A Great Man; A National Leader for "The Good"

In preparation for the long weekend, last week Saint David's held special Chapels for all boys in Grades 3 through 8 commemorating the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We began these commemorative Chapels by engaging the boys in a discussion about Dr. King's legacy, eliciting their thoughts on the contributions of the Civil Rights leader, the Founders' promise that "all men are created equal," the country's struggle to realize this promise, and King's vision of the future during those turbulent 60s.

By linking Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (which I shared with the boys) of January 1, 1863 to the Republic's founding documents of the late 1700s, to King's 1963 speech on the steps of Lincoln's memorial in Washington one hundred years later, and his deft ability to influence and effect dramatic change, not by sword, but by word, we got the boys thinking.

This was followed by one of our boys reading, in its entirety, Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which captivated even our youngest classes. It's important for the boys to hear the original words and text, to study it and connect it to the history of their country and to the issues, ideas and ideals expressed at the nation's founding and experienced by them today.

The Chapel concluded with our very own Mr. William Best, singing Dr. King's favorite song "Take My Hand, Precious Lord, Lead Me Home," with the boys joining in.

A clip is attached. Our school's ultimate aspiration is for our boys to "be good men." What better inspiration than that of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

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...

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...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog