A Land of Courage, Faith, and Honor

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Third graders in Mrs. Rodgers and Ms. Broughton’s classes classes performed the musical “Let’s Hear it for America,” which celebrates our country's history and diversity. Students recited monologues, performed choreography, and sang musical numbers before an audience.

“This is America! A land of courage, faith and honor. A land of true equality; a land of hope and pride, a land of unity, a land of liberty.”

— "This is America" the musical

“I love my country, I love my freedom, I love my flag and Independence Day, I am a citizen. I have equality. I love my country, the U.S.A.”

— This is America, the musical

Saint James School Honors its Military Legacy

Lt. Col. Dex McCain

by: Lt. Col. (retired) Dex McCain, Saint James School Board Chair

As we reflect on the upcoming Veterans Day holiday, I encourage you to pause and honor the service of the men and women who’ve dedicated their lives to serving our country.

These men and women swore oaths to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” They pledged “To bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” while taking “This obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion.”

The McCain family in 2010 (daughters Hope and Hannah in PreK4)

Inherent in this oath is an agreement between the uniformed members and their families stating: I am willing to serve, willing to uproot my family every three or four years, willing to deploy to hostile environments, willing to miss significant events in the lives of my family all to support our country. 

As you can imagine, the life of a military family, and children in particular, can be challenging. From multiple moves and finding new schools to making new friends, all of this can be stressful. When a military family finds a welcoming school community that understands the uniqueness of military families and willingly supports the family on their educational journey, it’s an amazing partnership! 

My family is incredibly blessed to have been part of Saint James School since my 10th graders were in Pre-K4. Time and time again, the Saint James community has supported my family through multiple deployments and temporary duty assignments. My family is proof positive that Saint James is the epitome of a welcoming school community.  

The Saint James School Core Values of “Character, Commitment, Courage, and Community,” coupled with its mission statement to help students to “Realize their full potential and prepare them for lives of “responsibility, service, and achievement” aren’t accidental nor anecdotal words, rather they are enduring and purposeful.  These words are ideals that draw on the principles of servant leadership, a leadership framework that many military professionals embody.

Lt. Gen. Raymond B. Furlong

Dr. Raymond B. Furlong, one of Saint James School’s longest serving heads of school, was an outstanding servant leader who was uniquely qualified in understanding the importance of a great education and fostering relationship with the military community. Prior to joining Saint James, Dr. Furlong was Lieutenant General Furlong, the commander of Air University, where he was charged with providing professional military education, graduate level courses for continuing education for Air Force personnel, and preparing men and women for service in the Air Force.  Clearly, he brought his military experience and vision to Saint James and helped STJ grow into the preeminent school that it is today by creating a diverse and inclusive school culture and community.

Lt. Col. McCain with his daughters, Hope and Hannah, and Dr. Larry McLemore at the 2019 Saint James School Veterans Day Assembly

Saint James School’s rich military history is seen throughout our Saint James family. We’ve had the honor and privilege to educate, coach, and mentor military children for decades, including many international families. I’m so proud that Saint James School recognizes the unique challenges that face military families. Whether it’s a zoom call from 7,000 miles away to allow a deployed parent to watch a play and see their children’s class presentation or honoring the service of their parents throughout the year, Saint James holds a special place among the military community. 

I remain ever grateful for all that Saint James pours into our children, recognizing the uniqueness of each child and championing values such as character, courage, commitment and community while inspiring and preparing our students for lives of service, responsibility and achievement.

2021-22 STJ Board Chair, Lt. Col. Dex McCain

Lt Col Dex McCain (retired) served for 27 years in the United States Air Force before retiring in November of 2019. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Leadership and Ethics at the eSchool of Graduate Professional Military Education at Maxwell AFB. He also serves as the Board Chair for Saint James School Board of Trustees. Lt Col McCain and his wife, Yolanda, have two daughters, Hannah and Hope, who are in the 10th grade at Saint James School.

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Falling for Autumn

It is finally feeling like fall in Montgomery. Did you feel the crispness in the air this morning? Fall is all around us and we are embracing the season in elementary school.

Students in Kindergarten went on a “leaf hunt” to find different colored fall leaves on the ground and created a graph to chart their findings.

Students also wrote sentences about a fall story they read in class. This writing exercise reinforced handwriting, spelling, and sentence structure. Autumn is the perfect time for hands-on learning and exploring the world around us.

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Creatures of the Night

Our first graders had some creepy creatures visit school recently. The Montgomery Zoo and Mann Wildlife center presented “Creatures of the Night” to students in Mrs. Roark, Mrs. Taylor, and Mrs. Edwards’ classes.

Students have been studying nocturnal and diurnal animals in their science unit. A nocturnal animal is any animal that is active at night and sleeps during the day. The opposite is a diurnal animal, meaning activity during daylight hours and sleep at night.

The Montgomery Zoo’s live animal presentation included a scorpion, Barred owl, snake, sugar glider, roach, and other animals of the night. Students had a chance to see these animals up close and learn more about their behaviors and habitats. Thank you, Montgomery Zoo! #WeAreSaintJamesSchool

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

What Are You Afraid Of?

