The fall season was marked by record-breaking achievements and exceptional teamwork. Hewitt's student athletes earned accolades, advanced to the championships, and secured well-deserved All-Star honors.
- Athletics
- Photo Galleries
- Upper School
Get In Touch
Use the list of topics below to sort news stories by subject. To read a story, click on its title or image.
The fall season was marked by record-breaking achievements and exceptional teamwork. Hewitt's student athletes earned accolades, advanced to the championships, and secured well-deserved All-Star honors.
One of the ways we support a sense of belonging in our youngest students is by inviting their parents and guardians into our lower school classrooms. These visits encourage students to see themselves and their families as valuable members of our school who have unique and important knowledge to share with our community.
Congratulations to the cast and crew of A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Our upper school fall play brought Shakespeare’s magic and merriment to life on the Hewitt stage.
We are delighted to announce that William Young will be Hewitt’s next director of advancement, effective September 1, 2024. A deeply knowledgeable advancement director with extensive experience in independent schools, William joins us from Harrow School, a boys’ boarding school located in London, England.
This June, a group of Hewitt high schoolers traveled to Costa Rica for meaningful real world and experiential learning. Students kayaked through a mangrove forest, visited a sustainable cacao and coffee farm, ziplined through a tropical rainforest, and observed Costa Rica's incredible biodiversity and tropical ecosystems.
When we look back at all that the Hewitt community has accomplished since September, it is clear that this is a year not only to remember but also to celebrate! Please enjoy these highlights from the 2023-2024 school year.
From Hewitt, we have gained the ability to create meaningful bonds and learned how to be creative, innovative leaders. We understand how to listen and amplify small voices to make change, and how to be unapologetic in the bold choices we make.
We celebrated the end of the 2023-2024 school year with several of our favorite Hewitt community traditions, including Field Day, Community Celebrations, and ice cream treats from the Parents' Association!
Congratulations to the cast and crew of our middle school spring musical, Disney’s NEWSIES Jr.! This high-energy show was inspired by the real-life newsboys' strike of 1899 and its themes of courage, friendship, and standing up for the pursuit of justice align perfectly with Hewitt’s mission to inspire game changers and ethical leaders.
It is our honor to announce that Samantha Apfel '11 will deliver The Hewitt School’s 2024 Commencement address. An alumna of the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Apfel is a film and television producer who currently serves as vice president of production for Delirio Films, a boutique production company specializing in premium documentaries.
Congratulations to all of our varsity and junior varsity winter athletes! This season, the Hawks competed at state and national levels, beating both school and personal records. Read on for a recap from each team’s incredible season.
Follow a few Hewitt kindergarteners as they engage in reading and literacy activities, problem solve in math and science, practice their Spanish language skills, learn new games and sports in physical education, and explore their creative expression in music and art!
Congratulations to the cast and crew of our middle and upper school musical, Chicago: Teen Edition! Hewitt’s talented students brought the electrifying energy of this classic musical to life, wowing us with their powerful vocals and dynamic dancing, and showcasing range and depth as they delved deeply into each complex character.
Congratulations to the double cast and crew of this year's upper school fall play, Clue: On Stage!
Hewitt's soccer, tennis, volleyball, and cross country teams kicked off the new school year with hard work and determination!
Watch this video interview with Gabriella G., Class of 2024, who speaks about the experience of publishing her work in an academic journal.
Last spring, the Hewitt Community raised funds to transform two Stillman Hall roof spaces. Both our middle school recess playdeck and the Ashley Hope Goodman ’18 Memorial Garden were renovated this summer with an eye toward safety, sustainability, and beauty.
In this video, three middle school students share what Hewitt Robotics has taught them about building and engineering, teamwork and problem-solving, and collaboration and competition.
Watch this video interview with Noa Klein, Class of 2023, who will attend Columbia University as a Division I rowing recruit this fall.
Hewitt’s 2023 spring athletics season closed the school year with remarkable accomplishments and a special send-off.
Hewitt’s Upper School Arts Day showcased not only the incredible talent and creativity of our students, but also the skills they learn through both performing and visual arts.
Hewitt’s K-12 sustainability program teaches students about their local and global communities while encouraging them to imagine, design, and make meaningful contributions to the world around them.
Over the last several years, The Hewitt School has become a thought leader at the intersection of research, gender, education, and leadership and home to five distinct research projects that are positively impacting every Hewitt student, faculty, and staff member.
Throughout the 2022-2023 school year, the Hewitt community engaged in meaningful work dedicated to understanding the role each of us plays in forging a more inclusive and equitable future and strengthening our cultural competencies within and beyond the classroom.
I came to Hewitt sophomore year, and to say I was nervous for the first day of school would be an understatement. Then someone said hello and calmed my nerves about moving to a new school. If you remember anything from this speech let it be this: Sometimes all you need to do is say hello.
The Hewitt Alumnae Council hosted Life After Hewitt: Alumnae in Government and Nonprofits, where a panel of alumnae shared what first inspired them to pursue careers in government, nonprofits, and related fields as well as their professional accomplishments and challenges.
We are delighted to announce that Thérèse Collins will be Hewitt’s next director of admissions and enrollment management, effective July 1, 2023. Thérèse brings to Hewitt over a decade of experience working in admissions and financial aid at day and boarding schools on the East and West Coasts.
Congratulations to the cast and crew of Hewitt’s middle school production of The SpongeBob Musical: Youth Edition! The production was bright, fun, and full of life, and the students involved demonstrated incredible teamwork.
