Annual Report 2007-2008
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Annual Report 2007-2008 St. FranciS EpiScopal Day School Susan B. Lair, Ph.D. Head of School The Reverend Stuart A. Bates Rector Carol Porter J Y Board of Trustees Chair T a b l e o f C o n T e n T s Colleen Curran Message from Head of School .........................................1 Head of Middle School School Accomplishments ................................................2 2007-2008 Board of Trustees .........................................3 Nancy Church Head of Lower School Focused on the Future, Carol Porter, J.D. .........................4 Endowed Investing, John H. Duncan ................................5 Michelle Symonds Strategic Financial Planing, Patricia N. Turner, J.D. ..........6 Head of Primary School Report of Gifts and Sources ............................................7 Tina Marie Womack Annual Fund ..................................................................8 Associate Head of School Gifts by contribution category ...................................9 Gifts by student class ..............................................15 Vance Ulsh Grandparent gifts ....................................................20 Head of Business and Operations Alumni and alumni parent gifts ................................22 Faculty and staff gifts ..............................................23 Bridget Hennessey Special Gifts to St. Francis ............................................24 Head of Institutional Advancement Woolrich Fund for Faculty .............................................26 Library Club .................................................................28 Class of 2008 ..............................................................30 Alumni News ...............................................................32 Giving to St. Francis .....................................................40 335 Piney Point Road Houston, Texas 77024 Phone: 713.458.6100 Fax: 713.782.4720 www.sfedshouston.org Alumni, parents, grandparents, trustees, friends, faculty and staff: It is with a joyful heart that I express my gratitude for all that you have provided St. Francis Episcopal Day School. You continue to be a crucial part of providing an extraordi- nary educational experience for our students and upholding the mission of this fine institution. Our community provided more than $756,000 in annual fund contributions, and $974,231 in overall giving during the 2007-2008 school year. Through your gifts, St. Francis continues to live up to its well-established traditions of academic excellence and providing an environment that helps to raise students who are people for others. Our students’ achievements are rooted in the sustained support and involvement of the St. Francis community. Your contributions to annual fund and capital gifts have helped to make these opportunities possible. Among the many areas of our school that have benefited from your giving dollars this year, the following are just J Y a few examples of your gifts at work. Thanks to your generous gifts, we were able to: • Provide additional classroom supplies and support Mission Statement • Send more teachers to valuable, pertinent training In the Anglican tradition, St. Francis • Enhance security to safeguard our campus and students Episcopal Day School challenges and • Present students with the opportunity to enter and motivates students in an academically participate in national academic competitions and spiritually stimulating environ- • Give the lasting gift of education through student ment to become imaginative, critical scholarships thinkers, and people for others. • Enrich student learning through the renovation of the Crum Library On behalf of the faculty, staff and students, thank you for supporting the continued growth of our school. Sincerely, Susan B. Lair, Ph.D. Head of School Susan B. Lair, Ph.D., is the head of St. Francis Episcopal Day School. Before being named to this position she served as head of upper school at St. Mary’s Hall in San Antonio. Her background also includes working at Fort Worth Country Day School, and in both Fort Worth Independent School District and Bryan Independent School District. She earned her doctorate in education administration and finance from the University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a master’s degree in mathematics education from Texas Christian University and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physical education from the University of North Texas. Dr. Lair is married to her high school sweetheart, and together they have three children and three grandchildren. 