The weekend of October 20-22, 2017 was an eventful one for Hathaway Brown's fall sports teams. Blazer Tennis collected quite a bit of hardware, coming home from the state tournament in Cincinnati with the Singles, Doubles, and Team state championships, along with the third-place title in Singles, and fourth place in Doubles. The Golf team shot a combined 679 in the OHSAA Division I state tournament on The Ohio State University Gray course to end their season ranked #9 in Ohio. And Cross Country runner Jessica Young '19 advanced to the regional meet at Boardman High School on October 28, after her seventh-place finish in the district meet with a time of 20:16.20. 

Breaking It Down: 

TENNIS

The 2017 Team state title is a three-peat for Blazer Tennis, and the Singles crown earned by Nicole Gillinov '20 is the fifth consecutive Singles championship earned by a Blazer scholar-athlete. Ariana Iranpour '14 was ranked #1 in OHSAA Division II Tennis in 2013, followed by Lauren Gillinov '17, who racked up three back-to-back titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Nicole Gillinov was Singles state runner-up last year. Maddie Lynch '19 earned third-place Singles honors this weekend. In Doubles action, the team of Isabella Godsick '20 and Megan Qiang '19 took the top spot this year, following Blazer graduates Ally Persky '17 and Catherine Areklett '17, who were the 2016 Doubles state champions. Also this weekend, Isabella Daverio '19 and Rebecca Wolf '19 finished the tournament ranked #4 in Doubles. Blazer Tennis is coached by Greg Aten, Craig Mueller, and Lissy Hill. 

GOLF

HB golfers were incredibly composed under pressure, playing up to the demand of the challenging Ohio State course. Individual scores for the two-day state tournament in Columbus were: Colby Cohen '18 with  83 and 78; Becca Gorman '20 with 90 and 82; Sonum Jagetia '18 with 85 and 82; Hannah Froimson '17 with 90 and 89; and Kate Hickey '20 with 95 and 90. The alternate players were Emily Jones '20 and Simr Deo '21. Blazer Golf is coached by Bill Scully and Drew Pierson.

CROSS COUNTRY

Blazer Cross Country finished the district meet ranked seventh overall, with an average time of 21:36.74, missing the regional selection of the top five teams by only a slim margin. In addition to their teammate Jessica Young, all of HB's runners had impressive showings. Times logged were: Kalie Sommerfeld '18 with 21:45.63; Emma Esteves '21 with 21:48.25; Grace McCarthy '19 with 21:59.72; Abigail Coffey '21 with 22:13.87; Sadie Hertz '20 with 22:35.72; and Lilly Rothschild '18 with 23:21.61. Please congratulate the Cross Country team for a wonderful season. The team is coached by Clark Turner and Olivia Braude.

UPCOMING POSTSEASON GAMES:

Come out and cheer on these Blazers as they continue their seasons!

Soccer: Monday, October 23, 4 p.m. at Ursuline College

Field Hockey: Tuesday, October 24, 5 p.m. at Shaker Heights High School 

In the school's ongoing efforts to seamlessly balance tradition with innovation, HB today unveiled a newly designed model classroom in the first floor west wing of the Classic Academic Center. The space—which is available for use by teachers and students in all academic disciplines and all school divisions—was designed with flexibility in mind. 

A committee of educators, school administrators, and board members spent several months researching academic environment best practices, and they looked to forward-thinking secondary schools, colleges, universities, and top business firms for inspiration for the model classroom. The design not only honors the beautiful traditional architecture of the 1927 Walker & Weeks Classic Building, but it also highlights and integrates the latest technology, giving students and teachers the tools they need to stay on the cutting-edge of educational initiatives. 

The model classroom is a bright and inviting space that encourages collaboration. All of the furnishings are easily movable, lending themselves to an endless array of configurations, vastly expanding the number and type of lessons, pedagogies, and activities that can be enacted. There is no clearly delineated front of the room, and whiteboard paint has been applied to the majority of the wall space for write-on, wipe-off capabilities. The room features several flat-screen touch monitors that connect to the internet and allow for real-time screen-sharing so that student and faculty devices may be displayed simultaneously. The space also is outfitted with energy-saving modern light fixtures and all-new flooring. 

Early reports are that the model classroom is being received as an engaging, comfortable, and inspiring update to campus. Over the course of the next several months, faculty and students have been asked to share their feedback about the space and to offer their suggestions for enhancements and improvements. This feedback will help guide ongoing renovation and remodeling efforts related to academic spaces throughout the school. 

Eight members of Hathaway Brown's debate team —Ryan Brady '20, Sejal Sangani '20, Tejal Pendekanti '20, Julia Schilz '20, Amayz Razmi '18, Farah Sayed '19, Katherine Wang '19, and Isha Lele '18— received a very prestigious honor when their International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) essays qualified as two of the “Top 64” teams internationally for the second year in a row. Hathaway Brown School is the only school in the United States with two teams in the Top 64 for two years in a row. 

The IPPF is an international competition of “written debate” in partnership with New York University. It is the only contest that gives high school students around the world the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of public policy.

The Top 64 teams will next compete in a single-elimination, written debate tournament. Teams will continue to debate the topic, “Resolved: International climate accords for greenhouse gas emissions should adopt binding enforcement mechanisms.” Essays will be volleyed back and forth via e-mail and judges will select the advancing teams. This format continues until the final eight teams emerge. Those teams earn an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to compete in the IPPF Finals on April 21, 2018. The IPPF Champion takes home a $10,000 grand prize.

To learn more about the IPPF competition, click here. 

Congratulations to these girls on this very impressive accomplishment!  We wish them luck in their upcoming round of competition.

Four members of the Hathaway Brown School Class of 2018 signed National Letters of Intent today at a special signing ceremony held in the Anne Cutter Coburn Reception Room:

• Jackie Carman will play Basketball at Wofford College
• Annalyse Kitzberger will play Volleyball at Davidson College
• Rachel McMullen will join the Equestrian team at The University of Georgia
• Halle Wasser will join the Crew team at The University of Pennsylvania

The girls' families, teammates, coaches, teachers, and friends joined them on this important occasion. Director of Athletics, Julie Kerrigan Ettorre, spoke about each scholar-athlete to the gathered crowd, and they each thanked their loved ones for many years of support and encouragement before officially signing their letters.

Congratulations to Jackie, Annalyse, Rachel, and Halle!

Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute Winter Break Program

December 27-29, 2017 

 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

The PRIME program (grades 1-4) offers three full days of song, dance, theatre, crafts, and games. Participants can register for one, two, or all three days. Tuition is $50 per day. Visit HBTI Winter Break for information and to register.

The Performing Arts Training (Intermediate: grades 5-6, Secondary: grades 7 through college) has a wide range of specialty classes from which to choose.

Options Include: Acting for the Camera, Audition Technique for Vocals, Monologues, and Dance. 

In addition, Dan Hendrock and John Krol will teach some unique classes for Call Back Vocals, Cold Reading, “Belting” and Preparing for College Auditions. Dance with Bebe Weinberg Katz and Katie Zarecki will include Ballet, Tap, and Lyrical. Ryan Zarecki will lead three different Stage Combat classes: basics, hand-to-hand, and weapons. The Art of Storytelling will be taught by master storyteller Kyle Joza. Guest instructors include Eric van Baars (Kent State musical theatre faculty), teaching Preparation for College Audition, and Broadway producers John and Danita Thomas (Little Women and The Secret Garden) will discuss auditions and expectations for professional theatre. 

Registration for these programs is by the class.  Students can sign up for single or multiple classes. Tuition is $20 per class or $50 for a three -lass bundle. Visit HBTI Winter Break for more information and to register. 

HBTI is a co-educational arts training program sponsored by the performing arts department of Hathaway Brown School and is open to all area students. All classes are held at HB, 19600 North Park Blvd. in Shaker Heights. Questions? Email HBTI Director Bebe Weinberg Katz at bkatz@hb.edu.   

