Although St. Andrew’s tennis teams have been off the courts for some time, their impact still lingers in the greater Middletown community—and it has nothing to do with how well these athletes swing a racket.

Prior to their summer departure, players from the school’s tennis teams joined in on one last act of community service, which is a staple of St. Andrew’s student life throughout the academic year.

This particular service project, the Sports All Summer Backpacks Program, centered on purchasing backpacks for children and stuffing them with supplies for summer fun, sun safety, and more. The project took shape after junior varsity girls tennis head coach and science department chair Dr. Ashley Hyde read an article on how current economic conditions will make it harder in 2025 for many families to buy back-to-school essentials, including backpacks.

“The backpack project came out of an attempt to give a little extra sprinkle of summer magic to some families and young kids in our community who might be having a hard summer,” Hyde says.

Thanks to the Murphy Family Fund for Athletics, which was established by Jane and Paul Murphy P’17,’19,’22 to support and encourage teamwork, community-building, skills development, and positive coaching in athletics, the tennis program was able to purchase 168 backpacks and enough goodies to keep local school-aged kids busy, safe, and active this summer.

The backpacks contain sunscreen, insect repellant, an eco-friendly water bottle, reusable water balloons, a jump rope, a beachball, sidewalk chalk, stickers, sunglasses, and more. A 30-day fitness challenge also went in the bags, which aims to offer children accessible physical engagement regardless of one’s interest or experience in sports. Daily tasks on the challenge include “take five giant steps” or “do 10 frog jumps," providing a playful way for kids to build active habits. In the fall, the children will have a new backpack to take to school.

Of course, no St. Andrew’s act of community service is complete without a dose of mission-centered authentic human connection, so Saints wrote letters that were placed in each backpack.

“I said to our students, ‘I don't want you to underestimate the power of your communication here, because [younger kids] admire older kids so much,” Hyde says. “Your words have real power.” 

The athletes took this advice to heart, and showed their coach—and each letter’s recipient—exactly who Saints are. They introduced themselves, encouraged their readers to “crush” their summer, and shared their interests to model engagement to embrace screen-free, active, outdoor fun.

“I read all of the letters our students wrote, and what struck me was how much they all understood the value of what we were doing,” Hyde says. “I gave a template, but every student wrote their own version of a letter. What I thought was lovely was how many of our students started off their letter saying, ‘Hi, friend,’ or ‘Hey, buddy,’ with an exclamation mark, or a heart, or a smiley face. The level of care and interest that came across was so nice to see.”

Tennis players worked together to tackle the stuffing. Although the project could have been finished quickly, assembly-line style, Hyde says students instead took the time and care to color-coordinate the backpacks and contents, hand-select sticker sheets, and more—laughing, talking, and giving back as a unit.

Some students went above and beyond to help with backpack delivery or letter-writing. Others showed up early for packing time, untangling a knot of jump ropes, sorting reusable water balloons into neat piles, and more so the work of their teammates’ and coaches’ would go more smoothly.

“There was a really positive student reaction,” Hyde says. “Everybody had a way that they could help out and be involved, setting up the room, actually going around and checking the backpacks, or working on a little team of [letter] proofreaders.”

The backpack project intersected with one of the school’s key community-service projects, the SAS mentoring program, which takes Saints out into local schools and education centers weekly to work face-to-face with young elementary-aged mentees. To help get the packs to those who’d benefit most, French instructor and associate coordinator of community service Dr. Pamela Pears P’24 connected Hyde with those schools that Saints frequently visit.

Of the total backpacks packed, 120 went to students at either Townsend Elementary School, Brick Mill Early Childhood Education Center, or Spring Meadow Early Childhood Education Center.

The backpack stretched beyond nearby schools, also going to the Appoquinimink State Service Center in Middletown, an agency that assists local families in need with everything from food to clothing, shelter to social services. The State Service Center is an important off-campus partner for the SAS community as part of another of the school’s service projects, Project Zero, which collects gently-used books, clothing, sports equipment, and other items that Saints don’t take home for the summer. At the end of every school year, Appoquinimink State Service Center leaders work with Director of Student Life Kristin Honsel P’24 to process donations from Project Zero.

Because summer break began before the backpacks were fully distributed, Hyde helped deliver bags to the schools, who passed them on to families in need.

“They said at one school that some kids return in the [fall] and their family couldn't get a backpack,” Hyde says. “Often, the school is trying to source discount backpacks or donated backpacks for those kids. My son helped me drop off the backpacks, and he said, ‘It’s a present in a present,’ because of the backpack and the items inside. I loved that.”