SMS Magazine Winter2014.indd

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How We Teach

In this day of Twitter hashtags, Pinterest pins, and Facebook groups, we are often asked to label and categorize our life’s moments,

fleeting thoughts, and even our friends’ faces. Social media assumes we want to put everything

in a box.

Schools fall prey to this way of thinking, too. “Are you a laptop school? Do you have a STEM

program? Are you in the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools? Part of the Online School for Girls?

Do you code? Do you flip?” In fact, we do all of those things, but they do not define St. Mary’s as

a school. Our school is dedicated to excellence and the pursuit of each girl’s individual potential.

We do not put our curriculum in a box, and we do not put labels on our students.

So what are we? How do we define ourselves? To answer this question, I will borrow from

our esteemed past Headmaster Dr. Nathanial C. Hughes, Jr., who consistently reminded the

community that “it’s all about the teachers.” Schools are about teaching, and great schools have

great teachers. Alumnae know this from their own experience, and the stories in this magazine

affirm that it is still true today. In fact, our commitment to the advantages of great teaching has

led to the inauguration of the youngest class of students at our school: St. Mary’s Place, for 2s and

young 3-year-olds.

Teachers who apply to work at St. Mary’s know our school as a teacher’s dream destination.

Our teachers are mentored in their early career and given resources to improve in their craft and

content. The school culture teaches them how we intentionally shape curriculum, trips, and even

Chapel as part of the girls’ education. Many of our teachers, as you’ll read, are actively engaged

in giving back to their community by teaching other teachers.

We love to celebrate #turkeynation on Twitter, to tag our photos @TheTurkeyTweet, and to

see our fans multiply on the St. Mary’s Facebook page. Each

“like” from a student, past or present, reflects the understanding

that St. Mary’s is more collection of separate pieces. A

St. Mary’s education is the result of devoted teachers

working with inquisitive girls who are discovering their

voice, their strengths, and their potential.

Head of School Albert Throckmorton gets a

little fashion assistance from Early Childhood students during

the Global Day of Play.

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Fall/Winter 2013-2014

The magazine of St. Mary’s Episcopal School is published twice a year as a service to all alumnae, students,

parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the school.

Head of SchoolAlbert L. Throckmorton

Director of Admission & Financial AidNicole Hernandez

Director of AdvancementLeanne Kleinmann

Assistant Director of AdvancementAlumnae & Special Events

Gigi Gould ’70

Director of Communication / EditorSally Walker Davies

PhotographyLisa Buser

ContributorsStephanie Anderson, Lauren Bordelon, Sheri Burkeen, Hannah Buser ’14, Mia Drinan, Caroline Goodman,

Sallie Harris, Shelley Kuykendall Herzke ’90, Debbie Kuykendall, Jessica Lancaster, Leigh Mansberg, Owen McGuire, Shari Ray, Lauren Wiygul Riley ’05,

Courtney Shove ’96, Jenny Maddux Stenberg ’01, Kathryn Carpenter Swords ’83, Josie McNeely Walker ’76,

Allison Warren, Laine Whitaker, and Shelley Wright.

Copy EditorElisa Brock ’80

Letters to the Editor:Please address all correspondence to:

Sally Walker DaviesSt. Mary’s Episcopal School

60 Perkins ExtendedMemphis, TN 38117

[email protected]

Unless otherwise noted, all photos, with the exception of select photos in Class Notes, are by Lisa Buser.

On the Cover:1st grade teacher Natalie Martin and students discuss

placement of gingerbread houses as part of the design-and-build Gingerbread Village project.

Parents of Alumnae: If your daughter no longer maintains an address at your home, please notify Alumnae Coordinator

Gigi Gould at 901.537.1424 or [email protected].

The mission of St. Mary’s Episcopal School is to provide a superior educational experience for girls which will encourage and

enable each student to reach her individual potential.

St. Mary’s Episcopal School does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or national origin in the administration of its admission,

financial aid, educational, athletic, extracurricular, or other policies.

In This Issue

2-14 How We Teach You hear it all the time: Magic happens at St. Mary’s. Inside these hallowed halls, however, there is no magicical potion. Instead, we have a magic faculty. We asked a dozen teachers to share what’s going on in their classroom, in their own words.

15 An Inspirational LegacyGift in honor of Hughes creates mentoring program

16 Beyond Perkins & Walnut GroveTeaching, but just not at St. Mary’s

18 Campus News

24 Fall Athletics Wrap: Strong Finishes and A New Sport

Alumnae

26 Inspired: Wyeth Outlan Burgess ’76

26 Educating in the Delta: Katie Friend ’02

27 Thinking Ahead: Jennifer Kaiser ’00Why I support St. Mary’s

30 Class Notes

51 Milestones

/St.MarysEpiscopalSchool

@TheTurkeyTweet

/StMarysTV

@stmarysepiscopalschool

1st grade teaching team (L-R) Laura Hutton, Natalie Martin, Meena Sudheendren ’01, and Sarah Trimm with Jessica Lancaster, Lower School integrated curriculum and

technology coordinator, at the ribbon cutting for Gingerbread Land.

2 | S T . M A R y ’ S E P I S C O P A L S C H O O L

How We TeachBy Sally Walker Davies

You hear it all the time –magic happens at

St. Mary’s.If you’re looking for a magic potion,

wand, or spell, however, you won’t find it. What you will discover is a combi-nation of a dedicated faculty, a collab-orative, flexible teaching environment, and a foundational philosophy that the most important classroom tool is a per-sonal connection between teacher and pupil.

Magic happens through innovative thinking, taking concepts like differenti-ated instruction and flipping classrooms and applying them with a St. Mary’s mindset. Magic in the classroom comes through a strong professional develop-ment program that encourages teachers to be lifelong learners. It comes from the freedom in the classroom to pursue excellence and adapt curriculum to suit the situation.

For this issue on teaching at St. Mary’s, we asked our faculty to share what’s going on in their classrooms. We follow

teachers who bring their expertise to others. And, we asked a few St. Mary’s alumnae to share how they were inspired by their St. Mary’s experience to pursue teaching careers.

Do we have magic potions or spells at St. Mary’s? No.

But we do have a magical faculty.

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Essential Play: Welcome to St. Mary’s Place

By Lauren Bordelon

At St. Mary’s Place – the program for 2-year-olds and young 3-year-olds started this fall – we believe that play is the essential work of children.

It is upon this belief that we build our curriculum. Our environment is one that invites curiosity and

exploration. In our classroom, you will discover children playing with their peers or alone, building with blocks or Legos, manipulat-ing Play-Doh, playing dress-up, painting at the easel, and exploring natu-ral materials. You

will see teachers watching and listening to the children, documenting their play with pictures and notes.

Specific projects may begin with a small group, while the rest of the classroom engages in play as usual.

Our pumpkin study, for example, emerged when we discovered a photo of the annual Pumpkin Regatta in Oregon, where racers hollow out the giant squashes and use them as boats. The girls were fascinated by the giant pumpkins and wondered how something so big could possibly float.

During the following weeks, we hollowed out a pumpkin and conducted a “sink or float” experiment of our own. We learned new vocabulary to describe the characteristics of the pumpkin. We investigated the inside of the pumpkin, sprouted pumpkin seeds, and even documented a decaying pumpkin.

Here’s an example of one of our pumpkin conversations:Child: “These are the seeds. And this is the pumpkin flower.”Teacher: “What do you think happens to the flower?”Child: “It turns into a baby pumpkin. What is this?” (pointing to the vine)Teacher: “It’s called the vine. It carries water to the pumpkins.” Child: “It’s like a straw for the pumpkins. Sometimes I use a straw to drink out of my princess cup.”Teacher: “And what happens when you drink from the straw?”Child: “Water comes out!”Teacher: “So the vine is like a straw.”Child: “It brings water to the baby pumpkins!”We believe that curriculum is what happens all day every day. It is what emerges from the teachers’ thoughtful

interactions with students – but just as often, it emerges from the students’ curiosity of the world around them.

Lauren Bordelon and Ellie Hardison are the lead teachers at St. Mary’s Place.

Teachers Ellie Hardison, left, and Lauren Bordelon with the students of St. Mary’s Place.

Gwyn Donahoe ’29 enjoys a book in the reading center, one of the many centers the St. Mary’s Place students are free to explore.

Making it Real Planning, projects create deeper understanding

By Lain Whitaker

“Ms. Whitaker, it’s a good thing you had us do the project because I’m enjoying this trip so much more than I would have!”

In over a decade of taking trips with the 8th grade class, that has to be my favorite remark by a student! She seemed to think that our project on social groups in Colonial Williamsburg was a happy accident, but it was the work of the 8th grade trip team – Marilou Mulrooney, Lynda Lyttle, Judy Brundige, and Huikai Karol. We plan the excursions and create the projects to prepare the girls so that they return not only with memories of good times with their classmates but, we hope, with a deeper appreci-ation of the places and things they have seen.

The 8th grade trip to Washington makes education real. Before leaving Memphis, students researched monu-ments. The girls calculated the distances and mapped the routes between attrac-tions. They revisited ideas studied in their Facing History and Ourselves curriculum, viewed photos of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and read Sarah’s Key to create context for a visit to the Holocaust Museum, where they were confronted by the stark reality of personal artifacts and first-person accounts of that dark history. Many were moved by the

large case of shoes that “…made the Holocaust seem real.” Another wrote, “I will never look at my own shoes in the same way again.” Whether researching ‘their’ mon-ument on the National Mall or calculating distances on a map, once on the ground in the nation’s capital, their work comes to life as they see and touch the subjects of all their efforts.

Each year’s trip is unique because of the opportunities available at the time of the visit, a particular connection pro-vided by a St. Mary’s parent or friend, and the chemistry of the 8th grade class itself. In years past, when a portion of the stu-dent presentation was offered on site, the group studying the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was told by a park official that they showed more knowledge than most adult docents. Another group that presented at the Jef-ferson Memorial was mobbed by a curious collection of Japanese tourists armed with cameras.

The 8th grade trip is busy, exciting, and sometimes life-changing. Teachers cannot control how students will react, but can prepare them to return

to the classroom with a different perspective on their studies after having experienced events and places beyond the printed word.

Lain Whitaker teaches 8th grade American history and joined the Middle School faculty in 2000.

Eighth graders (L-R) Jenna Joshi, Zoe Boggs, Samantha Lee, and Erin Jewell enjoy an early morning visit to the U.S. Capitol

during the class trip to Washington, D.C.

Upon their return to St. Mary’s from Washington, D.C., the 8th graders shared their favorite moments on posters in the Middle School hallway.

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In the spring of 2013, the 4th grade team — Kathleen Cousins, Jan Cone Davis ’68, and I — began training to use of the Haiku Learning Management System in our

classrooms. Haiku has been used in the Upper and Middle schools since 2011, and the goal in bringing this technol-ogy to the Lower School was to begin “flipping” lessons in order to maximize instructional time in the classroom.

When a teacher “flips” a lesson, the majority of the direct instruction is done with a video, activity, or discussion that is viewed online at home, and the stu-dent brings that knowledge to the classroom. The advan-tage is that the teacher can spend class time working directly with students on a more indi-vidual level and be able to use face-to-face time to foster higher-order thinking through class discussions and activities. While we were excited about incorporating more technology into our instruc-tion, all of us on the 4th grade team were a bit nervous about where to start.

With the help of Jessica Lancaster, Lower School integrated curriculum and technology coordinator, I began to explore different applications that could help me achieve my goal of flipping lessons. She taught me how to make a screencast of my lesson and upload it to YouTube, how to structure and host an online discussion, and even how to design online assessments that would help me evaluate this process for my students.

The 4th grade teachers debuted our Haiku pages during the first week of school. The first assignment I gave was to watch a short video about a story we had been reading in class and to respond to a discussion question. The results were no less than amazing. My

students not only enjoyed the video, but their answers were much more complex than I had anticipated. One of the best early experiences with Haiku occurred a few days later, when I allowed the students (in a discussion thread) to comment on other students’ posts. Many of the students who are hesitant to participate in class were lighting up the discussion boards with their feed-back on others’ ideas! This is one of the real advantages that I have seen in my use of Haiku – the ability to en-courage all students to participate fully in a lesson.

My students have completely embraced this new method of instruction. In 4th grade, our state project has also been flipped this year. Mrs. Lancaster is do-ing the technol-ogy instruction through flipped videos that are viewed at home, and then she

hosts “open work time” in my classroom where we assist students when they run into problems with their project. Our time together has been much more productive using this method.

As the year has progressed, I have sought out lessons that I am already doing that need “something more” and then I find a way to use Haiku. They almost always turn out better than if I had just done it my old way. I do not use Haiku every day, but as I become more familiar with the application, I hope to be able to use it at least three or four times per week. Through fostering an environ-ment of continuous improvement for teachers and being a school that places such a high priority on technology integration, the student-teacher connection is stronger.

Haiku at St. Mary’s was initiated with a gift from the Wilson family in honor of Marynelle Wilson ’99 and Lulu Wilson ’06, and is continued

through a gift from Kim Lasko and the Gary Lasko Fund for Technology.

Stephanie Anderson joined the St. Mary’s faculty this fall and teaches 4th grade.

!Online tool Haiku enhances student-teacher connection

By Stephanie Anderson

A screen shot from Mrs. Anderson’s Haiku page.


Collaboration at St. Mary’s is more than girls work-ing together on group projects. Across every grade, and particularly in the Upper School, collaborating

across subject areas creates a multi-dimensional under-standing of a topic or concept.

During the first semester this year, the World Lan-guage Department hosted its first World Language Week, demonstrating that the study of other languages consists of so much more than vocabulary memoriza-tion and verb conjugations. The language faculty and students acted as “global guides” to bring an interna-tional extravaganza to all divisions of the school around the theme, “Languages: Making the Pieces Fit”. The Latin, French, Mandarin, and Spanish worlds combined in the curriculum with art, English, science, and music to dem-onstrate all of the ways language affects the world.

The department launched the week with a special Chapel including a parade of flags, student anecdotes, and a song in Mandarin. The Upper School became an international museum with huge silk panels of the works of da Vinci, Van Gogh, and Rivera, along with a display of beautiful Chinese artifacts courtesy of The Confucius Institute. Lower School students traveled with their teacher “tour guides” to view this art and to put their English skills to use by writing journals about the artists.

Then they joined Middle and Upper School students at a performance and workshop in the Rose Theater of Ballet Hispánico, a modern dance troupe focusing on contem-porary Hispanic-American culture. (This performance was part of the Buckman Center for the Performing Arts season.) Upper School physics classes studied the da Vinci exhibit to examine not only the creative aspect of the artist’s life and his contributions to physics, but also the effect of his hypotheses on contemporary science theories. Throughout the week, students and teachers also had fun making special crafts including Mexican fiesta flowers and Latin quote bracelets.

Students and adults could not forget the biggest piece of all, the language itself, as they encountered nu-merous labels of items across the school in French, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish.

As the week came to a close and all the pieces came together to create a multilingual picture, this quote from Nelson Mandela seemed so much more significant: “If you speak to a man in your language, that goes to his head, but if you speak to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

Josie McNeely Walker ’76 is the chair of the World Language department and teaches Spanish in the Upper School; this is

her 30th year teaching at St. Mary’s.

Collaboration, Colaboración In any language, working across curricula broadens learning

By Josie McNeely Walker ’76

Lower School students write down their art observations during a visit to the Upper School during World Language Week.

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Social Studies SleuthingProject-based learning creates research-driven results

By Debbie Kuykendall

Drop into any 3rd grade classroom during social studies, and you will find it humming with activity,

hard at work on creating an ‘artifact box’ to send to a partner school.

For the third year, 3rd graders have been partnered with a ‘mystery school’ through the Artifact Box Exchange Network, a nationwide project that gives students a reason to learn about their own city, state, and region of the country.

While some girls may be working at computers, others are reading, writing, or creating a mystery clue. Whatever the task, all of them are preparing items to be included in the box full of items that will give clues about their location to the partner school. Clues from past years included a timeline of Tennessee, a box of Moon Pies, a Wordle (a word cloud) on the barbecue restaurants in Memphis, a scrapbook of photographs, souvenirs, and Lego constructions from places in Memphis, a FedEx model airplane, and a video of the girls set to the song “Give Me Memphis, Tennessee.”

This project enables teachers to address social studies concepts and gives students an authentic purpose for research. Each class assembles a mystery box for a partner class somewhere else in the country. The guide-lines for the project allow students to make choices according to their interests and talents and become experts on various topics. There are opportunities for independent work and collaboration. Students learn

the value of planning and the importance of cooperation. Finally, students are given the opportunity to compare their culture and community to a distant location.

The project addresses national standards for social studies, English language arts, and technology. For the teacher, each class takes the project on a different journey. No longer the one with the answers, the teacher simply guides her students along the path to their finished project.

Of course, we know that we will have a finished box at the end; however, no two have

been the same. What is included in each box is the cre-ativity and knowledge of the individual students who produced it.

Debbie Kuykendall joined the Lower School faculty in 1985.

Students Tallulah Taylor and Rowan Shackelford work on the design of an Elvis-themed guitar built of Legos to include in the artifact box.

Kaela Keith ‘23, used a visit to the Slave Haven as inspiration for her Memphis artifact,

constructing the home’s trap door out of Legos.

Editor’s note: Around these hallowed halls, it is not uncommon to hear students correcting each other’s speech. Our alumnae are

also quick to point out grammatical errors in our publications, for which we thank them. We figured there was no better person to

explain how we teach grammar – and why it still matters – than a St. Mary’s alumna.

There is something to be said about a St. Mary’s student in Middle School. She can underline the subject of a sentence once, underline the verb twice, and circle the direct object. She can diagram clauses and phrases

and gerunds and infinitives. She can even correct strangers in the grocery store using “good” instead of “well.”

In the Middle School, students study the English language using a combi-nation of Warriner’s High School Handbook and the St. Mary’s Grammar Hand-book. A compilation of language and writing rules and the art of diagramming, the St. Mary’s handbook has been used for decades in the Middle School, and is currently being updated. Unique to St. Mary’s, the subjects English and litera-ture are separate classes in the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades; this allows the girls to conduct an intense study of the eight parts of speech and various sentence patterns. With such a rich foundation in the English language, girls can better

their writing and communication skills as they mature throughout the high school and college years.

In the digital age, English grammar has never been more important. St. Mary’s students know when to capitalize cer-tain words and where to place proper punctuation. Without these skills and rules, students would not be prepared for the Upper School’s rigorous writing instruction. Thus, studying sentence structure provides girls with the tools to develop their own style, forever shaping their writing abilities. I have always loved the following analogy: in order for musicians to play a song, they first have to learn the music notes. Similarly, in order to write well, you must first learn the rules.

Grammar is taught in the traditional way: practice, practice, practice! Students are taught how to label words in a sentence by their part of speech and by their use in the sentence. As a way to visualize where the various words fit into a sentence, like pieces of a puzzle, girls learn to diagram at an early age, starting in the Lower School. If you ask an alumna what she remembers about her Middle School years, she will probably mention something about diagramming sentence after sentence after sentence. With this repetition and practice, girls begin to understand how words work together and how the structure of sentences varies. Students leave Middle School with the language tools needed to strengthen and hone their writing abilities in the Upper School English classes.

Lauren Wiygul Riley ’05 returned to St. Mary’s in 2012, teaches 6th and 7th grade English, and serves as the 7th grade coordinator.

Author Riley’s 6th grade grammar handbook - and the version updated

for this year’s curriculum.

Lauren Wiygul Riley ’05

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Walk into any classroom in the Lower School, and you will see an Engineering

Design Process poster, proclaim-ing that every child is an engineer. Children love to build, explore, and dream up unique creations, and students in the Lower School are given many opportunities to think like engineers, across subject areas and grades.

In the 1st grade, for example, students create transportation models out of recycled materials. They began with reading about and researching their assigned vehicle – anything from a car to a tugboat to a hot air balloon – on iPads. Then, they create a plan or design. Some stu-dents can be seen digging through bags of recyclables and craft materi-als as they imagine what lid would make the best wheel on their motorcycle or how to make the shape of a hot air balloon from

fabric or Styrofoam.“I was amazed at their creativity,

ability to adapt and problem solve, and independence,” says teacher Meena Sudheendran ’01.

Every year in art, all students engage in design engineer-ing. In 1st through 3rd grade, they design three-dimensional works of clay to cre-ate angels, dragons, even a scene that represents a slice of their life. In 4th grade, using plastic jugs, wire, card-board and other materials, students design an armature, which turns into a fantastical animal mask.

Other projects include creating an entire gingerbread village, using photos of actual buildings in Mem-phis as the inspiration for design. Students also create Memphis landmarks from Legos and build cars

using the K’nex system. No matter the project, the process and the goals are similar. Teachers help students understand that when they actually begin to create or build, their design

might need to be adjusted, the final and most challeng-ing part of the engineering design process. The goal is for every student to think, “How can I improve my proj-

ect?” Problem solving, application of math and science skills, higher-order thinking, and building spatial intel-ligence are all natural by-products of the engineering design process, although our girls think of it as just plain fun!

Jessica Lancaster is the Lower School’s integrated curriculum and technologycoordinator and has been teaching at

St. Mary’s since 2003. She’s also mom to Meghan ’16.

