as they observe objects in freefall. Using their skills built in the math curriculum, they are in turn able to evaluate the impact of human motion and errors on their experimental data.

As the teacher for Organic and Biochemistry, I get to see the product of these years of preparation. In our course, we read scientific papers from a variety of peer-reviewed journals as students study different classes of organic or biological compounds. Though challenging at first, students gain a deeper understanding of the process of scientific writing, publica-

Middle School students build the foundation for a scientific mindset by learning core course concepts, but also by learning how new knowledge is acquired and analyzed.

tion, and critique. At the end of the year, each student writes their own short paper.

They then complete a blind peer review, and the best works are compiled into the class Journal of Organic Biochemistry at St. Andrew’s. In helping our students learn not only the current scientific understanding but also the process for creating and evaluating new science, we give them the tools to further innovate in an ever changing world – valuable tools that will be with them regardless of the profession they choose to pursue later in life.

Our science students at St. Andrew’s go on to pursue a wide variety of fields. For every engineer, doctor, or conservationist, there is also a musician, author, businesswoman, or architect. Yet we know that each and every one of our students will intersect with science in their future career.

This past year, each of us was directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Global climate change remains at the forefront of our minds as we observe deep freezes in Texas and wildfires in California.

We have each become more dependent on evolving computer video technology.

Activists advocated to ensure equitable vaccine access for all in our country.

Throughout their time at St. Andrew’s, we carefully teach our students the skills they need to analyze and evaluate, to

Preschool students experiment in our Design Science classes, often taking their investigations out into the natural world.

measure and observe, and to predict and design. In so doing, we instill in them the importance of approaching the world with a scientific mindset.

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science & faith at st. andrew’s

In Upper School, teachers strive to help all students feel like science is something they can do now and ultimately excel at in the highest level of college courses.

A Look at the St. Andrew’s Science Curriculum Connecting study to purpose, faculty motivate students to make an impact through the sciences.

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BY SCOTT BUTTERWORTH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Biology, chemistry, and physics: For more than a century, they have been the foundation of science education. At St. Andrew’s, though, the way those disciplines are taught is anything but oldschool.

From preschool through Grade 12, science instruction relies today on handson learning, not on lectures. Science fairs have been replaced by Wonder Workshops and weekly Genius Hours. Students are

graduating with, on average, more than four years of Upper School science courses under their belts.

Most importantly, what truly defines science at St. Andrew’s is not biology, chemistry, and physics but rather a different triad: empathy, identity, and possibility.

Empathy, which invites St. Andrew’s students to meet the needs of others as they identify scientific solutions.

Identity, which encourages a student to see herself as a scientist engaged with meaningful questions, rather than as simply a kid in a science class.

science & faith at st. andrew’s

“ ... what truly defines science at St. Andrew’s is not biology, chemistry, and physics but rather a different triad: empathy, identity, and possibility.”

Possibility, which opens up new worlds, through science that tunnels deep into the Earth, that studies space and stars, and that investigates the building blocks of life itself.

The search for answers

Human beings are wired for science.

Our natural curiosity about the world is revealed in the questions of childhood: Why is the sky blue? What happens when I drop this stuffed animal? How do I catch the ball that is coming to me?

Science is how many of these questions find answers, based in reason and logic. At St. Andrew’s, the youthful desire to understand and learn collides with teachers who encourage both finding the answers and having fun in the process.

From the very beginning, students in preschool classes will engage in design science, encouraged to “think, make, and improve” as they work individually or collaboratively.

Lower School science teacher Hilarie Hall spent her first five years at St. Andrew’s teaching grades K-2, and this year is working with grades 3-5. She explains that the faculty “give design challenges that make students, not uncomfortable, but challenged. We start that in September, and then, by March and April, they are old pros at what they are trying to do.”

Over the years in the Lower School, as students grow, their science lessons intro-

Beginning in preschool, St. Andrew’s students are encouraged to “think, make, and improve” as they engage in design science.

duce a broader perspective. Hall describes it as “having them think about something or someone other than themselves.”

For example, a fifth-grade project looked at the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The assignment: Which goal is the most important?

“That’s an impossible question, right?”

Hall says. “Zero hunger. No poverty.

Gender equality. How do you choose the right one?

“But seeing them try to argue, ‘this is

the one’ — they present their choices so well, and they’re just becoming such cool speakers for themselves. They’re getting a platform.”

When science gets personal

Such lessons address what the St. Andrew’s faculty know is a gap in many schools’ science curricula: the connection between study and purpose. Real-world Continued on page 24 SPRING 2021

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Continued from page 23 topics for labs and projects help St. Andrew’s students “understand that this knowledge can be used for something, and that you can do something with it,” Middle School science teacher Ryan Marklewitz says.

Through establishing the purpose, students come to realize their individual agency. That, in turn, helps develop their identity as, if not scientists, at least scientifically capable people.

“There’s a set of knowledge and skills in science that will be useful and transferable, no matter what they end up doing,” says Dr. Ian Kelleher, an Upper School physics teacher and the Dreyfuss Faculty Chair for Research for the Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning (CTTL).

To get there, though, one’s enthusiasm for science must be sustained through adolescence. This is a complicated matter.

As Dr. Kelleher notes, “Students in those middle years tend to get more selfdoubt about what they can and cannot do.”

Hall says, “We’re talking as a school right now about how it seems to be, once [students] hit sixth grade, the joy of science drops off. How do they lose their joy for just tinkering and exploring and engineering? That’s at the forefront of our minds right now.”

Building a scientific identity is seen as part of the solution, suggests Middle School science teacher Eva Shultis, a colleague of Dr. Kelleher’s in the CTTL. Lab projects provide students with opportunities to discover scientific principles on their own, so they can “start to see themselves as scientists,” she says.

Shultis adds that adults at home and at school can play a role, too — consciously or unconsciously delivering a message about whether a student belongs in science.

“My personal big goal is just not to screw that up for anyone in Middle School,” she says.

Another contributor to identity is the ability to see yourself embodied in the scientific process. Faculty are purposeful, therefore, about showing Middle Schoolers the variety of people before them who have contributed to scientific knowledge.

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In Middle School, teachers prioritize helping students see themselves as scientists, with a special emphasis on highlighting “unsung heroes” who have contributed to scientific knowledge.

“Unsung heroes,” as Shultis puts it, “examples of great scientists who are from all different backgrounds, who look all different ways.”

“It’s really important for us to show [students] different ways in which they can express their identity through science,” Marklewitz says.

Teachers also encourage self-expression from students. One sixth-grade assignment, for example, proposed that an alien lands on Earth; what little details that humanity takes for granted would this being find strange? As imaginations took flight, students were encouraged to be creative in presenting their conclusions. The Continued on page 26

“It’s really important for us to show [students] different ways in which they can express their identity through science.”

RYAN MARKLEWITZ MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER

Students in all grades get the chance to explore the intersection of science and technology by programming robots, including Spheros and LEGO robots.

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science & faith at st. andrew’s

Encouraging self-expression and choice are also central in Middle School science, especially through projects like building an artificial limb.

Continued from page 24 result included lengthy essays, videos, even comic-book-style illustrations.

“Giving kids the freedom to express knowledge in as many ways as possible, and in ways that feel very familiar to them, is really important,” Marklewitz says. “So is exposing them to all of these multiple modalities” of how findings can be presented.

“We’re very conscious about including student voice wherever we can,” agrees Dr. Kelleher, a former chair of the science department. “And we know that student voice and student choice are great motivators.”

Rocks and stars, cells and atoms

In the Lower School, St. Andrew’s pairs science instruction with art instruction in design labs. Older Lower Schoolers get to pursue individual science projects through 26

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the week, then showcase them to the class in weekly Genius Hour gatherings on Fridays.

“It’s been really, really cool to see the quieter kids ask to share the video that they’ve made. It’s so empowering,” Hall says. “I don’t think that I would ever have been brave enough to do something like that as a 10-year-old.”

All Middle School students in Grade 6 begin with Scientific Foundations. Geology and astronomy are areas of focus, with topics such as tectonic activity and how the Moon formed. Students learn how to measure and record data accurately and then how to analyze results. In most years, they also engage in a multidisciplinary study through a spring trip to the Chesapeake Bay. Seventh grade introduces Life Science — everything from the individual cell to more complex systems. Students perform dissections and examine the specimens under microscopes. They also learn about

brain development and human sexuality.

Evolution is discussed, including how traits can change over time, as is the interaction of countless organisms in creating an ecosystem.

Physical Science in eighth grade turns the focus to physics and chemistry. Just as the cell forms the basis of Life Science, so does the atom in Physical Science.

Students grow acquainted with chemical reactions and the conservation of matter before moving into Newtonian physics and energy forces.

What pervades all three courses, Shultis says, “is a lot of inquiry-based learning, paired with fact-checking.”

Lab work, for instance, helps students learn how to determine useful data and to confirm facts “that you know to be true.”

Data collection and analysis have become more central to the St. Andrew’s curriculum in recent years, Shultis says, “teaching kids to trust that the data are telling them the truth.”

science & faith at st. andrew’s

The Physics-Third Approach

St. Andrew’s overarching goal is to prepare each student for college, a goal that is most fully realized in Upper School as more complex principles are introduced to maturing minds.

With science, this preparation often takes the form of Biology in ninth grade, Chemistry in tenth, and, typically, Physics in eleventh.

A curricular model commonly known as “physics-first” (physics in Grade 9, then chemistry, and then biology) has gained traction and prominence in recent years.

Dr. Kelleher calls that a “trendy vision,” hewing more closely to the needs of teachers and school administrators than those of teenagers.

“The goal for each of our courses is, first, how do we help all students feel like science is something they can do, and second, how do we help students thrive at the highest level of college courses,” he says.

Physics-first doesn’t pass that twopronged test, Dr. Kelleher says: Students with a junior-level knowledge of math can engage with a superior level of physics than can students with freshman-level math skills. The opposite is not necessarily true with biology, a discipline that relies less on math.

Not coincidentally, St. Andrew’s students graduate having taken not only biology, chemistry and physics but another one, two, or three science electives as well.

Clearly science is something that all St. Andrew’s students feel competent to pursue.

As for college preparation, Dr. Kelleher offers that junior-level physics better prepares students to pursue a sophisticated range of junior- or senior-year electives, including Organic and Biochemistry, Robotics, and Environmental Science. That way, students can take college-level courses while still in high school.

“We teach Organic and Biochemistry instead of AP Chemistry because organic chemistry [in college] is the course that kills many people’s dreams of pursuing medicine,” he says. “We’ve designed courses that are right for what our students are going to do next, rather than stuffing our curriculum with APs.” If a graduate goes for a premed major in college, they will already have under-

St. Andrew’s human-centered approach to teaching science means that all graduates can draw a connection between their high school classes and their course of study in college.

taken that organic biochemistry course and perhaps an AP Biology class, to boot.

A student who follows a humanities track in college will possess the knowledge of how to analyze large datasets and bring a quantitative approach to the work. And an engineering major can call upon their years of exploring physics and chemistry at St. Andrew’s to build a deep understanding of scientific principles.

“We often talk about taking the course at the right time,” Dr. Kelleher says, “finding the right pathway for each student so that they feel they’ve got that right level of challenge. It’s not too easy. It’s not too hard.”

Sometimes that right level of challenge means engineering an artificial limb or creating an exhilarating roller coaster. Or it might mean publishing in the school’s own peer-reviewed scientific journal. Regardless, learning to empathize with those who have a problem that needs solving, identifying what needs to be overcome to solve that problem, and imagining the possibilities when designing a solution, are hallmarks of a St. Andrew’s science education.

And along the way, students find themselves challenged by their courses and supported by their teachers.

St. Andrew’s students graduate having taken not only biology, chemistry, and physics but another one or two science electives as well, such as AP Biology or Robotics.

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science & faith at st. andrew’s

Integrating Science and Math Curricula Editor’s Note: In the winter of 2019-2020, we asked science and math teachers at St. Andrew’s to write about the ways the two departments were integrating their curriculum. And then an historic pandemic hit. This global crisis hit at a moment in our history when many people were struggling to know what to believe and who to follow. Some turned to science.

Others turned to faith. Many turned to both as a way to navigate a path through the pandemic.

As an Episcopal School, we teach our students to trust science while also instilling in them an understanding of the importance faith can play in our lives.

As a result, we produced a magazine devoted to showing both science, and faith, at St. Andrew’s.

But what about the integration of our science and math departments? Here, now, are excerpts from those articles written by our faculty members. We hope they give you a taste of our science and math faculty’s excellent teaching and devotion to the subjects they are most passionate about.

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The question, “How can we better prepare our math and science students for a quickly changing, technologically advanced world?” inspired an interdisciplinary merger of the Math and Science departments.

science & faith at st. andrew’s

The Intersection of Science, Math, and Technology at St. Andrew’s

BY KIM O’SHAUGHNESSY, SCIENCE DEPT. CHAIR (2015-PRESENT) AND FINNERAN FACULTY SCHOLAR (2017) AND KAREN KAUFMAN, MATH DEPT. CHAIR (2013-2020)

Children are born creative, curious to explore, and unafraid to take chances. If you have ever watched a child interact with their environment, you will immediately notice how unencumbered they are by preconceived notions, earlier teachings or fear of poor performance. Young children have the potential to be some of our best scientists and engineers.

As math and science teachers, we seek to nurture students to become problem solvers, critical thinkers, and decisionmakers. Each day we arrive to class ready to spur the imaginations of our budding mathematicians and scientists, often asking “How can we better prepare our math and science students for a quickly changing, technologically advanced world? What could we do to encourage students to become problem solvers, critical thinkers and decision makers? How could we foster students’ comfort with abstract thinking?

This led to an interdisciplinary merger between Math and Science, with technology at its core.

Our D!Lab offers students the space to be innovators. The Engineering, Innovation, and Design course offers students the opportunity to work singularly or in teams to design solutions to real world problems. FIRST Robotics leagues FTC (First Tech Challenge - US), FLL (First LEGO League LS and MS) and FLL Jr (LS) were introduced to champion creative problem solving and innovative thinking using technology.

We also added trimester offerings — Game Design, App Design, and Competitive Robotics — and additional offerings from other departments including Digital and Advanced Digital Design, Introduction to Music Production, and Music Technology to allow students to tap into technology through electives.

Cell phones have been intentionally integrated into science courses as a technology students can use to demonstrate their learning; here, biology students show their understanding of the virus life cycle by creating stop-motion animations.

The Middle School has had exposure to coding through various projects in science using LEGO EV3 robots, Orsario CS, Scratch club and Time By Design. The Lower School offers design science with a state-of-the-art curriculum that incorporates technology and design via Scratch, Scratch Jr. and LEGO WeDo and EV3 Robots, Sphero robots, bee bots and many other pieces of technology.

While compasses, graph paper, and calculators remain useful tools, the study of math and science has been greatly improved by the advent of robotics, coding, and design thinking. This powerful integration will continue to leverage technology as a vehicle for computational thinking and problem solving throughout our math and science curriculum and beyond.

