Headmaster's Blog

Yesterday evening was one of my favorite school events, our annual Young Alumni Chapel and Dinner. For this pre-Thanksgiving event, our high school age alumni join our current eighth graders for a Chapel talk, given by a young alum, and then gather for dinner in Hyman Hall. This year the Chapel was packed with boys and faculty, more than 200 present. Ben Singleton '05, a graduate of Regis and Yale, gave the Chapel talk. He addressed the boys about how he decided upon a career in law enforcement, which began shortly after college in the District Attorney's Office and has led him to the NYPD, where he soon will enter the Police Academy. Ben described how he came about finding his passion not through a sudden bolt of inspiration, but rather through much reflection, and by exploring what he was curious about in school.  "The police department was not where I would have expected to be," he said, "but I realize it was inevitable." His message to our boy...

Thanksgiving must be close... Today was Saint David's annual Turkey Run , which takes our second graders to Riverside Park for a 450-meter run. They have been training for this run every day throughout the fall in their athletics classes, and they sure were ready. Parents and siblings came out to cheer on our young runners. This was the 17th running of the Turkey Run at Riverside Park and the 42nd Turkey Run since its inauguration.  Originally, it was run by the 8th grade who circumnavigated the Central Park Reservoir at great speed.  The winner received a frozen turkey that he then ceremoniously donated to the Annual Thanksgiving food drive.  It was in the 1970s that the responsibility of the tradition shifted to the 2nd Grade, where it continues to reside to this day. A great time was time had by all! (And every boy enjoyed the chocolate turkey treat that followed at day's end.)

Boys in fifth grade are building wind turbines in a series of STEAM classes. In a session earlier this week, they drew diagrams of wind turbines, identifying the key components needed in order to generate electricity. This was followed by a discussion on kinetic energy, gears, and what is needed to move electrons at sufficient speed in a circuit. For the remainder of the class period, they experimented in small groups, with various size gear combinations as a first step to building their own turbines. Today, using a fan and a multimeter which measures voltage, they observed the amount of current generated by rotors (blades and hubs) that varied in five areas:  length, material, number of blades, tilt or pitch, and shape of the blades. (See photo, below, and video at bottom.)  This involved some problem solving: For one of the rotors, the blades were too large and created friction, slowing down the spinning. To address this, one boy suggested moving the rod forw...

Fifteen faculty and staff members gathered in our 6th floor art studios last Friday afternoon for a “Make Your Own Mug Pottery Party.” Pottery teachers Mark Sunderwirth and Melanie Fidler taught the mostly neophyte potters to hand build a mug or other vessel with coil and pinch pot techniques, encouraging participants to add creative and personal elements to their work. One teacher made a pot in the shape of a blueberry muffin as a holiday gift for her husband, and another made a free-form coil pot which was inspired by undersea life. “It was truly a fun, creative, and relaxing way to end the week and spend time with colleagues,” said one modern language teacher, “and clay is such a soothing medium to work with!” A follow up glazing session will be held the first week in December so that the artists can add color and complete their creations. True community is an ideal of our school, and the pottery party is a great example of the many ways that our faculty and staff come to...

This morning, Saint David’s was fortunate to welcome Thomas Nazario, founder and president of The Forgotten International, a nonprofit organization that works to alleviate poverty, to speak to our seventh and eighth graders about his new book Living on a Dollar a Day: The Lives and Faces of the World’s Poor (Quantuck Lane Press, 2014) After being introduced by two of our seventh grade student council members, Mr. Nazario began by telling the boys about a seminal moment during his youth in Spanish Harlem;  how at 4 1/2 years of age he saw a mother and child going through the garbage for dinner on Thanksgiving Day, and how that experience left an imprint on him. He told the boys “If you love writing and have something to offer the world, you should do it.”  His new book addresses his work’s passion: in more than 200 photos and text, it tells stories of the world’s poor, the one-sixth of the world’s population that lives on a dollar a day or less. In preparation f...

Two 7th Grade boys, George and Aidan, helped present a special project at last week's ParentsAssociation meeting.  Both boys are presently members of 7 Theta, but the project, which was developed and taught by Brendan Hannon, was part of their 6th grade math class last spring. It was the culminating project of a geometry unit on calculating the volume and surface area of solids and a great example of innovative, integrated curriculum at Saint David's. Mr. Hannon, 6th Grade math teacher, challenged his students to design a city block that had a minimum volume of 150 square cm. The block must have a 10x10 cm “footprint” and have at least four buildings.  Buildings could be designed using any of the solids the boys had learned about in class. Boys then had to explain which solids they used, and show the calculations for each of their buildings.
 The procedure employed by Mr. Hannon had each of the boys create an account on tinkercad.com.  Once created, they ...

At Ellis Island Throughout the fall, our third graders have been studying late 19th and early 20th century immigration to this country and its impact on their city, state, and nation. This is an active unit involving extensive learning beyond the classroom, close examination of primary sources, and cultivation of creativity. It began in October when, after studying immigration history, trends and reasons in class, the boys visited Ellis Island where they explored primary sources and artifacts. Then just last week, the boys engaged in a Mock Ellis Island activity in which they assumed the identities of immigrants going through all the steps of immigration processing, from being interviewed by health, education, and character inspectors, to experiencing the thrill of being "admitted," to the disappointment of being "quarantined" or "deported." Immigrant undergoing processing during Mock Ellis Island. Next week, the boys will visit t...