Patterns
SUMMER
2017
The Magazine of St. Martin’s Episcopal School
Good luck and Godspeed:
SMES’ Class of 2017
INSIDE Welcome Dr. Ottley • Active Learning
STEAM in Kindergarten • Winter/Spring Sports Wrap-Up Volunteer Spotlight • Alumni News
summer camp LAST CALL FOR
july sessions still available
Summer camps at St. Martin’s Episcopal School provide a variety of child-centered activities focusing on skill building, learning and lots of fun! We offer one-week sessions specializing in the following activities and much more. Check online for a full list. • Tennis • Dance • Engineering • Server design • Soccer • Art • Film making • Academic brush-up • Volleyball • Fashion • Comedy • Minecraft • Cheer • Typing • LEGO • Computer design Enrollment at St. Martin’s Episcopal School is not required to attend.
Rising Pre-K through 8th Grade For more information, visit: stmartinschool.org/campus_life/summer or email mmcdaniel@stmartinschool.org stmartinschool.org 3110-A Ashford Dunwoody Road, Brookhaven, GA 30319 | 404-237-4260
explore
before and after school
St. Martin’s offers much more beyond the regular school day through our Explorers before- and after-school childcare and enrichment program. Children meet after school where they enjoy a snack and some social time before working on homework or going to the library or computer lab. Teachers supervise games, sports, outdoor play and other activities for the remainder of the afternoon. Parents also may select from a menu of after school Enrichment Classes including arts & crafts, music, dance, karate, golf and more. At St. Martin’s, parents know that each child is in a safe, friendly and comfortable environment.
Rising Pre-K through 8th Grade For more information, visit: stmartinschool.org/campus_life/explorers or email mwalker@stmartinschool.org stmartinschool.org 3110-A Ashford Dunwoody Road, Brookhaven, GA 30319 | 404-237-4260
Patterns EDITOR Kristi Gaffney
CONTRIBUTORS The Rev. Dr. James Hamner IV Kristi Gaffney Shelbi Harris Tony Shaffer Pam Pomar Janet Hurlburt Claire Payne Elisa Herrara Photography: Kristi Gaffney Stan Leary Shelbi Harris Adam Linke Paul Ward Heidi Cline McKerley Design: Kathy Florence ADMINISTRATION The Rev. Dr. James E. Hamner IV Headmaster Cindy Alexander Principal, Early Childhood Dr. Mary McPherson Principal, Elementary School Tony Shaffer Principal, Middle School Tracy Ballot Director of Advancement and External Affairs John Cunningham Chief Financial Officer Blythe Marsau Director of Admission and Financial Aid The Rev. Stefanie Taylor Chaplain The Rev. Dr. John McCard Church Rector Patterns is published biannually by St. Martin’s Episcopal School. Please direct any letters, comments or news items to: St. Martin’s Episcopal School 3110-A Ashford Dunwoody Rd. Atlanta, GA 30319 (404) 237-4260 Attn: Kristi Gaffney www.stmartinschool.org kgaffney@stmartinschool.org Mission Statement : St. Martin’s Episcopal School is dedicated to providing a quality education of the whole person in a loving, Christian atmosphere, which fosters lifelong learning.
contents
SUMMER
2017
this issue
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LETTER
From the Headmaster SEEN & HEARD
News and happenings in the school community C L A S S O F 2 017
Graduation and Awards WELCOME DR. OTTLEY
SMES greets a new Head of School for 2017-18 school year ACTIVE LEARNING
Curriculum focus VOICES
Pam Pomar, SMES Nurse VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Supporting Drama at SMES
STEAM IN KINDERGARTEN
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics H E A D, H E A R T, H A N D S
Learning leadership at SMES SPORTS WRAP-UP
Winter and Spring team news P O R T R A I T O F A G R A D UAT E
Patrick Bello, Class of 2003 CLASS NOTES
Alumni News
@NewsatSMES
@smesatl
smesatl
from the headmaster “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1 As I reflect on St. Martin’s over the past 17 years, I think first of all the wonderful students who have lived, learned, and grown up here, including my three children. I think of the remarkable, talented, and passionate teachers who taught them, but more importantly who cared, challenged, and loved them during these critically formative years of development. The teachers who daily embody the mission of our school, who teach, coach, and model what St. Martin’s is all about. I think of the dedicated administrators, who plan and work so that SMES continues to
James and Cindy Hamner
prosper. I think of our trustees who are responsible for the long-term well-being of our school, and our alumni who continue to flourish not only in their education but also in their lives. And I think of our families whose support of our school has enabled SMES to thrive and prosper over the years. I give thanks for all these wonderful people and their many contributions to our school. I also see the growth of our school — a new middle school, renovated library and cafeteria, science labs, new music, band, art, and technology centers. I am grateful for all of the academic programs that have come into being including our drama, elementary and early childhood foreign language, science, and STEAM programs, as well as our expanded and successful athletic and extracurricular offerings, our stellar Explorers program, and so much more. Of particular importance to me are SMES’
traditions for weekly chapel and its various service learning projects to give back to the larger community — a hallmark of our school. St. Martin’s is about supporting and forming substantive young people of intelligence, wisdom, character, and spiritual discernment. It’s about helping the students entrusted to our care to explore and discover their unique gifts and talents, to learn to think clearly, and be caring, empathetic citizens who can learn to lead and serve responsibly and gracefully. After watching 17 years of students go through our school and witnessing their growth and accomplishments as they move through high school, college and beyond, I am very positive about the future! It has been a great privilege and pleasure to lead this remarkable community for the past 17 years. I am grateful to have worked with an extraordinary team of educators and for each of their friendships. I am confident that God will continue to advance and prosper the life of St. Martin’s in the years to come.
SMES Board of Trustees event in April honoring Dr. Hamner’s 17 years of service PATTERNS
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seen & heard spring semester
for Epiphany
In honor of the Epiphany season, student vestry members chalked the doorways to the school as an invitation for Jesus to be a daily guest.
Spelling Bee
MIDDLE SCHOOL
MARKING THE DOOR
The St. Martin’s middle school spelling bee was held in the gym on Jan. 13. A packed crowd of students and faculty members silently ‘cheered’ on the participants as they spelled their way through the event.
Good
“Avalanche” and “perpetrator” were the final words to clinch the victory for sixth-grader Gracie Crofton (R). Sixth-grader Liza Love (L) was the runner up at this annual event.
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aritan m a
The Early Childhood division spearheaded a full-school service project “Kids Helping Kids” in January. Students donated a variety of healthcare items to benefit the Good Samaritan Health Center in downtown Atlanta founded by local pediatrician, Dr. Bill Warren. This was the 21st year of St. Martin’s partnering with Good Sam!
Summer 2017
ChaMATHon The second annual ChaMATHon, an elementary school math tournament open to students from grades 3-5, was held at Chamblee Charter High School on Saturday, Feb. 4. Congratulations to Division I (5th grade) individual winner Sophia Pappadakis for an eighth place medal, and the 5th-grade team —Wyatt Alford, Sophia Pappadakis, Aarav Kokane and Tulsi Goel— for taking third place. Division II (3rd and 4th grades) winners included Dew Park, third; Kathryn Johnson, fifth; Sapna Goel, seventh; and Amanda Houston, ninth; and the 3rd/4th grade team (Drew Park, Sapna Goel, Amanda Houston & Tate O’Leary) placed second.
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seen&heard
St. Martin’s Fling – A Night of Wonder
The PTO held its biennial Fling gala this year at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. More than 450 guests arrived to find an elegantly decorated “Winter Wonderland” where they enjoyed a social cocktail hour while bidding on silent auction items such as teacher treasures, class artwork and much more. Next was a seated dinner before the much-anticipated live auction event. Some of the live auction items included an Ariana Grande concert experience, a five-night getaway to Belize, four front-row tickets to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, SMES Headmaster for a Day and more. In addition, the live auction raised $30,000 on the spot to fund new Google Expeditions technology at St. Martin’s. The night ended with a DJ and dancing. The PTO raised $162,000 and plans to help purchase a new bus for the school and fund additional STEAM initiatives in addition to the Google technology.
PATTERNS
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seen & heard spring semester
A Thank You from Kuwait
For years, SMES students have been invited to make cards, letters and care packages for military units to give thanks for their service and provide them with goodies during the holiday season. This year, students gathered enough items to mail packages to Air Force units in Kuwait, the U.K. and an air transportation unit in Germany. SMES received thank you notes from SSgt. Stephanie Palala and Msts. Romero and Bechelmayr, who are stationed in Kuwait.
Falcons Friday
In honor of the Atlanta Falcons’ excellent season and road to the Super Bowl, the school held “Falcons Friday” allowing students and staff to dress in fan gear to support the home team. Go Falcons!
Principal for a Day On St. Patrick’s Day, students from each division held the title of “Principal for the Day” and were able to choose activities for that day. St Martin’s principals were Matthew Levitt (EC), Brody and Campbell Fletcher (ES), and Allie Campbell (MS). On this non-uniform day, students enjoyed fun activities such as searching for leprechauns, watching a movie and eating yummy treats. The principal designation was part of the Fling gala event’s silent auction.
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MIDDLE SCHOOL
seen&heard
Geography Bee Seventh-grader Will Tuggle came out on top at the middle school geography bee and went on to compete in the state competition. Runner-up at the school bee was 8thgrader Lindsey Bryson.
HONOR SOCIETY
Induction
Parents and students gathered in St. Martin in the Fields Church to enjoy a ceremony for the 37 students who were inducted into the St. Martin’s Honor Society. The society annually inducts middle school students who have maintained Honor Roll or Headmaster’s List status for at least three consecutive semesters. Inductees included: (7th Grade) Luly Ahmed, Sam Alexander, Noelle Broughton, Kendall Buchanan, Alexandra Campbell, Ella Cannon, Lydia Davis, William Fenstermacher, Grant Gaffney, Patrick Hannon, Edward Hires, Ryan Hoad, Katie Holmes, Abby Hughes, Michael Lynch, Will McLaren, Benjamin Nordstrom, Alex Norris, Quinn O’Connor, Ryan Pennington, Mia Pistone, Grace Purrington, Annie Quinn, Sophie Steck, Sophia Stratford, Cordelia Tranfield, Daniel Turner, Lura Underwood and Helen Wamey; and (8th Grade) Jordan Bruck, Laura Claxton, Kate Goggans, Audrey Holton, Katherine Khajavi, Ella Smoak, William Stovall and Carter Williams. PATTERNS
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seen & heard spring semester
SMES students, faculty, and staff were asked to put their devices “on ice” and go the entire day without digital media on Feb. 24. The goal of Tech Timeout was to help students take a step back and gain some perspective on their media habits. Teachers put away computers and SMART boards and used dry erase boards and overhead projectors to teach. Some teachers integrated creative learning opportunities such as decorating t-shirts and playing educational field games. The administration also participated in a kickball game where students took a break from learning to cheer on the staff.
School Sunday
The St. Martin’s School Sunday event was held on Feb. 5. This annual church service unites St. Martin’s Episcopal School and St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church for a morning of worship.
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seen&heard STUDENT REPORTER
By Claire Payne 8th grade
MS Band treks to Orlando for training This year St. Martin’s middle school band went to Florida to attend a class at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and to learn more about the art of playing an instrument. Our conductor, Mr. Allen Barbee, registered our group for the class by sharing videos of the band’s previous performances to the assistant band director at UCF. We practiced weeks before the trip to prepare for this big event. We learned new music and new scales that would help us succeed in this class. All of the band members were very excited for this opportunity to travel to a college campus to play. Another fun part of the trip was to spend time at Universal Studios! The day we left, everyone was bursting with excitement while we loaded the bus. We spent three days and two nights at Universal. We checked into our hotel and spent time at the pool and ate at an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo.
