A Note from the Alumni Board President | | |
Dear Saints,
I hope you are enjoying a great start to the summer.
This spring gave us the opportunity to celebrate some meaningful moments within our alumni community. It was especially rewarding to recognize the graduating class of 2026 and officially welcome them as our newest alumni.
Reunion Weekend was another highlight, bringing together classmates and friends from across generations. The Saturday night reunion party, hosted in partnership with St. Catherine’s, drew over 600 attendees and was a clear reminder of how strong and connected this community remains.
We also saw tremendous support on Day of Giving, with more than $1M raised from over 1,800 donors. The enthusiasm and generosity of the community continue to make a lasting impact on our School and its students.
As we look ahead, I hope many of you will join us for the Great Saints Alumni Dinner on October 30, 2026. Details on our impressive award winners will be shared soon.
Thank you for staying engaged and continuing to support St. Christopher’s. It is a privilege to be part of this community with you.
With sincere appreciation,
Alex Grymes ’07
Alumni Board President
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| Congratulations to the Class of 2026! | | |
On Friday, May 22, 2026, StC held its 115th Commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026 in a joyful ceremony on the Terraces.
“As we, the graduating class, sit on our own hill and gaze out at what lies beyond our lives at St. Christopher’s, the unexplored avenues ahead feel too numerous or too daunting,” said class valedictorian Asher Green ’26. Referring to the choices and paths that lie ahead beyond graduation, Green encouraged his classmates to recast uncertainty as anxiety and instead to look to the future with a sense of wonder. “Where there is no one clear path to take, let us be in awe of the many opportunities that lie before us,” said Green.
Click here for photos from this year's Commencement.
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| | | It was a delight seeing our alumni on campus once again this spring! We can't thank our alumni community enough for making this weekend an event to remember. | |
Save the date for next year!
April 16-17, 2027
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StC Class of 1993 alumni Charles Ayers, Connell Mullins and Peyton Williams returned on April 16, 2026, to open Mrs. Tobler’s fifth grade class time capsule from the 1985-1986 school year in front of the current fifth grade class. As the capsule was being opened on its 40th anniversary, Mullins read a letter from the 1986 Time Capsule Committee: “The project began as an activity related to our study of archaeology and ended as an enthusiastic tribute to the 75th anniversary of St. Christopher’s School. We hope that when the box is opened, it will provide an interesting glimpse of St. Christopher’s in 1985-1986.”
Items found included a matchbox car, a StC 75th anniversary t-shirt, a class picture, a cassette tape of a glee club recording, a paper football, vintage Sports Illustrated magazine issues, 1985 issues of The Pine Needle, a supply list for the school year, the 1985-1986 school directory, issues of local and national newspapers, and much more. The findings sparked conversations about the differences in technology today and then, but also the similarities of a typical school day and continued StC traditions. One fifth grader remarked, “It seems like it’s changed in a lot of ways, but not that much.”
When asked if there is anything he wishes he had included that he didn’t, Ayers responded, “No, I think this is a good snapshot of what happened outside of school, inside the school and then specifically inside the classroom. It’s a great representation of what happened in 1985.” As current fifth graders work on their own time capsule, Ayers implored them to think of “things that are important to you, and how they could change in 40 years.”
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Faculty Spotlight: Sherman Horner ’86 | |
English Teacher and alumnus Sherman Horner ’86 is a legend in the Upper School English Department and has served as a Junior Varsity Football and Varsity Lacrosse Coach for nearly 30 years. The community knows him as a passionate educator who challenges his students in the classroom and on the athletic fields, and as a thoughtful man who has a gift for expressing himself through his music.
Sherman, you just attended your 40th reunion at Reunion Weekend. What was life like for you as a graduating StC senior in 1986?
In a fantastic sense, life was a lot like it is now as a teacher here. Many of the physical properties are changed and renovated, but the basic structure is still in place, and there’s comfort in that. There’s also so much more room for the students. It's classic look, and it also fits with the way the school maintains its traditions, while at the same time we are revising and tweaking to meet the expectations and the student and family needs of 2026.
Some of the most memorable moments for me as a student were eating in the dining hall, often at dinner, and having dinner with several faculty members, like Sandy West, who were in there. I was welcomed, and I felt very comfortable sitting down with them.
What was it like joining the School in 1999 as an educator and having former teachers become your colleagues?
Ironically, Vinnie Broderick, my old Upper School English teacher, and I were in the same graduate class at Middlebury. I was getting my Master’s there, and I saw this shadow hovering over me on the first day, and I looked up, and it was Vinnie!
What keeps you inspired as an educator?
Being in the classroom every day. It’s the dynamic that we all have as a group, and it changes every year. The curriculum might be the same, but the way you go through the year with a new group of students is what gets updated and tweaked.
StC never allowed me to coast. It’s the daily grind, and grind is not a bad word; that’s life. I’m a student too; I’m constantly learning. What I value most is watching the boys’ steady improvement.
Former students will come up to me and ask if I’m teaching “The Great Gatsby” the same way, and I’ll say “absolutely.” It’s long, rigorous, and it can be arduous, but at the end of it, they’ll say “I get it now.” To me, that’s the perk.
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Tell me about the music you play. You’ve played guitar in Memorial Chapel, and the boys loved it.
As soon as Eric Clapton’s Unplugged album came out, I would watch videos of it over and over. I knew every song, every lead. Clapton was my original inspiration, and I learned through persistence.
My wife said to me, very early on in our relationship, “You talk through your guitar.” I come home and just start playing. I’m in a band, and we’ve been playing together for about 10 years. Feeding off an audience’s energy is real, and it’s sort of like the audience in a classroom!
You’re not just a classroom teacher; you’re a coach. Why is it important to mentor boys in all these different settings?
It’s important for the students to see us in different contexts or atmospheres. We're also not in the same mood all the time, and that's important for them to see. I always say, especially in the last 15 years or so, I'm just an older version of them. There’s a relatability that I find with them that way. I was literally sitting in the same places as they are.
When I’m teaching or coaching, this isn't about me dictating what they need to do. This is about helping them make decisions based on habits and understandings they’ve formed. We’ve always held to that teacher-coach model, and I love that we still do that.
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Lower School Musical Dazzles
In February and March, Lower School families and friends turned out to see our boys deliver dazzling performances filled with color, joy, song, and laughter in “Disney’s The Jungle Book Kids.”
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Annual Massey Mile
Once again, the Massey Mile, a campus-wide fundraising event to raise funds and awareness for cancer research, united Saints across divisions. Team St. ChristoCURES raised almost $40,000 this spring. Go Saints!
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VISAA State Titles
Our spring student-athletes are outstanding! StC's Outdoor Track team won the state championship this year, making it the third time in school history that the team has won the Prep League and VISAA titles in both outdoor and indoor categories in the same school year. The same weekend, Varsity Tennis won its seventh consecutive VISAA title with a win over Potomac School.
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Observance of Memorial Day
Saints from all divisions and alumni members of the Chamberlayne Society gathered in front of Chamberlayne Hall this May in a solemn observance of Memorial Day. Headmaster Mason Lecky read the names of 38 alumni who gave their lives in service to the country; the Marine Veterans Color Guard presented the colors, and "Taps" was played to close the service.
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