Welcome from the Headmaster
“Ut viri boni sint” is complex in its simplicity. We all want our sons to be “good men,” but what does that mean? What do we as parents and educators need to do to achieve this important goal and in so doing fulfill this aspiration of our school’s founders? The answer lies in another of the school’s important ideals: balance.
Saint David’s School has a long tradition framed by the classical notion of “balance in all things.” Here, balance is achieved by providing a well-rounded education that focuses on four pillars: Academics, Athletics, Aesthetics, and Spirituality. Whether demonstrating intellectual commitment and scholarship in a literature or science class, honoring the game on the athletic field, portraying a character with sensitivity on the stage, or reaching out to those in need, a Saint David’s boy is always encouraged to find “the good,” to find the strength within and to rise to the highest levels of personal commitment and achievement.
Reaching for these higher ideals and fulfilling this classical tradition of balance in the pursuit of knowledge and a greater understanding of the world around them are the exciting challenges we face at Saint David’s. Many schools provide views of their campuses to guide parents in their choices. For Saint David’s our campus is as varied and interesting as the world itself.
Whether it be performing in the Otto-Bernstein Theatre, running the Reservoir in Central Park, mounting hundreds of steps in the Duomo of Florence, or analyzing Egyptian art at the Metropolitan or the stars at the Museum of Natural History, Saint David’s boys are citizens of a much wider campus. The unique location of the school and its commitment to learning beyond the narrow confines of a classroom or textbook combine to enrich and elevate the hearts, minds and souls of our boys.
In the same way that the spiral staircase of the original school building winds upward through the school, these ideals are imbedded in the school’s culture and provide for the formation of the character of our boys. Through rigorous scholarship, a commitment to ethical behavior, a respect for and appreciation of difference and a thorough understanding of what responsible membership in a community means, our boys do indeed distinguish themselves as young men of “ideas and ideals, action and reflection” and aspire to meet the challenge presented by our school’s mission “… that they be good men.”
Leading the school community in fulfillment of our mission is exciting, rewarding, and thoroughly enjoyable. I look forward to seeing you in the year to come!
Respectfully yours,
P. David O'Halloran, Ph.D.
Headmaster