St. Andrew's sees chapel and community service as two inextricably linked pieces of our Episcopal identity. As one faculty member said, "Chapel is where we learn to love each other." Community service, then, is where we learn to love those outside our school community.
Chapel service are held every day from 12:55 to 1:25. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated at 7:45am on first Thursday of every month and on every Thursday during Lent. We also celebrate the Eucharist at our twice-monthly Community Worship services on Sundays at 5:30pm. Parents are always welcome at chapel, and all are welcome for Community Worship.
Weekly schedule (subject to variations):
Monday - contemplative worship featuring a musical or other artistic offering by a member of the community
Tuesday - Mrs. Nazro preaches
Wednesday - Either Mr. Hagen preaches or hymn sing
Thursday - Fr. Rob preaches
Friday - Guest preachers or presentations
Faculty and seniors are encouraged to volunteer to give homilies in chapel. If you'd like to give a homily, please contact Fr. Rob.
Prayer requests: We pray daily for those who are in need of our prayers. You can write your prayer requests on the sheet in the chapel foyer or e-mail Fr. Rob or Mr. Hagen.
Community Service
“Where chapel is the classroom, service is the lab.”
In the Upper School, service is a part of our daily life. Service is also a part of our Episcopal Identity—"we guide and challenge all who attend our schools to build lives of genuine meaning, purpose, and service in the world they will inherit." We encourage our students to develop the habit of service because we believe that community service is one of the ways in which we all make the world a better place in which to live. By meeting and serving those who are less fortunate than ourselves, we better understand the world around us.
- Each year our students tutor and mentor an average of 75 students in Austin public elementary schools.
- Students volunteer weekly (or more often) serving our homeless neighbors at the Trinity Center for the Homeless, Mobile Loaves and Fishes food delivery, and Caritas Austin.
- Students contribute in excess of 20 tons of food each year to the El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission Food Pantry through our Harvest Bowl competition with St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
- Students voluntarily serve in countries all over the world during their Junior Experience trips during the summer, including recent service trips to Louisiana, West Virginia and New Mexico.
- Students serve face-to-face with animals at local pet rescue organizations including the Town Lake Animal Shelter and Austin Pets Alive.
- Students volunteer for hospitals, free clinics, and at summer camps for children with special needs.
- Students organize a Blood Bank Blood Drive in the spring on campus with approximately 75 faculty, staff, and student donors each time.
- Students provide toys to Christmas toys to needy children, socks to our homeless neighbors, and write letters to our American men and women serving overseas during our all-school St. Andrew’s Day service project.
- 9th grade students in Service Learning 9 complete their year with a student led service project, with all proceeds going to benefit our all school Lenten giving project.