David Dyer ’97 was riding the bus after a gloomy day. He was feeling low, no job, no car, and no money. That day, He took the number 70 bus in front of the Burger King on Springfield Ave in Maplewood. There, he started talking to the bus driver all the way to the end of the ride.

By the time he got off the bus, “I was really uplifted.” Mr. Dyer took the bus again and met her multiple times, until they had exchanged numbers and eventually became husband and wife. “That,” he said, “was the beginning of the rest of my life.”

Mr. Dyer, was, and still is today, persistent.

Recently, Mr. Dyer received a call from his old friend Assistant Headmaster  Micheal Scanlan. He approached Mr.Dyer with a job opportunity: Director of Leahy House. They wanted someone who wasn’t divided with other jobs in the school, someone “To love it. To give it the attention it needs,” Mr. Dyer said. He accepted.

Mr. Dyer is fully aware of what he has in store for Leahy House. Already, he has applied new rules, such as not allowing the students to watch T.V. during the week. This change might be modified though. The changes that Mr. Dyer has in mind are much greater than T.V. hours. He said he wants a level system based on academics, punctuality, presence, and chores in the house. The purpose of this is to help students to see how well they are doing in some areas and how bad they are in others.He learned this system at his previous job.

After graduation from Benedict’s and later from Drew University in Madison, he worked as an assistant to the director of All Saints Community Development Center in Hoboken. From there, he went to Boy’s Hope/Girl’s Hope, a residence for teens with an eighty-five grade average or higher. He eventually left and was invited to go join Boy’s Hope in Brooklyn, where the challenge increased from caring for 12 students to caring for 40. At this time, Mr. Dyer and his wife were planning to have a family, so to help support his growing family, he went to Fr. Flanagan’s Boy’s Town, another residential setting.

Now Mr. Dyer not only has a job, car, money, and a family, but his job in his second home, the Hive.

He is persistent, whether it be trying to come in contact with his wife when they met on the bus, or continuing to learn about caring for kids. He believes that caring for kids is what he was meant to do. “I’m doing what I was called to do, helping young men become positive, productive adults.”