Students in Mrs. Davis’s middle school art elective embraced their fears with a phobia expressionism project. Students choose a phobia, either one they have personally experienced or one that speaks to them, and illustrated it on paper. The pieces were created with charcoal and colored chalk. Using lines, strokes, and shapes, students chose an emphasis color amongst the black and white to further express their relationship with the phobia. This phobia expressionism project served as a form of art therapy that allowed students to freely convey their emotions from their personal perspective. #wearesaintjamesschool

“For my piece, I chose Thalassophobia, or, the fear of large open water/creatures in the water. The medium for this project was charcoal and liquid charcoal. I think charcoal was a great medium for this project, especially since we were in the style of expressionism. The charcoal was very nice for adding very dark and expressive lines. In my project, I used liquid charcoal, charcoal, and a dark turquoise-colored chalk. I used the chalk for emphasis on certain parts of my piece I wanted to stand out. I chose this phobia because I thought that many people could relate to having this phobia, and I like drawing sea creatures. Plus, I thought this was a very interesting phobia to illustrate. I had to capture what people may think of in the water if they have this fear. Such as, being afraid of a giant angler fish with terrifying jaws and empty eyes. I tried to also capture the fear of the unknown in my piece, as that is also a part of Thalassophobia. As in, not knowing what is in the water below, and imagining crazy things as a result.”

— Artist: Izzy Pappas, Medium: Charcoal 12x18

“The name of my art piece is “Haphephobia.” People with
haphephobia have a fear of being touched. With haphephobia,
human touch can be overpowering and even painful. So, in order
to represent this through my artwork, I have drawn a person being
overpowered by the force and touch of all the people holding on
to them. The background was done with liquid charcoal in a way
that shows the person reaching up to the light as though they are
reaching out for freedom. My favorite part of this piece is probably
the simplicity of it yet it still conveys a message, that I hope those
viewing it can also feel.”

— Artist: Keira Thompson, Medium: Charcoal 12x18

Faculty Spotlight: Mr. Adam Osborn

I teach: 9th grade English & World History, Public Speaking

I've taught for: 10 years, this is my 11th! 6 years (college-level), in my 5th year here at the MS/HS level. This is my first year at STJ

Hometown: Lafayette, LA

High school: Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts

College/Degree: Tulane University -- BA in English (History minor); University of Chicago -- MA Program in the Humanities (Middle English Literature)

STJ extracurricular: Just dipping my toes into the world of Speech & Debate

Favorite Book: (This is extremely tough!) The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin

Favorite Movie: (This is also extremely tough!) Pan's Labyrinth, dir. Guillermo del Toro

Favorite Food: Absurdly elaborate sushi

Married to: Joanne Spotswood, fiber artist extraordinaire!

Children: No humans, just two nefarious mutts

Fun Fact: Though I look like a Kenny G fan, my favorite types of music are actually things like punk & heavy metal!

Dream Court: Inclusion and Acceptance

by: Kate Rees, senior

Dream Court, a local nonprofit, is an adaptive tennis program that provides individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities the opportunity to play tennis. Dream Court’s executive director, Ms. Jessica Weyreuter, asked the high school art department to paint the storage boxcars used to store tennis equipment at O’Conner Tennis Center. Over three weeks, students signed up for 2 hour shifts on the weekends. Many students completed multiple shifts. The first task was to prime the boxcar to prepare for painting the design. Once primed, students were able to start painting!  The design was created by Mrs. Shoults, our high school art teacher.  Junior Emerson Hagen suggested adding hearts to the racket strings, which is a cute addition to the mural!  The design consists of a blue sky and green grass with the Dream Court logo in the center. Each side has a racket with a pink heart in the strings.  Students lettered the motto of Dream Court “serving hope, changing lives” around the edges and “be a game changer” at the bottom.  Mrs. Shoults supervised and instructed students as they worked on the mural.  She shared her thoughts on this great project, and said "I am honored that Dream Court asked the Saint James Art Department to design and paint a mural for them. This opportunity allowed our students to use their talents outside of the classroom while giving back and adding beauty to our local community. Being able to give back and put good into action is the Saint James way.”  STJ’s theme for the 2021-2022 school year is “putting good into action today,” and as Mrs. Shoults said, the art students did just that!  The bright, colorful mural will be enjoyed by all who come to O’Conner and will bring smiles to the Dream Court family. 

@dreamcourt

Exploring Guitars

Students in Mr. Martin’s Explore Music class practiced classical guitar this week. This course is a 9-week exploratory overview of the basics of music. Students learn about rhythm and develop music appreciation through hands on, experiential learning. Various instruments will be introduced and different types of music genres are explored. Rock on, middle schoolers!

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Paraguay's Itaipu Dam

by: Sra. Melissa Harris, elementary Spanish teacher

¡Hola! Once a month, we have culture week in Spanish class. The students look forward to it, and they treat it like Christmas, always asking me every week how close it is. We learn about a different Spanish speaking country to bring a "why" to learning Spanish. This week we studied Paraguay. Paraguay is a unique little country where they have two national languages: Spanish and Guaraní. On the border of Brazil and Paraguay runs the Paraná River, which is the source for a large hydroelectric dam called the Itaipu Dam. The Itaipu Dam is the largest source of hydroelectric power in the world in terms of its electrical energy output. Because of this, over 90% of Paraguay's power comes from hydroelectricity. That's a lot of clean energy! The students had the opportunity to construct their own dam using Legos and test its ability to direct water and control the force of the water. We saw lots of successes, and they were all so creative! Buen trabajo, estudiantes.

Invention Convention: Bridges

A fun and interactive STEAM activity in Mrs. Whigham’s middle school Invention Convention class is bridge building.  Students researched famous bridges and studied how lightweight materials can be designed to effectively hold weight. Using only craft sticks and a small amount of tape, students constructed their own bridges and tested them against varying levels of weight. Take a look at what they created - we have some engineers in the making!  Students created a website featuring their creations and a poll to vote for your favorite bridge. Invention Convention is a semester-long elective. Students investigate various inventions throughout history through research and writing, designing, building, and film critique. This hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) is challenging and fun. #WeAreSaintJamesSchool