This school year promises to be an exciting and stimulating year for all concerned. I am humbled and feel very privileged to be serving the school community in this role as Interim Headmaster, and hope that you will feel free to stop by or stop me in the hall to chat. We have an excellent school, and wonderful students, families, faculty and staff.

In the beginning of an academic year, I like to remind myself that we at St. Martin's School stand in a very long tradition of Episcopal/Anglican Church-related education. During the most recent election campaign in Great Britain, the premier English church-related independent school, Eton, came back into visibility. Since its founding in 1440, Eton has produced more prime ministers than any other school in England, and the newly appointed prime minister is a product of that school. Although English and American church-related preparatory schools are significantly different, there are some fundamental commonalities. The genius of such schools is the integration of body, mind, and spirit. Those who do sports together, those who learn together, and those who worship together, learn the value of community and relationships. They learn that leadership is formed in service to others. This kind of leadership includes service to the less fortunate, to the community, to family, to the school, to the church, and to the nation even in times of greatest peril. The Duke of Wellington is often quoted as saying that "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton." St. Martin's strives to form these kinds of values in the leaders of the future.

In recent years, St. Martin's School has articulated its classic motto of "Faith, Scholarship, Service" in the form of seven Core Operating Principles. These bear repeating. It is my aim to help us live more fully into these in the coming year.
1. An intellectually rigorous academic environment
2. The intentional integration of faith and learning
3. A community-based approach to learning
4. A collaborative philosophy which focuses on personal relationships, not power of authority
5. A balanced preparation for life
6. An emphasis on life-long learning
7. Student-led servant leadership

Without neglecting the others, I see the first principle as an emphasis for this year. The members of the faculty continue to exhibit these traits in their own disciplines, as they continue to be students in their own fields of endeavor. In "educating" (from the Latin "to bring up" or "to bring forth what is within"), our faculty help instill in our students a love of learning and scholarship, a humility which comes from being in a faith environment, and its application in a life lived to the fullest.

As we build our life together, our community, we do so knowing from where we have come and where we are going.

The Rev. Dr. Walter J. Baer
Interim Headmaster