On August 15th, Dr. Carrie Steakley was officially installed as the Head of School for Episcopal School of Baton Rouge. Dr. Steakley was selected after an extensive national search led by a committee of board members, parent leadership and faculty representatives. The search process was thoughtful and the transition seamless. With a pandemic as a backdrop, the installation was humble yet meaningful and powerful.

In a pre-recorded message for Dr. Steakley’s installation, Reverend Katherine McQuiston Bush reminded event attendees of the power and strength of love. Reverend Bush, who is the Chaplain at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, also advised that to lead with love requires courage, respect, mercy and grace. After working closely with Dr. Steakley for nearly 10 years, Reverend Bush said these qualities are what defines Episcopal’s new Head of School. We encourage you to watch Reverend Bush's message below. ​

Dr. Steakley begins her tenure as Head of School in unusual circumstances. However, she is prepared for the challenges ahead. With a quiet strength, she told attendees she feels inspired by the leaders of her former school as she takes on this new role. A look at that story can be an inspiration for us all. St. Mary’s was founded in 1847. In 1873 a group of Episcopal nuns began operating the school with a goal of providing a rigorous academic experience for girls. In the summer of 1878, the Memphis area experienced a yellow fever epidemic that impacted thousands and resulted in the relocation of a majority of the city’s residents. Sister Constance and her companions remained at the school to care for the sick and dying. They are remembered in St. Mary’s and Memphis lore for their commitment and sacrifice on behalf of their students and the community. More than 100 years later, Dr. Steakley now takes the reins of Episcopal as the school and the community deal with COVID-19. At the first staff meeting of the school year, which was conducted online, Dr. Steakley told the St. Mary’s story with pride and asked faculty and staff – How do we want history to remember us? How will our decisions bless future generations?

A Head of School is traditionally installed before a standing-room-only crowd. The entire student body is often invited to participate, with student musicians and vocalists adding their talents to the celebration. Dr. Steakley’s installation had only a small number of attendees due to health and safety protocols. Attendees wore face coverings and practiced social distancing. However, the face coverings and the distance did not diminish the sense of hope, joy, peace and most importantly love.

Those attending the installation will remember the occasion and the sense of community that reverberated through the Lewis Memorial Chapel of the Good Shepherd. The experience may have been somewhat different from those in the past, but attendees felt blessed to be present. There was a realization that while 2020 is filled with uncertainty, it is also an opportunity for new beginnings, innovation and collaboration. With her family by her side, Dr. Steakley will also ensure that there is love, joy and grace.

Thank you to The Rt. Rev’d Morris K. Thompson, Jr., Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana, The Rev’d Katherine McQuiston Bush, Chaplain St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, The Rev’d Chris Duncan, Rector St. James Episcopal Church, The Rev’d Bryan Owen, Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, The Rev’d Kirkland “Skully” Knight, Chaplain (The Episcopal School of Baton Rouge) and Board Chair Chris Kiesel ’92 for joining Dr. Steakley in this celebration.
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Welcome to Episcopal, Dr. Steakley! We invite you to share a message of congratulations with Dr. Steakley in the comments below. ​

I am confident that you will join me in welcoming Patrick Hundley as Episcopal’s interim Director of Advancement. Patrick joins us during an exciting period in our development efforts as we prepare Episcopal to meet the needs of the next generation of leaders. The Academic Commons, the new athletic field house and the Quest Center in Foster Hall are all examples of our progress.

Identifying an experienced development leader was imperative for ensuring that Episcopal’s commitment to excellence continues. To secure the very best candidate, we partnered with the executive placement firm, The Registry. The Registry is the nation’s gold standard for interim administrative placement and has placed approximately 600 senior leaders at nearly 400 institutions since the firm was established in 1992. The Registry typically works with colleges and universities to provide the proper placement of senior leaders. With their trusted tenure in administrative placements, we felt The Registry was the right choice to identify Episcopal’s interim Director of Advancement.

With nearly 40 years of experience in development, Patrick will be a catalyst for the completion of our Spirit • Mind • Body Capital Campaign. Over the course of his career, Patrick has established major gift campaigns for colleges and universities across the country. He has a proven track record of boosting annual giving and coordinating development efforts in a way that is sustainable and impactful for the institutions he serves. A few examples of his recent success include raising nearly $7.5 million in just 13 months at Delta State University, re-energizing Delta State University alumni chapters and establishing an annual giving program that doubled annual gifts at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Patrick is a strategic thinker and we look forward to supporting his success here at Episcopal.

Patrick will work closely with Development Committee members and Capital Campaign Director, Mellie Bailey. He has already begun efforts to support the new Episcopal athletic field house. Please look for a big announcement coming soon regarding new recognition opportunities for the facility. These opportunities will provide additional ways for Episcopal families and friends to be a part of this historic project. Under Patrick’s leadership, you will see a renewed focus on alumni engagement. Patrick will also lend his expertise to additional development efforts as he directs the development department going forward.  

Patrick, a Tennessee native, and his wife, Susan, are already enjoying Baton Rouge. I am certain that your hospitality and suggestions for exploring all that the area has to offer will be welcome. Patrick and Susan have three children, Sarah Ruth McCracken, Patrick, Jr. and David Norton. Patrick and Susan recently celebrated the first birthday of Sarah’s first child, Cooper Alan McCracken. (No direct relation to “our” McCracken's.) Cooper joins three other grandchildren, Carter, Hudson and Campbell Norton.

Please lend your support and encouragement to Patrick and his team. This is a rewarding time to be a part of the Episcopal community as we continue to celebrate new campus developments, exceptionally talented students and highly qualified, dedicated faculty and staff.

Head of School

Many schools contend to serve the “whole child.”  The Episcopal Mission and Ministry calls for developing the “whole child.”

Every now and then in a meeting of faculty or administrators, someone asserts that “whole child” is trite.  That can lead to a discussion of what the term -- “whole child”—actually means to us.  As the discussion deepens, typically we all come to a new realization of the term’s importance and centrality to all that we do.  

The alternatives to developing the whole child, when one thinks about it, are neither feasible nor attractive.  Would a parent send a child to a school that offered to develop “most” of a child or, perhaps, “a portion”?  

To me, even highly specialized schools with narrow curricula seek, in most cases, the full human development of their students.

Not everything that has been around for a long time in education has lost its usefulness.  For me, keeping in mind the “whole child” is one of the “oldies but goodies” that should be played and replayed.  As a disc-jockey friend of mine used to say on his late night college radio show, “Here is one from the groove yard.”  (Note that this prior reference requires awareness that once d-j’s played records with grooves in them.)  

Even the official, dictionary definition of “trite” has an exception for old things that remain effective and have not lost their meaningfulness.  If something remains effective, it is not “trite.”

When the Episcopal Board of Trustees engages in strategic planning, every five years or so, the Mission and Ministry always gets a once over.  After many thoughtful discussions during my time here, the Board has kept the Mission and Ministry of Episcopal “as is.”  Plenty of running room can be found in the Mission and Ministry and in the concept of the “whole child.”  

Changing times and changing contexts may call for adjustments in emphases, but the overall concept of the “whole child” remains valid.

We have adjusted internally the “whole child” concept to make it more individualized or personalized.  A while ago, Howard Gardner brought to public attention an educational analysis of “multiple intelligences.”  In short, his research showed that reaching any group of students in the most effective way involves employing a range of teaching styles, tailored to the “intelligence” of each child. We have adjusted our teaching modes at Episcopal to suit better the “multiple intelligences” (i.e., the various ways a range of students get interested and performs).  In effect, we have applied the “whole child” concept individually and, by that, use modes personalized to all.

Episcopal today offers a broader range of developmental experiences than before, including more age-appropriate student choices.  Many of these offerings produce student recognitions. A long list of these offerings can be reviewed at the end of this blog.

​Being at Episcopal School of Baton Rouge among our students, colleagues, parents and community members has engendered my thinking about the artistry in us all.  In no small way, the Arts Department at Episcopal has brought me closer to the importance of artistry in general. What I used to see as a moat between artists and the rest of us, first became a thin line and, now, has dissolved into a boundary-less, free flowing appreciation of the artistry of life in all of its forms.

As I deepen my focus on this concept, I have come to see the artistry of teachers, coaches and the rest of us on campus expressed in the caring necessary to help students develop well. Through the self-reinforcing stance of my colleagues, I see standards of academic rigor blending completely with student satisfaction in co-curricular activities from the English classroom to the stage and from the athletic field to the robotics lab and the ceramics studio to the Chapel.  As the quote above from James Joyce implies, as our souls are “enriched with spiritual knowledge” the world around us becomes “one vast symmetrical expression of God’s power and love.”

​In each of the past few years, the school has purchased three works of art from three students - - one from each division.  These masterpieces, which are bargains for the school, now hang in the VPAC entry ways, reminding me that all Episcopal students are, in the narrow interpretation of the word, real artists.  But, here is the broader motivating thought:  Perhaps without thinking of it in just these terms, we are called not only to be artists of life ourselves, but to nurture each student to become the artist of his or her own life.  I believe that, the more adults model artistry in their own lives, the more meaningful the students’ experiences at our school will be.

