Year Three of Horizons

Two of the boys at Swimming (Asphalt Green)

Horizons at Saint David's is part way through its third summer. We have 50 rising First, Second, and Third Grade boys from four schools in Harlem participating in the program this year. Two thirds of the boys are here for their second or third summer, with one third here for their first. Following are some highlights to date:

The third graders are now receiving two hours of swim instruction per week (first and second continue to receive 1 hour).

Horizons has developed a strong STEM strand in the curriculum this year with first graders studying the weather and water cycle; second graders learning about computer programing through “Bee Bots"; and third graders constructing their own rockets with stomp launchers. Through this process the boys are becoming familiar with the design cycle and how mistakes provide the perfect opportunity to redesign and adjust.

Horizons' boys reentering Saint David's
after a fire drill this morning.

Long-time Saint David's teacher and Horizons music teacher, David Bell, has written a new Horizons song to unite and celebrate the program. The boys have been singing it with gusto.

This year, the program introduced a new morning meeting on Fridays where boys from each class receive the “Horizons All Star” Award. The award recognizes and celebrates a specific contribution made by a few of the boys each week.

There are several field trips planned, including the Guggenheim, Met, Jewish Museum, and Museum of the City of New York. The boys will also be visiting Marymount for their production of Peter Pan and Mulan, and to visit their “Fab Lab.”

A highlight of the program this summer includes the participation of six young alum volunteers, up from four last year. One of the aims of the program is to bring young alums back to Saint David's in the summers to contribute to the greater common good by volunteering their services. Nicholas, Justin, Cooper, James, Colin, and John are representing with distinction.

In addition to our great staff of teachers from the Saint David’s faculty, Horizons is pleased to welcome its first teacher from PS112. The program is also proud to welcome its first set of siblings, a first and second grader.

Saint David's is fully alive, even in the summer.

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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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