Highlighting Our Academic Rigor at Curriculum Night

The St. Sebastian's School Admissions Office hosted Curriculum Night on Tuesday, November 18, providing prospective students and their families the opportunity to enjoy in-depth discussions of the School's curriculum with current students and faculty.

The evening began in Ward Hall with a welcome from Head of School Brendan Sullivan and an opening prayer from School Chaplain Father Chris Boyle. Dr. Lautaro Mantilla led students Karl Edouarzin ’27 and Luke Hiles ’27 in a musical performance. Assistant Head of School, Michael Nerbonne, then delivered an address about the balance of academic rigor and individualized support offered at St. Sebastian’s. He encouraged prospective students to “have it all” in a school with excellence in academics, opportunities in arts and athletics, and commitment to faith, character, and service.   

Dean of Enrollment, Greg Wishart, explained the agenda for the night. Prospective families visited different sessions that explored the St. Sebastian's curriculum: Mathematic Reasoning; Scientific Inquiry; History; Writing, Speaking, and Critical Thinking; Faith and Reason; Spanish; Classics; and Fine Arts, including an art exhibit in Ward Hall.

Thank you to all who helped make the evening an informative and welcoming experience for visiting families.

Assistant Head of School Michael Nerbonne, delivered the Opening Remarks: 

Good evening, and welcome to our Curriculum Night. Tonight, you will hear from many of our students, faculty, and department heads about aspects of our rigorous, challenging and engaging academic program. I would like to highlight for you the philosophy behind our curriculum and the many ways in which it both challenges and supports all of our students in their pursuit of academic excellence.

The most significant aspect of our approach to curriculum is the fact that it is student-centered. We believe that a student-centered approach to curriculum best serves all of our students as they proceed through our program. Our very clear goal and promise to all of our students is that they will develop depth and mastery in the disciplines. And I can say that we always deliver on this promise for two reasons: we make high-level classes a priority in our program, so that we will always offer those courses even with comparatively smaller enrollments.

The other reason that I can deliver on our promise regarding advanced courses always being available to our most qualified students is the talent and dedication of our faculty. They have the expertise to teach at the very highest levels, and I am proud to say that this is true in every discipline in our school. 

In addition to challenging our students, St. Sebastian’s is also a very supportive place. While it is true that our teachers will always encourage and even push students to achieve at the highest level, it is also true that they will support them and be there for them every step of the way. I often catch my colleagues giving extra help to students very early in the morning to late in the evening and at every moment in between: during their free periods, lunchtime and sometimes even on Zoom at any hour of the day. 

The message from our faculty to our students is clear: we will present to you a very rigorous program of studies, but we will make the sacrifices necessary to support you and to help you to achieve at a level commensurate with your God-given abilities. I have often remarked that most schools opt to do one of these things but not the other: lots of challenge with little support or lots of support with little challenge. St. Sebastian’s does both, and we know well from their demonstrated success in college and beyond that our students benefit greatly from this unique philosophy and approach to teaching and learning. 

Our commitment to depth and mastery also defines our approach to offerings within each discipline in our curriculum. Rather than a panoply of stand-alone electives, which you see in many schools, St. Sebastian’s offers a prescribed program of studies in which students are encouraged to go deeper. 

Our Innovation Lab provides our students with a hands-on, interdisciplinary learning experience where they design, build, invent, create, collaborate, and innovate at their own pace, with the freedom to discover their passions and gain a deeper understanding of complex topics in their coursework.

St. Sebastian’s also has a unique and successful approach to verbal skills development unmatched by any secondary school of which I am aware. Every student at St. Sebastian’s writes and delivers a Chapel Speech every year. In addition to the obvious benefits of writing as many as 6 speeches over their career here, our students also have a unique opportunity to stand and deliver, and to hone their skills as a public speaker. Many of our students will take this even further by participating in our very popular and competitive Debating and Public Speaking Team.

I have said some things about the powerful relationships that our students and faculty develop in their work together. But I would be remiss if I did not mention one very important aspect of our curriculum, which I would like to highlight this evening. This is the very real, oft-mentioned, storied brotherhood that our boys develop with each other, and which has an enormous impact on their academic experience. 

This is a competitive place, as I know most boys’ schools are. But it is a healthy kind of competition in which the boys compete against the standards set before them rather than against each other. They take pride and joy in the success of their peers and evidence for this can be seen in the myriad ways in which they help each other, whether through our formal tutoring or peer mentoring programs, our Health and Wellness Program, their collaboration in our robotics studios or innovation labs, or in the less formal interactions they enjoy helping each other with homework or preparing for a test or writing a research paper. Their brotherhood is an integral part of our academic program because our boys desire to help each other become the best that God wants them to be in body, mind, and spirit. 

Finally, I’d like to direct my comments to the boys who are here with us this evening. If you remember just one thing from my remarks, I hope it’s this: you can have it all. What do I mean by that? As you research and consider all of the options available to you for your next school, you might conclude that you have to compromise in one area of your life or another. 

I’m letting you know that you don’t have to. You might look at one school and conclude that it will nurture your spiritual life, but it’s not as compelling an academic choice. Or another school might seem the best for you athletically, but you sense that you might have to compromise on your intellectual or artistic interests and talents. 

You can have it all here, and not only can you have it all, you deserve to have it all: St. Sebastian’s will cherish and honor your spiritual life, no matter your faith tradition, we will challenge and support your academic and intellectual interests, as well as provide you with a competitive and fulfilling athletic experience and we will give you the space and opportunity to develop your talents in the visual and performing arts, and in a whole host of extracurricular clubs and activities. 

You can have it all, you deserve to have it all, and you should expect and insist that your next school provide you with the opportunity to do exactly that. 

Thank you for joining us this evening. I look forward to meeting you and your parents. God bless.