The Hockaday School

Hockaday Class of 2025 students Alyssa C. and Persia B. are partnering with Dwell With Dignity, a nonprofit founded by interior designers in Dallas. Dwell with Dignity supplies families coming out of homelessness with furniture, art, and kitchen essentials so they can create a home for their families. Alyssa and Persia work with ceramics students to create and donate pieces for families to use in their new homes. The nonprofit also runs Thrift Studio, a pop-up shop to provide financial support, where the public can buy ceramics pieces created by Hockaday students!

Our student ambassadors are hard at work preparing for Admission events by practicing school tours with faculty members! Prospective families love meeting and hearing directly from our students, so if you are interested in applying to Hockaday, check out our Admission events or schedule a tour at hockaday.org/admission!

Several Class of 2025 students were recognized for excelling on College Board assessments and in their classrooms. Recognition Award winners include Christiana Adesanya, Anu Akingbade, Aynalie Charron, Scarlett Chicoine, Paloma Duarte, Anjy Fadairo, Gabriela Gaona, Kate Gonzalez, Lindsey Hicks, Maria Juracek, Grace Kramer, Jordan Lacsamana, Zoe Littlejohn, Isabella Moreno, Alexandra Munoz, Elle Myers, Ana Ortiz, Madalena Ritz-Meuret, Anastasia Romanyk, Sofia Santellana, Madison White, and Sofia de la Pena.

Thirteen seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, a national academic competition for recognition and scholarship that began in 1955.

The Semifinalists are: Anna Crook, Lily Gum, Aimee Guo, Anika Kapoor, Faiha Khurram, Rayna Li, Olivia Qiu, Liz Steger, Ava Thigpen, Shreya Vijay, Ali Walton, Carissa Ye, and Kendal Young.

Upper School students had the opportunity to participate in a dance workshop last week led by American Broadway performer and choreographer Stephanie Klemons! Ms. Klemons was the Associate Choreographer and Original Dance Captain of the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” She was also an original cast member and the Dance Captain of “In the Heights” and 
“If/Then.”

Fourth Grade Daisies received their pins yesterday as they stepped into their roles as leaders of the Lower School!

Hockaday’s Upper School held a Dress Swap last week in preparation for upcoming dances and mixers! Around 90 dresses were donated by students, and their peers could come and “shop” for a free new dress. Kashmira K. (Class of 2027), who organized the effort, said “The Dress Swap was an opportunity for students to have an engaging way to solve multiple issues: protecting the environment through reusing dresses, improving equity through benefiting students who might find the cost of a dress prohibitive to attending Homecoming, helping charity as unclaimed dresses are donated, and fostering empathy among students as they experience the benefits firsthand.”

Upper School Writing Center interns headed to Lower School this morning to do Dictation Daisies with our Pre-K students! The writing prompt inspired the Pre-K students to dream big about their goals at Hockaday, and the Writing Center interns helped them formulate their thoughts into a narrative. The next step is illustrating their work!

Middle School Cross Country held its first Daisy Dash meet yesterday! Congratulations to all our runners!

Seventh Grade History students are making timelines of human history! They have been able to chart 3.4 million years of human ancestors and events on 20-foot rolls of paper.

Upper School students in Dr. Claire Cothren’s English class have been reading the novel “Our Missing Hearts,” a book in which gardens play a large role. As part of the students’ exploration of the text, they visited the Green Lab on the third floor of the Science building, where Laura Laywell, Assistant Director of the Dr. William B. Dean Institute For Social Impact, talked with them about the philosophy of gardening and its role as a community connector. Mrs. Laywell spoke about how gardens promote community and sustain life, and students asked questions and made connections to the novel.

“Imagine a world where only men play sports. That was the reality that Ms. Ela was living in when she founded Hockaday in 1913. Even when women did not have the right to vote, she had the foresight to establish Athletics as one of Hockaday’s four Cornerstones. Through this decision, not only did Ms. Ela challenge the status quo, but she empowered women to embrace athletics and break barriers for generations to come. 
 
When I think about Hockaday sports, three words come to mind: success, spirit, and unity.  
 
Hockaday athletes are extremely successful. From winning nearly 120 SPC, State, and National championships to graduating over 100 alumnae athletes, our split H represents champions.  Next, spirit. From the floor of Penson gym, I’ve seen firsthand what unbridled spirit looks like during spirit rallies: students screaming their support, cheering on their friends, and belting Hockaday chants. And finally, unity. On both the sidelines and the field, when Hockadaisies don their green and white, they belong to a special community. Built on our winning tradition and unwavering enthusiasm, that community inspires grit, sportsmanship, and camaraderie, uniting each and every student under a single goal: protecting the meadow. 
 
