Amarillo: Faces, Places & Open Spaces

ST. ANDREW’S
EPISCOPAL
SCHOOL
Above: Morning kindergarten students, class
of 1963, take part in rhythm band, a
favorite tradition of Miss Margaret Teel, the
School’s first teacher and headmistress.
Below: In 1986, St. Andrew’s Episcopal
School moved to its current home at
1515 South Georgia Street.
For the past sixty years, St. Andrew’s
Episcopal School has been a cornerstone of
the Amarillo community. It has provided
local students with the very best educational
experience possible, rich in academics and
grounded in service and faith.
The School’s graduates have gone on to
become outstanding leaders for our community,
for the state of Texas and for the country as
a whole. St. Andrew’s alumni are now doctors,
lawyers, scientists, veterinarians, writers, and
teachers, just to name a few. Every year, they
graduate in the top ranks of high schools—
both here in Amarillo and at boarding schools
across the country—with several former students
earning titles as valedictorians
and salutatorians.
More importantly, St. Andrew’s
has touched the life of every
student with whom it has
come into contact. One recent
graduate said “St. Andrew’s
nurturing environment, with its
emphasis on academic excellence,
afforded me the confidence and
motivation to follow my dreams.”
The story of St. Andrew’s is one
of vision, hard work and faith.
Betty and Lee Bivins founded the
School in 1951. They hoped to
provide the children of Amarillo
with the opportunity to attend
Kindergarten in a faith-based
environment. As the years passed,
the School grew and the decision was made to
expand slowly by adding one grade level each
year. The School’s first eighth grade class
graduated in 1990, and today, St. Andrew’s
educates children as young as age three. Like all
institutions, it has experienced times of difficulty
along with times of prosperity. But the School
has always advanced its mission with the spirit
of progress that was evident in the Bivins’ very
first efforts.
Initially the School was housed within
St. Andrew’s Church. But, thanks to widespread
success in the early decades, those facilities
were bursting at the seams by the early 1980s.
In 1984 a handful of administrators, parents,
and friends began discussions about a new dayschool
campus. Within a year, they had raised
the funds, drawn up the plans and built the
building that is today known as St. Andrew’s
Episcopal School. Since then, the School has
undergone two additional expansions. In 1999
the Margaret Teel Early Childhood Center—
named after the very first Headmistress, Miss
Margaret Teel—was built. In 2007 dedicated
facilities were added for middle-school
students, as well as music and art instruction.
Academic achievement and leadership have
long gone hand-in-hand at St. Andrew’s. The
School has participated in the National Junior
Honor Society Program for many years
and was recently named as a founding
member of the National Elementary Honor
Society. St. Andrew’s is well known for its
dynamic science program, and has earned
numerous titles in local and regional science
competitions, as well as First Place at the
United States Department of Energy’s National
Fuel Cell Car Competition in 2008.
All students at St. Andrew’s enjoy a broad
array of enrichment courses as part of their
experience. Today, in addition to their core
classes, every student in kindergarten through
eighth grade receives regular instruction in
Spanish, computer, music, religion, science
and art. Through these diverse pursuits,
students are able to grow into confident,
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