Joe Cardenas on A Change of Soul: Reimagining the Purpose of Vacation
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Release Date: 05/22/2025
Fr. John Nepil on Theology at Elevation
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
“One of the best places to cultivate a Catholic worldview in the hearts and minds of young people … is in the backcountry,” writes Fr. John Nepil in his recent release, To Heights and unto Depths. Fr. Nepil, who has led dozens of group treks through the mountains of Colorado and said Mass atop every fourteener in the state, joins us to talk about adventure and a young man’s theological education. The backcountry, he says, is rich in lessons of creation, dependence, suffering, and beauty—restoring our sense of being created and loved by a self-giving God. Chapters: 5:18 What...
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Andrew Reed on Developing Your Son’s Will
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
How many times a day do I tell my son what to do next? In this rebroadcast from 2015, our Head of Middle School Andrew Reed offers his ideas on cultivating an environment at home (and in the classroom) where boys can develop their own academic will. This entails not only greater freedom but also—just as necessary—a close and reliable family bond. Mr. Reed explains how this counterintuitive pair works together to teach a boy to choose the good for himself. Chapters: 6:32 The will: a marker for success 9:02 Overmanaging: telling them what to do 10:54 Boys grow from experience and challenge...
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Michael Moynihan and Austin Hatch on Teaching the History of our Strange New World
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
To help our seniors synthesize the many ideas, events, and texts they’ve surveyed across high school—and to help them better understand their own cultural moment—Heights teachers have developed a senior core class titled “History of Western Thought.” In this episode, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan and long-time teacher Austin Hatch discuss the course and its guide-text: Carl Trueman’s Strange New World (2022). HOWT covers essential texts from Plato’s Republic to Pope Benedict XVI’s “Regensburg Address.”. Its goal is not only to prepare students for college work but to...
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Dr. Matthew Mehan on Imagination: The Raw Material for Thinking
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Properly understood, the imagination is not something you escape to; it’s something you draw upon every day to make decisions, understand events, and communicate. This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Matthew Mehan explores the purposes of the imagination and the habits of wit and wisdom that help us insightfully process our world. We may think of the imagination at odds with reality. But, he says, cultivating the imagination actually makes us more capable, “wittier” thinkers about reality. Chapters: 00:03:05 Defining the imagination 00:05:31 “Good mother wit” 00:08:25 How LLMs undermine...
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Colin Gleason on Discipline: Giving Room for Good Things
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
by Terrence O. Moore by Harper Lee by G. K. Chesterton Also on the Forum: by Alvaro de Vicente featuring Colin Gleason by Andrew Reed Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)
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Chris Vander Woude on Ordinary and Heroic Virtue
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
In 2008, Tom Vander Woude died saving the life of his youngest son. But this radical self-gift was really the culmination of a quiet life of daily virtue with a heart of faith. Chris Vander Woude, the fifth of Tom and Mary Ellen’s seven sons, now carries the story of his father’s life and death across the country, as well as sharing the process towards canonization that began this year with the assignment of a postulator in Rome. Chris joins us today to speak about fatherhood and the extraordinary man who exemplified it for him. Chris invites you to reach out to him at or . Chapters:...
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Alvaro de Vicente on Enjoying Our Children and Why It’s Important
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
They know we love them; but do our children sense that we like them? And how does that relate to their formation? In the intense season of togetherness that is summer break, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente recommends four practices to help us live more in the present and enjoy our children—even when the anxieties of life come knocking. Chapters: 00:02:17 Distinction between loving and liking 00:06:49 Four tools for cultivating “like”: 00:08:02 1. Express triple-gratitude 00:10:45 2. Spend unnecessary time 00:15:25 3. Find the humor 00:17:15 4. Pray for the grace 00:18:38 Why liking them...
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Dr. Joseph Lazilotti on the Sex Difference in Education
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Months ago, Heights teacher Joe Lanzilotti took up a prodigious project: reviewing the body of popular literature on boys’ education. Partway through his journey, Dr. Lanzilotti catches us up on the diversity of scientific, biological, psychological, and moral perspectives—and how they cohere into a bigger picture of boys and where their developmental needs differ from those of girls. Framing the evidence with papal guidance from the last century gives us a solid starting-point to consider the education of boys according to their nature. Chapters: 00:04:09 The timeline of research on boys...
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Clare Morell on the Tech Exit: How Smartphones Undermine Our Parenting—and How to Reverse Course
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
The ever-changing tech landscape and the ever-growing research on interactive screens means that the topic must come up anew year after year. For parents trying to keep pace, Clare Morell has compiled the most up-to-date research into her recent release, The Tech Exit. Armed with the facts and interviews with dozens of Tech Exit families, she encourages parents that it’s never too late to reverse course on smartphones. United with other families trying to do the same, we can replace the new “smartphone milestone” with real milestones that emphasize the goods of the real world. Chapters:...
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Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko on Parental Authority and Thomas Aquinas
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
In 1858, six-year-old Edgardo Mortara is forcibly removed from his family’s home in accordance with civil and canon law. His Jewish family’s legal appeal invokes, to great effect, the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Dr. Matthew Tapie and former Heights teacher Dr. Lionel Yaceczko join us this week to pull apart this difficult case with the assistance of St. Thomas, who gives a theological basis for parental authority in accordance with natural law—a useful perspective for our culture today. Chapters: 00:04:06 The Mortara Case (1858) 00:11:12 The personality of an original document...
info_outlineAs we conclude the school year, parents are turning their sights to summer and the much-anticipated family vacation. We bear such hope for rest and connection on these trips—but we can too easily end up chasing a bucket-list.
Head of Mentoring Joe Cardenas offers a timely intervention for our vacation planning, reminding us to plan for people before places. Bringing his own family traditions and Crescite Week experiences to the question, he offers a new set of questions to help us plan and enjoy a truly transformative, restorative vacation for all members of the family.
Chapters:
00:02:57 The anti-bucket list approach
00:08:23 “You need a change of soul”
00:10:11 Rest
00:13:46 Linger at table
00:15:18 Soak in a limited itinerary
00:17:10 Build in time for reflection
00:19:53 Better vacation planning questions
00:23:27 See it as a pilgrimage
00:28:33 Plan for people before places
00:34:55 Naturally layer in meaning, traditions
00:42:08 Share the highs and lows
00:45:12 The key: to plan ahead of time
Also on the Forum:
Three Components of a “Great” Summer featuring Colin Gleason
Taking Advantage of Summer (for the Non-Working Boy) by Elias Naegele
A Summer Fully Alive by Nate Gadiano
Mentoring Sons to a Successful Summer featuring Joe Cardenas
Four Ways to Have an Incredible Summer by Tom Steenson
Featured opportunities:
Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)