Hathaway Brown is pleased to announce that six students have earned national recognition in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2017, and two students' work has been honored with Governor's Awards in Ohio.

HB's Scholastic national medalists are Catherine Areklett '17 (Silver Medal for Personal Memoir), Gina Egan '18 (Silver Medal for Comic Art), Molly Gleydura '18 (Silver Medal for Digital Art), Layla Najeeullah '20 (Silver Medal for Photography), Maria Perilla '17 (Silver Medal for Writing Portfolio), and Maya Razmi '18 (American Voices Medal for Personal Essay/Memoir).

Additionally, Gina Egan and Emma Borrow '18 have had their art work selected for display in the 2017 Ohio Governor's Youth Art Exhibition. From the 11,500 regional entries from the state's 15 regions, approximately 2,500 are selected to enter the state judging. State jurors then select 300 works for the actual exhibition, which will be shown at the James A. Rhodes State Office Tower in April and May.

Scholastic national medalists have been identified by panels of creative professionals as the most talented young artists and writers in the nation. This year, 330,000 works of art and writing were submitted by students in grades 7-12. Less than one percent of work was recognized at the national level. This is the first time that six HB students have earned national medals in one year. As a recipient of the American Voices Medal, Maya is invited to a special celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June. Since 1923, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the outstanding work of teenagers from across the country. By winning a Scholastic Art & Writing Award, these HB students join a legacy of celebrated authors and artists including Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, John Currin, and Lena Dunham. 

Congratulations to these gifted writers and artists and many thanks to the HB faculty who continue to educate, inspire, encourage, and mentor them. For more information about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, please visit the program's official website. To learn more about the Ohio Governor's Youth Art Exhibition, please click here. 

Hathaway Brown Upper School students fared extremely well in the 2018 Scholastic Art Awards, earning multiple regional commendations in this longstanding, highly competitive local and national visual arts program. For 2018, 43 awards were earned by 24 HB girls in grades 9-12 in eight different arts categories. The faculty advisors for these award-winning students are members of the HB Upper School Visual Arts Department: Jamie Morse, Shelly Ahern, and Tyler Zeleny. 

HB students earned seven Gold Keys, 14 Silver Keys, and 22 Honorable Mention designations in Ceramics & Glass, Comic Art, Digital Art, Drawing & Illustration, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Mixed Media. 

All of the HB students' Gold Key and Silver Key award-winning work, as well as digital representations of the Honorable Mention work, will be on display at the Cleveland Institute of Art. An Award Ceremony for Gold Key recipients will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Auditorium at CIA on Saturday, January 13, and all of the winning work will be on view in CIA's Reinberger Gallery January 16 through February 2. Learn more here. 

Each Gold Key-designated piece is eligible for the Scholastic national competition and will be sent to New York City for judging at the close of the exhibition. Click here to view a complete listing of HB's 2018 winners, including award level, category, title of work, and faculty advisor. 

Congratulations to the following students:

Hathaway Brown Upper School students had another remarkable showing in the Scholastic Writing Awards, a longstanding, highly competitive local and national program. For 2018, 93 awards were earned by 49 HB girls in grades 9-12 in seven different writing categories. This includes 21 Gold Keys, the highest number ever to be awarded to HB students in a given year. Students credit Director of the Osborne Writing Center Scott Parsons and Upper School English teachers Beth Armstrong, Marty Frazier, and Toni Thayer for their assistance in advising them on their work. 

In addition to the 21 Gold Keys, HB students earned 20 Silver Keys and 52 Honorable Mentions in Critical Essay, Flash Fiction, Journalism, Personal Essay/Memoir, Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and Short Story for 2018.

Each Gold Key work is now eligible for the Scholastic national competition and will be sent to New York City for additional award consideration. Click here to view a complete listing of HB winners, including award level, category, and title of work.

