Hewitt News

May 1st was National College Decision Day. As in years past, we have witnessed tremendous excitement this year from the Hewitt community about our college list. Steadfast and determined, our seniors have worked assiduously in their scholarly and co-curricular endeavors, and we are thrilled to acknowledge their well-earned achievements. 

An impressive college list notwithstanding, what I’ve come to appreciate more and more is how truly special and unique Hewitt is when it comes to college and other traditional measures of achievement and success. A Hewitt senior is impressively grounded and purposeful about her college choice and how it is aligned with who she is already in the process of becoming. Unlike the vast majority of high-achieving students graduating from independent schools, a Hewitt senior knows how to answer three important questions:

1. What brings you joy?
2. What are you good at?
3. What does the world need?

One of the hallmarks of a Hewitt education is that our graduates know how to connect their unique gifts and passions – their inner world – to consequential or beneficial actions in the outside world. Hewitt seniors don’t just know where they are going to college; they can speak directly to why they have made the choices they have, and how their Hewitt education has prepared them to make a positive impact on the world. For example, this year, one senior shared with me that her purpose is designing products that improve lives and inspire joy. She did her research, honed in on one of the top university programs in the world for what she wants to study, and was accepted to her first choice. Next year, she will be matriculating at a European university, pursuing her passion at a school that is uniquely designed to help her further her purpose. 

Purpose is the fourth and final pillar of our School’s academic philosophy for good reason. As an institution, Hewitt consciously resists what former college dean and best-selling author Julie Lythcott-Haims coins “the checklisted childhood,” the toxic high-achievement culture that perpetuates the damaging message that students must engage in manic resume padding in order to be “successful” in the college process and beyond. Independent schools are full of this kind of activity, which as William Damon at Stanford University says, leads many high-achieving young people to “struggle because they feel their lives are full of obligatory actions that have no personal meaning.” In this respect, Hewitt is writing a countercultural success story–our students achieve great things but do so with a sense of meaning, purpose, wellbeing, and joy.

Before joining the Hewitt community, I spent many years teaching and advising undergraduate students at four highly selective college campuses. Listening each day to students’ stories, their hopes and fears, I had a front-row seat to the phenomenon that Lythcott-Haims and Damon address. At Hewitt, we take great pride in swimming against an unhealthy current telling high schoolers that their worth is contingent on their association with the brand of a selective college. Perhaps the greatest gift we give to our girls and young women is the knowledge that they are so much more than where they go to college, that they are worthy just as they are, and that they already have everything they need to fulfill our School’s mission to become game changers and ethical leaders who forge an equitable, sustainable, and joyous future. 

To view a list of the colleges and universities where our recent graduates have matriculated and to learn more about Hewitt's college process, please visit our College Guidance page.