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.

The Wisdom Within - A Matter of Trust

The Teaching Boys Initiative (TBI) is a cornerstone of Saint David’s School’s strategic vision, aimed at developing a robust framework of evidence-based best practices in boys’ education. The initiative’s primary goal is to empower educators with the knowledge, skills, habits, and dispositions of reflective practitioners, enhancing their professional growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning for boys. In TBI's new quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," our faculty share stories that inform, inspire, and encourage reflective practice using evidence-based approaches in teaching and learning for boys. The following inaugural entry, "A Matter of Trust," was written by reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Tom Ryan, who has been inspiring generations of Saint David's boys for more than 53 years. A MATTER OF TRUST …but, I digress. I cannot possibly begin any writing piece, and/or class, without some digression that, as I have said to my s...

Jack Mullin '12 : Reflections on a Mom's Love

The Chapel talk tradition at Saint David's provides faculty and alumni with the opportunity to share with our boys meaningful and inspiring personal stories: their experiences, lessons learned, challenges overcome. The annual Fifth Grade Mother-Son Chapel gathers our fifth-grade boys and their mothers or mother figures for a special shared pre-Mother's Day experience; a Chapel Talk by a young alumnus who reflects upon the role his mother has played in his life. This year, we welcomed former Student Council President Jack Mullin '12. Jack's family has deep roots with school. His older brother Patrick graduated in '08 and his dad, Terry, in 1973. Jack's talk centered on the impact both his alma mater and his mother, Immy, have had on his development into the man he is today. Below are excerpts that I would like to share: "My family's multi-generational lineage is a testament to the incredible sense of community Saint David’s fosters, and I too hope I have...

Strong Values

You can feel it in the air: the indescribable yet readily recognizable excitement of the start of a new school year - in our boys, teachers, families, administrators, and staff. Below, I share excerpts from my opening letter that speak to our 2024-25 school-wide theme, "Strong Values:" "To-morrow I cease to be a puppet, and I become a boy like you and all the other boys."* We teach boys. That’s what we do. And we want our boys to think for themselves. And we want that thinking to be rooted in and guided by “strong values”—our school-wide theme this year, found in the last line of the mission’s second paragraph. In keeping with the school’s classical tradition, these strong values are shaped at Saint David’s by the cardinal and theological virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage, along with faith, hope, and charity. To many Western philosophers, possession of these virtues makes a person good, happy, and thriving. Something we want for all of our sons. ...

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

Search This Blog