Lower School students learn the fundamentals of computer programming by writing code for Sphero robots.

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In Middle School, students practice computational thinking by creating art using linear equations and restrictions.

Computational Thinking in the Middle School

BY MOLLY MAGNER MATH TEACHER

As teachers we are constantly wondering, “Are we preparing students for the ever-changing world they will enter when they leave our classrooms and our schools?” While it may be hard to keep up with the latest trends in technology, there is one way we can stay ahead of the trends – teach students to think like a computer.

I believe Middle School is the perfect time to provide entry points into computational thinking.

One of the hallmarks of the Algebra I curriculum is the Desmos Project. Desmos is a free, online graphing calculator. Stu30

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dents in Algebra I use Desmos throughout the year to explore algebraic concepts.

During our unit on linear equations, students use Desmos to learn more about the properties of linear equations. The goal of the Desmos Project is to create art using linear equations and restrictions. Over the years there have been many beautiful creations, including cars, nature scenes, even a self-portrait! While the end result is almost always an impressive, creative and cohesive image, what keeps us returning to this project year after year is the process, the mistakes, and the learning moments.

There is a parallel to the challenges Middle School students face during the Desmos Project to the challenges Upper

School students are grappling with in AP Computer Science. In AP Computer Science, students use loops and conditional statements, and one small error can cause the loop to not run. In both AP Computer Science and the Desmos Project, it is apparent to students immediately when there is an error, either the line will not appear or the code won’t run, and what is next is the process of “debugging.” We encourage students to ask themselves, “I see something is wrong, now why is it wrong and how can I fix it?” These problem-solving strategies are universal and are lessons we want our students to have throughout Middle School, Upper School, and beyond.

science & faith at st. andrew’s

Teaching the Fun of Physics

BY KURT SINCLAIR PHYSICS TEACHER AND FINNERAN FACULTY SCHOLAR (2018)

It’s often refreshing to step back from the progression of learning new physical concepts to pause and test what we have learned in fun and novel ways. That idea has led me to develop, over my years at St. Andrew’s, a series of activities that students find engaging and thought-provoking, while giving them an opportunity to work collaboratively with fellow students. Groups of similar activities have come to be called “Projectile Olympics” and “Floatation Olympics.” Those groups of activities, along with other singular ones completed throughout the year, give me an opportunity to assess student understanding in a much less stressful situation than a summative test.

Projectile Olympics occurs early in the year as we are studying two-dimensional motion, which is termed “projectile” motion when objects are in freefall. The series of activities includes projectile bowling,

predicting the flight time of a projectile, attempting to hit the bullseye of a target, and the toughest of the bunch – trying to land a projectile in a chimney. Student teams work to correctly predict landing points and time intervals using the concepts and techniques that we had studied.

During the second trimester the secondyear physics students will compete in Floatation Olympics, which will push them beyond just physical calculations and into design thinking, as they will have to find a way to transform a square sheet of aluminum foil into a boat that can successfully float the greatest number of golf balls.

Careful calculations coupled with good engineering skills will lead to a result that is rather surprising, but nonetheless predicted by the pertinent physics.

Students find these activities to be a refreshing and fun change of pace from the normal classroom protocol, and I am still able to teach, question, and check their understanding of the physics concepts we have discussed.

“Floatation Olympics” and “Projectile Olympics” are among the fun and novel ways Kurt Sinclair teaches physics.

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Computational Thinking in the Lower School

BY SUNG HEE KIM, FIRST GRADE TEACHER, AND FINNERAN FACULTY SCHOLAR (2019) AND HILARIE HALL, LOWER SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER

Snapshot of a classroom: a group of students intently study a diagram of a futuristic city. The shapes of potential buildings are carefully measured and drawn to scale on a large poster, making the ongoing work accessible to all of the young minds working on it. Another group carefully weighs the benefits and potential pitfalls of constructing an additional sail to their ocean-cleaning prototype. They will soon test their efforts using a calculated script on their team’s iPad. Further on in the room, yet another group of students has elected to work on a video featuring the world’s biomes. These team members happily scramble to add pertinent facts and props before committing their talents to a green screen. At the center of their work is a script that has gone through numerous iterations, each more succinct and informative than the last.

In each learning scenario, the students are working with some engrained skill sets. They know that they must focus on the important details of a topic, often needing to sift through excess. They know to frequently step back from their work in order to break down a problem into smaller parts. They also utilize algorithmic thinking – creating step by step instructions – in order to teach their peers how to solve a similar problem. Toward the end of class, an audible cheer occurs when a group achieves success. This is the magic of learning, vocalized.

It is not uncommon to step into a Lower School science classroom and be privy to such Eureka! moments. At St. Andrew’s, our youngest learners readily demonstrate their passion for learning on a daily basis.

To achieve such a balance between curiosity and care, between joy and methodical tenacity is not by accident. This balance is achieved by introducing our youngest learners to the concepts of working with 32

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Teaching Lower School students science and mathematics through events like the Month of Code help spark a love for practicing critical thinking skills.

a large problem and breaking it in smaller parts, by teaching them pattern recognition, by encouraging them to focus on the most important information, and by creating steps to solve a larger problem.

The natural partnership of science and mathematics work well to spark a love for these critical thinking skills. This balance of the subjects was on perfect display during our Month of Code program, where students from preschool through fifth grade honed their understanding of this critical language and created increasingly elaborate projects through the month of December.

Because computational thinking is taught so thoughtfully to students in the earliest levels of school, their confidence to work on new challenges is bolstered due to a background full of important tools ready to be accessed when needed. An excellent example of student success in computational thinking can be found in our LEGO robotics programs. Students in first grade

onwards embark upon a yearly challenge that combines LEGO construction with programming.

These missions do not merely involve teamwork and creativity: they call on the skills of decomposition, pattern recognition, and algorithmic thinking. An empty LEGO baseboard soon becomes the ground floor of a multi-story hospital. The helicopter built from small plastic bricks soon becomes mobile with a carefully written code. Such feats are not accomplished by magic or sheer luck. Our students enjoy success because they are provided with the ability to practice such advanced and important skills at young ages.

Computational thinking is both an essential skill and a crucial mindset. It allows children to become problem solvers. It inspires innovation. It transforms thinkers into creators rather than consumers. In our math and science classes, it is practiced daily. This is the key to the joy of learning that we witness in our students.

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“Challenge Day” assignments are not graded or collected, relieving pressure on students and encouraging them to be more relaxed and creative when solving problems.

Developing Problem Solvers

BY JOHN MCMILLEN MATH TEACHER

A main goal of any math teacher is to develop problem-solving skills in their students. The pressures of available class time, content to be covered, and student concerns about grades all conspire to make the goal of creating problem solvers difficult to achieve. As I thought about this during a week-long conference in the summer of 2019, an idea began to take shape around a way to give students the chance to build these skills without the concern of earning a grade. I decided to begin an experiment called “Challenge Days” in my Honors Precalculus class, where I typically have one Challenge Day per month.

Here’s the format: Students are given a packet of 6 to 8 problems that focus on several recently

studied topics. These are non-traditional problems and many of them are quite difficult.

Students are then given the entirety of the 65-minute period to complete as many of these problems as they can. They can work alone or in groups; at a vertical whiteboard or at their desk.

Most importantly, these problems are not graded or collected.

My goal (which I sometimes struggle with) is to answer as few of their questions as possible. When students are stuck, I might give a hint or encourage them to try another problem and then come back.

I post video answer keys for students to check their work or to see how a problem was done.

I believe that being “freed” of concerns about what grade they will receive allows students to be more relaxed and creative.

Working on the vertical whiteboard also makes editing or erasing large chunks of work easier, so they might be more inclined to just “try something” as opposed to just sitting and “spinning their wheels.”

The conversations that I hear between students as they try to explain their reasoning or process to their classmates is a key piece of the puzzle. I believe that they are deepening their understanding or finding areas of misunderstanding, both of which are important to developing mathematical skills.

It is my hope to incorporate “Challenge Days” into more of my classes, especially AP Calculus. I’ve enjoyed watching the students work and feel that they are making strides as problem solvers. The “A-ha” moments are priceless, and keep me coming back for more; I hope the same is true for my students.

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Gamified challenges, like moving a sprite through a maze, and real-world scenarios, like programming a cash register, are classic and highly engaging ways for students to learn computer programming.

Three wrongs can make a right

BY PAUL TERNES MATH DEPT. CHAIR (2020-PRESENT)

“You need to make three lefts to turn right!”

It was early December and the students in the Mobile Application Design and Development course were using iPads to learn about coding in the Swift programming language. The comment came from an excited Alex Brown ’20 who was working his way through a number of programming challenges. The challenges involved moving a sprite through a maze and picking up gems along the way, but the sprite could only turn left and move forward. The “turning right problem” is a classic that 34

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dates back to the 1980s and is a great way to introduce students to procedural programming. In AP Computer Science A, students still build a cash register program.

The Tower of Hanoi problem is still used to introduce recursion. The classics never go out of style but times are changing. Advancements in technology and improved accessibility now mean that students are able to explore like never before.

The past five years have been a period of tremendous growth for STEM at St. Andrew’s. From the installation of the D!Lab, to every division having its own competitive robotics team, to students now having the option to take AP Computer Science A or AP Computer Science

Principles, the school offers a myriad of opportunities to help arm students with information and skills that complement an evolving world. Other courses have sprung up in the past two years: Introduction to Game Design, Mobile Application Design and Development, Competitive Robotics and D!Lab Engineering, Innovation, and Design Thinking.

Throughout these programs, students use the classic problems as a springboard to analyze challenges and develop creative solutions. What’s been the most impressive and rewarding is to see how students have taken their skills and creativity to produce innovative work that went beyond their own expectations.

science & faith at st. andrew’s

Design Thinking — The Empathic Science of Knowledge

BY CHARLES JAMES SCIENCE TEACHER AND DIRECTOR OF THE D!LAB

Not all knowledge is wisdom. For students, an important level of wisdom is achieved through diverse and deep experiences with the process of science, engineering and design, because research shows us that the path toward wisdom leads directly through inquiry and emotionally resonant human experience. The processes of science and design thinking provide tools for “sensemaking” — that motivated effort to understand the connections in our world and act effectively.

What relationship do the sciences and maths have with design thinking? In the classroom and in the world at large, they collectively make use of each other’s methodologies, algorithms and approaches and they magnify results between the disciplines when they are applied in tandem to investigate and to propose new ideas. The process of discovery and design intertwine as connections are made to inform, influence, disrupt and create. The future of education is transdisciplinary, so interdisciplinary action between and across disciplines in schools is a necessity now. Education must move beyond the well worn ruts of the known. We have a thousand years of the known at our backs. We must allow students the freedom to turn and face the future, carve new pathways and extend the horizon of what is known and understood.

The sciences, maths, and design thinking develop the requisite relevance that builds the motivation and responsibility to better understand the world’s challenging needs.

In order to understand the human condition and human need, students must possess the capacity for empathy. At St. Andrew’s the process of science, engineering and design move students from knowledge to wisdom by emphasizing the vibrancy of the human connection.

Empathy — the visceral perspective and understanding of another’s thoughts, emotions and need — is easy to define, yet curiously hard to internalize. Only through

At St. Andrew’s, the process of science, engineering and design move students from knowledge to wisdom by emphasizing the vibrancy of the human connection.

authentic and connected experiences do we understand the depth of another person’s reality. Only through academic acumen can students discover, calculate, engineer, and solve the deepest issues facing humankind. Science, math, design and engineering offer a strong partnership that forms an inquisitive feeling of opportunity to know the unknown and to create the novel and new.

Empathic design, sometimes referred to as human-centered design, is in the vanguard of practices that allow students to grapple with difficult human problems, imagine and create solutions to those challenges. As a school, it is our job to create opportunities for students to walk in the dreams of others, imagine a regenerative future for all and create experiences where creativity is a habit and empathy a natural reflex.

Empathic design asks more of students than merely thought. Human-centered and empathic design asks for emotion.

In classrooms empathic design process provides both a way of knowing through

As a school, it is our job to create opportunities for students to walk in the dreams of others, imagine a regenerative future for all and create experiences where creativity is a habit and empathy a natural reflex.

content and then experiencing the needs of others through a broad array of experiential moments. Empathic design is a way of understanding complexity by doing experiencing, and investigating.

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WHY FAITH MATTERS Faith is a type of knowing that doesn’t correspond with what is proven.

It is in the context of life that faith matters.

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BY THE REV. JAMES S. ISAACS | MIDDLE & UPPER SCHOOL CHAPLAIN

science & faith at st. andrew’s

E

arly in my ordained ministry, I would often quote people whose lives or insights were influential to me in my sermons. One of the people whom I regularly referenced was The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town.

Sometime around 2007, two of my parishioners, who had heard many of those sermons, offered me an opportunity to join them on a cruise because they knew that Archbishop Tutu would also be on the ship.

It was an amazing experience for me.

While others on the ship were excited to be with friends or to vacation in the Bahamas, I seemed to be one of the only people there focused on the opportunity to have time with this extraordinary person.

I had many conversations and meals with him, and quickly I noticed one thing about him: he is a person of joy. You can hear his laughter across rooms, and it seems that he smiles with his whole body.

As I spent time with him, one question emerged in my mind that maintained priority over all others. So at one meal, I changed the tenor of the conversation because I needed an answer to my question. I began by pointing out to him that I, and everyone around him, noticed that he was a person of deep joy. So many people turn away from things that make them unhappy in hopes of finding joy. I know that Jesus calls us to encounter and engage people in places of suffering. He does that in his life; he suffered under apartheid and presided over The Truth and Reconciliation Commission where, day after day, he heard testimony of horrific atrocities. So I asked him, “You do not turn away from suffering to seek happiness, and yet you are joyous. How do you do that?”

He thought silently and then responded with a single word: “Faith.”

Sensing that this was a complete answer, I sat with it instead of probing further. I have spent more than a decade wondering at his response. I frequently elaborate on his answer in my own reflections. For Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his life, faith matters.

Examined in isolation, faith might not seem important. In rational terms, it might not even make sense or seem to

belong in a world that has advanced as much as ours. The Bible proclaims that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

(Hebrews 11:1, NIV) Understanding what is observable and quantifiable is important. Yet, faith is a type of knowing that doesn’t correspond with what is proven. It is in the context of life that faith matters.

The 12-step recovery movement that started with Alcoholics Anonymous maintains the principle that reliance on a higher power (which is left to individuals to define) is an important part of recovery from addiction. While “faith” in an AA meeting might look different than it does

The world is a better place because people inspired by their faith showed kindness and compassion. It is in the context of a life given for others that faith matters.

in some religious congregations or communities, many of the people in recovery share that their faith in a higher power beyond themselves has been essential for them. Some even have claimed that it has kept them alive. It is in the context of being alive that faith matters.