The next day we woke up early to attend our class at UCF. We wore our matching band shirts made specifically for this event. When we arrived, we were greeted by the assistant band director and another band worker at UCF. We were given two new sheets of music to play, but before we began playing, we performed the same warm-up drills that the UCF band performs! It consisted of learning the tongue movements that helped enhance the sound for each instrument, checking the beats and scale for each musical piece, and then humming each note on the sheet. After we finished the warmup, we began to play our first piece of music called “Phantasm.” It was a little challenging at first, but we soon got used to the music, and began playing fairly well. After we perfected the rhythm of that piece, we moved on to the next sheet of music, “Stone of the Rock.” We repeated the same warm-up for the new piece of music. Again, it was challenging and very fast-paced, but we soon got the hang of it. The class ended too soon, and everyone wished for one more song. We ended the session with the assistant band director answering some of our questions. We learned about being a part of a college marching band and what it takes to be a professional conductor. Lastly, we took a group picture next to the fountain where the UCF marching band performs. As we were sad to leave UCF, our excitement returned when we loaded the bus for Universal Studios theme park. Once we arrived at Universal, it was midday, and we had seven hours to explore and experience the park. It was an exciting day that we had anticipated for so long. We spent the next morning and afternoon at the Universal parks, and then we loaded the bus to return to Atlanta. Students in the SMES band were all very thankful for the opportunity. After a long bus ride, we arrived back at St. Martin’s around 10:30 p.m. in the evening. Looking back, I am so glad I had this opportunity to grow my passion for music and to spend quality, fun times with my SMES bandmates. What a memory for my 8th-grade year. PATTERNS
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seen & heard spring semester More than 200 volunteers gathered to package 30,000 meals to help fight childhood hunger. The day began with a prayer service before volunteers headed to the gym to package food assembly-line style.
V
olunteers from St. Martin’s Episcopal School and St. Martin’s Church gathered on Palm Sunday for the fourth annual Day of Service. Prior to the event, the St. Martin’s community raised more than $9,000 to pre-purchase food for packing. The packed food will be shipped to some of the neediest communities across the globe.
Science Olympians Fare Well at Region and State The Science Olympiad competitions stress scientific skills, teamwork and critical thinking, all under the pressure of time limits. REGIONAL MEDALS Water Rockets - Eloise Smith (1st place) and Riley Vassian and Alec Flint (2nd place); Mystery Architecture - Chase Stewart and Wyatt Alford (1st Place).
The St. Martin’s Science Olympiad team put its skills to the test in both the DeKalb County regional competition in March and the state event held in May. The team met weekly all year long to prepare for the events. Competing against 41 elementary school teams at the regional level and 64 at state, the St. Martin’s team earned impressive hardware with three medals at regional and two at state.
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STATE MEDALS The 24 Game - Wyatt Alford and Drew Park (2nd place); Water Rockets - Riley Vassian, Eloise Smith and Alec Flint (8th place). Other state notables were Crime Busters - 14th place, Mystery Architecture - 18th place and No Bones About It - 16th place. Great job to these hard-working scientists and their sponsors, Mrs. McKenna and Mrs. Moussouri, for a great year!
seen&heard
Headmaster 5th Grade for a Day Cookie Company SMES 5th-grade students were busy building cookie empires in March as part of their annual service project. This small-group project teaches the basics of building a small business — from declaring roles within their leadership teams and determining product ‘specs,’ to all aspects of marketing and advertising. The culmination of the project is a giant cookie sale in the Middle School Atrium where the students set up a store to sell their cookies to students, faculty, and staff. This year, they earned $1,000 and were able to present a check to the UGA Marine Institute on Skidaway Island as part of their 5th-grade spring field trip.
In March, Thea (5th) and Rocco (3rd) Xerogeanes held the title of “Headmaster for a Day” and hosted “Warrior X-Day.” Faculty, staff and groups of students played in inflatable, human bumper balls throughout the day. Early Childhood students wore their PJs and enjoyed visits from the “Headmasters” and received goodie bags and bubbles. ES and MS students enjoyed movies on the soccer field in a giant tent and everyone was treated to a cookout. The day ended with a concert in the gym performed by “Oh No Stereo.”
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seen & heard spring semester
Celebration of the Arts STUDENT REPORTER
students to make more artwork. While the drama students are hard at work with rehearsals, the students in visual art are concentrating on creating a variety of artwork for everyone to enjoy as they await the musical.
Thirteen years ago, Heidi McKerley joined the St. Martin’s family and started the first-ever speech and drama program at SMES. Fast forward to today, the St. Martin’s stage is never bare of sets and costumes awaiting the next performance. With Mrs. McKerley and Spencer Stephens leading the students, the end result is something truly amazing. Each of the students participating in the speech and drama program work nonstop toward their end-ofthe-year performance, which this year was “Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical.”
Middle School principal Tony Shaffer may be the newcomer to St. Martin’s but he can tell that each student is talented individually, but once they are put together, they become something simply astonishing. “I am so proud of the quality of instruction and the resulting productions from the speech and drama program here at St. Martin’s,” says Shaffer. “Mrs. McKerley and Mr. Stephens go above and beyond and the students step up to produce something way beyond expectations for middle school. “Mary Poppins” was a hit and I look forward to many more years of quality dramatic productions.”
By Elisa Herrera 8th grade
“This year’s show was very special in multiple ways,” says McKerley. “It was scheduled earlier this year due to the Easter holiday, so we only had about a month of intense rehearsals in addition to bits and pieces of rehearsals prior to that. Because tap dancing was a new skill that had to be taught, we began that process back in the fall. I’m extremely proud of the hard work, determination and teamwork displayed by the kids in order to pull this together for a wonderful show. We had so much talent from this group and I’m overjoyed by the response from the St. Martin’s community!” During the Celebration of the Arts, the main event may sometimes seem to be the musical, but artwork from beginners through 8th-grade students also fills the halls. The minute you walk into each of the buildings during the week of the celebration, artwork is everywhere. Last year’s “Lion King” art contest winner, Katherine Khajavi, got inspired for last year’s painting from a picture of a dancer in her mom’s room. This shows that the students find inspiration everywhere and artwork inspires
Eighth-grader Lindsey Bryson has been participating in the drama program for six years now and she says, “My favorite part is performing at the end after all of the hard work we put into it.” Because of the St. Martin’s Speech and Drama program, many of the 8th-graders this year will be continuing drama in high school. Eighth-grader Jack Carson said, “I will continue drama in high school because it is my passion.” Many students find a new-found passion for drama when they join the St. Martin’s drama program. The Celebration of the Arts is one of the busiest times at St. Martin’s, but it shows not only to the parents and teachers how much work has been done, but it also shows the students that if they work hard enough, they will always be able to achieve their goals. All of the bustle may be gone over just one weekend, but the magic given out from the musical “Mary Poppins” and the art in the hallway will stay with the students and carry them to the end of the year.
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seen&heard
Skidaway Island Fifth-graders embarked on the annual trip to Skidaway Island located on Georgia’s coast near Savannah. As students make their way through elementary school, this is the first overnight field trip and offers a great opportunity to gain hands-on experience with sea creatures and the flora and fauna at the Georgia coast in addition to classroom and lab learning.
The weather didn’t allow for a boating experience this year, but students got a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium, lots of hands-on touch tank opportunities to hold sea creatures and much more.
SMES earns Top Workplace recognition For the second year in a row, St. Martin’s was honored with a Top Workplace award by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This annual list of Top Workplaces is based solely on the results of an anonymous employee feedback survey administered by a third-party research firm. “We have always placed a high value on our faculty and staff here at St. Martin’s, and it’s great to have this workplace study to validate what our own annual employee surveys have been telling us for years,” said St. Martin’s Headmaster Dr. James Hamner. “We work hard to foster a collegial environment where our teachers and faculty feel empowered to make suggestions and lead our charge to provide a quality education of the whole person in a loving, Christian atmosphere, which fosters lifelong learning. We are pleased to be among this impressive group of Atlanta workplaces for the second year in a row.” PATTERNS
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seen & heard spring semester
Oui Oui! The Francophonie Drawing Contest is an annual event that celebrates the French culture and language. The contest asks students to illustrate one French word from a list of 10 and to include a descriptive sentence in French. The contest received entries from all seven continents and had more than 400 participants from metro Atlanta. Of all the participants, 21 SMES students won awards. Winners included, back row (l-r): Owen Nolte, Jamie Hanley, Ansley Granade, Ellen Millsaps, Charlotte Zalenski, Aniston Fisher, Luke Williams, Walker Lauth, Henry Hamilton, Tanner Postell and Rocco Meyerhoff. Front row (l-r): Christian Nordstrom, Lilia Lawrence, Henley Blackburn, Riley Granade, Sam Kim, Oliver Fleming, Sebastian Restrepo-Cantillo, Greg Lisowski and Will Lindsay. Not pictured: Brendan Botters.
Middle School
FIELD DAY EC & ES
FIELD DAY Despite the rain, Early Childhood and Elementary students enjoyed a day of fun activities as part of the annual Field Day event. Activities were held inside and everyone had a blast.
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Middle School students enjoyed an afternoon of games, races, music and fun at the annual Field Day event in early April. A cookout for lunch was a nice treat and was a great way to wrap up the school week.
seen&heard Celebrating Leadership
Friday, April 21, 2017 Celebrating our Leaders EC
Literature
Eric Carle
1ST
Science
Jane Goodall
2ND
Arts
Louis Armstrong
3
Human Rights Malala Yousafzai
RD
4
Medicine
Marie Curie
5
Religion
Mother Teresa
6
Sports
Babe Didrickson Zaharias
7TH
Technology
Bill Gates
8TH
Education
James Hamner
TH
TH
TH
LEADERSHIP St. Martin’s held its biennial Festival Day event on Apr. 21, an honored tradition dating back to the 1996 Olympics. This year’s theme was “leadership,” and SMES students learned about a variety of leaders who embody ideal characteristics of leadership. Eighth-graders studied Dr. Hamner who has led the school for 17 years while other grade levels learned about worldwide leaders such as Eric Carle, Malala Yousafzai and Bill Gates. After the ‘opening ceremonies,’ students enjoyed an on-campus carnival with a ferris wheel, miniature train ride and lots of games. Other activities included a bouncy house, DJ, face painter, and a popcorn and cotton candy stand. Students also worked on a school-wide art activity throughout the day and enjoyed a cookout.
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Field Trips
M I D D L E
S C H O O L
spent a Eighth-graders anyon C nd week at the Gra d visiting an g in ft ra , ng ki hi sites. This the surrounding is the final capstone trip aduating hurrah for the gr spring. class each
SMES 7th-graders tre to the Georgia coas kked t where they visited Cumber lan and the historic dis d Island trict in Savannah.
to Sixth-graders enjoyed a trip in e tim nt spe y Gatlinburg where the visited the the Smoky Mountains and tlinburg. Ga sites in
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seen&heard
STEAM Fair
Don’t Hate – RELATE!
The club formerly known as POP has a new name and a new look. The RELATE Club is open to MS students and its mission is to develop an awareness and appreciation of the diverse and unique populations within our school and community and to inspire others to show compassion, empathy, and understanding for our neighbors no matter their ethnicity, race, gender or religion. The newlynamed club recently held an art contest to create a new logo. Congratulations to rising 7th-grader Kate Postell for her winning design. RELATE stands for: Respect, Empathize, Learn, Appreciate, Thank, Empower.
Fourth- and 5th-grade student teams worked for weeks to prepare projects for the second annual STEAM Fair. The project-based learning exercise is centered on student creativity and an understanding of relational learning, rather than rote memorization and knowledge. The project culminated with a STEAM night event allowing students to present their projects to parents.
PATTERNS
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Tricia Igleheart fter a long-fought battle with cancer, former St. Martin’s prefirst teacher Tricia Igleheart passed away earlier this year. Tricia was beloved by colleagues, students and parents. Her dedication to the St. Martin’s mission through her leadership of the pre-first program will have a lasting effect on hundreds of children. Tricia began her career at St. Martin’s as a pre-K teacher for the 1993-94 school year and transitioned the following year to teach the pre-first program for the next 21 years. In 1999, she was honored by her St. Martin’s peers as the recipient of the Reeder Excellence in Teaching Award for her commitment to students and for exhibiting overall positive qualities with students, parents, administrators and other teachers. Many of her lessons focused on teaching students about “loving, comforting and helping others.” One of Tricia’s favorite SMES traditions was the EC-led “Kids Helping Kids” annual service project benefiting the Good Samaritan Health Clinic. Tricia’s goal was for each child to experience helping other children who needed important medical care.
Kay Weber
In addition to being an extraordinary teacher, enthusiastic supporter of St. Martin’s and an avid advocate for her students, Tricia was extremely kind and always helpful to all. A celebration of life service was held in April where friends and family attended to honor her.
The Patricia Ray Igleheart Memorial Fund was established by the Igleheart Family to honor Tricia’s legacy at St. Martin’s. The endowment funds a professional development award to a selected faculty or staff member who embodies all that Tricia was: A kind, loving person and a mentor to others who saw the beauty in everyday life and who recognized the importance of a deep spiritual practice. This year’s faculty award recipient is Art Teacher Suzanne Ford. In addition, a student character award was also established with the goal to honor a deserving student who is curious about the world around them and a friend to all. This year’s student award winner is rising 4th-grader Maddie Millichap. To donate to the Patricia Ray Igleheart Memorial Fund please go to the Donate Now button on the home page of the St. Martin’s website, or contact Tina Haas, Interim Director of Advancement at thaas@stmartinschool.org.
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St. Martin’s bids farewell to Dr. Hamner and to several beloved teachers and staff members. We wish them well in their new endeavors!
farewells
In Memoriam
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Middle School math teacher Kay Weber is retiring from St. Martin’s after six years of teaching to tend to her parents. “The medical needs and care of my parents now outweigh my teaching time at SMES,” says Mrs. Weber. “I have loved working here with wonderful staff, administration, parents and most of all – the students. I will miss everyone! Thanks for the privilege of teaching your children!” Mrs. Weber leaves us with this upbeat advice attributed to Robert Brault, “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Page Pearson will be moving back to North Carolina to be closer to family. Religion teacher Mary Hunter Rouse will be leaving SMES and returning to a church environment and front desk receptionist Marsha Oliver is retiring. Explorers teacher Tamaria Hamilton-Dunnom will be going back to school to finish her teaching degree while her colleague Monica Riley is returning to her previous career as a college librarian. Six-year veteran, 2nd-grade teacher Kaitlin Snodgrass and seven-year 3rd-grade teacher Claire Conarro will be teaming up for a career change as part of a Keller Williams’ real estate team. Pre-K assistant Leah Frechette is moving on to be a healthcare recruiter and 2nd grade assistant Thaddeus Tousana is moving to Abu Dhabi with his family. In addition, we bid farewell to, Laura Johnson, Corinthia Jenkins, Jessica Garcia, Teresa Hamilton, Advancement Director Tracy Ballot, and 10-year SMES veteran Rhasheda Williams who will be pursuing new ventures.
seen&heard
St. Martin’s Faculty Gives Back ith all of the “busyness” of the business of education, the faculty and staff of St. Martin’s still find time to give back. Following are just some of the organizations that receive time and talent: Junior Achievement BizTown, Society for Human Resource Management (Atlanta), National Association of African Americans in HR (Atlanta), Gigi’s Playhouse, Heart for Africa, The Suthers Center for Christian Outreach, La Amistad, AseraCare Hospice, Oglethorpe University, Habitat for Humanity, NPR, Holy Innocents’ Fine Art Alliance, Denison University, Kingswood Methodist Church, Good Samaritan Health Center, St. Martin’s Bazaar, the Sutherland Center, Esther Jackson Elementary School (Roswell). Pre-K assistant Dylan Miree (at right) took a week in May to travel with her grandmother to work at a Habitat for Humanity mission project in Medias, Romania. They worked with a group to construct apartment-style homes and a vocational center for young adults with special needs.
FA C U LT Y N E W S Wade Hanse completed his master’s degree in education research measurement and statistics from Georgia State University. The ES science teacher is currently in his first year of a Ph.D. program working toward a doctorate in educational policy studies, also at Georgia State.
EC teacher Julie Kinsey married Charles Thomason in Dalton, Ga. on Mar. 11, 2017. The couple spent their honeymoon in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
technology from Kennesaw State University. Ms. Msola is also engaged to marry Colby Marshall in October. The ceremony will take place in Loganville, Ga. Mark McDaniel received his master of science in athletic administration from Ohio University in August of 2016. Spencer Lee Larson and big brother Max
David Kenneth Fencl
Charles and Julie Thomason
Advancement Coordinator Jaime Fencl and her husband Alex welcomed a baby boy, David Kenneth Fencl, on Mar. 21, 2017. He weighed in at 6 lbs. and was 20 in. long.
Fifth-grade teacher Kate Larsen, her husband Rob and son Mac welcomed baby Spencer “Spence” Lee, on Mar. 22, 2017. He was 8 lbs., 2 oz. and 21 in. long. Explorers instructor Tamaria Hamilton married Fabrizzo Dunnom in July 2016. Kinshasa Msola received her educational specialist degree in instructional PATTERNS
Tamaria Hamilton and Fabrizzo Dunnom
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Congratulations
Class of 2017 By Kristi Gaffney Marketing and Communications Manager
Another St. Martin’s school year is “in the books” as graduates of the Class of 2017 enjoyed a month full of celebrations culminating with a graduation ceremony held at the Cathedral of St. Philip on May 25. The year was filled with milestone events for these 8th-grade students as they moved along the path to complete their time at St. Martin’s and prepared for the next phase of their adolescent lives — high school. These 57 graduates forged a special bond during their time as students at St. Martin’s, and this foundation with each other and the school will be ever-present over the course of their lives. As they processed together for the last time as a class unit into the Cathedral to receive their diplomas, it was a proud moment for students, families and the SMES faculty and staff who have nurtured and taught them along the way.
Words of Wisdom
In addition to the receipt of diplomas, the Class of 2017 enjoyed a speech from Student Council President Melissa Rubiano who encouraged her classmates to “find your fire, keep it blazing, and never let anyone tamp it down to just a spark.” She reflected on her nine years at St. Martin’s and spoke of their class growing up together and maturing into a SMES family. Rubiano recounted her appreciation for her parents who moved to the United States to make a better life for their family and she stressed the importance of family and friendship and stated her wish to, “add more love to this world.” Dr. Hamner delivered the commencement address and expressed a heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2017 for their outstanding achievements in the classroom and in the St. Martin’s community. He presented a message to graduates to rely on the two most important things families and schools can give to them
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“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (noted by Melissa Rubiano in her graduation address)
— nourishing roots and wings to fly in life. He challenged the students to think about what they will “do” as they begin this new phase, “what will you do with the opportunities and challenges which lie ahead?” Hamner noted that the students, “are very fortunate to have been brought up in good soil, full of people who love and care about you, who will both challenge and nurture you to grow and help you through the arduous lifelong task of discerning your unique gifts and unique self, to become the person God created you to be.” In closing, Dr. Hamner encouraged the graduates to use their gifts to challenge themselves to grow and develop in ways which may seem difficult and complex. He challenged them to not take things at face value, but to ask questions— particularly the pesky ones.
In the weeks leading up to graduation, the class of ’17 experienced many ‘last times’ together as a group evoking a range of emotions as each was experienced — the last chapel service, the last school lunch, the last carpool and the last days as 8thgrade students. The last assembly was the annual Honors Assembly where the 8thgraders were officially “clapped out” by the 1st- through 7th-grade students as part of a procession around the campus led by Dr. Hamner who ceremoniously rang the official St. Martin’s bell. This tradition welcomed the 8th grade into the gym for the presentation of student awards.
Oglethorpe Award
The top awards at the assembly each year are given to both a student and a teacher. The Oglethorpe Award is given to a student who must be a good citizen of the school and community and exhibits
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“My hope for each of you is that you will carefully examine prevailing cultural norms and craft lives of wisdom, character, and spiritual discernment.” — Dr. James Hamner intelligence, compassion, enthusiasm, responsibility and common sense. Faculty members nominate students and a committee determines the winner. This year’s award recipient was Melissa Rubiano. Through the years, Melissa has been a leader at St. Martin’s and has participated in a host of extracurricular activities and sports in addition to her academic achievements. She’s consistently been recognized on the Honor Roll and Headmaster’s List, is a member of the St. Martin’s Honor Society and has won gold and silver awards on the National Spanish Exam. Melissa served as 8th-grade Student Council President and a veteran member of the volleyball team. She was a member
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of the Drama Club, performed in the spring musical and participated in band, basketball, Spanish Club and wrote for the school newspaper. Melissa’s leadership ability is firmly rooted in her desire to serve others and improve her school and community, and she was an active member of the school’s service club.
Reeder Excellence in Teaching
This year’s top teacher award recipient was religion teacher Whitney Ludvigsen. The Reeder Excellence in Teaching Award is an annual award that recognizes a teacher who is characterized by positive contributions to the school. Criteria for nomination include a dedicated commitment to students, a positive attitude, loyalty, dedication, flexibility and good
Above, nominated by the SMES faculty, the 2017 Oglethorpe Award nominees included (from left), Connor Kritzer, Carter Williams, Jack Carson, Audrey Holton, Celie Guterman, Lindsey Bryson, Katherine Khajavi, Claire Payne, Melissa Rubiano, Bobbie Akin
relationships with students, parents, administrators and other teachers. In addition to the honor, the recipient receives a generous stipend from the Reeder Foundation. The Reeder Award is peer-nominated and previous award winners choose the recipient.
(Top) Whitney Ludvigsen is awarded the Reeder Award for Teaching; (below) Melissa Rubiano is awarded the 2017 Oglethorpe Award.
Assistant School Chaplain Whitney Ludvigsen is a five-year veteran at St. Martin’s and has served as a key member of the religion department teaching elementary and middle school students. She also serves as the chapel leader for early childhood, faculty sponsor for the SOLVE, Jr. Club, co-curricular liaison for the SMES Professional Development Committee and is a member of the SOLVE and Green faculty groups.
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“I am humbled to receive the Reeder Award for Teaching,” says Ludvigsen. “The award reflects my dedication to teaching Religion to all our students, from 3s to 8th grade, in a way that is meaningful. I look forward to continuing to grow into that work with the invaluable support of my colleagues.” The morning was filled with many student recognitions such as students of the week, Duke TIP and honor society members along with elementary and middle school academic awards. Eight-grade student council members Mena Sarradet and Jack Carson presented the class gift
of water bottle filling stations for the middle school to enjoy for years to come. A special award was given to Dr. Hamner in recognition of his 17 years of leadership at St. Martin’s. Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Jaynes presented him with a bell as a remembrance of the 8th-grade clap out tradition he instituted. In addition, Jaynes announced the St. Martin’s gymnasium will be renamed in honor of Dr. Hamner and his years of service to the school.
Best of luck to the Class of 2017!
Good Luck to our graduates as they head to new schools in the fall: Atlanta International School DeKalb School of the Arts The Galloway School Greater Atlanta Christian School Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School
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Lakeside High School Marist School The McCallie School Mount Vernon Presbyterian School Pace Academy
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St. Mary’s School St. Pius X School Walton High School Whitefield Academy Woodward Academy
The ‘Other’ Graduates
Fifth-grade students ceremoniously “Crossed the Green” with their 7th-grade buddies in this annual event to signify their entry into middle school. These students will enjoy a new building, different uniforms and all of the opportunities offered as middle school students at St. Martin’s.
Early Childhood students enjoyed their own graduation in May at the End of the Year Assembly held in the chapel. Each student was recognized with a completion certificate and a hug. Kindergarten students will ‘cross the bridge’ from the EC building into the Elementary School in the fall. PATTERNS
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2017 graduates: Survey says...
What is your favorite SMES tradition?