Congratulations to the following students:

Alise Adornato '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Grace Amjad '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Margaret Amjad '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir (2)

Kate Aris '18, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Grace Beedles '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Casey Beiswenger '19, Silver Key, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Jane Berick '19, Gold Key, Poetry (3); Silver Key, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Poetry 

Ainsley Bradbury '19, Silver Key, Short Story

Yardena Carmi '19, Gold Key, Science Fiction/Fantasy; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Maya Daoud '19, Silver Key, Pesonal Essay/Memoir

Kathryn Doherty '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Michelle Dong '20, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Regina Egan '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Caitlin Esteves '19, Honorable Mention, Critical Essay

Ellie Felderman '18, Honorable Mention, Poetry 

Katrina Frei-Herrmann '18, Gold Key, Poetry; Silver Key, Critical Essay

Elise Fuente '18, Silver Key, Critical Essay

Julia Garson '18, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Daria Gitiforooz '19, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Molly Gleydura '18, Silver Key, Short Story; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Zuha Jaffar '21, Gold Key, Flash Fiction

Erica Kahn '18, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Stephanie Kaiser '19, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir (2); Silver Key, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Poetry

Isha Lele '18, Silver Key, Critical Essay

Coco Liu '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Nadia Malik '19, Gold Key, Poetry

Layla Najeeullah '20, Gold Key, Poetry

Rebecca Oet '20, Gold Key, Poetry; Honorable Mention, Poetry

Camryn Parsons '19, Gold Key, Poetry; Silver Key, Personal Essay/Memoir

Ela Passarelli '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Simran Patwa '19, Honorable Mention, Journalism

Tejal Pendekanti '20, Silver Key, Short Story; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Poetry

Shruthi Ravichandran '21, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Anya Razmi '20, Silver Key, Poetry

Amaya Razmi '18, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Sophie Sacks '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Poetry

Sejal Sangani '20, Silver Key, Poetry

Farah Sayed '19, Silver Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Silver Key, Poetry

Leonela Serrano '18, Honorable Mention, Short Story

Lexie von Zedlitz '18, Honorable Mention, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Jennifer Wang '19, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Sophie Weyn '19, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Alison Xin '19, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir (2)

Claire Yohann '18, Honorable Mention, Critical Essay

Lina Zein '20, Silver Key, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Critical Essay (2)

Yasmine Zein '19, Silver Key, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Critical Essay 

Crystal Zhao '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Silver Key, Science Fiction/Fantasy

Stephanie Zhou '18, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Angela Zhu '19, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

The National Council of Teachers of English has recommended HB's Retrospect for its top honor in the 2017 NCTE Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines. Only two Ohio schools were recommended to receive the Highest Award, which Retrospect also earned in 2015. In the 2017 award notification letter, the NCTE congratulated faculty advisor Scott Parsons, director of the Osborne Writing Center, saying, "You have inspired a love of writing and built a community around the written word that your students will remember for the rest of their lives."

Retrospect is produced each year by a team of 12th grade editors, and the book includes the work of Upper School students from all grade levels. Girls submit visual art, poetry, prose, essays, and short stories for consideration. The resulting publication is a beautiful compilation of many voices and perspectives. You can read the 2017 issue of HB's student literary journal here: http://bit.ly/2rpWpSI. 

Congratulations to the members of the class of 2017 who served as editors for this award-winning book: Sam Scott, Ellie Cascio, Rosalie Phillips, Taylor Herrick, Regan Brady, Carly Wellener, Lina Ghosh, Kristina Mullen, Arielle DeVito, Gigi Protasiewicz, Marisa Lancaster, Maria Perilla, Hanna Keyerleber, Chloe Schwartz, and Lane Chesler. 

by Siva Grossman

Since 1978, students across Northeast Ohio have been spending their summers learning and growing together at Hathaway Brown Broad Horizons camp. And while I haven’t been part of the program quite that long, I’m happy to be celebrating my 15thanniversary as HBBH director this year too. I feel so lucky to spend June and July working (and having fun!) with such great families, children, and staff. It truly is a joy to come to work every day. And speaking of every day, we’re pleased to announce that for the first time ever, HBBH will have programming on Fridays so that campers can enjoy our offerings the whole week through.