One person can certainly make a difference. But what if over 250 members of the Hewitt community came together and cooperated with intensity, purpose, and love? Hewitt's Day of Service brought the community together in memorable support of our mission and to make an impact on our local and global communities.
It is our honor to announce that Shanniece Reid-Lewis ’10 will deliver The Hewitt School’s 2023 Commencement address. Ms. Reid-Lewis was selected by senior class leaders for many reasons, the foremost of which is her outstanding track record of support and advocacy for women and the way she models inclusivity both personally and professionally.
Each Hewitt senior developed a unique Extended Inquiry project addressing a significant real-world problem or question that has emerged in her classes. Watch video highlights showing how students synthesized their research, critical reading, and writing into engaging presentations for the Hewitt community.
Brava to the cast and crew of this year’s middle and upper school musical, the Pilot Production of Legally Blonde The Musical Jr. which was designed specifically for The Hewitt School!
Hewitt’s 2023 winter athletics season was an exciting and eventful season for the Hawks! Congratulations to these talented young athletes.
We are thrilled to announce that Alia Carponter-Walker will be Hewitt’s next director of equity and community life, effective July 1, 2023. Alia is excited to help further Hewitt’s mission by inspiring girls and young women to be proud of who they are and who they are becoming.
Hewitt teachers use research-backed strategies to bolster every girl’s capacity to overcome both systemic and individual barriers to leadership on her college campus, in her career, and in her life.
Through place-based learning experiences, students develop confidence and agency, break out of their normal routine, expand their perspectives, and gain hands-on understanding of how they can contribute to their local communities now.
Hewitt students are immersed in learning experiences that engage them in understanding the nature of systemic problems and in problem solving for relevant real-world challenges in New York City and globally.
Watch this video to learn more about how students in kindergarten through fourth grades tinker, explore, pursue their curiosities, and forge connections across various disciplines in the lower school Innovation Lab.
One of Hewitt’s newest middle school electives, Sports Leadership, is inspired by our mission to help girls and young women become game changers and ethical leaders. This class gives middle school students increased opportunities to explore, define, and practice their own leadership skills.
The Hewitt Hawks kicked off the 2022 school year with a fantastic fall season. Congratulations to all the athletes who competed and demonstrated leadership this season!
At Hewitt, students engage in STEM through hands-on, multisensory learning experiences. In this video, second grade scientists explore the real-world concepts of weathering and erosion by creating models and stop-motion movies.
Brava to the cast and crew of this year’s upper school fall play, Top Girls! As part of their rehearsal process for the show, Hewitt actors explored the play’s themes of patriarchy, motherhood, sacrifice, class, and what it takes to be a successful woman in a world that seems fit only for men.
The Hewitt community celebrated a joyful back-to-school season full of some of our favorite traditions! During the month of September we gathered for our opening day welcome, Convocation ceremony, and a community picnic in Central Park. We are excited to spend a wonderful year learning together!
This fall, a cross-constituency committee is leading a search for Hewitt’s next director of equity and community life. We have also retained two nationally-renowned diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders, Martha Haakmat and Jason Craige Harris, to work as consultants to Hewitt for the 2022-2023 school year.
Home is about those around you, those with you, and those for you. Home speaks to who you are, and who you will be when faced with the noise of the outside world. At Hewitt, when you are immersed in and grounded by home, you understand the person you truly are. Here, you can reach your potential.
The graduating Class of 2022 will make change, I’m sure of it. And I’m already proud of us for using our voices, passion, and optimism in the service of our home at Hewitt and our homes beyond this one. As we move on to the next steps of our lives, please keep that love, that faith, that agency, that courage, that kindness.
During their minimester, seventh graders were guided by the central question, “Whose voices are heard; whose voices are not?” As they conducted field research, historical investigations, and interviews, students reflected on how different voices have been amplified or quieted throughout history.
First grade engineers conducted field research in Central Park to understand how to make playgrounds more accessible to people with different physical abilities. They then used what they had learned to design scaled versions of inclusive playground equipment such as slides, swings, and monkey bars.
As they wrestled with the real-world question, “What can Hewitt students do to promote a sustainable and accessible transportation system in New York City?” sixth graders engaged with local experts to better understand the challenges and benefits of creating resilient and inclusive transportation systems.
Congratulations to the Hewitt Hawks on a fantastic spring season! Our varsity badminton, crew, and outdoor track and field teams were excited to return to competitive play and all three teams demonstrated the kind of growth and perseverance that exemplifies the Hawks’ fighting spirit.
In this video interview, three sophomores describe their award-winning Early Entrepreneurs program and reflect on the inspiration behind their idea, the process of launching their program, and the sense of accomplishment they feel from making an impact on their school community.
This spring, our middle school performers brought a wonderful production of Seussical Jr. to the Hewitt stage. Congratulations to the incredible actors, musicians, and crew members on this musical celebration of community, loyalty, friendship, imagination, and diversity!
It is our honor to announce that Claudia Chan ’93 will deliver The Hewitt School’s 2022 Commencement address. Ms. Chan is a recognized author, professional mentor, leadership expert, entrepreneur, and mother dedicated to activating individuals and organizations to create more equitable and thriving workplaces, communities, and families.
In this video, Hewitt alumnae speak about building and running their own businesses, reflect on how Hewitt inspired them to pursue their ambitions, and share valuable advice for current Hewitt upper school students about how to succeed as entrepreneurs.
In this video interview, Caroline B., Class of 2022, reflects on the joy and sense of accomplishment she gets from writing code and building apps, and shares how her teachers have supported and encouraged her to pursue her passion for computer science at Hewitt and beyond.
