To the Hewitt Community,

Read the Strategic Plan

Educating girls today is a privilege and a responsibility. Since 1920, Hewitt has been enabling girls to meet the challenges of an ever-changing society and to take full advantage of the expanding opportunities for women. As a small, open, and inclusive community, we empower each girl to explore, to stretch, and to act on her potential. Hewitt is the foundation from which girls commence their own journeys, confident in their abilities, creative in their thinking, principled in their actions.

To continue providing that firm foundation for girls, Hewitt cannot merely do tomorrow what it did yesterday. Paradoxically, for Hewitt to remain true it must continue to evolve and change; that is the challenge of this strategic plan.

Since September 2011 our goal has been to be authentic and impactful in laying the framework for this growth. The creation of a strategic plan, a master site plan, and a capital campaign strategy all in one year provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Hewitt to think big, think differently, and envision new possibilities.

While assessing our strengths, respecting our traditions and history, and imagining the future, we have authored this plan for the girls, who look to us to lead and create Hewitt’s future for them.

• Because we are in New York City, “The Capital of the World,” Hewitt must take advantage of the resources of this unique environment.
• Because learning is a process of investigation, collaboration, and creation, we must think critically and innovatively about pedagogy, teaching tools, sources of information, and assessment.
• Because the lines between divisions and disciplines are blurring, we must embrace integrated, immersive learning.
• Because we are small, we must remain nimble and be adaptive. We recognize the opportunity to create a distinctive curriculum that responds to both opportunities and individuals.
• Because financial sustainability is a top priority, we must identify and marshal resources and exploit opportunities not previously considered.
• We must “think big.” As we reach, we must extend our grasp, our capacity, and our capabilities.

What will distinguish us, however, is how we match up the essentials of a twenty-first century education with Hewitt’s strengths and advantages, both those already identified and those yet to be discovered. Our goal is to be our best—to be uniquely different in ways that make us uniquely better at the how’s and why’s of providing a vibrant and dynamic educational program for the girls we serve.

Our fundamental responsibility is to inspire the curious and eager young girls who enter Hewitt as kindergarteners to become discerning, joyful, and resilient young women. At graduation, they will enter a world they have engaged with through Hewitt excited and unafraid, a world about which they are passionate and in which they are confident they can, and will, make a difference—because, at Hewitt, they have been prepared to be the architects of their own destinies.

The Board of Trustees joins us in extending our gratitude to all of you who have participated in this yearlong, comprehensive process and to the Strategic Planning Committee for their leadership, contributions, and extraordinary work in envisioning and creating this blueprint for Hewitt’s future.