Community

Monica arrived on campus and felt the energy of Principia—students eager to share what makes life meaningful here, and faculty and staff who embody the School’s vision of academic innovation and experiential learning. Her response? “I want to go back to school!” 

Principia School recently hosted its 4th annual Empty Bowls Community Dinner, marking another successful year of giving back to the community.

The start of a new school year is always exciting. New teachers and classes, newly renovated hallways and collaborative spaces, and an administrative team that’s always one step ahead of the curve.  

Principia ninth graders from the 24/25 academic year, dove into the processes, planning, and painting of the once-underwhelming tunnel, transforming it into a vibrant mural that embodies and reflects the Town and Country community’s history and spirit.  

Lower School students gathered in the gym for their annual Thanksgiving chapel to express what Principia’s founder, Mary Kimball Morgan, described as “genuine gratitude expressed in a forgetfulness of self that reaches out to bless others.” 

In the heart of Town and Country, our enthusiastic Principia ninth graders embarked on a colorful adventure: creating a vibrant mural for the community of Town and Country, Missouri. 

Every year, students don their costumes and take a haunting stroll around campus.

As the School bids farewell to its graduates, our administrators reflect on the past year and look to the future. Among the exciting changes ahead, perhaps the most thrilling and expansive are those of the spiritual life program. 

This past May, the class of 2024 donned their caps and gowns to walk across Ridgway stage one last time, marking the school year’s end with the happiest of celebrations.

For the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)—a nonprofit that provides services to schools across the country and world—the “I” may stand for Independent. But when the group visited Principia’s campus this past February, the “I” stood for Inspire. 

At Principia, field trips are not uncommon, but this one was special. In October, Principia middle schoolers and 18 upper schoolers embarked on an eye-opening journey to Memphis, Tennessee. 

This fall’s Upper School Reunion brought more than 300 alumni and guests to campus for a memorable celebration spanning the generations.

Principia School is embarking on its seventh year as a partner in the St. Louis Box Turtle Project, a study dedicated to the conservation and health of the three-toed box turtle. Principia’s role is to track the movement of the native species in a suburban environment, using the School’s 360-acre campus as a testing ground. 

Principia School highlights from 2022-2023.

Each fall, Upper School students embark on Character Trips to grow, explore, and build community. This year, sophomores combined adventure with service, helping construct four homes in the Dominican Republic.

Now that the 2022–2023 school year is well underway, the impact of new faculty has become clearer. This group of new teachers brings both depth of experience and energy. 

This spring, eighth-grade students completed a comprehensive unit, learning about the people, places, and events surrounding the American Civil Rights Movement. The culminating activity was designing and constructing a walkthrough exhibit that displayed the students’ findings.