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
Last week, Thomas Graham’s Great Granddaughter, Madeline Graham, visited with her mother and friends from the neighborhood. Madeline and her mother, Frances, enjoyed seeing how Saint David's has converted Thomas Graham’s residential hotel into a school. They also were thrilled at the number of our summer camp boys currently using the spaces throughout Graham House. Other meaningful moments included seeing the “Graham House” mosaic in the lobby and the two framed reprints of advertisements for Thomas Graham’s Hotel, which hang in our basement elevator lobby. Most of all, they expressed appreciation to Saint David's for maintaining the warmth and vibrancy of Graham House in all of the new spaces. It was wonderful to meet them and made for an incredibly special morning. Special thanks to our neighbors, Emily and John Andren, for helping coordinate this visit.