St. Andrew's Episcopal School (Maryland)

St. Andrew's Episcopal School is a coeducational college preparatory independent school for preschool, beginning at age two, through grade twelve. St. Andrew's is located at 8804 Postoak Road, Potomac, Maryland, in Montgomery County. As of 2020, total enrollment is 654. The student to faculty ratio is 7:1.[1]

This article is about the school in Maryland. For the school in Texas, see St. Andrew's Episcopal School (Texas).
St. Andrew's Episcopal School
Location
Potomac
,
Maryland

U.S.
Coordinates39°2′46″N 77°10′35″W
Information
School typePrivate
MottoAuctus Mentis Spiritusque
(The Increase of Mind and Spirit)
DenominationEpiscopal
EstablishedSeptember 1978 (1978-09)
HeadmasterSally Mapstone
ChaplainThe Rev. James Isaacs and the Rev. Sally Slater
GradesPreschool through 12
Enrollment654[1] (2020)
Campus size19.2 acres (7.8 ha)
Campus typeSuburban
Color(s)Red and white
Team nameLions
Websitewww.saes.org

Academics

The school operates on trimesters. Students in grades 6–12 attend on average four classes per day. Upper School and Middle School students take five major academic courses per year – English, History, Language, Mathematics, and Science. Religion, art (visual and performing) and athletics are required at least one trimester per year.

In 2011, the school founded The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL), a professional development program for its faculty which develops's the school's curriculum. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative contributed $1 million to this effort.[2]

Begun in 1998, the Oral History project, the signature academic program in the Upper School, houses one of the largest pre-collegiate collection of oral histories in North America.[3]

The school is a member of College Entrance Examination Board, Cum Laude Society, National Association of College Admissions Counseling, National Association of Independent Schools, National Association of Episcopal Schools, and Potomac & Chesapeake Association of College Admissions Counseling. It is fully accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland Schools, Maryland State Department of Education, and Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Advanced Placement classes are available in fourteen disciplines.

In April 2020, the school was among the dozens in the Washington, DC area which met the legal criteria for and received an unspecified amount in federally backed small business loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The school received scrutiny over this loan, which was meant to protect small and private businesses. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted that the schools should return the money.[4][5]

Campus

Postoak

The 20-acre (8.1-hectare) Postoak campus is approximately 15 miles (24 km) from the District of Columbia. It serves age 2 to grade 12. The Postoak campus was originally Clagett Farm and later the campus of Harker Preparatory School. The original farmhouse, constructed in 1810, was preserved and renamed Kiplinger House. It is home to the Admission, Advancement, and Business Officers. MacDonald Hall, a multi-purpose theater/assembly/lunch space, features a stage and light/sound booth and seating for approximately 400. In the Main Building, there are classrooms, laboratories, two studios for the visual arts, including ceramics wheels and a kiln, and a darkroom. The two libraries (Lower and Middle/Upper) hold 20,000 volumes and two design labs offer makerspace with tools including a laser cutter, 3D printer, and router.

In September 2016, a 43,000 square feet (4,000 square metres) Student Center opened. The facility contains two gyms, a fitness center, a dance studio, student commons, and a café. In fall of 2019, a new 34,000 square feet (3,200 square metres)Lower School building opened serving students age 2 through fifth grade, bringing all St. Andrew's students to one campus.

Two athletic fields with all-weather synthetic FieldTurf are used for softball, baseball, lacrosse and soccer. They were resurfaced in the summer of 2020 and dugouts were added for softball and baseball, along with new scoreboards for both Hope Field and Brumbaugh Field.

Past campuses

The school currently has one campus. It previously operated a lower school on River Road. Its original home (1978–1979) was Pilgrim Lutheran Church before moving to the Clara Barton School (1979-1981) and then North Bethesda Junior High, known as the Bradmoor Campus (1981–1998).

Demographics

In 2017, 16% of the students were of the Episcopal faith.[6]

Athletics

Students can choose to participate in varsity and junior varsity sports as well as several non-competitive physical education options. The school fields 52 interscholastic teams, including 19 Middle School teams and 33 JV and varsity teams, in 14 different sports. More than 250 Upper School students participate on these teams, with several students participating in two or three seasons.

