Dear St. Andrew's Families,

I spent some time over break reading through these weekly email notes to confirm a fear that’s been gnawing at me: that I make this place seem perfect. To be fair, the easiest things to write about are those that inspire us — the small act of kindness, a team’s tenacity, the innovative class, my grandfather. Unfortunately, these emails can add up to one big "puppy dogs and ice-cream" love note.

I do admit to loving St. Andrew’s, but it’s not perfect and it’s not made up of perfect people. What I love is the restlessness people show by waking up each day and trying to bring out the absolute best in themselves and each other in whatever ways they can. Kids fill the pool on Friday night learning to swim. Every III Former struggles with a violin with Fred Geiersbach. VI Formers wrestle with leadership, classes, applications, extra-curriculars, and friendships. Every winter team is working to get better. The process is always slow and often frustrating.

Tad explained the value in this effort to push and stretch oneself better than I ever could during his Founders Day talk on Wednesday night where he announced that he has no intention of becoming complacent: “We have the chance, the responsibility, to build St. Andrew’s anew.”

So this is the essay where I start out writing that we're not perfect, but end up making it seem like we're pretty close. Not so! We're eons away from perfect and that's exactly where we should be if we want to be our best.

Sincerely,
Will Robinson ‘97
Communications

Adopt-A-Family

The VI Form is leading the charge to Adopt-a-Family this holiday season by raising money to buy gifts for a local family of six with children ranging from ages 2-15. Please contact Will Robinson if you’d like to learn how to support the effort.

In the Classroom

John Andrew McCown ’07 visited campus this week to walk Introduction to Physics students through an environmental audit of three faculty homes. The students are applying their lessons on thermodynamics to find ways to make the homes more energy and economically efficient. Please look out for more details in the latest St. Andrew’s Magazine heading to the printer today! (That celebration you hear outside is the communications office.)

Holidays at St. Andrew's

Students are getting into the holiday spirit on dorm, in the halls, and in Chapel. The Admission Team decorated a tree in the Admission Common Room with candy canes to thank students for their work sharing the School with prospective families.

Emily Pressman hosted the girls of Pell Dorm to celebrate the 7th night of Chanukkah with dreidels and dreidel shaped cookies.

Wednesday Night Chapel began this week with Zoe Scurletis '14 lighting the menorah with Hebrew blessings.

The Choral Scholars sang in Chapel today and will sing a Service of Lessons & Carols on Sunday at 4:00p.m. in Oxford, Md. at the Church of the Holy Trinity.

Come Celebrate with Us!

Next weekend might prove to be the students' own Christmas miracle as they perform three major events for the holiday season. The Orchestra will offer three ambitious pieces from Rimsky-Korsakov, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky on Friday night. The following night Avi Gold will lead his extended troupe of dancers in a performance of The Nutcracker (that's Avi this morning rehearsing the "Waltz of the Flowers" with Gabby Lawson '14 and Brian Peart '14). Sunday will bring the traditional Service of Lessons & Carols featuring the Choral Scholars.

There will also be the Annual Holiday Shoppe in the Main Common Room on Sunday from 1:00-5:00p.m. where you can find homemade goodies and gifts with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Vestry.

We Like to Have Fun Too

The History Department's interpretation of Norman Rockwell's "Freedom from Want" during the School's traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Rooftop Solar Task Force

Members of the Rooftop Solar Task Force led by Director of Sustainability Diana Burk continue to look for creative ways to reduce the School’s carbon footprint and long term operating costs through solar energy. They met on Wednesday night after Chapel to review a powerpoint Yousaf Khan ’16 put together from the group’s research. The group will present their findings, which include four different financing scenarios, to the Board of Trustees in February.

A St. Andrew's Moment

Al Wood wears many hats, including resident jarhead barber.

Survivor Finale!

Season 2 of St. Andrew's Survivor came to a thrilling conclusion before break with III Formers making a surprising run to the finals. Fans of the completely student-run show, which tests the physical, intellectual, and emotional limits of contestants, can now watch the gripping season finale and final results show on the show's YouTube channel by clicking below.

The Hour of Code

John Burk and Dave Myers will lead students in the Hour of Code next week as part of Computer Science Education Week taking place around the world. Students will learn to program, create webpages, write video games, design artwork, play music, control robots, and much more. The coding open house will take place next Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8 pm in the main common room.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

If you haven't already, please let Dave Miller know your child's transportation needs for Christmas break by emailing him at damiller@standrews-de.org.

The Dean's Office would like to remind families how important it is for students not to miss classes as they make travel arrangements.

The Environmental Stewards are encouraging families to consider purchasing carbon offsets for travel. Carbonfund.org makes it easy to purchase carbon offsets for your christmas travel. You can purchase from preset packages where it costs $11 to offset carbon emissions for a flight less than 6,000 miles or use their calculator to determine the exact offset needed for travel by type (car, plane, train) and distance.

The 2014-2015 Calendar is now available by clicking here.

Full School Calendar — Athletics Calendar

Bonus Photo