Dear Saints Families,
I write today with gratitude for the continued support and positive spirit that has defined the St. Christopher’s distance learning experience. I have shared with many that these past eight weeks have affirmed for me the true power and strength of our community. I have never been more proud to be your headmaster and look forward to forging a path forward together in the weeks and months to come.
As we open this first weekend of May, my heart is with two particularly special groups of Saints--First, our entire alumni community, and especially the classes of 1970 and 1995, who are celebrating milestone 50th and 25th reunions this year. For those classes, in particular, and for all of our alumni, broadly, this was meant to be Reunion Weekend on our campus. We look forward to celebrating with our alumni on the rescheduled dates of October 23-24, which is also Homecoming weekend.
Second, the opening of May traditionally marks the “beginning of the end” for our senior class of Saints. We are extraordinarily proud of our stellar Class of 2020, for all that they have accomplished and contributed to our community. Today is also the day in which our seniors, along with other seniors across the country, typically commit to the college or university of their choice. We have enjoyed remarkable success in the breadth and excellence of college acceptances for our Class of 2020, and we look forward to sharing those results with the broader community later this spring.
We remain committed to providing you with meaningful and transparent updates as it relates to COVID-19 and its impact on our School community.
While our focus at this moment is to deliver the best possible distance learning environment for the current school year, we are simultaneously preparing for the summer and beginning of the 2020-2021 school year at St. Christopher’s. Today we would like to share with you our current plans regarding a return to on-campus activities.
2020-2021 School Year
A Return to Campus
I have established a task force composed of educators and medical staff charged with preparing for a wide range of fall scenarios, all with the desired goal of having students back on campus safely and effectively for the start of the 2020-2021 school year, with a targeted opening date of August 31, as scheduled.
Bringing our students back to campus is essential to our community. Relational teaching is at the heart of our mission delivery, and while we remain committed to offering the best distance learning program possible for boys, we have all learned from experience that there is no substitute for “the real thing.” Boys learn best through social proximity, not distance, and by the fall, it will be vital to bring our community together in person, albeit likely in significantly altered ways.
Ensuring the safety and health of Saints students and employees will be the most important guiding principle in any decision regarding when and how we return to campus. We will rely on data-driven guidance from our medical community and will, of course, follow all regulations from both the Governor and the Virginia Department of Health. While we await more specific information from those entities, we will continue to plan scenarios that will enable us to be nimble and pivot to allow our boys to get back in the classroom, likely following many of the same protocols and procedures we have seen from schools in countries that have already begun a return to on-campus activities.
Financial Resources & Tuition Payment Flexibility
St. Christopher’s has a longstanding and substantial commitment to need-based financial aid, among the most generous in the entire state. For the 2019-2020 school year, St. Christopher’s allocated nearly $3.3 million in need-based financial aid to 225 students, just over 23% of our student population. With an average grant of $14,357, we offer a range of support to families to ensure that the best and brightest young men can attend St. Christopher’s, regardless of financial circumstances.
For the 2020-2021 school year, our financial aid allocation was originally established at just over $3.4 million. In light of COVID-19 and its economic impact to families, we are taking steps now to exceed that figure in a substantial manner. St. Christopher’s is prepared to offer need-based grants to support the demonstrated increased needs of our families, including families currently on financial aid and those who may need to seek it for the first time, due to these extraordinary circumstances.
Our goal is not to lose a single Saint family due to the COVID-19 medical and economic crisis. We are here to partner with you to achieve that goal through the spring and summer months.
St. Christopher’s benefits from a long history of strong philanthropic support for financial aid. We are immensely grateful for this support, which provides a remarkable foundation for the School and its financial aid program today. Every gift we receive to support need-based financial aid makes a St. Christopher’s education possible for a boy whose family cannot afford full tuition. We are working with our alumni and other St. Christopher’s supporters to generate new funds that can be immediately available to support families in the months ahead.
In light of these extraordinary circumstances, we are extending our regular application deadline to apply for need-based financial aid for 2020-2021. Families now have until May 31 to apply for aid—this includes both new applications for aid as well as revisions to previously submitted aid applications. Families should communicate directly with our Financial Aid team of
Hamill Jones
and
Nikki Jones
to request an application review or to submit an application for the first time. For more information about financial aid at St. Christopher’s, please
click here
.
In addition, St. Christopher’s has long offered multiple tuition payment options--We do not charge interest on any of these payment plans and will not do so during 2020-2021. The payment options are as follows:
- One-Pay (August)
- Two-Pay (July and September)
- Four-Pay (June, August, October, and December)
- Nine-Pay (April-December)
- Ten-Pay (March-December)
If you have any questions about payment plans, including additional ways we can support your family with payment flexibility at this time, please contact members of our Business Office—
Terry Dalton
,
Maryn Massell
or
David Reynolds
.
As we have all experienced, the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic changes on a daily basis. Our Board of Governors is actively considering a variety of additional ways to assist all St. Christopher's families during this extraordinary time. We will keep you informed of additional measures the School may take in the weeks ahead.
Finally,
Extended Day registration for 2020-2021 will be released later in May. Please look out for more information to come shortly.
Summer Programs
As you know, Virginia is under a stay-at-home order through June 10. The Governor has established a
phased plan
to re-open the Commonwealth. With social distancing remaining in place through Phase 1, St. Christopher’s will be canceling on-campus summer programs through Friday, July 3. If you have already registered for an on-campus enrichment, athletic, or day camp offering between June 8 and July 3, we will be refunding your payment by May 8. However, we will provide Upper School academic, for-credit offerings via distance learning.
As the Commonwealth progresses into Phase 2, we are hopeful that we can begin to offer limited activity on our campus. While there is no timetable for that phase as of today, we remain hopeful that camps may resume in either July or August. We will continue to accept camp
registration
for July and August, committing to refunding any offerings that we must cancel for safety reasons. We plan to make decisions about July offerings no later than May 26 and will communicate updates with you accordingly.
New Virtual Summer Course Offerings
Our talented faculty are currently developing new virtual offerings for summer. These new virtual programs will be available for registration on May 15. Please visit
www.stchristophers.com/summer
for more information and to register.
These last two months have taught all of us lessons in resilience and creativity. We have also been reminded of the irreplaceable value of our socially proximate community. We are truly grateful for the support and the will of this inspiring community. We cannot wait to be together again, in whatever form that may take.
Yours,
