St. Andrew's Academy and College

Greetings and Welcome to St. Andrew’s Academy & College, built upon over two decades of experience delivering a rigorous, classical education to young adults. Our purpose is to engage our students in a transformational education and a deep and spiritual formation in the oldest tradition of English-speaking Christianity. This is a tradition that draws from the mystery of Celtic Christianity, the history of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, and the evangelicalism of the Reformers. Here you will find an unapologetic blend of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Herbert, and Thomas Cranmer. What is found here is the synthesis of the best theological thinking and practice across the orthodox Western Christian traditions. We are unapologetically traditional and orthodox and seek to be a conscious counterweight to the trends of advanced modernity—what we see as a "deathwork culture."

We are serious about our faith, serious about our students, and serious about the great conversation—discussing the ideas and questions of meaning that have been around as long as we can see in history. Our students will not only earn credit towards graduation, but will develop their ability to think deeply, analyze critically, and engage the world with humility and respect.

St. Andrew’s was founded in 1999 as a secondary school, soon adding a primary school and recently, a college. Our graduates have been accepted in numerous colleges and universities (see list).

Two hundred fifty years ago, Thomas Jefferson said of America that “Ours are the only farmers who can read Homer.”

Fifty years ago, C. S. Lewis, speaking of the Western world, said, “We have lived to see the second death of ancient learning…. If one were looking for a man who could not read Virgil though his father could, he might be found more easily in the twentieth century than the fifth.”

We aim to reverse that trend, at least among the few who have the courage, the temerity, and the tenacity to engage themselves in the fight for civilization and to push back against the gods of this modern age.

We invite you to a dangerous education, to sail the waters which are marked on the map:

“Here Be Dragons.”

Teaching Philosophy

The St. Andrew’s curriculum is a serious dive into the Great Books of the Western canon. Our classes are grounded in Literature and History, and our students cover the story of the world and the great stories of the world from the western perspective. As Matthew Arnold put it, our students will read and study “the best that has been thought and said.”

This includes Classical Rhetoric, Natural Theology (covering the created world of Math and Science), philosophy, and Theology—the Queen of the Sciences.

Our pedagogy is classical and Socratic, but we don’t sacrifice learning and growth for artificial retention of a particular methodology. Our students are humans, not machines. If there is need for a lecture, our professors will give a lecture. If a student needs more time and help, our professors have always found ways to meet with the student one-on-one to help and to facilitate real growth and learning in our students.

In recognizing the humanity of our students, we realize that not all students are at the same place in their learning, and that they all have strengths and weaknesses. We do not operate like a factory, stamping our students with a progressive modern education, but neither do we seek to stamp them as “classically educated.” There is more affinity with a farm or orchard in a true Christian education than there is with a factory.

Statement of Faith

St. Andrew’s Academy & College is an Anglican institution. The Anglican Church went through the 16th century Reformation. Anglicans confess the ancient faith of the Church in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.

Regarding the Holy Scripture, we believe that it is the Word of God written through man; that it “contains all things necessary to salvation.” Therefore whatever is not read in nor proved by Holy Scripture is not to be required of any man to be believed as necessary for salvation (Art. 6). The Holy Scripture is not to be taught so that one part of it disagrees with another. The Church is not to ordain anything that is contrary to God’s Word (Art. 20).