Skip to main content

Student Council and the New York School for the Deaf

Friday, October 16th, Peter and William De Luca and Saint David's parent Dixie De Luca attended the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new, long- awaited playground at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains, NY.

The school's old playground was destroyed in October 2012 during Hurricane Sandy, so the school has been without a playground for three years.  It took three long years to find the right company to provide a wheelchair accessible, safe playground and to raise the $125,000 necessary to get it built.  

The school's students are predominantly from families who live below the poverty level and thus are dependent on outside donors to provide facilities improvements and student programs that the New York State Department of Education does not provide.  


New York School for the Deaf is the second oldest school for the deaf in the United States.  It will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2017.  On a historical note, Alexander Graham Bell brought Helen Keller to its 75th anniversary!

Mrs. De Luca expressed "being very proud when William, as a new Student Council member, raised this issue/need with the Saint David's Student Council in 2014.  We are so grateful to Coach Imbelli who helped the Student Council vote 'yes' to donate significant portions of funds raised to this very worthy cause.  

The plaque in front of the playground that memorializes Saint David's School as a major donor

In 2014 the Saint David's boys donated $2,592 to NYSD from the Baskets for Charity event. In 2015, the 5th and 6th grade Student Council voted to donate a further $2,851 to the playground.  As a result, the boys of Saint David's became 'significant donors' to this project, contributing almost 5% of the total cost!"

Following is an excerpt of the thank you email received from Dr. Stern, the school's head:

"On behalf of the entire Fanwood community, thank you so much for joining us along with your sons at the playground ribbon-cutting ceremony.  More than you probably can realize, your presence and words meant a lot to those of us privileged to have been on the receiving end.  It goes without saying that this is on top of the incredibly generous support indispensable to making the playground a reality - for today and tomorrow's children.  Was not the (quite controlled) joyous stampede of our children into the playground a fitting ending to the ceremony?!  I trust it was heartwarming and 'validating' for those of who you have worked hard and long in bringing on the playground."

During a year which includes "Deliberate Moral Introspection" as its theme, Mrs. De Luca expressed being "proud of the school for encouraging its boys to support other children less fortunate than themselves."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

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." ...

Digital Universe Unit With AMNH-Hayden Planetarium Kicks Off

The second year of our unique partnership with the American Museum of Natural History-Hayden Planetarium kicked off on Friday when the sixth grade had their first session of the Digital Universe unit. The session included a private viewing at the planetarium in which boys were able to explore the entire universe. They and their teachers were invited to view the show from the vantage point of the floor in the center of the round theater, staring up into the apex of the dome. What an amazing perspective! Museum educator and astro-visualization expert Nathan Belomy took the boys on a tour of the observable universe, allowing them to get a feel for the scale of distance and size in the universe. In a fun activity related to scale, the boys set down  a volleyball (representing the sun) at 79th Street, and walked for blocks down Columbus avenue with the planets in our solar system represented by a variety of smaller objects – a cupcake sprinkle, a marble – predicting and then m...