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[ Back to index of September articles ] Taking its place among
Episcopal schools Since its beginnings in the basement of a Lutheran Church, St. Andrew's Episcopal School has known what it is like to be an underdog. But 25 years later, the question is no longer whether the school will survive, but whether this lightly-endowed upstart, that has never measured success by the number of its Ivy League alumni, can claim a place among the best private schools in the Washington area. St. Andrew's, which enrolls 450 students in grades six through 12, was founded in large measure for children who had attended Episcopal elementary schools, but either couldn't afford the prestigious schools on the Cathedral close - St. Alban's School for Boys and the National Cathedral School for Girls - couldn't get in, or wanted a co-educational experience. It grew steadily, leaving the basement of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in 1978, for the roomier confines of the old North Bethesda Junior High School before settling into its current 19-acre campus in Potomac six years ago.
Despite its growth, St. Andrew's was regarded by many in the intensely competitive private school marketplace, as a "safety school," a place students applied to as a back-up, in case they didn't get into Maret, Landon, Sidwell Friends, Holton Arms or one of the schools on the close. In the past few years, however, that has begun to change. "I think it is getting more of a name for itself," says Suzanne Nichols, dean of the National Presbyterian School in northwest Washington. Her school ends at grade six, and she estimates that about three-quarters of its students apply to St. Andrew's. "It just keeps improving. I think the quality of the academics has increased greatly in the last, say, six years." "In the past we have been a second or a third choice," says Robert Kosasky, who became headmaster last year. "We're still that to some people, but we are a first choice to more." What makes St. Andrew's appealing, he says, is its blend of the classic liberal arts curriculum and rigorous requirements found in traditional school with the nurturing atmosphere and openness to diverse learning styles that characterize progressive schools. "Achievement and excellence can be nourished in an environment that is not overwhelmingly pressured and unhealthy for kids," Kosasky says. During the years that St. Andrew's did not attract large numbers of students who put up top scores on standardized admissions tests, it made a virtue of necessity, becoming a school geared to the well-rounded individual. "You might have a girl who needs extra help in English, but she's a terrific mathematician, she's a star on the soccer team, and plays the cello," he says. St. Andrew's is also distinctive among top-tier private schools for its openness to students with learning disabilities. Kosasky estimates that one in five students has a learning disability. "I think it makes us a better school," he says. "Our teachers know how to teach a broad range of learners." Amanda Freeman, who has taught history at St. Andrew's for four years, says the key to the school's success is the faculty's involvement in student's lives. "Teachers at St. Andrew's will really pursue a kid," she says. "They will go after a child and say, 'What can I do? How can we fix this?' Kids are not left to sink or swim on their own." The Rev. John Thomas, the school's chaplain, agrees that close faculty-student relationships are among the school's greatest strengths. An average class size of 15 helps make this possible. "When kids say what they like best about the school," he says, "they say, I know my teachers and my teachers know me." Before the rise of its academic reputation, St. Andrew's was best known for its extensive arts curriculum. The school offers 30 courses per year in visual and performing arts, and both the middle and upper schools put on two plays each year. "The founders of the school felt that fully developed human beings enjoyed self expression through art," says Roy Barber, chairman of the performing arts department, who has taught at St. Andrew's for 16 years, and been nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards. "The people who were hired were working artists. All of us have a creative life in the community." The school also is distinctive because of its religious affiliation. Students attend a school-wide worship service, usually Morning Prayer, each Wednesday, and Thomas guides St. Andrew's spiritual life with the help of a student vestry. Not quite one-third of the students at St. Andrew's are Episcopalians, and the vestry includes students of several faiths. "We could soft peddle our Episcopal identity to make ourselves attractive to more people, but the idea of putting spirituality off to one side is never on the table," Thomas says. As a result, he says, students learn the rhythms of the liturgical seasons, the ways in which faith and reason are mutually reinforcing, and develop a capacity for moral reflection. In addition, all St. Andrew's students complete 120 hours of community service during high school, half of those during a service-oriented trip at the end of senior year. "I think there are people who come to see the school for other reasons, but what they have learned through their children is the value of being a true Episcopal school," Kosasky says. "Matters of religion and faith are not boxed narrowly into religion class." For all its emphasis on creating a caring and inclusive community, St. Andrew's sometimes struggles to live up to its own standards. This is especially true in achieving economic and racial diversity. Tuition is about $20,000, and only 10 percent of the students receive financial aid. During the last school year, only 3 percent of the student body was black, and only 3 percent was Hispanic. The school has begun to make progress on this front, however. Twenty-seven percent of the students offered admission for 2003-04 were minorities, according to Dona Weingarten, dean of students in middle school. Kosasky lists increasing the school's diversity and building its endowment as two of his most urgent tasks. One indication of St. Andrew's success is its ability to help its graduates find appropriate colleges. The emphasis, Kosasky says, is on finding each student the best fit. In recent years St. Andrew's graduates have been accepted at large state institutions such as the University of Maryland and at Ivy League schools such as Dartmouth and Penn. But its placement record is characterized by liberal arts colleges such as Bates, Bryn Mawr, Kenyon, Washington University in St. Louis and the College of William and Mary. A better indication of the school's success, Thomas, says, is the gratitude of students' parents. "I think that deep down, parents hope for their kids to be known and appreciated in the same ways that they know and appreciate them. That's what happens here. And I think it gives them great delight." For more information, visit the school's Web site at www.saes.org. Contact Jim Naughton at jnaughton@edow.org [ Back to index of September articles ]
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