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

Life and education are more about the questions rather than the answers.  Boys seek their truth; who they are, what inspires them, where they find that "spark." Under the classical ideal of balance, Saint David's program is driven by questions that guide and prompt our boys to look closer, dig deeper, and explore those spaces. This approach is evident in two signature experiences that recently culminated: the second-grade winter art unit done in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the eighth-grade Nightingale-Bamford Lectures on Art.  "What do you see?" "What are you wondering about?" asked three second grade "docents" this morning as they stood in front of Alex Katz's Blue Umbrella during a culminating event for parents and faculty at the Guggenheim Museum, which also included an exhibit of the boys' original artworks in the Museum's Rotunda. The boys this morning, confident and well prepared, were asking us ...

Providing our boys with opportunities to engage in meaningful projects with their peers from neighboring girls' schools engenders interpersonal competencies of collaboration, communication, and respect.  Last year, our eighth graders joined with their eighth-grade peers from Marymount School for an inaugural series of performance-oriented workshops on the iconic Shakespearean love story Romeo and Juliet, conducted by professional teaching artists and English and Drama faculty from both schools.  We also launched a new weekly theatre arts class for the schools' seventh and eighth graders, which has proven very popular and culminates in a co-production of one-act plays. In addition, both schools participated in a special project with Disney Theatricals to present the first reading of a new concert in development for licensing.  New this year is a collaboration with girls from The Spence School. When our Music Director Jeffrey Moore was asked to reach out to a girls' school...

The bus transporting our sixth graders back to school after their overnight trip to Frost Valley Camp in the Catskills arrived on 89th Street this afternoon filled with animated, happy - and, perhaps a bit tired and rumpled - boys who already were sharing stories from their first overnight experience as a class. Over two days, Frost Valley’s “Challenge with Choice” philosophy provided the boys the opportunity to challenge themselves by solving problems as a group and individually, while also emphasizing the importance of respecting individual differences. As the boys operated outside their comfort zones in various outdoor activities, including high-ropes courses, they learned to lean on and build trust with each other and to build confidence within themselves. Last month, over three days at The Pocono Environmental Education Center, our seventh graders conducted field work in forest and stream ecology, including wading in streams and collecting water and specimen samples, traversing hi...

The following article by Bradford Hardie and Sam Woolford appears in the latest issue of Saint David's Magazine. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.” A great deal has changed since 1954 when Reader’s Digest published Alan Beck’s essay, “What Is A Boy?”—a mere three years after the founding of Saint David’s School. What has not changed in the last seven decades is the exploratory nature of our boys. The idea that learning can be messy is a common thread in the hands-on learning experiences throughout the Fifth Grade science curriculum at Saint David’s, and it all begins with a question. In Fifth Grade science class in the fall, boys find themselves asking one question, over and over: “How can we make our work easier?” While the transition from Fourth Grade to Fifth can be a big challenge for some, this question is not about schoolwork. Fifth graders learn abou...

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 ...

Yesterday, the Yale Spizzwinks(?), America's oldest undergraduate a cappella group, provided a morning workshop and concert for Upper School boys. In the early morning Master Class with our Chamber Singers, the Spizzwinks(?) stressed the importance of a physical warm-up prior to singing: "You are your instrument." Soft/hard palates, explosive consonants, and solid advice about bringing a song to life rounded out the lesson. During the concert of jazz standards and contemporary songs that followed, these energetic young men and women wowed our boys with their wonderful singing, intricate harmonies, and hilarious stories. They told one famous story about their rivals from Harvard that the boys all loved. The concert closed with the Chamber Singers joining the Spizzwinks(?) onstage for a rendition of Let It Be (see video clip below), which they had workshopped together earlier that morning. Thrilled to share the stage with such a renowned group of singers, our boys were ins...

Our seventh graders have a longstanding tradition of participating in weekly visits to the Carnegie East House assisted living facility as part of our program of studies. Placed on hold during the pandemic, we received the green light to resume the trips this school year. Each Monday afternoon, the boys and their homeroom teachers walk over to Carnegie East House, where, in small groups, they engage with residents in a variety of activities. This past week's visit featured a trivia quiz game, "Name that Tune," and "Guess the Sport" charades. The boys and residents look forward to these experiences and, because they occur over a sustained period of time rather than as a one-off event, they are able to have more meaningful interactions as both groups get to know each other. At times, engaging with different people--some of whom may be experiencing challenges--is not easy for young people, but it leads to greater maturity, empathy, respect and, ultimately, that dee...