For most of us, art comes from rising above the ordinary and mundane to express a unique and significant point of view.  Drawing it, saying it, doing it, making it, reacting to it in just the right way is part of artistry.  Artistry changes with the artist.  Art is cumulative with each piece building upon the past productions. Working on our lives, as an artist might work on a canvas or a song, allows our souls to be “enriched with spiritual knowledge,” that is both uplifting and rewarding. What more accurate description is there of our Episcopal School of Baton Rouge community?

Parents, students, teachers, coaches, “admins” (as people like me are so respectfully called), Board members, friends, donors, and alumni---please join me in embracing your own artistry.  In particular, please join in helping our students become artists of their own lives.  What a worthy cause!

And, guys, every now and then talk of love in public.  It is okay.

Dear Episcopal School of Baton Rouge Community Members,
Last night in the Lewis Memorial Chapel of the Good Shepherd, two things became clear to me:

• Not all great religious music was written hundreds of years ago.
• God still speaks and reveals His presence in Creation.

Mr. Carter Smith, Episcopal’s Director of Choral Activities, conducted our Select Choir (with orchestra accompaniment) in the “Seven Last Words,” a recent composition by Dr. Michael John Trotta, a former student at LSU.  The work features seven groups of words from Scripture involved in the Passion of Christ:  “Father, Forgive Them” and “My God, Why Have You Abandoned Me?” are among the better-known examples.  The four solos were each beautiful.  As all The Select Choir voices unified in a moment of crescendo, the presence of the Holy Spirit and Divine inspiration suffused the Chapel.  Only the purest truth can unite individuals in such concert and inspire the artistry I witnessed last night.
 
Contemplating, during that concert, the great and indescribable love God has for us, this verse from the Book of John came to mind.  It reminds me, in Jesus’ own words, that this is the least I can do in response to the gifts of love from God:
 
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34.”
 
Best wishes for a meaningful end to Holy Week and a safe, enjoyable break. 
 
Sincerely,
Hugh M. McIntosh

On February 12-14, Episcopal will welcome the visiting accreditation team from SAIS (Southern Association of Independent Schools) and SAES (Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools). During their stay with us, they will take a deep look at our program and offer an outside perspective on what we're doing well and where we have room to improve. The following letter is included in our report and I wanted to share it with you. Thank you for making Episcopal what it is today.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters; he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3

A U-Knighted  Homecoming

Dear Episcopal School of Baton Rouge Community Members and Friends,

As the waters of the Flood of 2016 started to recede, the Episcopal community began to rise up.  In the ugliness of the carnage, the Episcopal community went to work for others and on rebuilding physical damage and loss to the school.  In those early moments, responding was visceral, automatic and free of ambiguity. The actions of a few--students, school staff, coaches, parents, and  faculty-- inspired many and brought forth a powerful, grassroots  movement for good and goodness. 

“Angels with smiles and pizza” is the way a family member on Woodland Ridge described the Epsicopal students who waded through water and muck to bring food and, more importantly, feelings of unity to her family, forced to move to the curb so much of what they owned.  The movement ignited spontaneously within Episcopal was a part of the glorious collective actions of good people throughout Baton Rouge.  Episcopal folks were tightly united in the post-flood effort from showing up at Celtic Studios to enlisting in the Cajun Navy and more.  We were dedicated before the rains stopped to ensuring, too, that the school would be “there” and “strong” for its students, families and employees.  From the epicenter of the flood in zip code 70816, we were early to open.  It was a start of school like none other.

Tonight, symbolism will abound at Homecoming.  Baton Rouge and Episcopal are winning the war against the flood’s evil.  Much work is yet to be done, but the positive outcome becomes clearer every day.   Looking back, perhaps the 23rd Psalm was in our subconscious, reminding us that we would be led to “still waters” and that our souls, bruised as they were, would be restored.  I believe the faith represented in our school buoyed us, one and all. Tonight, with humility, we will pause and be grateful and rededicate ourselves to fulfilling our school’s unique role in Baton Rouge.

Tonight, the gathering will be a symbol of how we are “UKnighted” by common bonds.  Tonight, a signal will be sent that Episcopal will continue to be a sustaining institution of Greater Baton Rouge, remaining “Strong to Serve.”  Tonight, alumni will recall times over the 50-plus years Episcopal has stood like a strong tree beside the waters and brought so much good to thousands of students and families.   Tonight, also, our air will be heavy with empathy for our fellow citizens in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as we watch with enhanced sensitivity the troubles arriving on their shores.  Tonight, we will sense that the bonds of our union---our “U-Knighthood” ---now extend beyond the field of play before us to embrace human dignity and goodness wherever found.

​There is so much for which to be thankful.  So much in which to take pride.  So much compelling work to be done.  So much living and loving ahead.  Let us be joyous and thankful and more U-Knighted.

​Sincerely,
 
Hugh M. McIntosh