15 East 88th Street, the fourth and final Cutting townhouse.
The All That We Can Be Opening Ceremony in November 2018, marked the successful completion of a $ 75 million expansion project that fundamentally transformed and enriched the educational experience for our boys.
60th ANNIVERSARY and ALL THAT WE CAN BE
Having successfully completed Continuing Our Best Traditions, the school moved into a new, even more ambitious strategic planning cycle that would eventually become ALL THAT WE CAN BE: The Campaign for Saint David’ s. In the meantime, the school celebrated its 60th anniversary and decided, by way of celebration, to do for others what others had done for it— one international example and one local.
In 2011, Saint David’ s committed to supporting the building of schools in Ethiopian villages that desperately needed them. In a collaboration with Save the Children and Mimi’ s Building Blocks, and spearheaded by eighth graders, our school raised the funds necessary, over a 15-year period, to build two schools— one in Al’ asa( a Muslim village / community) and the other in Kalina( an Orthodox Christian village / community), both of which are located outside of Mekelle in the northern province of Tigray. Our goal was also to help the boys learn that to do good, to build, can take time and that those who start a project may not be the ones to see it finish— we are a part of something greater than ourselves. On two separate occasions, June 2014 and February 2020, school representatives were invited to Ethiopia to open the schools Saint David’ s built.
Also in 2011, the school launched the“ local” example of doing for others: Horizons at Saint David’ s. Now in its 15th year, Horizons has offered a tuition-free, multi-year academic enrichment program for boys from underresourced communities from several schools in neighboring East Harlem. Boys join Horizons the summer after Kindergarten and continue through middle school— 10 years— participating in six weeks of immersive learning each year on the Saint David’ s campus along with gatherings and programs between the summers. In the summer of 2025, Horizons students achieved 13.6 weeks of growth in reading and 9.2 weeks of growth in math. But the goal isn’ t just academic— it’ s also to nurture confidence, character, curiosity, and connection.
With these programs up and running the school felt confident that our second major strategic initiative, All That We Can Be, would strengthen the foundation supporting the full promise of its mission, helping our boys be“ all that they will be.” The planned massive expansion included the creation of state-of-art STEAM labs, science labs, art studios, libraries, and grade-level suites and common spaces. New dedicated science, technology, engineering, art, and math learning labs gave the boys a rich inventing space in which to hone important skills for the future. Classrooms consolidated into grade-level suites, with large common areas for project-based learning and socialization, along with the centralized location of learning labs, art studios, music, gym, performance, and library spaces allowed easy access by all grades.
The first line of Alma Mater, Omnium Nobis(“ All That We Can Be”), speaks to the fulfillment of our boys’ potential and our mission’ s ultimate aspiration for them,“ that they be good men”— leaders with a conscience, ready to face the world beyond childhood. With this
16 • Saint David’ s Magazine • 75th Anniversary Edition