A Rock & Roll Road Trip to Remember

by: Haley Hust, class of 2026

Haley (left) and classmates at the world-famous FAME music studios.

On an early and frigid morning, both current and past History of Rock and Roll students joined Dr. York and Mr. Harrison on a four-hour bus ride to Muscle Shoals, AL. What seems like a random small town is actually an epicenter of rock history. From the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Aretha Franklin, to Demi Lovato, Chris Stapleton, and Alicia Keys, tons of artists recorded parts of their famous discographies in this town. There is a musical magic in Muscle Shoals, and we had to experience it firsthand. 

Our first stop on our tour of the historic Muscle Shoals was the iconic FAME Studios. Started in 1959 by Rick Hall, FAME Studios became a site of history. When we walked in, the smell of wood and coffee enveloped us. The building felt homey on such a cold day. 

Students pose with iconic photo of Duane Allman shaking hands with legendary producer and songwriter Rick Hall.

We entered Studio B in awe of how tall the walls were. Our tour guide explained how the room's acoustics worked. The walls were slightly slanted, the floor was carpeted, and slats lined the walls, all in an attempt to make the sound feel still. It was amazing to see the original pianos and microphones used by famous musicians years ago. 

We then ventured into Studio A, the original studio. The sound felt completely different in comparison to Studio B. It was livelier, and the paneling was distinct. Our tour guide played us music from various artists who had recorded right where we stood. It was a unique and fascinating experience to hear the music while visualizing where they were. We heard artists from the 70s all the way to this year. It was so intriguing. 

After buying some merch, we boarded the bus again and headed to the second studio, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Famous for their “Muscle Shoals Sound,” the studio's founders were known as the Swampers. The Swampers were a group of studio musicians who were renowned for their ability to create hit music. With collaborations with Paul Simon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Rolling Stones, the Swampers created a significant name for themselves. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Elton John, and Willie Nelson all traveled to or hired studio space to experience the town's classic, magical sound. 

Students enjoyed a tour of the space where “The Swampers” helped create some of the most beloved music to ever come out of Muscle Shoals.

Our tour guide offered up stories, songs, and facts about the studio, and when our tour was done, Dr. York had the opportunity to play on the historic piano where hits like “Free Bird” and “Kodachrome” were created. It was an amazing experience. Learning about Rolling Stone’s illegal recordings and Paul Simon’s perfectionism was fascinating. No one wanted to leave after our tour of the studio finished, but sadly, our hunger had gotten the best of us. 

We boarded the bus and headed to the Pie Factory, an outstanding pizzeria that had specialty dishes inspired by the artists who recorded in the local studios. Their calzones and pizzas were a hit with our group, and it was an outstanding way to end our trip.

For the last time, we boarded our bus and headed home. Our experience in Muscle Shoals was absolutely fantastic and filled with memories I will never forget. Listening to rock music, hanging out with the best teachers, and learning about local history is the best way to fill a day. I am so thankful for this opportunity, and this was a rock & road trip for the books. 

Saint James "“History of Rock & Roll” students with their teacher, Dr. Sallye York.

Quality Time with the Class of 2029

by: Abigail Huynh, class of 2026

In early August, the freshman class of ’29 had a blast on their annual retreat to Butter and Egg Adventures in Troy, Alabama. Although the weather proved to be a challenge at the beginning of the day, the freshman didn’t allow that to dampen their high spirits and utter excitement. The day started off with group based activities in which the students were divided into three different groups based on their advisory classes. Each station consisted of different team building activities and challenges. These survivor inspired series of obstacles were part of the outside course. The freshman got to participate in word puzzles, ring and bean bag toss, and the thrilling minefield challenge. The minefield challenge was very entertaining to watch, because the freshman struggled quite a bit at the start and really had to come together to solve the puzzle. The rules stated that only one person could be in a section at a time while the collective group held hands to make it to the other side. Many giggles were shared between the freshman, peer leaders, teachers, and our Butter and Egg guide as the freshman had to problem solve ways to navigate the string course in order to get across.

The next station was brain puzzles where the classmates joined hand and hand to be the quickest team to finish the puzzle. The games challenged the freshmen with their ability to be efficient while staying calm in the midst of chaos. Some games consisted of how fast a ball can travel around a circle of hands, touching all the bases as quickly as a group can, and card games.

Records were broken left and right as each group kept outdoing the one before. After wrapping up this station, yummy burgers and sides were being served in the dining hall. As everyone walked in the smell of delicious burgers, tater tots, chips, beans, and some fudgey brownies wafted in the air. Lunch was filled with smiling faces and tons of chitter chatter. As lunch was coming to an end the owners of Butter and Egg, surprised everyone with popsicles and cookies, just before we were ambushed by a giant rain storm. We were guided to the dome to take cover, but the guides made sure we had plenty of activities to do inside. We had cup stacking games, rock, paper, scissors relays, card games, Simon says, and grabbed the cone. The freshmen’s competitive spirits came out because they wanted to be victorious and the ultimate winner.

