Our school’s administrative team, curriculum chairs, and
faculty and staff, while under pressure during the “great
compression,” have exhibited the utmost professionalism—
not skipping a beat these past two years, as they look forward
to expanding the program into the new space.
Q: How will the new facilities allow all aspects of the
school’s program to flourish?
In myriad ways! We’ve worked with curriculum chairs on
what we wanted in our program and how we could design the
spaces to meet those needs, and the space has been tailored for
each curricular area. An entire floor is dedicated to science,
technology, engineering, art and math learning. Art rooms
and STE(A)M labs will be connected by a Commons area, and
we will have a cutting-edge Innovation Lab equipped with
3D printers and other equipment where boys will engage in
fabrication, coding, and mechanical engineering.
Three on-site gyms, Lower, Middle, and Upper, will
provide relief to the boys’ schedules by eliminating the
transportation time to and from 94th Street. The large gym
with bleachers will enhance community by making it easier
for faculty, classmates, and families to attend games.
Larger spaces throughout the school will allow for
greater col laboration. Graham House will feature the
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade homerooms connected
by Commons space. Fourth and Fifth Grades will also
have common areas. The Lower School will all be grouped
together contiguously by grades. Homerooms will be large,
airy, and full of natural light.
Located at the core of the building and equidistant from
all the homerooms, will be the specials (two libraries with
shared common space, music, art, sports, STE(A)M labs,
lunchrooms, and performing arts center). This will make it
dramatically easier to move boys to and from their special
classes. The entire flow throughout the school will be
seamless; for the first time, horizontal movement on floors
will be a reality!
Other spaces include a new dedicated lunchroom, foreign
language labs, reading rooms, and a learning center for special
services that will serve boys who struggle as well as those
who want to extend their learning. The Hume Library will
serve as the Eighth Grade Humanities classroom and house
the Maiocco Collection of art books.
Our faculty will have a dedicated Faculty Study, which
will house collections related to educational pedagogy and
research on best practices.
And, the backyard will be opened up with increased surface
area because we will no longer need the fire escapes.
not feel institutional. One of the reasons we selected Sam
White ’60 as the architect is because he is an alumnus who
understands our culture and history; we knew he could
marry well the neo-federal style of the Delano and Aldrich
townhomes with the late 1800s eclectic style of Graham
House—and repurpose all for twenty-first century learning.
The difference will be in the space enhancement; you will
walk past a small office tucked into the circular stairwell,
open a door and enter huge, open, airy spaces that best serve
the needs of our boys and the school’s program.
Q: What is the project’s impact on the Alumni and Alumni
Parent Community?
This project firmly underscores Saint David’s commitment
to 89th Street and Madison. Saint David’s is the same school
alumni love, redefined for the twenty-first century. Alumni
families are very much a part of this project. We all stand on
the shoulders of our predecessors; I stand on the shoulders of
Headmasters David Hume and Don Maiocco.
Our alumni community can take pride in the fact that the
mission of Saint David’s lives and can be fulfilled through a
school with the resources, space, and program to be all that
it can be for a new century.
Q: What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of the
expansion?
We are using everything that we own to serve our mission;
to enable the boys, teachers, and program to be all that they
can be as far into the future as we can see. M
For more on the All That We Can Be project, visit our campaign website at:
www.saintdavids.org/2018expansion
Headmaster David O’Halloran and
Board President Daniel S. Connolly ’77.
Q: How will Saint David’s be the same and how will the
school differ come September 2018?
I think of Saint David’s as our boys’ second home; it is warm
and it will remain that way. While the school will occupy a
large footprint, there will still be nooks and crannies; it will
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