Amanda Turner ‘19, Cayla Beaulieu ‘20: Overlooking the Connelly courtyard, Mr. Paul Sanders, donning a bright yellow Episcopal tie, looks suited for his new role in the Episcopal Academy community as the Assistant Head of School. While a native of Doylestown, Bucks County, Sanders has spent the last few years living in “Amsterdam… I was living in Holland with my wife for some years and before that we lived in New York.”
An ardent globe trotter, Sanders explained that one of the reasons he loved living in Europe was the ability and ease to travel. “One of the best parts of living in Amsterdam is that on a friday afternoon we could get on a train and be in Paris by dinnertime. So we traveled a ton while in Europe.” Marrakech, Morocco, where he has been twice, is among his favorite places to go, explaining that “it’s unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been to, and it’s also where I had my honeymoon.” Sanders explained that traveling used to be one of his frequent hobbies, but added that “I have a two year old daughter… I have found that once you have a baby, your interests tend to slide!”
In addition to traveling, athletics have always played a prominent part of Sanders’ life. A biking enthusiast, Sanders said “I did a couple of biathlons a while ago, and I did a century when I was a little more fit! My dad and I used to have a tradition where every year we did the five borough bike tour in New York, where you start in Manhattan and cover all the boroughs in about forty miles.”
Sanders ran track in both high school and college, and was also a track coach – in fact, Sanders explained that being a track coach at a summer camp one year was one of the reasons he decided to work in education. “When I was an undergraduate, I never took a course in education. I was an English major, took a lot of economics courses as well, and my plan was very much law school. I worked in a summer camp while I was there, though, and it was working there that kinda got me into education: coaching there and being with kids.” He added that it “took him years to admit that [education] was actually what he wanted to do” and eventually ended up taking his first class in education at the University of Pennsylvania, back in the state where he grew up.
After working and traveling abroad, Sanders applied for a position at Episcopal Academy. He said that he was drawn to Episcopal because of two reasons. “One is geography. It was good to be back in this area. Two, is a culture of excellence: a place that really tries to be top notch in as many things as it can be.” He continued, saying that at Episcopal, “Everyone’s been really kind, and it’s a really smart group; I really like the team Dr. Locke has put together. The teachers are really sharp and the students are great!”
Sanders looks forward to immersing himself into the Episcopal Academy community. He explained that one of the events he is most looking forward to is “Episcopal Haverford Agnes Irwin Day. I heard about them in the interview, we’ve had a bunch of meetings planning them, November is a beautiful time of year, and I’m looking forward to it most.”
When asked about his favorite EA stripe as an example to live by, Sanders responded with “Gratitude. I think it’s the most important thing any of us can have. I would say particularly for us that have been fortunate in our lives, but I
think, psychologically, for everybody, the more gratitude we are able to exercise, the healthier we are and happier we are. It takes work to be grateful and to not just commit to yourself and live a life saying I deserve everything I have, it takes discipline to say, ‘No. Some people don’t have this stuff, and I am just lucky to have it.’”