This period between now and the spring recess is such a fun time at the school. It is still chilly out, but we are gathered together indoors and that is an incredible opportunity to build community. 

During this season, so much of our school life revolves around supporting fellow Saints in athletic competitions and artistic performances. Most evenings we can stop by home games for basketball, squash, or swimming on our way to or from practice. The annual semi-formal dance, the purview of the IV Form, takes place next weekend—a masked ball!—and students will design their masks this weekend. What is better in winter than a good DIY project? SAISL (let’s file this under “quasi-athletic”) reaches its peak during the month of February. If you have never experienced the entire student body gathered in the Old Gym screaming while the creatively named and often even more creatively dressed indoor soccer players vie for bragging rights in the league—well, it is hard to describe. I hope we will be able to post some SAISL video for you soon. This year’s musical (Sister Act!) opens the week before the spring recess, and it is always a highlight of the annual calendar. (True story: During my two years at St. Andrew’s I participated in the musical, and my dancing skills were so awful that the director, Hoover Sutton, created a special comic role for me in the chorus so that it seemed like I was dancing badly on purpose for laughs.) At this time of year, it becomes more apparent than ever that every single member of this community has something to offer, and the winter just flies by. 

To this point: the items I mentioned above are all longstanding traditions at the school—and what is truly special about many SAS traditions is that many of them originate with students, who generate an idea that stands the test of time and becomes a new tradition. For example, SAISL was started during my time at St. Andrew’s. Ruben Amarasingham ’91 and Garen Topalian ’91 were the first “SAISL commissioners,” and back then we didn’t have nets for the goals—we used galvanized metal trash cans. Every time a ball hit the can there was an enormous crash, and that’s how you knew it was really a goal. I am sure that this February we will see new traditions take hold. My leading candidate right now is Cards Club, instituted by the Hunter siblings earlier this year. What began as a couple of tables of students playing card games with Billy, Emma, and Chris in the Main Common Room on Tuesdays after dinner has grown into an enormous number of tables covered in spoons, chips, and kitties, with roaring, shouting, intensity, and hilarity in equal measures. As I leave the dining hall on Tuesday nights these days, it’s hard to envision Tuesdays of the future without Cards Club. I think it just might stick.  

Yes, it is February (almost), and yes, it is often dreary out here in Delaware. But the days are getting longer, and St. Andrew’s gives us the opportunity to practice what is most important in leading a meaningful and joyful life: being together. I hope we will see you on campus at some point this winter—come to a game or to the musical if you can—but please know your presence is very much felt in the smiles and friendships of your children that are growing with each passing day.