Volunteer Spotlight

Ed Zunzunegui

Joined St. Martin’s community:

2015-2016

Volunteer Areas:

• Fall Festival • St. Martin’s

Fund • Capital

Campaign • Classroom parent • Parent Council

When did your family become part of the St. Martin’s community?

We were researching schools for our son Aaron in late 2014, and St. Martin’s wasn’t on our initial list until we had a chance conversation with our friends the Leiters. After a meeting with Blythe Marsau, a tour of the school and Aaron’s visit, we were convinced this was the right school for him and us. Aaron was enrolled for Pre-K for the 2015-16 school year and is currently a 3rd grader.

In what capacities have you volunteered at SMES (in and out of the classroom)?

My first unofficial volunteer position with the school was as an out-sourced contract laborer working for my wife, who was the co-chair of the SMES Fall Festival for two years starting in 2016. My next engagement was with the St. Martin’s Fund as a volunteer in 2017, helping to contact families and educate them on the need for the Fund to bridge the gap between tuition and expenses and how their contributions help all the kids. Then, in 2018, Tina Haas asked if I would chair the St. Martin’s Fund for the 2018/2019 school year. Knowing the new building capital campaign was also that year, I asked Roger House, Chair of the “Together We Rise” capital campaign, if I could help him too. Wanting also to be more engaged with Aaron’s class in 2017, I volunteered as a classroom parent representative. The 2019-20 school year is now my third term on Dr. McPherson’s Elementary School Parent Council.

Why is fundraising for St. Martin’s important to you and your family?

As with a lot of families, when we came to a private school, we were unaware of the need for fundraising to help support operating costs and school programs that affect all students. Realizing that keeping tuition competitive is key to the school, the St. Martin’s Fund contributes funds to support the current school year to meet budget goals. To us, the funds ensure the school meets and exceeds its mission to create well-rounded students who are teedup for lifelong learning. The money helps fund new technology, 20 different sports programs, an award-winning speech and drama program, field and class trips, teacher professional development, and many other essential things that make St. Martin’s such a special place for our children.

What makes St. Martin’s special to you and your family?

The answer is simple: the way the teachers and staff mentor, treat, love, and educate our son is why we love St. Martin’s.

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STEAM Lab Outdoor Space THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ELEMENTARY

Thanks to donations from the St. Martin’sTogether We Rise capital campaign, the Elementary STEAM Lab’s outdoor space has a whole new look! The existing space boasts a new awning and has been expanded and equipped with a rain barrel, garden beds, all-weather benches, outdoor storage and plenty of space for 2nd through 5th graders to engage in hands-on, STEAM-based learning.

Garage Door 1

A garage door provides seamless flow between the STEAM Lab’s indoor and outdoor spaces. This feature effectively doubles the space available for ES scientists to research, experiment and build their STEAM projects.

Shade Structure

The new colorful shade structure allows students to spend quality time outdoors throughout the school year, unimpeded by the weather. The awning also functions as the vital first step in the lab’s water recycling system. Its sloped, v-shape design channels rainwater toward a chain that then transports the water into a rain barrel.

Rain Barrel

The barrel can collect and store 470 gallons of rainwater! The water is then reused to help grow the STEAM Lab’s gardens and plays a vital role in science experiments. For example, 3rd-grade students test the water’s acidity as part of their pollution unit.

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Gardens

A vertical garden and planter boxes, nurtured by 2ndand 3rd-grade green thumbs, fill the outdoor space with natural growth. After careful research, St. Martin’s 2nd graders constructed the vertical herb garden using repurposed plastic bottles and 3rd graders populated the planter boxes with a variety of lettuces.

All-Weather Benches

Fourth- and 5th-grade students kicked off their year with a STEAM challenge to design and build benches that now serve as the space’s all-weather furniture. The benches can be rearranged as needed to accommodate an array of activities ranging from reading research articles to experiments that involve messy chemical reactions, such as the “Elephant Toothpaste” experiment.

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What is STEAM?

A STEAM curriculum leverages relational learning to help students develop their problem-solving skills within a framework of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. STEAM initiatives at St. Martin’s begin early and build in complexity with each grade level.

in the Footsteps of Jesus Walking

by KEVIN BALDESARE

SMES RELIGION TEACHER

s a religion teacher at St. Martin’s, I was honored to receive a scholarship through my church, Oak Grove United Methodist, to go on the trip of a lifetime to Israel last summer. I’ve heard from many people about the impact of taking a life-changing trip, and I was ecstatic to be chosen to do just that. But as excited as I was to travel to Israel and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, nothing could have prepared me for the influence this journey would have on my life and how I teach religion at St. Martin’s. It was a professional development opportunity like no other. A

The 10-day trek across Israel was both exhausting and exhilarating. I was part of a group of 40 on this whirlwind tour that began each day bright and early on a bus heading to various locations around the country for day-long adventures. We spent one night near Caesarea Philippi, five nights next to the Sea of Galilee and the last four nights in the capital city of Jerusalem. Each day as we stepped off the bus at a destination, our tour guide would tell us if we were at a “traditional site” or an “X marks the spot” site. A “traditional site” is a place where Christians have traditionally said Jesus taught a lesson or performed a miracle, but an “X marks the spot” site indicates a known spot where Jesus literally stood.