Some people have reflected that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt, but fear. In places where life seems uncertain or perilous, such as in hospitals or in the military, chaplains are always on call. They aren’t there to convert people or pressure them toward a particular religion. In those places, when the precariousness of life is recognized, one of the things the chaplains do is support faith when it otherwise might waver or falter. Hospitals and the military recognize that faith is important.

It is in the context of life and death that

faith matters.

When things turn out in ways that bring suffering, pain, death, or loss, faith does not take the hurt away. It doesn’t do that. Yet mental health professionals are increasingly recognizing the potential of faith as a source of resilience in the midst of traumatic experiences. I have often seen faith give people the will and strength they need to persevere, to pick up the shattered pieces that remain, and to continue moving forward. It is in the context of a wounded life that faith matters.

And faith isn’t just a well to draw from in the midst of suffering, loss, or tragedy. Faith focuses our attention beyond ourselves, and once that happens, it tends to also draw us to see others. Jesus taught his disciples that those who have faith even the size of a mustard seed could move mountains. There are countless examples of people motivated through their faith to acts of extraordinary generosity and service. The world is a better place because people inspired by their faith showed kindness and compassion. It is in the context of a life given for others that faith matters.

If faith matters during extreme circumstances and desperate times, it is still present and can be a source of inspiration, meaning, and joy in times more tranquil.

Many people are married in religious ceremonies that, among other things, grounds the relationship further in faith.

Similarly, many families choose to mark births or coming of age experiences for their children with rituals or ceremonies that embed lives with outward signs of faith. And then at the death of loved ones, many turn to their faith as a source of comfort and consolation. It is in the context of a whole life that faith matters.

Faith matters. And yet it needs tending and nurturing. Whatever one’s beliefs or lack of beliefs, faith can be deepened so that it is abundant and ubiquitous whenever it is sought. At St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, we are careful not to pressure anyone toward a specific belief system.

Within those parameters we welcome, we nurture the whole person in our students, equipping them with knowledge, skills, and resources that they can draw upon now and throughout their lives. In the context of their lives, faith matters.

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How We Teach Critical Thinking Metacognition is a skill set that teachers are constantly reinforcing by creating the context for healthy debate, ongoing inquiry, and reflection.

BY RICHARD COCO

A lively debate is happening in a classroom at St. Andrew’s. Students are discussing a text and disagreeing on the author’s intent. They have gone beyond examining the words on the page to identify what words were left out. They are filling in the gaps and trying to understand why the author shared certain details and left others unwritten and open for interpretation.

As you are reading this, have you asked yourself “How old are the students?” Have you considered whether the text they are discussing has been read by them or to them? Did you picture the book as Ralph Ellison’s classic “Invisible Man” or P.D. Eastman’s timeless “Are You My Mother?”

Thinking critically about the first two paragraphs of this article raises those questions and many others. It’s a skill that students in every classroom in every discipline are learning every day, and quite possibly the most important intellectual skill St. Andrew’s instills in its students. Alumni 38

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“Learning to listen, reflect, and iterate are critical thinking skills involved in service learning,” said Head of Upper School Ginger Cobb.

who work in the sciences, arts, education, healthcare, clergy, finance, social work, military – all mention the critical thinking skills they learned at St. Andrew’s as vital to their professional success.

“Critical thinking is an essential part of how and what we teach at St. Andrew’s,” said Glenn Whitman, Dean of Studies and Director of The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning.” Our preschool through twelfth-grade faculty know the enduring importance of this life-ready skill to each graduate’s collegiate success and professional future.”

Long before Upper School students apply to college, they apply critical thinking lessons learned in Lower and Middle School. As young scientists, students might be given a set of materials and told to use them to complete a task. How will they accomplish this?

They start by asking questions of each other to understand the relationship between the parts, determine how the pieces can be assembled, testing the prototype they’ve created to determine if their initial idea works, and iterating to improve the prototype until they have a solution. De-

“Navigating conflicts is an everyday occurrence in the classroom setting and a natural byproduct of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning.”

JORDAN LOVE CO-HEAD OF LOWER SCHOOL

science & faith at st. andrew’s sign and engineering projects depend on critical thinking skills.

Learning to work in teams, and sometimes overcoming conflict in order to do so, requires thinking beyond initial assumptions and reactions.

“Navigating conflicts is an everyday occurrence in the classroom setting and a natural byproduct of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning,” said coHead of Lower School Jordan Love. “As students work together collaboratively and alongside one another, they must simultaneously problem solve while balancing their different perspectives and points of view. Metacognition — the ability to step back and think about thinking — is a skill set that teachers are constantly reinforcing by creating the context for healthy debate, ongoing inquiry, and reflection. Explicit instruction in mindfulness strategies helps children with emotional regulation, so they can remain present in the moment and able to access their higher-order thinking without being derailed by powerful emotions. Teaching conflict resolution strategies is at the heart of critical thinking.”

Critical thinking tools that are developed in one class readily transfer to other subjects. Take Middle School math, for instance. The curriculum roots math concepts in rich, authentic tasks that allow students to make connections between math and the world around them.

Students are presented with three tables of values and asked “What do you no-

Explicit instruction in mindfulness strategies helps children with emotional regulation, so they can remain present in the moment and able to access their higher-order thinking without being derailed by powerful emotions.

tice?” and “What do you wonder?” This allows them to discover on their own the differences between linear, exponential, and quadratic function tables of values.

Students can then carry this over into other aspects of their lives, poking and prodding at different scenarios.

“There is nothing more rewarding as an educator than to watch students engage in critical thinking through asking questions, making connections, and ultimately formulating their own well-informed opinion,” said Molly Magner, math teacher and Assistant Head of Middle School.

“These thinking routines are the lasting skills we equip our students with.”

By the time they get to the Upper

Criticial thinking is not limited to just one subject. For example, the Middle School math curriculum allows students to make connections between math and the world around them.

School, those skills are on display in ways that have far-reaching implications. In a history class, it could be questioning the perspective from which events have been recorded and passed down. In a language class, it’s making cross-cultural connections. In English class, it might be analyzing whose story is being told and whose viewpoint is being overlooked. And in the ninth-grade service learning class, it’s students reflecting more deeply about human diversity and common needs.

“Learning to listen, reflect, and iterate are critical thinking skills involved in service learning,” said Head of Upper School Ginger Cobb. “Human-centered design thinking helps students attack problems with an open mind, to learn the power of empathy, to go to the source to better understand racism, discrimination, or homelessness and figure out ‘Why this is happening?’ Students know to ask ‘What is the historical significance behind this?’ and not to fall prey to stereotypes or false information or the assumption that they know what the issues are and how to solve them.”

Every day, in every classroom at St. Andrew’s critical thinking is being fostered, learned and refined. Do you have any assumptions about who is learning from whom?

Visit www.saes.org/criticalthinking to read an essay by Troy Dahlke, Head of the Philosophy and Religion Department, and learn more about critical thinking at St. Andrew’s.

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Diverse Perspectives on the Role of Science in Faith St. Andrew’s Episcopal School values diversity, including the religious diversity

present in our community. The insights and wisdom from other religious traditions enrich and enhance the experience for all St. Andrew’s students and their families.

Below are perspectives on science from local faith leaders of some of the many other faiths and Christian denominations represented in the school.

BUDDHISM

On the role of science and faith, the venerable Thai Buddhist monk V. Vajiramedhi taught us through his book Peace is the Way the following: “Idappaccayata” means the state in which one thing arises because another thing exists, or the state in which things in nature are causally connected. This principle is the universal law of nature or law of the universe. There is no single thing or living being in the world or in the universe, which is independent of another or other things. The truth is that all things are dependent on each other and are connected, related, inseparable, and interwoven. All things exist in one thing. Or one thing is the integration of all things. This cause-and-effect relationship is embodied in science.

Tanai Khiaonarong P’30 — Former Buddhist monk

Orthodox Christian theology. What does it believe? It believes that God is the one who directs the world, the love of God created man and the world and He directs it. The uncreated energies of God are in all creation. There are no mysterious, supernatural, invisible and impersonal forces. The uncreated energy of God, the maker of life and wisdom, the providence of God directs the world.

GREEK ORTHODOXY

Our life is a gift from God, it is a gift from God for us to live. Why? To love God and people and finally enter the Heavenly Divine Liturgy. This is it, this is why we live. Our life is not an end in itself.

And when we use doctors, we take medicines and get the vaccine, we do not use them because we have overvalued life and we make life self-deified, life does not become self-deified by living for many years. How many years will we live? We consider that we do the COVID-19 vaccine because, perhaps God gave us the opportunity to live a little longer, to benefit some people and finally to repent and prepare properly for our encounter with Christ. We do not take drugs or vaccines to live 200 years, but to give us a time of repentance or in preparation for the great encounter with Christ, where the judgment will be, the first judgment.

Father Michael Eaccarino — Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church

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science & faith at st. andrew’s

ISLAM

In Islam we believe that the Quran is the revealed word of God (the written book), as well as the revelation of the created world (the perceivable book), and the unique creation that is the human being (the book of God’s command) who has been endowed with the capacity to look into and interpret both. According to this, we hold that there can be no contradiction between the revealed word and the perceived word since they are of the same origin, having the same author. Accordingly, we acknowledge that our understanding of the Quran will always be based on the extent of our current scientific knowledge. Therefore, the interpretation of the Quran over time represents a constant unfurling of deeper and deeper meaning that allows us to expand our understanding of revelation as our worldly knowledge expands. Thus, are both science and revelation reconciled within the Islamic paradigm.

Dr. Tarek Elgawhary — Scholar-in-residence at the Islamic Community Center of Potomac

JUDAISM

Judaism affirms that our understanding of the physical world depends upon the rigorous study of science. The pursuit of scientific research in the cause of healing and the improvement of life is considered praiseworthy. In Jewish law, nearly every one of the commandments must be violated in the pursuit of saving human life. Yet Judaism also recognizes the limitations of science, which is, by definition, empirical and morally neutral. Religion collaborates with science by offering ethical principles for the application of scientific discoveries. Judaism has never been at odds with science. The great medieval Jewish philosopher Rabbi Moses Maimonides, himself a physician and scientist, even argued that comprehension of the natural world offers one “a glimpse of God’s wisdom.” Judaism asserts that while the role of science is to explore the nature of our existence, the role of religion is to help us appreciate its purpose and meaning.

Rabbi Adam J. Raskin — Congregation Har Shalom

The Catholic Church sees science as essential and as a great good. The Vatican maintains an office devoted to fostering the sciences and staying in open communication with the scientific world.

The Vatican also owns and maintains an observatory. Many Catholic priests and religious have been well known scientists through the centuries. Most recently and significantly Fr. George Lemaître set forth the “Big Bang” Theory of the expanding universe.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

As Catholics we believe the same Lord who speaks in the Scriptures also spoke creation into existence. Thus, there can be no essential conflict between the Book of Creation and the Book of Scripture; the truth is one. Science and faith seek that one truth in different ways. Science regards the physical world and Philosophy and Theology regard the metaphysical. As such, they complement one another when they sincerely seek the truth and do not stray from their proper methods and scope.

Rev. Msgr. Charles Pope — Pastor, Holy Comforter - Saint Cyprian Parish

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Students in all grades have opportunities to engage with worship services, from reading scripture to lighting the altar candles.

A Look at the St. Andrew’s Faith Curriculum Studying diverse faith traditions and practicing empathy through service are core to St. Andrew’s identity.

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BY RICHARD COCO

The St. Andrew’s community is a rich, varied tapestry containing a multitude of perspectives. This diversity of identities and backgrounds has an impact on all St. Andrew’s students and can be seen most clearly in the religion curriculum.

Whether it’s a Lower School student sharing their faith tradition in religion class, a Middle Schooler studying world religions in a class filled with students representing many different faiths, or Upper School students diving into biblical theology and

asking the question, “Why is the Bible, ‘the Bible?,’” the inquiry and exploration of faith is conducted in an inclusive manner where every student’s experience enhances the learning in the classroom.

This intentionality isn’t just fostered in the classroom by the faculty; it’s baked into the school’s DNA as an Episcopal School and it begins with the youngest St. Andrew’s students.

Beloved children of God

Weekly chapel is central to the student experience at St. Andrew’s, regardless

science & faith at st. andrew’s of age. Students in preschool and pre-K spend that time every week learning what it means to come together in community in the presence of God. Students learn many of the well-known Bible stories such as Adam and Eve and Joseph and his brothers, and talk about how God is everywhere and loves us unconditionally.

The stories they learn are not limited to the Bible as they also learn about major holidays and important events in different faiths. When students reach Kindergarten, a weekly religion class with The Rev. Sally Slater, Chaplain to the Lower School, is added to their schedule. One of the goals of the sequenced religion curriculum in the Lower School is to give students an understanding of world religions so they can be a global citizen, while also seeing service as partnership with those in a disadvantaged position. Slater does this with an eye on utilizing research shared by the CTTL in how to present these lessons not just in the classroom but in weekly chapels.

“Kindergarten through second grades is about teaching some of the stories that we find in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and holidays we celebrate in chapel,” Slater said. “Third through fifth grade, we are looking more at how we can use our voices to make a difference.”

To that end, Kindergarten students study the lives of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed from infancy to adulthood. In first grade, students explore stories from the Hebrew Bible to discover how we are called to live as a community, to better create our own school community. Second graders have a focus on the stories Jesus told and the distinct power of storytelling. Armed with this knowledge, they move to third grade where they learn the challenges people face when they often try to speak their truth to the world as they study both biblical prophets like Jonah, Esther, and John the Baptist, and modern day prophets like Anne Frank, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malala Yousafzai. As fourth graders students begin to use their own voice to become leaders, studying leaders in both the Hebrew and Christian Bible as well as the Quran. Finally, in fifth grade, they focus on how sacred stories from different cultures and faith traditions can be used to teach universal life lessons, as well as learning about people whose stories have been silenced.

Service learning starts with our youngest learners; Lower School students create care packages for clients of Samaritan Ministry in Washington, D.C.

Opening Chapel at Washington National Cathedral is a grounding tradition that brings the St. Andrew’s community together every September.

Intermingled with this curriculum is an opportunity for students and their families to come to class at important moments in their faith’s calendar and educate their classmates. Whether it’s a Greek Orthodox student sharing some of the Major Feasts,

a Jewish student discussing Passover, a Muslim student explaining Ramadan, or a Hindu student sharing how they celebrate Diwali, Lower Schoolers have the opportunity to bring their faith into the classroom and to learn more about their classmates and those who celebrate different religions around the world.

It’s also in Lower School where students begin to learn about the power of service in relation to our partners (including Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington and Christ Roi School in Haiti) and what being in partnership means with Slater presenting it in very relatable terms for young students.

“If I have extra things I don’t have and I’m not using, I can share,” Slater said. “If I don’t have a crayon I need and my neighbor does, I can borrow one. Some of our friends at Samaritan Ministry don’t have snacks. We have extra snacks. So we can share. When we go to Haiti, we stay in our friend’s homes, so of course we bring gifts.

This is not people we have anything over because we have helped them. They will be there to help us.”

At the end of the day, Slater, who works with nearly 150 students every year, has one hope for when they move on to the Continued on page 44 SPRING 2021

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Continued from page 43 Middle School – that “students see every human being as a beloved child of God made in God’s image, whatever image that may be, and they have a relationship with God that is right for them in whatever way works.

“You are a beloved child of God. God made you, God loves you. And God will always be with you.”

Strengthening a foundation that students can question

When students arrive in the Middle School, whether they have come through the Lower School or they are new to St. Andrew’s, they find that the religion curriculum deepens with a trimester course titled The Bible and the Nature of God. In eighth grade, they have a choice of World Religions or Ethical Choices, both trimester courses as well. These classes come at an important point in a student’s life, says The Rev. James Isaacs, Chaplain to the Middle and Upper School.

“I think this ties to what the Middle School in general is doing for our students, in terms of developing character and nurturing students when they are in this important developmental stage in their lives,” Isaacs said. “The religion classes are important in Middle School as they offer models and ways of thinking that help build the student’s character.”

For many students, the Middle School years are filled with religious rites of passage, and faith often becomes a more significant part of a student’s identity. At the same time, they are being exposed to other faiths and perspectives.

“While the (World Religions) class isn’t able to go as in depth on other religions for them to be experts, the hope is that when students have finished it, they feel comfortable engaging in conversations and having a sense of the importance of religion for many people. And then also how to learn more about religions they come in contact with,” Isaacs said. “Another thing that it helps do is, as students are figuring out about their own identity and beliefs, it gives the students a chance to not only learn about other people’s beliefs but through that have a new lens to reflect on their own beliefs. Just in the same way learning an44

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The entire eighth-grade dedicates two days in the fall to in-person, hands-on service learning with non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C.

other language gives you a better sense of the structure and grammar of your native language, I think it has the same effect.”

And of course, as Isaacs points out, understanding religions across cultures is vital to understanding much of history, culture, art, and how current events are shaped.

“The Middle School years are about setting a foundation,” Isaacs said, “giving them a strong starting place, so when they move to high school and college, they can begin to question and challenge as they move forward.”

Developing an empathetic imagination

While the Middle School approaches service learning with the advisory program, clubs, and trips, primarily in the eighth grade, the Upper School makes service learning a core component of the religion curriculum. Every ninth grade student is required to take the trimester Service

“Service learning exists in the curriculum to teach care and empathy in the world ...

Its goal is to help students to develop what I call an empathetic imagination.”

TROY DAHLKE CHAIR OF THE PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION DEPARTMENT

science & faith at st. andrew’s

The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, preached the homily at St. Andrew’s Opening Chapel in September 2019.

Learning course which asks the question “what does it mean to belong and to make a difference?” Naturally, the class includes community service work with local organizations and reflection on each service experience.

As tenth graders, students have a choice between Justice or Understanding Cultural Studies, new to the curriculum in 20212022. The Cultural Studies course allows students to investigate the ways in which “culture” creates and transforms individual experiences, everyday life, social relations, and power. The Justice class asks the broad question “What is a just society and what are the responsibilities and rights of persons living in just societies?” In many ways, it is an extension of the Ethical Choices class some Middle School students will have taken in eighth grade.

For Troy Dahlke, the Chair of the Philosophy and Religion Department, this sequencing of classes is critical to the Upper School experience.

“Service learning exists in the curriculum to teach care and empathy in the world, especially for the most vulnerable,” Dahlke said. “Its goal is to help students to develop what I call an empathetic imagination. Coming out of ninth grade, better understanding the world and having an empathetic imagination, and now as tenth graders, studying ‘What is right?’ An effort to think of themselves in the world both on a theoretical level but also with real life situations.”

As juniors, students take Biblical Theology and tackle that big question of “Why is the Bible, the Bible?” Both Chaplain Isaacs and Dahlke look to spark and expand their students’ imagination. Dahlke likes to teach the course and show the characters in the Bible and perhaps students see themselves reflected in the reading. Isaacs prefers to explicitly connect Bible stories to students’ lives, to make it more relevant to them.

Regardless of approach, each tries to help students expand their imaginations to

understand why the Bible is such an important book to billions of people around the world from different backgrounds and socio-economic classes.

When they reach their senior year, students have completed their religion requirements and can choose to take the two-trimester elective, Philosophy and the History of Thought, which focuses on “Why do we think the way we think?”

For Dahlke, his hope as department chair is that when students enter philosophy and religion classrooms, they step away from St. Andrew’s and find themselves transported to Biblical times. So as they learn about the Bible, Quran, Vedas, or the Sutras, they find themselves exploring the ways of thought that were prevalent at that time. And hopefully, gaining a better understanding of why they matter so much to so many people.

As Dahlke put it, “On their deathbeds, people don’t have physics textbooks read to them, they have (religious texts) read. Why?” SPRING 2021

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Dr. Bralove’s seminary studies included a new type of residency - living and learning at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, only a stone’s throw away from Vatican City.

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ALUMNUS REFLECTION

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF Editor’s Note: Dr. Benjamin Bralove ’04 is uniquely qualified to write about science and faith. After graduating from St. Andrew’s, he matriculated to Cornell where he majored in Chemistry before attending Boston University School of Medicine. After completing his residency at Einstein College of Medicine, he became an attending physician with Mount Sinai Health System. After spending six years working in the emergency room, he made the decision to leave medicine and answer a call to become a Roman Catholic priest. He is currently a seminarian with the Archdiocese of Washington.

Because of his experiences, we asked Ben to author a piece for the magazine that speaks to how, in his experience and from his perspective, science and faith can be complementary.

BY DR. BENJAMIN BRALOVE ‘04

In all of God’s creation, humans are the only creature who can be filled with awe. Regardless of place, time, or circumstance, it is a universal human experience.

We cannot completely control when it happens. Each finds amazement in different circumstances: a sunset, a verse of poetry, the tiny hand of a newborn child, the roar of the engines of an airplane as it lifts off the runway.

In the context of medical school, my first experience of awe was when I was assisting for the first time in a cardiothoracic surgery. After I had just divided the sternum in half and retracted each piece to expose the underlying operating field, I found myself looking directly at the patient’s beating heart. Through the miracles of modern medicine, the patient could somehow be alive and asleep while we cut away skin and bone to operate on his heart. The supervising surgeon said, “Don’t forget to breathe!” and I took in a deep, gasping breath. For the last 10 or so seconds, I had forgotten to breathe. The absolute mystery of the human body had been physically opened in front of me, and it was completely arresting.

When we are presented with something that delights and amazes us, we cannot help wanting to get closer to it and know it more deeply. Our desire to know is not to get a good grade or to achieve some task, but rather to know something for its Continued on page 48 SPRING 2021

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Continued from page 47 own sake. That may sound very abstract, but isn’t this the experience of falling in love? One person works to find out the other’s favorite restaurant, the other wants to know their favorite genre of movie.

They do these things to impress the other but soon enough, they do it because they want to get to know each other without any additional motive. The couple desires to spend ever more time together to explore the mystery of the other, delighting in each new discovery. Each discovery produces a deeper knowledge which in turn leads to a deeper and more profound love. Despite spending a lifetime married and being able to finish each other’s sen-

Gregor Mendel. The Big Bang theory was first proposed by Belgian priest Georges Lemaître. For these three men and countless other men and women throughout history, the pursuit of scientific knowledge was not contrary to their faith but rather a pious search for truth.

The field of medicine has been closely related to religion. For the Israelites and later for the early Christians, the source of all life and healing was God Himself. When there were extremely limited medical treatments, most medicine was performed by family members with priests serving the functions of intercessor, healer, and purifier. Even in the rare times when a physician was consulted in antiquity, the ultimate healing always came from God.

If there is ultimately a harmony between science and faith, why does there seem to be so much difficulty today?

The fundamental disagreement of our age is less about the content and more about the scope.

tences, a spouse is still capable of surprising the other. Human beings, as much as astrophysics, are inexhaustible mysteries.

For those like me who believe that everything was formed by God, the study of creation is not just an academic exercise but a religious one as well. This may sound surprising given the contentious relationship between science and religion today, but this has not always been the case. The astronomical model that hypothesized that the earth revolved around the sun was formulated by Polish priest Nicolaus Copernicus. The founder of modern genetics was Augustinian monk

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Thus, the work of physicians can properly be described as sacred.

The sacrality of the physician’s work is still maintained to this day even among the areligious. Physicians often use the religious language of “vocation” and “calling” to describe their work. They begin their official “ministry” with the public recitation of a solemn oath, the Hippocratic Oath. Regardless of a physician’s specific views about God and the afterlife, being so close to the mystery of death brings about awe not just in the incredible gift of life but also the inevitability and finality of death. A University of Chicago

national survey of physicians found that they were twice as likely (76%) than scientists in fields (39%) to believe in God. If there is ultimately a harmony between science and faith, why does there seem to be so much difficulty today? The fundamental disagreement of our age is less about the content and more about the scope. When one discipline makes an inappropriate incursion into the other’s area of competence is when problems arise. When theologians try to do science or scientists try to do theology, the result is either bad science or bad theology.

Science shows us how we can best achieve a goal, but it may not tell us whether such a goal is worth pursuing.

Conversely, faith can direct us to what actions we should pursue, while science provides us the tools to achieve them effectively. To excise faith from science runs the risk of removing the moral guidance that faith can help provide. Does the Theory of Relativity dictate whether or not nuclear fission should be used for creating energy or bombs? Is there a verse in the Bible that tells us the best agricultural method to feed the poor? When a scientist or physician suggests how a technology or medicine should or should not be used, they are introducing an ethical element that until recently was considered extraneous to their discipline. History can provide us with examples when the pursuit of science has gone too far and treated humans as disposable. The pursuit of scientific achievement without the imposition of ethical boundaries based in something other than subjective opinion is constantly at risk of devolving into a violent and exploitative enterprise. Those who are first to suffer are those who are weakest and without a voice.

I have been especially blessed to begin the first part of my life steeped in the world of science as a student, researcher, clinician, and teacher. The world of medicine gives us an incredible access to the incredible complexity of the human body, how it functions, and how it fails.

The quantum leaps that have occurred in our field over the last two centuries have been an immeasurable aid to performing the divine mandate to give aid to the sick.

science & faith at st. andrew’s

In my view, these cannot be anything but a gift from God who ordered all things rightly in His Providence. Each new discovery clarifies the mystery without exhausting it. Each new discovery lends greater testimony to ingenuity of the Creator. No truth can ever contradict the Truth.

In medicine all of this occurs in the context of a particular patient. The physician-patient relationship is deeply intimate and even sacred (i.e. set apart).

A patient may disclose information to a physician that they do not share with their priest. During the physical examination, the physician may be touching the patient in ways that even their spouse does not!

This sacred relationship occurs under the specter of the mystery of death. A mystery that no one can escape: everyone’s battle for good health and longer life ends in defeat.

After six years in the Emergency Room and providing physical healing for countless patients, I realized there were certain questions that science cannot answer and wounds that medicine cannot heal. “Why is there something, rather than nothing?”

“What does it mean to be good?” “Can I be forgiven?” “Is death the end?” “Does the darkness win?”

While we can ignore these questions from time to time, we are forced to confront them again every time we are struck by awe and filled with amazement. I believe these questions are not rhetorical; there is an answer. I believe it lies in the One who not only created and ordered our world but became flesh in it.

He took on our weakness to heal us of our weakness. It was not a mission to simply heal people of disease and extend their life. He crossed the mysterious threshold of death to free us from death and bring us everlasting life. While I loved my career in medicine, I felt called to move closer to the source of all life. Not as a negation of my past career, but towards its completion and fulfillment. We will continue to need and rely on the blessings God bestows on us in medicine, but for healing that brings us our deepest desire, eternal life, we must look elsewhere.

Dr. Bralove completed his last shift of residency in 2016 at Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, New York. The long journey of residency concluded, Dr. Bralove could then begin practicing medicine independently.

At the Emergency Department of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, Dr. Bralove and a team of nurses and physicians completed overnight shifts in the hospital’s high-acuity section.

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ALUMNI PROFILES

A Hands-On Approach to Nuclear Physics Dr. David Ticehurst ’99 applies science mindset and engineering skill to build radiation detectors.

BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN

Dr. David Ticehurst ’99 is not your average nuclear physicist. He likes to work with his hands, and as a doctoral student, he couldn’t see himself spending the rest of his life at a blackboard or behind a computer screen.

It’s rare for scientists with a Ph.D. in physics to pursue work outside of academics or research, but Dr. Ticehurst is an anomaly, finding challenge and reward building germanium gamma-ray imaging detectors with Knoxville, Tennessee-based PHDS Co. On an average day at PHDS Co., Dr. Ticehurst balances tasks revolving around science, engineering, and research.

“The work that I do is one part sitting at a computer, it’s another part dressing up in a white bunny suit working with hydrofluoric acid,” he said. “It’s another part being in a clean room with gloves and a facemask on, loading one of our $100,000 cryostats; it’s working with high-vacuum vapor-deposition machines that fabricate these detectors; and sometimes I find myself working on a mill or lathe doing actual metalwork.”

The result of this work is a hand-held radiation detector that personnel ranging from lab researchers to Navy SEALS can use to evaluate whether an object registers high levels of gamma-rays and radioactive isotopes.

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“At a low level, gamma-rays are not harmful. They’re a natural part of our universe, and we live with them. But like anything, too much can be dangerous or fatal,” he said. “That’s the whole purpose behind the detectors that I build, to be aware of what is in the vicinity of you, be it natural or unnatural, and unnatural is what you want to be careful of.”

Dr. Ticehurst was exposed to the sciences from infancy thanks to his father, a biological scientist at the National Institutes of Health; he flipped through books on DNA and cells and saw the centrifuges and water baths at his father’s lab. Over the years his interest focused on physical sciences, and at St. Andrew’s he found the perfect mentor to shape his curiosity into a course of study.

“The first person who really sparked my interest in physics, per se, was Kurt Sinclair,” he said. “I knew a lot of physical science when I came into his class but had never had formal physics. I really liked math to begin with, I liked science, and the combination of the two in physics was extremely appealing to me. The rigorous way Kurt goes about it worked just right.”

At Williams College, Dr. Ticehurst studied astrophysics and planned to continue with it in graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill, but an encounter with a particle accelerator pulled him toward nuclear physics. For his Ph.D., Dr. Ticehurst conducted experimental work with the particle accelerator and radiation detectors.

“Nuclear physics is very much like a game of pool, where you have a cue ball – that’s the accelerated particle – and you’re shooting it at an atom – that’s all

“My advice to people who are looking to follow a similar path in the sciences is not to limit yourself to just one interest.”

DR. DAVID TICEHURST ‘99

the numbered balls on the table. You can imagine, if you could not actually view the collision, but you could measure how you shot the cue ball and where all the numbered balls ended up, you can figure out how they were arranged to begin with,” he said. “A miniature game of pool is nuclear physics.”