As time passed, the rain cleared and we were allowed to go outside and participate in the ziplines, canoes, ropes course, and paddleboating. Watching the freshman have fun on the zip lines was the highlight of my day. We were surrounded by yells of excitement and yelps of nerves, but overall it was a total hit with the freshman. Canoeing was also a fan favorite as people raced and got a water front view of people going on the zip lines. Two of our faculty members even took an unexpected dip in the lake! After about an hour and a half of constant outside activities we had to load the bus for departure.

This was also a productive time for the new Peer Leaders to spend quality time with their mentees, providing them with helpful advice and tactics for being a successful student at STJ. The students shared plenty of laughs and created memories that will stick with this grade for years to come. Thank you Butter and Egg Adventures for the fun trip, and see you next year with the class of 2030! #wearesaintjamesschool

A Great Start to a Great Year: Freshman Retreat

by: Emily Trock, 9th grade

Camp Butter and Egg was one of the best bonding experiences I have ever had at Saint James School. The retreat is an annual activity for freshmen, along with their peer leaders, to travel to Camp Butter and Egg. We had a great time with all the activities including: team building activities, competitions, ziplining, and canoeing in the lake. It was an amazing field trip that I will never forget.

The zipline was a favorite!

At 8:00 we boarded the bus and headed to Troy. Once we arrived, we were sorted into groups based on our advisories and played games against each other. With our teams, we had to work together to complete the various tasks. We threw bean-bags into small pillars, teamed up with a partner and used a magnet to move a ball into a hole, and unscrambled words to make sentences, to name a few. My favorite activity was a blind matching game, which consisted of team captains instructing their teams on how to position the objects correctly. The twist was that only the captains could see the desired position however, they couldn’t position the objects themselves. It was all competitive, which really made it exciting! 

Then, once we had broken the ice, my advisory headed over to complete team building exercises. This was a great way to bond with my class. Some activities included: playing the floor is lava, using pool noodles to transport balls at a rapid pace, and describing pictures to put them in order. These games helped us improve our relationships with each other and we had fun along the way!

Students enjoyed team building and bonding!

Lunch was delicious burgers, baked beans, chips, and sugar cookies. After lunch we headed to go ziplining! This was definitely my favorite part of the retreat. There were three ziplines. The first one was a smooth-sailing ride. The second one was through trees and was set at a much faster pace. The third one was my favorite. It went over the lake and had an incredible view of the whole camp! I even got to see some of my friends canoeing under me. Then we went down to the lake and got to chat with friends while on canoes and paddle boats. A couple of people got wet but we all had fun just the same.

High Ropes provided a great bonding experience.

This trip to Camp Butter and Egg was a wonderful experience which I won’t forget anytime soon! I look forward to an amazing freshman year; Camp Butter and Egg has been a great start!

The Saint James Peer Leaders are a group of seniors who serve as mentors to the freshmen for the first half of the year. The Peer Leaders meet with their assigned freshman advisories once a week to lead lessons on how to acclimate to high school. This program not only helps with the social and academic transition to high school, but builds relationships and enforces our Trojan Core Values. #wearesaintjamesschool

"Understanding, Empathy, & Purpose" at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Saint James School students at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice: the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.

Each year, Saint James tenth grade students visit the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The Legacy Museum, established by Bryan Stevenson and the EJI, tells the story of slavery in the United States and the lasting effects it has had in history.  In confronting the past, we know our students are today becoming ready to act with character, courage, and knowledge in the future. 

Annually, STJ English teacher, Mrs. Joanna McCurdy, assigns an essay prompt for her students to complete reflecting on their experience. Please find excerpts from some of the essays below.

Saint James students at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

After a trip to the museum, I have been given insight into how I view myself and the way that I interact with others. The field trip has shown me that as a society we take a lot for granted. Overall, the trip was a fundamental experience in teaching me how much a person’s ancestry and generational trauma goes into their identity and how it is sometimes easy to overlook that background…This trip was enlightening in many ways. The Legacy Museum is such an important part of our community. It brings up conversations that are uncomfortable, but deserve to be talked about.” -Jakiyah Hyman, class of 2026

“The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice stand to remind people from all backgrounds to advocate for a safer world.”
— Haley Hust, class of 2026
“The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice impacted my thoughts and life by giving me more knowledge to understand identity, empathy, and the purpose of knowing history.”
— Jack Caradori, class of 2026

Science Fair- Biology Meets Art

by: Shelly Taliaferro, AP Biology teacher

left to right: AP Biology students Harrison Allen, Cole Williams, Addison Seale, Reilly Taylor, and Rylee Richardson, with their poster entitled “A comparison of fine-art faunal diversity among two museum communities - a model to utilize Simpson's biodiversity index for AP Biology.”

