Resilience - Day 1 of Saint David's 70th Year

Day One of our 70th year; never in the past could we have imagined!

For this first day, half of our student/teacher population, the Theta group, came to school in-person, while our other cohort, Pi, attended school virtually. Tomorrow they will switch, and we look forward to welcoming our Pi students back to campus.

Today's in-person group wore face coverings, kept a safe distance from one another, and followed the stringent health and safety protocols we have implemented in accordance with CDC, NYDOH and NYCDOH guidelines. Yes, it was different; but also reassuring and exciting. The boys were happy - happy to be back with their friends and their teachers, beginning the cultivation or continuation of relationships vital for their academic and personal success. At the same time, the Pi cohort had the opportunity to gain some experience with our virtual model, as Theta will tomorrow. This familiarity will be helpful should we need to pivot to a virtual schedule at any point.

We are thankful to the faculty, staff and administration who worked so hard over the summer to do what's never been done before, and to our families for their ongoing support. We are fortunate to have the capacity to be able to bring all of the boys back, in person, starting this Wednesday for a year that will demonstrate and celebrate our community's resilience.

Resilience is that ability to bounce back, to swim not sink, to bend not break in the face of significant, sudden or unexpected challenge or change, hardship or struggle—like a tree in strong wind or shock absorbers on a bumpy ride. It demands flexibility, suppleness, a strong core, and a thick skin and requires the effective management of emotion with the apt employment of reason.

Forged from our mission’s call for each of our boys to develop “a strong sense of self-confidence”—a strong core—resilience, our school-wide theme this year, reminds us that to learn and to grow we must sometimes sacrifice or suffer, but to prevail, all we need to do is stay goal focused and use reason to work our way through.

The Romans of antiquity had a god for everything—rivers, lakes, trees, and seasons. One of my favorites is Janus, the two faced god. One of his faces perpetually looked backwards, to the past, ever aware of where he’d come from, of those who had come before. He knew that in any moment of hardship—whether war, economic downturn, or even pandemic—he could draw on their strength. His other face always looked ahead, to the future, comforted in his knowledge of the past, the legacies of his forebearers. He was not stuck wallowing in what was, but saw instead the opportunity and optimism presented by tomorrow. To the ancient Romans, Janus was the god of gates and doors.

Life is all about gates and doors—beginnings and endings, the crossing of thresholds. As we open the door and cross the threshold into Saint David’s 70th year, we do so with confidence and resilience!

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

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