Connections and timing landed him his role at PHDS Co., which would turn out to be a perfect match for his academic expertise as a scientist and his practical experience as a “pseudo-engineer,” which was supplemented by years learning in machine shops, designing with CAD programs, and building projects in his spare time.

“My advice to people who are looking to follow a similar path in the sciences is not to limit yourself to just one interest,” he said.

“Those skills you develop that may seem insignificant to the path you think you want to go on may in fact be critical for getting you the position that is right for you later in your life.”

Building germanium gammaray imaging detectors was a perfect match for Dr. Ticehurst’s academic expertise as a scientist and his practical experience as a “pseudo-engineer.”

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ALUMNI PROFILES

Discovering the Universe Under a Microscope Dr. Liz Ballou ’00 makes breakthroughs in mycology while running her own lab in England.

BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN

Dr. Liz Ballou ’00, a cellular biologist and fungal geneticist, was not in the room when her first scientific breakthrough occurred. She was in a meeting when her undergraduate lab assistant emailed her a photograph, alarmed by what he was seeing under the microscope.

“I opened the picture, and literally it was this transformative thing that has changed what the research community can do,” Dr. Ballou said. “It meant something practically impossible to study is now very easy for anybody to study.”

The breakthrough, a new approach to studying the behavior of fungal pathogens, is a milestone in Dr. Ballou’s career, but the collaborative nature through which it came about perfectly encapsulates why she is a scientist.

“There’s this idea that science progresses because of the discoveries of individuals – Albert Einstein or Jonas Salk – but what we actually know is that teams do things that save the world,” she said. “The accumulation of knowledge is how we advance as a society, and that’s what motivates me all the time, being a part of that.”

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For Dr. Ballou, making an impact on the field of mycology is the realization of a dream. “It makes me happy. It’s an opportunity to do good in the world.”

has realized her dream as a scientist – heading up her own laboratory, where she and her team of undergraduate, master’s, and postdoctoral students seek to understand how the human body interacts with fungi, how genes enable these interactions to happen, and what changes occur when drugs are introduced. Until mid-April of 2021, Dr. Ballou’s lab was based out of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom; it is now at University of Exeter.

She was drawn to this work after learning about the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa; doctors were alerted to a possible outbreak of HIV when they started seeing patients suffering from very rare and random diseases they hadn’t heard of. Hearing these stories years later, Dr. Ballou was alarmed that this scientific mystery remained unsolved, and has since been able to investigate the role fungal pathogens may have played during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“You hear this story from your parents’ generation, and you think, ‘No one has solved this? No one is working on this, still?’” she said. “Mycology is a really an underserved area, and it’s where people at the beginning of their careers can really push knowledge forward.”

Dr. Ballou’s area of interest is how fungal pathogens cause disease in people who are already sick, focusing on Cryptococcus neoformans, a microorganism that can be found in soil and plants and can cause infections when inhaled. While most people in urban areas can be exposed to Cryptococcus without falling ill, it is the main pathogen causing meningitis in patients living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

She was not always drawn to biology, however. It was chemistry – specifically, what she learned in Irene Walsh’s class – that sparked her interest in science.

“She was such an amazing instructor.

She gave me such a solid grounding in logical thinking, in careful teaching, and just the level of insight she conveyed about the concepts she was teaching, made me think, ‘This is what I want to do: understand how the universe works.’”

She went on to study chemistry at Mount Holyoke College, went overseas to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for her master’s in molecular biology, and returned to the United States for her Ph.D. in genetics at Duke Univer-

Dr. Ballou has led labs in both Scotland and England where undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers have collaborated on projects.

sity, where she first started working with Cryptococcus.

After four years with the Aberdeen Fungal Group studying medical mycology, two of them as a postdoctoral researcher, she earned a fellowship for her own research project – the one that led to her breakthrough in 2017.

Dr. Ballou is acutely aware of how few women are in her position – not just as a woman in science, but also as a woman in charge of her own lab. Reflecting on her experience being only one of a handful of girls in a class, she encourages students who are in the minority to practice at school what she finds herself doing today – speaking up and advocating for herself.

“It’s something that’s become just more and more important to me over the past couple years,” she said. “(Being a woman in science) is definitely a process of becom-

ing more isolated, but I also think there is a lot of potential to improve on it.”

Dr. Ballou said the way she was challenged and supported at St. Andrew’s guides how she runs her lab today, especially as she empowers her undergraduate lab assistants to be the ones witnessing moments of scientific breakthrough in her place.

“I am constantly reminded that one of the things I learned at St. Andrew’s that was so important was the learning process and how important the learning process is. It’s not just about rote memorization but learning to think and learning to be independent, and that’s something that’s served me really well and that I try to teach my students,” she said. “They’re capable of it, and once you show them that they can achieve it, they do things that are amazing.”

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ALUMNI PROFILES

Answering the Call Together Yaa Addison ’09 and Lauren Bruno ’10 grow in faith and friendship.

BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN

Yaa Addison ’09 and The Rev. Lauren Heywood Bruno ’10 first met as teammates on St. Andrew’s girls cross country team. They didn’t know it then, but the paths they ran would transcend the forested trails in Potomac, ultimately aligning as a spiritual path as they support each other’s call to ministry.

Addison and Bruno both grew up going to church – Addison attending Baptist and Catholic services, while Bruno was part of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac.

Addison remembers feeling inspired to become a minister after her middle school chaplain, The Reverend Dr. Marjorie Ann Gerbracht-Stagnaro, invited her class to visit St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, where for the first time she saw a woman leading the congregation through a Catholic liturgy. She continued attending services there. “[Rev. Gerbracht-Stagnaro] said, ‘I think you would make a good priest.’ And I was like, ‘Okay,’ and that really grew over high school,” Addison said.

Bruno said she started to hear her call around tenth grade. Addison and Bruno bonded through faith, talking about church and Episcopal theology at cross country camp and attending youth group events together, ultimately laying the foundation to share their callings with each other.

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Before Bruno graduated from seminary and began her ministry at St. David’s, she returned to St. Andrew’s in 2017 to preach the homily at St. Andrew’s Night.

calling to have Yaa as such a close friend because we talked about our calling and it was natural that we would talk about it,” Bruno said. “We were trying to figure out what this would mean and what faith looks like.”

“And how to do it. It’s not very well advertised at all.” Addison added. “If you have a call, it is very confusing.”

While Addison began to explore her vocation more deeply after graduating from St. Andrew’s, Bruno got what she called “a push in faith” during her senior year.

A student vestry had formed, and Bruno was invited to preach to the entire Upper School. “[The Rev. Luther Zeigler] really pushed me to try to take hold of [my call] and articulate it in a way that I hadn’t before,” Bruno said. “For me, giving that talk at chapel was very empowering. It was something I didn’t know I would be able to do.”

Addison studied sociology at Gettysburg College, where she also ran cross country and track and field. Every Sunday morning — regardless of how late she stayed up Saturday night — she would get up and walk to Prince of Peace Episcopal Church in downtown Gettysburg. Twice she attended Why Serve, a vocational discernment conference for young adults of color.

“It was especially affirming being a Black woman in this church and following my call,” Addison said. “With [Presiding Bishop Michael Curry] being the face of the church, people assume there are a lot of us, but there’s still not a ton.”

Bruno studied Classical Languages and Literature with an emphasis on Ancient Greek at Dartmouth College. Her search for a faith home landed her at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Hanover, New Hampshire, a decision that would shape her ministry.

“I always thought I would come back to the Episcopal church, but when I was finally discerning whether to go to seminary right out of college, I realized that what was really important to me was this theology of grace,” Bruno said. “I loved that, and I decided that if I was going to be ordained, I wanted to be ordained in that theology.”

Neither Addison nor Bruno were always

Addison worked as St. Andrew’s Main Office Administrative Assistant as she discerned her call, and was supported in this process by former chaplain The Rev. Patricia Phaneuf Alexander and former Senior Associate Director of Admission Aileen Moodie.

focused on their vocation, each recalling when they tried to shake off their call or were told to wait. However, they also had moments when they knew they were meant to do God’s work, either while in the thick of it, or while watching someone else living out their calling.

After her call committee told her “not yet,” Addison turned to Bruno, who had earned her master’s in divinity from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and had begun her ministry as the pastor at St. David’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia.

“I was visiting Lauren over spring break, and I was like, ‘I don’t think I’ll go back before the call committee,’ and she said, ‘No, you’re doing it!’ And here I am,” said Addison, who is now completing her first year at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, where she is studying for her master’s in divinity.

Bruno said she never doubted Addison would follow her call, adding she is grateful for their continued friendship throughout their individual faith journeys.

“This has meant so much to me,” Bruno said. “Getting to spend time together with someone who knows what seminary and discernment is like and getting to share that experience with someone [from

One of the highlights of their friendship, Addison said, is when she surprised Bruno at her ordination in 2018.

home] – I’ve only ever gotten to share that with people I’ve met in seminary. It’s been really cool to do this together, and I’m so excited to see where Yaa ends up.”

Addison said seeing Bruno preach is always a highlight for her, calling Bruno “a great example and a great role model” as she enters ministry.

“It has been really cool walking this road with my friend,” Addison said. “It’s really cool to share in this process with someone I knew before this process, who understands it, who is on my level.”

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ALUMNI PROFILES

Elevating the Work of Environmental Scientists Ryan Hathaway ’04 advocates for the planet and the people behind policy.

BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN

As a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, and the newly appointed Environmental Justice Coordinator for the Department of the Interior, Ryan Hathaway ’04 walks political appointees and government agency officials through the environmental implications of a proposed policy or action.

As much as he’d like to get in the weeds with them discussing science, he knows that to get through to them, he must draw on skills he might not have a degree in but has surely mastered – emotional intelligence and empathy.

“So much of it is about bringing people together who are on disparate ends of a conversation and negotiating a conflict resolution,” Hathaway said. “If you want to actually get some success, you have to work with the people and not just the science.”

Hathaway, who studied wildlife conservation at University of Delaware and natural resources management at Virginia Tech, began his career lobbying and working for Safari Club International. He was soon drawn to the federal government because of the opportunity it presented to write and implement environmental policies.

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Working for the federal government can be fun, too! Hathaway’s work travel has included visiting this paleo dig site at Jurassic National Monument in Utah.

“I think people often want to be in an easy-to-understand world, and human psychology lends itself to wanting to see things [as] absolutes. This is especially obvious when writing policy and laws,” Hathaway said. “However, the world we live in isn't black and white. It's mostly gray or rainbow or just complicated and intertwined.

The challenge then is writing policies that avoid absolutes and rigidity, [and instead] policies that can affect a positive outcome that moves us towards the world we want to be living in.

“My interest peaked on how the policy was being made, but more importantly

to me, how we implement policy. I liked the challenge that this presented, and so I made the jump to the Fish and Wildlife Service, and then the Bureau of Land Management, and now the Department of the Interior. The missions might change, but the challenge of writing and implementing environmental policies that are often viewed and challenged by a variety of stakeholders remains consistent through my career.”

Hathaway began his career implementing policies written before his time in government, such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, which legislatively requires the government to incorporate science into its decision making.

“It doesn’t require you to make a good decision — it requires you to make an informed decision and prove that your decision-making process was informed by the best available science and public participation,” Hathaway said.

However, as he has assumed more management roles in recent years, Hathaway has been drawn to elevating the excellence of his civil servant colleagues.

“Consistently, I am amazed by the talent and devotion of public servants working to make the world a better place. So, my motivation now has grown to include finding ways to better capture and leverage the federal workforce,” Hathaway said. “I think our country has a pool of talented, focused, and motivated environmental scientists and stewards that aren't utilized, are undervalued, and, more importantly, they feel undervalued.”

As an intermediary between scientists

After lobbying and working for Safari Club International, Hathaway was inspired to try his hand at writing and implementing environmental policy for the federal government.

and government officials and political appointees, Hathaway strives to bring empathy to his day-to-day work and leadership style. He acknowledges that, while he can sit down with a government official and explain a policy to them, he must also be able to keep his cool when they misinterpret his explanation or even make an off-the-cuff remark during a press conference.

“A large part of my job is managing relationships and emotional intelligence,” he said. “The ability to manage your emotions is so much more important than anything you can have as a soft skill or a knowledge base.”

Cultivating a work environment of honesty, trust, and safety is critical for Hathaway.

“If we’re in a briefing or I need information, I want my staff to trust that they can

tell me they don’t know the answer, and we’ll deal with it,” Hathaway said.

“St. Andrew’s did that, and it’s a good skill and a good mantra for people becoming leaders for the first time, that people who work for you aren’t going to be perfect.

They’re human beings.”

Helping students learn these skills is a passion of Hathaway’s. In 2018, Hathaway visited seniors in Christina Chalmers’ English class to share his story and advice.

“The times you will feel the most successful in life won't be from some external accomplishment, they will be the times life pushed you away from who you are or challenged you, and you pushed back and stayed true to who you want to be,” Hathaway said. “That kind of internal victory, to be true to yourself in a time of adversity, that’s success.”

POLICY ON THE HORIZON Hathaway expects that greenhouse gas climate change will be the lens through which the government will view environmental science policy for the next four years, with an added emphasis on civil rights.

“Environmental justice will eventually become a more mainstream practice because it’s really important, if we’re going to develop a lot of renewable infrastructure, to do so in a way that doesn’t disenfranchise poor and minority communities.”

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GRADUATION SPEAKER

JENNIFER HAWKINS ’99 TO SPEAK AT COMMENCEMENT

BY RICHARD COCO

Jennifer Hawkins ’99 is the real deal. The St. Andrew’s graduate has spent more than a decade working in the U.S government, including the past seven-plus as a Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In her role she helps create and implement policies that impact women around the world. On June 11, she will be the commencement speaker as the Class of 2021 graduates from St. Andrew’s.

Hawkins earned her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse, her master’s degree from Howard, and her doctorate from University of Southern California — all in the field of social work. “I had a great experience at my 20th reunion and things have come full circle.

I’m so happy to have this opportunity.”

Hawkins did not set out to change the world, although make no mistake, in her role at USAID, she is having a direct impact on women and girls around the globe. Things changed, though, when she was at Howard, working on her master’s in social work with a concentration in children and policy.

“I had no desire in undergrad to work in policy,” Hawkins said. “It wasn’t until my master’s when I was doing my practicum in social work on the micro level and I saw how hard it was to impact change for an individual or family. Yes, you can empower families and individuals but really it’s the blockages and systemic barriers on the policy level that keep people from getting the services they need.”

Hawkins’ professional career in government began at the State Department before she transitioned to USAID (see the box above for more of her career highlights). In her cur58

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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS State Department January 2010 to October 2014 • Bureau of Conflict Stabilization Operations, Gender and Policy Advisor • USAID • Desk Officer for Burkina Faso and Niger in the Bureau of West African Affairs • Special Assistant in the Bureau of African Affairs • First US secondee to Justice Rapid Response USAID 2014 to Present • Democracy Fellow Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor • Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor for the Agency

rent role, she enjoys bipartisan support for the work she does.

