3 Pillars
Scholarship, Citizenship, Leadership
St. Luke's Episcopal School was founded in 1947 and has educated generations of boys and girls in the greater San Antonio area. At St. Luke's, we strive not only to cultivate our students' minds, but also grow their spirits and nourish their souls. We commit to partnering with families to shape young men and women who exhibit exemplary characteristics of a St. Luke's graduate. The school's elevated academic and extra curricular offerings are designed to instill the characteristics of lifelong scholarship, dedicated citizenship, and confident leadership. The following examples illustrate how these three pillars are embodied in the accomplishments and activities of SLES students.
- St. Luke's 7th and 8th grade students earned 3rd place while competing against hundreds of students in the 2016 Area B Junior Classical League Convention. The 15 students achieved a total of 24 awards. SLES earned 2nd place at the convention in both 2014 and 2015.
- 96% of recent St. Luke’s graduates have been placed into accelerated courses as high school freshmen.
- Three SLES middle school students competed in the 2015 ARASE Regional Science Fair, earning a 3rd place and two 4th place awards. They also received 1st place, Best in Show, and 2nd place awards at the SAES Science Fair in Dallas. A St. Luke’s 7th grader recently earned a 4th place award at the 2016 ARASE Regional Science Fair, which brought over 700 students from 32 counties together to compete. All SLES middle school students participate in our Science Expo, and projects this fall ranged from chemical reactions to constructing and testing a trebuchet.
- Since 2008, 23% of St. Luke’s middle school Spanish students have received a gold medal for their performance on the National Spanish Exam, putting them in the top 5% of the thousands of students taking the test annually across the nation. Sixty-two percent have medaled, putting them in the top 25% nationwide.
- Two St. Luke’s teams have submitted projects for eCYBERMISSION, a national STEM competition. One team proposed a robotic arm for filtering trash that washes from the drainage ditch into Olmos Basin, and the other project investigates the decomposition of hamburgers with and without preservatives.
- Twenty SLES students achieved a perfect score on the 2015 National Mythology Exam, earning them gold medals. An additional 72 students earned either silver or bronze medals, which required scoring 90% or above on the exam.
- Two St. Luke’s 2nd graders’ poems were selected for publication from among over 1,900 submissions in the 2016 Young Pegasus Poetry Competition sponsored by the San Antonio Public Library.
- A St. Luke’s 8th grader won 2nd place in the 7th & 8th Grade division of the 2016 San Antonio Book Festival Fiction Contest among 175 submissions from 40 schools.
- Seventeen SLES students read 625 books to become medalists in the school’s inaugural Maze Reader Challenge.
- St. Luke’s was selected as a semifinalist in the Spurs’ Team Up Challenge for the second time in three years. This year’s project focuses on combating weekend hunger for children in food-insecure families in San Antonio, and SLES students have already packed and delivered over 1,000 nutritious snack bags to children at Good Samaritan Community Services.
- SLES students logged over 1,200 hours of community service during the 2014-2015 school year.
- St. Luke’s 2nd graders raised $1,044 at a bake sale for the San Antonio Humane Society in October. The students conceived the idea, constructed the tables in the school’s new STEM iLab, and learned about service, entrepreneurship, and engineering during the inter-disciplinary project.
- SLES 4th graders created a rainforest mural that will be on display at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens for the next year. The Botanical Gardens has installed a new mural by St. Luke's students every year since 1999.
- St. Luke’s students held a drive that completely stocked the Good Sam food pantry with 4,855 food items this spring.
- Two St. Luke’s students’ artwork was chosen out of submissions from all over the city. Another student’s drawing won the San Antonio Symphony League’s “Paint to Music” competition and will be featured on their 2016 Fiesta medal.
- SLES 6th graders help prepare and serve lunch at Good Sam Senior Center twice each month.
- St. Luke’s Student Voice and Trade Fair fundraising efforts gathered $1,055 for the school’s Team Up Challenge project. The money was used to outfit a brand new preschool classroom at the Good Samaritan Center.
- Two St. Luke's students in the Class of 2016 are recipients of TMI's Alkek Merit Award, and another has been awarded St. Mary's Hall's Ormsby Foundation Scholarship.
- Three SLES 8th grade dancers have been accepted into North East School of the Arts’ prestigious high school dance program for 2016-2017 after dancing for several years at St. Luke’s. NESA is ranked among the top ten arts high schools in the nation.
- St. Luke’s 1st through 8th grade students memorize and recite over 700 literary pieces annually in English, Spanish, and Latin as part of the school’s signature declamation program. Every 8th grade student writes and delivers a chapel talk to the entire school community before graduation.
- Over 90% of SLES middle schoolers play at least one school sport, and many play two or even three during the course of the year. Students benefit from important leadership opportunities in athletics, particularly since they are able to begin competing on middle school teams in 5th grade.
- Sixteen readers from St. Luke’s took to the stage at the 2015 Texas Book Festival in October to announce the 2016-2017 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. SLES students are leaders in the Bluebonnet Award process every year by voting, nominating books, and participating in Bluebonnet videos under the guidance of librarian Mary Milligan, who serves on the TLA Bluebonnet Committee.
- SLES opened its new 1,000+ square foot iLab in fall 2015 and expanded it this spring. Students of all ages use the tools and technology in this STEM space to practice 21st century skills such as design thinking, collaboration, and entrepreneurship.
- St. Luke’s Student Voice representatives plan and execute an annual Veterans Day chapel service, educating the school community about the holiday and inviting a veteran to speak. Student Voice also organizes and assists with school events such as a Pajama Day charity fundraiser, teacher appreciation breakfast, and talent show.
- Students in grades 5 through 8 participate in St. Luke’s annual Trade Fair, for which they design and implement a business plan to market and sell their products. This year’s entrepreneurs raised over $6,300 in profits, a portion of which was donated to charity.
- Older students actively mentor younger ones in St. Luke’s signature “buddy” program. Sixth graders are paired with PK4 students and strengthen their relationship over the next three years.