1 School Accomplishments 2007-2008 The St. Francis community celebrated a number of remarkable accomplishments, many of which were made possible through annual giving dollars. Here are a few of the highlights: Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Debbie N. Harris, seventh grade science teacher, won other side shows a sunrise with a long barbed-wire one of the top educator’s awards in the nation, the fence, a cowboy and his dog, rooster, windmill, and PAEMST. She and 98 other educators received the oil well pump in the background. This scene signi- annual Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics fies the beginning of the modern western culture. and Science Teaching for 2007 during a ceremony held Above the sun scenes and arching over the mustang’s in Washington, D.C. on Friday, May 2. She joined a head, back and tail, is the great and wide western sky group of elite educators who were selected from math- full of starry night twinkles, novas, and constella- ematics and science teachers in all 50 states and the tions. There is even an NASA astronaut tethered to District of Columbia. The awards are administered by the shuttle floating along the side of the mustang’s the National Science Foundation. neck. Bluebonnets and Indian paint brush blossoms wind up the mustang’s hooves and legs so as to attach Academics on Display at PSIA Competition him to the soil of his western roots. The mustang, St. Francis Episcopal Day School placed second in on permanent display on the primary school lawn, is the state competition of Private Schools Interscholastic titled “Deep in the Art of Texas,” and was carried out Association (PSIA), held in San Antonio on Saturday, in the pointillism technique. May 10. Students who qualified to compete at the state level and their achievements were: fifth grad- A New Tradition of Giving ers John Pederson (Vocabulary, second place) and Barker’s Pajamarama had its inception this year in Collin McGrath (Listening Skills); sixth graders Kasey primary school. Primary school students collected French (Poetry Interpretation, fourth place), Kaitlin and paired pajamas with books to donate to the Karcher (Poetry Interpretation, third place) and Jojo Pajama Program, a national program that works with Diesel (On-Site Drawing); and eighth grader Austin agencies in the U.S. and abroad to provide new, warm Porter (Vocabulary, second place). St. Francis eighth pajamas and books to children in need, some of whom graders also placed second in the state in the One- are waiting and hoping to be adopted. Fifth grade Act Play competition, with Katherine Moore, Emily student Taylor Ly orchestrated the pajama drive as a Statham, Nathalie Seidl and Caroline Montgomery service project. Ly said he hopes the younger students winning individual recognition. PSIA is a state- will enjoy the experience so that they will remember wide organization that inspires student achievement that it is good to help others in need. through academic competition. Students in first through eighth grade volunteer to compete in contests Celebrating America’s Traditions in 19 different academic areas. To honor and experience the past, present and future of all things Texas, the primary school staged Deep in the Art of Texas a “Texas State Fair.” Children experienced all of the The St. Francis entry for the Houston Livestock Show components of the Texas State Fair, combining events and Rodeo’s Mustang Mania 2008 was dazzling. The of county fairs with our own Houston Livestock Show student group decided on a western heritage theme. and Rodeo. The day was filled with a “kidway” with One side of the mustang depicts a sunset scene with games old and new, rodeo motor events, music and a herd of wild mustangs racing across the western dance, a livestock exhibit, art show and even a bake-off! plains, signifying the end of the untamed west. The 2 Officers 2007-2008 Carol Porter, Chair The Reverend Stuart A. Bates, Rector Susan B. Lair, Ph.D., Head of School Board of Kim Strange, Vice Chair Pat Y. Spillman Jr., Secretary Trustees Patricia N. Turner, Tresurer Trustees Elizabeth B. Arend Glenn A. Ballard John E. Chandler Richard G. DiMichele John H. Duncan, Jr. , ’69 Elisse Hayes-Karlsson, ’87 Blake Hogan Kelly Huff Lou Jax Patricia Lewis, Ph.D. Melanie M. Ottens Louise Richman Leiselle Sadler Vanessa Sendukas Susan Gilbert, Vestry Representative A s a parish school, St. Francis election. Anyone with under- to ensure that the school’s opera- Episcopal Day School is governed standing of Board governance is tions are relevant and uphold the by a Board of Trustees which is eligible for nomination and may mission of the St. Francis commu- made up of parents, alumni, vestry volunteer for the role. Members nity. In this role, members review and prominent community mem- are elected to a three year term, and maintain bylaws, hire and eval- bers. The makeup of the Board is renewable up to three terms (nine uate the Head of School, and estab- governed by Canon Law of the years),