SAS to Celebrate New Head of School and Chapel Restoration

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer
Starting today (Friday) St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School will celebrate two big occasions during Upper School Family Weekend, the installation of its new head of school and restoration of St. Andrew’s Chapel.
Karl Sjolund, the new head of school, will preach during the Eucharistic installation service at 2 p.m., today (Friday), Sept. 23, at the Outdoor Altar. The Rt. Rev. John C. Bauerschmidt, Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee, will be the celebrant at the service.
Sjolund, who was previously headmaster at Salem Academy in Winston Salem, N.C., started at SAS on July 1. He said the first two months have been frenzied and exciting.
“I’m drinking water from a firehose right now and I’m still trying to figure out what’s next. But I sure am having fun doing it,” he said.
Sjolund is only the third head of school in SAS’s 35-year history.
“I’m just so pleased with how welcoming this community is, the SAS community and also the greater Sewanee community,” he said. “It’s been such a warm embrace, it really has, for both my wife and I.”
Sjolund’s wife, Susan, is the new head coach for the University of the South’s equestrian team and they have twin daughters, one at Furman University and the other at Samford University.
He said staffing at SAS is almost complete and he is looking forward to the fall meeting of the board of trustees in October.
“I inherited a tremendous team of very talented professionals and I have added a new director of admissions, Anneke Skidmore, who’s an SAS graduate,” he said.
Enrollment is up by 16 students compared to last year, with 247 students enrolled at the school. This includes 77 boarding students and 31 international students.
He said the board will discuss such issues as the next capital projects for the school, increasing staff salaries and building the scholarship fund for students who need financial help.
Sjolund said he was drawn to SAS because of the location, but also because he loves the Episcopal boarding school environment and students from all over the world coming together for an education.
“It was the people more than anything else that sold me on it,” he said. “The leadership, the faculty and probably more than anything else, the students. I thought it was an incredibly talented, kind and happy student body and that was what I was looking for.”
On Sunday, Sept. 25, at 10:30 a.m., the school will also host a special rededication service at its newly-renovated Chapel, with the Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander, dean of Sewanee’s School of Theology, presiding.
SAS raised approximately $1.35 million, with about $850,000 of that for restoration of St. Andrew’s Chapel and the rest for an endowment for operation and maintenance of the Chapel, said Tim Graham, assistant to the head of school on special projects. The building, which was consecrated in 1914, seats approximately 250 people.
Workers started the restoration of the Chapel in April and have essentially completed a number of renovations, such as replacing and repairing stucco and wood, repairing the roof, landscaping, weathering windows and doors, removing carpeting, refinishing wood floors, a new fire alarm system, replacing the shingle roof with Spanish tile, a new sound system and restoring pews and artifacts.
Graham said about 450 donors contributed to the Chapel renovation and endowment with donations ranging from small to $200,000.
“The donors represented a broad base of support for the school, which really reflects the breadth of support for that Chapel, and the importance of the Chapel,” Graham said. “People understand the importance of the Chapel in the life of the school. It really is the central building on our campus.”
The project also included repairing and waterproofing the Chapel’s bell tower, which officials will name in honor of the late Bishop Robert Tharp, a former SAS trustee.
Both the installation ceremony and Chapel rededication are open to the public.

SAS Family Weekend to Include Two Celebrations

In addition to the usual class walk-throughs and parent meetings, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School’s Upper School Family Weekend, Sept. 23–25, will include two special celebrations—the Installation of Head of School Karl J. Sjolund and the Rededication of the newly restored St. Andrew’s Chapel.
The weekend kicks off at 2 p.m., Friday, Sept. 23, with the installation ceremony of Karl J. Sjolund, the third head of school in the school’s 35-year history. The installation will be a Eucharist Service with the Rt. Rev. John C. Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee, celebrating and Sjolund preaching. Following the event there will be a reception. The public is invited.
Friday afternoon continues for the SAS community with a question and answer session with Dean of Students Laura Clay, Head of Upper School Kelley Black and student panelists. The Mountain Lion Invitational Cross Country meet begins at 4:30 p.m.
At 8 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 24, parents of senior students will gather to hear Sewanee Assistant Director of Financial Aid Denise Barry talk about the new FAFSA procedures and strategies for paying for college. The 9 a.m. all-parent meeting in McCrory Hall will be followed by a class walk-through. At noon, the varsity girls’ soccer team takes on Huntland High School. Senior players will be recognized before the game begins. The afternoon includes faculty office hours and a campus hike. Parents will enjoy a reception with the head of school and an evening Creative Expression Assembly, an opportunity to see some of the talent among the student body.
The Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander will preside at the Rededication of St. Andrew’s Chapel at 10:30 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 25. The Chapel recently underwent extensive restoration thanks to the generosity of more than 450 donors. St. Andrew’s-Sewanee welcomes the community to join in this service and celebration; seating may be limited.