By Design: Everyday EngineeringBy Jessica Lancaster

1 0 | S T . M A R y ’ S E P I S C O P A L S C H O O L

1st Grade teacher Meena Sudheendran ‘01 and Natalee Owens ‘25 discuss the finishing touches for the bus Owens designed and built from recycled materials.

Sophie Dang ‘25 works on the sails of her ship.

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Spider Web!Weaving wonder in Junior Kindergarten

By Allison Warren and Sallie Harris

“Spider web!” The girls rushed over to us, tugged on our sleeves and all spoke at once. “Ms. Har-ris! Ms. Warren! We found a big spider web on the playground!” Indeed, the spider web was on the top of the slide, and just like that, our project was born.

We already knew how to ‘capture’ the spider web us-ing talcum powder, hairspray and a piece of black paper. The girls proudly skipped down the hallway, show-ing it off to everybody.

This project is one example of emergent curriculum - a way of planning curriculum or a course of study based on the interest and passion of the students. Emer-gent curriculum studies begin quickly and purposefully and require flexibility. As teachers, our role is to take their excitement and connect it with our teaching objectives to create a meaningful learning experience. How do you make a spider web curriculum meaningful? We needed to catch a spider, of course – a really big (and safe) spider for our class-room; we found our class spider in the Warren back yard.

Over the next month, the spider was the center of every kind of activity, from reading and research to

writing and creating. We identified our spider, learned spider vocabulary, observed as our spider cap-tured prey, and discussed patterns in webs. We made up math number stories with spider legs, memorized and recited a spider poem, and made our own papier-mâché spiders.

One of the main components of an emergent curriculum

is problem solving. After deciding to make papier-mâché spiders, the girls brainstormed materials to use for the spider legs. They came up with ideas about how to attach those materials to the spider’s body. We accepted all suggestions and allowed them to explore, make mistakes, and self-correct. One of the students said we should use magnets to attach the legs. Our job was not to tell her that it would not work, it was to give her the opportunity to learn about magnets through her experience.

We are excited for the next time we hear something as excit-ing as, “spider web!”

The objectives are in place, ready for us to apply them in a meaningful and rich way.

Allison Warren is new to St. Mary’s this year and is teamed with Sallie Harris, who joined the Early Childhood faculty in 1997.

Sallie Harris (bottom of photo) and students get up close and personal with the class spider.

Caroline Donato ’27 counts and labels the threads of a spider web.


Imagine, Design, BuildCardboard challenge builds cooperation

By Sheri Burkeen and Shelley Kuykendall Herzke ’90

Girls at St. Mary’s are encouraged to be innovators, and that includes our youngest students. In the Early Childhood

Center, teachers facili-tate opportunities for the girls to make connec-tions and solve problems every day. The faculty constantly questions the girls in order to inspire independent discovery, with emphasis on the process and design, not just the finished product. Cooperative groups give girls the chance to work together, take risks, exer-cise flexibility, and think critically.

Imagination and inventiveness, paired with a sense of sustain-ability, were the focus as Early Childhood students – from the 2 and young 3 year-olds of St. Mary’s Place to the Senior Kin-dergarteners – took part in the Imagination Foun-dation’s Global Cardboard Challenge. The challenge was

inspired by “Caine’s Ar-cade,” a short documentary film about a young boy who built his own arcade out of card-board boxes.

The Imagination Foundation is an organization dedicated to fostering creativity in children all over the world. Our

students joined over 85,000 others across the world in 45 countries during this year’s Global Day of Play – some-thing we hope will become an annual activity. St. Mary’s was the only school in Memphis to participate in the global day of play.

Preparation began long before the actual build-ing day as students worked together in their classrooms brainstorming and design-ing their creations. Our girls were building with blocks and small boxes, viewing pictures from the first Cardboard Challenge, and watching the “Caine’s Arcade” video.

On the day of the big event, the girls worked in teams to construct their designs. With help from teachers and many parent volunteers, the students

built various projects, including a bakery, a beauty spa, a castle, a pizza parlor, a double-decker bus, a robot and much more. Ideas that once lived in their heads came to life, as the girls became bakers, beauticians, bus drivers, and builders pretending in their new play spaces.

A wide-open soccer field, more than 30 parent volunteers, a truck-load of cardboard, and 162 excited little girls made for an amazing day of creativity and collaboration.

Sheri Burkeen is the Early Childhood integrated curriculum and technology coordinator and came to St. Mary’s in 2008.

Shelley Kuykendall Herzke ‘90 has taught at St. Mary’s since 1996 - albeit with a few breaks over the years. She returned to the Junior Kindergarten

classroom in 2008, and also teaches Senior Kindergarten science.

As a Literature teacher, I want girls to love to read. Reading broadens their exposure to

ideas, enables them to visit places they have never been, and invites them to see others’ perspectives. Reading exposes girls to new vo-cabulary, models good writing, and helps them grow intellectually as well as personally. Being engrossed in a good piece of literature is a gift that can be enjoyed through every stage of life, and a book club-style unit in 6th grade helps to foster this love of literature, as well as chal-lenges girls to become more skilled and confident readers.

The 6th grade Literature Circles are like a book club; students choose from four teacher-selected books,

and I create the circles based on their interests. Each group sets its own schedule for reading and participates in four literature circle meetings for which they must pre-pare individual assignments. Each girl performs a different job at each meeting, serving at least once as Dis-cussion Director, Fact Finder, Graphic Illustrator, and Character Sketcher. These jobs give girls the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the book. Some of the tasks include leading the group meeting, offer-ing discussion questions, identify-ing challenging vocabulary words, and illustrating an important scene from the story. In addition, they will create a collage that represents a character’s growth, create a timeline

of events, and research background information about facts mentioned in the story. Groups also design a website about their book and participate in various online discus-sions between meetings. The books change annually but have included Wonder by R.J. Palacio, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.

Literature circles help cultivate a community of readers in the 6th grade and enable students to take ownership of their learning. The girls love talking about what they are reading and learn so much from each other. I look forward to it every year!

Jenny Maddux Stenberg ’01 returned to St. Mary’s in 2007 and teaches 5th and 6th

grade Literature.

Book Club 101Fostering a love of reading

Jenny Maddux Stenberg ’01

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Jenny Maddux Stenberg ’01, center, shares a laugh with 6th graders (L-R) Elizabeth Higareda, Mary George, Simone Ivy-Rosser, and Angela Xu.

Teachers at St. Mary’s under-stand the necessity of using varied teaching strategies and

activities in order to inspire all stu-dents, regardless of their different strengths or varied developments. An important part of the diverse instruction that teachers provide comes from their understanding and implementation of Differentiated Instruction (DI) in the Upper School, which asks teachers to give students multiple options for both taking in information and showing they have mastered it.

DI theory provides teachers with ways to accommodate the learn-ing needs of all students, so that all students are challenged with high expectations and at high levels of critical thinking. Teachers create activities geared to different learn-ing styles using DI strategies, and these activities allow each student a

choice in how she learns. In order to encourage each stu-

dent to make the choice that is best for her, the school also implements a personality test and learning-style inventory during the freshman year.