Our traditional HBBH day camp welcomes boys and girls ages 3-4 for half-day programming. Girls in kindergarten through grade 5 attend HBBH from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Broader Horizons day camp provides girls entering grades 6 through 8 fun all-day activities designed for their age group, including trying out our onsite adventure learning course, off-campus field trips to explore the city, and much more. Campers of all ages also have a chance to use HB’s aquatics center and tennis courts, with swimming lessons that can be added to their days.

We like to think of HBBH as an extension of the Hathaway Brown experience, but with a healthy dose of good old-fashioned summer fun thrown in for good measure. The school theme of Courage, Character, and Kindness will be part of all that we do this year, with special programs and activities that encourage children to stretch their boundaries, discover who they are, and remember to always think about what it means to be part of a community. Campers learn fun camp songs and dances, and the highlight of the summer is the big Lip Sync. We end every day with a huge group gathering and we have special dress-up days on Tuesdays and camp field events on Thursdays. In between, there are educational games, engineering and arts and crafts projects, storytelling, laughs and fun in the courtyard and on the playground, and much, much more.

HBBH will take place June 11-July 20 this year and I just can’t wait.

I know it seems funny to be talking about the summer when we haven’t even been through winter yet, but HBBH registration will open in January, which is right around the corner. And I’m so excited about this coming year and our big 40th birthday celebration that I can’t help thinking about all of the people who have come into my life because of HBBH.

Every year, I witness campers meeting friends from so many different communities as well as different countries. We have had girls from France, Denmark, Mexico, and Hong Kong take part in HBBH during my time. One of my favorite stories is the one about the girls from two different school districts who met at HBBH as kindergartners and today are still best friends. In fact, they are seniors in college, and believe it or not, they even attended the same college! These lifelong friends might not otherwise have met if not for camp.

We also had a camper who attended HBBH herself for years, then she became a volunteer who assisted with the youngest campers, and then went on to be a Shepherd (the name we give our camp counselors) for a camp group of her own. When she graduated from college with a degree in education, she returned to HBBH as a teacher of our pre-kindergarten campers. Which reminds me of another important point I want to emphasize about HBBH as an extension of the school experience: Our program is designed not only for campers, but also for older students. Ninth graders volunteer with us each year, working with the children and earning service hours. Students in grades 10 and above work as Shepherds, guiding camp groups through the sea of activities we have planned for them each day. This aspect of HBBH allows students to actively embrace HB’s motto: Non Scholae Sed Vitae Discimus—We Learn Not for School, But for Life.

I know that families have a lot of demands and plans during the summer months, and I believe it is important to accommodate individual scheduling needs. I love working with parents and campers to customize the HBBH experience. We’re happy to prorate our costs based on the length of time campers take part in our six weeks of programming. We’re thrilled to offer a five-day camp option in 2018, but we still will make the four-day option available to families as well. Camp starts as early as 8 a.m. with Before Camp for those who need it. Half-day programming for 3- and 4-year-olds is scheduled from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Full-day programming for girls in grades K-8 takes place from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. After camp, students are welcome to sign up for tennis or swimming lessons, and the Extended Day programming for those who need to stay longer runs from 3-6 p.m.

I’m already working on creating the summer activities schedules for each HBBH group and I can tell you that these campers will be busy, busy, busy. It is so rewarding to me to be able to offer children ages 3-13 the great opportunity to explore their world through friendship, education, and constructive play. With adult teachers guiding all of the thoughtfully designed activities that bring HBBH to life, campers actually look forward to disconnecting from their electronic devices and just being present with one another, because they know it is in those moments that they’ll make memories to last a lifetime.

Happy birthday, HBBH!

Two members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2018 are among the candidates under consideration for the 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholars program. Adelyn Klimek and Lekha Medarametla have been selected as nominees for their outstanding academic achievement. Participation in this program is by invitation only. Students do not apply individually to the program. These HB students were identified for the program based on their high ACT and SAT scores. 