SAS Welcomes Alumni

St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School will host several hundred alumni and their guests for the school’s annual Alumni Weekend, today (Friday)–Sunday, June 5–7. SAS, which was formed by the merger of Sewanee Academy and St. Andrew’s School in 1981, also welcomes the alumni of its parent schools, including St. Mary’s School and the Sewanee Military Academy (SMA). Milestone reunions this year (fifth, 10th, 25th, etc.) are from the classes ending in 5s and 0s, but many SAS alumni and their families make this an annual pilgrimage.

The weekend begins today (Friday)with a golf tournament at the Course at Sewanee and dinner under the tent on the SAS Quad featuring music by Herschel Van Dyke, ’03.

Saturday, June 6, continues with an awards brunch, where this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipients will be surgeons Dr. Clifton Lewis StA ’75 of Birmingham, Ala. and Dr. William Turner, SMA ’65 of Dallas. The 1965 Reunion Classes of SMA, St. Andrew’s and St. Mary’s will be awarded their 50th-year medallions. In the afternoon there will be a memorial tea honoring longtime SAS Latin teacher Ruth Benson. On Saturday evening, alumni reconvene for the Alumni Parade under the tent for dinner and entertainment.

Residents along Tennessee Avenue can expect to be awakened at 9:45 a.m., Sunday, by the sounds of the Highlander Pipes and Drums Corps. Led by the 50th reunion class, former cadets will re-enact their weekly march from Quintard Hall to All Saints’ Chapel. 

The weekend concludes with a 10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist in St. Andrew’s Chapel, where the StA ’65 class banner will be retired, followed by a farewell brunch.

Throughout the weekend there will be activities for children, swimming and canoeing at the Res, and late-night bonfires.

The Sunday march and church service are open to the public. Area alumni are asked to register online for all other activities on the school’s main website or by contacting the Alumni Office by email, <sasalumni@sasweb.org>. Registration will also be available on campus beginning at 10 a.m., today (Friday), June 5, and 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Saturday, June 6.

Veterans Day Events

Veterans Day, Nov. 11, is a celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. Federal, state and local government agency offices are closed, as are banks and the post office. Public schools, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee and the University of the South will hold classes, and their offices are open. The Sewanee Senior Center will be open. 

A Veterans Day observance will begin at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the American Legion Hall, 36 University Ave., in Sewanee, with a covered-dish meal, followed by a program by the Rev. Charley Watkins. 

St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School celebrates Armistice Day with an 11-minute ringing of the St. Andrew’s Chapel “Chocolate Bells” at 11:11 a.m. The ritual commemorates the sacrifices of veterans, is a celebration of peace, and serves as a token of thanks to those who provided the bells for the school.

The SAS student vestry, under the direction of chaplain Drew Bunting, will hold a service of remembrance to honor those who served in World War I. The service will be at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 11, in the St. Andrew’s Chapel and will be open to the public.

The vestry seeks names of area friends and family who served in World War I, which will be read during the service. Please send names to Lachlan Hassman at <lhassman@sasweb.org> for inclusion on the list.

St. Andrew’s Chapel Centennial Mass • Presiding Bishop to Preach and Celebrate

The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States, will preach and celebrate the Holy Eucharist at a special Centennial Mass at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School’s St. Andrew’s Chapel on Saturday, June 7. The presiding bishop’s visit coincides with the school’s Alumni Weekend [see story on page 6] and is in tribute to the Centennial Celebration of St. Andrew’s Chapel.

The service begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. The Chapel doors will open to the public at 9:10 a.m. There will be a live video stream into McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts for overflow seating. Guests will be seated in McCrory Hall once the Chapel has reached capacity. Holy Communion will also be offered to those seated in McCrory. Visitors are asked to park in the McCrory Hall/Gym lot.

The Rev. John Thomas, SAS head of school, said, “We are grateful to Bishop Jefferts Schori for making time in her busy schedule to be with us as we celebrate the birth of the physical manifestation of the spiritual center of our community.” 

The Centennial Celebration also kicks off the school’s Chapel Centennial Campaign to restore and renovate the much loved but well used and deteriorated building.

The cornerstone for St. Andrew’s Chapel was laid in 1913 by Bishop William Alexander Guerry of South Carolina, the first Mass was sung in the Chapel on February 22, 1914, and the structure was consecrated in May of that year. Except for brief interruptions over the years for renovations, students have gathered in the Chapel at least three times a week for prayer and community. The Chapel is the setting for alumnus and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Agee’s novel, “The Morning Watch,” a recounting of a young boy’s experience during the Easter vigil.