Increase learning opportunities beyond the boundaries of disciplines, classroom, and campus, and serve as an educational leader and incubator to push the boundaries of existing programs.
Elevate forms of creative expression and the creative arts—visual, performing, and digital—to engage Hackley students and link them with the broader creative community.
Creativity and creative expression will be elevated by bringing the visual, performing, and digital arts programs together in a new facility that promotes collaboration across disciplinary boundaries. Hackley students and faculty will learn from and work with visiting artists and professional artists and artisans from the surrounding area, leveraging the vibrancy of the greater New York City area art community.
Selected Action Steps:
Reimagine the physical plant and human resource requirements necessary to inspire and elevate teaching and learning of the creative arts and the creative process.
Establish opportunities for students to collaborate with artists and artisans within and beyond the greater Hackley community.
Develop an artist-in-residence program.
Create a series of culminating “Big Experiences” for Hackley students at important transition points.
Students and teachers across the K-12 spectrum will collaborate in developmentally appropriate ways to define and develop a series of culminating experiences at key transition points. These “Big Experiences” may range from year-long Service Learning projects in 4th grade to environmental stewardship work in 8th grade to travel and internships in the Upper School. “Big Experiences” will differ in length, depth, and complexity as would be appropriate across the divisions, yet will align with and reinforce the curricular competencies, serving as signature learning experiences at Hackley.
Selected Action Steps:
Identify and develop the vision for the “Big Experiences” program and its requirements, aligning them with the competency-based approach.
Analyze academic calendar and student schedules to allow for more flexibility to accommodate the “Big Experiences” program.
Create a collaborative process for students and teachers to design these experiences.
Explore varying methods of assessment and reporting for these experiences.
Create new opportunities for culturally immersive experiences both domestic and abroad.
Each Hackley student will have the opportunity to participate in an immersive travel experience to a unique cultural environment, domestic or abroad, at least once between grades 9 and 12. Students will have the opportunity to share their learning with peers and promote the sense of empathy and wonder cultivated by travel.
Selected Action Steps:
Investigate existing programs abroad and leverage Round Square membership to create student and/or faculty exchanges
for extended periods.Identify and secure resources to ensure that each Hackley student can participate in an immersive travel experience to a unique cultural environment, domestic or abroad, at least once between grades 9 and 12.
Develop a school-wide Service-Learning program and create a sustainable model for Hudson Scholars.
Service-Learning—the blending of classroom-based learning and community service—will be expanded in developmentally appropriate ways. Additionally, we will develop the necessary structures to sustain Hudson Scholars, strengthening Hackley’s connection with the local community and reinforcing the centrality of service to others in a life of accomplishment.
Selected Action Steps:
Identify the structures and support required to build Hudson Scholars into a four-year program.
Cultivate an authentic and nuanced understanding of the concept of Service Learning as a teaching and learning strategy across all three divisions.
Engage current community partners to discuss the Service Learning framework, understand present and future needs of organizations, and identify the possible curricular connections for new opportunities.
Utilize the Hackley Forest and surrounding natural ecosystems to their fullest educational capacities and foster environmental stewardship.
The community will steward and better integrate the Hackley Forest and surrounding natural environment into the program, including establishing professional development resources for other educators and developing relationships with partner schools.
Selected Action Steps:
Study the potential for the creation of the Hackley Institute for Forestry, Agriculture & Resource Management (Hackley FARM).
Connect and create a “friendship” program with schools that have proximity and developed programs focused on environmental education (e.g. the New York Harbor School).
The Plan in Action
Five Hackley students and three chaperones are attending the 2023 Round Square International Conference in Kenya this October. Here is what they are looking forward to. #HackleyAtRSIC2023
“Are you excited to be finally going on your Southern Odyssey trip?” The question from colleagues and students echoes repeatedly in the days leading up to spring break. I manage to rouse up a nominal “yes” without elaboration.
On Thursday, April 27, students in Mrs. Washington’s PostAP Spanish: Language and Culture class carried out the service component of their annual service-learning collaboration with community partner, Neighbors Link.
On Thursday, April 20, and Friday, April 21, Hackley welcomed Kurt Coble and the PAM (Partially Artificial Musicians) Band to the Hilltop.
So, what does the future hold for Hackley and outdoor education? My hope is that we can continue to build on our current momentum and offer fun and exciting outdoor opportunities for our K-12 students.
Hackley School is proud to share that we have won two InspirED School Marketers Brilliance Awards for works published on the School’s blog—Hackley Perspectives.
Six Upper School students traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to attend the National Association of Independent Schools’ Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Read their reflections here.
As an extension of their history curriculum, and as part of their Big Experience, fourth graders took a trip to Philadelphia on Friday, Oct. 21. It was a springboard to highlight the grade’s focus on leadership and citizenship.
Throughout the fall, Middle Schoolers have been embarking on their annual fall trips, full of team-building activities and outdoor adventures.
On Saturday, Oct. 22, approximately 40 of our Hudson Scholars came to the Hilltop for an afternoon of learning, enrichment, bonding, and fun!
On October 20, 2022, we welcomed to the Hilltop Jason Reynolds (New York Times #1 Best Selling Author) and Jason Griffin (renowned illustrator) of “Ain’t Burned All the Bright” for a book signing, a morning visit to the Lower School, and two book discussions — first with students in the Johnson Center then with families in Allen Memorial Hall.
A delegation from Keio Academy of New York recently visited Hackley. Led by Keio University’s President Dr. Kohei Itoh, the group included Keio Academy Headmaster, Dr. Takayuki Tatsumi and Goro Sato, Keio’s Business Officer.
Senior Massimo Soto’s short film, Below the Rise: The Untold Story of Costa Rica, was selected at eight film festivals (so far) in three countries — the United States, Spain, and Czechia — and he won an award for Outstanding Excellence at the Nature Without Borders Film Festival.
On Sunday, Sept. 11, former and current members of Mrs. Washington’s Service Leadership for Social Impact course volunteered at the Hearts and Homes for Refugees Welcome Picnic for recently resettled refugee families.
Seven Hackley students and three chaperones are attending the 2022 Round Square International Conference in England this September. Here is what they are looking forward to. #HackleyatRSIC2022
On May 21, 2022, three Hackley Juniors—Advith Sharma, Graham Adams, and Noah Nager—organized and led the Finals of the 1st Annual 2022 Westchester Geo Competition on the Hilltop under the guidance of Upper School teacher Mr. Tuo Liu.
Back in the cold winter of 2020, Performing and Visual Arts students joined together for a first ever Hackley Creative Arts field trip to Yale University. That trip two years ago was such a success, it instantly became a fixed event on the Hackley Upper School calendar…
When Hackley’s Strategic Plan charged the Performing Arts Department with redefining excellence, the faculty was energized to further raise the level of music instruction and performance.
This spring, Hackley’s Performing Arts department welcomed Master Drummer Vince Cherico and Cellist Jeremy Harman as part of the Creative Residency Program.
On Wednesday, April 13, Hackley welcomed artist Thomas Doyle for a day of creative expression with Middle and Upper School students in our art studios and Maker Space. Doyle is the first visual artist-in-residence to visit the school as part of the Creative Residency Program since the onset of the pandemic two years ago.
In the spring of 2021, the Lower School students embarked on a school-wide art project creating an outdoor 50ft-wide mural.
This June, Hackley School will welcome an apiary to campus! The apiary will become home to our very own honeybee hive, creating exciting and innovative learning opportunities in science and environmental studies for our K-12 students.
Hackley School students in the Middle and Upper School divisions are learning to explore the philosophical dimensions of complex ethical dilemmas, participating in regional and national ethics competitions, and demonstrating what it means to ‘Redefine a Liberal Arts Education,’ a key effort in Hackley’s strategic plan Redefining Excellence: Learning Beyond Boundaries.
‘Promote the Hilltop as a Learning Hub’ is a pillar of our strategic plan Redefining Excellence: Learning Beyond Boundaries. Since the plan launched in 2018, faculty and administrators have asked “how can we accomplish this goal across divisions?” In the computer science department, we have redesigned our curriculum using programs such as Code.org to shift from light skills-based training to intensive code programming. In a safe and supportive environment, students are learning to apply computer science concepts like problem-solving, logical thinking, cause and effect, and computational thinking to other aspects of their lives.
There were quite a few service learning collaborations during Hackley’s November 30th, 2020 distance learning week.
This year Hackley’s Service team is concentrating their service efforts on addressing food insecurity on a hyperlocal level given the extraordinary challenges 2020 has presented to so many of our neighbors.
Upper School History teacher Christopher Loomis writes about the great opportunities for discovery that were born out of this year's Independent Research in History and English project. From War of the Roses to Harry Potter, 17 juniors and seniors participated in this new academic opportunity.