HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Episodes
Intergenerational Human Flourishing - Featuring Fr. Bob Gahl
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a culture where autonomy is often pursued as an ideal, it's not surprising to learn that America is also experiencing a so-called loneliness epide...
On Grades: The Parents' Perspective
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Be careful that in encouraging a grade, you don't shortchange growth; for a grade ought to be a means to growth, helping students—and their parents—...
Teaching: A Professional Vocation
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"The mind," Plutarch wrote, "is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting." The teacher's job, then, is not so much transferring d...
On Dress Codes and Decorum with Tom Royals
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"It's the little details that are vital," said Coach John Wooden. "Little things make big things happen." Among the little details of school, which at...
Tom Steenson on Classroom Tone and Culture
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What, you might ask, does cheese have to do with education? The answer is not that you may find holes in both, but rather that both require attention ...
Teaching Sovereign Knowers: Michael Moynihan on Fostering Agency in Students
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Upper School Head Michael Moynihan encourages teachers to view their students as sovereign knowers called to exercise agency in their learning. As tea...
Stewards of the Universe: Alvaro de Vicente on "Men Fully Alive"
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente elaborates on his vision for our Heights Graduates as "Men Fully Alive." This vocation is a l...
Epic and the Ordinary: Tom Cox on Why We Teach Epic Poetry
02 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast we feature Tom Cox, Upper School Latin teacher and one of the architects of the Core Humanities Sequence. In the Episode, To...
Three Components of a "Great" Summer: Colin Gleason on Journals, Schedules, and Service
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Have a great summer!" We hear it and say it incessantly, but what are we actually wishing for our boys? 21st Century America gives boys 3 months off-...
Defining the Liberal Arts
19 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To learn more about the Summer Workshops, click here. Dr. Matthew Mehan unpacks the liberal arts. We can throw the term around to describe our school,...
"I totally lost it": Colin Gleason on Paternal Patience
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, discusses paternal patience and anger in this week's episode. If you, like so many dads, find yourself regretting th...
Mentoring without a Program: Joe Cardenas on Teaching the Whole Person
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the heart of teaching is the desire to make an impact on the lives of one's students. Beyond conveying useful information or training them in resum...
George Weigel on John Paul II's "Culture-First" Approach: The Pope-Saint's Lessons for Parents, Teachers, and Leaders
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Education," wrote G. K. Chesterton, "is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." If Chesterton is right, then educa...
Wit and Wisdom: Dr. Matthew Mehan on Teaching Shakespeare
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In schools today, Shakespeare is often taught superficially. Students attempt to grasp the plot with the aid of their teacher, who helps them through ...
Paternal Presence: Alvaro de Vicente on "Being There"
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, he tells a sort of parable in which children are given space to play on a mountain top surrounded by steep precipices...
Friends in the World: Nate Gadiano on Engaging with Those Who Disagree
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the world of academia becomes increasingly polarized, parents may be concerned about sending their children off to colleges where the general cultu...
Parenting from Fear: Alvaro de Vicente on Reasons for Confidence
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Parents love their children and desire the best for them. Yet at times the world seems full of dangers and obstacles to a child's ultimate good. Becau...
Parental Authority: Dr. Leonard Sax on Our Role
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the past twenty years, research suggests that parents are worrying more about their children and spending more to provide them with comforts. In sp...
Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic Education: Dr. Joe Lanzilotti on the Adventure of Truth
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hell, Dante expresses, is being trapped by our false attempts to be free. Thus, the Comedy's Satan is forever stuck in the ice of a lake made frozen b...
A Better Approach to History: Cox and Dardis on their New Book
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be "civilized"? What is justice? What is a citizen? Given the opportunity, would you have killed Julius Caesar? Was Nero inevitab...
Discipline in the Classroom: Colin Gleason on the Art of Order
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As teachers and parents, it is often difficult to find the balance between leniency and strictness, love and fear. Getting the right tone, being firm ...
Carpool: Kyle Blackmer on Making Commute Time Good Time
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's not merely where you are going, but how you get there, that matters. And as we often find ourselves going places in cars, it is worth stopping to...
Friendship for Fathers: John Cuddeback on Living and Teaching the Art
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a recent national survey of adults in America, a striking sixty-one percent of young adults (age 18-25) reported feeling serious loneliness. Such ...
A Time and Place for Silence: Greving and Ortiz on Time and Solitude
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With another year having passed—perhaps even sped by—and a new one underfoot, HeightsCast returns with a discussion of time and solitude with Mike...
Artwork in Schools: Joe Cardenas on the Buildings that Build Us
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the very start, the founders of The Heights understood education to consist in the communication of a culture. As culture often enters a boy's mi...
