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Photo Credit: St. Andrew's Episcopal School

Lucy Nazro’s Legacy on St. Andrew’s Episcopal School

Addi Sell

October 16, 2023

St. Andrew’s is known for its sense of community and love for learning, built on the core values of empowering scholars, artists, athletes, and servants for over 70 years. But who do we have to thank for paving a trail for all things SAS? As any community member knows, Lucy Collins Nazro is the astounding woman to thank.
The St. Andrew’s legend is known for her long-lasting legacy on the community. Ms. Nazro was Head of School for 32 years, and under her leadership, expanded St. Andrew’s from an elementary school to a first through twelfth grade institution. Ms. Malia Aycock, Head of Upper School Admissions, recalled, “She was someone that was observant, fair, and always led with ‘this is what’s best for everybody’.” Lucy Nazro’s values cultivated inspiration, leadership, and school spirit for the St. Andrew’s community, and she consistently showed up for her students, faculty, and staff.
Lucy Nazro joined the St. Andrew’s community in 1980 when St. Andrew’s was a 1st through 6th grade elementary school. Through her leadership, the community grew, adding a Middle School and Upper School. In 1985, the Upper School campus was an unused ranch space on a foreign road called Southwest Parkway. Ms. Nazro saw potential in the land and began the project of the high school. Ms. Aycock said, “She knew in the moment everything that was going on, and so it allowed her to see the bigger picture- to dream up the Upper School and know that it was right.” Ms. Nazro had a vision for the future of St. Andrew’s, and followed her dream for the community. Through the years of construction, Ms. Nazro advised every decision, large and small, and produced a wonderful campus for students to enrich the mind, body, and spirit. There was never a decision, large or small, that didn’t include Ms. Nazro. She was enthusiastic and confident in her leadership, and led with trust and humility. Her electric personality was known all across campus. Ms. Elizabeth Guice recalled, “If you listened to Lucy, you became a believer.” Ms. Nazro dreamt big, but succeeded, with the support of all faculty behind her.
Ms. Nazro valued her community members, knowing every student by name, and making connections everywhere she went. She was always ensuring families and their students attended events, and supported the community. She famously created the iconic “St. Lucy’s Day Tradition” at St. Andrew’s. Anyone with the name Lucy was allowed to parade around the Lower and Upper school campuses, handing out donut holes to students to represent St. Lucy’s eyeballs. This creative and quirky tradition is a staple of our community, and a marker of her lasting impact on SAS, that the entire community celebrates every year.
Ms. Nazro’s love for sports and team spirit carried from UT football games all the way to the St. Andrew’s campus. Ms. Aycock shared a memorable moment of a homecoming game in the early 2000’s, where a masked crusader ran on the track at Beck Stadium, riling up the crowd. Students and faculty both were perplexed as to who had the confidence to encourage everyone in the stands, and to no one’s surprise, Lucy Nazro took off the costume, and continued cheering. To keep spirit in the entire school, Ms. Nazro instructed football players to attend drop-off carpooling at the Lower School. The players opened doors and encouraged the younger grades to attend the Friday night game. She was the most spirited woman on campus, and always stayed dedicated to building and uniting the community- especially through sports.
Ms. Kimberly Horne, 12th grade English teacher and class dean, recalled that she still sees Ms. Nazro’s vision on our campus in how students and teachers push for an inclusive learning environment. She said Ms. Nazro’s dream of St. Andrew’s was to make it a place where “everybody knew each other and everybody cared about each other, where everybody is known and loved for the rare and precious selves that they are.”
As the daughter of Ms. Nazro, Ms. Alice Nezzer, Associate Head of School, said that the working relationship with Ms. Nazro was extremely valuable to her, and she was treated with respect and honesty, and enjoyed the time while her mother was her boss. She sees Ms. Nazro everywhere around campus, and acknowledges that the current St. Andrew’s is the St. Andrew’s Ms. Nazro wanted. Her spirit manifests through the four pillars, and speaks to what she valued in education: an inclusive, Episcopal environment where students embrace their highschool experience as artists, athletes, scholars, and servants. Ms. Nazro instilled the requirement of the spiritual component into St. Andrew’s, as it was an essential unifier to bring people together for her.
In the St. Andrew’s 50-Year Celebration DVD, faculty were advised to give words of wisdom for the future. Ms. Nazro said, “Do everything with enthusiasm. With enthusiasm!” Ms. Nazo’s words of advice describe her perfectly: a beloved, impactful, spirited, and loved member of the SAS community. Reflections of her can still be found on the campus, whether it be in faculty or locations, and her legacy remains among the community forever.