As I was preparing for the trip, my anticipation grew for the visit to Jesus’s birthplace at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. However, on the day of the tour, I was surprised to find that the location of Jesus’ birth was very crowded and touristy and not nearly as reverent as what I was expecting. I was hoping to have time to reflect and meditate in awe of where I was standing yet the touristy nature of the location did not lend itself to making it a memorable experience. But, just as life sometimes throws curveballs, oftentimes they come with silver linings. Our next destination was the Chapel of the Shepherd’s Field, where the Bible says angels first announced the birth of Christ. The church was beautiful, and it stood in the middle of a field where shep

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BUT AS EXCITED AS I WAS TO TRAVEL TO ISRAEL AND TO WALK IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS, NOTHING

COULD HAVE PREPARED ME FOR THE INFLUENCE THIS JOURNEY WOULD HAVE ON MY LIFE AND HOW I TEACH RELIGION AT ST. MARTIN’S.

herds STILL watch over sheep. And as we admired the beauty of this church while the Announcement Story was read aloud, our tour guide told us to look in the distance to our right. And what did we see? The Church of the Nativity! From where we stood we could see the place where Jesus was born, and from this vista, it was breathtaking, and we all stood in joyful silence.

In addition to Bethlehem, we visited the “Steps of Jesus” in ancient Jerusalem. These steps chronicle Jesus’ route after the Last Supper as he walked to the Garden of Gethsemane and back to the city where he was then arrested. This powerful experience of seeing the actual path that Jesus and his disciples walked helped me to understand that when the guards arrived with torches to arrest Jesus he would have seen them coming. He had the choice to run away from the arresting mob but chose not to. The realization of Jesus’ incredible courage overwhelmed me.

We ended our trip by visiting an “X marks the spot” location at the Sea of Galilee. We boarded a boat and ventured out onto the calm and still water to take in the scene. There was only one other boat on the lake, and I was surprised to realize how small the Sea of Galilee actually is – it’s more like Lake Lanier! In all the depictions of Jesus walking on water, he appears to be in the middle of the ocean. But the reality is that regardless of where you stand around the Sea of Galilee, you can always see the other side. The impact of seeing the geography helped me to understand how Jesus’ message spread so quickly in that area. When Jesus was preaching or performing miracles, rumors would have spread very quickly from town to town surrounding that small body of water.

When I showed my students pictures of the Sea of Galilee alongside depictions of Jesus walking on water, they were able to have their own “aha” moment. My photos and experiences have been very useful in answering questions and challenging assumptions that arise when students are unfamiliar with the geography of a Biblical location. I have enjoyed watching their faces light up with understanding as stories they are familiar with, like those surrounding Christmas and Easter, are colored in with added meaning.

My journey to the Holy Land allowed the scriptures to come alive and provide context beyond anything I’ve ever learned. The trip was akin to reading the stories of Jesus in 3D, where every detail forced me to take notice. The experience made me fall in love with Jesus and the Bible and that love has been a powerful support to my role as a religion teacher here at SMES. When the Bible comes alive to us we can come alive too and realize that the stories of Jesus are the same stories that comprise our everyday lives when we call people to justice, ask for forgiveness and share our love in real places in today’s world. I am honored to have these experiences to share with St. Martin’s children as part of my teaching curriculum. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus was more than I ever imagined and as a result, I’m everchanged.

Advancing Our Mission

Through PHILANTHROPY

A Year to Celebrate at St. Martin’s!

by TINA HAAS

DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

St. Martin’s began its 60th school year by celebrating the successful completion of the Together We Rise $5.5 million capital campaign! The campaign completely transformed the Early Childhood learning experience with a new building that doubled the space to create a state-of-theart learning center for our youngest students. The campaign also expanded and improved the Elementary School science lab, replaced the green turf play space, and constructed classrooms for the new Kairos Learning Center program.

The Together We Rise campaign demonstrates both the resilience of the St. Martin’s community in overcoming a devastating loss of the building due to the July 4, 2017 arson and the visionary leadership of school administration and the Board of Trustees. It raised $5.5 million with support from more than 340 donors and countless hours from the campaign cabinet and other campaign volunteers. Now, the impact of the campaign is felt every day through student experiences and their love for learning which is instilled by St. Martin’s teachers.

Warrior Hall funded by the Partners in Spirit campaign in 1997

The Hendon Challenge raised more than $340,000 to establish St. Martin’s Speech and Drama program. A history of giving The latest addition to the St. Martin’s campus is one of many transformational changes that have occurred over the history of the school. Following the introduction of the Middle School to St. Martin’s in the early 1990s, the campus has grown strategically through capital campaigns. In 1997, the church and school together launched the Partners in Spirit campaign to accommodate the growth of the school. The campaign funded the creation of Warrior Hall as a dedicated building for the school that was separate from the church. Warrior Hall housed students from 1st through 8th grades, provided a gymnasium, allowed for a dedicated library space, and introduced the commons which gave students and teachers a dedicated lunchroom. As the campus expanded, so did the school’s programs and the need for a major gifts campaign arose. In 2003, St. Martin’s trustees conducted a special campaign, known as The Hendon Challenge, which raised more than $340,000 to establish St. Martin’s Speech and Drama program and to add Spanish to its foreign language offerings.

Middle School building funded by the Time to Grow campaign in 2012

In 2012, the Time to Grow capital campaign was completed, raising more than $6.6 million to build the Middle School building and make improvements to Warrior Hall. As a result, the Early Childhood, Elementary School and Middle School students began attending classes in their own dedicated state-of-theart spaces designed specifically for their respective age groups. Independent schools traditionally rely on special capital campaigns from time to time to fund strategic needs not covered by annual tuition and fees. St. Martin’s is no exception and school leaders work hard to plan for growth and expansion of programming and facilities at a pace that’s in line with the Atlanta market, parent suggestions and the strategic vision of the school administration and Board of Trustees. In fact, philanthropy (voluntary support) plays a critical role in providing the margin of excellence in St. Martin’s facilities and programs that help prepare our graduates to be successful in life beyond St. Martin’s.

The St. Martin’s Fund The annual fundraising campaign for The St. Martin’s Fund helps make up the gap between tuition and the actual cost of educating St. Martin’s students. Every year, we ask the St. Martin’s community – families, grandparents, trustees, faculty and staff, alumni and others – to contribute to The St. Martin’s Fund. While it generally amounts to less than five percent of the annual budget, this support has an oversized impact on the programming that makes St. Martin’s special. The effect of this annual fundraising initiative can be seen in tangible ways such as opportunities to play nine different sports, an exceptional STEAM@ SMES program, and funding for many of the outstanding field trips available to students. Utilizing annual fund dollars to support these kinds of initiatives allows for exceptional programming and helps to limit tuition increases. Every year, we ask the St. Martin’s community to contribute to The St. Martin’s Fund.

Early Childhood treehouse and playground funded by the Together We Rise campaign in 2019

Paying it forward Many former St. Martin’s families have given generously to capital campaigns for buildings that their children would never use because they believe in the mission of St. Martin’s and have already seen their own children thrive in high school and beyond as a result of the foundation provided by a St. Martin’s education. Of course, while their children were students, they benefitted from facilities that were built thanks to the generosity of others before them. Long-standing members of both the church and school communities have supported every capital campaign, and many continue to give annually to The St. Martin’s Fund. Every year, the school continues to be grateful for every parent, grandparent, alumni, faculty, staff, and friend of the school whose financial support helps to make St. Martin’s an institution of excellence and supports the mission of educating the whole child. Contributions are both an investment in current SMES students – and toward generations of students yet to come. It is in the spirit of community that St. Martin’s fundraising efforts are conducted. A small staff supports committed leaders and volunteers who are willing to give and ask others to do the same, and who understand that philanthropic support of the community is what enables St. Martin’s Episcopal School to provide a quality education in a loving Christian environment to foster lifelong learning. From state-of-the-art facilities to exceptional programs, St. Martin’s student success is seen in and out of the classroom every day. This collective evidence supports the critical role and transformational impact of philanthropy at St. Martin’s and underscores the need for annual giving efforts as a foundation for success.

$5.5 MILLION RAISED

Some facts about Together We Rise

n 340 donors supported the Together We Rise campaign.

n The Board of Trustees gave a record amount to Together We Rise.

n SMES faculty and staff donated close to $100,000.

n Parents and grandparents donated more than $1.5 million.

n The PTO helps the school in countless ways, and made the single largest commitment to this effort.

n St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church and several non-SMES parent parishioners supported the campaign.

n Four corporations gave a total of $125,000.

n Even a few students donated!

Because of this support, we were able to go to local foundations who said they’d help take us to the finish line if we ran most of the race. Well, we did and they did – with grants totaling nearly $1 million!