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

How quickly and dramatically our world has changed since the beginning of this school year. No one could have imagined back then that today we would be implementing a distance learning program for our boys, while facing such challenging, stressful times. Our first "virtual" school day went exceptionally well, with just a few bumps on a heretofore untraveled road. Much gratitude is due our faculty, staff and administrators who spent their spring breaks mastering new technology platforms for instruction and adapting existing curriculum in innovative, creative ways that are the mark of a Saint David's educator. Their efforts honor the integrity of our program, keeping it as whole as possible. I feel incredibly fortunate to be working alongside such a talented and dedicated team. Institutions are tested in times of crisis and tend to rise or fall as a result. Saint David’s will rise. While our boys may not physically be in their classrooms with their classmates and o...

Here at Pasquale’s Rigoletto on Arthur Avenue, the Class of 2020 enjoys Italian cuisine before touring The Cloisters. A great way to spend a New York Friday in lieu of a Roman one.

On Friday evening, our PA Benefit took us "Behind the Mask."  The festivities at the iconic Plaza were remarkable in every way: the arresting and inventive decor, the on-point video, the lively auction, and the spirit of our "true community" coming together to celebrate the importance of respect for our true selves. In a fast paced and competitive world, we can often feel pressure to be someone we aren't. At times we may don emotional masks that obscure our true selves. As challenging as this may be for us, it is even more so for our sons. Let’s continue to build a community where our sons can be accepted and celebrated for who they are, not who we wish they were. 1 Standing in this truth, our boys will find not only respect for themselves and each other, but also discover beauty in a life lived authentically. Behind the Mask was made possible through the devotion of a legion of parents working over a multitude of months. On behalf of a grateful co...

How do you really know how someone else, with different upbringing and life experiences thinks and feels? How can empathy be cultivated? It is not easy. Respect lies in the heart of a good man, and empathy lies at the heart of respect. In order to cultivate a healthy understanding and appreciation for difference, we must learn to view the world through others' eyes, feel their experience, walk in their shoes. One of many ways that schools can help cultivate empathy is through inventive programming that enables students to see the world through different lenses, to become the "other." Our third graders have been stepping into the shoes of immigrants as they learn about immigration in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. They visit Ellis Island and the Tenement Museum, and work with our art history partners from the New-York Historical Society on a collage and letter writing project that explores immigrants' emotions and experiences. The unit culminat...

William Burke '10 returned to Saint David's this morning to speak to our fifth graders and their moms or special friends about the mother-son relationship. Will, a graduate of Regis and Georgetown who works as an Analyst at BlackRock, reminded our boys of the instrumental role their moms play in myriad aspects of their daily lives. Using the experience of boys who play hockey as an example, he observed, "Mom is always there, she's your gear sponsor, your Uber to the games, rooting you on during the game and waiting afterward with donuts and hot chocolate." Win or lose, a son's biggest fan is his mom. As he referenced our school's mission, Will remarked, " Ut viri boni sint  (that they be good men)  are beautiful words, but how do we learn to be a good man?" He noted that the boys can learn from teachers, coaches, and other students, while adding that they receive vital wisdom, support, and guidance from their mothers. "Behind e...

Dr. Derrick Gay , internationally recognized consultant on issues of global citizenship, diversity and inclusion, ran several workshops for our community this week. Tuesday, he met with our boys in Grades Three through Eight for sessions focused on the cultivation of empathy, which built on previous equity and inclusion work in Sophrosyne classes . Discussions drew from the boys' exploration of intent and impact, and how personal identity can affect the impact of words. The boys applied this framework as they considered: What is the difference between intent vs. impact? Is one more important than the other? How can we recognize and stop harmful and unkind jokes?  Dr. Gay also spoke with our parent community and faculty/staff, presenting the latest research highlighting educator, parent, and caregiver perceptions regarding the degree to which young children are aware of differences - ranging from gender and socioeconomics to family configuration and race - relative to w...

Yesterday, in celebration of Saint David's Founders' Day, I told in chapel the story of the school’s founding--February 5, 1951--by ten audacious families. I then shared with the boys our school’s 60 th  Anniversary Founders' Day initiatives: to do for others what our founders did for us. Nine years into these initiatives,  Horizons at Saint David’s  and the Ethiopia Project have matured and blossomed. The school in Kalina, Ethiopia, opened in 2014. Ranging from pre-primary to Grade 8, it now has approximately 430 elementary age boys and girls, close to the size of Saint David's. This coming Monday, I’ll be flying our Student Council President, Finn H., along with his father, to Ethiopia. Finn will represent the boys of Saint David’s and will officially open our second school, in Ala'sa. While there, we will also visit Saint David’s Kalina School. Both Ala'sa and Kalina are small rural communities in the northern province of Tigray. The following is an ...