Headmaster's Blog

At the end of the school year I always look forward to one of the most enjoyable Saint David's traditions, the Fifth Grade Musical. This year, the boys performed Gilbert and Sullivan's delightful operetta H.M.S. Pinafore . Produced by teachers Jamie MacNeille and Emma McFarland, directed by Phyllis Clark and conducted by Jeff Moore, the show entertained in spades! The boys sang and delivered their lines with humor, confidence, and talent. Congratulations to all in the cast and crew; this show was a huge team effort--and it was a smash hit!   Music and drama are integral to our embrace of balance and the aesthetic at Saint David's.  We anticipate even greater programmatic opportunities for our boys to explore the performing arts, both onstage and in the tech/lighting/production areas when our new performing arts center opens in the fall.

It's officially summer vacation, but learning continues at Saint David's, with our summer programs in full swing. Last week, 12 boys from the classes of 2018, 2019, and 2020 participated in Saint David's Summer Art Camp, taught by Ms. Jenna Boccella with assistance from Ms. Nancy Iannicelli. The boys learned and practiced fundamental watercolor skills as well as concepts of plein air landscape sketching and painting at St. Thomas More each day before heading outdoors to the Cooper Hewitt Garden or Central Park Sailboat Pond to enjoy a leisurely lunch, socializing and watercolor sketching on site. On the final day of the week-long camp, they added finishing touches to their works and chose two favorite pieces to share with their families. They identified a challenge they faced, a key skill or concept they learned, and a work or detail that they were proud of from the week's endeavors. This week, through our partnership with the DNA Learn

Rising eighth graders participating in our Spain Summer Study trip arrived in Salamanca early Sunday. This is the eighth year of Saint David's Spain Summer Study program, which is sponsored by the Spanish provincial government and University of Salamanca. The trip provides a highly educational and rich cultural experience for our boys. Each morning they participate in Spanish language immersion classes tailored to each boy's individual level of fluency, and spend their afternoons and evenings enjoying a variety of cultural experiences in which they converse with native speakers. These two weeks of cultural study and Spanish language instruction give our boys the opportunity to attain new levels of proficiency in the language and are certain to be an enriching milestone in their lives.

It's official: The wall separating our compression-era reduced lobby and the new one is down, as we begin this summer's work connecting the school's three townhouses to our new space in Graham House.  All systems are go and the entire school is now a construction zone.

Thirty-eight boys became our newest cohort of alumni this past Friday after Board Chair Dan Connolly '77 and I handed them their diplomas at the 2018 Commencement ceremony. They are a good-natured, intellectually curious group, a special class that has demonstrated the embodiment of all that we can be ( omnium nobis) in each of our our school's pillars: academics, athletics, arts, and spirituality. The boys now leave Saint David's as young men, who will go on to be all that they will be (nunc in futurum). As is custom, each graduating class leaves a legacy gift to the school. This year's is the new Eighth Grade Commons in Graham House, which will be named "Il Duomo" and dedicated in loving memory to Rovena Kilkeary. Congratulations, Class of 2018! Be sure to visit your alma mater this fall--you'll love "Il Duomo" and the other amazing new spaces you'll enjoy during alumni events.

Last week's Spring Gathering began with a Chapel talk given by Stephanie Berardesca, former longtime assistant to Headmasters Hume and Maiocco, and current Assistant to the Board of Trustees. Stephanie's Chapel honored personal heroes of Saint David's; people who, by embracing their profession and calling, have had great impact on others. One was former teacher Bill Ryan, a humble and erudite man who inspired so many of his students, including a graduate who, years later, dedicated his doctoral thesis to Mr. Ryan because, "he had never had another teacher who had influenced him more than his fourth grade teacher." Of our former longtime Chaplain Monsignor Thomas Leonard h ' 06, to whom we dedicated the Chapel, Stephanie said: "In Monsignor Leonard’s attitude and commitment, his patience and love for those of us in his flock, I would say that there are probably more than a few whose lives have been personally and deeply impacted by the attentio