St. Stephen's Episcopal School TX

My friend's child received this offer and another offer from Morzinsburg College, which is ranked a bit lower, this year. After comprehensive consideration, they chose the latter. My friend said they learned that this school has had some issues in recent years and isn't as good as expected.

St. Stephen's Church School has approximately 700 students. The school focuses on fostering students' moral growth, potential discovery, and character development. The academic curriculum is deeply rooted in its excellent liberal arts tradition, emphasizing both the depth and breadth of learning. All departments stress the cultivation of critical thinking and skills, requiring students to articulate their unique insights and substantiate their hypotheses. The school also encourages students to engage in independent research, offering advanced research platforms such as PIRL (Projects and Innovation Realization Lab).

Although the school is named a church school, the religious atmosphere is not strong. The school respects all faiths and traditions, supporting fairness and inclusivity.

Principal Zhan's Review: SSTX is one of the best schools in Texas, ranking 23rd on FindingSchool. This indicates that the school is highly competitive, and admission is very challenging. Although there isn't a clear cut-off score, all SSAT scores throughout the school are 92% and above. SSTX's comprehensive facilities and abundant resources are all aimed at helping children become the best versions of themselves.
SSTX has a very strong culture and academic program, making it particularly suitable for children who enjoy sports or drama and love learning.
In terms of cultural heritage, while SSTX has a strong religious atmosphere, from its very first day, the school has welcomed students from all religious backgrounds and cultures. The school respects all faiths and traditions, supports fairness and inclusion, and values diverse cultures and perspectives.
Regarding academic development, the school does not offer AP courses, but all upper-grade courses are honors or advanced level. Moreover, the courses designed by teachers have greater depth, complexity, and flexibility.
In terms of community building, the school matches each boarding student with a day-student family. Although the children still live at school, the day-student families will provide accommodation for them during long weekends, help them celebrate their birthdays or corresponding national holidays, and come to school to encourage and cheer for them during campus events.
For emotional support, the school and counselors regularly connect with students and their families through meetings, dedicated to fostering critical skills for students to achieve their potential. Additionally, the school provides training in relevant skills through its health and wellness courses.

St. Stephen's Episcopal School, founded in 1950, is located in the hill country of Austin, Texas, surrounded by affluent neighborhoods. It is ranked as the #1 boarding school in Texas, the first co-educational Episcopal school in the United States, and the first comprehensive boarding school in the South. The school offers a unique college preparatory curriculum and does not offer AP courses, but the difficulty of its courses is no less than that of AP course standards. It focuses on cultivating students' moral growth, potential development, and personality development.

The school boasts over 370 acres of land with hills and water, and the central campus is surrounded by miles of hiking, running, and biking trails. Leveraging its unique environmental conditions, the school offers The Devil’s Canyon Wilderness Program (DCWP): students can experience cave exploration, with annual spring expeditions to caves in the Austin area, West Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia (TAG), as well as Colorado River paddling, mountain biking, and rock climbing to enhance their wilderness survival skills. The school also offers astrophysics courses, studying special and general relativity, and provides professional large astronomical telescopes. Students have the opportunity to visit and learn at NASA headquarters.