Both students now have the opportunity to be among a small number of American high school seniors who are named Presidential Scholars. Of the pool of roughly 4,500 candidates, approximately 600 students will be named semifinalists, at which point the U.S. Presidential Scholars Commission will further review the students' qualifications and up to 161 will be named U.S. Presidential Scholars. All Scholars are honored for their accomplishments through the National Recognition Program, held in June in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Presidential Scholars are guests of the U.S. Department of Education, and they enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital to meet with government officials and educators. To commemorate the achievement, the Scholars will be greeted by the President of the United States, and they will receive special Presidential Scholars Medallions at a ceremony sponsored by the White House. 

The United States Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 by Executive Order of the President to recognize and honor some of our nation's most distinguished students graduating from high school. The Scholars represent "excellence in education and the promise of greatness in young people." 

Hathaway Brown is proud to be the alma mater of ten U.S. Presidential Scholars: Regan Brady '17, Lina Ghosh '17, Kavya Ravichandran '16, Isabella Nilsson '16, Alyssa Bryan '13, Laney Kuenzel '08, Amy Hollinger ’05, Edith Hines Williams '00, Caroline Campbell '98, and Genevieve Mathieson Kilmer ’96.

Ten Hathaway Brown seniors have been chosen as National Merit Finalists for 2018. All of the HB students who were named Semifinalists in the program in the fall went on to achieve Finalist status.

Students who take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test are eligible to become National Merit Scholarship Finalists. More than 1.5 million students enter each year. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will consider all Finalists when the agency awards an array monetary prizes this year. To learn more about the program, click here.

HB's National Merit Finalists for 2018 are: Archer Frodyma, Addie Klimek, Anne Lewandowski, Coralin Li, Lekha Medarametla, Danica Murthy, Ela Passarelli, Anika Rede, Sophie Sacks, and Crystal Zhao.

Join us for the 17th Annual Student Playwriting Festival!

Friday, February 23 & Saturday, February 24, 2018

7:30 p.m.

Black Box Theatre

This event features six original plays written by HB students and directed by six HB Black Box Ensemble students. A variety of comedy, drama, horror, and even a musical! Free Admission. Limited Seating. 

HAUNTED HOUSE by Grace Beedles '19, directed by Camryn Parsons '19

WIN OR LOSS by Sarah Goraya '21, directed by Anne Lewandowski '18

TRUTH OR DARE by Violet Webster '21, directed by Frances Murray '18

COUNTING BOXES by Emma Gerber '21, directed by Val Mischka '18

LICENSE TO LOVE by  Anna Keresztesy '20, directed by Anna Kalra '19

PELICAN GIRLS by Hannah Schmidt '19, directed by Kathryn Doherty '19

For more information, contact Molly Cornwell

As a girls’ school with a 142-year history of educating and empowering young women, Hathaway Brown is proud to celebrate Women’s History Month. Every day this March, we’ll be sharing content related to our own school history and we’ll be featuring the voices of women in the HB community and beyond. New material will be posted throughout the month on all of our digital platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, HBlog, and hb.edu, so be sure to follow along for videos, inspirational quotes, special contests, and much more. Among other things, we’ll be marking the 20^th anniversary of our signature Science Research & Engineering Program on March 6, enthusiastically honoring International Women’s Day on March 8, highlighting our fourth graders’ Notable Women projects on March 14, posting photos from abroad as our students experience life in six different countries through programs designed by the Center for Global Citizenship during Spring Break, and sharing an array of material from our archives all month long. We’d love to add your voice to the mix as well, so please like, comment, and share. 

To start things off, please enjoy this blog post by Head of School Fran Bisselle—an homage to the women who have come before us and who continue to inspire us to always blaze new trails. #WomensHistoryMonth #HBCelebratesWomen

It was a great weekend for Hathaway Brown’s Speech & Debate program, as Jason Habig, HB's Middle School history department chair and director of summer programs, was inducted into the Ohio High School Speech & Debate Association Hall of Fame. Jason coaches HB's Upper School Speech & Debate team, which he established at HB in 2005 and now includes more than 60 students in grades 9-12. Prior to joining HB, he coached the team at Saint Ignatius High School. Jason was a policy debater himself at Saint Ignatius and Case Western Reserve University, and he began coaching at SIHS when he was a freshman in college until he joined the faculty at HB.

