AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler
Brought to you by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi
St. Martin’s in-the-Field Episcopal School began its 70th year as students arrived back on campus on September 2nd. With classes in session, all was quiet as we arrived on September 11th for a conversation with new Head of School, Dr. Tracy Bonday.
Arriving a bit early, we were met by the school’s Development Director Christina Hanson and given a tour of the classrooms starting in the Pre-K and Kindergarten areas and the elementary school. We paused for a bit to watch second-grade teacher Julie Bacot lead her class through a discussion about how the earth’s continents were formed millions of years ago.
Directing the children’s attention to a map on the wall, she named the present-day continents including North America.
“We’ll also learn about what it was like millions of years ago when all seven continents were connected,” Bacot told them. “
What was the connected body of land called?” she asked. “It was Pangea,” she said as she held up a map picturing the supercontinent.
As we took our leave, the teacher was explaining how the continents broke apart and became separated by the oceans.
Back at the administrative offices, we met Dr. Bonday who told us she was learning about the history of the school in honor of its 70th Anniversary using a book written by Donna Weingarten 10 years ago. She said she particularly enjoyed reading about the directors who came before her, several of whom we’d met.
Before there was a school, St. Martin’s in-the-Field Episcopal Parish was created in 1954 with church services held at Severn School by founding rector the Rev. Lewis Owens Heck. By November of that year, construction was started on the original St. Martin’s in-the-Field Episcopal Church. The lovely brick structure was completed in June of 1955. (It still exists and was renamed Heck Hall after a new church building was completed in 1989.)
St. Martin’s in-the-Field Episcopal School began in 1957 as a nursery and kindergarten in the church’s newly completed rectory with Betty McNulty as its director and 31 children. In 1961 Elizabeth Windsor, who’d been one of the kindergarten teachers, became principal and remained in the role until 1977. Carol Hjortsberg succeeded Windsor and served as the school’s director through 1986. As enrollments grew, Hjortsberg increased the staff. During her last year, she hired Sharon Holsclaw who began a 25-year career at St. Martin’s as a kindergarten teacher.
Miriam Nocar served next as director followed by Jane Spohn. In 1995, Sharon Holsclaw was elevated from teaching kindergarten to serving as Head of School – a position she held for the next 16 years.
Holsclaw was the first Head of School we knew. Under her leadership, the elementary school was established in 1999, transforming the institution from a nursery and kindergarten-only program to a full-fledged Episcopalian day school for children in first through sixth grade. In 2001, in response to parents’ desire to add an eighth and ninth grade, Holsclaw oversaw the establishment of a middle school in 2004. Without actual space for a middle school, she utilized a modular system for classrooms that remained in use until the construction of the new Learning Center in 2019.
We had the honor of interviewing Holsclaw for a Capital Gazette newspaper article on the occasion of her retirement in June of 2011. The recipient of many honors, she received a standing ovation as she made her way down the center aisle of the St. Martin’s Episcopal Church sanctuary following her retirement ceremony.
At a reception afterward, memories flooded back. Then Board of Trustees president Frank Hilton recalled the first day he “laid eyes on Sharon”.
“I’d driven my grandson to preschool for the first time and there Sharon was, greeting him with a welcoming smile and a big hug as she did for every child,” he said.
Holsclaw was a hard act to follow, but Margaret Moore stepped in as Interim Head until the surprisingly young Canadian native, the Rev. Dr. Frank Sawyer was appointed Head of School in 2012. Rev. Sawyer completed the final stage of a multi-year process leading to St. Martin’s in-the-Field’s accreditation in 2013, the same year Sawyer became a United States citizen.
On September 22, 2014, “Java with Jamey”, an early morning coffee at St. Martin’s provided parents the perfect opportunity to meet Jamey Hein, the amiable new Head of School. It was the first of a series of informal coffees the talented young headmaster would hold in order to become better acquainted with parents.
Hein would remain Head of School for the next seven years bringing to fruition the school’s dream of building a middle school joined to the existing classrooms in St. Martin’s Parish Hall. He oversaw the planning, financing and permitting related to the construction of the building that would be known as the Learning Center and started a capital campaign to raise the necessary funds. With construction of the Learning Center complete near the end of 2019, middle school students were able to move from the modules into their new classrooms on December 2nd. The building’s dedication followed on December 5th.
Following the end of Hein’s tenure in 2020, interim Heads of School including Charlie Sachs, Tony Shaffer and Kathleen Mahar would lead the student body until the arrival of new Head of School, Dr. Tracy Bonday in August.
Dr. Bonday clearly enjoys being at St. Martin’s in-the-Field. We asked her about the pathway that led her here.
“This is my 28th year in education. I’ve worked all over the country,” she said.
Bonday had 15 years working in Catholic education that included being Superintendent for the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa overseeing 17 schools with a student population of 6,500. She moved on to an independent school called Ursuline Academy in New Orleans – the first all-girls public school started in the United States in 1727 – serving there for two years through the COVID lockdowns.
Dr. Bonday moved on to become Head of the Upper School at Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida – her first Episcopalian school.
“While there, I fell in love with the mission of Episcopal schools which is involved with making sure there is inclusivity in the environment and recognizing the value of every individual,” Bonday said. “Those core values radiated for me and, therefore, it became important for me to find another opportunity in an Episcopalian school.”
“St. Martin’s in-the-Field Episcopal School held those same values and seemed a perfect fit for me,” she added. “It was especially attractive since my daughter, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who, after serving in the Navy, came back to work at the Academy, is here. And my older daughter, a UVA grad, teaches high school math in Richmond, Va. and is the mother of my 2-year-old granddaughter.”
Asked what she likes best about St. Martin’s so far, she cites the fact that, though evolving over time, she can see that some of the school’s earliest traditions are still important. She’s already seeing the kids taking active leadership roles in various activities from church sanctuary services to the school’s traditional Mustang Rally assemblies. And, of course, she’s enjoying being involved with the ongoing planning for the 70th Anniversary Gala which will take place at Navy Marine Corps Stadium.
Around the Park Again looks forward to following Dr. Bonday’s tenure at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School.
The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. Jing Ying also offers a homeschool Kung Fu program this fall. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!
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