Recently, AP Biology students participated in the Greater East Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair, held at AUM, where they received third place in the Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Engineering category. They advanced to the Alabama Science and Engineering Fair, held at Auburn University, where they placed third in the Animal and Plant Sciences category and also won the Biological Sciences Award for Creative Application of Biological Principles. Students received a certificate, a medal, and a monetary award. 

The science project involved AP Biology students conducting an inventory of animal "species" found in artwork at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art (Auburn), then calculating and comparing a biodiversity index between the two museum "communities." Due to constraints of time, transportation, suitable habitat, and weather, AP Biology classes usually use types of cars in the parking lot, different varieties of dried beans, or colorful beads as "organisms" for calculations of community diversity. To our knowledge, this is the first time an AP Biology class has utilized artwork animals for these calculations. Our approach includes a more organismal focus to the biodiversity calculations as well as known benefits of integrating art with science, such as increased student engagement, learning, and retention.

#wearesaintjamesschool 

Eighth Grade Visits Our Nation's Capital

by: Charlotte Stanton, class of 2028

8th graders stopped by the White House during their recent trip to Washington D.C.

The 8th grade students had been so excited for our class trip to Washington DC. We prepared for DC weeks before we departed, but most of us have been thinking about this since we were little. Some of the topics we were preparing for were hard, such as the Holocaust museum. However, we knew we would have a great and educational trip!
On day one, we had to be up early at 4:15 in the morning! We departed on two separate buses at 4:45 a.m. It was supposed to be around a two and half hour drive, but due to a serious accident that shut down the interstate, the drive took way longer than expected. We ended up missing our flight, but it was okay because we booked another flight that was scheduled to depart around 9 p.m. That left us with quite a while until we had to be at the airport. 
We made a pit stop at Buc-ee’s, and all joined onto one bus to make our way to Atlanta. In Atlanta we did many interesting activities. We got to walk around Olympic park, explore the World of Coca-Cola museum, and eat at a small cafe. After some time, we had to leave to head to the airport. We had to wait for many hours after countless delays. Finally, we boarded the plane at 10:10 p.m. It was a bumpy ride, but we landed in Washington DC safely at 11:50 p.m. We got to ride on a double-decker bus, but everyone was very tired and ready to get to the hotel. 

Students at the Lincoln Memorial

Since we missed the entire day before, we had to make some schedule rearrangements. We got to see the Arlington National Cemetery first. The eternal flame was a beautiful symbol. We spent some time in the Spy Museum. That was one of my personal favorites. They had real artifacts from spies! The African American History Museum was very educational and immersive; they did a good job of conveying a lot of emotions. We quickly went through the American History Museum just to see the original star-spangled banner. Then, we got to look around the Natural History Museum. I love how big that museum was, and I wish we could have stayed there for hours! I probably spent the most time in the gem and mineral exhibit looking for the Hope Diamond. For dinner we ate at Carmine’s. Later at night, we got a tour of many different monuments around the city. The Abraham Lincoln Memorial was so ornate and gave a beautiful view of the Washington Monument. 

Students participating in a Revolutionary Era reenactment at Mt. Vernon.

The next day, Ford’s Theater was first on our itinerary. A man gave us a lecture about the assassination. I really enjoyed the museum part of the tour. Then, we took the annual class picture with all of the students and chaperones. After that we got a tour of the capitol building! The architecture was gorgeous inside and out. The painting and statues were so detailed, and I loved hearing about their deeper meanings. We all took a quick picture with the White House then went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. We all took our time to look around and learn about this tragedy. It was a well constructed museum that showed the raw truth. We then went to see the National Archives. The documents in there were very old! For dinner that night we got to go on a dinner river cruise! We all got dressed nice and got to dance on the dancefloor. The view on the cruise of the water and city was breathtaking!

Charlotte (second from right) with classmates at the International Spy Museum

However, all good things must come to an end. On the last day we had the opportunity to see Mount Vernon. The land was so peaceful and well taken care of. Andrew Sellers laid a wreath near President George Washington’s tomb. Due to traffic we couldn’t go inside the house, but in history class we got to do a virtual tour of the house, so we didn’t miss out completely! We flew back home and arrived at STJ around 7:30 p.m. Overall it was a very educational trip that we were lucky to have had the opportunity to experience! 