With a regular season that includes one- or two-day tournaments each weekend from October through January, state and national tournaments in February and March, and after-school practices for 13 different events, supervising Speech & Debate is quite a commitment. In his two decades of active participation in this honor society, Jason has amassed numerous impressive achievements, but he’s most lauded for his unwavering commitment to students and their development as confident, caring, thoughtful people who are empowered to go out and make the world a better place.

On Friday, March 2, Jason’s own mentor in Speech & Debate, Joe Buzzelli of Saint Ignatius, introduced his former student to the gathered crowd of several thousand students and teachers in Sylvania, Ohio, thanking him on behalf of all the young men and women whose lives he’s transformed, for his “generosity of intellect, friendship, and kindness.” In his acceptance remarks, Jason encouraged the students to think beyond themselves in their life pursuits. “When you combine your speech and debate talents with caring deeply about the people and the world around you, it’s essential that you hear this message early and often: every single one of the adults who helps run this activity in Ohio—from the most accomplished coach to the most inexperienced novice judge—comes to the tournaments on Saturdays because they believe in your power to make the future better,” he said. “Please use that power to choose to care about the world around you.”

VIEW JASON’S OFFICIAL INDUCTION VIDEO HERE

To commemorate the occasion, the senior members of the 2017-2018 HB Speech & Debate team compiled a special video of their own, including well wishes from several school alumnae and others who wanted to express their gratitude to Jason for the effect he’s had on their life trajectories. You can watch that moving tribute here.

This weekend’s event marked the end of statewide HB Speech & Debate competition for the season, with only Nationals left. There were several highlights from this year’s competition, leading up to and including the tournament in Sylvania:

• A record 77 Upper school girls and 22 Middle School girls participated in at least one tournament this year
• Three HB students are National qualifiers, including Isha Lele ’18, who is one of a small handful of students nationwide to qualify to Nationals all four years of high school
• 16 Upper School students earned state-qualifying records this year
• HB was one of only three schools in the Cleveland area to have qualifiers to States in all four debate categories

From the State Tournament:

• Isha Lele ’18 finished third in a field of more than 220 in Congressional Debate, and she was the highest placing female in the event
• Jessica Chang ’21 finished as a semifinalist in Congressional Debate
• Amaya Razmi ’18 was as an octafinalist in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, finishing ninth in the state in back-to-back seasons
• Anya Razmi ’20 advanced to quarterfinals in Informative Speaking
• Molly Gleydura ’18 advanced to quarterfinals in Declamation

Congratulations to all of these students, and to Jason for his outstanding Speech & Debate career. We are confident that his work will continue to make a powerful impact for many, many years to come. 

SREP CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

SREP Overview |  Mission Statement  | How to Join | SREP At a Glance
SREP in the News | Achievements | Testimonials | NewsHour Feature 

Since 1998, Hathaway Brown's groundbreaking signature Science Research & Engineering Program has unlocked the innate potential of hundreds of high school girls, placing them in professional laboratories at world-class institutions to do the work that can change lives. 

In 2018, we celebrate two decades of success in educating and empowering students in this important way.

IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE VIDEO BELOW, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW

By opening the doors to laboratories that students otherwise might not be able to enter until college or graduate school, the Science Research & Engineering Program at Hathaway Brown is bridging the divide between the traditional high school curriculum and the real world. Since 1998, more than 500 girls have participated in the SREP, earning placements in innovative research settings, working directly with practicing scientists, contributing to cutting-edge research in numerous fields, authoring and co-authoring scholarly articles published in scientific journals, and winning unparalleled recognition in prestigious national and international awards competitions. HB is proud to partner with such outstanding institutions as Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and NASA Glenn Research Center in this pioneering and longstanding initiative.