Upper School Counselor Allison Wellford Parker ’83 is one of the faculty members who administers the tests, which she says serve “the need to assess personality and styles of learning … to show the individual student how best to be an advocate for her own learning and a master of her own destiny.” Most learning styles fall under the broad categories of auditory, visual, and tactile learning.

These tests provide each stu-dent with data that illustrate her personality strengths in relation to herself, her family, and her teachers. The tests also analyze preferences in different areas of learning, and

aids her in determining how she best learns. The information also gives each student strategies that she can then implement in her classes and at home as she tackles assignments and tests, based upon her style as a learner.

This insight into how each indi-vidual student learns also helps the teachers adapt their own style to meet the students’, and is supported through the use of the online learn-ing management system known as Haiku. For example, teachers can post videos, Powerpoint presenta-tions, Voicethreads or links to other media that creatively enhances or supports the curriculum. Discussions hosted online open up a virtual door to students who wouldn’t normally speak up in a classroom setting.

Mia Drinan teaches 9th grade English and joined the faculty in 2007.

Caroline Goodman teaches 11th grade English and joined the faculty in 2004.

Differentiated Instruction: Learning with Personality and StyleBy Allison Warren and Sallie Harris

By Mia Drinan and Caroline Goodman


Alternative Assessment and Differentiated Instruction in action: At the beginning of the school year in both history and English, Juniors were asked the questions “Why do we study these subjects? Why do we read? Why do we study past events?”. They answered those questions both in a

formal essay and a visual presentation during exam week in December. Eliza Williams ’15 confers with Caroline Goodman before her presentation. Ivy Leet ’15 (top) and Kylie McDowell ’15 (bottom) during their presentations; article co-author Mia Drinan.

When is a test is not a test?

Alternative Assessment, a way for a

teacher to assess a student’s ability to learn

that differs from a traditional test, fits hand-

in-hand with Differentiated Instruction. We

asked two Upper School teachers to explain

how they use alternative assessment, and

how it benefits the student.

Shelley Wright, Honors Biology

My teaching philosophy is centered on

Differentiated Instruction, which I cannot

accomplish without Alternative Assessment.

Once a student finds an assessment method

that works for her, she is empowered to

continually prove her mastery of a subject.

Biology lends itself to lab assignments’ being

weighted just as much as a test, and many

students excel when given the opportunity

to show me how something works.

I still use traditional written “unit tests”

to assess my students, but my tests are appli-

cation-based and questions are open-ended.

I aim to challenge students’ thinking and cre-

ate questions that build on prior knowledge

while applying current concepts.

Shari Ray, Senior English Seminar

English courses are a great fit for Alter-

native Assessment. I assigned my students

to read a selection of existential books and

plays by various authors. Instead of a stan-

dard test, I asked them to write a play where

the selected authors and playwrights meet.

Before they began, they needed to answer a

few questions. Where would these authors

be meeting? How will they discuss their

characters? What plot elements do their

works have in common? Answering these

questions helped my students learn impor-

tant information about each work.

The girls were able to synthesize their

knowledge into fabulous scripts that ac-

curately (and hilariously) portrayed their

rich understanding of what these difficult

writers are trying to convey. I may not have

been able to properly measure their retention

and understanding of this complex informa-

tion with a standard exam. They were able

to exercise their creativity to show me that

they had learned the content.

An Inspirational LegacyGift in honor of Hughes creates mentoring program

By Leigh Mansberg

Iconic former Head of School Nathaniel C. Hughes Jr. believed that at St. Mary’s, it’s all about

the teachers. That is also the philosophy that his student Ashley Moore Mayfield ’72 has taken to heart with a generous gift creating The Nathaniel C. Hughes Jr. Teach-ing Excellence Program.

This program uniquely con-nects teachers at St. Mary’s with resources and opportunities to mentor others, with a goal of enhancing teaching excellence at St. Mary’s and sup-porting the growth of their partner teachers in public schools across the region.

Supporting teachers is something Ashley has done in the years I have known her; to me, she epitomizes the expression “I’ve got your back.” I came to understand this through her absolute faith in the power of supporting those who educate — a commitment inspired by Dr. Hughes, a mentor and teacher during her high school years. To Ashley, even the smallest gesture holds the potential to be the one op-portunity to buoy an early career teacher.

This became evident to me when I met her five years ago while I was serving as the chair of the English department, and Ashley brought a future teacher to spend time with the department. All she wanted from us was to inspire and support this young woman, something that she was already doing – never in plain sight, always behind the scenes. That, in a nutshell, is Ashley: the perfect mentor and friend.

When I moved into the position of Assistant Head, I was delighted to get to work more intimately with her to develop our mentoring program. We were starting from the ground level with her blessing to make it “what it needs to be, something Dr. Hughes would be proud of.”

From that place, we are seeing a program grow that is similar to the man who inspired it and the woman who supports it every step of the way. Our mentors who are moving into the schools are much like Ashley, and they “have the backs” of emerging teachers in our city.

The Nathaniel C. Hughes Jr. Teaching Excellence Program supports teaching excellence through a variety of means such as mentoring, coaching, workshops, and demonstrations. The

program has both an internal and external focus with St. Mary’s sharing its superior teaching strategies with others as well as learning from research and experts in the field.

Leigh Mansberg is Assistant Head of School.She came to St. Mary’s in 1997.

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Ashley Moore Mayfield ’72 visits with a Senior Kindergarten student.

Their St. Mary’s days are long, but for these four faculty

members, the day doesn’t end when St. Mary’s does.

Each of them takes his or her experience and teaching gifts

far beyond St. Mary’s.

Dr. Jeanne Wilson, Head of Early ChildhoodWorking with the youngest

students at the school, Dr. Wil-

son feels at home at St. Mary’s,

and has since joining the faculty

as a kindergarten teacher in

1988. In addition, she has been

teaching undergraduate educa-

tion students at Rhodes College

since 2000. She also occasionally

teaches graduate classes at the

University of Memphis, where

she received her doctorate.

“We are so focused on young children that sometimes

you have to step back and see how far they are going to go,”

Wilson said. “My college students give me a new perspec-

tive for working with my St. Mary’s students.”

Dr. Patrick McFadden, Upper School Latin teacher

Dr. Patrick McFadden has a love of mythology, history,

and the Latin language, a love he was inspired to follow

after having an exemplary Latin

teacher in high school. In teaching

the girls at St. Mary’s, McFadden has

found a passion for increasing op-

portunities to learn. McFadden also

teaches courses on mythology and

medical terminology at the Univer-

sity of Memphis, and has previously

taught Roman literature in translation.

“Seeing the education we offer

our girls at St. Mary’s makes me want

to offer that to other people in other places,” McFadden said.

“Everybody should have some exposure to that.”

Dr. Patti Person Ray ’65, Head of the Upper School and Global Issues teacher

Herself a graduate of St. Mary’s, Dr. Patti Person Ray ’65

feels compelled to share her love of teaching beyond the

school. At the Germantown campus of Union University,

she teaches masters and doctoral students in educational

leadership. Ray is also heavily involved in the Memphis

Teacher Residency, teaching two classes called Secondary

Methods and Intensive Studies. She also teaches AP Human

Geography for the Online School for Girls (OSG); St. Mary’s is

a charter member of OSG.

“I love to teach, and I teach a lot,” said Ray. “I think

Beyond Perkins & Walnut Grove TEaCHInG, bUT noT JUST aT ST. MaRy’S

A l u m n A e w h o t e A c h

If it is true that imitation is the more sincere form of flattery, the faculty at St. Mary’s should feel properly flattered. Many of the students who graduate from this school continue on in the world of education. Whether they teach in a kindergarten classroom or at a university, whether it is in Memphis or somewhere across the country, many alumna teachers cite the St. Mary’s faculty as an inspiration to their profession. We sent out a call to our teaching alumnae through Facebook, asking how their St. Mary’s experience influenced their careers, and following are some of the responses we received.

If you are an alumna working in education, we would love to hear from you, too. Contact us at [email protected] or message our Facebook page.

Christine Mayer Todd ’72

Art, Kindergarten through 5th GradeSnowden Elementary SchoolMemphis, Tenn.

“I love teaching art because in art there is immediate gratification. There are no mistakes and every child is successful. Looking back on my experience at St. Mary’s, I learned whom I wanted to emulate and how important it is to treat all children with kindness and love.”

Emily May ’02

Junior KindergartenPresbyterian Day SchoolMemphis, Tenn.

“Although I was fully prepared academically, I believe that my character, faith, work ethic, determination, desire to work as a team, and my willingness to accept a challenge can all be attributed to the role models I had at St. Mary’s. They shaped and molded me into the teacher I am today.”

Mimi arnold ’06

Manager, Teacher Leadership DevelopmentTeach for AmericaHouston, Texas “By attending St. Mary’s I have an invaluable understanding of the bar for excellence in schools. I am so grateful to have had the privilege of attending St. Mary’s, and now I work with the teachers that I support to help them develop St. Mary’s caliber teaching.”

US Latin Teacher Dr. Patrick McFadden chats with a

student on the University of Memphis campus.

Early Childhood Head Dr. Jeanne Wilson with her Rhodes College students.


teachers love their jobs because teaching is at the core of

what we do.”

Ray says that teaching and making connections outside

of St. Mary’s creates a constant flow of information and

benefits. For example, she brings her Memphis Teacher

Residency students to St. Mary’s to observe faculty in the

classroom.

Dr. Carrie Steakley, Upper School Director of Studies

In her current job at St. Mary’s, Dr. Carrie Steakley helps

students plan what courses they will take. Originally a sci-

ence teacher when she arrived at St. Mary’s, Dr. Steakley

continues to teach a class on

science methods at Christian

Brothers University and serves

as a STEM mentor for the

National Coalition of Girls

Schools and the Online School

for Girls.

“St. Mary’s benefits

tremendously from having

teachers teach outside of the

school,” said Steakley. “It gives

us positive contacts in the community, and we can both

share and receive ideas for best practices in education.”

Steakley also teaches for OSG (AP Environmental

Science), and sits on the OSG Board of Directors.

“I felt like if I was going to be encouraging our students

and teachers to take online classes, I should be current in

those practices,” she explained. “I took an online class and

then began teaching an online class.”

Thanks to the membership in the Online School for

Girls, St. Mary’s is able to utilize faculty members to have

an impact on a larger group of students around the country

and around the world.

Owen McGuire is Assistant Director of Communication.

Beyond Perkins & Walnut Grove TEaCHInG, bUT noT JUST aT ST. MaRy’S By Owen McGuire

These St. Mary’s graduates currently serve as teachers at the school, across all divisions.

Mary Lacy Bell ’88Julie Bielskis ’89Katherine McQuiston Bush ’93Allison Brown Coates ’76Jan Cone Davis ’68Shelley Kuykendall Herzke ’90Alexis Nussbaum ’96Allison Wellford Parker ’83Patti Person Ray ’65Lauren Wiygul Riley ’05Hilary Davis Robinson ’90Sally Mansberg Rosenberg ’80Jenny Maddux Stenberg ’01Meena Sudheendran ’01Josie McNeely Walker ’76Susan Whitten ’86

Ginni Fischer ’07

5th Grade ReadingKIPP Nashville College PrepNashville, Tenn. “I am grateful every single day to the St. Mary’s faculty who taught me what life-changing, college preparatory teaching looks like, because I use their lessons every day to put my wonderful, intelligent 5th graders on a path that leads them to the same college classrooms as the St. Mary’s Class of 2021.”

Heather Shove Dixon ’94

Middle School MathShelby County SchoolsMemphis, Tenn. “When I entered Mrs. Bethell’s classroom

in 9th grade at St. Mary’s, math came alive to me in a new and exciting way. After my first year in college, I began tutoring middle and high school students who struggled in math. I called Mrs. Bethell over the phone asking if she could loan me some teaching materials to assist in my tutoring. Little did Mrs. Bethell know that she helped pave the way to my career as a math teacher.”

Dr. Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner ’66

Professor of Pastoral CareSouthern Methodist University, Perkins School of TheologyDallas, Texas “It took a whole community to train me as a teacher. Fortunately, that learning community was St. Mary’s Episcopal School. I am now in a great lineage of teachers who each sent me on my way with parting gifts and graces.”

Katelyn ammons ’08

4th GradeAugusta Circle Elementary SchoolGreenville, S.C. “There is not a doubt in my mind that I have chosen education and teaching as my lifelong career as a direct result of St. Mary’s and the incredible community that calls it home. By far the greatest example that my outstanding teachers at St. Mary’s set for me as an educator was the fact that they invested in us as people first and foremost.”

ashley bellet ’98

Associate Professor of Costume DesignOklahoma City University, School of TheatreOklahoma City, Okla.

“I am so lucky to have gone to St. Mary’s. I had teachers who cared and an

environment constructed for the best learning experience possible. I have been teaching at the college level for almost 10 years and I am determined that we – as teachers – can build a similar experience at the college level if we truly try.”

Upper School Director of Studies Dr. Carrie Steakley, left, and Upper School Head Dr. Patti Person Ray ’65.

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National Merit Scholars and Honorees

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Nine members of the St. Mary’s Class of 2014 have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) for their academic achievement. abigail aldea, Lizzie apple, Hallie Katz, Mallory Prater, and Iqra Siddiq were named National Merit Scholar Semifinalists.

adira Polite was named an Achievement Scholar Semifinalist, and Lacey Chaum, Camille Cowart, and Haley Steinman were named Commended Students by the NMSC.

Junior Achievement Honors Deena Phillipy

5th grade teacher Deena Phillipy has been named Teacher of the Year by Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-

South for her commitment to the JA BizTown program. Designed to teach real-world skills and put them to use, the program

begins in the classroom teaching financial, business, and life skills, and ends at BizTown, an interactive ‘city’ complete with a

bank, radio station, restaurants, and other businesses. Phillipy, pictured above with now-6th grade students Kate Stuken-borg, Mary Jones, and Meghana Kodali, was surprised with the award at the annual JA BizTown Breakfast.

(L-R) Lizzie Apple, Mallory Prater, Adira Polite, Lacey Chaum, Haley Steinman, Hallie Katz, Abigail Aldea, Iqra Siddiq, and Camille Cowart.


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Gina Scott is president of the Parents

Association, and earned her bachelor’s degree in corporate

finance and investment management from the University

of Alabama. She and her husband Jody have three children,

Hayes, Anna ’18, and Sam.

Christina Block is a speech and language pathologist

for The Bodine School in Germantown. A graduate of the

University of Georgia, Christina also earned a master’s de-

gree from St. Xavier University in Chicago. She is married to

Jeffrey and they have two children, Josie ’24 and Amelia ’26.

John Russell learned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor

University and his J.D. from the University of Memphis. He

serves as a partner with Lawrence and Russell, P.L.C., a

labor and employment law firm. He and his wife Beverly

have two children, Lilly ’17 and Daniel.

Celeste Bailey Herburger ’91 served on the

St. Mary’s Alumnae Board from 2004-2008. She is a gradu-

ate of Vanderbilt University. Celeste volunteers with the

St. Mary’s Parents Association, the St. Mary’s Annual Fund

and Calvary Episcopal Church. She is married to Tim and

they have three children, Grace ’22, Jane ’26, and Meg ’29.

The Reverend Sandy Webb is the new Priest-in-

Charge at the Church of the Holy Communion. He comes

to Holy Communion from St. John’s Episcopal Church in

Roanoke, VA. Father Sandy is an honors graduate of

Hamilton College and the Virginia Theological Seminary.

New Members of the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees, 2013-2014

The St. Mary’s theatre

program has had a busy semes-

ter. It started before the first

day of class, with a group trav-

eling to the Edinburgh Fringe

Festival in Scotland, performing

an original rendition of William

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Then, in early October, Direc-

tor of Plays Jenny Madden led

the Lower School in a produc-

tion of Free to Be...You and Me by

Marlo Thomas. Near the end of

November, the Upper School,

along with a few boys from area

schools, performed Rodgers

and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

Spotlight on Theatre

Lower School students performing Free to Be.

(L-R) Grace Wetzel ’14, Madeleine Fisher ’16, Ivy Tinker ’14, and Liza Alrutz ’15 in Cinderella.

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Stephanie Anderson joins the St. Mary’s faculty as a 4th grade teacher. She has most recently been the principal at Resurrection Catholic School, and has been called back to the classroom. Previously, she taught in both 4th grade and Middle School at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School.

Julie Binder previously taught physical science at Hutchison, and Chemistry and Physics at schools in Houston, Texas, and Kent, Ohio. She comes to St. Mary’s as a Science Teacher in the Lower School. Binder received her Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio Uni-versity, where she majored in Microbiology and minored in Chemistry, and her Master of Arts in Teaching from Kent State University.

Lauren Bordelon is helping initiate the St. Mary’s Place program for 2-year-olds and young 3s. Prior to becoming a mom, she taught Junior Kindergarten at Holy Rosary. She is a graduate of Rhodes College and Peabody College at Vanderbilt.

Ellie Hardison is also joining us as we launch St. Mary’s Place. She comes to St. Mary’s from her most recent position at Promise Academy, where she taught Kindergarten. Her classroom experience includes work with young children in pre-kindergarten through 1st grade. Hardison received her undergraduate degree at the University of Memphis and her Master’s in Education from Milligan College.

Dr. Laura Jaggar returns to St. Mary’s after a six-year hiatus. She brings a real passion for creative inquiry into the workings of the universe. She will be directing our Honors Science Seminar and building relationships within the Memphis community for our STEM initiatives. She will also be teaching one section of chemistry.

Dr. Rene Lee (not pictured) is a Learning Support and Reading Curriculum Consultant in the Lower School. She will be with us for one year providing guidance and insight to our reading and learning support programs. Dr. Lee is the former Head of The Bodine School.

Michele Loden teaches Pre-calculus in the Upper School. She comes to us from Collierville High School, where she served for 15 years in their math depart-ment as a Level 5 Shining Star of the Shelby County School District. She earned her undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University in Secondary Math Education and her Master’s in Education from Union University.

Natalie Martin joins the 1st grade team after having been a frequent presence in Moss Hall as a sub during the last school year. Martin graduated Magna Cum Laude from The University of Georgia with a degree in Early Childhood Education (PreK-5).

Owen McGuire joins the staff as the Assistant Director of Communication. He comes to St. Mary’s from Mississippi State University, where he worked as Communication Specialist with Shared Advancement

Services, which is a part of the MSU Foundation and Alumni Association. McGuire received both his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and his Master of Business Administration from Mississippi State University.

Dr. Lucas Trautman is a psychiatrist and pediatrician, and teaches Psychology in the Upper School. He is a graduate of the UT-Memphis College of Medicine and Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and holds MD and MPH degrees. Trautman has been nationally recognized for mental conditioning coaching in high school and professional sports, and holds numerous teaching awards.

Allison Warren joins us as our new Junior Kindergar-ten teacher. She comes to us from Berclair Elementary School where she has been a Kindergarten teacher. She completed her student teaching and Masters at Bank-street Graduate School of Education in New York and brings with her a passion for inquiry-based learning.

Shelley Wright resumes her post as an Upper School Biology teacher after two years away from St. Mary’s. This will be the start of Wright’s 10th year at St. Mary’s; she has been one of the school’s leaders in her use of technology in the instruction of science.

Rachel Cook is the first-ever official bus driver for St. Mary’s; she joins our staff after serving 13 years with Shelby County Schools. Cook will also work with the facilities staff on a variety of projects.

New Faculty and Staff

Front (L-R) Ellie Hardison, Natalie Martin, Julie Binder, Lauren Bordelon, Rachel Cook. Middle Row: Stephanie Anderson, Lucas Trautman, Shelley Wright, Owen McGuire. Top row: Michele Loden, Allison Warren, Laura Jaggar.

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Spotlight on National Security

Philip Mudd, a former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Counterterrorist Center, met twice with Dr. Patti Person Ray’s Global Issues class in November. In the first class, Mudd and the students explored the rise of Al Qaeda as a terrorist organization leading up to the 9/11 attacks, discuss-ing the evolution of the organization and subsequent affiliated groups which have emerged in the wake of the attacks. In the second class, Mudd led students through mock security briefings, reviewing actual cases that were presented to national security teams, and requiring the students to make snap decisions about what action to take based on what evidence was in hand. Mudd, who also served as the first dep-uty director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch, is the author of Takedown: Inside the Hunt for Al Qaeda (University of Pennsylva-nia Press 2013).

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Turkey Slam Tennis Tournament

The second annual Turkey Slam Indoor Tennis Tournament is scheduled for Friday, March 28, from 9:00 a.m. - noon at the Racquet Club of Memphis. It will be a roundrobin, ladies doubles format. You do not have to sign up with a partner. The cost is $100 per player and all proceeds support the Ath-letic Department. Registration is open to the first 36 registrants. Download a registration form online at www.stmarysschool.org.

Get Ready for the Big Apple Bash!April 12, 2014

Save the date for a New York-style evening at the Memphis Botanic Garden, as the St. Mary’s Parents Associa-tion soiree and auction moves off campus for the first time. This year’s Big Apple Bash will be a night out for parents, alumnae, and faculty to enjoy the big city life right here in East Memphis. The Big Apple Bash will feature great food and live music, including the talented Zula’s Child, featuring St. Mary’s parents, Drs. Shannon and Lloyd Finks. Parents interested in volunteering should contact auction chairs beverly Russell and Jody Shutzberg, and those wishing to donate items for the silent and live auctions should contact solicitations chair ali Fowler.

