Building Community From Within

An Introductory Activity at Community Club This Morning

Saint David's created a boys Community Club out of its strategic desire to build an even stronger, more supportive and inclusive community within the school. As the program enters its second year, faculty and boys involved with the program are excited. Their focus is to 'do,' engage in action that builds school community.

During the Community Club’s first few sessions, the boys have participated in greetings and activities that help them get to know one another reports Amanda Rathbun, one of the club's leading faculty members.

The Community Club’s first goal is to help build community within the club—help boys feel comfortable, confident, and included. We have also had great conversations about how we can help make Saint David’s a stronger community.

The boys brainstormed ideas such as: bring people together to learn about them, share our different interests with older boys, help boys make new friends, teach people how to stay in good health. The Community Club also had inspiring conversations about their different interests and their family differences. Boys discussed how their different interests make them more special and unique, and that we should learn about people’s differences so we can get to know them better. They also discussed family differences, and had a great discussion about how families are different. Many of the boys in this conversation realized that their family’s differences are actually shared by many families!

This fall, the boys in the Community Club have decided to make a series of Public Service Announcements in order to share helpful reminders and teach valuable lessons. These PSA’s will be scripted, performed, and filmed by boys in the Community Club and then shown in every homeroom at homeroom time.

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!

Fascinating Art Talk by Michelle Marder Kamhi at Grandparents Event

Yesterday evening, independent scholar and critic Michelle Marder Kamhi ( www.mmkamhi.com ), co-editor with husband Louis Torres of Aristos , an online review of arts; author of Who Says That's Art? A Commonsense View of the Visual Arts ; and grandmother of two Saint David's boys, gave a thought provoking talk on art for our grandparent community. An advocate of objective standards in arts scholarship and criticism, Ms. Kamhi focused her talk on the ways in which art critics such as Clement Greenberg promoted the shift from representational art to abstraction. Kamhi argues that the abstract and post-modern art prevalent today, which often requires explanation by docents in order to be understood, goes against art's purpose. Taking issue with Greenberg's contention that representation is an expendable convention of painting, she quoted the late art critic John Canaday: "Art is the tangible expression of the intangible values that men live by." ...

NE Patriot Tom Brady at Saint David’s

Last night, Saint David’s was honored to have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, four time Superbowl champion and three-time MVP winner Tom Brady, as the guest speaker for our Alumni Parents Council Lecture Series. Tom, who is the father of one of our Saint David's boys, addressed a standing-room-only audience in Hyman Hall comprised of our eighth graders, alumni, alumni parents and faculty. Friendly, introspective, witty, and wise, he directed his talk to the delighted eighth graders in the front of the room, and focused on the topic of leadership. “You are the young men and leaders of Saint David’s,” he noted. Tom debunked the perception that leaders are born not made, and credited his leadership abilities to “standing up to and facing fears” and to “cultivating a mental strength,” which he cited as “more important than being physically strong.” He also stressed the importance of working hard, honoring teamwork, believing in oneself and being a good lis...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog