Update From Tigray, Ethiopia ...

... For those following our efforts in the Horn of Africa... I Bring Good News:

Admin Block and Classroom Block 90% Complete

The Kalina school project funded by Saint David’s School is on the verge of completion.

Located in one of the more remote districts of Tigray, Ethiopia, known as Raya-Azebo, The Kalina school is 120 kilometers from Mekelle, the capital of Tigray.

The first primary school in Kalina, known as a dass school, served 232 children, of which 47% were girls, in the 2012/13 academic year. A dass school is an open air instructional space--no roof, no walls, no water. The dass was the beginning phases of developing a formal "school" program in Kalina in preparation for the second cycle: The Saint David's Project.

The Saint David’s funded project is comprised of one building block with four classrooms, another building block with three administrative and resource center rooms, and two additional smaller blocks of dry latrines, one for girls and one for boys.

Boys and Girls Latrines

Approximately 90% of the construction work was completed as of the end of August 2013, and the Kalina children already have access to potable water. This is huge! In addition to all the benefits of a proper school, we are providing the community with the tremendous benefits of a well too.

The academic year in Tigray is scheduled to begin in late September. Kalina in on track to be ready for that day!

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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...

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