A Message From the head of School

Dear Saint Mary’s Hall Community,

As we head into this last week before the Thanksgiving Holiday, there is so much to be thankful for. Founders’ Day, which we celebrate tomorrow, is one such opportunity for our community to reflect on the incredible contributions that so many have made over the last 142 years to build our School community to what it is today.   

I also want to extend thanks to all in our community who have made this a great fall semester.  From Baron Bazaar and the Blue Tie Celebration to Fiesta, we have been so fortunate to be able to return to some of our cherished community celebrations, while we’re building some new ones like last week’s Star Party.

You should have received in the mail last week a thank you for all your support through last year. Included was a link to our 2021 Impact Report, which features community stories, donor reports, financials, and more. As we continue into the new academic year, this Impact Report provides another opportunity to stop and reflect on our 2020-2021 school year. Last year provided ample opportunities to express gratitude and build our collective resilience. I want to express our deep thanks to the entire Saint Mary’s Hall family for the love, care, patience, and support delivered to my colleagues and our students.

We would not be able to solve a year like this without following the same North Star. I want to highlight our faculty and staff who went above and beyond all year long and spent the year pivoting through the myriad pandemic changes while maintaining a connection with our students. I also want to thank our facilities team, who spent countless hours last summer reconfiguring spaces across campus. Our parents were nimble and patient and did all they could to support our students and teachers in the face of so much unknown. Our Board of Trustees and our Health Taskforce provided guidance and support as we navigated financial challenges with needed adjustments to our daily practices to ensure the health and safety of our community. And most importantly, our students deserve our admiration and thanks for their perseverance and positive attitude delivered at every turn. We could not be prouder of them during this trying time.  

As we faced challenges, we rose to meet them and take on new opportunities to define our path forward. As we have done for more than a century – Saint Mary’s Hall does not sit still. I want to thank our donors and volunteers for their generosity of spirit and financial support. Together, more than 660 members of the Saint Mary’s Hall community made a gift in the 2020-2021 year. Your generosity makes a difference for our students, faculty, and staff, and provides critical resources that enhance the Saint Mary's Hall experience. 

Below are just a few of the many ways you helped impact SMH last year: 

• Significant investments were made in professional development, wellness staff, health and safety measures, technology improvements, personal protective equipment (PPE), food services, and much more, allowing SMH to safely return to our full, in-person program for all three divisions. 
• Students hailed from 50 different zip codes in San Antonio and surrounding areas, strengthening our geographic pull. 
• SMH offers more than 100 courses, including 20 Advance Placement courses, for Upper School students, providing breadth and depth to their academic careers. 
• Students tied for highest number of 2020 Regional Scholastic Art Winners in the city, as well as regular recognition at the National Scholastic Art Awards. 
• The Barons had a TAPPS 5A Individual Golf State Championship winner and the women’s team won the TAPPS 5A Team State Championship. 
• More than 50 Presidential Volunteer Service Awards were given across all divisions last year and more than 11,000 hours of service were completed by Upper School students. 
• More than $2.1 million was given in tuition assistance, with an average of $12,500 awarded per qualifying student to support them and ensure qualified students have access to SMH, strengthening the experience for every student. 
• The Class of 2021 applied to more than 230 different colleges and universities around the world, were accepted to 196 institutions, and are attending 59 different schools. 
• More than $11 million in merit-based scholarships was awarded to the Class of 2021 by their respective colleges. 

We would like to thank our community for their significant investment of time, energy, and resources, which continues to define our School. For 142 years, Saint Mary's Hall has benefited from the generosity of our community. Thank you for impacting generations of Barons to come. 

Sincerely,

Len Miller
Head of School  

All-School

Upper School

Middle School

Our morning began with a tour of a rendition of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s iconic Casa Azul. The students were able to learn about the artists’ deep connection with nature and explored some of the landmarks of their home, such as the pyramid that displays Diego Rivera’s pre-Colombian artifacts collection, the frog-themed fountain, and Frida Kahlo’s’ desk and easel. The students also admired sculptures of some of the animals that Frida loved so much, including a Xolitzcuintli - the ancient Aztec dog, a monkey, a butterfly, and a hummingbird among others. We were able to see Las Fridas, giant Frida Kahlo sculptures made by sculptor Paul Zarkin and decorated by various Latin American painters.  In addition, the Botanical Garden had several Día de los Muertos altars that were created by students from schools throughout San Antonio. At the end of our visit, the students were able to enjoy free time in the gardens and a delicious Pan de Muerto from La Panadería.

This trip was not just meaningful in a cultural way, but after learning about the many ailments that afflicted Frida Kahlo, our students were left with this important message of hope that the artist wrote:  “Being happy is a decision made every day, which does not depend on the living conditions one has, but the attitude with which one faces problems.”

Lower School

Fine Arts

Mr. Gutzler talked about how the space had been designed preserving elements of the original structure while creating an engaging and warm space for the 21^st century. FPC is the firm established by O’Neil Ford, the architect for the Starcrest campus of Saint Mary’s Hall.

In addition to the Starcrest campus and other educational institutions like Trinity University, Ford, Powell, and Carson designed or restored many of the iconic buildings and places in San Antonio, such as the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo, and the Spanish colonial missions, the Urban Segment of the Museum Reach of the River Walk, San Fernando Cathedral, and multiple structures housing artists’ work for the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

AP Art History students enjoyed a visit on Thursday from Trinity Art History Professor Dr. Kathryn O’Rourke and Wandita Turner, campus architect O’Neil Ford’s eldest daughter.  The group met for lunch and a campus tour with Mr. Cassie,  Mr. Kaestner, and Anna Brooke Gutzler '08 of the Ford, Powell, and Carson architecture firm established by Ford.  The group discussed the original designs, the move from the previous campus in Monte Vista, and the changes over the last 50 years.  After the tour, students discussed Art History as a discipline, their experience thus far, and Dr. O’Rourke’s professional journey.  We live in a century of images and describing and analyzing them is increasingly critical, according to Dr. O’Rourke, further that no discipline is better suited to learning to observe, as well as think and write critically about images than is Art History.

Dr. O’Rourke received her B.A. in Architecture from Wellesley College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a historian of modern architecture whose interests include many subjects in Latin America, the United States, and Europe.

Dr. O’Rourke is the author of Modern Architecture in Mexico City: History, Representation, and the Shaping of a Capital (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016), which received the Alice Davis Hitchcock Award from the Society of Architectural Historians. The volume she edited, O’Neil Ford on Architecture (University of Texas Press, 2019), was a runner-up for the Ramirez Family Award from the Texas Institute of Letters.

Athletics

Chapel