A Letter from the Headmaster

A Letter from the Headmaster

RETURN TO ARROW NEWS

A Letter from the Headmaster

Being a Headmaster from an ACCS school, I get tapped on the shoulder once a year to observe and help oversee the accreditation of another candidate school in our association. In this role I’ve seen schools all over the country, and it’s always encouraging to see what others are doing and learning. Late last week I was in Texas and was fortunate to see a great school in Belton. While I was certainly mesmerized by the barbeque, sweet tea, and hospitality (it is real, by the way), I found myself thinking about St. Stephen’s a lot while I was there.

Their faculty was excellent, and as always, there were a few teachers that my fellow headmasters and I thought about stealing; but then we remembered our ethics. Simultaneously, I thought about our unique faculty and the incredibly talented teachers at St. Stephen’s Academy. It would be imprudent to name names in this small space, but after 22 years in the business of educating children, and seeing dozens of schools, there is nowhere like home. And it is only getting better. In the next couple of weeks we are going to be sharing with you some of the hires we have made to make our school even better. We are bringing in great teachers from all over America, and they are seeing St. Stephen’s as a destination school.

I saw a great school culture in Texas, but while there, I reflected on the 260 students and their families that I am privileged to know at St. Stephen’s Academy. God has assembled a wonderful family of families in our community, and I am proud of how far we have come. We stand for something noble in an age of cynicism. I am thankful that we are doing gospel work here in Portland. This week I saw proof of that when I witnessed our Senior Class give a tremendously impressive set of thesis presentations. God is preparing our graduates to make an indelible mark in the world. They have both been molded by a Christian culture in our school, her representative churches, and our supportive families.

John S. Breckenridge

St. Stephen’s Academy Headmaster