Current Parents

Dear Fellow St. Paul’s Parents,

 

What a privilege it is to partner with you as your Saints Fund Chairs for the 2024-2025 school year!

 

Eight years ago, we were adopted by our St. Paul’s family as our oldest, Max (7th), entered Mrs. Gross’s Kindergarten class. Subsequently, our girls, Lucy Carden (6th) and Charlotte (1st), joined our St. Paul’s family.

 

When we were approached about being Saints Fund chairs, it caused us to take a step back to reflect on three things:

We are originally from the Atlanta area. Our separate educational and career paths led us to Mobile where we met, married and started our family. Without any ties to the local schools, we were open to considering any and all of the offerings in Mobile and on the Eastern shore for our children.

 

When we look back on our initial tour of St. Paul’s, we remember that we were charmed by all of the extras, including: the beautifully landscaped campus in the shadow of the towering steeple, Mrs. Cotton’s magical science lab with live fish and turtles, and the long list of athletics and arts programs that would be available to our children as they matured. We were advised that, when it came to private schools in Mobile, the institutions were all solid in terms of academics and programming, but the school’s culture would just “click” for us with the right match. Once we spent some time getting to know other St. Paul’s families, we knew that we had found “our people,” and the decision was made.

 

Do you remember the moment you chose St. Paul’s? Maybe you are an alum and there was never a question as to where you would enroll your children. Perhaps you are a native Mobilian and simply noticed that something fantastic was happening at the top of the hill on Old Shell Road. It may be that you were new to town and were referred by a friend or co-worker, or fell in love with the campus and culture while touring. We invite you to revisit and lean into the reasons you chose St. Paul’s.

 

As we considered the investment required to attend a private school, we had conversations about what we were willing to sacrifice to achieve our personal financial goals, while consistently giving to our church, school and community. We believe that what we have is not truly our own, but God’s. Sharing time, talents and gifts is an act of obedience to further His kingdom. For generations on both sides of our family, Christian philanthropy has been taught with intention and lived out through sacrifice. Our goal is to instill these beliefs in our own children, and we believe the best way to do so is to live it out through action in ways big and small, in ways that are seen and unseen.

 

Serving as Saints Fund Chairs is very much seen. There is some level of discomfort in revealing our personal financial choices, but our prayer is that in so doing we can encourage others to take up the mission of the Saints Fund as partners.

 

Most of us have heard the numbers before:

Tuition at St. Paul’s only covers 83% of annual operating costs. Saints Fund is vital to implement the programs that we all bought into when we enrolled our children at this wonderful school. The things we EXPECT of our college preparatory school are only partially funded by tuition. The things we CHERISH about our school are directly tied to the gifts supplied through the Saints Fund. 

 

 

We are the 2024-2025 Saints Fund leadership; it falls to us to “make the ask,” and we do so boldly on behalf of our children to ensure that St. Paul’s Episcopal School is able to implement its mission to “provide the highest quality college preparatory education in a Christian environment.”

 

We can’t wait to see what comes of the efforts and generosity put forth by our fellow Saints families this year! Will you join us in supporting the Saints Fund?

 

GO SAINTS!

 

Elizabeth and Scott Markle

Chairs

2024-2025 Saints Fund