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

Yesterday, the Saint David's community was honored to welcome Sean Hagerty '98, S.J., as speaker for our first ever virtual Alumni Homecoming and Chapel Talk.  Following September 11, 2001, Sean served his country as a soldier in Iraq, then worked in the corporate world until he "listened to the whisper" that called him to serve his faith. He is now in the ninth year of his journey toward the priesthood as a Jesuit. Sean's talk, shared below, addressed the suffering and loss presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and asked us to consider how we will tackle the challenges posed by the outbreak.   "How are we to be the 'good men' that our teachers at Saint David’s hoped we would become?" he asked. While Covid may be a devastating plague, Sean warned that the lack of civil discourse in our country is an even greater threat. "The ability to find consensus is vitally important to civil society," he said. " The question before us today is, h...

 Last night, we time traveled to East Fourth Street in the mid-19th century.   For our annual Alumni Parents Council cultural event, Saint David’s alumni and alumni parent community were treated to a virtual tour of The Merchant’s House Museum, led by Museum Historian and our very own Alumni Parents Council Co-Chair Ann Haddad P ’09, ’12. Annie provided a firsthand look at the domestic lives of the Tredwells, a wealthy merchant class family and their Irish servants who lived in this home, our nation’s first structure to receive national historic landmark status.   The tour was fascinating, taking us through the entire late-Federal and Greek Revival row house, featuring the “jewel box” parlor level with beautiful architectural details, furniture, and other personal belongings from the Tredwell family. Throughout the tour, Annie provided a glimpse into life in Old New York, when the city’s destiny was determined by its proximity to the seaport and its northern boundary stop...

School is not about answers, it's about questions—especially “why” questions we ask boys and they ask each other. "Why" targets the heart of any matter, it asks not for a simple response but for careful consideration, exploration, and reasoned analysis. At the core of inquiry is respect for difference; to be able to entertain a different perspective with an open mind. It was Aristotle who once wrote, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." It is with an open mind and intellectual curiosity that our boys can critically analyze ideas and issues. In a recent publication of  Saint David's Magazine ,  History Curriculum Chair Joe Shapiro addresses this in his piece entitled: "Exploring Others' Perspectives in History's Lessons and Questions." The article demonstrates our widely used Socratic seminar approach -- in this example employed during a sixth grade history unit on the Hamilton/...

(Click to view full Chapel Talk) This morning, Lower School Librarian Gretchen King delivered a virtual Chapel talk that she said had been in her mind since the beginning of the pandemic. Joined in song by Building Services Engineer William Best and accompanied on the piano by Music Teacher Meg Myette, she shared one of her favorite inspirational songs, "Through It All."   The personal experiences shared during our morning Chapels give boys tools to navigate life's challenges with courage, integrity, humility, and gratitude.  Gretchen reminded us that we can draw strength from gratitude, faith, and trust even in the most troubling of times. Thank you, Ms. King, Mr. Best and Ms. Myette for inspiring us this morning.

A silver lining in this pandemic has been not only that our boys are attending school in person but how much they are thriving in their classes. I think everyone was a bit circumspect at the beginning of this school year, wondering just what it would be like and what it would feel like to be in school in such an unusual way.  Would boys be able to adhere to the PPE and distancing protocols? How would they relate with their teachers , to each other? The reality is that the teacher/student relationship, so essential to boys' learning, is cementing more quickly than ever. Within small pod groups with an average of nine students per pod, teachers have been able to devote more time to each individual boy and to cultivate trust and connection. Seven weeks into this school year, those relationships are where they would normally be after several more weeks. The boys are happy, they are learning subject matter, how to think critically, creatively, and analytically, they are exercising and p...

I would like to share this article from the current issue of  Saint David's Magazine about a signature interdisciplinary learning experience our fifth graders had last fall and winter with the Metropolitan Opera, which culminated in their original mini opera production: "A Hero's Journey." The article is written by Alexis Aoyama, Assistant Headmaster, Head of Upper School. As we began to settle into our new facility in 2018, new programmatic opportunities emerged. Through a connection of a Saint David’s parent and a long-time supporter of the arts, Music Curriculum Chair Jeff Moore and I met with Marsha Drummond, the Director of Education at Metropolitan Opera. An introductory meeting quickly turned into an exciting brainstorming session, leaving us energized by the possibilities for collaboration. Over the next ten months, our faculty team and the educational team at Met Opera worked together to plan a signature learning experience which would begin in September and ...

We are beginning week five of all in-person learning and it has been an absolute joy to have the boys and their teachers back at school where they belong, thriving, and happy. The sights, sounds, and spark of young boys' learning buzz around us, albeit at a distance of at least six feet. Last week our Pre-K boys were farmers for the day, driving "tractors" to their class pumpkin patch in our backyard, riding a "cow," and sharing stories about farm life -- fortunate to be able to engage in active learning activities with each other.   Eighth graders, embarking on their micro/macro exploration of human anatomy, dissected cow eyes and learned how to become adept with the tools that surgeons use, via a virtual session with one of their classmate's parents, who is a surgeon. Dr. Decorato introduced the boys to their instruments —probe, forceps, scalpel, surgical scissors—and directed them in the purposes and proper grip for each, using...