What is your favorite memory at St. Martin’s? Lindsey Bryson Playing on the big playground with my friends • Matilda McCard Being in Explorers in elementary school • Sophia Costarides When our Winshape cabin got infested by wasps • Ella Smoak Winning tri-matches on the A team and club periods • Sutton Nelson The Skidaway trip in 5th grade because it was my first year and I got to bond with my new peers. I got a cactus stuck in my foot, but by that happening, my friend helped me and we are fairly close now • Finn Shaw Winning the Championships in baseball • Avery Graves My favorite memory at SMES is when I walked into the first day of school when I was 4 years old. It was such a long time ago but it is something I will never ever forget. I was new and everyone was welcoming and the teacher was so sweet • Hadley Nelson Being able to bond with the 5th graders during the 5th- and 7th-grade lunch • Katherine Khajavi My favorite memory at St. Martin’s was the Veterans’ Day assembly last year when I stood up and spoke about my dad • Claire Payne The volleyball championship match • Ryan Kirschner 3rd-grade Headmaster for a day and also working in the tech lab • Emily Gillin Doing the Lion King musical in 7th grade • Laura Claxton Winning the MAAC championships for girls soccer
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Taylor Clay Festival Day - We always got to have root beer floats and sell our ‘products.’ I also liked Cookies and Carols • Aiden Pernini MS musical, ThesCon, One-Act, and the musical theatre class. Basically all things drama • Celie Guterman Grand Canyon/8th graders eating outside on Friday • Deaja Dunbar The Halloween parade • Sydney Kidd Going to Winshape every year • Grace Demba Festival Day • Cj King The middle school dances • Charles Kyle The 8th grade faculty basketball game
What was your favorite field trip (besides Grand Canyon)? Bobbie Akin Gatlinburg • Philip Alston Skidaway Island • Caleb Stansberry Hindu Temple • Walker Flint The 7th-grade trip to Savannah
What is your favorite activity outside of school? Caroline Belisle Soccer • Bridgett McCarthy Volleyball and babysitting • Citlaly Noyola Volleyball • Gerard Hudson Baseball and fishing • Cierra May Volunteering • Jack Duerr Golfing and watching TV • Carter Williams Basketball
What’s the thing that you are looking forward to most about attending high school? Jack Carson New people and activities • Ben Azzi Meeting many people from all over the world at AIS • Dori Lauth I am looking forward to meeting new people and having a bigger grade • Grace Cate I am looking forward to new opportunities and new social groups in high school • Annie Covington Football games • Eren Geray New learning opportunities, sports, and friends • William Stovall New area and people • Jasmine George The art program
What is your dream career? Rachel Smith Architecture • Audrey Holton To be a singer, or a musical theatre performer • Kate Goggans Pediatrician • Arden Adams Professional actress or celebrity chef • Stafford Barton I would love to work as a sports agent or an ESPN reporter/broadcaster • Sydney Walton Motivational speaker • Brenny Clare Veterinarian • Wes Dillard My dream career is to be a surgeon like my father • Connor Kritzer Sports agent
Where would you like to travel? May Harvey Paris • Melissa Rubiano Greece • Elisa Herrera Alaska • Jordan Bruck Italy • Alicia Gama Brazil • Sky Johnson Cuba • Maddie Cast Belize • Mena Sarradet Fiji
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Welcome Dr. Luis Ottley As students and parents ease into the summer break away from St. Martin’s, there will be lots of activity on campus as the new Head of School arrives on July 5 to prepare for the 2017-18 school year. Dr. Luis Ottley and his family arrive to Brookhaven from Mill Valley, Calif., where they will be settling into their new home and the St. Martin’s community. Dr. Ottley joins St. Martin’s from suburban San Francisco’s Marin Horizon School, where he has served as its Head of School since 2011. Marin Horizon is a pre-school through 8th-grade school offering a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary education to more than 300 children. Prior to Marin Horizon, Dr. Ottley’s independent school experience ranged from administrative roles as middle school principal, assistant head of lower school and assistant director of admission to classroom instructor teaching Spanish and various middle school math subjects. He also has an extensive coaching background. A native of the Republic of Panamá, Dr. Ottley holds dual citizenship and speaks three languages. He holds a Doctorate of Education from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Allegheny College. In addition, he received his preparatory education from the Colegio Episcopal de Panama and finished his college prep at the Armand Hammer United World College in New Mexico.
As Dr. Ottley prepares for his move to Atlanta, Patterns caught up with him for a quick interview.
Q: A:
Welcome to St. Martin’s! Can you tell us a bit about your family and personal background? I grew up in Panamá and did most of my schooling there. I am the son of a clergyman. My father (Rt. Rev. James Ottley) was the Diocesan Bishop of Panamá, Assisting Bishop of the Dioceses of Southeast Florida and Long Island, and the Anglican Observer to the United Nations. Hence, I have spent most of life around the Episcopal church. My mother, Lillian Ottley, is from the island of Puerto Rico, and she worked for the U.S. Army in Panamá on and off while taking care of her children. I have three siblings; I am the second of four. My older brother James lives in New Orleans; my sister, Irina, lives in New Jersey; and my youngest brother, Carlos, lives in Miami. My parents also live in Miami. My wife’s family is from Richmond, Maine. Being on the same coast with family is something Carrie and I are both looking forward to.
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Q: A:
Q: A:
What are your plans for integrating into school culture and everyday life at St. Martin’s? First, our three year-old daughter, Paloma, will be attending St. Martin’s in the fall. In my mind, being a parent will be a great way for me to get to know the culture of a school. In addition, I hope to implement an entry plan that should put me in touch with many families over the coming year, starting this summer. One aspect of the plan will be to extend, in due time, an invitation to families to spend 30 minutes of their time visiting with me — an activity that I will thoroughly enjoy! I also plan on shadowing a student and visiting classrooms during the fall. How has your professional career been influenced by your personal experiences? Who I am as an educator has been largely influenced by what I have experienced as a learner. My philosophy of education is rooted in a belief that schooling should be about educating the whole child and nurturing a community of lifelong learners. As a learner growing up in the Republic of Panamá, the subjects I found most interesting and in which I experienced the most success, were those classes in which I had established a bond with the teacher. It was an environment in which I felt at home, where I was comfortable asking questions and where I was asked to think critically about issues and not simply to rely on textbooks or the teacher’s word, and also where I remember having the most fun! Early in my career, I took these experiences and applied them to the classroom where I allowed students to have the same type of hands-on, minds-on, and fun-filled experiences that I had. I integrated a multi-sensory teaching approach where all learners and learning styles were valued and where I found ways to get to know the children and their home cultures. As an administrator, I work hard to recognize that people who work with me have different learning styles too. My responsibility is to create an environment in which teachers are given the opportunity and encouragement to engage in a continuous process of selfreflection to examine their practice and ask the question, “What is best for the students?”
Dr. Luis Ottley and his wife Carrie and children, Paloma and Luis.
Q: A:
How has your international upbringing shaped your work as an educator?
Q:
Raised in a diverse country like Panamá and attending the Armand Hammer United World College in New Mexico with students from 72 different nationalities cemented my appreciation for the richness of different perspectives. These experiences impacted my teaching and my belief that we should endeavor to meet students where they are, and value their differences, which ultimately creates the space for them to bring their whole selves to school.
The St. Martin’s community is excited to meet you and get to know you. What is one thing you would like to convey as you begin this new endeavor?
A:
I would like for parents to know that at the end of a school day, I want students to love school because they had fun, they were challenged and they were encouraged to take risks. I want students to feel convinced that their teachers know them as learners and as individuals. When educators embrace culturally relevant teaching, they help form a community of learners which teachers, parents and the students themselves feel proud to be members. When educators accomplish these goals, then we have educated the whole child. PATTERNS
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MIDDLE SCHOOL
Day
Grandparents’
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At the end of March, St. Martin’s welcomed more than 140 grandparents of middle school students for a special morning of events. Grandparents and their grandchildren enjoyed breakfast and special performances from the band and chorus and a few scenes from the spring musical Mary Poppins.
Active Learning
By Tony Shaffer, Middle School Principal
ven a cursory glance at recent educational publications reveals a new-found fascination with “active learning.” In a review of three journals at random from a stack of educational reading, two have cover stories on this newest of new topics in educational research and practice. A GALILEO search on “active learning” limited to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals yields 1,678,507 results. It would be a difficult task to present an executive summary of the current thinking with regard to this topic. When it comes to today’s educational philosophies, active learning and progressive education seem to be closely linked in many practitioners’ minds. It seems that a commitment to active learning is almost a requirement in order for a school to be labeled “progressive.” St. Martin’s finds itself often tagged as “more traditional” regarding its approach to education. In fact, it’s not really “traditional” by many standards — no giant lecture halls, no hour-long courses employed entirely by droning teachers and the scratching of students’ pens and no English-Latin translations required for graduation. St. Martin’s is not that kind of traditional, but it may be considered “more traditional” in other ways. PATTERNS
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Based on what happens in classrooms around St. Martin’s, it doesn’t seem that active learning is such a new idea after all. Maybe some of the visible hallmarks of a traditional education aren’t all that “traditional.” Maybe due to a culture committed to good teaching as defined by what’s best for kids, SMES has progressed quite a lot without finding it necessary to do so under any of the educational banners that have arisen since the school’s founding. The Chinese philosopher Xunzi wrote in the third century B.C., “Not hearing is not as good as hearing, hearing is not as good as seeing, seeing is not as good as knowing, knowing is not as good as acting; true learning continues until it is put into action.” This translated to a modern English version on a poster: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Whichever version resonates more, both have in common the emphasis on doing. With “fresh eyes” on campus, this active approach to learning is everywhere from Early Childhood to the Middle School. While I spent a good portion of my summers picking up bugs and snakes out in the yard, nobody thought to build a science lab for the Kindergarten I attended. Nor was there anything like the curriculum the children enjoyed on St. Martin’s STEAM Saturday — air pressure rockets flying through football uprights, pressuresensitive iPad painting apps and magic noodles construction. All would have been viewed as fun toys, but the creativity and problem-solving opportunities afforded by these activities would not have been seen as “educational” in any way.
Active in action
The “active approach” is also what I saw when a 5th grader of my acquaintance brought home his “Earth and Moon” project sheet for Mr. Hanse’s science class. I kept looking for a long sheet of step-by-step instructions, but there wasn’t one. I was certain that a page — or three — had gotten lost on the way home but, in fact, the design and execution of the project were left almost entirely up to the student. The only requirements were that the Earth and moon had to be represented proportionally in terms of size and distance, and that the student was able to set up the project in class without measuring out the distance at the time of setup.
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Yes, there is much traditional learning in this example. Students were learning about the solar system, and they had to remember the size and location of the planets. This method of assessing their understanding of our planet and its satellite, though, was active and required students to look at the world around them to see how they could best use items they could hold in their hands to represent a reality that is so large that the human mind finds it challenging to imagine. In viewing a number of students’ projects in the hallway after they were presented, I saw a variety of objects, decoration, media and mounting options that I never would have considered. Not only that, but knowing that students had to review the specs many times while making or looking for spheres and planning their placement, makes the ratios more real and thus more meaningful. Just by driving to Hobby Lobby for materials and by helping to find a long piece of string in the utility drawer at home, I know that the Earth is roughly four times the diameter of the moon, and that the distance between them is roughly 30 times the Earth’s diameter. The design of the project is as important as the content the student masters though. At some point, we’re all likely to forget those ratios unless they are useful to us on a regular basis. Conversely, the habits of mind formed when taking on this project might never go away. In just this one quick project, the student encounters the need to plan a multi-step project (“Oh, no! I decorated it after I measured its diameter!”); to try different solutions (“OK, that styro cube is too small to
balance this big sphere.”); to ask for help when something is unclear (“Dad, what does it mean when Mr. Hanse says, “Attach your models with string? Attach them to what?”); and to reflect on one’s learning in a presentation before the class. This active recursive process is the antithesis of the sort of “traditional” education that E.M. Forster probably had in mind when he said that spoon-feeding teaches nothing but the shape of the spoon.
In the Middle School, we can certainly appreciate the fact that a spoon is a better utensil than a fork when it’s time to eat some soup;
however, we also know that inspiring students to design their own tools and devices can be a key component of a creativityinfused education. We see this in 7th-grade science where students were presented with a real-world problem. In the process of feeding birds for the Cornell bird project, they placed seed in a feeder that is open to the elements and got wet on rainy days and grew a fungus that was harmful for birds. This meant that students had to be quick to remove the wet seed, which is both wasteful and a potential hazard for the birds if not disposed of quickly. Seventh graders were challenged to design a feeder that would provide appropriate access to birds but prevent the seed from getting wet during rain. That is essentially the PATTERNS
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step: Coming to campus to help pack food kits completed the project. A walk around campus on any given day illustrates this point well enough.
