Legacies that Resonate: Julie and Gabrielle

Julie Sykes and Gabrielle Crumlish have been a part of the fabric of Saint David’s School for the past 30 and 41 years respectively. Their significant and defining contributions to the life and vitality of the school are surpassed only by their love for it. Julie and Gabrielle will be retiring this June. Julie’s sons Matthew, ’89, Andrew, ’91, and David, ’95 are all Saint David’s graduates, as are Gabrielle’s sons, Christian in’78, Arthur Jr.,’80, and Peter, ’82. Gabrielle and Julie first came to Saint David’s as parents, Julie in 1980 and Gabrielle in 1969. As the years passed and their sons grew, so did the depth of their involvement and commitment to the school. In 1985 Gabrielle began her professional association with Saint David’s as an assistant kindergarten teacher. As fate would have it, both would serve Saint David’s as her gatekeeper: Gabrielle from 1989 for three years, before courting Julie Sykes and Janet Sughrue to succeed her as co-directors, allowing her to return to her beloved classroom. Julie began her work with the school in 1992 as Co-Director of Admissions. After Janet’s retirement in 2007, Julie served as Director of Admissions through the present. Julie and Gabrielle have helped shape this very special school; their influence will continue to resonate well beyond their departures.

During the fall and early winter of this school-year, we began the challenging and lengthy task of searching for a new director. We advertised broadly and interviewed widely. A number of representatives from a broad cross-section of our community combined with outside professional guidance worked diligently to screen and interview in excess of 100 candidates from across the country and abroad. After several candidates were invited for a visit to the school, the field of candidates was narrowed further. I began to have in dept conversations with these candidates. The process concluded and I am happy to report on the appointment of Allison Vella. Carol Dillon and our admissions team are all excited and looking forward to working with Allison as the new Director of Admissions. While the lengthy process of finding Julie’s successor has concluded, we have only just now begun our search for Gabrielle’s. Filling her shoes will not be an easy task.

Please save the date of June 3, 2010, 6 PM. At this year’s Alumni Reunion we will be honoring the work of Julie and Gabrielle and the legacies of these two incredible members of the Saint David’s community. Invitations will follow. I remain,

Comments

OLIVER!

This morning our fifth graders continued a great year-end tradition at Saint David's, The Fifth Grade Musical. The boys performed Oliver! and they were fantastic, providing impressive performances and demonstrating great vocal ability. They have been mastering the dialogue and musical numbers for weeks, and clearly gave it their all. Congratulations to the cast on a job well done, and to their Producers/Teachers James Hubbard and Jamie MacNeille, Director Phyllis Clark, Musical Conductor Jeff Moore, and the Parent Committee of Cynthia Chapman, Susan Kissane, Tara Neumann, Joyce Restituto, and Ann Roberts. Musical theater is alive and well at Saint David's!

Sixth Graders Meet with Dr. Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at the American Museum of Natural History

Dr. Carter Emmart with Saint David's Sixth Graders This past Friday, as part of our unique partnership with the American Museum of Natural History, sixth graders had the great honor to attend a private lecture given by Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at AMNH. Dr. Emmart told the boys about his passion for science along with an overview of the history of the Hayden Planetarium. He also gave the boys advice on how to take scientific information about the universe and compile it into an interesting and captivating show for an audience. The boys were able to see Dr. Emmart's original sketches, which helped create the Uniview program they are using to develop their presentations. The session provided our boys with an opportunity to learn how art and science come together in the planetarium, and to obtain expert advice on developing their own space shows from one of the creators of Uniview . You can learn more about Dr. Emmart's work and Univie...

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...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog