Skip to main content

Saint David's Kalina School Opens


I have great news to report! Last month, after three years of fundraising and more than a year of construction, our school in Ethiopia, built by Saint David's boys in partnership with Save the Children and with the support of Mimi's Building Blocks, opened.  The new school welcomed 288 boys and girls in pre-school through grade 4.

For the first time ever, Kalina children are able to attend school in a permanent facility with classrooms, administrative rooms, and latrines--previously they attended an open-air dass school. Their new school, The Saint David's Kalina School, uses a "one shift system" in which the children and their teachers remain in class from 8 AM through 12:15 PM each day.

The new faculty includes 2 male teachers, 5 females teachers and 1 male principal.  All teachers are from the local area and most have completed Save the Children's Literacy Boost teacher component training; two were trained in basic school health and nutrition.

A Saint David's contingent will be traveling with me to Ethiopia this coming June to officially open the The Saint David's Kalina School.  Our four prior Student Council Presidents and three members of the faculty will be making the trip, representing the faculty, staff and boys of Saint David's.

A commitment to the greater good is inherent in Saint David's mission. We are thrilled to be participating in this important effort to extend educational opportunities to people in areas of need, and look forward to continuing our support for this school--a 60th anniversary initiative successfully accomplished!

Comments

  1. Maggie BarbieriNovember 7, 2013 at 4:57 PM

    What a wonderful story! Congratulations to the Saint David's boys and their supporters for funding and organizing this wonderful venture. Maggie Barbieri

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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!
Post a Comment
Read more

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." ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more