Senior leaves a positive impact on St. Martin's

For almost 14 years, Senior Griff Thomas has called St. Martin’s Episcopal School home, and his kindness and involvement in the community have not gone unnoticed by his teachers and peers.

Thomas has definitely covered all of his bases during his time at St. Martin’s. He has allowed his athletic abilities to shine through as basketball captain and baseball player for all four years of upper school and has held leadership positions on Student Council as press secretary and on Honor Council as secretary. He’s also dedicated time to community service, as a member of Key Club. However, his commitment to serving and working with others doesn’t stop with St. Martin’s. He’s a youth group leader at his church and a music leader within that group.

According to Associate Head of Upper School for Student Affairs Mary Bond, Thomas is a wonderful example of a student leader, who also has a wonderful work ethic.

“He is a leader on campus,” Bond said. “He is a leader in church. He is involved in activities that are meaningful to him like mission trips, for example. He contributes his efforts to those things without expectation of a reward or complement. He does them selflessly because he just believes it is the right thing to do.”

According to Senior Farah Wells, Thomas’ caring and kind nature is exemplified in his willingness to help others.

“I think he brings a lot of lightheartedness (to the community),” Wells said. “He is one of the best examples of St. Martin’s being a sensitive community because he is super caring, he always goes above and beyond in everything he does, and he’s just a really good guy. He’s really one of my best friends and one of the best people I know.”

Next year, Thomas hopes to attend either Baylor University or Louisiana Tech University.

“My first choice right now is engineering (…) and if that doesn’t suit me, or if I don’t really like it, I’d go into pre-med and maybe become a doctor of some sort,” Thomas said.

Thomas reflects on his St. Martin’s experience with appreciation—for his teachers and coaches alike.

“I’ve had really good coaches that have prepared me to work hard every day and to try my best,” Thomas said. “In the classroom, I’ve had some challenging classes. This year, I’m taking AP Calculus, and that’s pretty hard, but it has helped me with my critical thinking skills and to (be able to) dive deeper into problems.”

Since Thomas has been attending St. Martin’s for 14 years, he has a wealth of memories on which he can look back, including his all-time favorite St. Martin’s experience: his class trip to Washington, D.C. in eighth grade. Thomas will miss so many aspects of St. Martin’s, including playing sports and its tight-knit community. He’ll also miss the people with whom he’s formed strong bonds, so going off to college is bittersweet.

“I’m going to miss all of my teachers from lower, middle, and upper school,” Thomas said. “I’m going to miss all of my friends, as they are going to be scattered all around the United States. (I’m going to miss) being with mom because she teaches here. Both of my brothers go here, so I’ll always miss them.”