Skip to main content

Special Sessions with Experts Close Out Year


To mark the closing weeks of a most unusual year, we have been fortunate to provide mission-focused virtual sessions for the Class of 2020 with Rob Sgarlata and Dr. Rita Kalyani, leaders in the sports and medical fields.

Last week, Rob Sgarlata, the head football coach of Georgetown University inspired our boys the Hoyas' way. Engaging each boy with animation, he counseled them on continuous improvement and how to deal with adversity or challenging situations. He advised boys to keep the numbers 1, 10, and 90 in mind: "Every morning you wake up, you want to get 1 percent better, every day." To be better today than you were yesterday and better still tomorrow, is something we reflect on often at Saint David's with our boys. He also reminded them that when adversity strikes, life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we react.

Sgarlata drew parallels between Georgetown's Jesuit philosophy and the mission of Saint David's, stressing the importance of  being a "man or woman for others."  Georgetown's embrace of the student-athlete, someone who appreciates the balance among athletics and academics, and who lives his life with integrity and concern for others, resonated deeply with our eighth graders as they follow our mission's call for balance in all things, to "be good men."

Today, the boys were visited virtually by Dr. Rita Kalyani, a doctor and medical researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Her message centered on the importance of knowing the facts about the fast-moving COVID-19 pandemic in the face of so much misinformation that has been spread about the disease.

Dr. Kalyani showed how effective masks were in preventing transmission of coronavirus, discussed herd immunity and epidemic curves, and noted promising research being conducted at Johns Hopkins into vaccines and clinical treatments.

The hospital's Senior Communications Specialist, Patrick Smith, joined Dr. Kalyani to talk to the boys about the ways in which Johns Hopkins works with the local and national media in order to share accurate, data-driven information--the impartial voice of science--with the general public.

The messages that both Sgarlata and Kalyani brought to our soon-to-be graduates reinforced mission-driven values our school holds dear: balance, rigorous academic pursuit, deliberate moral introspection, and critical analysis of ideas and issues. Thank you to our class parents for helping to arrange these exceptional experiences for our boys.


Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

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...
Read more

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. ...
Read more