Ground Blessing Commemorates Milestone Expanding Southwest Parkway Campus

The wheels of a bright yellow excavator turning fresh dirt could be heard in the distance of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School’s Ground Blessing Celebration on the morning of Friday, Aug. 30. The hum of construction was a fitting backdrop as St. Andrew’s Upper School and Middle School students, families and supporters gathered to celebrate and consecrate the laying of a new foundation for the school’s new Athletics Complex and Student Union, which students will call home the following 2025-2026 academic  year.

 

“What a way to kick off our new school year!” said St. Andrew’s Head of School, Melissa Grubb, early Friday morning to a packed gym at the Ground Blessing Donor Reception. “Our school was built on the hopes, fervent prayers and dreams of many, many people who fundamentally believed that St. Andrew’s should be a school that beautifully supports the whole child—mind, body and spirit. As we have grown and stretched through the years, these celebrations of breaking ground and blessing our buildings is truly an expression of gratitude.”  

 

The construction of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School’s Athletics Complex and Student Union on its Southwest Parkway Campus—now home to the school’s Upper School and nestled on 126 acres in the rolling hills of the West Austin hill country—is the first stage in an ambitious ‘Raise the Roof’ Capital Campaign championed by St. Andrew’s school families, staff, faculty and community. The project is spearheaded by Capital Campaign Committee co-chairs, Roger Sandau and Yvette Rios, with the support of a Campus Task Force led by John Burnham and Ravi Reddy. Outside partners in this multi-phase  building project include architectural design firm, LPA, and construction firm, Harvey Cleary.

 

“Our Athletics Complex & Student Union is nothing short of magnificent. We dreamed BIG here - not only to support our student athletes and their hard work but to also build community, school spirit and pride at St. Andrew’s,” said Grubb.

 

Thanks to an outpouring of early support from donors, the first fundraising target of $18 million has enabled St. Andrew’s to break ground on the Athletics Complex and Student Union and leverage the first wave of funds raised to construct the exterior and mechanical infrastructure. Looking ahead, fundraising will continue to reach the $14 million remaining to complete the building interiors and finish-outs of this innovative facility.

 

What’s more, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School’s 'Raise the Roof Campaign' was recently recognized with a Communicator Distinction Award in the Nonprofit Campaign category by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts.

 

 

The new Athletics Complex and Student Union has been designed to be the new heartbeat of St. Andrew’s Southwest Parkway Campus and serve as a place to cheer on students, rally the community, graduate seniors, gather alumni, fuel students, host clubs and service projects and provide space for students to  win, lose and compete in the new state-of-the-art Athletics Complex.

 

“Our school is a very special place. And I believe this is true because St. Andrew’s operates from a place of love. Love for education, love for your children, and love for each other,” said Yvette Rios, Chair of the Board of Trustees and Co-Chair of the Capital Campaign with partner, Roger Sandau, and parent to a St. Andrew’s senior. “This love is palpable in the classrooms, on our fields and courts, on our stages and in this room today.”

 

One salient example of the thought and care expressed across the K-12 school included a “Hopes and Dreams” exercise, led by the Episcopal school’s two Chaplains. Students across St. Andrew’s Lower, Middle and Upper Schools inscribed their hopes and dreams for the future of the Athletics Complex and Student Union on colorful pieces of paper that were collected during the Ground Blessing ceremony. During construction, the hopes and dreams of students across St. Andrew’s divisions will be laid into the building’s foundation itself, cementing in the aspirations of current St. Andrew’s students for the years and decades to come.

 

“I hope that it is a joyful place where everyone is welcomed and loved,” one Lower School student wrote.

View Ground Blessing photos