“This is one of the only things on the (Capitol Hill) that everyone agrees on,” Hawkins said. “Women, Peace, and Security is a foreign policy priority. It’s one of the things when you visit the Hill, no one is opposing this. It enjoys full bipartisan support.”

That support was evident in 2017 when Congress passed the Women, Peace, and Security Act. Prior to the pandemic, Hawkins would spend her days at the White House, or meeting with members and staff of Congress, or traveling overseas to conflict areas. The past year, that international travel has been curbed but Hawkins hasn’t slowed down, as

she completed her doctorate.

“Completing my doctorate took my work a step further,” Hawkins said, “ There are so many great organizations doing amazing work, but there are gaps. My dissertation focused on how to disrupt the funding landscape for social impact and social justice organizations. Making those organizations, activists, and leaders household names and giving people the opportunity to donate directly to them. For example, if I want to contribute to a women’s organization in South Sudan, why can’t I? If I want to donate to an organization here, how do I do that? Giving people an equal playing field in the funding world.”

In her 11 years working in international relations, Hawkins has seen tremendous changes around the world. She points to places like Saudi Arabia, where women couldn’t drive or participate in sports and now are doing those things and running for office. “It starts very early with empowering young girls so they can see the opportunities,” Hawkins said. “Afterall, if you can’t see it you can’t be it.”

Perhaps when Hawkins stands in front of the 89 students in the Class of 2021, one of them will see themself in her, and their own possibilities for the future. Inspiring young women is a perk of a job that has taken her around the world.

“The most rewarding piece is knowing the impact you’ll have on lives and changing the trajectory for women and girls around the world,” Hawkins said. “My job becomes a lot more real when I’m in the field, in country — seeing and touching and reaching out directly to the beneficiaries. I appreciate that side so much.”

Before the pandemic halted international travel, Hawkins visited conflict areas on behalf of USAID, including Yangon, Myanmar.

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C E L E B R AT I N G T H E C L A S S E S O F 1 9 8 5 | 1 9 8 6 | 1 9 9 0 | 1 9 9 1 | 1 9 9 5 1996 | 2000 | 2001 | 2005 | 2006 | 2010 | 2011 | 2015 | 2016

HOMECOMING & REUNION S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 6 , 2 0 2 1 O N T H E P O STOA K CA M P U S Are you willing to share your ideas for the weekend or serve as a reunion volunteer?

Please contact the Alumni Office at alumni@saes.org. There are both large and small ways to get involved and we'd love to have your input!

WALK FOR THE HOMELESS

Join the St. Andrew’s community for our 16th annual community-wide Walk for the Homeless, which benefits Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. Join either the one-mile or two-mile route, which take you around the neighborhood next to the Postoak Campus.

HOMECOMING FESTIVITIES

After participating in the Walk for the Homeless, stick around for an afternoon of food trucks, inflatables, pumpkin and face painting, music, and games around campus.

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ALUMNI ATHLETIC GAMES

Dust off those cleats and sport that St. Andrew’s jersey once again! Sign up to participate in either the alumni vs. faculty soccer game, or the alumni vs. current students volleyball game.

ALUMNI AWARDS LUNCHEON

Catch up with fellow alumni and your favorite teachers at the Alumni Awards Luncheon. We will present the Distinguished Alumni Award (accomplishments through professional achievement or social impact) and the Thomas Shaw Award (pride and loyalty to their alma mater). Email Rachel Kimble, Director of Alumni Affairs, at rkimble@saes.org if you would like to nominate alumni, or for more information about the luncheon.

CLASS PARTIES

If you’re not able to attend the daytime Homecoming & Reunion activities, mark your calendar for the nighttime class parties. Alumni in reunion years will have a chance to get together with fellow classmates (and maybe a few surprise teachers!) at various locations around the Washington, D.C., area. If you would like to be a Class Reunion Chair, email Rachel Kimble, Director of Alumni Affairs, at rkimble@saes.org.

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A Letter from the Alumni Council ear Fellow Alumni, I hope you are all continuing to stay safe and healthy. I hope you’re sleeping well and that you are finding ways to connect with loved ones, even amidst this pandemic. I think it goes without saying that the world is a very different place today than it was when we last walked the halls of St. Andrew’s at either the Bradmoor or Postoak campuses. Everyday brings new challenges and changes but I am hopeful that simpler and calmer days are ahead. As an educator myself, I know just how hard the last year has been for teachers and students across the world. The unpredictable and ever-changing nature of the pandemic has altered even some of our most basic assumptions about how schools run.

Through it all, though, what St. Andrew’s has been able to do is truly exceptional.

Whether it is the cutting-edge research on

OUR NEXT ALUMNI COUNCIL PRESIDENT St. Andrew’s excitedly welcomes Lane Brenner ‘05 as the next Alumni Council President. Lane has served on the Alumni Council since 2016 and is excited to take on this new role and serve the alumni community. Lane will begin her new role in July 2021.

teaching and learning employed by the CTTL or the commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the school has never stopped working on behalf of its students.

As an alum, I am incredibly proud to come from a community that remains so deeply committed to its own mission, even when circumstances make it harder than ever.

My family joined the St. Andrew’s community in 1994. Above all, we were drawn to the student-centered commitment to excellence in teaching and learning and to building a strong, tight-knit community.

Even in a time of uncertainty like this, the school’s values and mission remain the same, and the St. Andrew’s community has come together stronger than ever to ensure that we are still meeting the needs of every student. It’s remarkable to think about the countless ways that St. Andrew’s educators have risen to the occasion to innovate and reinvent the ways that they teach and support young people. From our very own beloved teachers like Mr. McMillen, Ms. Goodrich, and Mr. Whitman to new first-year faculty members, all have truly worked tirelessly to create a sense of community and safety for St. Andrew’s learners.

As the school approaches Spring Giving Week in May, I hope that you will consider making your annual gift to the Lions Fund as a show of commitment and support to the extraordinary place that shaped us into who we are today. Your support will impact the dozens of teachers who work everyday to know and inspire each child. Your support will also help to keep our community whole as St. Andrew’s continues to provide exceptional educational opportunities to the next generation. Please join me in support of this mission.

As you read through this publication,

you will have a glimpse of how the St. Andrew’s mission has shaped the ways in which our community has responded to the pandemic. You’ll also have the chance to read updates from our alumni community in the class notes section. Even in the midst of such a turbulent year, our alumni have continued to persevere and have shared news of reconnecting with family and friends, celebrating marriages and babies, and so much more. I hope you enjoy the read and I look forward to seeing those of you in a reunion year for a joyous time of reconnecting in October.

Tom Taylor ’00 President St. Andrew’s 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.

1983 Edie Demas and her family happily returned to the Washington, D.C. area last July. She is delighted to share that her kids, Grace and Theo Demas-Graef are now St. Andrew’s fourth graders. She writes, “It has been a wonderful experience returning to the school and watching them thrive there especially during such an unusual time. We are beyond grateful to everyone at St. Andrews for welcoming us home.”

Edie also serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

1984 Chip Prettyman and his wife have become empty nesters – their older son, Edward, is living in Dallas, and their younger one, William, is a little closer – in New York City.

1986 So far, 2021 has been a good year for Brad Bennett (much better than last year). He was promoted to interim editorial director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and was elected as presiding deacon at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

He writes, “I thank God for all the blessings He has given me, and I pray for the soul of our nation.”

Sharon Leach writes, “The milestones still rack up amidst the strangeness of this last year, as one of our kids is a sophomore at Oberlin College and the other a junior in high school.” As a board member of the Vermont Brain Bee for high school students interested in neuroscience and a neuropsychologist working with individuals with learning differences, Sharon is thrilled that St. Andrew’s embraces neuroscience in its teaching through The CTTL. She got her motivation to learn about

86 Sharon Leach ‘86 is a board member of the Vermont Brain Bee for high school students interested in neurosicence and a neuropsychologist working with individuals with learning differences.

the brain through the mentoring and teachings of Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. Beach.

She concludes, “Thanks so much St. A’s for all you do for the next generations of young scientists.”

1987 Parisa (Kazemian) Karaahmet and her family are taking a year in Southampton, United Kingdom. Her kids are in school in East Hampton and the family is looking forward to returning to New York City in Fall 2021! She writes, “Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.”

Terrey (Kline) Lebowitz is a recovery coach for addictions and mental health, a CASA volunteer for children in foster care, and a foster mom. She still has a love for travel and has plans to visit Germany, Mongolia, and Russia when it’s possible to go overseas again.

86 Brad Bennett ’86 was elected as presiding deacon at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

1988 Thomas Pinder was named general counsel for the American Bankers Association. He has been with ABA since 2012, serving as the association’s deputy general counsel since 2017.

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class notes

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In August 2020, Jennifer R. McZier was named to the Advisory Board for the Universal Hip Hop Museum which is located in the South Bronx, New York City. The museum will be built in a mixed use complex which will include affordable housing, retail stores, and restaurants. The museum is slated to open in 2023. Jennifer also serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

1993

Drew Thomas ‘89 wrote and directed “The Mongolian Connection” relased on Amazon in August 2020.

Pam (Monroe) Saunders ‘93 has transtioned her art program to an online format and even celebrated her daughter’s sweet sixteen during a virtual art birthday party.

1989 Drew Thomas’ film, “The Mongolian Connection,” was released on Amazon in August 2020. Drew wrote and directed the crime drama, and shot the film on location in Mongolia.

1991 91 Stacy (Hough) Smith ‘ 91 has been teaching for 23 years at Burke where daugter attends too.

Things with Stacy (Hough) Smith and her brood are great. Her daughter, Taylor, is a seventh grader at Edmund Burke School where Stacy is teaching for the 23rd year! Riley June is a third grader and struggling through online learning in Prince George’s County. Her husband, Brian, continues to do home improvements and is currently learning what it takes to be a full time teacher to a third grader at home.

1992

92 Jennifer R. McZier ‘92 with Kurtis Blow, Artist and Founder of the Universal Hip Hop Museum.

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Josh Borkin, executive director and co-founder of Steve’s Camp at Horizon Farms, spent the summer supporting the camp’s alumni through Zoom gatherings and growing produce on the farm to fill meal kits for youth.

James King is living in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife, Katie, and sevenyear-old son, Cooper. James serves as the CEO and Founder of Titan Hospitality Group which owns and operates seven restaurants in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

He was recently voted in as the President of the Maryland Restaurant Coalition.

Pam (Monroe) Saunders identified creative solutions to the challenges of distance learning. She was featured by McLean Patch after transitioning her art program to an online format. Prior to the pandemic, Etaine (Norris) Raphael’s ’93 daughters attended a pop-up class.

More recently, Etaine who is a children’s book author served as a guest speaker at one of Pam’s virtual classes! Pam has been excited to offer virtual art birthday parties and even facilitated virtual art time with her daughter, Emma, on her 16th birthday. Pam’s weekly Zoom art classes have children excited about art, history, science, and more!

1994 Lisa McKay’s family has weathered the COVID-19 storm in the relatively protected bubble of Australia, and it turns out that when you have expertise in stress, resilience, trauma, and crisis contexts, you’re in demand during a global pandemic! Lisa has been working from home on a wide variety of consulting projects for aid agencies and other organizations worldwide. Mike, who was in the Solomon Islands in March 2020, returned to Australia before the borders closed and spent most of 2020 remotely managing World Vision’s programming in the Solomon Islands. Lisa and Mike count

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James King ‘93 is living in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Katie, and seven-year-old son, Cooper.

themselves incredibly fortunate that after an initial six weeks of homeschooling in lockdown during April and May 2020, their two little boys have been able to attend school as normal since then.

1995 Last Spring, Alex Bierlein-George started a new job in the middle of the lockdown, heading up B2B content marketing strategy for Honey, a PayPal company. In the Fall, he began a graduate program in counseling psychology and set a goal to make a full career transition to become a psychotherapist by 2025. Alex, his husband, Luke, and their dog, Rocco, moved to West Hollywood, California, as well. Alex serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

Maryann (Meenan) Heim writes, “It has been fun to reconnect with St. Andrew’s, this time as a parent. My daughter, Alison, joined the freshman class this year. She has loved getting to know all her teachers and was particularly amused to find out two of them were former teachers of mine. Our whole family is delighted to be a part of such a wonderful and supportive community.”

Mari (Palmer) McDonald returned to St. Andrew’s in July as the Director of the Lions Fund. She is so thrilled to be back at the school she loves!

class notes

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Lisa Mckay ‘94 and family has weathered the COVID-19 storm in Australia. She has been working from home on a wide variety of consulting projects for aid agencies and other organizations worldwide.

1996

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Katherine Dukehart has reached 15 years living in the Caribbean and is still waiting for more St. Andrew’s visitors.

Pandemic got you down? Kids getting squirrely locked up in the house? She writes, “I assure you, island life is a breath of fresh air. Check out Ultimo Refugio in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. It is always an adventure here.”

Dara (Grundfast) Eisner and family moved to a new home in Bethesda, right around the corner from the old St. Andrew’s campus. She’s working as in-house counsel at an IT company. Their “bonus baby” just turned two and his big brother and sister are obsessed with him!

Nick Nadel recently worked as a writer and comedy producer on the NBC Universal TV series Blind Date. The hit series takes a humorous approach to dating and can be seen on the Bravo TV channel, Peacock streaming service, Hulu and BravoTV.com. In 2020, Nick started a production company, Atomic Abe, with fellow alumni Tim Finn ‘96 and their creative partner Kevin Maher which makes sketch comedy, animation, video essays, and more. Their videos have already garnered 60,000 views on YouTube alone! You can see their work at AtomicAbe.com and on the Atomic Abe YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Nick lives in Brooklyn with his

Alex Bierlein-George ‘95 and his husband, Luke, moved to West Hollywood, California.

Alex serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

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Dara (Grundfast) Eisner ‘96 and family moved to a new home in Bethesda, right around the corner from the old St. Andrew’s campus.

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class notes

96

Jessica North Macie ‘96 is working at National Cathedral School as Co-Coordinator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and teaching seventh grade English classes remotely.

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wife Danielle, a first-grade teacher, and their adorable dog Charlie. For his 20th St. Andrew’s class reunion, Nick spoke to Susheela Robinson’s Psychology in Literature class about his work writing comedy for places like The Onion, HBO, TruTV and more. He is always eager to hear from other alumni working in film and television. Visit his website (nicknadel. com) and drop him a line at nick.nadel@ gmail.com.

their experiences through 2020, and the years since they were last together.

Jessica North Macie is working at National Cathedral School as CoCoordinator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and teaching seventh grade English classes remotely. She looks forward to getting the COVID-19 vaccine and returning to campus. Meanwhile, she enjoys having more time with her daughter, Laila, a middle schooler who probably wouldn’t be spending so much time with mom if it were not for quarantine — silver lining?

