Knightly News

As we near the end of another school year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our achievements, our challenges and our goals for the future. We began our academic year UKNIGHTED in community, and it is a blessing that we will finish this year UKNIGHTED around members of the Class of 2023 and the Upper,  Middle and Lower School students who are, no doubt, eager to enjoy the summer.

We cannot reflect on this school year without first recognizing the tremendous losses we faced. Lives have changed this school year, and many of our families, faculty and staff are finishing the year without treasured loved ones. As a testament to the strength of our community, you have demonstrated resilience, kindness and perseverance in the face of overwhelming sorrow. I am proud to be among you. 

Despite the challenges and losses faced, our community UKNIGHTED through our Episcopal traditions and values. Our students excelled in academics, arts, athletics and service. We will celebrate a great example of this academic success as 90 members of the Class of 2023 complete their Episcopal journey. This outstanding group of students includes six National Merit Finalists and five Commended Scholars. Students have been accepted into prestigious universities, and millions of dollars in scholarships have been earned. Congratulations!

The academic success permeates all three divisions. For the first time in school history, our Middle School Math Counts team won the state title and will compete in the national competition. In addition, our Quiz Bowl team earned the right to compete in the national Quiz Bowl contest. In Upper School, we recognized 77 AP Scholars for tremendous success on AP exams and three students for perfect scores on the ACT exam. Our Lower School learners explored their world through meaningful experiences, including completing a duathlon, meeting authors, coding robots, and designing and innovating in the QUEST Center in Foster Hall. It has been rewarding to see the spark of learning that these project-based lessons generate. 

For 20 years now, Episcopal students have inspired us through the visual and performing arts, and it was a real pleasure to celebrate that commitment to creativity with Arts Fete 2022. This year, our theater students performed impressive productions of “Matilda Jr.” and “Anything Goes,” and I am so proud of the time and talent they displayed. Congratulations to our choir, who earned Sweepstakes at the Louisiana Music Educators Association District Festival, and to all of the students who expressed themselves through the visual arts. We wish the seven student artists who will continue studying the arts at the university level tremendous success. This summer, we can’t wait to hear from the group of Episcopal thespians representing the state of Louisiana at the International Thespian Festival in Indiana. These students put in countless hours and earned the opportunity to perform alongside some of the nation’s top talent.

One of the experiences I enjoy most at Episcopal is wearing my navy and gold and cheering on our student athletes, and there was much to celebrate this year. Our Knights broke records and pushed themselves to new heights. Congratulations to our boys soccer, girls indoor and outdoor track & field and cross country athletes for representing Episcopal well and earning state championship titles. Congratulations also to swimming, girls soccer, girls basketball and boys powerlifting on successful seasons that earned these fierce competitors state runner-up titles. This year, we celebrated four athletes who will continue their competitive journey at the college level, and we welcomed a new group of competitors through the newly established esports program. We look forward to cheering on all of our student athletes next year!

After years of required pandemic precautions, we were thrilled to return to full chapel services this year. Our reimagined Middle School Student Vestry, known as the Knights of the Good Shepherd, has energized our Middle School students and offered them new ways to participate in the chapel experience. We welcomed newly consecrated Bishop Shannon Duckworth to campus, and it was exciting to see her interact with our students. I am thrilled to be the chair of the reinstituted Episcopal Schools Commission and look forward to building a strong community among Louisiana’s Episcopal schools.

Going forward, our spirituality and service-learning opportunities will expand as we hire a service-learning coordinator. This year, members of our athletic teams and Beta Club participated in rewarding service-learning experiences, and in keeping with tradition, our Episcopal community contributed record-breaking support for the annual Shepherd’s Market Food Pantry Thanksgiving food drive. Our students also had the opportunity to learn more deeply about Anne Frank’s life through an exhibit on loan from the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina.

It takes all of us to prepare our students for lives of purpose and meaning. This year, our Episcopal alumni showed up for current students in significant ways. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the graduation of the Class of 1972 by partnering fifth graders with these special alumni for a question and answer session. Alumni returned to read to students, served as guest speakers and mentors, and supported students at the 10th anniversary of LAUNCH. As we celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend, I hope all of our mums of alums have a terrific weekend, and I thank everyone who recently joined us at the home of Mrs. Jane Kirkpatrick.

As always, our families and parent organizations also played a huge role in this year’s success. I am grateful for the support of the Arts Krewe, Parents’ Guild and Squires. These organizations do so much to make the school year special for our Knights. Their annual wish lists also make it possible for additional campus improvements, like needed shade on the early childhood playground, sound system improvements, and enhancements in all areas of the arts. Thank you!

I want to thank our dedicated faculty and staff for the love and support they have displayed this year. These professionals were strong in the face of loss and joyful in moments of triumph. We celebrated 10 years of recognizing outstanding faculty through the Newton Distinguished Faculty Awards. These awards have made it possible for continued learning opportunities through institutions like the Duke School, Harvard Graduate School and Auburn University. Our teachers love learning, and that translates to our students.

I love our Episcopal community and our Episcopal identity. As an Episcopal school, we are grounded in the Christian faith, and this inspires our commitment to love and respect all individuals. We strive to create a community that is welcoming, inclusive and supportive of all members. We will continue to seek ways to promote tolerance and empathy and renounce bullying in our school community because it is only by working together that we can find unity in diversity and create a positive and supportive atmosphere that prepares our students for success in the real world. We haven’t always gotten these situations perfect, and this year we made some missteps. However, we will continue to search for common ground so that our students grow and flourish. Thank you for your feedback this year. I will actively listen, and strive to understand differing viewpoints and opinions and the right to hold them. I hope that you will continue to find my door open to all of you.

After a successful re-accreditation process, my hope for the future of Episcopal is strong, and  I am excited to begin work with the Board of Trustees on a new strategic plan. I invite you to join me in continuing the legacy established more than 50 years ago as we strive to prepare the leaders of tomorrow. I wish you all a wonderful summer, and I look forward to seeing you again in August. There is much work to be done.

Sincerely,

Dr. Carrie Steakley
Head of School

The Episcopal School of Baton Rouge 2024-2025 application is now available! ​For more information on the application process, to schedule a tour, or learn more about the private school, contact us at [email protected] or 225-755-2685.