in the
middle of
St. Andrew’s School takes full advantage of our home state of Delaware, situated near the geographic center of the eastern seaboard of the United States. Blissfully sprawled in Middletown, Del., on 2,200 acres of forest, open fields, wetlands, and farmland, St. Andrew’s is home to Noxontown Pond, which covers nearly 158 acres, and Silver Lake, both 18th-century millponds situated at the headwaters of the Appoquinimink River. Once you’re here, you’ll see just how hard it is to walk away from our gorgeous natural home. When we do, though, whether to go on a quick trip with friends to charming downtown Middletown, a weekend excursion to soak up history and culture at nearby big cities, or even to catch some rays at the Delaware beaches, nothing beats the joy of coming home to St. Andrew’s.
PLACES, PLEASE
Step one: Open the door to your dorm room. Step two: walk outside. Welcome to the Front Lawn, your very own 7,000-square-foot waterfront, where you can kayak, canoe, SUP, swim, stargaze, bond, play, sing, dance, and so much more—the adventure is all your (and your friends’) making.
Historic downtown Middletown offers cozy coffee shops, bakeries, eateries, gift shops, and more. Check out The Everett Theatre, which you might recognize from its starring role in Dead Poets Society. (History buff? George Washington was a big fan of the Witherspoon Tavern, now called Sully’s.)
New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., the Delaware beaches, and more are all within a two-hour drive from St. Andrew’s.
EVERYTHING
your looking for are you
We’ve found them. And guess what? They’ve been looking for you, too. The magic of St. Andrew’s is our 100 percent boarding community—we all live here. Your teachers, your coaches, your advisor, your head of school—we all choose to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. As one of only three co-ed, all-boarding schools in the nation, St. Andrew’s offers you the opportunity of an inspiring journey very few will experience. Here, we build family. We build culture. We help build each other. And on the weekends, we have the free time to show off what we spend every day working to foster—an inclusive, kind, joyful, fun, brave, all-in kind of community anchored by adults who support you and are here to help you every second of the day.
THAT BOARDING-SCHOOL LIFE
The boys dorms are located in the upper levels of Founders Hall, our original campus building constructed in 1929. The girls dorms are clustered together within our compact campus footprint.
Third, IV, and V Form students live together, and seniors, our VI Form students, live across all dorms as surrogate big siblings. Their job is to support and lead their underformer family on dorm, as well as serve as a go-to for anything one of their residents might need, from a wake up call in the morning, to friendship advice in the afternoon, to a chat about the mysteries of the universe or a bedtime story before lights out.
All-in applies to weekends, too. We show up for our friends at their athletic games and performances, settle in for a bonfire or deejay a dance, hit the food trucks in Admissions Circle, explore yummy cheese shops in Philadelphia with Cheese Club, ride a mechanical bull, sing at Open Mic night, and so much more.
PEOPLE?
We can’t think of anything more boring—or less intellectually stimulating—than only engaging in conversation with people who see the world precisely as you do. Since our founders, nearly 100 years ago, St. Andrew’s has chosen to open doors. When our founder, A. Felix duPont, set out to establish an Episcopal school, he saw endless institutions that put an exceptional education out of reach for most families. Instead, he chose the harder way, and founded a school that considers the true measure of each student, and not their family’s means. The result? An intentionally diverse community unlike any you’ll ever know.
how do you feel about a shift in
OPEN DOORS FOR ALL
Since our founding in 1929, St. Andrew’s has met 100 percent of the demonstrated need of all accepted students. Nearly half of our students receive financial support, with the average grant covering 70% of the cost of tuition.
Our commitment to socioeconomic diversity and opportunity benefits all students, whether they receive financial assistance or not.
PERSPECTIVE?
We believe in the joy of learning. We also believe the preparation for lives of meaning and purpose comes packaged in real human relationships. That’s why our faculty members figuratively and literally throw open windows and doors to help students learn to observe and listen carefully; to ask important questions; to create and critique; to hypothesize, test, and revise; and ultimately to debate, analyze, and solve problems. Students are equal partners in their learning, and their ambition and curiosity ignite our curriculum. Our goal is for students to graduate as independent citizens, ready and willing to do hard things, capable of original thought and critical analysis, empowered by intellectual curiosity, and equipped with habits of empathy, inquiry, and discipline.
lifelong building lovers of
LEARNING
A CLASS ACT
Take an astronomy course with an astrophysicist who researches active galaxies. Learn Latin from the editor of a peer-reviewed journal for classics educators in the country. Study poetry with the advisee of a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: our faculty members authentically do; you authentically learn.
We offer more than 130 courses each year as diverse as Modern Middle East History, Linear Algebra, Creative Writing, Hero’s Journey, Environmental Science, Nuclear Physics & Ethics, Cinematography, Civics, Robotics, and Advanced Study Calculus BC.
When classes are over the conversations continue in the Dining Hall, on the way to afternoon practices and games, and on dorm (sometimes late into the night, but shh!).
do you have the grit to
Here, we’re multisport athletes, and as a result, we are more complete athletes. We have the grit to grow across disciplines, and the courage to try and try again. Encouraging students to suit up anew each season leaves space for students to figure out how they’ll lead, how they’ll face adversity, and how they’ll be good teammates and good citizens. Here, you’re free to discover—and compete—in a sport you’ve never tried before, like squash or crew. Just don’t be surprised when the unknown becomes a passion. Or go all-in on sports you’ve been finessing for years and leave it all on our fields. We invite you to lean into your discomfort, push yourself to new heights, live the glory of sports, and let Saints athletics take you to the next level.
SAINTS ON THREE, FAMILY ON SIX
St. Andrew’s offers 22 teams across fall, winter, and spring. Thirty-three alumni are currently competing on DI or DIII college programs.
Seven alumni are Olympians, three have won gold. We work to be competitive in all sports, at all levels, and boast state and nationally ranked teams and athletes.
Our outdoor facilities include six miles of cross-country trails, five soccer fields, four lacrosse fields, two field hockey fields, a baseball diamond, practice and game football fields, and 11 tennis courts.
At the LEED-certified gold Sipprelle Field House, find three basketball and volleyball courts, an indoor track, cardio and strength-training centers, team rooms, and a sports medicine and rehab center.
The William G. Cameron Gymnasium includes nine squash courts, a wrestling room, an erg room, and a dance studio.
GROW?
The life that hums inside the Jon and Joan O’Brien Center for the Arts is powerful, bold, and passionate. As our alumni body bears out, the St. Andrew’s arts program nurtures the next Broadway line producers, breakthrough novelists, art disruptors, museum curators, illustrators, Grammy and Emmy nominees and winners, company dancers, editorial photographers, printmakers, and more. Whether it’s your first time picking up a paintbrush or the hundredth time you’ve laced up your pointe shoes, Saints work alongside, are encouraged by, and learn from professional artists.
you, but in
living COLOR
FIND YOUR VOICE
Students can explore the visual arts, dance, photography, filmmaking and editing, acting, singing, orchestra, jazz, dance, printmaking, and more.
In their senior year, students can “major” in a segment of our arts program, which includes your own studio space and time in your schedule to pursue your art.
Students can choose dance or theater as an afternoon activity; our theater program produces three plays and a musical each year.
All families are invited to immerse themselves in the creative pursuits of Saints during our annual Arts Weekend each spring, which celebrates all things art at St. Andrew’s.
hold the
When cell phones became popular in the late 1990s we asked students to leave them in their dorm rooms. Cell phones look a lot different today, but our culture has remained the same. We put down phones and pick up conversations. We’ve intentionally chosen what matters most: each other. Here, you will navigate each day without a cell phone in your hand or pocket. We do this to protect and cultivate our school culture, and prioritize the mental well-being of our students. De-emphasizing phones is the key to building relationships, holding perspective-changing conversations, freely trying new things, and authentically living in the moment. Our students love—and lead—our policy. In a world that is fractured and often remote, it takes enormous courage for young people to come together, give grace, put down their phones, show up in person, learn from each other, and take risks to grow.
THE GOLDEN RULE
Our “phone rule,” as students call it, is simply this: students leave their phones in their rooms at all times, except when off campus. Overnight, phones are securely stored in your dorm hallway.
We ask our parents to partner with us in continuing to cultivate our phone culture while students are home; helpful tips from our dean of students will be provided.
At first, students sometimes find it difficult to live their days without their phones, but soon feel the benefits; plus, everyone else is also happily phone free.
The “phone rule” is often the first topic young alumni want to talk about when they visit or we see them at St. Andrew’s events—particularly, how much they miss it.
PHONE
you’re never too old
You won’t find “Infinite Adventures 101” on your class schedule, but consider getting outside to be a required part of the St. Andrew’s curriculum. With a Front Lawn like ours, can you blame us? Part living laboratory and all fun, the Front Lawn is where your core memories load. This doorstep to Noxontown Pond is 7,000 square feet of ... well, whatever you’d like. Think of it as more than a lawn. It’s your classroom. It’s your escape. It’s your living room, just with better views and no TVs. The options are endless—a quick game of Spikeball before Spanish, an impromptu snowball fight, a celebratory leap into the pond, a game of fetch with a faculty pup, and so much more. Need a quieter escape? Grab a friend and hit the trails, where you’ll never see the same vista twice. Hike around the pond, watch the sunset from the fields, go exploring in the forest—you’ll find that much of your downtime and class time at St. Andrew’s will be spent outside, and you will be better for it.
GET OUTSIDE
Our 2,200 gorgeous acres of pond, trails, forests, and farmlands make us the largest high school campus in the nation.
Noxontown Pond is a living laboratory. It covers approximately 158 acres near the headwaters of the Appoquinimink River watershed. Generations of students have explored and studied the pond by canoe, rowboat, sailboat, muddy boot, or, a student favorite, the BioBarge.
So what does it feel like? Retired science teacher and St. Andrew’s historian William Amos published an article about our pond in National Geographic and had this to say: “On still summer mornings, I often walk the 50 yards from our home through the woods to the cove below. As the rising sun casts light upon the pond, I sense the stirrings of life evident only to those who will watch closely and listen patiently.” We encourage you to do both here with us.
We happily share our home with deer, foxes, beavers, eagles, hawks, herons, egrets, and turtles, among other wonderful wildlife. Looking for even more? St. Andrew’s is close enough for hikes and camping trips at state and national parks like Assateague Island National Seashore and sites along the Appalachian Trail.
to play OUTSIDE
We (really) like each other. Sounds simple enough, right? But our specific brand of radical kindness takes work and practice—work and practice we happen to relish. Students take the time to see and celebrate the good in each other. Students insist on being their true selves, and your friends will serve as your hype-crew as you undertake a St. Andrew’s journey of self-discovery and reflection unlike any other. By the time you graduate, there’s one thing you’ll know for sure: when you become a Saint, you become a Saint for life.
a culture of
HOW WE DO COMMUMITY
We gather as a full community in one space eight times each week: five family-style meals, two Chapel services, and at least one School Meeting.
As one of only three co-ed, 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S., we all experience St. Andrew’s together, especially on weekends, when we build community through all-school events and in creative and spontaneous ways aided by our phone-free culture and an all-in student body.
Our intentionally diverse community makes us stronger as we celebrate and learn from our differences each day, and also more formally through our Chapel program and by participating in cultural traditions and weekend activities hosted by our affinity groups, which are smaller communities of students who celebrate a shared identity.
We encourage and invite each other to try new things and find our voices, be it on a stage, in Chapel, or during daily announcements after family-style meals.
The community you will help build will transcend your time as a student at St. Andrew’s; the way we do things creates relationships for a lifetime.
KINDNESS
faith &
We are an Episcopal Church School, but our students come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. In addition to those from Episcopalian and other Protestant denominations, our community includes students of Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim faith, as well as students from no religious tradition at all. We gather twice weekly for services in the A. Felix duPont, Jr. Memorial Chapel, and we honor all, welcome all, and celebrate all who join us.
RADICAL HOSPITALITY
We practice radical hospitality and acceptance of others; we work to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” We demonstrate empathy, share compassion, foster generosity of spirit, and build courage.
We come together as a faith community to recognize and affirm our common humanity.
Both our Chapel program and our community service program are rooted in our need for deep contemplation of our values and our desire to share generously with those less fortunate. In all of our pursuits, we aim to instill in our students a reverence for the humanity in each of us, and a sense of personal responsibility to use their talents now, and throughout their lives, to serve others and the world.
LEARNING
what happens beyond the
St. Andrew’s is a lifelong community. When Commencement comes around, that bittersweet day where we say goodbye to our senior class and send them out into a world that needs them, our students are more than prepared for their next academic challenge and beyond. You will find Saints in almost every occupation, and in almost every corner of the world, often connecting with each other through our powerful alumni network. Our liberal arts curriculum instills habits of citizenship, curiosity, creativity, and independent critical thinking, which, combined with a student life program that promotes leadership, collaboration, and empathy, prepares our students to pursue lives of meaning and purpose. Saints are built to do the hard—and right—things.
SAINTS IN THE WORLD
The world’s most selective colleges seek St. Andrew’s students for their intellectual engagement, leadership, initiative, and potential to make a positive impact on their campuses.
Our alumni share common values and pursue a wide array of different careers, from Oscar-winning filmmakers, journalists, authors, artists, and James Beard Award-winning chefs to pediatric surgeons, non-profit founders, teachers and scholars, professional athletes, and admirals in the U.S. Navy.
More than 20 alumni currently serve as faculty members at St. Andrew’s, returning to the place that ignited their passion for teaching and mentorship, including our Head of School Joy McGrath ’92.
No matter how far they roam, Saints join together at annual celebrations held around the world each April, return home each June for Reunion Weekend, and catch up at planned (and unplanned) gatherings year round. Saints love connecting and discovering how their individual and collective growth through life have only made their bonds stronger.
POND?
