Saint David's Environmental Awareness and Action Committee Continues Tremendous Efforts

Several years ago, Saint David's Environmental Action and Awareness Committee (EAAC) was founded by art chair Jenna Boccella. A Faculty/Staff volunteer-run organization, the group sought to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint, both individually and school-wide; thereby making Saint David's as environmentally conscious as possible. Over the years, efforts have targeted paper, plastic and energy use.

Following a COVID-hiatus, the group instituted a new recycling initiative for the 2021-22 school year, one which encouraged our community to enhance paper and plastic compost habits and to practice sustainability whenever and wherever possible. Reduce and reuse are two primary points that we want to drive home, and then after those two options have been exhausted, we aim to recycle. A Recycling Challenge was called in which homerooms and offices vied to be identified as most successful in their recycling efforts.

The plan was so well received and successfully integrated that this year we took a next step in limiting the food waste that ends up in landfills by instituting a school-wide composting program. Each day at the end of lunch, boys deposit their leftover food waste into clearly marked food waste bins, which our composting vendor picks up curbside five days a week.

I would like to commend the leadership of the faculty and staff in making this venture possible: Ms. Boccella, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Binaco, and many others have brought this concept to life. Our collective hope is for the success of last year's Recycling Challenge to be just the start of good practice becoming good habit. We want to maintain the enthusiasm by ensuring that our boys make it student-driven and student-led; that they are mindful about the impact that small actions can have on a greater good.

Please click on the video below for a demonstration by Mr. Donnelly, who shows how to use each of the colored bins at school to properly reduce, reuse, recycle:

Thank you, Saint David's community, for your hard work and continued practice in helping the planet and one another!

www.saintdavids.org

Resilience in the Teaching of Languages

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

The Role of Faith in Social-Emotional Learning and Psychological Well-Being

The following article by our School Psychologist, Dr. Michael Schwartzman, appears in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine : During one of my first observations in a Saint David’s classroom 15 years ago, I witnessed two first grade boys in a verbal altercation. Although it was contained just between the two boys, their observant teacher had them talk it through and then shake hands on being in a better place for having done so. I was very impressed, and still am, with this approach that the school takes many times throughout the day. It helps establish a firm idea of how to behave, especially in social situations where emotions can be stirred and run high. Through this experience repeated consistently day in and day out, better, more productive ways of engaging become increasingly integrated by the boys as they develop socially and emotionally in interaction with each other. As the School Psychologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about the touch points for student and t

Storytelling Demonstrates Understanding

Their time had arrived. As the lights dimmed in our Otto-Bernstein Theatre, the astrophysicists, a mix of jitters and excitement, awaited their opportunity to share insights and stories about the workings of the universe. Which planets might support life? Is there water on Mars? What are Dwarf Planets? "Let's take a look at our closest neighbor, Venus," invited one presenter, before revealing that the planet - while ideal in proximity - has surface temperatures of 900 degrees F: "Imagine - standing on the surface would be like being burned alive!" Later that same day, in our Graham lunchroom, early 20th century immigrants of all ages from Italy, China, Ireland, Russia, among other countries, waited, with hope and determination, their turn to be interviewed for admittance to America. It wasn't going to be easy. They would be asked pointed, potentially life-altering questions by various processors. "What's that cough? It doesn't sound good,&qu

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

Search This Blog