come in the form of “ Big Ray ” Iannicelli . Nancy ’ s eldest brother Larry was also a ballplayer . Signed as a “ bonus baby ” by his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957 , Larry would pitch in the minor leagues for four seasons before shoulder injuries curtailed his career . Now , here is where I will draw upon my mother ’ s family history with baseball and intertwine it with her own story . Just one month before Nancy was set to join the staff at Saint David ’ s in 1999 , pitcher David Cone threw a no-hitter ( a perfect game , to be exact ). Until recently , that was the last no-hitter thrown by a Yankee . But , on May 19 , 2021 , Corey Kluber seemed to write the perfect script . Just one month before Nancy was set to retire from Saint David ’ s , Kluber threw the most recent Yankee no-hitter .
These no-hitters serve as appropriate analogical bookends for Ms . Iannicelli ’ s teaching at Saint David ’ s . Both the no-hitters and my mother ’ s career at Saint David ’ s are incredible personal achievements and rarities that deserve special recognition . They are , however , not triumphs that can be accomplished on their own . Neither Kluber nor Cone could have thrown their incredible games without a team surrounding them , nor could Ms . Iannicelli have succeeded in transforming the humanities course without the faculty , staff , and students of Saint David ’ s . With the strong support of Headmasters Don Maiocco and David O ’ Halloran and the first-rate teamwork and genuine camaraderie of incredible master educators like art teacher Jenna Boccella , former history teacher Michael Imbelli , and former Upper School Librarian Thea Osborne , the humanities program has become a fully realized course that countless alumni have returned to the school to rave about . I have heard many of them say that it far surpasses high school and college courses that focus on memorizing names , dates , and places rather than analyzing and engaging in the discussion of the understanding and meaning of an artwork . It has been Ms . Iannicelli ’ s vision that has carried the humanities course forward from its original inception into the 21st century .
What most of Ms . Iannicelli ’ s students do not see , though many of her colleagues can attest to , are the hours and days of preparation she puts into the course . Recently , I was lucky enough to spend time living at home with my mom while I returned to school to complete my college degree . Thankfully , we both managed to survive the experience intact and with most of our wits still about us , and I came away from it with a more informed and deeper appreciation for all the hard work she puts into her teaching . While I was toiling away at summer courses at Fordham during the pandemic , my mom was spending much of her summer vacation reimagining her entire course for a pandemic-affected 2021
Nancy with Santa . academic year . Not only that , but she was doing it with a brand-new textbook ! However , I came to learn that this was not a singular experience for my mother . Every summer , from 1999 to 2021 , she would spend some of her time reviewing notes , books , illustrations , and lectures to tweak and improve her course so that every incoming Eighth Grade class would have the benefit of the best she could offer . Perhaps she had found an article in a print or electronic newspaper , magazine , journal , or website that led her down a path of discovery to add in a sentence to a lecture about Picasso ’ s Guernica . Perhaps she had spent time in the summer of 2016 in Italy studying Giotto ’ s frescoes of the life of St . Francis to refine her lessons about those artworks for her students . Or perhaps she was practicing her Italian to help guide the Italian Study Tour just that much better around the streets of Rome , Assisi , and Florence .
Saint David ’ s has been my mom ’ s home away from home for so many years . While I am sure it will be difficult for her to say farewell to it , I highly doubt she will be saying goodbye . Her dedication to her students both past and present is too strong . When I asked one of her former students , Hunter Bulkeley ’ 09 , he remarked , “ Ms . Iannicelli is the reason I love learning ” and that , “ she never expected anything more than I was able to give , allowing me to learn at my pace , but did expect me to give my all .” Hunter also added , “ how lucky we were that she was willing to put in the effort to make that Italy trip such a success .” This admiration and love from just one of her former charges is emblematic of the impact Ms . Iannicelli has had on the entire Saint David ’ s community .
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