Jon(athan) Fiedler celebrated eight years living in Brooklyn — over five different apartments! — in November 2020. Earlier in the year, he began a new job at the Book Industry Study Group, an organization that works with the entire publishing “supply chain,” from publishers to manufacturers to wholesalers to retailers and others, establishing standards and best practices to create a more informed and efficient publishing industry.

1997

Alice Astarita ‘97 and Christina Talcott ‘97 caught up in Las Vegas for a pre-pandemic long weekend hiking trip in Valley of Fire State Park.

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Last February, Alice Astarita and Christina Talcott caught up in Las Vegas for a pre-pandemic long weekend hiking trip in Valley of Fire State Park. In addition, they enjoyed a Cirque du Soleil show and spent enough time in crowds to (almost) make up for the impending isolation of 2020.

After many years in Washington, D.C., Susanne (Fogt) Paul, her husband, and two kids are relocating to Mount Desert Island, Maine. Her husband has landed a new job at the College of the Atlantic. Susanne will continue her work as a Planning and GIS consultant while spending as much time as possible hiking, biking, and exploring the lakes and ocean.

1998

Kevin Klien’s ‘98 radio show, Stryker & Klein, was recently syndicated into San Francisco, Oakland, Dallas, and Kansas City.

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In early November, the Class of 1998 gathered together on Zoom to raise a glass in memory of their classmate, Andrew Harrington, who passed away from glioblastoma a few weeks prior. His classmates were stunned by his passing, but it gave them a chance to come together to not only talk about Andrew, but also about

Michael DiPaula-Coyle and his wife just moved back to the U.S. in February 2021 after spending the last few years in Singapore, where Michael was working out of IBM’s Asia Pacific headquarters.

They had a wonderful time living in Asia (despite COVID-19!), but they are glad to be back in the States.

Kevin Klein is now hosting mornings on KROQ in Los Angeles. His radio show, Stryker & Klein, was recently syndicated into San Francisco, Oakland, Dallas, and Kansas City. Kevin also just finished writing his seventh best selling book called “How to Successfully Lie to People About Writing 7 Books.” Klein lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters, Olivia (4) and Sienna (2).

1999 Moina Banerjee was recently appointed Chief Financial Officer of JBG SMITH Properties. She writes, “Having been at JBGS for over 10 years, most recently overseeing capital markets, portfolio management, and investor relations, I’m excited to step into my new role!”

2000 Sarah (Melby) Zijp and her husband, Jochem, spent this first year of pandemic parenthood watching their son, Aiden, grow up into an energetic little boy! Sarah is using her event planning experience to help Neighborhood Restaurant group build a corporate gift box delivery program and virtual class program which includes mixology classes, cupcake

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decorating classes, cooking classes, and beer and wine tasting classes.

Despite the pandemic, Tom Taylor, his wife of 14 years, Sara, and their children Linus (10) and Elsie (6) decided that this summer would be a good time to move back to New York City. Tom has recently taken a job as the Head of Upper School at Riverdale Country School, an independent day school located in the Bronx. He is also currently a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota, preparing for data collection for his dissertation on the intersections of neoliberalism, racism, and independent education. Tom also serves as President of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

2001 Jen (Cantwell) Thomson welcomed Charlie Thomson into her family on the Fourth of July 2020.

2002 Nathan Bennett-Fleming recently became engaged and is nearing completion of his dissertation to receive a doctorate in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania. Nathan’s dissertation builds on his legal training by exploring the evolution of the mission of historically black law schools.

All is well in the greater Boston metro area for Emily (Clark) Williams! She writes, “My oldest son, Gavin (8), has been remote learning for almost one year like a champ. He is enjoying learning cursive which I never thought could be taught remotely. My younger son, Henry, has been back to daycare since July and I say if a 4-year old can wear a mask all day, then so can most adults. We’re all learning to spend more time together in the house - living, working, and everything.

Back in September, we even broke down and adopted a pandemic puppy, Wrigley, from a rescue organization. Throughout the pandemic I have been in touch with several of my SAES friends. I’m often sending well wishes to Dr. Meredith Coyle ‘02 in Detroit and she serves on the front lines of the pandemic. And, sending silly

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Sarah (Melby) Zijp ‘00 and her husband, Jochem, spent this first year of pandemic parenthood watching their son, Aiden.

memes via Instagram to Allison O’Flinn ’02. I was even able to arrange a virtual Pokemon match between my son, Gavin, and Jack, the son of Chris and Christine Moberg ’01, from across the country.”

Tom Taylor ‘00, his wife of 14 years, Sara, and their children Linus (10) and Elsie (6) moved back to New York City.

Alison (Inderfurth) Wright and husband Howard Wright welcomed twins, Ava and Henry, on January 9, 2021.

2003 Amy Helms was named Head of School at DC Scholars Public Charter School.

Amy and her husband are excited to announce that they are expecting a baby in May 2021!

In his role as a staff attorney at the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, Hampden Macbeth spent the first several months of the pandemic editing a book on major health and environmental settlements of the past 50 years. He also wrote a chapter for the book on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. The book, “Looking Back to Move Forward: Resolving Health & Environmental Crises,” was published by the Environmental Law Institute Press in November 2020 Christina McDowell’s novel, “The Cave Dwellers,” will be published by Scout Press at Simon & Schuster on May 25, 2021.

Kellee (Roston) Edusei was named Executive Director of Dance/ USA in December 2020. As executive

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Jen (Cantwell) Thomson ‘ 01 welcomed Charlie Thomson into her family on the Fourth of July 2020.

director, Kellee will work with the Dance/ USA Board of Trustees and team to address the needs of the dance field in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic; oversee the implementation of Dance/USA’s core services of engagement, advocacy, research, and preservation; move the Dance/USA team and Board of Trustees to become a more fully inclusive, antiracist organization; champion a more equitable dance field; and secure a vibrant future for dance.

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Sarah (Taylor) Bower and Doug Bower ‘03 welcomed their daughter, Elyse Mary Bower, on May 25, 2020.

Madeline (Wallace) O’Brien and her husband, Graham, welcomed their first child, son Parker Barnes O’Brien, on July 3, 2020. They spent the winter with family in Park City, Utah with fellow Lions Jake Wallace ‘04, Abbey (Wallace) Eddy ‘08, and Sam Wallace ‘12.

Sarah (Taylor) Bower and Doug Bower welcomed their daughter, Elyse Mary Bower, on May 25, 2020. Nicholas, now three years old, is the best big brother to her.

2004 Claire Levinson served on the frontlines of the pandemic as a nurse practitioner.

04 David Magida ‘04 ran the JFK 50 miler in November, his first ultra marathon.

David Magida ran the JFK 50 miler in November, his first ultra marathon, finishing as the 13th place male in a time of 6:41:17.

Last year, Margaret Sclafani co-directed a short film with Eleanor Brown ‘04, called “We Are Here,” which had its digital screening as part of the Film Force collective.

2005

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Jasleen Singh ‘05 and her husband, Apoorva, welcomed Samaaya Singh Pandhi in July 2020.

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Fifteen years after graduating from St. Andrew’s, Jasleen Singh returned to Maryland in 2020 where she’s been “quarantining” in her childhood home with her family. The pandemic has been trying but a blessing in disguise wrapped as a bundle of joy named Samaaya Singh Pandhi. Jasleen and her husband, Apoorva Pandhi, welcomed their daughter in July 2020. They basked in the orange July

sun and have now cozied by the window and watched the snow with a cuppa joe.

It’s been nothing short of a wonder to “weather the seasons” with Samaaya!

Madeline (Wallace) O’Brien and her husband, Graham, welcomed their first child, son Parker Barnes O’Brien, on July 3, 2020. They spent the winter with family in Park City, Utah with fellow Lions Jake Wallace ’04, Abbey (Wallace) Eddy ’08, and Sam Wallace ’12. Madeline also serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

2006 Amy (Bachman) Zerante serves as Director of Procurement and Sustainability at DC Central Kitchen. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy and her team have provided more than 3 million meals to children, families, and seniors.

After 10 years in the Boston area, Claire (Matlack) Carucci ‘06 and family made the move to Texas this summer. They are now living just outside of Dallas with kids Andrew (5) and Eleanor (2) and are enjoying the warmer weather and new adventures.

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2007 In May 2020, Gabriel Ellsworth finished business school in Boston. Then, in August, he moved across the world to intern at a startup in Taipei and soak up as much as he could of life there, including singing with the Müller Chamber Choir. Gabriel writes, “Taiwan successfully suppressed COVID-19 last spring, so everything was open; I thank God for the opportunity to experience a bubble of normality during the pandemic. Now I am back in the States, working as a consultant for Bain & Company. In 2021, I’m hoping for quality time with my four nephews. Yes, four! Evan Ellsworth ’04 and Gillian (Ellsworth) Messer ’09 each have two young boys, who bring us great joy.”

Amy (Bachman) Zerante ‘06 serves as Director of Procurement and Sustainability at DC Central Kitchen.

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After 10 years in the Boston area, Claire (Matlack) Carucci ‘06 and family made the move to Texas this summer.

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Nora Goddard and her husband, Dave, welcomed their son Elias “Eli” Morgan Cole on April 12, 2020. He is a bundle of joy and all smiles! Their dog, Roxy, is an excellent furry-sister! Nora has a new job as School Counselor at Fairfield Country Day School, a K-9 all boys school, and is attending graduate school part time at Fairfield University as she pursues licensure as a clinical mental health counselor.

While the pandemic prevented Tim Rogan from performing on stage, it has afforded him time to hone his craft through Zoom on-camera coaching classes and projects that are still in demand, like voice-over work.

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Gabriel Ellsworth ‘07 is back in the States, working as a consultant for Bain & Company.

Nora Goddard ‘07 and her husband, Dave, welcomed their son Elias “Eli” Morgan Cole.

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Jill Wiedenmayer 3-D printed face shields and donated them to nurses and doctors who treated COVID-19 patients at hospitals throughout New York.

2008 Hannah (Davis) Harlan and Chris Harlan welcomed Ellie Ann Harlan to their family on September 18, 2020. Ellie joins big brothers Jack ’26 and Luke (age 2), and big sister Kate ’28.

This year Abbey (Wallace) Eddy and her husband completed a full remodel of the fixer upper they purchased in Park City, Utah. They enjoy backcountry skiing in their neighborhood with their dog,

Hannah (Davis) Harlan ‘08 and Chris Harlan welcomed Ellie Ann who joins big brothers Jack ‘26 and Luke (age 2), and big sister Kate ‘28.

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Abbey (Wallace) Eddy ‘08 and her husband completed a full remodel of the fixer upper they purchased in Park City, Utah.

09 Sarah Fudge ‘09 married Nick Patrick in May 2020 with a Zoom wedding due to COVID-19.

Emma Pearce ‘09 was promoted to Project Consultant at CISCO Systems where she does marketing and video editing.

Merle! Abbey’s siblings, Madeline O’Brien ’05 (and nephew and future Lion Parker O’Brien), Jake Wallace ’04, and Sam Wallace ’12 also quarantined in Park City!

Professionally, 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 are looking forward to welcoming their first child in March 2021!

2009

09 This past year Neha Shastry ‘09 produced the critically acclaimed film “All In: The Fight For Democracy,” which received multiple accolades, including being shortlisted for an Oscar.

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Brenton Duvall writes, “I received two Gold records for singles I’ve produced and written on, and I was also fortunate enough to get a platinum record for cowriting and producing the first song on Halsey’s album “Manic,” which was one of the top ten selling albums of 2020.

But hands down the highlight of my entire year was the day I had a four-hour Zoom call with Matt Sparks ’09 and Zach Atchinson ’09 as we watched the Washington Football Team and ate Popeye’s chicken sandwiches that we all

ordered for delivery at the same time. It was so cute.”

Sarah Fudge Patrick married Nick Patrick on May 2, 2020. They had a Zoom wedding due to COVID-19, and hope to celebrate in person with friends and family later in 2021.

Danielle (Moore) Ngalibika has entered her fifth year teaching at St. Andrew’s. She writes, “It’s been fantastic! I made a switch and transitioned to teaching second graders, and I love this age group. I’m so grateful to still be apart of the SAES family and teaching our younger Lions.”

Emma Pearce was promoted to Project Consultant at CISCO Systems where she does marketing and video editing.

She is also part of an award-winning documentary team, winning Best First Time Producer for “In Lorton’s Darkroom.” She is currently directing a feature documentary about incarceration and reentry, now in post production.

Each fall Emma teaches a photography workshop in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

This past year Neha Shastry produced the film “All In: The Fight For Democracy,” which is about the history and legacy of voter suppression in the United States, and documents Stacey Abrams work to combat it. The film is critically acclaimed and received multiple accolades, including being shortlisted

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11 Lauren Heywood ‘10 married Andrew Bruno on May 7, 2020 in a tiny pandemic ceremony.

Steph Orsini ‘11 got married this past summer to her college beau, Riley Dickson. Tasha Belikove ‘11, fellow St. Andrew’s alumna, stood by her.

for an Oscar. She is currently directing/ producing a series that will air on CNN later this year.

2010 Lauren Heywood married Andrew Bruno on May 7, 2020 in a tiny pandemic ceremony. They were able to celebrate in a small family gathering outdoors on September 27, 2020.

2011 Steph (Orsini) Dickson got married this past summer in Franklin, Tennessee to her college beau, Riley Dickson. Tasha Belikove ’11, fellow St. Andrew’s alumna, stood by her side as she said I do.

After four years working as a research coordinator at the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism, AnneMichelle Engelstad moved on this summer. She writes, “I have loved researching the efficacy of naturalistic play interventions on toddlers’ socialcommunication skills! In September I began a Ph.D. program in Human Development at Harvard University, but before starting the program I went to Montana to work on a regenerative bison ranch through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program. It was a great opportunity to learn and experience

11 Anne-Michelle Engelstad ‘11 began a Ph.D. program in Human Development at Harvard University, but before starting the program went to Montana to work on a regenerative bison ranch through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program.

something completely different from my regular day-to-day before going back to school!”

Krissia Rivera Perla will graduate from the MPH program at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health in May 2021.

2012 Adam Barton writes, “As COVID-19 forced an evacuation from Tokyo, I turned to consulting governments around the world on sustainable education reform. I interviewed ministers across the globe to advise the Delhi minister on sustainable education change (the white paper for which is about to be published), and SPRING 2021

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class notes Leadership Team at St. Andrew’s along with Delonte Egwuatu ’12, Jamee Williams ’12, Husam Shabazz ’15, and Gillian Sanford ’18.

Jamee Williams currently works as a Health Associate at a health policy firm in Washington, D.C. In June 2021, Jamee will begin Physician Assistant school at The University of Maryland, Baltimore. Jamee also serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

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12 Delonte Egwuatu ‘12 no longer teaches in the classroom at St. Andrew’s, he remains heavily involved through his work with the Black Alumni Collective.

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Kiah Nicole Simms ‘12 has been working as an educator at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School for the past four years.

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Albert Gordon ‘13 moved to Hong Kong to dance with the Hong Kong Ballet as a Soloist.

developed a playbook on innovating for school reopening across the globe for the Education Development Trust. I did some work back home, too, advising CTTL on a grant scheme. I’m now a Cambridge International Scholar and Stamps Scholar at the University of Cambridge, where I’m completing my Ph.D. in education.

In addition to my Ph.D. work, which focuses on the psycho-social dynamics of implementing educational innovation, I’ve rejoined the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution as a senior research analyst. There, I’m leading a project on family engagement in education. This includes devising a big data analysis plan to track family attitudes toward education, and authoring international case studies on family engagement innovations.”

Delonte Egwuatu serves as Upper School Spanish Teacher and Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at The Pennington School in New Jersey. Although Delonte no longer teaches in the classroom at St. Andrew’s, he remains heavily involved through his work with the Black Alumni Collective.

Katie Jannotta ‘13 and her fiancé Harrison moved to Coronado, California and live in their 1972 Avion travel trailer on the San Diego Bay. 72

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Kiah Nicole Simms has been working as an educator at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School for the past 4 years. Apart from work, she is a member of our newly-founded Black Alumni Collective

Robert Blume is living in Tallahassee, Florida pursuing a Master’s degree in Geography and Emergency Management.

He is a licensed drone pilot, scuba diver, and recreational pilot.

Emma Davey will graduate in May 2021 from the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program at Colorado State University.

She is currently applying to internship programs with the ultimate goal of becoming a board-certified specialist in small animal surgery.

Albert Gordon moved to Hong Kong to dance with the Hong Kong Ballet as a Soloist.

Katie Jannotta and her fiancé, Harrison, moved to Coronado, California. The two live in their 1972 Avion travel trailer on the San Diego Bay. Katie still works remotely for the Maryland Department of Commerce and is pursuing her Master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University. Katie also serves as an active member of the St. Andrew’s Alumni Council.

Jared Kassoff is looking forward to moving back to the Washington, D.C. region and beginning his entrepreneurship journey! He writes, “I am starting a real estate property and asset management firm with a focus on middle market owners, family offices, and high net worth individuals that may lack dedicated company infrastructure. I would love to connect with any fellow alumni and/ or anyone with commercial real estate needs!”

With the pandemic halting much of film

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production, Alex Lubin has taken a step back from freelancing on sets to focus on his portfolio, including writing two feature scripts.

This year held many challenges but also featured some amazing moments for Billy Petito. He writes, “As a music teacher and an active professional musician the pandemic has certainly made daily life strange and difficult. My jazz students at School of the Arts in Rochester are all meeting with me for daily Zoom rehearsals and lessons, and my private instrumental music teaching studio has transitioned to a fully remote format. This has allowed for me to engage with students in places near and far, which has been a fun adventure.

I have accepted students from all corners of the US and international students as well. In addition to the remote music teaching, all performance work I engage in is conducted remotely. That being said, I am grateful to still be working as both a teacher and a musician and am eager to see my online teaching studio grow in years to come, even after the pandemic.

If you are interested in keeping in touch more directly, please check out my website at www.petitomusic.com. On a wonderful personal note, this year I asked the love of my life to marry me, and she said yes!

Elizabeth Ojeda and I will be married in the Summer of 2022 to allow for COVID-19 pandemia to settle down so that family may travel and gather safely for the ceremony.”

Jacob Reiskin graduates from The George Washington University Law School in May. He plans to stay in Washington, D.C. where he is living with his new fiancée, Charlotte.

2014 Brian Bies is founder and Head of Publishing for New Degree Press, a new approach to the university presses in the world of publishing. New Degree Press operates as a public benefit corporation — B Corp — meaning that as a company it strives to optimize impact over profit. At the end of April 2021, NDP will have published its 800th author, and by this summer its 1,000th author.

13 Jacob Reiskin ‘13 graduates from The George Washington University Law School in May and plans to live in DC with his fiancée, Charlotte.

14 Layla Najjar ‘14 currently works in business development at a Washington, D.C., law firm after being promoted in 2020.

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Lizzie Naab ‘15, Husam Shabazz ‘15, and Jordan Reilly ‘15 have been working at St. Andrew’s as teaching assistants for the 2020-21 school year to help support the faculty and staff during the pandemic.

After spending the last year in the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, Kristin Butler completed her Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. She remains in Washington, D.C., now working in government relations at Defenders of Wildlife where she focuses on endangered species, right whales, wildlife trafficking, and the biodiversity crisis.

After graduating from Georgetown University in 2018, Layla Najjar began work as a legal analyst at a Washington, D.C. law firm, where she worked for the Obama White House’s former Deputy Assistant for Urban Affairs, focusing on civil rights litigation and criminal law. She currently works in business development at the same firm after being promoted in 2020, and plans to attend law school in the fall. She is grateful to Mr. Haight, Ms. Chalmers, Mr. Dahlke, Ms. Diaz, and

countless other St. Andrew’s teachers for teaching her about the beauty of a wellformed argument!

In 2020, Chris Quintero started a new job at Macquarie researching public stocks like Netflix, Disney, and Spotify and will be moving to New York City soon. He also caught up with his classmates Ethan Lockshin ’14 and Danny Terman ’14 over Zoom where they reminisced about their time at St. Andrew’s. Chris also bought some great pottery from his classmate, Will Duvall ’14. He highly recommends Will’s cereal bowls!

2015 Lizzie Naab, Husam Shabazz, and Jordan Reilly have been working at St. Andrew’s as teaching assistants for the 2020-21 school year to help support the SPRING 2021

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faculty and staff during the pandemic.

Husam has been assisting teachers in the Upper School while Lizzie and Jordan have been assisting homeroom teachers in the Lower School.

Last May, William Feigert ‘16 graduated from Connecticut College where he was a member of the Men’s Varsity Tennis team.

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Husam Shabazz has been working at St. Andrew’s as a teaching assistant in the Upper School for the 2020-2021 school year, and has been assisting Mrs. Kaufman in her math and business entrepreneurship classes. As one of the founders and leadership team members of The Black Alumni Collective, Husam is in the process of creating an inaugural summer course on generational wealth and long term investing called: Business, Generational Wealth, and Socially Conscious investing.

2016 In May 2020, William Feigert graduated from Connecticut College with a double major in Government and French. For four years, William enjoyed playing on the Men’s Varsity Tennis team. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Security Policy Studies at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and will soon begin an internship with the Department of Homeland Security.

Pallas-Amenah Morgan ‘16 currently works as a Development Intern at the Showtime Channel in Washington, D.C., and as a teaching assistant at St. Andrew’s.

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Zarmina Khan ‘17 started a bonbon shop with custom made chocolates for any occasion.

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In December 2019, Pallas-Amenah Morgan graduated a semester early from Ithaca College with a dual degree in Screenwriting and Criminal Psychology.

She also graduated from the University of Southern California with certifications in Screenwriting and Cinema Studies in 2020. She currently works as a Development Intern at the Showtime Channel in Washington, D.C., and as a teaching assistant at St. Andrew’s!

This summer, she has plans to move to Barcelona, Spain for a five-month period working as a Producer’s Assistant for an upcoming film production.

Stephanie Quintero started as a research fellow at National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities this year and hopes to apply to medical school next year. She caught up with friends over FaceTime and hopes to see everyone again in person soon.

This past year, Laurence Ruberl

graduated from Earlham College with a Major in Computer Science and a Minor in Theatre Arts. In July, he moved to Mountain View, California to start a new job at NASA Ames Research Center as a High Performance Computing Engineer with ASRC Federal. He loves his job and is learning a lot!

2017 Zarmina Khan writes, “The past few years have been a whirlwind, to say the least. I left my first college, Earlham, to pursue my passion in the culinary arts.

I connected with a fellow classmate of mine whose father is a predominant restaurant owner and a brilliant chef in the Washington, D.C., area. I got a job at one of his restaurants under a mentorship with another incredible chef, who left to pursue his passion, for about a year or so and was able to move up to a line cook position at Marcel’s in Washington, D.C. After the pandemic hit, we were closed for some time but weeks before I was able to help with Marcel’s Michelin star dinner, and one-star to three-star chefs were all present and what an experience! Within the last few months I have started my own company, Z’s Sweetz, which embodies my love of baking and pastries along with flavor profiles that aren’t as common in the area. I have started a bonbon shop with custom-made chocolates for any occasion.

Now at the position in the pastry studio at Marcel’s, I have found something I love to do every single day. Other than cooking of course.”

Julian Paulay serves as the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter president at Tulane University. He led a campus fundraising campaign that raised more than $78,000 for the Spirit of Charity Foundation, which benefits patient-centered care at University Medical Center New Orleans.

Ely Sibarium took this year off from school to continue working in a psychiatry lab at the Yale School of Medicine. There he supports research on individuals at high risk for psychosis, with the goal of developing better treatments for those who experience distressing symptoms.

He provides particular support to the Control Over Perceptual Experiences

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In 2019, Ely Sibarium ‘17 attended a psychic convention. Ely is working at a psychiatry lab which recruited voice hearers from spiritual and psychic communities for the COPE project.

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In January 2020, Samantha Liggins ‘18 traveled to Portugal, Spain, and France with her housemates.

(COPE) project, which entails learning from individuals who hear voices, but do not seek — and often do not require — psychiatric care. Ely enjoys a host of interesting experiences through this work: everything from running brain scans to recruiting participants at psychic conventions.

2018 Andy Harris launched a start-up, Sur Ron Pitstop, where he sells plug-and-play parts and curates a knowledge base for electric bike riders looking to maintain and upgrade their ride. Andy is now engineering a prototype bike, the EVO Cycle mkl, from the ground up, with the goal of designing a 100% American-made, high-powered, street-legal electric bike.

Samantha Liggins is interning this year with the CTTL, supporting the Center’s marketing initiatives. “From being a student at St. Andrew’s, surrounded by the positive impacts of the CTTL, to actually working for them and helping to spread those impacts nationally, it has all made me grateful for the connections I have made.” Liggins is a Business Economics major at Rutgers University and aspires to pursue a career in business, sales, and data analytics.

Gordon Reeves took a road trip with his sister, Joy Reeves, to Arizona, where they

19 Over the summer of 2020, Joshua Joseph ‘19 competed in two World Cup races and several Slovenian National competitions.

both studied remotely from a campground in the Prescott National Forest through an alternative room-and-board program called A Place Beyond.

Joy Reeves was recently admitted to the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment. She will begin the graduate Master of Environmental Management program in Fall 2021!

Gillian Sanford became a brother of Alpha Kappa Psi, the oldest and largest business fraternity to date. She has continued to work as a front desk supervisor at the outdoor pool on campus, and plans on returning to UnitedHealth Group as an intern this summer.

2019 As the movement against racial injustice erupted in summer 2020, Tony Diallo started a series of forums on Zoom where he and other young people could share their perspectives on social and political issues, ranging from defunding the police to the presidential elections.

COVID-19 and worldwide stay-at-home orders altered Joshua Joseph’s slalom kayaking training and competition schedule in 2020. After completing winter training in Australia, Joshua found himself back at home and unable to return to Europe. However, in June, Joshua was granted permission to live and train in SPRING 2021

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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.

Andrew Harrington Class of 1998

Drew Harrington died Oct. 28, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Molly; mother, Candy Harrington; brother, Rob ’95; sister-in-law, Stacie; nieces, Maddie and Abby Harrington; and his dog, Kelsie. While at St. Andrew’s, Drew was involved in student government and had great artistic talent. His former teachers remember him as being a great friend to his classmates and an enjoyable student to teach.There will be an outdoor celebration of Drew’s life in summer 2021.

Mary Jane Puckett

Former faculty and great-grandparent of a current student

Mary Jane Puckett died March 23, 2021.

Mary Jane helped with the merger of St. Andrew’s and St. Francis Episcopal Day School in 2008, and served as the Interim Head of the Lower School.

Throughout the years, Mary Jane also taught and served at many other independent schools in the Washington, D.C. region. Mary Jane’s greatgrandaughter, Clara Jane Gomez, is a current sixth grader at St. Andrew’s.

Mary Jane died peacefully at home and in the company of her family.

Slovenia alongside the Slovenia National Team where he lived with three other members of the U.S Slalom Kayak Team. Over the summer of 2020, Joshua competed in two World Cup races and several Slovenian National competitions.

In both World Cup races Joshua finished in the top 10 and in the Solkan Open, Joshua finished first in U23 and 3rd place overall. In March, Joshua returned to the U.S. to begin training for the first phase of 2021 Olympic Trials, which will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina in April. The second phase of Olympic Trials will be associated with the first World Cup race in Prague in June. He plans to compete in the World Cup Circuit this summer and begin his freshman year at Lehigh University in the fall!

Cordell Pugh is a sophomore at Denison University studying Global Health. When he’s able to return to studying on campus, he looks forward to resuming volunteering as an EMT for the Granville Township Fire Department. In the meantime, Cordell maintains his Twitter account, @CordellTraffic, to report Montgomery County, Maryland traffic news, and has amassed more than 1,000 followers.

Cordell has also scored a freelance news reporting job with The MoCoShow.

2020 Annabel Resor took part in an experiential learning program in Bundoran, Co. Donegal, Ireland.

Cordell Pugh ‘19 is a sophomore at Denison University studying Global Health.

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Tony Diallo ‘19 started a series of forums on Zoom where he and other young people could share their perspectives on social and political issues.

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Murray Simpson, Jr.

Parent and grandparent of alums

Murray Stophlet Simpson, Jr. died July 28, 2020. Murray and his wife, Cora, are one of the “founding families” of St. Andrew’s. Murray is survived by his wife, Cora; sons, Walker (Lauren) of Kensington, Maryland and Scott (Jane) of Corrales, NM; grandchildren, Catherine (Dylan), Quinn, Ben, Walker, Caroline, and William; and greatgrandson, Charles. He is also survived by his brother, Edmund.

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Annabel Resor ‘20 enjoying the view in Ireland.

“St. Andrew’s provided a fine education for our sons, Graham and Christopher, but more importantly, it helped form them into young men with good values, sound judgment and generous hearts. St. Andrew’s enduring legacy will forever be the leavening of our world with individuals who make a difference for good. We hope that our legacy to the school will help to strengthen and preserve this unique and wonderful institution.”

— Fran and Carter Keithley Former Board member and parents of Graham ’99 and Chris ’00

The Jess Borg Society If you have decided to include St. Andrew’s in your estate plans, we would like to show you our appreciation by including you as a member of The Jess Borg Society, an honorary designation named for our founding Head of School.

Members are invited to the annual spring Lions Pride dinner with the Head of School and Chair of the Board, and are recognized in school publications.

Office of Planned Giving | 301.983.4725 | jessborgsociety@saes.org SPRING 2021

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save the date

HOMECOMING & REUNION OCTOBER 16, 2021 We’re excited to safely welcome alumni to

campus this fall! We will celebrate alumni in

milestone reunion years ending in 0,1,5 and 6.

See page 60 for more information.

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