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

During this unprecedented time of social separation, we look for opportunities to enable students to come together with others beyond their pandemic-mandated cohorts, to foster community.    This spring, Saint David’s partnered with George Jackson Academy and the Buckley School to host a virtual book club for the schools’ graduating classes. The book club selection, New Kid, is a graphic novel by Jerry Craft that relays the story of a seventh grader’s experiences upon enrolling in a new private school and the variety of challenges moving to a new school present.   The boys in all three schools began their discussions about this book from a similar shared experience: looking forward to graduation and the transition to a new secondary school. As the discussions unfolded in small-group breakout sessions (the boys met three times over two weeks), they delved deeper into their individual feelings and thoughts, and shared their various perspectives. Beginning with similarities ...

Discipline, mentorship, creativity, teamwork, and loyalty are five of the “Ten Commandments of a Chef” that world-renowned, award-winning restaurateur and Chef Daniel Boulud discussed during our Seventh Grade Father/Son event on Wednesday, April 14. For this annual tradition, our boys and their fathers or father figures gather for dinner and to engage with an author who provides insightful, inspiring messages that resonate with the school’s mission. The evening celebrates the very special and vital connection between father, or any paternal influence (granddad, grandmother, family friend) and son at a pivotal moment as our boys prepare to enter their graduating year at Saint David’s. Chef Boulud based his talk on his book Letters to a Young Chef, written to inspire young people interested in pursuing a culinary arts career. The letters advance universal advice on how to successfully pursue one’s passion and purpose. Most important, Chef Boulud encouraged our boys to be optimistic a...

Above: The Nerf microphone ball enables boys learning remotely to hear their classmates well. The pandemic has challenged educators to reinvent and reimagine units of study to keep learning engaging, regardless of how it is delivered. The following article, written for Saint David’s Magazine by our Modern Languages Chair Dr. Victoria Gilbert and Lower School Spanish teacher Flor Berman, addresses how this was done in the Spanish immersion language program at Saint David's. Ms. Berman and Dr. Gilbert, recipient of the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers' Ruth E. Wasley Distinguished Teacher Award, presented on the topic at NYSAIS’s Flexible Classroom Conference last summer. How Spanish Classes Have Bounced Back Resiliency implies an ability to bounce back, but as teachers working with the youngest learners in the school, we would reframe resiliency as the opportunity to reimagine. Whether boys are learning through a face-to-face experience or through the med...