Omnium Nobis, Nunc in Futurum: Our 75th Anniversary
By David O’ Halloran
Louise Hoguet first conceived of Saint David’ s School. Her formidable efforts and those of nine founding families brought her dream to fruition.
Our school-wide theme this 75th anniversary year is excel, something this great school, improbably, has managed to continue to do since its founding. Omnium Nobis, Nunc in Futurum …“ All That We Can Be, All That We Will Be,” the first lines of Alma Mater, capture precisely where we find ourselves at this anniversary milestone.“ Can Be” connotes optimism and“ Will Be,” confidence about the possibility and the promise.
When four little boys walked through the black doors of 12 East 89th Street on that cold February 5th morning in 1951, they, the school’ s ten bold founders, and their single teacher could not have imagined where it would go or what it would become— or maybe they did.
Like a lighthouse to a seafarer, Saint David’ s mission continues to illuminate our way. We light our candles today from the torches of those who came before us. We recall the incredible vision of our founders and marvel at their prescience and audacity. We acknowledge the stewardship of our trustees and leaders, the dedicated professionalism of our teachers, the commitment of our families, and the perpetual eagerness, hopefulness, and energy of our boys, as they aspire... as our founders intended... to be good men.
Soon after the founders convened and resolved to incorporate as the Thomas More Foundation in the late 1940s and having just purchased a townhouse at 12 East 89th Street( one of four townhouses designed by Delano and Aldrich for the Cutting family), pressures of the day bore down on them that forced the need for a name change. It was Mrs. Robert Louis Hoguet, a dynamic and formidable woman who initially conceived of this new Catholic school for boys, who, while at mass one day heard Psalm 89 where God anoints the young David to lead his people. " That ' s it,” she thought,“ Saint David’ s.” To this day, we sing Psalm 89 at mass, between the first and second readings, to pay homage to Mrs. Hoguet and our school’ s namesake— the young David of Jesse who became a central figure in the Bible, known for his faith, courage, and skill as a musician and warrior, culminating in his legendary defeat of Goliath, embodying the central tenets of a Saint David’ s graduate— a young man who knows who he is and is ready for the challenges that lie before him.
CONTINUING OUR BEST TRADITIONS
Following the physical expansion of the school to include Cutting townhouses # 14 and # 16 through the 50s and early 60s, the acquisition of Graham House in 1972, and the 94th Street Gym in 1995, and after the celebration of our 50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee partial expansion into Graham House in 2001, the school turned its attention more inward.
For our boys to become strong, ethical men, the school believed they required one essential experience: close and consistent interactions with wise and caring adults. Teachers are, and always have been, at the heart of Saint David’ s, and it is through them that the school imparts a unique balance that embraces scholarship, action in word and deed, sportsmanship and athleticism, and an appreciation for the aesthetic – all within a moral and ethical context shaped by spirituality. When our alumni recall their experiences at Saint David’ s, it is their teachers they remember most vividly: the insights and inspiration imparted by them, the easy moments of humor, and the charged moments of seriousness.
But the challenge facing the school at the end of the 2000s was increasing competition for the best teachers from neighboring independent schools and nearby suburban public school systems. The cost of living and working in Manhattan was consuming a disproportionate amount of a teacher’ s salary. In response, Saint David’ s took corrective action and in 2005 added $ 1 million – 10 percent of our annual budget at the time – to increase faculty salaries immediately. Adjustments to enrollment and tuition increases were used to offset the added cost in the short-term, but it was a temporary solution that pre-empted the need for a permanent investment in our faculty in the form of a significantly increased endowment.
10 • Saint David’ s Magazine • 75th Anniversary Edition