Alumni Honored at St. Andrew's Day 2022

This St. Andrew's Day, on which our entire K-12 community joined together, two alumni faculty members were honored with special awards. Assistant Head of School, Alice Nezzer '81, spoke of each award winner, Jeff McCrary '94 and Barton Ballard '81. Her words are below!
 
Jeff McCrary '94- The Lucy Collins Nazro Faculty Service Award
 
 
"The Faculty Service Award was established by St Andrew’s School in 1994 and renamed the Lucy Collins Nazro Faculty Service Award upon the retirement of our long-serving Head of School – and my mother - in 2012.  I can confidently say that mom wishes she could be here and she is VERY proud of our recipient today.
This award recognizes and honors members of the faculty and staff whose work far exceeds the ordinary demands of the job.  There are always many teachers and staff members at St. Andrew’s who fit this category; this year we will honor one.
Our award winner today came to St Andrew’s more than 35 years ago, but has been on staff since 2004. He has coached, taught math, and served as an advisor but for most of his career here, he has been focused on serving our Athletics Pillar.
If you’ve ever played a sport, watched a sport, or coached a sport, you know who this is…and he’s the only employee who can put “ the go-to Wide Receiver for Drew Brees in Middle School flag football” on his long list of accomplishments at St. Andrew’s.
Our recipient has made an incredible impact on our school and students. The growth of our K-12 athletics program is a result of his thoughtful and collaborative leadership. His employment at SAS began when our Upper School was just a few years old and over his tenure he has helped shape our athletics programming as varsity boys basketball coach and assistant athletic director. More recently he has hired excellent program coordinators and athletics staff in his role as our Athletic Director.
True to our Athletics Pillar, he has always remained focused on developing our students’ physical well-being while ensuring that our kids have a good time and learn the spirit of healthy competition and sportsmanship. And he is a treasure to hundreds of our alumni, too, who benefited from his coaching, mentoring and leadership.
By now you know who I’m talking about: Jeff McCrary. But many of you may not know that the titles “Coach”, “Teacher” and “Athletic Director” are not the only roles he played for our school. He also serves as the President of the Athletic Directors for the Southwest Preparatory Conference, where he played a pivotal role in guiding AD’s and member schools through important athletics decisions and through the ups and downs of COVID-19.
In the words of Bob Windham, Commissioner of the Southwest Preparatory Conference: “The SPC is going to greatly miss Jeff McCrary. We have bonded a strong friendship and a close working relationship that, I think, has served our Conference well.  During our years working together Jeff has provided the expertise and details regarding the things Heads do not know or understand about athletics.  He has been my trusted advisor, never holding back his ideas about what is best for the Conference. 
Jeff never showed partiality to any one school or individual, but always showed total dedication to his role and doing what was best for the Conference.  Jeff is a great AD, a great leader of the Conference AD’s, but he could have never been as successful in this critical role if he had not first been a great person.”
 
Indeed Jeff is a great person. When this school year ends, he will be leaving St. Andrew’s to pursue a job in the private sector, which will also allow him to spend more time with his wife and two sons. We will miss him dearly.  Much like the namesake of this award, Lucy Nazro, Jeff has devoted most of his life to St. Andrew’s and we will be forever grateful.
Jeff – we recognize you today with enormous gratitude for your service to St. Andrew’s, for your countless sacrifices so that you could be everywhere all the time, and for inspiring student passion for movement, healthy competition, and grace. Thank you so much."
 
 
Barton Ballard '81 - Teaching Award (31st Street)
 
 
"The Teaching Awards were established in 2013, and they celebrate excellence in teaching at St. Andrew’s.  We will be giving two awards today, one for each campus, honoring a teacher on 31st street and a teacher on Southwest Parkway.
 
This educator joined the St. Andrew's faculty in 2010 but he has been part of our St. Andrew’s community since the 1970’s. Like myself, he was a student at St. Andrew’s and just couldn’t stay away…
But truthfully, our 31st Street award winner is a magnificent teacher. Not only does he bring his lessons to life for our students, helping them to listen and think critically, but he sets high standards that inspire our students to work hard and reach success.
In the words of a colleague, his greatest strengths are connecting with his students and making his students engaged in learning history. He often receives emails from former students who have traveled to DC, New York, Boston, or elsewhere and who want to tell them how what they learned in his class made the trip more meaningful. He uses the art and architecture of the time and place to help engage the students in the learning of history. He supports his students by attending games and performances, too, often writing an encouraging note for a job well done afterward.
And students remember his class. One student wrote, “he cares so much about the students and hearing about how we are doing. It's like he's not just there to teach….he also cares so much about the kids themselves.”
Another student commented, “I had a really great time in his class this year. This was definitely my most challenging class but it's also the class that I think I learned the most in and the class that I have retained the most information from.”
And, “I loved this class and I love his passion and creativity. I feel really comfortable in this class and I like that he encourages participation a lot. This is one of the only classes I talk a lot in because the space is so welcoming. I also think that I learned a lot this year and I genuinely enjoyed the content.”
Outside of the classroom, he is a servant leader by example. He has set up opportunities for students to paint houses for iAct, he has worked with Refugee Services of Texas, and last year he traveled to eastern Europe and worked for the World Food Kitchen helping Ukrainian refugees.
He inspires his students to be lifelong learners, to see travel as a way to connect with others in efforts to make the world a better place, and to understand that no act of kindness or support is too small.
We are fortunate to have Barton Ballard in our Middle School and we are very grateful for his selfless contributions to St. Andrew’s and the broader community."
 
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