Although these words describe aspects of Hockaday Athletics, I don’t think it can be truly defined. It’s a feeling beyond words when you put on your first soccer jersey in Lower School, when you shout Green or White to your roaring classmates in Middle School, or when you step onto the field, court, pitch, course, diamond, boat, pool, or track as part of your first Upper School team. A feeling that is cultivated daily by the incredible Athletics staff during PE and practices.  

A feeling that, somehow, 111 years ago, Ms. Ela started by believing in the limitless potential of girls. In accordance with her vision, this year, I hope we continue to embody the Athletics cornerstone every day and continue protecting the Meadow!”

– Mae F. (Class of 2025)

“When I came to Hockaday in seventh grade, I remember sitting in class on the first day of school surrounded by so many bright, talented young girls who were always eager to help their classmates and never hesitant to share their ideas in class discussions. I immediately thought to myself — wow, it’s true, the four cornerstones really are a big deal here, especially scholarship. But what took me longer to figure out was what differentiates scholarship at Hockaday from just raising your hand in class or doing well on an assignment. 
  
At Hockaday, scholarship is not just learning or studying at a high level. It’s also the will to take risks in the classroom, both when everyone is watching, and when no one is watching. Scholarship is the desire to strive for more, even after receiving a high grade on a test, paper, or project.  
Scholarship is connecting what you learn in the classroom to the world around you and using that knowledge to make the world a better place. 
  
But most importantly, scholarship at Hockaday is the willingness to make mistakes. Returning to my first day of seventh grade, one thing that stood out to me was the sheer number of questions my friends asked in class. Never be afraid of asking questions for clarification or answering a problem wrong. Rather, be proud of yourself for going out of your comfort zone and creating these opportunities for improvement and growth.  
  
Starting my sixth and final year at Hockaday, I am still inspired each day by the way my peers and everyone in the Meadow exemplifies the scholarship cornerstone. I can’t wait to see our Hockaday community grow as students, leaders, and scholars this school year as we embody this cornerstone to higher levels.”

– Rayna L. (Class of 2025)

“I’m not an expert on character, but I can share how Hockaday has taught me to define character using three words- compassion, courage, and conduct.  
 
First, compassion. We don’t always know the battles that people are fighting, and the best thing that we can do is try to see the world through their eyes. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Think about how scary school can be for a new student or faculty member. Or for a class performing their musical. Or for an athlete competing for state or SPC. Only with compassion – for others and ourselves – can we hope to act with character.  

Second, courage. Stepping out of your comfort zone is an uncomfortable, but crucial part of discovering your passions and creating individuality.  

Making new friends, trying out for the plaid team, and running for office were all so scary to me. But facing this uncertainty with a courageous attitude led to the most rewarding parts of my Hockaday experience. Lastly, conduct. The best way to develop your character is to act upon a clear sense of right and wrong. At times, this sense requires us to make difficult choices. But the moments where we face these challenges with courage are the moments when our character shines most.  
 
Character is the foundation of all of the cornerstones, and I believe it is the most important thing we can learn during our time at Hockaday.”

– Mina K. (Class of 2029)

“Courtesy means being kind and respectful to others. In Lower School, we practice courtesy in many ways including saying “please” and “thank you” to our friends, teachers, and everyone we see during the day. Being a good listener and being patient show kindness and respect to those around us. Holding the door for another person, using kind words, and using eye contact are other ways to show courtesy. 
 
Fourth Graders are Morning Greeters, and we get to show courtesy to the younger students by greeting them in the mornings and walking with them to their classes. Courtesy shows that you care and appreciate the feelings of others. It makes them feel valued, and it helps create a positive atmosphere. When we take our time to be courteous, we make everyone’s day a little bit better.”

– Tavishi S. (Class of 2033)

Last week’s Convocation was an opportunity for our Hockaday student body and faculty to gather and build community, celebrate, and launch the new school year! We heard from Dr. Laura Leathers, Eugene McDermott Head of School, on the importance of dedicating yourself to difficult tasks, even when the task is not clearly defined. Students from each division wrote remarks about each Cornerstone – thank you to Tavishi (Class of 2033), Mina (Class of 2029), Rayna (Class of 2025) and Mae (Class of 2025) for speaking so eloquently on Character, Courtesy, Scholarship, and Athletics!

It’s been a great week on campus! We hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!

Fourth Grade students planted marigolds today in the Lower School Garden in preparation for Dia de los Mu***os! The girls will harvest the flowers in November to use on traditional altars as they learn about the holiday.

Meet your 2024-2025 HPA Board! We are grateful to our volunteers for all they do.

