Jim Sciutto's Zoom Master Class with Eighth Graders for Alumni Parents Council Lecture

"It's the mission that is the lesson that sticks in your mind the most," Jim Sciutto told our eighth graders. " It's the values that you take away from your school that will serve you and be most influential in your life. As much as you can live the values, you will be doing the right thing."

Author, award-winning CNN anchor, and Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto led a virtual Zoom lecture and Q&A session with our boys during Monday's Alumni Parents Council Lecture, offering lessons on how to find life work that is fulfilling and meaningful.

Mr. Sciutto fascinated our soon-to-be graduates with stories of his experiences as an international reporter in Asia and the Middle East: from covering Afghanistan post 9/11 to being embedded with a convoy of Marines in Iraq, and reporting inside Myanmar during that country's government crisis.

(Three boys were not present at the time photo was taken.)

Our boys learned that Mr. Sciutto's desire to be a reporter was born from watching the evening news with his parents, his mother's occupation as a journalist, and a simple post-college "spark" to go overseas. He wanted to see and learn about different places; this led to work as a reporter in Hong Kong, and later to ABC and CNN.

Mr. Sciutto expressed his hope that in whatever careers our eighth graders pursue, they will strive to make a difference, and urged them to be driven by Saint David's mission and values ("That they be good men"). He observed that he regularly draws guidance from the similar mission of his own alma mater, Regis ("Men for others"). Twenty-five of our Saint David's alumni are currently at Regis, continuing a storied tradition!

In addition to focusing on mission, Mr. Sciutto encouraged our boys to be flexible and to try different things: "It's in the doing and trying that you discover what you want to do in life."

It was an honor to have Mr. Sciutto on hand to share his insights and inspire the next generation of truth seekers at East 89th Street as they continue their lifelong pursuit of knowledge of the world.

Thank you also to our Alumni Parents Council Co-Chairs, Annie Haddad and Winnie Feng, and to Dr. Tori Gilbert and John C. Dearie '95 for bringing this event to fruition.

Saint David's is fortunate to have a strong community and an alumni parent body that is deeply involved in building and nurturing it.

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David O'Halloran, Headmaster - Saint David's School, New York City

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