St. Andrew's has interscholastic teams in soccer, volleyball, cross country, basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, golf, indoor track, equestrian, swimming and track and field. St. Andrew's also offers fitness, dance and other non-competitive athletic options.

The girls' varsity teams compete in the Independent School League (ISL), and the boys' varsity teams compete in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAC).

Arts

St. Andrew's has an arts program that is integrated throughout the preschool through grade 12 curricula. Upper and Middle School students can take part in musicals, plays, jazz band, symphonic rock orchestra, chorus, a capella, dance concerts, art assemblies, physical performance skills, improvisation and a talent show. Visual artists can take ceramics, studio art, advanced art and portfolio development, digital design, drawing, painting and photography. In 2018 the school won awards at the Music in the Parks competition and one student won the National Science Foundation's Generation Nano art competition.[7] The school has produced award-winning performers including comedienne Whitney Cummings and Tony Award-winning playwright Steven Levenson (“Dear Evan Hansen”).

Extra-curricular

Trips

Each year, students from all grades make use of the cultural and historical resources of the greater Washington, DC area. The 6th, 7th and 8th graders participate in fall trips to such places as the Chesapeake Bay, Camp Varsity, Calleva and Horizon. Upper School sports teams often travel during the fall preseason, Winter Break, and Spring Break.

Every year there are opportunities for trips abroad through different academic departments. St. Andrew's has long-standing partnerships with the Bokamoso Youth Centre in Winterveld, South Africa and is a partner school with Christ Roi School in Civol, Haiti. Students in the Upper School have the opportunity to travel there every year on service learning trips. Upper School students also have other travel opportunities, such as Egypt, Spain, Colombia and Chicago. The Middle School also offers trips from time to time during spring break. In 2017, Middle School students had the opportunity to visit Hawaii.

Clubs

Each week there is a designated period during the school day when students can participate in clubs of their choice. Clubs are run by students and in 2019, there were more than eighty club offerings.

Notable alumni

References
  1. "Private School Universe Survey". NCES. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  2. Schwartz, Sarah (November 14, 2018). "The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Wants Teachers to Learn Brain Science". Education Week. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  3. "St. Andrews Episcopal students work to record history". www.gazette.net. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  4. "Think Twice, Mnuchin Tells Prep Schools Seeking Virus Loans". nytimes.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. "Elite Prep Schools, Set Back by Virus, Face a Quandary on Federal Aid". nytimes.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020. St. Andrew’s, in Potomac, which reported a roughly $9 million endowment in a 2017 tax filing, said it would put the money toward salaries “to ensure retention of our full faculty and staff, including hourly employees and coaches, during this very challenging and uncertain time.”
  6. Bailey, Sarah Pulliam (May 25, 2017). "Melania Trump is Catholic, she confirms after Vatican visit". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2017. [...]St. Andrew's Episcopal, a prep school in Potomac, Md., where just 16 percent of its students are Episcopalian.
  7. "Generation Nano | National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  8. "Q&A with Pierre Omidyar, '84". St. Andrew's Episcopal School - MD. 13 September 2016.
  9. Farhi, Paul (16 October 2013). "Ebay founder's next venture: funding watchdog journalism". Washington Post.
  10. "Q&A with Whitney Cummings '00". St. Andrew's Episcopal School - MD. 19 July 2018.
  11. "Homecoming Queen of Comedy: Whitney Cummings, Sidney Harman Hall". Express. Washington Post. May 12, 2010.
  12. "A Hunger to Learn: Alumnae connect on food and faith through mentorship". St. Andrew's Episcopal School - MD. 11 October 2017.
  13. "Dear Steven Levenson: How a St. Andrew's alumnus constructed a Tony Award-winning musical". St. Andrew's Episcopal School - MD. 30 May 2018.
  14. Rodgers, Bethany (12 June 2017). "Playwright Raised in Bethesda Wins Tony Award for Work on Acclaimed Musical". Bethesda Magazine.
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