So, what makes St. Martin’s “more traditional?” Well, students still learn multiplication
tables and sentence diagramming. Teachers ask children to take notes, and sometimes those notes must be handwritten — and in cursive, where appropriate. (There is no doubt that there are elements of our program that are very similar to what I was doing in Mrs. Todd’s classroom about 35 years ago.)
What makes SMES “a little progressive” is the fact that current brain research
entire assignment with materials and designs up to the kids. Prototyping, iteration and evaluation were built into the project. Rather than designing something that meets the standards on a rubric, students got feedback by direct observation as their prototype either protected the seed from the elements or failed to do so. This new active approach to education resonates strongly with the following dictum:
“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” Then again, John Dewey said those words nearly a century ago, which again suggests that talented teachers have been engaging students in active learning for a very long time. These two detailed examples have both been drawn from the sciences, but the premise applies to many other subjects on any given day. Whether its 8th-grade English students taking steps forward and backward through the lobby to illustrate the impact of demographics on life outcomes, math students designing art projects by plugging incredibly complex equations into Desmos, modern languages projects in which kids essentially create a commercial for a tense or structure, St. Martin’s is engaging active learning every day. We even employ active approaches to service learning, as evidenced by the fact that a donation to SMES’ Day of Service was only the first
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— especially studies made possible by fMRI — is leading some progressive schools back to times tables and cursive writing. It turns out that 8th-graders’ performance on higherlevel math tasks increases in direct proportion to their level of automaticity in performing basic operations. Similarly, students who write their notes by hand enjoy greater long-term content recall and better ability to relate new material to their existing understanding — and that effect is even stronger if the handwritten notes are in cursive. It is not so surprising that education is prone to fads and waves of “revolutionary” change, while at the same time actually changing fairly slowly in terms of what happens in the classroom. For one thing, everyone who teaches school has been to school (while not every surgeon has had surgery, nor has every attorney been a defendant). Teachers are simply wired to preserve the best from their own experience while discarding that which was distasteful or unproductive. This provides a constant tension between the desire for change and the defense of our current practice. As parents, too, we are intensely interested in our children and their education, and we may wish to change the whole system in order to create the environment that would best serve our own child’s needs. We see these forces at work in politics, in our social circles and in our communication with teachers and school leaders. Active learning — whether made manifest by Project-Based Learning, STEAM, the CES’ “demonstrations” or any of a number of other models — is a perfect illustration of the fact that schools that seek to do what’s best for kids will frequently struggle with the real or perceived dichotomy between that which is traditional and that which is progressive.
In fact, it may be that this struggle is the hallmark of a healthy school.
voices
PAM POMAR, ST. MARTIN’S SCHOOL NURSE
I have traveled the fabled long and winding road to become the school nurse at St. Martin’s Episcopal School. With the exception of a brief stint in an adult surgical ICU, my clinical experience has always been with children — including a ten-year break as a nurse to stay home with my three children. I think of this period of time as an intense period of well-childcare, emergency care and behavioral intervention. Like your children, mine also benefited from an outstanding Episcopal school education. They are now young adults and my husband Chris and I enjoy feeding and entertaining them and their friends on a regular basis. I reflect on all of the wonderful new relationships I’ve developed after four school years as the nurse at St. Martin’s. Nurturing and informing are a big part of what I value as a healthcare provider. As these skills are not often part of the Important School care received in today’s complex world of healthcare. I am grateful to put my skills to Clinic To Dos: use in this school setting. •
Add the School Nurse ’s
direct line to your ph It’s interesting to note that when students visit one contacts so you never the clinic, the ratio of illness to injury is about miss a call. 404-228- 0740 50/50. I see an average of 25 students per • Check the Parent day — but often up to 40! When students Resource Board on the website come to the clinic, I guide them through a to annually review the He alth brief focused history of what is troubling & Wellness section inc luding them. I’m so happy when students learn to health forms and other recognize how their lifestyle has an effect important information. on their well-being and performance and • Each year, review the offer descriptions such as, “My head hurts. It St. Martin’s Handbook for started about 30 minutes ago. I ate a good detailed guidelines reg arding the school clinic. breakfast and have had a whole bottle of water to drink.”
Our clinic is a comforting spot for students to spend a little bit of time when needed. And often, “a little bit of time” is the key as it is important to get a contagious or ill child home or to a caregiver as soon as possible for the safety of all of our SMES children. We have a limited variety of over-the-counter medications available when needed. When I administer one of these medications, I provide a note so parents are aware of the time it was given. The school’s website provides forms to provide permission for administration of these OTC medications, as well as necessary forms should you need to provide allergy medication, short-term prescription antibiotics or an extra dose of regular medication. My best advice? Make it a family priority to get children to bed calmly and on time, to rise early enough to have an unhurried morning and to have a breakfast high in protein that will sustain them until lunchtime... Simple and worth the effort!
Nurse Pam PATTERNS
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volunteers
Spotlighting Lisa Smith, Duke Scott and Julie Carson
he St. Martin’s speech and drama department takes Middle School performing arts to a whole new level. Each year, the department and its dedicated group of teachers and students work tirelessly to produce one-act shows, variety shows and, as a result of months of hard work and preparation, the spring musical. Under the direction of Heidi Cline McKerley, technical direction of Spencer Stephens and a variety of other leaders, the shows are cast, rehearsed and amazing sets, lighting and costumes are created. The end-result? One great production after another. Add to that a host of unsung ‘drama mama’ heroes (and drama dads too) who are invaluable in order to make it all happen.
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Meet a few of them:
Lisa Smith
Lisa has been part of the St. Martin’s community for many years. She has two daughters— Lindsey, who graduated from SMES in 2015, and Rachel, who graduated in May. Both entered SMES in Pre-K. Through the years, Lisa has been very involved in the St. Martin’s community volunteering with the Drama Club, as a leader in the PTO chairing the Fling, the father-daughter dance and the book fair, just to name a few. She’s also a two-time annual fund chair and is very active with St. Martin’s church.
Duke Scott
Duke has three children attending St. Martin’s including rising 4th-grader Katy, rising 7thgrader Austin and Win who will be in 8th grade in the fall. Duke’s woodworking and set design skills have been a mainstay for spectacular sets supporting many performances. Along with set building for the drama department, Duke also volunteers with Cub Scouts and can often be seen in the classroom as a substitute teacher at SMES.
Julie Carson
Julie’s been a member of the St. Martin’s community for five years and her son Jack just graduated in May. In addition to the many hours she has spent supporting the drama program, Julie has also chaired the PTO Fling fundraiser and volunteered for The St. Martin’s Fund as its chair for the past two years. Her favorite part of volunteering has been being able to participate in the children’s growth and work directly with the administration and teachers.
“Theatre is a collaborative art, requiring the focused energy of many moving parts. None of our big projects could happen without the contributions of our parent volunteers. We could not do what we do without them.” —Heidi Cline McKerley, Director of Speech & Drama
Why do you volunteer? Duke: I love being around the kids! I told my children that if they wanted to participate, then I would help in whatever way I could. It’s great to be able to be involved in what my children are doing, while helping out the school at the same time. Lisa: From a very early age, I was raised to volunteer and give back. I remember starting 1st grade at a brand new elementary school and the school had no playground equipment. My parents worked diligently with the school community to raise money for the equipment and I remember how happy we were when it was installed.
What advice would you give to the other SMES parents about volunteering? Julie: It can be hard to make time to volunteer, especially if you work or have a lot of other commitments. It can also be difficult to find a place to help that feels like a good fit — not everyone is a ‘joiner.’ When we first came to SMES, I didn’t know many people and felt a bit intimidated ‘breaking in.’ So I asked Dr. Mac where she thought help was needed, and as a result began volunteering in the library. The librarians were so appreciative and it was a great way
to learn my way around and meet people. Make the time! Find your place! You will be glad you did. Duke: Get involved. You will gain a perspective and appreciation of how awesome the staff and teachers are here at SMES. It can be difficult to find the time to volunteer but it is worth every second. Plus, it is tons of fun!
What makes the St. Martin’s drama department special? Julie: The camaraderie of the parents, kids and teachers is outstanding. It has given our son Jack so much — it helped his confidence, his self-esteem and his drive to succeed. Before Heidi McKerley convinced him to try drama, Jack had not really found his ‘place’ where he felt he could contribute and fit in. I really believe it has changed his life. Lisa: The St. Martin’s Drama department is extraordinary due to the leadership of Heidi McKerley and Spencer Stevens. It’s a special community with lots of opportunities throughout the school year for students and parents to get involved. I have had the great pleasure of working, and more importantly, learning from many great “Drama Mamas” and Daddies throughout the years. Paintbrushes, sewing needles, hammers and saws have been passed down over the years, and it is all because of the wonderful program and the love and support of our children. Thank you Mrs. McKerley and Mr. Stephens for 12 great years of wonderful memories of St. Martin’s Speech and Drama!
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STEAM in Kindergarten
By Janet Hurlburt Lead Kindergarten Teacher
It all started as an attempt to satisfy my professional development hours for the school year. I would not normally sign up for a STEAM workshop, but I am so glad that I stepped outside my teaching box to attend. The instructor, Dr. Alice Christie, was a lifelong teacher of 50 years and I instantly felt her passion for teaching and her love of all things STEAM. Her workshop presented a whole new way of thinking about how to approach teaching in a manner that inspires students to collaborate and think and learn— outside the box — while using science, technology, engineering, art and math! Through my 26 years of teaching I have always returned from professional development workshops energized and ready to apply at least one new idea in my classroom. This year was no different, so I decided to build in “STEAM time” to my Friday schedule. Fridays in Kindergarten require some creative teaching to keep the kiddos busy and occupied because they are “done,” a special educational word that all teachers know and understand. In past years, I have filled this time with games and “make and take” from our treasure box that is full of construction paper remnants. It has been a “tinkering” activity using unusual amounts of glue and creativity. Friday afternoons are generally filled with elevated voice levels, busy hands and lots of fun. This year I have switched up these Fun Friday times with STEAM activities. It has been a process, and I have learned so much about stepping back and allowing myself to be less of a teacher and more of a guide. I do not tell them what they will learn. Through this child-centered process they now tell me what they learned during the wrap-up session.
Teaching for Unknown Future Careers
Dr. Christie’s workshop was just the beginning of my journey. She stated that teachers are teaching children for jobs that don’t exist yet! This is a powerful statement and a powerful thought for me as a teacher. I recently read an article indicating that employers are troubled by graduates’ lack of soft skills. College grads are lacking in people skills
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Students in Mrs. Hurbert’s class work in small teams to build a tower using squishy play-doh and plastic Easter eggs with the goal to construct the tallest structure.
and having trouble solving problems and thinking creatively. STEAM activities help develop the soft skills of students, and I’m determined to help set the foundation for these skills in my Kindergarten class. Due to the age and stage of my students, I spend as much time guiding and supporting the soft skills as I do on teaching content. These activities can also accommodate the variety of developmental levels in my class. The STEAM activities can level the playing field by allowing all students to use their own unique way of thinking — STEAM is very kidfriendly and isn’t black and white. Breaking down what I learned from Dr. Christie’s workshop to apply to Kindergarten-age students has been a teaching challenge. I want the activities to be meaningful and relevant for my students but most STEAM activities are aimed at
older students. I’ve had to be creative to invent new ideas and also adapt existing ones from a variety of sources including Pinterest. In addition, EC science teacher Mrs. Beckwith has been applying STEAM activities in her science lab for a few years so I have been able to observe and discuss how she implements STEAM for this age student. Being able to collaborate with other SMES teachers has been an important part of my learning and teaching process.