Hewitt Athletics had a strong winter season that saw our J.V. basketball, varsity squash, and varsity indoor track and field teams advance to their respective AAIS playoffs, with track taking second place overall at their championship meet!
This winter, middle and upper school students put on an incredible production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical. Congratulations to the many talented actors, musicians, and crew members who helped bring this creative, joyful, and heartfelt performance to life!
After investigating water pollution through the lenses of equity and social justice, civic engagement, and sustainable engineering, fifth grade change-makers proposed ways for members of the Hewitt community to reduce their unsustainable impacts on freshwater systems.
During their week-long minimester, eighth graders investigated the lasting impacts of certain kinds of waste on our environment and researched the power of community activism. Students applied what they learned as they collaborated on ways to address the real-world issue of sustainable consumption at Hewitt.
Hewitt high school students are helping the Billion Oyster Project solve the local, real-world challenge of regenerating New York Harbor's oyster reefs. As community scientists, these students conduct hands-on field research and send valuable data back to the Billion Oyster Project.
At The Hewitt Games, students in kindergarten through fourth grade engaged in joyful and challenging physical activity. Throughout this friendly competition, lower school athletes had the chance to show off their hand-eye coordination, stamina, and agility, as well as leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.
At Life After Hewitt: Careers in Technology, five alumnae joined current students and our extended school community for a conversation about how Hewitt helped cultivate their early interest in learning and logic and prepared them for successful careers in technology.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Paula Cuello will serve as Hewitt’s next head of middle school, effective July 1, 2022. Dr. Cuello is thrilled to be joining the Hewitt community next year to work alongside our wonderful middle school students, parents, guardians, and faculty.
Featuring open-concept collaboration studio and classroom spaces amid Downtown Manhattan’s vibrant mix of for-profit and nonprofit businesses and community organizations, Hewitt Downtown will offer every Hewitt student immersive, real-world learning and leadership development.
Hewitt's varsity athletes were thrilled to return to competitive play this fall! Our soccer, tennis, volleyball, and cross country teams kicked off the new school year with an intense pre-season training schedule, and their hard work and determination paid off throughout the season.
Bravo to the cast and crew of Hewitt's upper school fall production, The Resolute: All Hands In! The play, which is set at one of the first elite colleges for women, was specially crafted for Hewitt’s talented student artists by playwright Gabrielle Sinclair.
In 2018, Olivia S. and Grace D. founded an organization dedicated to combatting hygiene poverty in New York City. In this interview, these student leaders share what they have learned from running an organization and describe how Hewitt has inspired and supported them along the way.
At Life After Hewitt: Careers in Finance, four Hewitt alumnae joined current students and our extended school community for a panel discussion about how Hewitt inspired them to pursue their professional passions with purpose and confidence.
After developing their knowledge of health, fitness, nutrition, and sports, middle school students collaborated on self-directed, student-led projects to share sport-specific training exercises as well as the physical and psychological benefits of an active lifestyle.
As members of the play production team, we learned about theater by doing the actual work of producing a play. Through hands-on and student-led learning, we explored the specialized skills that go into planning a production while taking charge, solving problems, and working with our peers to achieve our goals.
At Hewitt, our mission—to inspire girls and young women to become game changers and ethical leaders who forge an equitable, sustainable, and joyous future—informs our commitment to designing learning experiences that reflect the complexity of the world in which we live.
The Hewitt community marked the final weeks of the 2020-2021 school year with several joyful celebrations, including Field Day in Central Park, a visit from the Mister Softee ice cream truck, and Commencement Exercises for the Class of 2021.
I am forever grateful for my 13 years at Hewitt. I am grateful for the lifelong relationships I have nurtured here, the lessons learned, the best successes, and the greatest failures. I am grateful to all of you — my brilliant teachers and friends, our community, and our families — for shaping me into the young woman I am proud to be today.
Over this past year, it struck me that there is not all that big a difference between you, me, and the superheroes we see in movies. True, we cannot snap our fingers and expect half the universe to evaporate to dust, but there is a tremendous amount that we can do both as individuals and even more so as a community to improve the world, one small action at a time.
Our work as News Decoder Student Ambassadors has been one of the most significant extracurriculars of our high school careers. It has enabled us to engage with people from different areas of the world on broad, real-world topics that affect our immediate and extended community.
By incorporating social-emotional learning standards into English courses, teachers are building a classroom culture that prepares students to apply their developing emotional intelligence to the academic, interpersonal, and, eventually, professional areas of their lives.
We are delighted to announce that Sarah Odell will be Hewitt’s inaugural learning and innovation researcher. This new position will play an essential role in the research and design of an ethical leadership program for young women that centers equity, sustainability, and joy, and that is rooted in transdisciplinary, real-world learning.
We are dedicated to providing students with consistent and individualized feedback not only because it ultimately improves their outcomes on essays and exams, but also because the ability to process ongoing feedback and work iteratively toward larger goals will be critical to their success beyond Hewitt.
In our first year running the BSU, we decided to take on a leadership opportunity by creating an original Black History Month curriculum for students in middle and high school. Through our lessons and activities, students explored the Black experience and what it means to be an empathetic and active ally.
Participating in performing arts at Hewitt has given me the chance to develop new skills and make countless memories. Performing on stage has helped build my confidence, stage management has refined my organizational abilities, and being dance captain has given me the chance to be a leader and use my dance training in a new way.
