The State of New York

I had the great pleasure of welcoming Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch and alums and friends of Saint David's to a private club in midtown for our Alumni Council's 4th Annual Networking Event. Loud applause filled the room when I informed the gathered alumni that I had just arrived from Randall's Island where Saint David's Red Baseball team managed to achieve a clear and convincing win against Allen-Stevenson, securing their claim to the league championship title. To top it off, they did so with back-to-back undefeated seasons, making this the school's third title in as many years. More applause followed.

This was a great place to start the evening because the remarks that followed told a very different story. Lieutenant Governor Ravitch spoke directly to the failing economy of the state and the nation and the difficult nature of the road ahead. In sum, Mr. Ravitch expressed most concern about New York and other states' "disinvestment in higher education and state infrastructure," especially transportation, which he considers to be the very means for pulling ourselves out of the mess. Many current practices and habits, he said, will have to change dramatically, and painfully, before we see things truly improve. Even more concerning to the Lieutenant Governor is the country's negative and growing scorn of politics. At the heart of democracy, he said, lies politics. We can't have a democracy without it. The rhetoric of our culture, he passionately expressed, will have to change for a much needed new generation of leaders to enter the political process. Mr. Ravitch graciously took a series of thought provoking questions from the audience.

Under the leadership of David DeLuca '77, and with the support of Alumni Director John Dearie, the Alumni Council provided members of our extended community with a unique and intimate experience with one of our state's most important leaders.

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...

Tales of a Good Man

"Sometime in the midst of all this, we became friends. And his story, and all its vast world passed into mine." --From the Introduction of Blood & Oil by Roxane Farmanfarmaian. "Stories are so important; they become traditions that tell about the good that often comes out of bad experiences..." So began Roxane Farmanfarmaian's fascinating talk Monday night at Saint David's Seventh Grade Father-Son Dinner. Dr. Farmanfarmaian, Affiliated Lecturer of Modern Middle East Studies at the Political and International Studies Department at Cambridge University, was introduced by her nephew, Saint David's seventh grader Cyrus '17. She spoke to the seventh grade boys and their fathers about what makes a "Good Man" through the prism of her book Blood & Oil : A Prince's Memoir of Iran from the Shah to the Ayatollah (Random House 2005), which she co-authored with her late father, Prince Manucher Farmanfarmaian. The memoir i...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog