Cru's News
Welcome to St. Andrew's "Cru's News," the e-newsletter that captures monthly highlights of our scholars, artists, athletes, and servants, as well as alumni stories and important event reminders. If you consider yourself a member of the St. Andrew's community, then this newsletter is for you!

Want to contribute a story? Contact communications@sasaustin.org   

Important October Dates
Homecoming T-Shirt Orders Due - Oct. 2
Blessing of Pets - Oct. 2
"Les Miserables" Tickets on Sale - Oct. 5
Guest Speaker Ron Lieber - Oct. 6
LS Parent Math Workshop - Oct. 7
*Conference Day - No Classes - Oct. 9
*Columbus Day - No Classes - Oct. 12
LS/MS Book Fair - Oct. 13-16
Kindergarten Information Session - Oct. 16
Grades 5-8 Fall Choir Concert - Oct. 18
Homecoming Game vs St. Stephen's - Oct. 23
Alumni Reunion - Oct. 23-24
Fall Potluck Dinner - Oct. 24 
Certamen Tournament - Oct. 24
LS/MS Open House - Oct. 28
Fall Musical - "Les Miserables" - Oct. 29, 31, Nov.1
Senior Grill Out, Senior Night - Oct. 30

Get more details and dates on our School Calendar here  
 
On the Horizon
Order Homecoming T-Shirts by Oct. 2

Purchase your Homecoming t-shirts by Friday, Oct. 2. You can order them online here or via the homepage button. Shirts will be distributed to students in their homerooms/advisories the week of Homecoming. Be sure to wear your shirt to Homecoming on Friday, Oct. 23!

Join Us on Oct. 6 for Guest Speaker Ron Lieber

When : Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 pm
Where : Upper School Chapel (5901 Southwest Parkway)
Parents: Are you wondering how to teach your kids about money? Join us for a discussion with Ron Lieber, the New York Times award-winning money columnist and bestselling author of The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who are Grounded, Generous, and Smart with Money. Ron's discussion addresses topics ranging from the tooth fairy, allowance, and chores, to cars, jobs, and college savings.


"Les Miserables" Tickets on Sale Oct. 5

Mark your calendars for the Upper School's fall musical, "Les Miserables"! Showtimes are:

Thursday, Oct. 29, 7:00 pm
Saturday, Oct. 31, 7:00 pm
Sunday, Nov. 1, 3:00 pm

Tickets go on sale Monday, Oct. 5 , and can be purchased via The Long Center. Check our homepage (sasaustin.org) on Oct. 5 for a live link to their website.

Celebrate Fall, Y'all, at Book Fair Oct. 13-16

Come to the Rollins Library, Oct. 13-16, to find books for students and parents of all ages! We'll also collect books (children's and adults new or gently used), crayons, coloring books and DVD's for the Dell Children's Hospital Half Pint Library. 

Tuesday, Oct.13, Teacher Preview Party 3:30-5:00
Wednesday, Oct.14,  7:30-5:30
Thurs-Fri, Oct.15-16, 7:30-4:30

Enjoy a Fall Potluck on Oct. 24

Bring a favorite dish to the FOCUS-sponsored fall potluck!
What: FOCUS (Families of Cultural Understanding at St. Andrew's) fall potluck
When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 6:00-10:00 pm
Where: Jess Chapin's house ( 3900 Avenue C, Austin)
RSVP: Yvette Wesbecher (ywesbecher@gmail.com) 

News from the Admissions Office

Throughout the fall we are hosting small group tours, parent coffees, information sessions, open houses, as well as shadow visits so that students can get a sense of what a typical day is like at St. Andrew's. For those families interested in the new Kindergarten program, prospective parents will have an opportunity to meet Kathy Wynn, Lead Kindergarten Teacher, and learn about this dynamic, innovative new facility and programming. ( Click here for more details on these events .) 

Thank you
to all parents, friends, and supporters of St. Andrew's: research indicates that over 90% of families learn about SAS through current families, friends, and colleagues.

Please consider sharing our most recent Admissions E-Newsletter as well as the Cru's News with your friends, neighbors and colleagues, and encourage families to come out and visit us!


School News
LS Joins Together for New 'All-School' Chapels

This year grades 1-6 are attending special all-Lower School chapel services as a way to celebrate the entire community and enjoy guest speakers together. Lesly Reynaga performed popular and classic songs in Spanish in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in the first all-school chapel on Sept. 2. Watch a clip of Lesly's chapel performance here. On Sept. 14, the Gazelle Foundation presented the "Run for the Water," an annual race that raises funds to provide clean drinking water technology to the Burundi people in Africa. Inspired by the presentation, one student immediately approached the speakers after chapel to donate to the cause!
LS/MS Students, Parents Enjoy Some Fall Fun Together!