READ TESTIMONIALS FROM SOME OF OUR GRADUATES

VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE SREP BROCHURE

Hathaway Brown School held its 20th Annual Poster Session & Reception on Tuesday, March 6, in the HB Atrium. Nearly 150 students presented work on research ranging from independent background literature reviews to research that has been ongoing for almost four years in disciplines covering archaeology and medical projects to physics and polymer sciences. The Science Research & Engineering Program also celebrated its 20th year and recognized six researchers who have supported the program for much of this time and mentored multiple students, including C.C. Liu, Ken Singer, Kim de Groh, Bruce Banks, Bela Anand-Ape, and Harvey Webster. Bill Christ, 13th Head of School, and Patty Hunt, Founding Director of the SREP, were also recognized as Co-Founders of this breakthrough experiential scientific program that came about through their leadership in 1998. 

VIDEO: HB SREP CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

Based on extensive judging from both internal faculty and external scientists from Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic, and NASA Glenn Research Center, the top three projects from the Poster Session were selected as Finalists to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) from May 13-18 in Pittsburgh, PA. This is largest pre-college science event in the nation and more than 1,500 student finalists from local and regional fairs from roughly 70 countries and territories arrive to compete at ISEF for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips and have an exciting week of networking and activities. 

In addition to these high-stakes awards, a number of special awards were also won by Hathaway Brown students at the Poster Session in recognition for their research efforts. Each winner received a certificate and many awards were also accompanied by cash prizes, gifts, or medals of recognition. 

Intel ISEF Finalists:

Maya Razmi, '18: Heteromultivalent Approaches to Clot-Targeted Nanomedicine: Combination Targeting of Drug Delivery Systems to Active Platelets and Fibrin with Anirban Sen Gupta and Michael Sun at Case Western Reserve University

Alison Xin, '19: Computational Predictions in the Design of Affinity-Based Drug Delivery with Horst von Recum and Edgardo Riviera at Case Western Reserve University

Michelle Yin, '18: Multifunctional Nanoparticle-mediated Delivery of miR-200c Restricts the Metastatic Ability of TNBC Cells with Zheng-Rong Lu and Nadia Ayat at Case Western Reserve University 

Intel Computer Science Award Winner: Alison Xin, '19: Computational Predictions in the Design of Affinity-Based Drug Delivery with Dr. Horst von Recum and Edgardo Riviera at Case Western Reserve University

US Air Force Awards: (top background and starting project boards):
Maxine Gilligan ’21
Shruthi Ravichandran ’21
Audrey Roche ’21
Kaisal Shah ’21

Office of Naval Research Awards:
Simran Patwa ’19
Cristina Rackley ’18
Kathy Wang ’19

American Meteorological Society Award: Kate Snow ’18

American Psychological Association Award: Angela Zhu ’19 and Nikhita Kumar ’19

Association for Women Geoscientists Award: Megan Qiang ’19

ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives Award: Sukhmani Kaur ’18

Mu Alpha Theta Award: Anika Rede ’18

NASA Earth System Science Award: Kshama Girish ’18

Ricoh's Sustainable Development Award: Julia Sofia Moreno ’18 

Society for In Vitro Biology Award: Jennifer Wang ’19

US Metric SI Award: Isha Lele ’18

Yale Science and Engineering Award: Greta Cywinska ’19

Hathaway Brown is pleased to announce that senior Regina Egan and sophomore Rebecca Oet have earned national recognition in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2018. Regina was honored with a Silver Medal for her Personal Essay/Memoir titled "Papa," and Rebecca earned a Silver Medal for her Poetry: "Skin."

Scholastic national medalists have been identified by panels of creative professionals as the most talented young artists and writers in the nation. This year, 350,000 works of art and writing were submitted by students in grades 7-12, and less than one percent of work was recognized at the national level. This is the sixth of seven years that HB students have earned national recognition in the Scholastic program. Since 1923, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the outstanding work of teenagers from across the country. By winning a Scholastic Art & Writing Award, these HB students join a legacy of celebrated authors and artists including Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, John Currin, and Lena Dunham.

Congratulations to these gifted writers and many thanks to the HB faculty who continue to educate, inspire, encourage, and mentor them. For more information about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, please visit the program's official website.