News and Updates
The Harvey Cleary team poured approximately 300 yards of concrete for the foundation of the new Gym/Student Union between 2AM and 8AM this morning. Over 30 concrete trucks were involved in the delivery of the concrete to the jobsite.
September Updates
First half of the Athletics Complex & Student Union foundation is poured
In just six hours, half of our Athletics Complex & Student Union foundation was poured. The Harvey Cleary team poured approximately 300 cubic yards of concrete for the foundation between 2AM and 8AM this morning. Over 30 concrete trucks were involved in the delivery of the concrete to the job site.
Next week, the second half of the foundation will be poured, along with all of our K-12 students’ hopes and dreams offerings. These offerings will permanently reside under the St. Andrew’s seal in our new Competition Gym Lobby, forever a reminder of the hope and promise this facility brings.
August Updates
Ground Blessing Service
We celebrated the groundbreaking of our new Athletics Complex and Student Union with great fanfare! Our Ground Blessing Service took place on August 30 at the site, where we celebrated with our generous donor families, Board of Trustees, and all Middle and Upper School students, faculty and staff.
What an historic moment in the life of our school! As our Head of School, Melissa Grubb, said, “Everything that you see here on this campus was built because our families believed in our mission, believed in our collective vision, and chose to give. All of our buildings are here because of philanthropy, faith and generous hearts.”
Our K-12 students each wrote a “hope or a blessing” for this new Athletics Complex & Student Union. All of the blessings were collected and presented at the Ground Blessing Service. During construction, these hopes and dreams of students across St. Andrew’s divisions will be laid into the building’s foundation itself, cementing in the aspirations of current St. Andrew’s students for the years and decades to come.
The building will soon rise and our Raise the Roof Campaign continues as we work to raise the remaining $14M to reach our goal. We are very grateful for the generosity of our St. Andrew’s school community. Onward!
The Story of the Yellow Shovel
St. Andrew’s was founded in 1952, with a $4,000 loan and a big dream to become the school for “all of Austin.” St. Andrew’s was initially located temporarily in a house on Pearl Street, serving 1st-3rd grades in the West Campus area of central Austin. In 1957, some property became available and funds were raised to purchase the land.
And here begins the story of the yellow shovel.
Bishop Scott Field Bailey, one of our founding Episcopal priests, used this yellow shovel to break ground on our new Lower School Building on West 31st Street in 1957. Since that time, this shovel has broken ground on every capital project at St. Andrew’s – from the Lower School expansions to the addition of the Middle School, gymnasiums, Chapel, our kindergarten building, Eleanor Hall, and our entire Upper School campus.
On August 30, we will once again use the yellow shovel to bless the ground where our new Athletics Complex & Student Union will rise. We’d like to think that the first blessing by Bishop Bailey in 1957 continues to provide hope, resilience, and inspiration as we dig a new chapter in the life of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School.
"Raise the Roof" Campaign wins Award of Distinction from The Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts Communicator Awards
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School’s “Raise the Roof” capital campaign branding was recognized by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts with an Award of Distinction in the Campaign | Non-Profit Category.
The Communicator Awards is dedicated to recognizing excellence, effectiveness, and innovation across all areas of communication. They are the leading international awards program honoring talent in this high competitive field. The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and reviewed by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, an invitation-only group consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. AVIA members include executives from organizations like Amazon, Big Spaceship, Chelsea Pictures, Conde Nast, Critical Mass, Disney, ESPN, GE Digital, IBM, The Nation of Artists, Nextdoor, Spotify, Time, Inc., the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones, and Wired.
St. Andrew’s partnered with creative agency Mighty Citizen to develop the “Raise the Roof” concepts for their $85M capital campaign to build a new Athletics Complex & Student Union and Middle School and STEM Center. Literally translated, “Raise the Roof” describes these two beautiful new facilities, which will both be two-story. Raising the roof indeed!
July Updates
Construction has officially begun, marking an exciting milestone in our ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign! We’re thrilled to share the progress with you. Check out the aerial photos below to see the transformation happening on campus. From laying the foundations to seeing the first structures take shape, every step brings us closer to realizing our vision for St. Andrew’s. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build a brighter future together.
