Saint David's School

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…It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas - at Saint David’s!🎄

A Saint David’s Tradition: Alumni and Alumni Parents Christmas Gathering - Check your inbox for your personal invitation, RSVP and join us tomorrow evening.

PS: Our wonderful school store will be on hand with all of the latest Saint David’s items for the holiday season! 🎁

I love this technique for decorating!!!🥰😍

As we look towards 2025, join our official Saint David’s School social media community of 2,800+ members on Instagram

📍A Saint David's education encourages the pursuit of uncovering passions and talents; fulfilling that very potential is a mission-centric theme for our graduates to carry forward. For years, Michael Kourakos '20 has held an appreciation for photography, one that is rooted from his days at East 89th Street. Now a high school junior, his interests are vast - he has even joined a crew team, and his boat placed 2nd overall in a state competition. However, the versatile talent has found that it is his hobby behind the camera that has spurred his artistic interest as a visual storyteller. "This past Christmas, I was able to visit Kenya to take photos of animals and tributes in their natural lands," Kourakos shared. "The Massai people (as featured in our photo gallery) are the most prominent tribe in the region." A Nilotic ethnic group, they are entirely nomadic. "I witnessed them wandering in bands...they follow the rains, so they are never settle in one place for very long...A remarkable fact about them (the Massai) is that although they have the choice and agency to incorporate technology into their lives, they choose to stay with nature and only rely on their surroundings because it is in line with their traditions." He also expressed that in communicating with people of such cultural differences, he was able to find commonalities through patience and showing care. "In one instance, I shared a cookie - it was amazing to see their faces light up as they tasted it, and in return i could see them trust me." In conclusion, Kourakos was struck by the day-to-day expectations of teenage boys within the tribe. "To see how they handled their responsibilities was fantastic. I can't imagine taking on what so many of them have to do."

Cover photo: As seen on top of a 14,000-foot peak, in full gear, Kourakos completed an 11-day hike. "A great shot is almost entirely dependent on being in the right place at the right time." Where will the next journey take this young explorer? Stay tuned.

📍Saint David’s Honors Tradition ➡️ We are all still thinking about the overwhelming outpour of love and admiration that our community showed for our five retirees (Kim Davidson, Paul Ondreicka, Gisele Rappaport, Jorge Roman, and Miriam O’Regan Roman). Indeed, last week’s ‘Spring Gathering’ is one which will be remembered forever. Representing nearly 140 years of service to Saint David’s School, each of them has made an indelible mark that will carry on in within the fabric of Saint David’s for decades to come.

📍Saint David’s Spring Gathering is only TWO weeks away! Can you imagine the alumni turnout to follow? 🔥

On this ‘preview’ occasion, we to the 2019 wedding of Christopher Wirth ‘04, as seen in this photo from Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Did you know that nearly a dozen SD classmates were on hand for the celebration? Indeed, several faces we hope to see return to campus on the 16th are right here! Text a friend tonight and RSVP for your Saint David’s return.

Photo: Special Class of 2004 shoutout to our Alumnus of the Year Luke Jenkins, John Amodeo, John Bloemsma, Russell Frelinghuysen, Nicholas Williams, Amir Sharif-Emami, Burke Wendt, Will Keesee, and Mark Eck. See you all very soon. 🎉

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The Acquisition of 15 East 88th Street - The Fourth and final Cutting Townhouse

May 26, 2022

Dear Saint David’s Community,

They say that luck is the residue of design, and throughout the history of Saint David’s, our boys have benefited from those with the wisdom to make the best of both. The confluence of luck and design propelled our first expansion in 1953, from our single building at 12 East 89th Street, the first of four townhouses comprising the Delano and Aldrich-designed Cutting Family compound, into the two adjacent Cutting townhouses, Numbers 14 and 16. Inspired design struck again in 1972 when, anticipating that the school’s needs would once again evolve, the school had the foresight to acquire Graham House, which now provides our boys with a STEAM suite, performance space and athletic facilities second to none in our City.

Fifty years later, unprecedented opportunity and prescient foresight have converged to launch the next exciting chapter in Saint David’s history: the acquisition today of the fourth and final Cutting Townhouse, 15 East 88th Street. In this latest stroke of luck, the opportunity to acquire contiguous, adjacent property was met with design in the form of swift, decisive action by our board, enabled by the prudent fiscal stewardship that has long been a hallmark of our institution. As a fortuitous aside, given the classical tradition of balance around the four pillars of Academics, Athletics, Arts and Spirituality that has guided the school since its beginning, there is a fitting completeness to reuniting all four Cutting homes within the Saint David’s family. Perhaps more fitting still, our boys’ good fortune is now made manifest by the school’s horseshoe footprint that encircles Madison Avenue from East 89th to East 88th Street.

Just as with Graham House a half century ago, this capital undertaking positions Saint David’s for the kind of success that will benefit generations of boys to come. The addition of 15 East 88th (a gracious twin to 12 East 89th, best observed now from Hume Library) will create 12,000 square feet more space to enhance the school’s academic curriculum and address future programmatic endeavors. The addition of an adjacent back yard also increases the school’s outdoor play space by a third, providing a critical outlet for our growing boys’ physical, social and most importantly, emotional well-being and development. Interior backyard space of this magnitude is a rare gift to any educational institution in New York City. Also, the possibility of extending Hyman Hall beneath the new building presents exciting new opportunities for our boys.

With zoning permitting all of these anticipated uses and more, how we deploy this exceptional gift of space to best support our boys on their journey to becoming good men is limited only by the reaches of our imagination – and our willingness to rise to meet it. Not surprisingly, what was once a personal home cannot be used in its current form as it must first be converted for optimal school use, as well as retrofitted for regulatory compliance. But having once again strategically looked beyond our current needs to anticipate future opportunities that may not yet exist, as the school’s programmatic needs evolve, 15 East 88th will be ready and able to meet them.

Although we are in the earliest planning stages of this strategic initiative, we will keep you informed of our thinking and progress at various intervals along the way. In the meantime, grateful for the visionary leadership that allowed us to realize this rare opportunity to benefit our boys and our teachers, and inspired by the strength of our community that compels us to think ahead to who we will be in service to their best selves, we are proud of all this move does to position Saint David’s as the premier learning institution in New York City for decades to come.

Ut viri boni sint,

David O’Halloran
Headmaster

Daniel S. Connolly ’77
President, Board of Trustees

***Saint David’s Alumni and Alumni Parents: To keep up to date with all news and updates, join our Saint David’s community of 2,000+ members on Instagram ***

📍A Historic Day for Saint David’s School ➡️ They say that luck is the residue of design, and today’s news celebrates the strategic ambition of our future. We are thrilled to share that the acquisition of 15 East 88th Street secures an adjacent space to complete Saint David’s contiguous campus: One for the history books: May 26, 2022, the fourth and final Delano and Aldrich-designed Cutting Townhouse is now officially within the Saint David’s family.

🍁 SCO Family of Services Thank you from all at Saint David’s!