This Friday saw RCSE induct two new members - Andrew Cosey and Sudesh Mujumdar. Welcome to the club! Ben Brewer reminded everyone to sign up for the Rotary Read In at Haven Elementary on Wednesday, March 25. We currently have 9 members signed up to read but we need 6 more in order to make 15 which is the number we agreed on to read at Haven. If you have not signed up and are available, please email Kerri at rotarysavannaheast@gmail.com in order to get information about the event. Once all Rotary business was discussed, Gordon Matthews introduced our speaker for the day, Dr. Kelley Waldron who is the Head of School at St. Andrew's.
St. Andrew's is an independent school located on Wilmington Island that provides education for Pre-k through 12th grade. There are around 500 students and the school is located on 30 acres. Kelley has been at St. Andrew's for 18 years because the school always does wants best for the children. St. Andrew's is a 100% college preparatory school meaning that 100% of their students apply and are accepted into a 4 year university. The school is also one of only two schools in the state that offers the International Baccalaureate Program. She considers the IB program their capstone program. IB concentrates on depth rather than breadth and students are able to earn college credit similar to AP classes.
Over her 18 years at St. Andrew's, Dr. Waldon has seen many changes in the educational community - changes in the market place, changes in technology, changes in the understanding of how people learn. She believes that at the intersection of these three things are opportunities as well as challenges for today's students. It has been proven that students learn best by doing and being actively engaged. That is why when you are on St. Andrew's campus, you are much more likely to see students working on collaborative projects, presenting in class, gardening and exploring rather than learning by sitting behind a desk. She said one of the beauties of Savannah is that we have so much surrounding our city that allows students to learn in an environment other than a classroom.
St. Andrew's also believes in using technology to create rather than to consume knowledge. This past year, a 7th grade boys team competed in a technology forum at GaTech Savannah. They won first prize and will be going to Atlanta to compete against other teams in Georgia. They used technology to create a chip that would be installed in car seats. It would alert parents and 911 if the temperature in the car reached a certain degree and there was weight in the car seat. Their hope is that this would prevent deaths of children who were left in cars during the hot summer. Barrett Benton's grandson was a member of the winning team. To learn more about St. Andrew's, please visit saslions.com.