Collaborative Learning
On Fridays, the class expects a challenge. They still do not understand the concept of a STEAM challenge and the learning it brings; they just know it is fun. (Although one student recently remembered that the letters stood for other words!) While the term STEAM isn’t as important now, I do PATTERNS
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want them to be familiar with the term and associate it with a challenge for the brain. When I ask them what STEAM means I get answers like, “It’s what comes out of trains,” “It’s what happens in a fire,” and (my favorite) “It’s what happens when the popcorn burns.” Clearly, I need to boil a pot of water and show them steam.
did you have? And how did you solve your problems?” Each student should be able to verbalize what they just did. Students consistently show a huge amount of creativity and are excited to continue to explore new ideas with the materials and want to share their thoughts with me. That is real active thinking, tinkering and learning.
I begin each challenge by showing students the simple materials for the activity. For example, red solo cups, paper, and a Dr. Seuss book or a paper bowl and a penny. Obviously, fancy materials are not needed. I ask what they think the challenge will be and I get interesting ideas. Then I tell them the challenge and we discuss what is allowed or not allowed and off they go.
In the Moment
In a recent challenge, the penny needed to stay on the paper and could not be taken off the paper using hands. I only gave a few “must dos” and tried not to say what they can’t do because I did not want to interfere with their thinking process. Teaching in this manner is completely contrary to how I normally teach reading, writing and math, so it’s also a challenge for me. I want them to collaborate with a partner and develop creative ideas to solve each challenge presented to them. More than anything, I want the teams of students to connect with one another and understand that they are “in this together.” After the discussion, they get their materials and spend 30 to 45 minutes collaborating on the solution and the ‘wrap-up’ discussion. The wrap-up is the most important part and includes answering a series of questions such as, “What did you learn? What worked? What did not work? What problems
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I love to capture photos and videos of the process to share with students and with parents through our class Instagram account. The volume of voices in the class is elevated. The students are talking to each other and materials are moving around. They are engaged and busy and they might be happy or frustrated. I can see they learn from each other and often try to copy ideas. I have to hold back and watch some ideas fail, but I am there to encourage them further. Sometimes partners argue but they are still talking and I get them back on track. I can see and hear collaboration. It’s totally hands-on and kinesthetic. Students ask me open-ended questions to which I reply, “What do you think?” The classroom gets messy, but that is okay. When they fail, they keep trying. No student has given up or cried yet. They keep trying so I can see stamina and perseverance. One day a “pretend fire drill” sounded and I could hardly hear the beeping! The best part of all of this is when I hear a student say, “Mrs. Hurlburt, we did it!” I am filled with teacher joy. Now that I’ve completed this school year, I am gaining my “steam” in the classroom with STEAM and I look forward to building on my experiences for next year. I began knowing nothing and ended up feeling like I am bringing yet another important aspect of learning to my students. Along with successes there are failures within the activities, which are an important part of the STEAM process and “life in general.” We all learn from our mistakes and that is one of the most important understandings in Kindergarten. After all, that’s why erasers were invented! Dr. Christie posed a question to us, “Do you need a lesson plan for STEAM, or is that an oxymoron?” We start with materials and time and some basic objectives. Once we get going, I think I have an idea of what I may see, but I am always surprised by their creativity. I’ve learned that teaching outside the box can teach us all and elevate our learning process. I look forward to continuing this STEAM process. There’s still so much I need to do and incorporate. For now it beautifully fills the Fun Friday time. Students and this teacher feel a sense of accomplishment and completion of purpose and we end the week on a high note. Plus, we all have had a good time.
Head Heart Hands
Learning Leadership at SMES
eadership is a big concept with a variety of different meanings depending on where an individual is in life. For small children, it might mean being the line leader at school. For older children, serving as soccer team captain or student council representative are important leadership roles. Sometimes leadership may simply mean being the “go-to person” for good advice and straight talk among a group of friends. For adults, the opportunities for leadership are ever-present in daily life. Some opportunities are goals an individual strives to meet while others are simply assigned. Whether a board room president, a philanthropic leader or a super mom or dad – the possibilities are endless.
By Kristi Gaffney Marketing and Communications Manager
But how do humans achieve these leadership positions? Are certain people just born leaders, as the expression goes, or are there some learned skills that lead to — well, leadership? It’s really a combination of both nurture and nature. At St. Martin’s, the curriculum is designed to both nurture and guide students toward leadership opportunities and boost students’ innate skills to “go for it.” The push is intentional and it’s referred to as the Three H approach – Head, Heart, Hands. Head is the spiritual foundation taught throughout the religion curriculum while heart complements this in guidance class. Head and heart work in tandem with hands that ‘do’ things in leadership classes beginning in the 4th grade.
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The foundation is established in Early Childhood through guidance class with Elizabeth Barton. “I don’t specifically use the word ‘leadership,’ but I do discuss the many attributes of a good leader and we work on the concept itself,” says Barton. “We talk about truthfulness, cooperation, perseverance and how to be a good listener, just to name a few.” Throughout the EC years, students are presented with these ideas and work to hone their communication, teamwork and tolerance skills through role play, children’s literature and group work. These concepts are reinforced in religion class through the Godly Play curriculum. As children move across the bridge into Elementary School, the younger students continue their foundation in guidance class until 4th grade where they balance guidance with leadership for half of the year. In the early ES years, guidance counselor Christina Johnson works to teach age-appropriate skills such as problem-solving, mastering “using your words” and internal control. “In 2nd grade, we work on their ‘job’ as students to become their best selves,” says Johnson. “They learn about responsibility and teamwork as it relates to school. Moving into 3rd grade, we focus on the value of choices. We work on students’ understanding that they are able to choose their attitude and gain a more heightened awareness of themselves and their actions. These are important milestones at this age.” In 4th-grade guidance, the focus is on “getting along” better to enhance and strengthen relationships and students learn to
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improve communication skills through assertiveness training. Meanwhile, 5th graders are working on making positive and healthy choices as they prepare for the transition to Middle School. The students engage in age-appropriate discussions on cliques, homework management, emotional IQ and all of the hard lessons associated with their choices and sometimes having to navigate consequences. “I spend a lot of time with the children to foster their ‘humanness’ and focus on empowering them to know that every day is a new opportunity to be your best,” Johnson notes. The other half of the year for the 4th and 5th graders is spent in leadership class with Patti Pitoscia, aka Miss P.
Leadership can be learned
“The leadership classes are based on a curriculum stemming from Dr. Tim Ellmore’s book ‘Habitudes,’” says Pitoscia. “Young people can learn leadership habits. We stress core values that are necessary to lead and the practical steps to ‘do’ something that can positively affect each student personally, others around them and the community at large. We talk about learning to find each individual’s purpose and passion, getting the right people together to form a plan, then putting the plan into action to ‘do’ something. And finally, we reiterate the importance of evaluation and revision.” Students enjoy the freedom of learning to work as a team and making decisions that matter. In trying to evaluate a “need” for the Elementary School, one 5th-grade team determined that kids were consistently late moving from one class to another because there weren’t clocks in the 4th- and 5th-grade
hallways. They worked as a group to lay out the problem and determine a solution. After a meeting with Dr. Mac, clocks were soon installed and students were less tardy for class. Done! Leadership classes take notes from a variety of sources ranging from Dr. Seuss books to the wisdom of “The Andy Griffith Show.” The younger students work on giving compliments freely and being sincere with their peers. They also begin to learn about navigating social media in today’s world and, as part of that, the importance of pulling people up versus putting people down. “I really try to get the kids to understand that they have more power than they realize,” says Pitoscia. “We talk a lot about social distractions and try to empower them to think about their choices before they speak or act.”
they are responsible for figuring out the logistics, materials and manpower needed to make it happen and planning the projects with adult leaders at the school. The Head and Heart continue to support the work of the Hands as MS students move through their work in guidance and religion classes. In guidance, students focus on staying balanced, rapport building, age-appropriate communication with peers and adults and SSAT prep for 8th graders. Religion is a core class in Middle School and the “head” works to strengthen students’ spiritual foundations through educational coursework that’s relatable and relevant to their stage in life.
“Every day is a new opportunity to be your best.”
“At St. Martin’s, we strive to weave leadership into all of our classes as students are faced with learning self-awareness and —Christina Johnson respect for others and their community as part of growing up,” says Pitoscia. “The ‘Three H’ approach is holistic in that it In the Middle School, leadership classes (or the Hand) are helps strengthen core values at each stage of development as separated by gender to ensure a safe space for the children students move through the three divisions of St. Martin’s. to spread their wings. Sixth grade focuses on self-leadership In leadership, we approach these concepts intentionally to activities while 7th graders look outward to learn more deepen their understanding and put it into practice as they about connecting with each other. The 8th-grade groups develop into young adults. Each child will be faced with that work to pull all of their Three H learning together to focus ‘first time’ they will need to make a choice about stepping up on leading others and philanthropy. Each MS class is also for themselves or others in a variety of ways, and we hope to tasked with working as a group to determine a need at school help provide a foundation for them to make good choices and and a solution. Bus washing, a bake sale to support The St. also give them a safe place to fail.” Martin’s Fund, adopting an EC-class to mentor and manual labor to clean up the EC fairy and learning gardens are just a few of the recent projects. After the classes determine a need, PATTERNS
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Winter/Spring AWARDS WINTER
Girls Basketball A-Team
MAAC ALL CONFERENCE Alex Norris WARRIOR Ella Cannon Bobbie Akin MOST IMPROVED Stella Jane Eskew
Girls Basketball B-Team WARRIOR Noelle Broughton MOST IMPROVED Mary Claire Fish HUSTLE Ansley Graves
Girls Basketball C-Team WARRIOR Arden Adams Raven Royter HUSTLE Lily Whittington MOST IMPROVED Katelyn Porter
Boys Basketball A-Team
MAAC ALL CONFERENCE Michael Lynch WARRIOR Eren Geray Edward Hires MOST IMPROVED Ben Nordstrom
Boys Basketball B-Team WARRIOR Bryant Lisenby HUSTLE William Fenstermacher MOST IMPROVED Hugo Fleming
Boys Basketball C-Team WARRIOR Hayden Hightower Truman Thompson MOST IMPROVED Lawson Jones Matthew Aronowitz
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Swim Team
Carter Fletcher Angela Pappadakis Caroline Koziol Daksh Breja
••• SPRING
Boys and Girls Tennis Team
MAAC ALL CONFERENCE Gabrielle Marshall Davis Taylor WARRIOR Carter Williams Caroline Koziol
Boys Baseball OFFENSIVE MVP Finn Shaw DEFENSIVE MVP Gerard Hudson WARRIOR Grant Gaffney Daniel Simontacchi
Girls Soccer
MAAC ALL CONFERENCE Dori Lauth Annie Covington WARRIOR CJ King Katie Holmes MOST IMPROVED Mia Pistone
Sports Wrap-Up WINTER St. Martin’s enjoyed a great basketball season and fielded a swim team to compete in several meets.
“Our teams were very resilient and hardworking all season,” said Athletic Director Mark McDaniel. “I am very proud of all of the hard work on the basketball court.” The A-Boys basketball team played hard during each game and was close to a comeback victory against AIS. With amazing offense and determination, the B-Boys team had a great season and won their yearend tournament. The C-Boys basketball team ended the season 5-1 and played defense very well. The A-Girls basketball team tied for fifth in the regular season and improved with every game. The B-Girls team grew as a team and stayed focused during the season. The C-Girls ended the season 2-2 and worked really hard to learn the fundamentals of basketball. To take school spirit to another level, the St. Martin’s Pep Squad was formed to cheer on the players at the home games. The school celebrated the seasons with a winter sports assembly where the teams were recognized and individuals were awarded for their hard work throughout the season.
Golf
MAAC ALL CONFERENCE Charles Kyle WARRIOR Jack Duerr MOST IMPROVED Paris Adams
Youth Passing League
MAAC ALL CONFERENCE Bryant Lisenby WARRIOR Lawson Jones Patton Jaynes MOST IMPROVED Connor Kritzer
Congratulations to all award winners and players for outstanding seasons.
SPRING The spring sports season was an outstanding experience for all of the Warrior teams! Boys’ and girls’ tennis AND the golf team made SMES proud and ended up on top in the MAAC conference.
and girls’ teams cruised to victory to clinch the MAAC championship versus solid AIS teams. The baseball team also had a great season finishing the regular season 8-3 and moving on to the playoffs where they first defeated Westminster then Woodward and finally faced Lovett, where after a good fight lost 4-3. The team gave their best at every game and kept a positive mindset.
The golf team had an amazing season and dominated the MAAC once again all the way to win the Championship. In the team finals, one foursome finished three under in nine holes and five shots ahead for second place, while the second group shot well and tied for fifth. In the boys’ division four individual players placed top 12. SMES placed third in the girls’ division. SMES tennis was the team to beat this year during regular season play and entered the MAAC tournament as the top seed. With several players ranked in the state and an outstanding roster, the boys’
The girls’ soccer team fought hard all season to make it to the playoffs, where they faced AIS again for the fourth time out of the past five years. It was a tough match and AIS ultimately came out on top. The girls kept their heads high and made SMES proud of the season. The Youth Passing League had a great season and the teams made it to the final tournament. The A team faced the number two seed and fought hard for a win but just fell short. The B team made it all the way to the semi-finals. Both teams had amazing spirit and never stopped giving it their all.
Way to go, Warriors
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We started the school year off with a special fundraiser to help support one of our SMES families. We hand made wreaths and sold them to the school community and beyond to support the Rand family in their time of need. Moving forward, we worked to achieve one of the PTO’s main goals for the 2016-17 school year: To increase transparency of where fundraising money was allocated. We’re pleased to provide a detailed account in the annual report provided by the school this fall. We also reviewed and revamped the PTO bylaws to provide additional PTO and volunteer protection. In a continuing effort to support SMES’ green initiatives and for the convenience
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of our parents, we promoted all PTO events online and allowed for online payment and ticketing options. The PTO made a conscious effort this year to not stretch our parents too thin financially or with volunteerism. With this thought in mind, we eliminated the smaller fundraisers usually held in the fall and spring. We also listened to parent suggestions to bring back the Fun Run event and were pleased to introduce the very successful Holiday Jingle Jog. We continued our support for teachers and faculty though our teacher appreciation team by giving start-up cash to each teacher during pre-planning, providing breakfast and lunches throughout the year— and new this year, adding gifts to the Teacher and Faculty PTO Christmas party. The PTO Board also participated in this year’s Head of School search and honored Dr. Hamner for his 17 years of service at this year’s Fling. The 2017-18 school year will be under the amazing leadership of Emily Millsaps and Jennifer O’Leary and their seven-member executive board team. Please provide them the same support that you all generously provided for us this year. Many thanks to all,
Paige Feagin and Shara Sanders 2016-17 PTO Presidents
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Tourney
The PTO would like to thank each of you who volunteered your time and helped make this year a tremendous success. A special thank you goes out to our amazing Fling cochairs, Denise Chastain and Amy Harrison, and to all of our event chairs who Shara Sanders (L), Paige Feagin (R) worked tireless hours organizing and planning our 40-plus programs and events. It is true what they say, “It takes a village!”
golf
A message from our 2016-17 PTO co-presidents
St. Martin’s held its 15th annual golf tournament on March 27 at a new location. Golfers enjoyed playing the links at Cherokee Country Club to raise money for the St. Martin’s Endowment Fund. The day kicked off with a putting contest followed by a shotgun start to the course. On the 7th hole, golfers were able to play “are you better than a middle school golfer” in a driving contest against a golf team member. The event wrapped up with a dinner and awards ceremony to laud this year’s tournament winners. Special recognition was given to Dr. James Hamner for implementing the golf tournament 15 years ago and to Craig Belisle for sponsoring and participating in every golf tournament for the past 15 years. Thank you to the golf committee, volunteers, players and sponsors for helping us to grow the St. Martin’s Endowment Fund.
1st Place: MacPhee Realty Group Chuck MacPhee, Brad McAdams, Lee Bosma, James Rohmann 2nd Place: Nease Team Jarrett Nease, Drew Collins, Brian Bennett, Reid Mason 3rd Place: Brookhaven Orthodontics Stan Cox, Ant Raab, Jason Howell, Tim Gartland Longest Drive: Ant Raab Putting Contest Winner: Seth Guterman Closest to the Pin: Rogers King
Congratulations to all of the winners from the day’s event. PATTERNS
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SMES
alumni from the classes of 2014-2016 gathered in the atrium for the annual Red and Blue Alumni Dinner. Friends from all over Atlanta came back to visit with teachers, socialize, share memories and enjoy dinner. Alumni also tested their “SMES facts” with a fun trivia game.
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Dinner
Red and Blue
PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE Patrick Bello, SMES Class of 2003 Patrick Bello currently works as a project manager and business analyst for Ale-8-One, a soda bottling company in Lexington, Kentucky. He enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and playing ultimate Frisbee.
St. Pius X College University of Dayton Study B.S. Marketing, Master of Business Administration Something special you learned at SMES Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you’re stuck because in the long run it’s going to save you time and stress. Also don’t wait until Sunday night to start writing the book report. Favorite SMES tradition I have good memories of the Halloween carnivals. Eating too much cotton candy and running around the school marginally supervised was always a good time. Dream job I’ve always been interested in brand strategy. I think it would be fun to work at an ad agency, brainstorm ideas all day and then work to produce the creative. Favorite book Treasure Island Favorite celebrity Justin Timberlake Favorite food BBQ Favorite movie Big Lebowski Person I’d most like to meet and why? Leonardo da Vinci. The guy was into everything and thought of things that were way ahead of his time. I’d love to learn about his influences and try to understand how he was able to excel in so many things. If da Vinci isn’t available I’d settle for lunch with Telsa. Favorite way to give back I’ve enjoyed volunteering with community development organizations to work on projects and events that bring enjoyment to other people and value to the city. High School
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class notes 1997 Lee Gutschenritter married Alexa Slade in May at Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island.
2003
completed advanced pilot training and an advanced captain’s course and is currently working toward his master’s in engineering. Mike is expecting a new Army assignment this summer.
2005 Jay Eichelberger and his wife Liz have recently started their own business featuring their custom sleep-aid product, Snoozeenie, LLC.
Katie Davignon and fiancé Kris Masoor Katie Davignon is currently working in Washington, D.C., as a department of defense contractor. She plans to marry Kris Masoor in September in Atlanta. Mike Jeffers is currently serving in the U.S. Army as a captain stationed in Ft. Rucker, Ala. He recently
2007 Sarah Bonaparte is attending graduate school at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, working toward an MPH in global epidemiology and is also working at the Centers for Disease Control. Patrick Grayson graduated from the University of South Carolina and works for Cushman & Wakefield in Atlanta.
Brigid Mary McDonnell with Vice President Mike Pence
Capt. Mike Jeffers, U.S. Army
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Brigid Mary McDonnell moved to Washington, D.C., in January and works at the D.C. bureau of Fox News Channel while pursuing a degree in public relations/
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corporate communications at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies.
2009 Mary Walker Mixon is a graduating senior at GardnerWebb University where she served as the co-captain of the tennis team, the executive board of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, and was an academic all-star athlete. Jack Croft graduated in May summa cum laude from Georgia Tech with a degree in computer science and is currently interviewing with Atlanta technology firms. Natalie Chu attends Georgia Tech and will be interning this summer with NextEra Energy with plans to graduate in December.
2010 Alex Bonaparte is currently a junior at Auburn University, majoring in building science and is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.
Camilla Grayson Riley Muse is working this summer as a public relations intern at the Coca-Cola Company in the public affairs and communications department. Camilla Grayson will serve as the music director for the second year at WUOG, UGA’s radio station. She traveled to Nice in May and is reviewing films at Cannes through UGA abroad.
Hannah Rose Adams is a junior at Rhodes College double majoring in political science and urban studies. She is the president of the Social Regulations Council, the vice president of programming of the Panhellenic Council, the alumni relations assistant for her chapter of Kappa Delta sorority, a student employee in the Office of Alumni Relations, and a member of Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity. Mary Walker Mixon (L) and co-captain Catherine White.
class notes
awards assembly. He will attend Auburn University’s pre-architecture program in the fall. Phillip Game graduated from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and will attend Auburn University in the fall. India Sloan graduated from St. Pius X and will attend Indiana University in the fall to study animal behavior on an academic scholarship. Connor Croft
Harrison Ray
2012 Harrison Ray received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis for the class of 2021. He will report in June to become a midshipman and plans to continue his studies in nuclear engineering.
Ansley Harralson is attending Middlebury College in Vermont after taking a gap semester in Nepal working in environmental conservation in the Himalayas and completing a medical internship in Kathmandu. She’s looking forward to being home for the summer and coaching the swim team for the Brittany Barracudas. Alexandria Cannon earned her Girl Scout Gold Award and was pinned at the spring 2017 Gold Award Celebration. She also started a Literacy in Action Program for refugee
children at the Clarkston Community Center in DeKalb County. Alexandria just completed her freshman year at The George Washington University, where she is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and serves as a tutor coordinator at the School Without Walls. She plans to major in history.
2013 Maria Bonaparte graduated from Marist School and will attend Auburn University this fall, majoring in nutrition science in the School of Human Sciences.
Maggie Mixon graduated from Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, where she received an Excellence in English award and was chosen as one of the “Standout Seniors” of Mt. Vernon. She will attend George Washington University where she plans to major in political communication and economics. Kristen Elliott graduated from Dunwoody High School and will attend Florida State University. She will be participating in the First Year Abroad Program in Florence, Italy, this fall.
Maggie Fitzgerald graduated from Marist School and will attend the University of Georgia in the fall.
Ansley Harralson
Conor Croft is a four-year veteran of the Marist School’s Robotics Team that recently earned first place in the state Robotics Division competition. He graduated from Marist in May, and received the Engineering and Design award at the academic
India Sloan
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class notes Teddy Ewing helped his varsity baseball team to a record-setting year and then graduated from Chamblee Charter High School in May. Still an active member of Leaders Club at the Cowart Family YMCA, Teddy will attend the University of Alabama in the fall. Ballard Ackaway graduated from Dunwoody High School after a challenging senior year of nine AP and two Georgia State classes in addition to playing varsity golf. Ballard will attend the University of Georgia in the fall. Mollie Belisle graduated from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and will attend the University of Georgia in the fall and play for UGA’s women’s soccer team. Caroline Koch graduated from Marist School and received the Rapier Editor Award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly. Nicolas Caceres graduated with honors from St. Pius X including National Hispanic
Merit Scholar and National Merit Commended Scholar awards. He will be attending the University of Alabama as an Honors College student on the Presidential Scholarship. Ryan Connor graduated from St. Pius X and will be returning this summer to Haiti for the fourth time to lead a mission trip. He will attend Appalachian State University in the fall. Carter Fricano graduated from Greater Atlanta Christian School and will be attending Mississippi State University in the fall. Nathan Little graduated cum laude from The McCallie School as a National Merit Scholarship recipient. He will be attending Davidson College in the fall on The John Montgomery Belk Scholarship, one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarships. Dazz Riggins graduated from Chamblee Charter High School and will be playing basketball on scholarship at Snead State in the fall. Iain Thomas graduated from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and will be attending Auburn University in the fall. He is also a drummer in a rock band and plays varsity golf. Jack McGinnis graduated from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and will be
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SMES 2013 grad Matthew McGuffey received his Eagle Scout rank in April to complete the class of five SMES Cub Scouts who crossed over to Boy Scouts and earned their Eagle Scout designation From (l-r): SMES class of 2013 grads Nicolas Caceres (going to The University of Alabama), Conor Croft (going to Auburn University), Ken Roberts (going to The University of Richmond), Matthew McGuffey (going to Purdue University), and former SMES student Michael Ferguson (going to The University of South Carolina).
attending Bard College in the fall. Jack was a founding member and on the leadership board for Genders and Sexualities Alliance as well as the Geographic Society.
attending the University of Richmond in the fall.
Cheyenne Murray was the salutatorian at Stone Mountain High School and plans to attend Georgia Tech in the fall. During her time at SMHS, she was president of the Beta Club and National Honor Society and captain of the varsity soccer and swim teams.
