A favorite tradition of ESD alumni families is the Easter Eggstravaganza. Every spring, just before Easter, the Alumni Association invites alumni, faculty, and their families to a special service lead by the ESD chaplains in All Saints Chapel. After the service, the families enjoy an Easter egg hunt outside, complete with refreshments and a visit from Hoppy the Easter Bunny.

Every fall, ESD alumni and faculty members participate in the annual Alumni Golf Tournament. Organized in memory of a beloved classmate, parent and teacher, Mary Elizabeth Williams ’82, the alumni golf tournament benefits the scholarship fund in her name, which provides assistance to qualified children of alumni who might not otherwise be able to attend ESD. Through the generosity of the tournament’s supporters, the corpus of the Mary Elizabeth Williams Endowed Alumni Scholarship Fund is now nearly $300,000.00.

The Alumni Association invites ESD alumni back to campus every fall for the Homecoming Barbecue. On the Friday night of the Homecoming football game, alumni and faculty gather for dinner in the Daryl Johnston Family Dining Commons before the game. This tradition provides an opportunity for past ESD students to return to their alma mater and cheer the Eagles on to victory with their former classmates and teachers.

Each spring, the Alumni Association hosts a lunch for the graduation senior class during the school day. This tradition enables students to get acquainted with ESD alumni who attended their future colleges and essentially welcomes the seniors to the alumni community that they will soon join.

At the end of each academic year, the school recognizes distinguished students with academic, athletic, and fine arts honors in the spring awards ceremonies. The highest honor that a student can receive at the Lower School is the Mary Elizabeth Williams Award, presented to two fourth graders. The Middle School Awards Ceremony recognizes two seventh graders with the Rebecca Royall Award and distinguished eighth-grade recipients of academic medals, and the Peter K. Lutken Award. The ceremony culminates in the reveal of the top ten percent of the graduating senior class, as well as the awards of individual distinction including the Chancellor’s Cup and the Headmaster’s Prize.

This special service outside All Saints Chapel blesses all creatures as creatures of God. Community members are invited to bring their pets to attend the service and receive a special blessing.

More than 30 non-profit organizations in the Dallas area participate in the ESD Volunteer Fair every spring to inform students about their missions and volunteer opportunities for the coming year. Representatives from the agencies set up booths in the Hart Athletic Center with brochures and sign-up sheets for students, grades 5-11. Service to Others is a Founding Tenet of ESD, and every grade level has a community service requirement. Lower and Middle School students participate in planned, age-appropriate projects with their classes, while Upper School students, who must complete a certain number of hours to graduate, select causes that interest them.

The ESD Dads’ Partnership was founded to promote activities involving dads and their children in all grade levels. Since its inception, the organization has grown to sponsor and assist in the following events including the New Dads’ Dinner, Salvation Army volunteering, Dads Cooking Burgers, Christmas carols at the Traymore, Lower School Night at football games, movie night, dads’ carpool duty, bowling night, dads serving lunch at the Lower School, a Wolf Run trip, dads serving breakfast, Field Day, and the Dads’ Partnership Breakfast. The Partnership Breakfast takes place each year in honor of the fathers who dedicate their time to getting involved in the ESD community.

The Lower School upholds the tradition of hosting a visiting author each year. The Worsham family established the series in memory of Elizabeth Anne Worsham. By inviting children’s authors to read to Lower School students and interact with them, ESD encourages them to explore new ideas and appreciate literature.

On the first day of school each fall, the flag ceremony takes the place of daily chapel. The entire Middle and Upper School student body and faculty gather in Swann Courtyard for the raising of the ESD flag. Father Swann gives a homily during the ceremony, welcoming all students and faculty members back to school for the new academic year.

Every November, just before Thanksgiving break, the school invites the grandparents of every ESD student to Grandparent’s Day at both the lower and upper campuses. Grandparents, along with other elderly family members, enjoy attending class, lunch, the book fair, and a special chapel service with students. This beloved tradition offers grandparents the opportunity to experience the success and growth of their grandchildren at ESD.

One of ESD’s most significant sporting events of the school year is the Homecoming football game. Established in 1998, this tradition brings the ESD student, faculty, family, and alumni communities together to support the Eagles at the Friday-night home game. The Upper School celebrates Homecoming Week during the school days leading up to the game and the Saturday night dance by dressing up in a different them each day. The Alumni Association also hosts the Alumni Barbecue in the Daryl Johnston Family Dining Commons right before the game.

Each year the Lower School participates in Jump Rope for Heart, a national fundraising program sponsored jointly by AAHPERD and the American Heart Association. Students raise money during the weeks leading up to the event, which takes place at school during each P.E. class period. Each class spends the period jumping rope with their peers and parents. This tradition promotes physical activity, heart healthy living, and community service.

The Junior Ring Ceremony is another of ESD’s oldest traditions that celebrates the rising senior class each spring. During this chapel service, each rising senior receives the ESD class ring, modeled after Father Henning’s family ring. In his homily, Father Swann explains the history and significance of the Henning family crest that adorns each ring. Seniors wear their rings not only as a symbol of their school, but also as a reminder of ESD’s faith-driven founding and growth.

Lessons and Carols is the Middle and Upper School Christmas service that takes place every December just before first semester exams. During this long chapel service, students, faculty members, and alumni are selected to read Bible passages beginning with the creation story and ending with the birth of Jesus Christ. The Middle and Upper School choirs sing Christmas songs between each lesson. An especially cherished part of the service is the performance of “Oh Holy Night” by one or two selected seniors in the Upper School choir. Lessons and Carols brings the ESD community together to learn about and celebrate the miracle of Christ’s birth. 

Every October, the Lower School Parents’ Association hosts the Carnival at the lower campus. Students participate in games, rock climbing, bounce house jumping, the cake walk, and other traditional activities such as getting decorative arm casts and sending their friends to “jail.” 

The Lower School closes each school year with Field Day, held on the Trout Athletic Fields at the upper campus. Each class participates in relay races, a sponge war, and other fun competitions organized by Lower School dads and P.E. coaches. Field Day is a celebration of each school year and serves as a final day of fun for Lower School students before summer break. 

During each Olympic year, the Lower School hosts its own Olympics during several P.E. class periods. Complete with an opening ceremony, the tradition divides students into different countries, and students on each team participate in adapted versions of the competitive events. The Lower School Olympics encourages students to invest themselves in the spirit and fun of the Olympics, while also providing them with healthy physical activity.

Marathon Kids is an innovative program sponsored by Whole Foods Market that encourages children to run and/or walk a marathon during a six-month period. Molly Rhodes ’97, a former Lower School P.E. instructor, introduced the initiative to the Lower School in 2005, and each year the number of participants has grown substantially. Students in Primer through fourth grade are encouraged to walk or run during part of their recess. On the first Thursday of each month during the program, the Lower School hosts Family Morning Runs at 7:30 a.m., during which parents and students walk or run a mile before school.

Every winter, the sixth grade travels to Washington, D. C. to tour our nation’s capital and visit the historical landmarks that apply to the material they cover in their American history class. On the trip, students tour the White House, Arlington Cemetery, the Smithsonian Museums, and visit several memorials including the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and World War II Memorial. The trip also includes a day in Williamsburg, Virginia and a tour of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. During the trip, students take pictures for the scrapbook that they each craft as a reflective project after the trip.

The most important fund-raiser organized by the Parents’ Association is the ESD Auction, held each winder in the Competitive Gymnasium in the Father Swann Center. The Auction has a different theme each year and consists of a benefit party with musical performances by ESD parents and teachers. Parents bid on prizes for their children such as principal for the day or their grade’s art project, as well as vacations and sports tickets for themselves.

The Parents’ Association organizes and hosts the Spring Luncheon at the end of each school year. Several seniors and their mothers are invited to participate in a fashion show during the luncheon, and proceeds benefit the Parents’ Association.

Every spring, the ESD graduating senior class welcomes the eighth-grade students to the Upper School in a ceremony known as Pass It On. The service begins with a homily given by a faculty member of the senior class’ choosing, traditionally Eddie Eason, followed by the senior anthem, performed by the senior members of the Upper School choir. As the student pairs process down the aisle together, the Upper School choir sings “Pass it On,” followed by “Surely it is God who Saves Me” and “Like an Eagle.” Pass It On is one of the school’s oldest, most cherished traditions that personifies the spirit of ESD and the values of Father Swann’s vision being passed from the graduating class to the newest members of the Upper School.

The Robert H. Dedman Lecture Series provides students with both academic and practical experiences in leadership education. The inaugural lecture was given on April 12, 2002 by Mr. Robert H. Dedman, Sr., noteworthy philanthropist, founder of ClubCorp International, and grandfather to Jonathan Dietz ’03, Christina Dietz ’09, and Jeffrey Dietz ’14. Since that time, students have benefited each year from the wisdom of a wide range of leaders—a senator, a Marine, a cardiologist, a bank president, a chaplain, a professional athlete, a historian, an artist, a philanthropist, and an architect, to name a few. The series enhances the School’s Mission to prepare students for lives of intellectual discovery.

The senior parents host Rally Days for the senior class once a month during the Upper School lunch period. Rally Days are themed celebrations of senior birthdays, during which a restaurant caters food that relates to the theme, and a DJ provides entertainment while students and parents eat lunch. The senior class has the privilege of dressing up in theme for the school day, and mothers decorate birthday posters for their children to hang in Senior Hall and outside during Rally Day.