St. Bernard's School is a private, all-male elementary school in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of Manhattan's Upper East Side. It was founded in 1904 by John Card Jenkins, along with Francis Tabor. The school shield depicts an eagle (representing the United States of America), a lion (representing Great Britain), a book (symbol of education), and a cross (representing a tradition of Christianity).
The school's name is not pronounced the same way as that of the breed of dog with the same spelling, which is also its mascot. It was named for the rue St-Bernard in Brussels, Belgium, where a relative of one of St. Bernard's founders had also founded a school.
Contents
History
The school was founded in 1904 by John Card Jenkins and Francis Tabor. Both graduates of Cambridge University, they had met after knocking heads on a soccer pitch. Originally on the upper floors of a small Midtown building, the school relocated to its current location on 98th street in 1915. The original 1915 building by Delano and Aldrich still stands, although it has undergone significant expansion and renovation, most recently in 1997.
In April 2021, it was announced that Joy S. Hurd IV had been appointed to serve as the school's next headmaster, starting his role on July 1, 2022. Mr. Hurd taught at St. Bernard's for several years and was most recently the head of Lake Forest Country Day School. He is a graduate of Harvard College and has master's degrees from Columbia University's Teachers College and the Bread Loaf School of Middlebury College.
Students
The school has three divisions: the Junior (or Lower) School consists of grades K through 3, the Middle School grades 4 through 6, and the Upper School grades 7 through 9. Mondays through Thursdays, boys in the Junior School must wear St. Bernard's polo shirts (polo shirts with the school shield emblazoned upon the chest) in either red, white, or blue, khakis, and a blazer. Boys in the Middle and Upper Schools must wear a polo or oxford shirt, accompanied by khakis and blazers as well. On Fridays, all boys wear jackets and ties (with the exception of the kindergartners).
St. Bernard's alumni, known as Old Boys, earn admission to a wide range of secondary schools in the United States and the United Kingdom, both day and boarding. The schools attended with greatest frequency include Andover, Collegiate, Deerfield, Exeter, Groton, Horace Mann, Lawrenceville, St. Paul's, Stuyvesant, and Trinity.
Notable people
Headmasters
John C. Jenkins (1874-1958) – 1904 – 1949 - School founder
R.I.W. Westgate (1905-1988) – 1949 – 1971 -
Stuart H. Johnson, III - 1985 – 2020
Evan Moraitis - 2020 – 2022
Joy S. Hurd IV – 2022 - Present
Alumni
Alumni of the school are called “Old Boys”. Notable alumni include:
Prince Aristides-Stavros of Greece and Denmark, son of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and Marie-Chantal Miller
Louis Auchincloss, novelist, winner of the National Medal of Arts
Andrew Bernard, economist
Bartle Bull, novelist
Billy Bush, journalist
Matt Cohler, venture capitalist
Greg Daniels, television writer, four-time Emmy winner
Avery Dulles, Jesuit priest, theologian and author, member of the College of Cardinals
Theodore Dunham Jr., astronomer and physicist
Larry Fessenden, actor
Anthony Gardner, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union from 2014 to 2017
Elbridge T. Gerry Sr., businessman and polo champion
John Hammond, record producer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Arthur M. Jolly, playwright
Roger Wolfe Kahn, jazz musician
Bill Keenan, author and former professional ice hockey player
Paul Klebnikov, investigative journalist and historian
Notable faculty
Julius Mutekanga, track and cross country coach
David King-Wood, longtime former faculty member, directed the school's Shakespeare play and is the namesake of an auditorium in the school
Gordon Bradley, former coach of the school's soccer team
Edgar G. Crossman, past president of the board of trustees
Don M. Wilson III, former trustee
In popular culture
The film Prince of the City referenced the school as the alma mater of one of the prosecutors charged with investigating police corruption. The film's cop protagonist remarks, "St. Bernard's. That's in the 2-3, that's, uh, little blond boys in blazers, right?"
In Season 2, Episode 13 ("The Whole Truth") of Lie To Me, Victor Musso, best friend and business partner of the deceased victim, takes to the stand to say, "We've been best friends since we were ten at St. Bernard's."
In 1936, James Merrill played the First Herald ("a small part...but an important one") in St. Bernard's production of Richard II. Merrill recalled the experience in his 1985 poem "The School Play".
Affiliated organizations
Sources:
New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS)
International Boys' School Coalition (IBSC)
National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)
Independent School Admission Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY)