Untitled - Saint Andrew's School Archive - St. Andrew's School

GENG WANG '06Sugar Land, TexasreflectionsBefore I came to St. Andrew's, I attended a rather largeTexas public high school comprised of about 3,000 students.The public school system struck me as resembling a factory,where students are literally pushed through a certain set ofpredetermined requirements off to college, rather than permittedto explore and trail-blaze in their own interests. Boardingschool offers a smaller community with perhaps the strongestsecondary-school liberal arts education.Most boarding schools are able to offer high caliber educations.But I decided to come to St. Andrew's because immediatelyafter I walked in Founders Hall, I sensed a strong senseof community and camaraderie between the students. I foundcourse selections, V Form20th Century HistoryCreative WritingMultivariable CalculusOrchestral MethodsHonors PhysicsUS HistoryEnglish VactivitiesFootballWrestlingLacrosseOrchestra (All-State Band)Musical Theater Pit OrchestraMath ClubThe Cardinalfavorite St. Andrew's readsMountains Beyond MountainsWar and the American PresidencyInnumeracyfriendly students rather than pretentious or overly competitivestudents that I expected at a boarding school.I absolutely love the school spirit and even more specificallythe student body. St. Andrew's is extremely diverse, sothere is always someone to debate with or share ideas with. Inmy United States history class, we have one girl from NorthCarolina, a boy from Texas, a German, a Korean, a couple ofstudents from New York, conservatives, liberals and minorities.There are always new perspectives presented in class, thetrue essence of education.During the most "recent couple of weeks in physics class,the physics teacher came up with an idea where the upperclassmenin the classroom teach and tutor the underclassmen.Thus the juniors and seniors were each paired up with asophomore and given the duty of enlightening the IV Formersin the principles of physics. Even though I tutor weekly at thelocal middle school, the experience of teaching physics to asophomore brought not only a sense of accomplishment, butmore importantly a better understanding of the material.St. Andrew's has one of the most beautiful and relaxedcampuses, where students can relax and learn for the sake offavorite places on campusEngelhard Hall, O'Brien Arts CenterA. Felix duPont Jr. ChapelIrene duPont Librarylearning. While there is ultimately the goal of college, studentsat St. Andrew's have the opportunity to design their ownschool-funded independent projects where they can exploreand learn anything they want. St. Andrew's offers the ethos oftrue learning, versus the mechanical repetition of some otherschools.37