Middle School students in Jenni Stout’s Math class start each class with a thinking task. “The girls are put in random groups and must solve a problem I give them,” she said. “I’m looking for them to figure out how to approach a problem when they haven’t been given the steps – this helps them build stamina when they encounter a math problem that doesn’t look like something they have seen before.”

After reading the book “Building Thinking Classrooms” last year, Mrs. Stout changed her approach to teaching math to better engage students. This new method of teaching, which emphasizes critical thinking, problem-solving, and active engagement, is a different approach than the traditional lecture-style classroom approach that focuses on information transfer, memorization, and passive learning.

Random groups are important, she says, because working within regular peer groups can often lead to pre-established roles. The girls also work on vertical surfaces, because getting up and moving around can change the way they think. The person who writes cannot participate or the problem-solving discussion and can only write what the group tells them. This approach helps to improve the communication and listening skills within each group.

“Thinking is hard,” said Mrs. Stout. “It’s so much easier to be fed information. I want them to see math as something where, if they encounter a problem that doesn’t look exactly like the other problems they’ve seen, they don’t stop. They think about what they could do – how can they make it look like something they do know how to do? They are much more willing to do that with me now. They still ask for help – but now it’s after they have tried a few things.”

Middle School artists learn about lines and negative space through string art!

Lower School Daisies loved seeing their friends and meeting new students at the first Lower School gathering of the year!

We had a very special guest on campus yesterday, Teal Cohen ’17, Paris Olympian!! Before you ask…yes, she got to try the famous chocolate muffins in the Olympic village! Stay tuned to hear more from Teal about her amazing Olympic experience! 🚣‍♀️🇺🇸

Congratulations to Lisa Dwinal, Middle School faculty member, who is one of 26 educators from across the country, and the only teacher from Texas, to be accepted into the 2024 Peace Teachers program at the United States Institute of Peace!

USIP’s Peace Teachers program is a virtual professional development opportunity for middle and high school educators who are committed to educating youth on international peace and the resolution of violent conflicts. The 2024 Peace Teachers program will help teachers develop a foundational understanding of the American approach to peace and discover new ways to integrate this theme into their subject area. Previous Peace Teachers report that following their participation in the Peace Teachers Program, their students demonstrated a deeper understanding of the complexity of global conflict and of the ways in which peace can be generated in a violent world.

USIP (www.usip.org (www.usip.org)) is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical, and essential for U.S. and global security. The Institute provides expertise, training, analysis, and support to those who are working to build a more peaceful, inclusive world. Grounded in the Institute’s original mandate from Congress, USIP’s Public Engagement team serves the American people, providing resources and initiatives for K-12 students and educators, as well as others interested in learning about and working for peace.

👯‍♀️Hockaday’s Big Sis/Lil Sis is a program that connects the newest and oldest members of Upper School. Form I students meet their Form IV Big Sis during Back-to-School Week, and the pairs spend time together throughout the year!

It’s been a great first day! We love having these smiling Daisies back on campus!

ALUMNAE!! Looking for ways to network? We invite you to join DaisyConnect, a new online networking community that helps Hockaday Alumnae build and strengthen connections with one another. Through DaisyConnect, Hockaday Alumnae can find jobs where alumnae are working, post career opportunities, share personal and professional expertise, and reconnect with classmates. DaisyConnect is free, and it only takes a few minutes to sign up using your email address, LinkedIn account, or Facebook account. We hope you will take advantage of the benefits that DaisyConnect offers. Click the link below!

The Hockaday alumnae network on Alumnifire | Daisy Connect The Hockaday online alumnae network. With Daisy Connect, offer your help to fellow members, get great career advice or help finding a job, and post jobs and internships to find qualified candidates from a network you trust. Unlock the power of the Hockaday alumnae network.

Faculty and staff are hard at work! We can’t wait to see all our Daisies this week!

Please join us in welcoming Hockaday’s newest faculty and staff members. These talented individuals will contribute to a transformative educational experience for our girls, both inside and outside the classroom, and we are delighted for them to join our community. Also, please join us in congratulating several faculty and staff members on their new roles and responsibilities. We are excited by the promise of the year ahead and all that we will achieve together as we continue to be guided by our mission and the Four Cornerstones of Character, Courtesy, Scholarship, and Athletics.
Click here to meet the new members of our team! https://hockaday.myschoolapp.com/page/202425-new-faculty-and-staff?siteId=1839

Nikky Phinyawatana tells her culinary story at Asian Mint Photography by Lauren Allen. Mustard. Soy sauce. Chili oil. Swirl. Taste. Analyze. Adjust. Repeat. When Nikky Phinyawatana arrived at Chinese restaurants with her mom as a child, she unfolded saucy science experiments, blending various flavor notes that left those at her table urging