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

The following article " Excel - Shaping Ethical Leaders " by Ali Aoyama, Assistant Headmaster/Head of Upper School, appears in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine. There comes a moment—perhaps you have witnessed it yourself—when a boy, without prompting, holds the door open for someone who is struggling, sits beside a classmate playing alone, or quietly speaks up when something is unfair, even when staying silent would have been easier. These moments don’t happen by accident. They are the product of years of intentional formation. Ethical leadership is not a trait you are born with. It is a practice, built through daily choices, meaningful relationships, and a school culture that consistently asks boys to consider not just what is best for themselves, but what is right for everyone around them.  Learning to Lead by Learning to Follow One of our most distinctive features at Saint David’s is the way we structure relationships across age groups. Throughout our progra...

It is a beautiful late summer day brimming with the anticipation, excitement, and joy that each "first day" brings. As we begin the second half of our 75th anniversary celebration, and Saint David's 76th school year,  I'd like to share excerpts from my opening letter in which I explore this year's school-wide theme:"tradition."  People often ask, why do Saint David’s boys still read Homer and Shakespeare? Why do boys spend so much time with Michelangelo, Raphael, and Artemisia Gentileschi; with Bach and Mozart; Einstein and Archimedes; with the history of ideas? Why are they required to study Latin? Why do we still teach handwriting? Why do we insist every boy play sports every day, whether or not he becomes a varsity athlete? And that every boy experience vocal, drama, strings, percussion, and bells, regardless of whether he joins a performing ensemble? Why do we ask boys to serve the greater common good, every year of their education? Why, in this secu...

As the capstone to their spring semester, our eighth graders take on the Αρχω (ARCO) competition—named for the Greek word meaning “to begin something from something, to step out, to lead.” It’s a fitting title for a challenge that asks each boy to look back at what he’s learned and use it to create something entirely new, entirely his own.   The interdisciplinary experience blends scholarship with history, art, analysis, and rhetoric. First, each boy studies a work of art by a modern artist of his choice, writes a brief biography of the artist and a reflection on the process he used to create his original homage, and shares the meaning or message that his work seeks to portray. Often these reflect where the boys are in their lives at this time, grateful for their years spent with classmates and teachers, excited - perhaps a bit nervous - to be on the brink of something new. In the final stage of the project, boys present their work and rationale to a panel of judges made up of prof...

Each spring, our eighth graders eagerly take to the stage in pairs to engage in structured competitive debates about pressing public health issues that raise complex ethical questions. Consider a few from this year: Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in American professional sports leagues. The U.S.  should invest in new nuclear energy facilities for the sake of public health.  Social media companies should ban the use of their products by children younger than 16 years of age to preserve their mental health.  The actual debate comes at the end of a learning process that begins with the boys framing questions, picking sides, doing research on a timely and relevant public health issue, and practicing various debating strategies. As they research, argue, and reflect on complicated public health issues, they learn to think critically, speak persuasively, and grapple respectfully and thoughtfully with opposing viewpoints. In their opening statements, arguments, reb...

“Volunteering with second graders in the Horizons program has been one of the best experiences of my life.“  — Garrett R., Saint David’s Class of ’23.  “Horizons is a community where you are encouraged to be curious, where everyone can develop their confidence.”  — Mohammad O., Horizons Class of ’21 Garrett, a rising senior at Westminster School, and Mohammad, who is pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, recently addressed attendees at the 15th anniversary spring celebration of Horizons at Saint David’s. The celebration honored our Founders Circle of 25 families, individuals, and foundations whose generosity and commitment have been instrumental to the launch and continued success of this program.  Fifteen years ago, during our 60th anniversary, we had asked ourselves what Saint David’s School could do institutionally to serve the greater good beyond our internal community. This was the impetus for ...

 Are you a skeptic, a blind adopter, or somewhere in between?  As parents and educators, we are particularly concerned about and invested in how AI technology should or should not be used by our children. What does the “right” use of AI entail - when, where, why, and how?  At Saint David’s, we are approaching AI use in education through the same critical thinking, values-centered lens that guides all our decision making. How can we ensure that values such as integrity, honesty, hard work, and relational learning guide our approach to AI? Given that young minds are developing, how can AI be used wisely and appropriately so that the foundation of learning is preserved and critical thinking cultivated? A critical thinking approach requires not moving quickly in this space, but slowly, carefully, and with intention. Such intentionality aligns with our incorporation of technology across our academic program: its use is restricted to when it materially enhances and deepens lea...

Each year, our seventh-grade boys and their fathers or father figures gather for a special evening event at school: The Father/Son Book Talk. The evening features a distinguished speaker/author who delivers an inspirational talk related to our school mission or theme. This year’s theme, “excel,” was the perfect fit for our featured speaker, Ms. Carla Harris.  Ms. Harris is Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley, where she has managed and executed billions of dollars of equity and equity related transactions, a successful Gospel recording artist who has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater, and a popular public speaker. In 2013, she was appointed by President Obama to chair the National Women’s Business Council. She is also the author of Expect to Win (2009), Strategize to Win (2014) and Lead to Win (2022) .  Inspired early in life by her grandmother’s advice to "give her all" to every endeavor, no matter the size, and her father’s loving exhortation to “make sur...

In the following  Wisdom Within post, Visiting TBI Scholar Dr. Ric Campbell continues his blog series on our faculty’s reflective practice program. This entry explores how three Saint David's teachers collaborated to build "self regulated" students: "expert learners who take increasing control over their learning while participating as respectful, caring members of their classroom learning community." LEARNING AS DELIBERATE PRACTICE “If schools are going to help all students become expert learners, the metacognitive capabilities of learners must be acknowledged, cultivated, and exploited. Students must be actively engaged in their own learning and knowledge building; they must be able to effectively direct their personal quest for knowledge and skills, to judge for themselves whether they understand, and to know what to do when they need more information.”  [1] Perhaps the two most important outcomes of learning across the rich and varied curriculum at Saint Dav...

Imagine being 13 or 14 years old, standing before any one of a number of architectural masterpieces in Italy and teaching your peers about it.  Our eighth graders did this and so much more during their just completed 10-day Italian Study Tour of Assisi, Florence, and Rome. The trip provided the opportunity for the boys to visit in-situ the actual paintings, sculpture, and architectural sites they have studied and researched in their art history class. At each site, they deepened their understanding through reflective journaling and sketching what they saw. Some examples: At Santa Croce, an eighth grader teaches his classmates about the Niccolo Matas, the Jewish architect who designed the basilica's facade: “You can see the Star of David at the top of the Church, despite it being Franciscan.”   At ll Duomo, a boy shares the design considerations that went into constructing Filippo Brunelleschi's dome: "They used an octagon shape and ribs to help support and distribute the ...

On February 5, 1951, one teacher welcomed four young boys through the black doors of a new  independent elementary school's single building at 12 East 89th Street in New York City. Today, Saint David's School welcomes more than 400 boys each day to a campus comprising six contiguous buildings and more than130 faculty and staff. The week of February 2, 2026, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of that first school day.  Colorful balloons set the stage on Monday for a festive Founders’ Week that featured celebratory activities for everyone: an all-grades anniversary trivia competition – (Congratulations to J.S.’26 whose knowledge of Saint David’s history earned him an 8/10 score.), anniversary t-shirt, poster-size all-school photo, Saint David’s Birthday Cake at lunch, and a custom cookie to close out the week.  And, our anchor events  –  the 75th Jubilee celebratory mass and Parents Association’s Excelsior Benefit – were testaments to the deep bonds that unite our...