The weekend was full of activity on the Lower/Middle School campus. On Friday, Sept. 25, the PE Open House had parents and students joining forces on pogo sticks, rope swings, and hula hoops! On Sunday, Sept. 27, Lower and Middle school families enjoyed Fall Family Fair , including carnival games and rides, dunking booth, joust, giant slides, popcorn and snow cones. Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for more pictures, or share your own favorite pics with us! Thank you to our parent volunteers for making events like these safe and special for our students! 
Parent Workshops Explore New Math Teaching Methods
Geoff Harrison, Director of Curriculum and Instruction and co-chair of the Math Department at St. Andrew's Episcopal School, has hosted math workshops this month to give Lower School parents tools to support their children's mathematical journey. The discussions focus on how children are being instructed in their math classes. Click here for more details.
LS Teacher Showcases Upcycled Art
Lower School Art teacher Holly Melear recently exhibited her artwork at the Big Bend Arts Council's R3 (Recycled, Repurposed, and Reused) Art Show in Alpine, TX. The show featured 38 artists and their upcycled creations: Holly displayed work created from recycled canvas, old curtains, threads and yarns, rocks and found objects.
MS Hosts Police Officers, Detectives for Experiential Learning
by Dorothy de la Garza, MS teacher

Middle School students learned about crime issues this month from four law enforcement officials in connection to their reading S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Both classic novels deal with young people's need to belong and the potential for crime and violence.

Speakers included Police Department Officers Bonnie Caudill and Gilberto Caraballo, and Detectives Lance Cox and Ty Neal of the Austin Independent School District investigation unit. "Lots of kids want to fit in and don't have as much parental supervision as you have, and gangs take them in and make them feel like a family," Detective Cox said.  Despite a budget-limited staff, the police unit hopes to persuade some youth to choose to get out of their gangs.

The officers also advised students to be safe if attending the Austin City Limits weekends this October. Cox offered a list of ACL safety tips: attend and stay together in groups, carry cell phones,  accept nothing offered by a stranger, don't flash money or wear expensive jewelry.

To thank the officers, House leaders presented St. Andrew's water bottles and coffee cards to them. The gesture seemed particularly appropriate on the eve of the 14 th anniversary of 9/11.
Congrats to Our 4 National Merit Semifinalists!

Congratulations to our four seniors (left to right) Charlie Tusa, Cole Baker, Natalie Jacks, and Andy Greenwell, this year's National Merit Semifinalists! They are among fewer than 1% of U.S. seniors who qualify for a Merit award! Read more about their accomplishment and next steps here.
Closing the Loop at the Upper School
by Dina Tucker, US Sustainability Coordinator

In preparation for launching a composting program at the Upper School, several Sustainability Council members and student volunteers conducted a waste audit this month.  

All of the waste was collected from the entire campus and the students meticulously sorted through everything, separating it into three waste streams: compost, recycling, and landfill.  

Here's what we found in the cafeteria:
  • We generate roughly 150 pounds of waste/day  
  • 90% of what we generate in the cafeteria can be composted by Texas Disposal Systems
  • 8% of our cafeteria waste is recycling (mostly in the form of plastic cups), and only 2% has to be taken to the landfill .   This is great news!  
There was good news to be found outside of the cafeteria as well. We collected an average of 200 pounds of waste on the rest of campus, the majority of which was water weight from food that had been thrown away.  

The most exciting thing about the audit was our recycling efficacy .  In just a few short years, we have gone from recycling 0% of our waste to correctly recycling 88%.  This is excellent news!  This fact pleased many of the Sustainability Council members, and gave them hope that it is the right time to include composting into our current waste management strategy.

In next month's Cru's News: An update on the energy savings of our LED lighting study

US Football Boasts 4-1 Record!