Tickets will be on sale beginning in January 2014 on the St. Mary’s website – www.stmarysschool.org – with special VIP packages and alumnae offerings. This biennial fund-raiser benefits St. Mary’s performing arts programs, and will include Broadway-caliber enhancements to the Buckman Center for the Performing Arts.

Famous Pilot (and St. Mary’s Dad) Speaks at Chapel

Wei Chen, the Memphis entrepreneur and St. Mary’s dad who was the first Chinese citizen to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engine aircraft, was a guest speaker at Middle and Upper School Chapel in early December. Chen discussed his life events, from growing up poor in China, to coming to the United States to study at the University of Mem-phis, to founding a successful business. His message was that he achieved success by continually stepping out of his comfort zone, and encouraged students to do the same. Chen and his wife, Isabel, have three daughters at St. Mary’s: Elisabeth ’22, Stephanie ’26, and Sabrina ’29.

For the 18th year, St. Mary’s had the largest number of participants among all school teams in the Susan G. Komen Memphis Mid-South Race for the Cure. Thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s Race for the Cure a success, especially our chairs, Tricia Dewey and Dy Woods. We also thank all the students, parents, alumnae and friends who supported Team St. Mary’s.

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Team St. Mary’s Races for the Cure

ReCyCLeD TuRKey TANGOS TO WIN

Bird was the word for the Think Tank 3rd

graders competing in the annual Lich-

terman Nature Center scarecrow contest this

fall. Led by Learning Specialist Gay Landaiche

and with help from parent volunteers Melissa

DeLany, Donna Van Hoozer, Will McGown, and

Laurie Padron, the students carefully planned

and designed Gobbelina the Tango Turkey. This

turkey-shaped scarecrow made out of gardening

equipment and old gardening gloves delighted

the judges, winning Best School Entry.


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Tatler Goes Online

Tatler, the student-led news publication at St. Mary’s, is

now available as an online publication. At the beginning

of the 2013-14 school year, Tatler staff, along with sponsor

and Assistant Head of School Leigh Mansberg, worked to

move the former print-only publication to a new web-

site. The website gives students and faculty easier access

to news stories, and also allows parents, alumnae, and

friends of the school to interact as well. The site features

school news, lifestyle and opinion pieces, athletics news,

and video updates. In fact, the video production crew has

been enjoying new technology, including a microphone

and green screen. Be sure to check out the new Tatler on-

line at www.stmarystatler.com

The Commercial Appeal covered the Turkey try-outs.

To celebrate its finalist status in the USA TODAY America’s Most

Unusual High School Mascot contest, the Turkey Nation gathered in the

Barth Gym for the unveiling of the official finalist banner sent by USA

TODAY. The banner was hung during the first home basketball game of

the 2013-14 season, and both the

Junior Varsity and Varsity teams re-

sponded to the hoopla with victories.

For the first time this year, audi-

tions were held for students wishing

to play the role of the Turkey at sport-

ing and campus events. The auditions

were covered by The Commercial

Appeal. Four Turkeys and four

handlers were chosen, but we all

know that a mascot never reveals

her identity…and we honor that

tradition.

Mascot Mania Continues


St. Mary’s athletes cel-

ebrated a successful fall

season, with two teams

advancing to state competition,

six athletes being named to

The Commercial Appeal’s Best of

Preps teams, four athletes being

named to TSSAA D2 All-District

Teams, and two athletes placing

in the top six individual stand-

ings in golf and cross country.

Varsity Cross Country had

an exceptional season in which

each member set a personal

record; Elizabeth Rainer ’14 was

the top finisher in an All-Comers

meet at Shelby Farms. The team came in 3rd in regional

competition and 7th at state, and Rainer placed 6th overall.

Rainer was also named to the CA’s Best of Preps All-Metro

Cross Country Team.

Varsity Golf, coached by Jeff McCalla, placed 2nd in the

region and 3rd in the state. Maddie Rhodes ’14 placed 5th

as an individual at the state tournament. At Cherokee Valley

Country Club, Laura Kate Hamilton ’14 was the low medal-

ist. Rhodes has committed to play golf at Rhodes College,

and she and Hamilton were named to the CA’s Best of Preps

All-Metro Golf Team. Middle School golfers made a fantastic

showing at the Shelby League Championships, finishing in

2nd place.

Varsity Volleyball finished 19-14, including victories over

Lausanne, White Station, and FACS. At the Franklin Tourna-

ment, the team placed 2nd in the gold bracket, which is the

best any St. Mary’s team has performed at that tournament.

Elizabeth alexander ’14 and abby Huber ’14 were named

to the TSSAA D-2 All-District team, and adair Smith ’14 and

Eliza Williams ’15 received Honorable Mentions. Alexander

and Williams were both named to the CA’s Best of Preps

All-Metro Volleyball Team, and Alexander and Huber each

also achieved their 500th career kill this season. Junior Var-

sity, coached by Lauren Trouy, finished 12-9 with wins over

ECS, FACS, and Northpoint. Freshman Volleyball finished its

season 4-12.

Varsity Soccer finished its season with 7 wins, 4 losses,

and 2 ties. Ellen Cowens ’14 and Emma Farris ’15 were

named to the TSSAA D-2 All-District team. Cowens was also

named to the CA’s Best of Preps All-Metro Soccer Team.

Reflecting on the season, Seniors Hallie Katz and

Fall Athletics Wrap: Strong Finishes and a New Sport

By Hannah Buser ’14

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The soccer team celebrates a goal.

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Maddie Droke agreed the biggest highlight of the season

was the tie game against St. Agnes.

“This was a monumental game because it was the

first time in over 10 years that we have not lost to them,”

said Droke.

“Although we are sad our four years of St. Mary’s soccer

have ended, we couldn’t have ended our time in any better

way and cannot wait for the current Juniors to be the next

leaders of the team,” added Katz.

Middle School soccer teams had outstanding seasons

with the White team ending up as league champions.

A new sport debuted this fall: fencing. In fencing, there

are three weapons: epee, foil, and sabre. Of the six girls on

the team, three compete in foil, two in epee, and one in

sabre. Fencing is often called “physical chess” because it

requires both mental and physical strength. abigail

aldea ’14, the driving force behind the creation of the team,

has been fencing for five years, during which time she has

competed in Vienna, Austria, and throughout the United

States. Aldea says that for her, fencing is both meditative

and turbulently exciting at the same time, forcing her to

constantly analyze herself and her opponent.

“I think it’s a fantastic sport for girls to try both for the

sport itself and because it is one of the few sports in which

women compete against men on a regular basis, leveling

the playing field of social interaction,” says Aldea. “I feel

blessed knowing that I will leave St. Mary’s with a tradition

of fencing and hope to see the girls beating the boys by

an even larger margin in the future than they already do

right now.”

Senior Abigail Aldea (right) demonstrates fencing for her schoolmates during lunch. Her opponent for the demonstration is coach Brad Kroeker.

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SMS Magazine Winter2014.indd