We are thrilled to announce that Melissa Hong will be Hewitt’s next director of admissions and enrollment, effective July 1, 2021. A native New Yorker, Melissa brings a track record of innovative, mission-driven admissions and enrollment work and a commitment to collaboration to Hewitt.
After a cold and snowy winter, members of the Hewitt community headed straight to Central Park to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Over the past few weeks, teachers and students have embraced opportunities to bring their classes outdoors and into the sunshine!
It is our honor to announce that The Hewitt School’s 2021 Commencement address will be delivered by Amy Walter. A regular speaker on the “Politics Monday” segment on PBS NewsHour, and national editor for the non-partisan Cook Political Report, Walter has been praised for her persuasive speeches and precise political analysis.
The Hewitt School mourns with deep sadness the passing of Linda MacMurray Gibbs, who served as Hewitt’s sixth head of school from 2000 to 2010. Linda believed wholeheartedly in the power of education, and her visionary leadership of independent schools made a lasting impact on the many faculty, administrators, and staff she mentored and the countless students she taught.
Effective feedback creates space for students to practice and explore different solutions and strategies so that they can transfer what they have learned to new contexts. At Hewitt, we are implementing research-based strategies for delivering frequent, specific, and actionable feedback that teaches our students the habits of mind necessary to respond to feedback with readiness and purpose.
Our experiences at Hewitt have encouraged our passion for mathematics and helped us develop a sense of purpose around sharing that passion with our peers. Through the Math Olympiad club, we hope to give all upper school students a space outside of their classes to develop positive attitudes about mathematics while expanding their analytical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.
At this midwinter moment, as days lengthen, I am reminded of the ways in which living through a pandemic has turned all of us adults into middle school students. The changes wrought by this crisis were dismaying at first, and continue to unfold, not unlike the cascading changes of adolescence. In adapting to this challenging moment of uncertainty and change, we all can learn from the middle school students in our lives.
In December 2020, the Hewitt community came together for a socially-distanced signing day celebration in honor of Anne M., Class of 2021. A Hewitt athlete who played basketball and soccer and rowed crew, Anne will continue her sports career next year as a Division I rowing recruit for UCLA. We spoke with Anne about her journey as an athlete, the importance of teamwork, and how her time as a Hewitt Hawk has prepared her for the future.
At Hewitt, we know that formative learning experiences take place when students are given spaces to address issues that are personally meaningful to them. Through student-led civic engagement, members of the Middle School Sustainability and Social Justice Committee are honing their abilities to think critically, speak confidently, and tackle real-world, transdisciplinary problems.
Instead of relying on dry textbooks to teach confusing concepts, my freshman physics class showed me how effectively student-led, hands-on labs based in real-world scenarios could help break down complex principles. My experiences in ninth grade physics have given me the courage to pursue a subject that I initially thought would be overwhelmingly challenging, which feels heartening and empowering.
I decided to get involved in Hewitt's peer mentorship program because I wanted to support ninth graders in their transition to upper school. As a peer mentor, I get to help build community while sharing guidance and perspective on the challenges and opportunities that high school brings.
Hewitt has been awarded a $250,000 Educational Leadership Grant from The Edward E. Ford Foundation. The Foundation supports schools that serve diverse populations, and that encourage bold, new ideas that will catalyze change beyond their individual institutions. Their endorsement confirms Hewitt’s position as a thought leader and model of best practice among independent schools in the country.
When students teach their peers they take ownership of their knowledge and sharing new skills ceases to be a top-down exercise that must be led by the adult in the room. In these moments, the student sharing her wisdom deepens her own understanding and gains confidence in herself, while the student being taught gets the chance to hear a peer explain a new skill or concept, demystifying it and making it instantly more accessible.
In seventh grade science, students immerse themselves in two valuable systems of inquiry with real-world applications: the scientific method and the engineering design process. Through hands-on and self-directed work — time spent solving, testing, building, and creating — students develop a strong grasp of how scientific inquiry and experimentation can inform and improve engineering.
I came to Hewitt in the ninth grade, and I don’t think my middle school self would recognize the present-day me. As I begin eleventh grade, I see firsthand how Hewitt's uplifting community and supportive environment have helped me recognize my greatest assets and challenged me to step out of my comfort zone.
Hewitt’s Lunch and Learn series hosted Chelsea Gardner '16 for a discussion about how Hewitt encouraged her to explore her interests and develop her personal leadership style without fear of failure.
Hewitt's newly formed Anti-Racism Task Force has been charged with evaluating and recommending schoolwide protocols, policies, systems, and infrastructure to ensure that Hewitt becomes an actively anti-racist school. In this update, we share the work the task force has been doing as a full group and in subcommittees to develop anti-racism actions to recommend to Hewitt’s Board of Trustees.
When the cast and crew of A Midsummer Night's Dream learned that health and safety guidelines would prevent them from performing live, they came up with creative solutions to ensure that they could share their production with an audience. Their strength, enthusiasm, and flexibility turned what could have been just another event cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic into an amazing theater experience for the Hewitt community.
Hewitt’s Lunch and Learn series welcomed Julia Dunetz '15 back to campus for a discussion about how Hewitt helped her discover her passion for the arts and prepared her for a career as a theater producer.
Hewitt's Anti-Racist Summer Reads is a K-12 initiative designed to inspire and deepen conversations about equity, racial injustice, and racism among our students, parents and guardians, and faculty and staff. This fall, our community will gather to discuss their reading, ask questions, and commit to actions that address institutionalized racism at Hewitt and in the world.
