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

Recently, a large group of Horizons at Saint David's supporters gathered in the backyard for the program's annual spring party. The weather was sunny and warm, and everyone's spirits, high. As I spoke with the various attendees, the Saint David's alumni, parents of alumni, volunteers, teachers, and administrators, what struck me most was the sense of community, enthusiasm, and shared values. The Horizons six-week summer program, now in its twelfth year, provides academic support, arts, music, sports, swimming instruction, and field trips to boys in rising first through ninth grades from schools in Saint David's neighborhood, who otherwise wouldn't have these kinds of opportunities in the summer. As Horizons at Saint David’s Executive Director Nicole Ransone succinctly expressed in her welcoming remarks, “Our mission remains the same: to eradicate summer slide and have boys feel successful and prepared for school in September. Our vision is a future where every c...

The Chapel talk tradition at Saint David's provides faculty and alumni with the opportunity to share with our boys meaningful and inspiring personal stories: their experiences, lessons learned, challenges overcome. The annual Fifth Grade Mother-Son Chapel gathers our fifth-grade boys and their mothers or mother figures for a special shared pre-Mother's Day experience; a Chapel Talk by a young alumnus who reflects upon the role his mother has played in his life. This year, we welcomed former Student Council President Jack Mullin '12. Jack's family has deep roots with school. His older brother Patrick graduated in '08 and his dad, Terry, in 1973. Jack's talk centered on the impact both his alma mater and his mother, Immy, have had on his development into the man he is today. Below are excerpts that I would like to share: "My family's multi-generational lineage is a testament to the incredible sense of community Saint David’s fosters, and I too hope I have...

The following article, by alumnus Luke Dolan '19, appears in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine: Every morning I would start off with a coffee and then commute to work. By the time I arrived at the Red Cross building in Midtown, there would be a line of asylum-seekers stretching down 49th Street and onto 10th Avenue; many had been camping on the street since midnight in the hope of receiving an appointment at our overcrowded Asylum Application Help Center. I had the privilege of helping those lucky enough to navigate the NYC appointment scheduling system with their asylum cases. My days were spent interviewing refugees and organizing their accounts into a clear narrative for their asylum application. The process was simple: I would speak to an asylum-seeker about their reasons for fleeing their country, translate their story from Spanish to English, chronologically organize their experiences, then write a narrative for their application.  The work was incredibly demand...

Tyler Holder '14's recent Chapel talk to our seventh and eighth graders was an inspiring personal story about the capacity we all possess to change for the good. In his younger years, school didn’t come easily to Tyler, and he described some of his struggles. Tyler then shared how, with the guidance of caring teachers, administrators, coaches, family and most importantly, his own determination, he decided to change. In particular, he recalled the caring but strong connections and conversations he‘d had with teachers, coaches and administrators in his sixth-grade year, which led to his resolve to change course. He successfully turned it around, graduating from Saint David's, followed by Kent ('18), where he served as President of the Student Council and Tufts ('22), where he graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Political Science and Government. He currently is employed in the field of international relations. A few years after his college graduation, while teaching E...

I would like to share the following article, which is featured in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine. In it, John C. Dearie '95 provides lessons learned from the introduction of television to critically examine the impact of social media today, especially with respect to kindnes s.  After hearing that kindness would be the school year’s theme, I immediately began thinking about possible Chapel Talks which would capture the theme and connect it to the boys’ daily lives. Seeking inspiration, I began scouring my “go to source” for all things content and information: the Internet. Once online, I found a video, a TikTok video to be precise. I watched it several times. The video was hosted by @Julian de Medeiros. Now, to qualify. I have not fact checked the video or done a deep dive on the host’s background. But, the content of the video itself is what is most important here. He spoke of the author Tolstoy and his take on kindness. After a number of views, I took a proverbia...

The eighth grade's annual Italian Study Tour - 10 days exploring Assisi, Florence, and Rome - is a longstanding capstone experience for our graduating class and their teachers. The trip, which takes place each year during the two weeks prior to spring break, provides the opportunity for our boys to visit in-situ the actual paintings, sculpture, and architectural sites they have studied all year in their art history class. At each site, they deepen their understanding through reflective journaling and sketching what they see. This year, our flight landed in Rome on Tuesday morning, March 5. The day was a beauty. We headed straight to the medieval city of Assisi, for a visit to the Basilica of Saint Francis. The setting of this beautiful village against the Umbrian hillside is breathtaking, humbling, and inspiring. We concluded our Assisi visit with lunch at Enoteca San Pietro, the first of several delicious meals we would share over the next ten days. The Study Tour continued with f...

A key element of the Teaching Boys Initiative includes Saint David’s collaboration with leading scholars in the education of boys. This year, the school launched its visiting scholars program, welcoming psychologist Dr. Michael Reichert , one of the world’s leading experts on boys’ education. Dr. Reichert has been working in small groups with our faculty around a relational teaching framework for boys, and has been the featured speaker at events for our parents, faculty, and prospective families. Saint David’s Magazine sat down with Dr. Reichert to discuss his research and experience at the school. In your workshops with our faculty, what has impressed you; what observations have you made? Two things: one is that your headmaster, both intellectually and spiritually, already recognizes the powerful role that relationship plays in helping boys grow and become their best selves. Having already established that relationship is at the center of what differentiates Saint David’s School; the...