My Trip to Camp ASCCA

by: Dresden Merritt, class of 2030

Every year, the fifth graders take a three day field trip to Camp ASCCA, and it seems like we have been looking forward to this trip since we were in first grade!

Dresden and his cabin mates at Camp ASCCA

Day 1: My trip to camp began with me hopping out of my carpool and taking my VERY heavy bag to the gym. We met up at the gym and put our bags on the floor. We then stretched our legs and played games like basketball for 30 minutes. I remember throwing a frisbee with my friend and then playing soccer, too. After that, we finally got to go to our cabins and see who we would be with for the next three days. We had around 15 minutes to get settled and get our things set up before we met back up at the gym. Once everyone got to the gym we were assigned our activity groups. There were four groups, and Groups 1 and 2 went to team building while Groups 3 and 4 went canoeing. I was in Group 3. We went to lunch around 12:00 pm, and afterwards the groups rotated through activities. One thing I liked about team building was how kind our instructor, Amber, was. Amber never got annoyed with us, no matter how bad we were at the games or how long it took us to find the solution. After team building, we went to our cabins or stayed in the gym for free play. We ate dinner around 5:30 and had more free time until around 6pm. After that, our counselor Justin took us to the “bck4t,” which basically a child’s dream playroom. The bck4t had a bunch of arcade machines, some nerfs, two beach balls, a movie theater, and relaxation items scattered around. After a very fun hour or two, we headed back to our cabins for shower time. After that, my cabin had around 15 minutes of quiet time before lights out.

Saint James 5th graders at Camp ASCCA.

Zip line was a favorite activity!

Day 2: I woke up to an alarm clock, took a shower, and did all of the other morning routine things. We met up outside the cafeteria around 8:00 am and recited the pledge of allegiance in front of the flag. We then went inside and enjoyed our delicious breakfast. After that, we went to the gym and were told our daily activities. My group started off with the zip tower. I remember looking at the rock wall and getting a bit scared, but I brushed it off and was the second one to climb up. Near the top of the tower, I panicked and just hung there, saying to myself “I need help.” and “I’m not going to make it.” With a little bit of encouragement from a camp counselor, I gave it one last push and grabbed on to the top of the wall and pulled myself up! I then got hooked up to the zipline and was ready to jump. I leaned forward and soared through the air with the wind hitting my face! It was one of the best feelings ever. After that, we went fishing, and although I didn’t catch anything, my friend caught a bass. After fishing, we ate lunch and then went to forestry, where we talked about animals and animal furs. We went on a nice nature walk and talked about trees and plants after that. After forestry, I went and changed into water shoes for The Living Streams activity. One thing I can remember was how the water was freezing cold, and it just kept getting deeper as we moved forwards. I didn’t catch any bugs, but again, some of my friends did. We hiked back up to our cabins, and I changed back into my nice, warm, DRY shoes. We then headed to the gym and played kickball and other outdoor games for about an hour before we went to karaoke in the back outpost. Karaoke made me think about how fun this whole experience was. I got to hang out with my friends for three whole days with no work! Karaoke was so fun and was one of my favorite experiences at camp ASCCA. We sang until the ipad with the lyrics died, and then we headed up to the campfire and made s’mores. I sat down with myfriends, and we talked for a while. We then headed back to our cabins and said goodnight. At this point, I was so tired I basically passed out as soon as I laid down.

Nothing ends a day of camping like S’mores

Day 3: The last day was like a fun headache. I did my morning routine and packed up as fast as I could. I loaded all my stuff into the back of my carpools’ car and headed to the gym to hang out with my friends for one last time. We eventually did our last camp activity: the bungee trampoline. The bungee trampoline was fun, but it was hard to control yourself on it. After that, we did a cabin sweep and then got in our cars. My carpool had lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and as soon as I finished eating, I fell asleep for the rest of the car ride home.

#wearesaintjamesschool

American Village: Stepping into History

Saint James fifth graders visited The American Village to experience their program, “Independence!” American Village, located in Montevallo, is a 188-acre campus with more than 20 historically-inspired structures. This civic educational institution includes Washington Hall, inspired by George Washington's Mount Vernon home; a Colonial Courthouse reminiscent of Williamsburg's Courthouse of 1770; the President's House, modeled after the Nation's Philadelphia “White House;” a full-sized Oval Office, and many other structures.

Students learned about taxation without representation, visited a tavern to participate in the eve of Paul Revere’s ride, argued for independence at the 5th Virginia Conference, and headed to encampment to prepare for battle. Students ended with a film that recounted the journey from Paul Revere’s ride to the battles at Lexington and Concord, to the Continental Congress, and ultimately the signing of the Declaration of Independence. What a fun hands-on way to learn about our country’s history.