Headmaster's Blog

In the third quarter, Saint David's Red is fighting hard to close a 9 point St. Bernard's lead at their home court.

If you're feeling a little gloomy outside this mid-winter, come on inside.  The Saint David's Winter Festival of Art and Music is in full swing and our halls are ablaze with vibrant color, music and song.  Below are a few highlights from the 5th Grade Musicale last night and a few pieces of artwork that I managed to take a snapshot of today while moving through the halls.  Tomorrow morning we have the Chamber Singers, Percussion Ensemble and Orchestra.  Following are just a few examples of the incredible art on display this week. This first clip is a snip-it from the Recorders -- "Coventry Carol." This second clip is Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" performed by the 5th Grade Bells. The 2nd Grade Red Grooms inspired murals are definitely worth a look.  They fill an entire classroom, floor to ceiling--spectacular! "City Scape" 2nd Grade Class Mural inspired by Red Grooms (Art, 2nd Grade). "Medieval Vehicles" (Woodshop, 3...

This coming February 5th will mark the conclusion of the school's 60th year.  In addition to all the community gatherings to celebrate the 60th anniversary we enjoyed this year, our successfully concluding the largest campaign in the school's history, the boys' commitment to help build a school in Ethiopia, the launch of a new Horizon Summer Program for low-income boys, and a stellar year of teaching and learning, we are concluding this important milestone year with a special publication entitled: The Timeless Boy: Saint David's School at Sixty. It's in final printing as I write.

Thursday evening, January 12, 2012, Eric Eisendrath, the Positive Coaching Alliance's (PCA) Lead Trainer for the East Coast spoke with Saint David's parents in Hyman Hall about the Second-Goal Parent. PCA argues that the second goal of sports parenting--the Second-Goal Parent--is to focus relentlessly on the "big picture." The first goal, striving to win, should be left to the coaches and the athletes.  The focus of the parents should be on the second goal--the big picture focus--building character so children develop into successful, contributing members of society.  By the way, this is also a goal of the school's program.  This big picture view can be conceived of in lots of ways including remaining physically active throughout life, learning to bounce back from difficulties with renewed determination, and discovering how to support others.  Active participation in sports, as we all know, does this--our challenge as schools and especially parents is to not to ...

Jack and I Launching Year 2 in the Chapel Friday Morning Saint David's boys, in recognition of the school's 60th anniversary, resolved to emulate the actions of our founders in supporting the efforts necessary to get Saint David's School off the ground sixty years ago. This past Friday morning in Chapel, Jack M., Student Council President, and I kicked off the second year of this major initiative. We spoke about the importance of contributing to the greater good and of delayed gratification--of the fact that most good things in the world do not come easily--doing good takes hard work and commitment over time, which is what Saint David's boys have resolved to do. It's not only in keeping with our mission; it's our mission epitomized. Jack Presenting Ms. O'Hagan and Mr. Donato a Check for the Foundation Last year, the first of what will probably be several, the boys managed to raise a quarter of the funds necessary to build the school in Ethiopia. ...

I mentioned in my opening letter of the school-year that Saint David's, as a result of our on-going comprehensive curriculum initiative, has further defined our DASH (Drug, Alcohol, Sex and Health) program in the 6th and 8th grades.  In addition to a variety of curricular channels, including homeroom discussions, responsive classroom, daily chapel, religion and DASH classes, we are partnering with a new group that we feel will provide for our boys a very tangible experiential based curriculum that focuses on making safe and healthy choices and decisions.  Prepare Inc. teaches teenagers how to assess and safely manage challenging interpersonal situations. Our goal here is to connect the boys and their parents to real pressures that boys often face at this age with effective strategies for responding to and managing these pressures.  The new focus of the program is on developing a boy’s   ability to set boundaries, identify risk, and respond to real life ...

The celebration of Saint David’s 60th anniversary year was marked by many notable events—the celebratory Mass at St. Ignatius Loyola, the cutting of our huge birthday cake during Founders Week in February, the special edition retro 1951 athletic shirt, a festive anniversary open house for alumni and alumni parents, our commitment to building a school in Ethiopia, the all-school photo in front of 12 East 89th Street capturing the boys and their teachers at a special moment in time and, of course, the stellar year of teaching and learning, to name just a few. The aesthetic, our commitment to seek and find beauty—the essence of life—in all we do, defined the broad parameters of our year. We reminded ourselves that to find beauty we often need to dig below the   surface; we need to be constantly seeking it, so as not to miss it completely. Community is not so much defined by common or shared belief, but more, by shared action—what we choose to do together. In developing our strat...