Skip to main content

Building Community From Within

An Introductory Activity at Community Club This Morning
Saint David's created a boys Community Club out of its strategic desire to build an even stronger, more supportive and inclusive community within the school.  As the program enters its second year, faculty and boys involved with the program are excited.  Their focus is to 'do,' engage in action that builds school community.

During the Community Club’s first few sessions, the boys have participated in greetings and activities that help them get to know one another reports Amanda Rathbun, one of the club's leading faculty members.

The Community Club’s first goal is to help build community within the club—help boys feel comfortable, confident, and included.  We have also had great conversations about how we can help make Saint David’s a stronger community.

The boys brainstormed ideas such as: bring people together to learn about them, share our different interests with older boys, help boys make new friends, teach people how to stay in good health.  The Community Club also had inspiring conversations about their different interests and their family differences.  Boys discussed how their different interests make them more special and unique, and that we should learn about people’s differences so we can get to know them better.   They also discussed family differences, and had a great discussion about how families are different.  Many of the boys in this conversation realized that their family’s differences are actually shared by many families!

This fall, the boys in the Community Club have decided to make a series of Public Service Announcements in order to share helpful reminders and teach valuable lessons.  These PSA’s will be scripted, performed, and filmed by boys in the Community Club and then shown in every homeroom at homeroom time.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NE Patriot Tom Brady at Saint David’s

Last night, Saint David’s was honored to have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, four time Superbowl champion and three-time MVP winner Tom Brady, as the guest speaker for our Alumni Parents Council Lecture Series. Tom, who is the father of one of our Saint David's boys, addressed a standing-room-only audience in Hyman Hall comprised of our eighth graders, alumni, alumni parents and faculty. Friendly, introspective, witty, and wise, he directed his talk to the delighted eighth graders in the front of the room, and focused on the topic of leadership. “You are the young men and leaders of Saint David’s,” he noted. Tom debunked the perception that leaders are born not made, and credited his leadership abilities to “standing up to and facing fears” and to “cultivating a mental strength,” which he cited as “more important than being physically strong.” He also stressed the importance of working hard, honoring teamwork, believing in oneself and being a good lis

Surf's Up for Horizons at Saint David's

Little can top catching a wave to beat the heat on an exceptionally hot summer's day. Yesterday, as the temperatures soared into the nineties, the Horizons at Saint David's Eighth Grade class traveled to Rockaway Beach with their teachers for surf lessons with New York's premiere surf school, Locals Surf School. The boys have been taking swimming lessons through our program since their first summer with us in 2012.  At that time, they were were rising first graders, and our inaugural cohort of Horizons students. Yesterday, they were ready to go, and, as these pictures show, they had a blast while learning a new skill. This is the eighth year of Horizons at Saint David's, a six-week multi-faceted academic and cultural summer experience whose mission is to prevent summer slide in elementary school boys from low-income families. We began the program in conjunction with Saint David's 60th anniversary in 2011, as one way that Saint David's as an ins

"Lord of the Flies" Survival Game

Seventh graders are immersed in an "island survival" adventure related to their study of William Golding's 1954 classic Lord of the Flies . The novel tells the story of a group of school-age boys marooned on an uninhabited island, where they struggle to survive without a government or rules. In this creative, unique activity that spans 10 class sessions, our boys are assigned to belong to one of two "tribes." Using knowledge gained from history classes in the fall, they first determine what type of government system to adopt. During the simulations, they strategize methods to overcome obstacles and acquire resources such as wood, food, shelter, and water. The simulation requires the boys to negotiate, debate, and reflect critically on their decisions as they face challenges to their survival. In journals, they regularly write about their thinking, their decisions and consequences. Writing skills are further developed and honed. In addition to analy