Bryce Weber graduated cum laude from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School as a Presidential Fellow and one of only two Griffith Scholars for Presbyterian College, where he will be attending in the fall. Bryce is also the recipient of music scholarships from PC and Dunwoody United Methodist Church.
Ken Roberts graduated from The Westminster Schools, where he was a member of the National Honor Society. He also earned his Eagle Scout, served as a Buckhead Church volunteer, and was a member of the Westminster theater program. He will be
Abby Thomas graduated from St. Pius X and will be attending Mississippi State University in the fall.
Will Ver Meulen is attending Samford University in the fall to study law and political science and will take part in the Air Force ROTC program.
2014 Evelyn Vaughn is a rising senior at Norcross High School and is a member of the volleyball Norcross student leadership team, African-American leadership round-table, Reader’s Rally, and student council. Ashlyn Kelly is a rising senior at St. Pius X taking AP US history, honors French IV, and honors analysis. She is on the President’s List and participates in track, cross country, music tech and guitar. Kaitlyn Hoad is a rising senior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, where she was on the Head of School list
for the past three semesters and was inducted into the National Honor Society. She is also on the varsity tennis team and is co-president of the Fur-Kids club. Kaitlyn serves as a volunteer tutor at La Amistad and will be taking a trip this summer centered on service for a global citizen program. Kathleen Weber is a rising senior at Dunwoody High School and is on the school’s cross country team. Lindsay Smoak is a rising senior at St. Pius X, where she received the 2-D Design Award National Scholastic Art Silver Key and has been on the Dean’s List for the past three years.
Gabi Johnson is a rising senior at Dunwoody High School. In addition to being enrolled in several AP classes, she is also a member of the swim team, Beta Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, student government, and Social (Service) Club. Sarah Van Duser is a rising senior at St. Pius X. In addition to AP classes, she is also involved in softball, track and pre-med club. Weldon Kolker is a rising senior at St. Pius X and has already committed to the University of Georgia for women’s soccer in the fall of 2018. She currently plays varsity soccer and received the award for best offensive player. She is also a member of the junior council and green club. Luke Hale is a rising senior at Marist School and is the varsity track captain (High Jump) and a member of the Spanish National Honor Society. Marc LeVan is a rising senior at Lakeside High School, where he is on the cross country and track teams. He is also involved with the Latin Club, Beta Club, Honor Society, academic team and currently plays in an alternative-rock band duo called Longfellow in Grayscale.
Philip Sumardi and Ken Roberts
Maggie Sjostrom is a rising senior at Marist School and is a member of the varsity cross country state team, varsity swim team and varsity track team. She is also a member
Will Ver Meulen of the National Honor Society, National French Honor Society and was on the Dean’s List. She received the Dartmouth College Book award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly. Ansley Reese is a rising senior at St. Pius X where she is an AP/honors student and served as co-editor of the yearbook, Jr. Pride Leader, student ambassador, and a member of the National Charity League. Nicki Green is a rising senior at Greater Atlanta Christian School and was inducted into the National Honor Society. She’s been a member of the cross country team, swim team, and track team and also served as manager of the boys’ varsity wrestling team. Melina Haralabakis is a rising senior at Wesleyan School and is on the Merit List. She is involved with basketball cheerleading, Greek dance, and the golf team.
PATTERNS
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class notes Alex Fumo is a rising senior at North Atlanta High School and takes AP history and honors literature.
Shea Fleming is a rising junior at Greater Atlanta Christian Academy, where she is a two-year varsity soccer player and has been on the Head of School list for two semesters and Dean’s list for one semester.
Twins Charlie and Andrew Henning are rising seniors at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School and both play on the basketball and baseball teams. Jack Inhouse is a rising senior at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School, where he is an honor roll student and plays on the golf team. Meredith Lynch is a rising senior at Wesleyan School, where she’s an honors student and Wesleyan Ambassador and also runs cross country and is a basketball cheerleader. William Roberts is a rising senior at Baylor School and participates in rowing, Scouts, church youth group and is a legislative page. Watson Coker is a rising senior at Marist School and received the Business and Computer Technology award in basic accounting at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly.
2015 Britton Buchanan is a rising junior at St. Pius and is currently involved with cross country and JV basketball cheerleading. Kaki Hailey is a rising junior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and is on the cross country and track teams. She is also a YMCA camp counselor.
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Emily Schmitt Emily Schmitt is a rising junior at Pace Academy and is an honors student and member of the Pacesetter yearbook staff. She played the role of Mrs. Flannery in the fall musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and the role of Helena in “Midsummer Night’s Dream” this spring. She participated in the school talent show and was selected as one of three Art Laureates from her class. Matthew Larkin is a rising junior and honor roll student at Marist, where he plays golf and basketball. Danny Holmes is a rising junior and honor roll student at Marist School and is involved with the robotics team.
Caroline Brown is a rising junior at Marist School and is an honor roll student, retreat leader and member of the cross country team. She also received a Theology award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly. Cooper Heath is a rising junior at Marist School, where he plays varsity lacrosse and is a student ambassador and retreat leader. McKenzie Miller is a rising junior at St. Pius X, where she is a varsity cheerleader and on the Dean’s List. Ryan Harvey is a rising junior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, where he is a varsity soccer player and recently received a diving letter. Grey Kenna is a rising junior at St. Pius X, where she is on the honor roll and involved with photography and yoga.
Bailey Means is a rising junior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, where he is on the varsity golf team and was the Ansley Golf Club junior golf champion. Cece Blasingame is a rising junior at Westminster, where she is involved with welding, cheerleading, lacrosse and is an Admission Ambassador. She also manages her own jewelry business. Helen Kolker is a rising junior at St. Pius X, where she is on the honor roll, plays soccer and is a cheerleader for basketball and football. Maddy Houk is a rising junior at St. Pius X, where she is on the honor roll and is also involved with photography and yearbook. Lauren Young is a rising junior at Marist School and is a member of the French honor society, student council, track and field and the band. Audrey Lesperance is a rising junior at Notre Dame Academy, where she is on the Dean’s List and captain of her volleyball team.
Courtney Walsh is a rising junior at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School, where she is on the swim team. She also plays club volleyball with NAVC and enjoys being a small group leader at Buckhead Church for a group of 7th-grade girls.
= ST. MARTIN’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
Connor Hubbard is a rising junior at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School, where he plays baseball and recently went on a mission trip with his church to Guatemala.
Brock Thrasher is a rising junior at Marist School and is on the track and football teams. He also received the Physical Education award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly. Ryan Harvey
Caroline Perry is a rising sophomore and honors student at Dunwoody High School, where she is involved in soccer, student government, Spanish club, and the Students for Soldiers Club. She will be traveling to the Bahamas for a mission trip this summer. Davis Futrell is a rising sophomore at Pace Academy and played varsity/JV football and freshman basketball. He is a football letterman. CeCe Blasingame Ben Voorhies is a rising junior at St. Pius X, where he plays in the marching and symphonic bands. Grayson Harralson is a rising junior at Westminster and is on the varsity swim and robotics teams. He will be an assistant swim coach for the Brittany Barracudas this summer with his sister Ansley. George Fish is a rising junior at Marist School and received a Social Studies Award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly. Brennan Barlik is a rising junior at Marist School and received a Theology award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly.
2016 Taylor Rand is a rising sophomore at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and was on the freshman homecoming court. She finished an advanced film class and is almost a year out from her heart transplant.
Ruthie Roberts is a rising sophomore honors student at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School, where she plays volleyball and manages spring sports. She will be going to Costa Rica for interim. Kyra Graap is a rising sophomore at St. Pius X and is involved with drama, photography, and film club. Caroline Seelke is a rising sophomore at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and is a part of the cross country team and manager of the basketball team. Mallory Arrigo is a rising sophomore at Riverwood High School, where she is involved with the marching band and girls’ varsity tennis team. Sara Hall is a rising sophomore at St. Pius X and is involved in basketball, D-Group and youth group. Simon Tolbert is a rising sophomore at Riverwood High School and is part of the advanced men’s chorus and plays JV soccer.
Benjamin Brown is a rising sophomore at Marist School, where he is on the honor roll and plays football. Jack Embleton is a rising sophomore at Greater Atlanta Christian Academy, where he plays on the golf team. He also recently earned his Eagle Scout.
Jenna Bertschi is a rising sophomore honor student at Dunwoody High School and plays golf and runs cross country.
Isabel McNamara is a rising sophomore at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and plays soccer. Emily Wood is a Atlantans outside NGR Stadium in Houston, rising sophomore at St. Pius X, where Texas, ready to cheer on the Falcons in the Supershe is a member Bowl. Michael Liss, Charlie Albert (SMES ‘14), of the varsity cross Joey Albert and Mark Howard country team, JV basketball team, soccer team, art club and is Brandon Connor is a rising the sophomore student body sophomore honor student at president. St. Pius X and he plays hockey. Rylee Shannon is a rising sophomore at St. Pius X, where she is a cheerleader. Tommy Fry is a rising sophomore at St. Pius X and plays football and baseball. Charlie Hawk is a rising sophomore at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and plays football, basketball and baseball. Abby Gillin is a rising sophomore at St. Pius X and was named to the Dean’s list. She is a member of the art club and film/photo club. Will Sjostrom is a rising sophomore at Marist School, where he was on the honor roll, plays baseball, and also serves as a member of the debate team.
Twins Taryn and Shannon Murphy are rising sophomore honors students at Marist School. Both participate in cheerleading for 9th-grade football and JV basketball. Ali Rab is a rising sophomore taking honors classes at Woodward Academy. William Payne is a rising sophomore at Marist School and received a Social Studies award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly. Skeet Fortner is a rising sophomore at Marist School and received a Theology award at the Academic Awards and Senior Honors Assembly.
PATTERNS
= Summer 2017
55
SMES Class of 2013
Sampling of colleges they will attend this fall: Appalachian State University Auburn University Bard College
St. Martin’s Graduating Seniors Honored
Davidson College George Washington University Georgia Institute of Technology Indiana University Presbyterian College Purdue University Snead State University of Alabama University of Georgia University of Richmond
This spring, the St. Martin’s class of 2013 was welcomed back to campus for the annual Senior Dinner to celebrate their graduation from high school. They gathered in the atrium with their parents to enjoy an evening of dinner, fellowship and fun. SMES class of 2007 alumni Lillian Haas spoke to the group and gave her best advice for making the most of the college experience. In addition, each student took the mic to tell their fellow classmates about high school accomplishments, where they are attending college and to reminisce about a favorite SMES memory.
If you have more news to share about your Fall 2017 plans, please email Tina Haas at thaas@stmartinschool.org
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= ST. MARTIN’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
You’re always welcome
FEBRUARY NOVEMBER
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
at St. Martin’s Episcopal School!
16 17 24 7 29 9 21 5 16
Orientation Day First Day of School Elementary Back-to-School Night
27 31
Head of School Installation Ceremony 4:30- 6 pm
Middle School Back-to-School Night 6:30 pm
6:30 pm
Early Childhood Back-to-School Night 6:30 pm
Parent Teacher Conferences Columbus Day PTO Fall Festival SMES Admission Open House 1 pm
Early Childhood Grandparents’ Day
17
Elementary School Grandparents’ Day
St. Martin’s Episcopal School 3110-A Ashford Dunwoody Road Atlanta, GA 30319
Follow us! Twitter @NewsatSMES, facebook.com/smesatl
You’re always welcome
FEBRUARY NOVEMBER
OCTOBER
SEPTEMBER
AUGUST
at St. Martin’s Episcopal School!
16 17 24 7 29 9 21 5 16
Orientation Day First Day of School Elementary Back-to-School Night
27 31
Head of School Installation Ceremony 4:30- 6 pm
Middle School Back-to-School Night 6:30 pm
6:30 pm
Early Childhood Back-to-School Night 6:30 pm
Parent Teacher Conferences Columbus Day PTO Fall Festival SMES Admission Open House 1 pm
Early Childhood Grandparents’ Day
17
Elementary School Grandparents’ Day
St. Martin’s Episcopal School 3110-A Ashford Dunwoody Road Atlanta, GA 30319
Follow us! Twitter @NewsatSMES, facebook.com/smesatl