Anton Vorozhko on the Education of the Human Heart
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In many schools, education is understood in reductively intellectual terms. The point of teaching, it would seem, is merely to inform, to fill the min...
The Art of Teaching: On Forming Contemplative Souls
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we feature a recorded lecture given by Rich Moss in his introductory presentation at the Art of Teaching conference hosted by The Hei...
Plutarch's Lives Teach: Tom Cox on Character Education through Story
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Boys love concrete details and, even more, they love when those concrete details form the fabric of a hero's tale. Indeed, as Aristotle himself knew, ...
The Culture of The Heights: Alvaro de Vicente on Our Mission
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast, we feature headmaster Alvaro de Vicente's open house speech on the mission and vision of The Heights School. In the speech, ...
The Man Fully Alive: Alvaro de Vicente on our Vision
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the 2022 Headmaster's Lecture on the man fully alive. In this lecture, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente helps...
Science Fiction: Joe Breslin on the Beauty and Value of Strange Worlds
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, we discuss science fiction with Mr. Joe Breslin, fifth grade teacher and soon-to-be published author of Other Minds: 13 Tales ...
Why Sing: Pat Love on Brotherhood and Song
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the boys' choir in the lower school to the men's chorus in the upper school, informal performances at faculty dinners to songs at the annual Mary...
Science Education: Michael Moynihan on the Need for a New Synthesis
30 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast we talk with upper school head, Michael Moynihan, about a new initiative of his on the Forum: the Initiative for the Renewal...
Self-Mastery: Alvaro de Vicente on Fostering Interior Freedom in Schools
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, we talk with headmaster Alavaro de Vicente about a central theme from our faculty workshop: self-mastery. As Alvaro explains, ...
When to Fight: Kyle Blackmer on Fisticuffs and the Peacemaking Protector
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode we discuss fights. Most boys, especially at a young age, have a beautiful need for rough and tumble physical play. But what hap...
Leisure and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age
09 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In many quarters of contemporary society, busy-ness has become a sort of cliche greeting. To the question "How are you?", the response, "So busy," is ...
Work and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Our Original Vocation
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A certain distinguished school leader, when asked when he would retire from his work, replied, "the day that I wake up and do not want to go to work."...
Why a Liberal Arts Education Today? Michael Moynihan on Realism, Reductionism, and the Need for a New Synthesis in Liberal Education
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode features Mr. Michael Moynihan's lecture at last year's Teaching Vocation Conference. Our Upper School Head shares why a liberal arts educ...
Seeing Our Boys with Loving Eyes with Tom Royals: Not Projects, but Persons
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In last week's episode, we considered how beauty is a special combination of order and surprise. To behold beauty, we learned, is to contemplate the ...
Order and Surprise: Lionel Yaceczko on Beauty and the Western Tradition
05 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It sounds nice to say, using Dostoevsky's words, that beauty will save the world. But is this claim true? If so, in what sense is it true? What even i...
Endless Growth: Kevin Majeres on Addictions and Setting Challenges
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Kevin Majeres, turning our attention to the importance of setting challenges and the way...
The Freedom to Form Bonds: Kevin Majeres on Mindfulness and Attention
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We have all experienced moments in which we are so immersed in a task that we lose track of time and performance feels effortless. For some, this may ...
From Anxiety to Adventure: Kevin Majeres on Reframing Challenges
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adorning our school's main hallway is a sort of charter for the Heights graduate which designates him as a man who is "optimistic toward life's challe...
A Study for All Seasons: Lionel Yaceczko on the Western Tradition
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that he has "become all things to all people," so that he might better share the blessings of th...
Teaching Hemingway and Fitzgerald with Michael Ortiz: Into the Writer's Workshop
24 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the opening paragraph of his Confessions, St. Augustine writes, "our hearts are restless until they rest in You." For many, the first half of thi...
Who am I?: The Question of Persona
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up is, at least in part, a process of learning to ask, and learning to answer, certain fundamental questions. These include timeless queries s...
His Anxiety and Ours: Confessions of an Anxious Parent who Happens to Be a Therapist
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As parents, we cannot help but yearn for our child's success. Obviously this is rooted in a beautiful and healthy love. But sometimes that love ca...
The Talk and Beyond
06 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, we sit down with Mr. Michael Moynihan to discuss his new book, The Talk and Beyond. In the book, Michael shows parents how ...
Welcome to the Web: John Beatty on Introducing our Sons to the Internet
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode, we discuss technology with Mr. John Beatty, IT director at The Heights School. While in past episodes we have spoken about s...
Duties of Parents in the Conspiracy for the Good of the Boy
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We have often heard it said that parents are the primary educators of their children. Among others, we find the seeds of this idea in Cicero, for w...
Mantras, Mottos, and Slogans: On Parenting in an Era of Powerful Phrases
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is not on bread alone that man lives, but also on every word that he receives. And just as one's diet shapes his bodily growth, so too does one's v...
On Preparation for Teaching: Six Attributes of Great Teachers
25 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast, we bring to you a lecture from the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference. In this lecture, Head of Lower School, Mr. Colin Gle...
Humility and Teaching: On Leading While Walking Backward
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A teacher is one who leads while walking backward. Even more, he is one who leads with the humble hope that he will one day be surpassed by those who ...
"Learn to Turn": Tom Royals on Parental Prudence
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While we often speak of the virtues we wish to see in our children, it is perhaps less common that we reflect on the particular virtues that we need t...
Our Little Protectors: How do WE See our Boys?
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente helps us examine our own perception, a parents and teachers, of our boys. If we view them as budding protectors, we'll tr...
Why Teach? An Introduction to the Teaching Vocation
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the first talk of the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference, Rich Moss describes some of the joys and travails of teaching, as he seeks to answer the q...
On Christianity and the Classical Education: Lionel Yaceczko on Ausonius Grammaticus
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we sit down with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko to discuss his new book on the fourth century Roman grammarian, Ausonius of Bordeaux. In looking at ...
Foundations for Mentoring Struggling Students: On Fighting the Right Fires
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing with the theme of mentoring, this week Mr. David Maxham discusses how we, as parents and teachers, can better mentor struggling students by...
Respectful Dominion: Colin Gleason on Discipline
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What's your approach to discipline? This week we feature a lecture delivered at The Heights by Mr. Colin Gleason, Lower School Head offering his thoug...
Finding Mentors After Graduation: Pat Kilner on Find Your Six
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, we sit down with Pat Kilner, a graduate of The Heights, former Heights teacher, Heights dad, and now Chairman of the Board of ...
The Mission, Vision, and Philosophy of The Heights
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of HeightsCast, we feature the speech delivered by Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, to attendants of The Heights School's 2021 Fall Open...
Foundations of Hope: Raising Optimistic Men Fully Alive
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the first Heights Lecture event of the new school year, featuring Alvaro de Vicente: What is optim...
Dr. Mehan on Preparing for Bad News: Raising Men Who Can Handle It
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bad news is all around us. It always has been. It always will be. As if personal and family challenges weren't enough, we have an attention economy th...
When Is Your Son Ready for a Smart Phone? Mr. de Vicente on Self-Mastery, Technology, and Parental Discernment
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente helps us develop a philosophy of technology. Building off previous conversations on The Forum wit...
Is The Heights a Classical School?
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Like a tree, whose roots are firmly planted in the ground and whose branches reach toward the sky above, education at The Heights is at once tradition...
An Introduction to Natural History with Eric Heil: On the Study of Our World Fully Alive
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In certain school systems, it is perhaps more common to find students dissecting samples and diagraming abstractions. The boys in the Lower School at ...
What is literacy? Lionel Yaceczko on "How to Read a Book"
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ray Bradbury once remarked that, to destroy a culture, burning books is not necessary; all that is needed is to convince people to stop reading them. ...
Dr. Mehan on Children's Literature and Human Flourishing: Introducing the Handsome Little Cygnet
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Matt Mehan introduces us to The Handsome Little Cygnet, a delightful book about a Cygnet growing up in the heart of the big apple. Our fluffy hero...
Family Culture with Mr. Alvaro de Vicente
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What Winston Churchill once said of buildings, we too can say of family culture. Namely, that we first shape it, and thereafter it shapes us. Indeed, ...
Rethinking College: Why go? How? When?
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the unexpected is to be expected. While certainly not always easy, we have also perhaps lear...
Freedom in Quarantine: Daniel Bernardus on Leonardo Polo
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In his famous intellectual and spiritual autobiography, Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton remarks that the main problem for philosophers is how they can "co...
Cal Newport on Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use, Part II
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Missed Part I? Click here. Continuing last week's conversation, in this episode Dr. Newport delves into two things that have become ubiquitous in our...
Cal Newport on Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For these next two episodes, we welcome back Dr. Cal Newport, professor of computer science at Georgetown University and New York Times bestselling au...
Mentoring Sons to a Successful Summer
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While summer is a time for rest and relaxation, it is also an opportunity for personal growth. Indeed, the increase in external freedom, which the sum...