Crusader football is going strong, with a 4-1 record that includes a recent win against San Marcos Academy (48-7) on Sept. 25! Senior running back/line backer Cole Baker has been named Austin American-Statesman's "Player of the Week" for his role in the 41-14 win against Regents on Sept. 11 (read details here), and received the "Game Ball" honor for his contributions to the 47-14 win against St. Dominic Savio on Sept. 18. Their next game is tomorrow, Oct. 1, versus San Antonio Hawkins. Click here for game details. Go Cru!
US Volleyball, Biggar '16, Guttell '17 Shine In Tournaments

St. Andrew's Varsity Volleyball team finished in second place at the Brentwood Christian tournament this month. Congratulations to players Caroline Biggar '16 and Barrett Guttell '17, who were named to the All-Tournament team! St. Andrew's JV and JV2 Volleyball teams also had great success at the Wimberley TEX-FEST tournament. The JV won the Silver bracket, and JV2 won Flight 1. Go Cru!
US Art Teacher Showing in Michigan Art Competition

US Art teacher Susan Kemner Reed is a featured artist in the Art Prize Seven exhibition in Grand Rapid, Michigan. This international art competition transforms the whole city into art galleries and sculpture gardens for more than 1500 pieces of art. Susan's meticulous attention to detail is on display in her large drawing entitled Watching at St. Cecilia Music Center. The piece is part of her series A Mother's Anxiety chronicling her perspective as a mother of a son in the Iraq War. Click here to see her work and learn more about the competition. Susan will also be featuring her work in the EAST Austin Studio Tours this November 14-15 and 21-22, at Big Medium at the Bolm Road Studios.
Alumni News
'05 and '10 Alumni Reunion Weekend Oct. 23-24

Attention 2005 and 2010 graduates - St. Andrew's is celebrating you on October 23 and 24!

Come find your class banner and reconnect with classmates at the Homecoming game against rival St. Stephen's on Oct. 23! Bring your school spirit and appetite for some food truck snacks! Kick-off is 7:00 pm at the Upper School.

Please also join us on Oct. 24 for a campus tour, cocktails and dinner at the Dell Fine Arts Center. Invitations were sent via mail. RSVP and find more information on the alumni website .
Jenny Hudspeth Stone '83 and Morgan Stone '82

Though Jenny Hudspeth Stone '83 and Morgan Stone '82 both attended St. Andrew's from first to sixth grade, they didn't meet until many years later in college, when they found their St. Andrew's connection included many shared friends and experiences. Their daughter Katherine now attends St. Andrew's, and Jenny and Morgan are graciously sharing their past memories and current impressions of St. Andrew's with us.

Why did you select St. Andrew's for Katherine? What do you hope she will experience here?  We both had such amazing experiences at SAS which is what prompted us to consider it for Katherine. When we went and toured and saw the school now with such an amazing curriculum, new facilities and teachers we were even more excited.  

How would you describe St. Andrew's to other parents who are considering it for their children?  
It is a wonderful community that truly cultivates a love of learning.  The teachers are excited to be there and because of that Katherine comes home daily telling us about something new she learned, singing songs in Spanish or relaying a story from chapel.

What was your favorite St. Andrew's tradition? 
Click here to read the rest of the interview. 
Bryce Deskins '15
At the National Junior Classical League convention, Bryce Deskins '15 was awarded the Chester Tylinski Scholarship ($1250) which is a reflection of his many achievements in the Latin program at St. Andrew's. Bryce was featured with other NJCL scholarship winners in the NJCL Torch magazine (p.7).
Bryce took some time to fill us in on his recent accomplishment and his life as a Classics major at Rice University.

How did you feel when you found out you won the Tylinski scholarship?
Winning this scholarship was an incredible honor. Having attended nationals for the last 4 years, I know how worthy so many of the students there are of winning such a scholarship, so finding out that I won it was incredible. It meant so much to me to find out that the organization that I was so involved in during high school thought so highly of me in return.

How will you use the scholarship prize?
I'm using it for my college education.

How has your St. Andrew's education prepared you for college?
The college counseling at St. Andrew's is phenomenal. It is so much more than just writing recommendations. After acceptances started coming in, I thought things would be mostly over, but in advisory we continually talked about how to adjust to life in college: roommate tips, studying tips, and other transitional tips. All the teachers are also extremely supportive and helpful about transitioning to college. As time went on, many teachers started to model classes and assignments after what we might experience in college so that we would not enter school in August completely confused.

Click here to read the rest of the interview. 
Reminders
Parent Association Meeting Minutes 
Click here to read the meeting minutes from our first Parent Association meeting of the year. Mark your calendar for the next PA meeting: Wednesday, Dec. 2, at the Upper School.
 
St. Andrew's Fund Supports STEAM, Innovation, Teachers!

The St. Andrew's Fund campaign has begun! Please be on the lookout for your mailer. This year the fund will support professional development for all faculty, A/V and technology needs on both campuses and STEAM labs. A St. Andrew's Fund Ambassador for your grade level will be in touch to ask for your support. Make your pledge or gift online today!
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