A crew from The College Board was on campus Sept. 15-16 filming in Mr. Whelan’s history classroom. Whelan’s ability to connect, combined with a strong love and grasp of history, earned him the honor of being one of only three teachers across the United States – the others are in Texas and California – featured in videos aimed at helping AP world history teachers engage their students with the material. Whelan was chosen by officials who run the curriculum and instruction departments for the Advanced Placement programs, administered to high school students hoping to earn college credit by the College Board. Later this fall, three “modules” filmed with Whelan and students from Saint Stephen’s will be available to help AP world history teachers across the country. Whelan has taught AP for 21 years and has worked with AP before, attending workshops and summer institutes to better both himself and fellow teachers.

Read more about Mr. Whelan and why The College Board chose SSES in the Bradenton Herald.

Four Saint Stephen’s seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship program: Alex Siegal, Vanessa Yan, Mary Ann Placheril and Emma Jones. The group is among 16,000 semifinalists nationally. Finalists will be named in the spring for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $33-million. The process of becoming a semifinalist begins during the junior year of high school when students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Those named semifinalists are the highest-scoring entrants in each state — fewer than one-percent of all U.S. high school seniors. About 90-percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of those will win a National Merit Scholarship. Since 2005, SSES has had 33 finalists.

Sixteen Saint Stephen’s Latin students joined more than 1,600 of their peers from around the country at Indiana University at the end of July for this year’s National Junior Classical League Forum. By the end of the week, Saint Stephen’s student Kassandra Haakman had won a National Championship in Novice Level Certamen, MaryAnn Placheril and Ethan Leuchter had battled to a second place finish at the Advanced level, and Matthew Thomas and his team finished 4th in Intermediate Certamen. In addition, all 16 SSES students earned at least one top 10 finish in the academic or creative competitions that they entered in their division. Leading the 153 member Florida delegation were SSES students MaryAnn Placheril and Alex Siegal who served as president and secretary, respectively. Teachers Tony Haakman, Alice Revard and Geoff Revard led the SSES students as sponsors and chaperones. Special congratulations to Tony who worked weekly with the Novice Certamen team all summer as their coach and notched his first win at the national level.

Carter Beckstein (Level 2): Reading Comprehension (9), Dramatic Interpretation (2), Sight Latin Reading (3), Essay (4)
Graham Beckstein (Level 2): Greek Literature (3), Latin Literature (5), Roman Life and Customs (5)
Jack Berry (Level 4): Classical Greek (6), Greek Literature (8), Mythology (8), Hellenic History (10)
Annie Class (Level 1/2): Ancient Geography (3), Latin Grammar (3), Latin Vocabulary (5), Mottoes, Abbr. and Quotations (5), Latin Derivatives (9)
Emma Craig (Level 1/2): Latin Grammar (6), Latin Vocabulary (10), Mottoes, Abbr. and Quotations (8), Latin Derivatives (10), Graphic Arts (9)
Astrid Culp (Level 2): Ancient Geography (5)
Kassandra Haakman (Level 1): Reading Comprehension (4), Academic Heptathlon (6), Latin Grammar (10), Latin Vocabulary (10), Latin Derivatives (6), Greek Derivatives (6)
Sidney Knowles (Level 2): Roman History (8), Mythology (9)
Ethan Leuchter (Level 5): Roman History (1st high score), Ancient Geography (3), Hellenic History (4), Roman Life and Customs (5), Latin Literature (6)
Colton Melnick (Level 2): Latin Literature (9), Essay (2)
MaryAnn Placheril (Level 4): Latin Vocabulary (2), Reading Comprehension – Poetry (3), Reading Comp. – Prose (3), Latin Grammar (4), Latin Derivatives (6), Mottoes, Abbr. and Quotations (7), Academic Heptathlon (8), Greek Derivatives (9)
Alex Siegal (Level 4): Roman History (6), Ancient Geography (7), Hellenic History (5)
Anusha Singh (Level 1/2): Roman History (1), Greek Derivatives (2), Latin Derivatives (10), Graphic Arts (2)
Matthew Thomas (Level 2): Latin Grammar (1), Reading Comprehension. (1), Sight Latin Reading (1), Latin Vocabulary (2), Academic Heptathlon (5), Latin Derivatives (7), Mottoes, Abbr. and Quotations (7)
Paul Williams (Level 1): Roman Life and Customs (9)
Mikayla Woodard (Level 1): Greek Literature (4), Hellenic History (4), Classical Art (5), Greek Derivatives (9)

On Friday night, June 3, 69 graduates in the Class of 2016 walked across the stage of the Neel Auditorium at State College of Florida to receive their diplomas. The impressive group was the 42nd to graduate from Saint Stephen’s since its founding in 1970 and all will continue on with higher education at a college or university. As has become tradition, the commencement speech was delivered by a 10-year graduate of Saint Stephen’s. This year’s speaker was Dr. Nicholas Mollanazar, who urged the graduates to be open to opportunities, unafraid to fail, and unswayed by “those who will tell you it can’t be done.” The evening also featured another beloved tradition – a musical performance by our pre-kindergarten class.

Class of 2016 highlights:

• Students received acceptances to 19 of the nation’s 40 most selective colleges (as ranked by Washington Post), including eight of the top 10, and seven of the eight Ivy League schools
• 86-percent of seniors who identified a first-choice college were accepted to that institution
• Students earned more than $4.4-million in merit aid, including four graduates who have been awarded their institution’s top full-ride scholarship with additional funds for research and travel
• Five students were named National Merit Scholarship finalists
• Two students – of three total in the Sarasota/Manatee area and 141 statewide – were named prestigious Presidential Scholar invitees
• Six graduates will compete at the collegiate level in football, soccer, lacrosse, sailing, and rifle

Coverage from the Bradenton Herald

Coverage from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Saint Stephen’s and Christ Church of Bradenton have announced an agreement of cooperation that will allow the school to build a multi-purpose performing arts center on property currently owned by the church.

With no existing space for construction on the school’s 35-acre campus, the Saint Stephen’s Board of Trustees and Head of School Dr. Jan Pullen began discussions last year with Christ Church Rector Fr. Joel Morsch and the church vestry on an agreement that was recently approved. Christ Church has given its more than 67,000-square-foot property west of 41^st Street West to the school for the construction of a performing arts center and parking lot to be used by both entities. Saint Stephen’s will also build a 3,500-square-foot facility to replace the church’s existing thrift shop and food pantry, which currently serves more than 1,200 patrons monthly.

This collaboration allows Saint Stephen’s to begin a capital campaign to fund the project. School and church officials recently visited St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Tampa to tour its performing arts center. The multi-purpose Saint Mary’s Hall, which features a reception foyer, raised stage with backstage and technical support, and open floor seating for approximately 500, is being used as a model for the building Saint Stephen’s will create.

Although they are independent entities, Christ Church and Saint Stephen’s have a strong relationship that dates back 46 years. SSES opened its doors in 1970 as an outreach mission of the church. Since its founding, Saint Stephen’s has used the church sanctuary for weekly chapels, graduation, Baccalaureate service, and other special services. Fr. Morsch and a designated parishioner sit on the Saint Stephen’s Board of Trustees.

Photo: (L-R) Fr. Alex Andujar, Christ Church Vestry representative Doug Reiff, Fr. Joel Morsch, SSES Board Member John Neal, Head of School Dr. Jan Pullen, SSES Board Member Garret Barnes, SSES Board President Richard Walter