On Friendship after Senior Year: Higher Stakes and Beautiful Opportunities
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is present in every Platonic dialogue, the subject of one of Cicero's famous letters, and the kind of relationship Christ wished to have with his...
Forming iGen: Strategies and Considerations for "Parents Fully Aware" (Part 3)
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mr. de Vicente concludes this three part series on raising iGen. Given the forces and impact of our digital world and general culture, our headmaster ...
Forming iGen: The Impact on our Sons (Part 2)
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mr. de Vicente continues his discussion of iGen, turning from the protecting, distracting, unsettling forces that have affected our sons to the impact...
Forming iGen: On the Forces that Shaped Them (Part 1)
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our headmaster begins a three episode series on iGen. In today's episode, Mr. de Vicente explores the influences and forces that have overprotected, d...
Fact or Opinion: On Preventing (or Unwinding) Moral Relativism
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode Mr. Michael Moynihan discusses an exercise that allows teachers to isolate the relativistic variable in the moral minds of thei...
On Home as Social Hub: The Importance of Hosting our Sons and their Friends
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mr. Tom Royals, Assistant Headmaster of The Heights, offers his thoughts on the importance of hosting our sons and their friends at home. Rather tha...
On Home Schooling the Future Heights Boy
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, offers some high level thoughts and general considerations for homeschooling families during this, a year that has s...
Forming Wise, Courageous, Risk-Takers
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why all the tree climbing, virtue talk, and fancy old books? It's all part of our grand conspiracy to form wise, courageous, risk-takers. Hear our Hea...
Inferno or Paradiso? On Introducing Students to the Divine Comedy
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Jason Baxter, Academic Dean at Wyoming Catholic College and author of The Beginners Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy offers his thoughts on how to...
Performing Books Aloud: Don't Just Read Aloud... Perform!
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today we feature an interview with Tom Longano, author of two recently published books: The Blue Book of Stories and The Red Book of Stories. A Hei...
The Middle School Years
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Heights Middle School Head, Mr. Andy Reed, discusses the middle school years. Drawing on his years of experience working with middle school boys and t...
The Costs of Closing: Accompanying our Sons through Covid
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our lives have been altered in ways few of us thought possible before March 2020. As a school, we wouldn't presume to broadcast our opinions on matter...
Friendship for the 21st Century Boy
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, shares his thoughts on friendship. We are told that friendship is one of the highest goods of human existence. ...
Forming Free Spirits in Close Quarters
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Middle School Head, Andy Reed, offers helpful, practical, guidance for parents seeking to finish the academic year well under these historically chall...
"Will he be happy?": Fostering Gratitude in a Fast-Paced World
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As parents, one of our primary duties is to help our children discover that gratitude is a path to lasting happiness. But where is the trailhead a...
Student-Schedules During Corona: On Ordered Living While Learning from a Distance
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mr. de Vicente offers his advice to students during these Corona months. Establishing and executing an ordered plan of life is critical for students w...
The Bedrock Principle of Fatherhood
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dads, how often do we try to strong arm our sons into success? Is this the best way? Even if your son achieves success, is it his win or is it you...
Forming your Young Son's Conscience
31 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on HeightsCast we feature a recording of our most recent Heights Lecture Series featuring Colin Gleason, who discusses the formation of con...
Fr. Carter Griffin on Fostering Vocations in a Digital Age
26 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Fr. Carter Griffin, Rector of the St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, DC, shares his thoughts on vocation. Where are vocations coming from? What ...
Building a Relationship of Trust with Your Son
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, offers a lecture on how to build a solid relationship of trust with your son. This relationship matters because it ...
Character Formation in Elite Athletics: UVA Assistant Basketball Coach Brad Soderberg
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Brad Soderberg, Assistant Coach for the UVA Men's Basketball Team, shares his thoughts on coaching and parenting character through athletics at a very...
The Education of "Men Fully Alive": The Mission and Vision of The Heights
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hear our Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, explain the mission and vision of The Heights. For 50 years, we have partnered with parents to form "men fu...
Smart Phones: Why Wait When He's "The Only One."
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Smart phones present unprecedented challenges to parents. Consequently, we are encouraged to "wait until 8th." Head of Heights Mentoring, Joe Car...
Material Order and the Middle School Boy
11 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Mr. Kyle Blackmer explores the virtue of order and how we, as parents partnering with teachers, can share it with our middle school b...
On Manners: The "ABC's" of Virtue
19 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are manners stodgy vestiges of a bygone aristocratic age? At The Heights, we'd offer a resounding "no." Manners matter, and as parents and teachers, t...
Guidance for Aspiring Teachers
29 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers advice to individuals interested in stepping to the front of the classroom. What sort of temperament best suits a ...