Ruark to the Rescue

Price Daniel

October 16, 2023

When former engineering teacher Mr. Charles Shumaker announced his retirement from teaching in the late spring of 2023, the St. Andrew’s Science Department needed to find a teacher capable of keeping the engineering, STEM, and robotics programs alive. Luckily, Mr. Marcus Ruark came to the rescue and was able to accomplish one of his career goals. Mr. Ruark said, “I had thought about [teaching], even at the beginning of my career. If I got to a certain point where I could [teach] in my future career, then I would want to become a teacher and give back.” Mr. Ruark credits his former teachers for his love of engineering and success as an engineer. “I hope I have the chance to be the same [inspiration] for my students now that I’m teaching. I don’t know if I will be, but I hope I get the chance.”
From a young age, Mr. Ruark enjoyed engineering and robotics. Still, he credits his parents for his original interaction with the subjects because they bought a Heathkit H89, which was a computer that Mr. Ruark watched his father build. Afterward, Mr. Ruark and his brother spent hours writing programs for 101 games in BASIC.
While Mr. Ruark was in high school, his high school didn’t offer engineering courses. Still, he learned chemistry, biology, physics, and math and even started a computer club at his school. Mr. Ruark later received an ROTC scholarship to attend Stanford University and study in its Engineering department.
Mr. Ruark attended Stanford for undergraduate and graduate school, receiving a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a Master of Science in engineering management. After graduating, he began working as an engineer for the Air Force. He spent five years with the Air Force, working three years for the National Security Agency (NSA) and two years for the Advanced Systems Division. During his time in the Air Force, Mr. Ruark was subjected to polygraph tests every two years, as his work was–and still is–highly classified.
After working for the Air Force, Mr. Ruark moved to Silicon Valley, where he was responsible for various tech start-ups in several industries, including healthcare, robotics, and the supply chain. After several years in California, Mr. Ruark eventually moved to Austin, where he continued to work on different tech start-ups. Today, Mr. Ruark is a consultant for a company he started a few years ago and decided to start teaching this year.
Mr. Ruark began preparing to teach over the summer by taking an engineering course that he would later teach engineering students at St. Andrew’s. “I had a blast [taking the class],” Mr. Ruark said when speaking about the course designed by the University of Texas at Austin and its Engineering department. “It was so fun, so obviously, I hope that our engineering students here also look back and say, ‘We had a blast.’”
Mr. Ruark is extremely excited about the future of engineering and robotics at St. Andrew’s. Currently, engineering students are creating Pin-hole cameras for people with limited dexterity in their hands. In robotics, students are preparing for a regional competition where they will simulate automated surgery in a healthcare environment. “Both of these courses are incredibly project and student-driven,” Mr. Ruark said.
Mr. Ruark encourages students with any interest in engineering or robotics to take one of those courses. “I think this course could give you additional information on thinking through different things engineers do in our world to make things better,” Mr. Ruark said. “The things you learn in a course like this can help you problem-solve all kinds of problems even if they're not engineering problems.”
For students interested in robotics and engineering, both courses are offered as semester-long courses. However, Mr. Ruark encourages students interested in engineering to take the course for a full year and possibly earn dual credit at the University of Texas.
Like Mr. Ruark and the Science Department at St. Andrew’s, several large companies are also encouraging students to take more engineering courses, according to Yahoo Life. For example, Amazon is working to give 2 million students at 8,000 different schools access to engineering and computer science programs, as they project that STEM-related jobs will rise by 15% between 2021-2031.
Many companies are worried there will be a shortage of qualified workers for STEM-related jobs, which could create societal problems. Mr. Ruark noted how important engineers are for the world, saying, “Whether it's our smartphones, high rises in San Francisco that can survive earthquakes, drones that can send you high-definition video while avoiding objects that they fly around, or how your EV works, there's just so much around us that engineers have contributed to.”

Photo Credit: Price Daniel

Photo Credit: Darcie Westerlund

The Brilliant (and Busy) Ms. Brooks

Loula Aycock

October 16, 2023

Ms. Racheal Brooks's days on campus look a little different this year. Her new title, Assistant Head of Upper School for Student Life, comes with many tasks. A typical day for Ms. Brooks might look something like this: meetings, more meetings, checking in with the class deans to see if there is anything she can do to support each grade better, planning for fall 2024 retreats, checking in with the peer mentor and bridge advisor programs and more. Ms. Brooks is involved with everything related to student life, and she wanted to partake in this role because of her love for the students and desire to create the best possible experience for them at school.
Ms. Brooks began her time at St. Andrew’s in the fall of 2019. Before working at the Upper School, she worked as a teacher in Round Rock. Ms. Brooks said, “I just woke up one day, and I was like, oh man, I want to work at a school where people care about each other, and I have a good work-life balance.” These values led her to look into a Biology teacher opening at St. Andrew’s. She signed up for an interview, and after spending the day on campus, she knew SAS was where she wanted to be. “On my interview day, everyone was so welcoming. It seemed so real. The staff genuinely cared about each other,” she said when reflecting on that day.
Ms. Brooks taught 9th-grade Biology and AP Biology during her first years at St. Andrew’s. Her love for the sciences was sparked by her memories of science when she was younger. “My 9th grade Bio teacher was the funniest person on the planet, and my AP Bio teacher would cackle when she laughed. I have so many great memories in Bio,” Ms. Brooks said. Ms. Brooks loved teaching in the sciences because she loved seeing kids' faces when they understood an experiment and building deep connections with students in her classes, as she got to see them for 75 minutes three times a week. Although she doesn’t get this close connection in her new role, she has still gotten to connect with students she would not have connected with.
At the end of 2023 Ms. Brooks was informed of the Assistant Head of Upper School for Student Life position opening. She knew this was right up her alley. In this new role, Ms. Brooks would get to help over 450 students, advocate for them, and ensure they have the best possible experience they can at the Upper School.
“My main goal this year is to ensure all students feel like they have a place here.” Ms. Brooks said when describing her hopes as Assistant Head for Student Life. Ms. Brooks values the importance of fitting in and all students having a place; she works closely with clubs and councils to ensure a wide variety of options so each student can find something unique to them.
While this role is new to St. Andrew’s, Ms. Brooks is a wonderful person to fill it. She is excited to engage with students, support them, and admire each student living into all four pillars of St. Andrew’s. While she might miss teaching Biology, she can always stop into her old classroom and lend a hand. If you are walking down the front office hallway and want a friendly face to talk to, certainly don't hesitate to step into Ms. Brooks's office. She might even give you a sticker and tell you how excited she is to make St. Andrew’s the best place for student life. When reflecting on her first months in her new role, Ms. Brooks said, “I have gotten to connect with a group of students that I would have never gotten to connect with otherwise."

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