Hewitt’s Lunch and Learn series welcomed Sydney Sadick '12 back to campus for an intimate conversation with upper school students. During this event, Sydney spoke about how the guidance and support she received at Hewitt encouraged her to pursue her goals as a print journalist and on-air reporter.
In Hewitt’s Programming and Robotics course, students learn how to create computer animations, design for digital fabrication, and program electronic circuitry, all with code. Because this introductory course focuses on hands-on projects that are grounded in real-world contexts, students start learning by doing at their very first class meeting, quickly making connections between the projects they are working on in class and the systems and electronics they use on a daily basis.
This June, the Hewitt community gathered together for A Virtual Celebration of the Class of 2020, an online event honoring our seniors. Developed in collaboration with members of the Class of 2020, this virtual event was not a replacement for an in-person Commencement, but rather a joyous celebration designed for these unusual times.
The Hewitt School mourns the loss of beloved French teacher and advisor Claire Arnod, who passed away on Sunday, June 21, 2020. Our community of students, families, faculty, and staff grieve for our dear teacher, colleague, and friend.
At Hewitt, students have amazing opportunities to develop our voices and sense of purpose through activism we believe in. Founding the Animal Rights Club has taught me that I want to stay connected to animal welfare causes for the rest of my life, and has also helped me build important leadership skills that I will use outside of school.
The New York Times’ Spelling Bee puzzle provides opportunities for members of the Hewitt community to unpack mathematics and engage with quantitative reasoning, to collaborate across disciplines and roles, and to stay connected despite the geographical challenges brought on by social distancing.
For their All About My Family projects, second graders interviewed family members and authored detailed books using the information they gathered. Centered on each student's own lived experiences, the project allowed students to successfully meet their learning objectives in a way that felt personally meaningful to each individual girl.
Families around the world are learning how to remake their traditions, routines, and methods of communication while sheltering in place. In this blog post, Head of Middle School Launa Schweizer writes about how her own family developed a charter — a shared agreement for how family members want to feel while they are at home — to help them make the most of this time together.
To ensure that her students can make and create while they are away from the art room, lower school art teacher Robin Lentz developed a collection of activities and how-to videos that require nothing more than something to draw with and a piece of paper. In this video, Ms. Lentz models for students how the art of doodling is a mindful experience that helps us stay focused and present in the face of distraction.
As Hewitt students and teachers returned from spring break and began developing new remote learning routines, music teacher Kirsten Lindberg saw an opportunity to bring our community together with a unique rendition of our school song. Ms. Lindberg gathered clips of students and faculty singing “At Hewitt” to make this beautiful tribute to the strength and power of our school community.
Thanks to their thoughtful planning and skill on the field, Hewitt Robotics took home coveted awards for teamwork, robot skills, excellence, and design, and four teams qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championships!
Hewitt Athletics had a tremendous winter season that saw our squash, indoor track and field, and basketball teams advance to their respective championship games. Our entire community watched with pride as these junior varsity and varsity athletes brought intense skill and determination to each game and meet.
Hewitt’s Lunch and Learn series welcomed Sofia Stafford '13 back to campus for an intimate conversation with upper school students. During this event Sofia spoke about how Hewitt gave her opportunities to make choices about her learning that prepared her for college, career, and life.
In Problem Solving and Posing, a mathematics elective for Hewitt seniors, students explored how to bring conversations about math to a wider audience through Sidewalk Math, a movement designed to make math enjoyable, creative, tangible, and accessible.
Being a student on the Strategic Visioning Steering Committee has been a rich and rewarding experience because I had the opportunity to learn about the school from a variety of perspectives and understand how the different roles collaborate to create the Hewitt I know.
In September 2020, Hewitt will mark its 100th anniversary. Hewitt has evolved from its origins into a forward-thinking school with a defining commitment to educating girls and young women to effect positive change in our world.
We are delighted to announce that The Hewitt School’s 2020 Commencement address will be delivered by Tiffany Dufu. A true champion for the advancement of girls and women, Tiffany is founder and CEO of The Cru, a peer coaching platform for women looking to accelerate their professional and personal growth.
This February, middle and upper school students starred in Hewitt's production of Lionel Bart's classic musical, Oliver! Congratulations to the cast and crew on their beautiful and heartbreaking production.
Our strategic vision was inspired by Hewitt girls and young women. In this video, Hewitt students describe how hands-on, real-world, immersive learning helps them develop their voices and their leadership capacity.
In preparation for our 100th anniversary in September 2020, Hewitt launched a new strategic vision that will help girls and young women prepare for college, the workforce, and a life of meaning and purpose.
Join us in celebrating the athleticism and teamwork displayed by Hewitt's junior varsity and varsity athletes this winter! It was an incredible season for the Hewitt Hawks, with varsity squash and varsity indoor track and field advancing to their respective championships, and J.V. basketball bringing home a championship win! Go, Hawks!
National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebrates the extraordinary role athletics play in the lives of girls and young women. At Hewitt, our sports programs guide students not only to become better athletes, but also to develop into strong women who can tackle any situation they face.
Students from the Seventh Grade Lunar New Year Committee share their experiences organizing an event for their middle school peers to learn about the foods, customs, and attire that accompany traditional Lunar New Year celebrations.
We are thrilled to announce that Loris N. Adams will be Hewitt’s next director of equity and community life, effective July 1, 2020. Loris brings to Hewitt an impressive breadth of knowledge and deep, relevant experience that makes her exceptionally prepared to lead Hewitt’s diversity, equity and inclusivity efforts.
Children and adolescents — particularly girls — need their parents and teachers to normalize the process of learning from mistakes. Rather than rescuing them from their mistakes, telling girls not to care about those mistakes, or minimizing their powerful feelings, we help them to grow whenever we can model grace under pressure in the face of a mistake.
Hewitt Robotics Team 11442N created an inspiring video to shed light on the lack of women in STEM fields and to highlight how, through robotics, "students are able to get engineering experience...creating a space for a love of technology to grow."
The Hewitt Innovation Lab is designed to be a space for students and teachers to explore meaningful ways of making — to make with a purpose. Research shows that many girls and women want to learn how to use technology skills to accomplish meaningful goals, such as pursuing artistic expression, solving a problem, or thinking differently about academic concepts.
We are pleased to announce that Terell Cooper-Edwards will be Hewitt’s next head of lower school, effective July 1, 2020. Terell eagerly looks forward to joining the Hewitt community next year to work alongside our wonderful lower school teachers, families, and students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
To inspire all students to act in ways that are personally significant and beneficial to those around them, members of Hewitt's Student Service Board spent the fall educating and engaging our lower and middle school students in school-wide service work.
The Hewitt School hosted Dr. Richard Weissbourd, faculty director of the Making Caring Common project (MCC) of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, for a conversation about moral parenting, building a practice of caring, and helping young people make healthy decisions about college.
Congratulations to the cast and crew of our fall production of The Wolves! These talented young women brought intensity, passion, and commitment to their performances of Sarah DeLappe's Pulitzer-nominated play.
Last week, grade 7 science students presented to their peers the results of several experiments that they designed to determine how objects move in space when they are dropped, roll, or slide. Like Galileo is said to have done over 400 years before, they designed ways to learn, through several trials, some of the basic laws of physics.
Girls With Impact gave me the opportunity to learn real business skills that are typically taught at the college level or learned the hard way, in real life. I came to the program with a vision for a nonprofit that I had been thinking about for a while, and Girls With Impact helped me bring it to life.
Why nurture ethics in our middle school students? Grade 6 history and ethics teacher Chris Han shares there are two main reasons: “To be present in our decisions about how we want to live,” and “to recognize the difference between how the world is and how the world could be.”
Congratulations to our varsity teams on an excellent fall season! Thanks to their intense preseason training and an impressive commitment to their sports, the Hewitt Hawks brought home wins, grew as athletes, and developed strong bonds over the course of the season. Go, Hawks!
At Hewitt, we believe deeply in the power of emotional intelligence as the foundation of a relational education. Research shows us that emotional intelligence benefits our students not only in academic settings, but also in the personal and professional relationships they will develop throughout their lives.
While visiting a fifth grade Spanish class, I was struck by how much Spanish was being spoken in the room and how confident the girls were using it. During the half hour I spent in the class, every single girl raised her hand to speak, most more than once. They were just as confident asking for help and clarification as they were to reveal proudly what they had learned.
Hewitt’s summer grant program supports faculty experiences that align with the school’s four academic pillars - presence, empathy, research, and purpose. Read on to learn how this year’s summer grant recipients engaged in mindful interactions, expanded their perspectives, fostered their own growth mindset, and affirmed their purpose as educators and as individuals.
Today, the sixth grade began work on a research project to prepare themselves to read Refugee by Alan Gratz, a novel that has quickly become a staple for middle school English classrooms. As Grade 6 English teacher Lael Jacobs said, “Many students find that they can’t put it down.” But before they even picked it up, Jacobs worked closely with our librarian Erik Sommer to teach research skills and to allow the students to inform themselves about the novel's historical context.
The Hewitt School community was saddened by the loss of Former Head of School Dr. Mary Jane Yurchak. As Hewitt’s fifth head of school, Dr. Yurchak led the School from 1990-1999, and is remembered as a devoted and accomplished educator who guided Hewitt through an important decade of pedagogical advances and technological change.
To learn about the animals that inhabit our oceans, second graders engaged in an interdisciplinary and multisensory project that invited them to explore marine life as readers, writers, artists, researchers, and public speakers. By directing their own learning at every stage of the project, these young scientists became deeply invested in work that was meaningful to them while developing confidence in their abilities to think critically and independently.
Through my time at Hewitt, I have found that the key to conquering the chaos that is life is in holding onto the threads of continuity that run through it all. In my case, those threads are each and every one of the people sitting behind me right now and the values that they and the Hewitt community have impressed upon me.
I ask you to remember the hope you feel today and turn it into strength for the weeks and months to come. Hope fuels ambition, it fuels your drive for success. You survived and you conquered, leading yourself to this moment, so remember it and let that feeling of pride and accomplishment spread throughout every inch of you. Use that feeling to push you when you hit the rougher patches, which are inevitable, as we all know.
This May, the Hewitt community gathered at a signing day event to celebrate Caitlin Doran, Class of 2019. An avid athlete who played varsity soccer for Hewitt throughout her high school career, Doran will attend the United States Naval Academy this fall as a Division I soccer recruit. Doran spoke with Director of Athletics Amy Mulligan about her passion for the game, why she chose the U.S. Naval Academy, and the importance of having female athletes as role models.
Knowing that play is important work, kindergarten teachers participated in a professional book study around how they could infuse more independence, inquiry, literacy, and math into student play. By putting research on girls’ learning into practice in their classrooms, these educators ensured that their students had new and exciting chances for creative playful experiences.
Each year, Hewitt students collaborate on scene-writing projects with Rattlestick Playwrights' Theater, then experience what it means to bring a script to life as professional actors perform their work. Designed to encourage students to think deeply about their own sense of purpose, these annual playwriting projects give middle schoolers the chance to immerse themselves in themes and ideas of personal, social, and global relevance.
This winter, seventh and eighth grade French students embarked on a journey to Québec City, where they learned about the province’s history, culture, and customs while putting their French language skills into practice. Whether bundling up for some of Canada’s famed winter activities, immersing themselves in First Nations history, or bonding with their host families, these eager middle school travelers embraced every aspect of their trip and returned to Hewitt with a new respect for the diverse viewpoints and experiences they encountered.
This February, seventh and eighth grade Spanish students had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica, where they immersed themselves in the country’s language and culture while studying its impressive environmental sustainability efforts. As they journeyed far beyond the walls of Hewitt, students discovered that they were not simply practicing their Spanish, but in fact using the language to understand Costa Rica’s commitment to conservation practices and environmental education.
In Food Fights: Eating and Controversy in American History, juniors and seniors study American life through the history of food. Students learn about the “food fights” that lurk just beneath many prominent and lesser-known controversies, and they use food to understand the intimate lives of the people who have inhabited this continent for thousands of years.
Eleventh and twelfth graders relied on their creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills as they developed active and engaging P.E. lessons for our second graders. Whether leading a winter wonderland-themed yoga sequence or overseeing complex obstacle courses, the upper school students confidently stepped into their roles as teachers, sharing their passion for physical activity with their young students.
We are delighted to announce that Launa A. Schweizer will be Hewitt’s next head of middle school, effective July 1, 2019. Launa is thrilled to join the Hewitt community and work with our outstanding team of middle school teachers and fifth through eighth grade girls and families.
Hewitt Athletics saw an increase in the number of skilled and determined students participating in fall sports, and it was clear that our middle and upper school teams worked their hardest this season no matter the outcome. The positivity and excitement of the season shone through at each practice and game and it was clear that Hewitt athletes were proud to be a part of their respective teams.
One of my favorite questions is: "What does a day in the life of a librarian look like?" In addition to being a quiet spot to study and learn, the library is also a shared community space where students can gather for meetings and lead group discussions. Today was a good example of the many ways a librarian works with student scholars and researchers at The Hewitt School.
As Hewitt guides girls to become the bold leaders of tomorrow, we have been expanding sustainability and environmental literacy as a core component of our curriculum and community practices. Our middle school girls have great concern for the health of the planet and are discovering a genuine sense of purpose by actively working to implement sustainability initiatives throughout their school community.
Hewitt's seventh and eighth grade Shakespeare Workshop offers a unique opportunity for small but mighty groups of young actors to gain confidence by experiencing all the steps necessary to give life to the Bard's 400 year old plays. The students wrestle with the meanings of the texts, but even more importantly they wrestle with a deeper understanding of metaphors present in Shakespeare's writing.
Hewitt’s physical education program provides students with the tools they need to live a healthy and active lifestyle while instilling a passion for physical activity and movement that goes beyond school hours and lasts a lifetime. With classes that center around movement and fitness, sports technique and strategy, and yoga and dance instruction, Hewitt girls learn early on that they all have something to offer and gain from their physical education classes.
Hewitt’s summer grant program supports faculty experiences that align with the school’s four academic pillars - presence, empathy, research, and purpose. Read on to learn how this year’s summer grant recipients engaged in mindful interactions, expanded their perspectives, fostered their own growth mindset, and affirmed their purpose as educators and as individuals.
This September, second graders did the important work of setting up and organizing their classroom libraries. During the first few days of school the girls explored their libraries with excitement, their curiosity and enthusiasm contagious. Collaboratively, they began to investigate bins of books, having conversations about what types of books were in each and what they noticed about the books they were reading.
Whether student, faculty, or staff, all new members of our community are paired with a buddy who offers guidance, support, and friendship as they navigate their first year at a new school. As the youngest members of our community, kindergarteners are welcomed to Hewitt through a unique partnership with the senior class, allowing for a special relationship to grow between the oldest and youngest students at Hewitt.
Having spent much of the year applying their knowledge of Latin vocabulary to a systematic and rigorous study of English derivatives, Hewitt’s seventh and eighth grade Latinists devoted the final weeks of school to regaling their classmates with tales from ancient Pompeii.
Hewitt’s dedication to fostering empathy in our students makes our partnership with Riley’s Way Foundation a natural fit. Throughout the year, Hewitt upper school girls work with peers from the Young Women’s Leadership School - Astoria on the Riley’s Way Youth Council, a public and independent school partnership designed to develop kind and compassionate leaders.
Each spring, a delegation of Hewitt’s middle and upper school students participate in the Packer Model Congress, where they engage in heated but civil debates about taxes, foreign aid, veterans’ affairs, and environmental policy. Delegates view the annual event as yet another opportunity to make their ideas known and their voices heard.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote, “We know what we are, but we know not what we may be.” Well, I know something of what we are. We’re venturers and friends, students and sisters. Above all, we are Hewitt girls. As we walk out into the next stages of our lives as women, we do so with the immeasurable potential to become anything we want to be.
Good morning, families, students, colleagues, members of the Board of Trustees, and first among equals, good morning to the Hewitt Class of 2018. Look around you and memorize this moment, your classmates, your families, your teachers, this beautiful place, and the chance to sit quietly just for a little while so you can remember it.
This April, the Hewitt community gathered to celebrate the opening night of our student-curated art exhibition, Diversity and Identity: The Pieces of Your Puzzle. From thoughtful self-portraits to an interactive world map to a school-wide collaborative mural, each work of art spoke to the exhibition’s theme, recognizing the beauty of the Hewitt community’s diverse perspectives and experiences.
As most people were just waking up and beginning their morning routines, the 14 members of Hewitt’s varsity tennis team were arriving at the courts ready to practice. The hardworking and passionate team grew incredibly close over the course of the season, making it all the way to the quarterfinals of the AAIS tournament, with an impressive 7-3 record the rest of the season.
This spring, faculty advisors focused the ninth grade advisory program on empathy skill-building and trained in council, a method of story sharing developed by the Ojai Foundation. Council provides a space where students can voice their opinions and share their stories, knowing they will be heard by their peers without comment or judgment.
Believing strongly that an artist must have empathy in order to tell and honor another human being’s story, Ms. Britt asks her seventh grade drama students to step into the shoes of a classmate through a project in which girls learn, reflect on, and ultimately perform another’s story.
Earlier this year, first graders noticed the chairlift at the front entrance to McKelvey Hall. When it came time for students to begin their study of Central Park, Ms. Hashim seized the opportunity to change the traditional curriculum, harnessing her students’ interest by learning about Central Park through the eyes of the elderly or disabled.
This March, visitors to Hewitt’s third grade classrooms found themselves rubbing elbows with a myriad of famous and vibrant women from every era of history. Guests expecting an ordinary wax museum full of motionless figures were in for a treat as the third graders, dressed as historical figures, came to life to share their stories.
Whether building a robot from scratch or working alongside a teammate to troubleshoot a pesky programming glitch, students in Hewitt’s middle school robotics program are design-thinkers and problem-solvers who learn from their successes and challenges.
Estefania Suquilanda, Hewitt’s lower school tech support specialist, has always had a passion for repairing gadgets. “My goal is to pass on the repair bug to Hewitt students from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Whether dealing with a cracked phone screen or an argument with a best friend, knowing how to repair things is an important skill to have.”
Hewitt kindergarteners approach their role as Hewitt's newest community members with fresh eyes, deep curiosity, and lots of enthusiasm. Throughout their first year of school, kindergarteners focus on identity explorations, learning about their larger school community and their own role in that community.
Hewitt’s commitment to sustainability spans divisions and disciplines. Between clubs, courses, and community service, faculty members are developing a variety of ways for students, teachers, and families to get involved with efforts to spread awareness and education about the environment.
Hewitt’s Sandwich Friday tradition goes back to 2005, when this service relationship originally began in our first, second, and third grade classrooms. Since then, it has expanded to fourth grade and kindergarten so that every member of the lower school shares in this empathy-building experience.
Hewitt fifth graders tapped into their skills as mathematicians, problem solvers, coders, researchers, and writers to plan road trips across the United States. With only a few specific guidelines about budget and mileage, students were encouraged to make independent decisions about routes, finances, food, and lodging as they planned elaborate trip itineraries.
Each year, Hewitt’s world languages department offers opportunities for middle and upper school students to travel abroad to Spanish- and French-speaking countries. These trips, filled with new experiences and discoveries, provide students with the chance to immerse themselves in the language, culture, history, and culinary traditions of different cities.
This October, three upper school Graphic Design students attended the 12th annual Teen Design Fair, where they caught the attention of graphic designers from Sesame Workshop.
On any given day, visitors to Hewitt’s O’Hara Family Innovation Lab might smell the burnt wood of the laser cutter, see traces of sawdust left over from a woodworking project, or hear the hum of a 3D printer bringing student designs to life.
This fall, Hewitt’s athletes hit the ground running in volleyball, soccer, and cross country. Our varsity and JV teams were complemented by a record number of middle school student athletes, and the season was characterized by talent, skill, determination, and teamwork.
In its second year, Hewitt’s summer grant program supported faculty experiences that align with the school’s four academic pillars - presence, empathy, research, and purpose.
This summer, several Hewitt faculty members participated in mindfulness training designed specifically for educators. Read their personal reflections to learn how they are incorporating mindfulness practices into their classrooms.
Spurred by questions based on both hypothetical and actual situations, fifth and sixth students utilize classical philosophies and political theories like those of Aristotle, Kant, and Rawls to guide their critical reasoning as they consider dilemmas in law and justice.
On the first day of school, the entire first grade participated in a team building activity designed to encourage planning, collaboration, problem-solving, and creative expression.
Faculty member Elise Figa presented at an August workshop for fellow music educators hosted by the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA).
Faculty member Erik Sommer discusses his summer art installation at Fastnet, an alternative exhibition space in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
The Hewitt School embraces the notion of teachers as learners and offers faculty several opportunities for professional development throughout the year.
From the first day of rehearsals the cast of "The Cripple of Inishmaan" jumped at the chance to take on the challenges posed by this complex text.
At Hewitt, we believe in empowering girls to establish a sense of self rooted in confidence, empathy, and hardiness through active, girl-centered academics and authentic connections to the world beyond our campus.
In December 2016, six upper school students and nine faculty and staff members attended the annual People of Color/Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Atlanta.
As part of their Programming and Robotics course, Hewitt students in 9th and 10th grade collaborated with 3rd graders to design unique robot toys.
At The Hewitt School, all middle school students are given the opportunity to learn robotics, and interested girls are encouraged to build on this foundation by participating in our Hawks Robotics elective.
This March, over 700 members of the Hewitt community, including students, current and incoming families, alumnae, faculty, staff, and Met Museum educators, gathered at The Vinegar Factory to celebrate the opening of Feminist Stance: What Do You Stand For?