Head of School
Much for Which to be Thankful
Dear Tower Hill families,
Over the past weeks, I have had the pleasure of meeting with all our new students in small groups in my office. I tell them that I want to learn from them about Tower Hill, as they have fresh lenses and good ideas to share with us. We have had wonderful conversations that include looking at pictures of Tower Hill in 1919, what they like most so far and things about Tower Hill that they are still getting used to. I ask them for any advice they have or ways that I can help them be their best selves as Tower Hill students. Yesterday, one of our new Kindergarten students asked if I could help him become a great point guard on the basketball team! I told him that I don’t have as much power as our wonderful coaches in that area, but that I’m sure if he works hard he can achieve his goals.
All of us at Tower Hill are working hard to achieve individual and collective goals. We are making significant progress on our strategic plan. Here are just a few highlights that provide evidence of our collective work, as we continue to challenge ourselves — providing our students with the most excellent, innovative, exhilarating and timeless educational experience possible.
- This Monday, we will dedicate the new Lower School Outdoor Classroom!
- Last week our new Hiller Instinct robotics team won an impressive award.
- Our Compensation and Benefits Committee is working hard to ensure we are looking at faculty salaries through a competitive lens.
- Our department chairs meet regularly to review scope and sequence, as well as opportunities to collaborate across divisions and disciplines.
- Our Upper School Tower Term courses include the Harvard Business Academy.
- We had terrific turnout at our Leadership Donor Reception at Hagley and the alumni reception in New York City last week, and our annual giving is up year to date. Thank you!
- Tower Hill created and hosted the first-ever LEAD Middle School diversity conference, which was attended by many area schools and students.
- Our Centennial and Forum speakers have recently engaged and inspired our students to use their voices in constructive, honest and insightful ways.
- Our fall sports seasons ensured that our student-athletes developed perseverance, grit, determination, teamwork and grace in both winning and losing.
- Students in our Model United Nations class will compete at Princeton University.
- We continue to enhance our Global Initiatives at all grade levels, leveraging resources from the E.E. Ford grant awarded to Tower Hill recently.
The theme of a heads’ meeting in Princeton that I attended earlier this week was “Developing Democratic, Civil and Civically Minded Citizens in an Age of Partisan Polarization.” Associate Provost and Dean of Public Policy at the Eisenhower Institute from Gettysburg College Rob Bohrer discussed the importance of our role as independent schools “in promoting nonpartisan discourse and critical analysis of issues of long-term importance.”
As we prepare for this season of Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for the amazing teachers and students at Tower Hill who are leading by example — modeling civil discourse and civically minded citizenship, right here within the Tower Hill community and beyond. Thank you for the privilege of being with your children each day. We all have much for which to be thankful at Tower Hill!
Elizabeth C. Speers
Head of School
