This year's Heights Forum Art of Teaching Boys Conference brought together motivated educators from across the country (and beyond) to discuss a new vision for boys' education. The overwhelming follow-up questions: How can I craft and communicate a new vision back at my school? How does a school community grow united in its vision and sense of mission?

This week on HeightsCast, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers his advice, first, for building a substantial and specific vision, and second, for translating that vision into action as a school community.

In the notes below, you can find recordings of Open House speeches featuring our headmaster across the years. These are practical examples of how Mr. de Vicente presents the vision, mission, and approach of The Heights School to prospective parents.

3:31 School vision: the who

8:08 Mission and curriculum: the what

11:29 Approach: the how

12:30 Sharing vision with the parent community

17:28 Vision architects: head of school, board, veteran faculty

20:45 When vision meets enrollment realities

25:05 Heads of school: pray, read, build friendships

31:47 Getting specific with your vision

35:53 Responding to national conversations in education

Open House 2023

Open House 2022

Open House 2021

Open House 2019

The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision, an extended lecture featuring Alvaro de Vicente

Education and the Transmission of Culture by Nate Gadiano

Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)

"Something old, something new, something red white and blue."

The American Book of Fables is Dr. Matthew Mehan and artist John Folley's latest children's book—or, rather, family book—presented for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It offers a delightful education in civics, geography, history, and love of country by combining the American founding documents, short poetry, new and ancient fables, and whimsical oil paintings all mapped to the American landscape.

This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Mehan shares the ideas behind the book's creation and what he hopes "littles, middles, and bigs" can all come to appreciate through a layered work like this.

3:01 Picture books and the role of the poet

8:21 A family book for littles, middles, and bigs

13:18 What's in the book

18:19 Fables: training your "good mother wit"

23:46 Hugh Manatee and humanity

28:33 John Folley's illustrations

30:55 The American city

34:49 The current discourse on duty

36:47 Presenting founding documents to kids

41:37 Celebrate America250 as a family

48:26 Despair and hope

56:00 Book launch events

58:45 Excerpt: "American Morning"

The American Book of Fables by Matthew Mehan

The Handsome Little Cygnet by Matthew Mehan

Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals by Matthew Mehan

National WWI Memorial, sculpture by Sabin Howard, installed 2024

Catholic Information Center Event with the Author, Washington, DC / livestream available – June 30, 2026

The American Book of Fables Website – Sophia Institute Press, for future book launch events

Patriotism and Piety: Honoring Founders and Fathers featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan

Teaching the American Founding after 250 Years featuring Dr. Matthew Spalding

Children's Literature and Human Flourishing: The Handsome Little Cygnet featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan

Why Our Politics Need Poetry: Mr. Mehan's Mythical Mammals featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan

Imagination: The Raw Material for Thinking featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan

As a top cybersecurity expert in the commercial sector, Mark Ryland has spent nearly a decade following the development of AI systems—their possibilities, their risks, and their limits. And he's found reason for measured optimism.

At this year's Heights Parents Conference on "AI and Our Sons: Optimism in Uncharted Waters," Mr. Ryland brought a moderating perspective to the podium, sharing his insights into how AI really operates and what kind of impact it may have on the job economy our children will inherit.

00:04:41 A recent history of AI
00:10:31 Intelligence: human, animal, and artificial
00:14:15 Brains vs. minds
00:16:55 Incredible possibilities through pattern recognition
00:21:21 AI's dependence, "model collapse"
00:24:49 Expected impact on economy sectors
00:32:47 AI limits: reinforcement learning
00:36:12 AI risks: safety, job loss
00:42:01 Thoughts on the home
00:44:01 Thoughts on the classroom
00:48:07 Catholic chatbots

The Mind & The Machine, podcast by Dr. Michael Augros on AI, science, and philosophy
Coding after Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It, NYT, March 12, 2026
Why It's Getting Harder to Measure AI Performance by Timothy B. Lee, Understanding AI Substack

Attention Is All You Need, seminal paper on generative AI by a Google Team, June 2017
How One Paper Changed Everything, concerning "Attention Is All You Need," Medium, October 10, 2025
Scientists Research Man Missing 90% of His Brain Who Leads a Normal Life, CBC Radio, July 14, 2016

The Walled Garden: Critical Considerations for Classroom AI featuring Andrew Cantarutti

A Humane Way of Life: The Research Behind Home Tech Decisions featuring Clare Morell