Hathaway Brown is pleased to announce that seniors Hannah Froimson and Regina Egan have earned national recognition in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2018. Both won national Silver Medals for Printmaking; Hannah for her piece titled "Self Portrait," and Regina for "I Haven't Ridden a Bike Since You Left." Regina also won a national Silver Medal in Writing this year. 

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. 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 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.

On April 12, twenty-one Hathaway Brown seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society, an organization established to recognize academic achievement in secondary schools for the purpose of promoting excellence, justice, and honor.

Amy Saltzman Porter '01, MD, PhD, a pediatric palliative care physician at the Cleveland Clinic, delivered the ceremony's keynote address. She described her path from Hathaway Brown to where she is today, highlighting the times she "pivoted" from the expected course, only to have her life experiences enriched. There is much to be learned from diverging from the path and allowing yourself to see things in a new way, she said. An HB "lifer," Dr. Porter also encouraged the 9th- through 12th-grade students gathered for the assembly to understand and appreciate that having the benefit of an HB education arms you with confidence, knowledge, and outstanding opportunities —she credits the school's Science Research & Engineering Program with making her the person she is today. But don't forget, she cautioned the girls, that luck factors heavily into the equation as well. She was lucky to grow up at a school such as HB, she said, and she reminded the students that they are lucky to have the benefits of this type of empowering all-girls education as well. 

The 2018 Cum Laude Society inductees are Katerina Aris, Brice Bai, Regina Egan, Archer Frodyma, Molly Gleydura, Katherine Halloran, Sukhmani Kaur, Anne Lewandowski, Coralin Li, Lekha Medarametla, Roxana Moazami, Danica Murthy, Cristina Rackley, Anika Rede, Sophie Sacks, Leonela Serrano, Alexandra von Zedlitz, Erin Xu, Ying Ying Yang, Evangeline Yeh, and Michelle Yin. 

Families of the inductees joined us for the assembly as well, and after the ceremony the newly inducted Cum Laude Society members gathered for a celebratory reception.

The Osborne Writing Center is pleased to invite you to attend a very special event, hosted in collaboration with the Center for Global Citizenship, the Global Education Benchmark Group, and with the support of the Hathaway Brown Parent Association.

Azar Nafisi
Presentation and Book Signing
Thursday, April 26, 2018
9-10 a.m.
The Ahuja Auditorium

Azar Nafisi is best known as the author of the national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, which electrified its readers with a compassionate and often harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. Earning high acclaim and an enthusiastic readership, Reading Lolita in Tehran is an incisive exploration of the transformative powers of fiction in a world of tyranny. The book has spent over 117 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Reading Lolita in Tehran has been translated in 32 languages, and has won diverse literary awards, including the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, Non-fiction Book of the Year Award from Booksense, the Frederic W. Ness Book Award, the Latifeh Yarsheter Book Award, the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle, and an achievement award from the American Immigration Law Foundation, as well as being a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Memoir. In 2006 she won a Persian Golden Lioness Award for literature, presented by the World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media. In 2009 Reading Lolita in Tehran was named as one of the "100 Best Books of the Decade" by The Times (London).

HB parents are welcome to attend this program, and Ms. Nafisi will be signing books, which will be available for sale, after her talk. She also will spend time working with Upper School students in a workshop setting as part of their English classes, and she will be the featured speaker at the Global Education Benchmark Group annual conference the following day. 

August 21, 2017 WELCOME BACK LETTER TO THE HB COMMUNITY FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL FRAN BISSELLE:

Dear Hathaway Brown Community, 

We are very excited to welcome you to the 2017-2018 school year, our 90th in Shaker Heights and our 142nd in the history of our school! Our faculty and staff already have been hard at work preparing for the year ahead, and we look forward to welcoming all of our students back to campus beginning later this week.

#1 AGAIN!

We're thrilled to announce that for the second year in a row, Hathaway Brown has received top billing from Niche, an online platform that tracks educational institutions and provides research findings for public and private schools across the country. In its 2018 ratings, Niche lists HB as #1 in the category of Best Private K-12 Schools in Ohio and #1 in Best All-Girls High Schools in Ohio. We also earned statewide designations as the #2 Best Private High School overall and #3 Best Private High School for STEM. Visit Niche to check out all the rankings and add your review of HB today!  

INSTITUTE FOR 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION

This year marks a significant anniversary of our Science Research & Engineering Program under the leadership of Patty Hunt and Crystal Miller, as this program will celebrate its 20th year. We will use this anniversary occasion to celebrate the many accomplishments of HB alumnae in the fields of research, science, medicine, and engineering. In addition, our Center for Business & Finance will now have a full-time director, and Molly Krist looks forward to creating strong networks with businesses throughout Cleveland for our girls. And this year, under the guidance of Camille Lipford Seals '02, the Center for Multicultural Affairs will have a graduation designation for its scholars. Our centers continue to expand, providing our students with invaluable experiential opportunities that complement our rigorous curriculum.

CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE

After in-depth research and visits to our local independent schools as well as Case Western Reserve University and Eaton Corp., we have transformed one of our classrooms to be a flexible collaborative modern learning space of the future. We look forward to teachers and students using the space and giving us feedback as to how it works best. We hope to use this feedback loop to refresh other areas around school, as the classrooms are critical tools for teachers to use in setting up an inspiring learning environment.

THEME FOR 2017-2018

As I mentioned in my July letter, this year’s theme is Courage, Character, and Kindness. These virtues are critical as our girls and young boys in ITC and EC develop, and we want to be both academically rigorous while also caring and compassionate. Our teachers are excited to operationalize the Social and Emotional Learning curriculum we have developed, and having two full-time counselors, Lisa Lurie and Rebecca Biggar, on campus to support this effort will be wonderful. I am thrilled that Amy Speidel will also continue her work as a parent and teacher coach in the Early Childhood program.

BLAZER COVENANT

One of the trustee initiatives this summer, and consistent with our theme of Courage, Character, and Kindness, was to design a sportsmanship covenant that reflects HB’s core values. This includes character, sportsmanship, excellence, teamwork, and perseverance, which when practiced in union, are Blazer Pride.

Character 
Character matters most, both on and off the field. We are committed to the development of ethical behavior, integrity, and kindness.

Sportsmanship 
We are committed to an atmosphere of honorable competition and respectful communication. We learn to handle success with grace and acknowledge failure with dignity, appreciating the challenge the opponent provides.

Excellence 
We are committed to achieving our utmost potential in our pursuit of learning not for school but for life.

Teamwork 
We are committed to strengthening individual skills through dedication and diligent preparation to contribute to the success of the team and whole sisterhood.

Perseverance 
We are committed to having a positive attitude, knowing our best efforts for continuous improvement will build competence and confidence as we pursue personal and team goals.

I look forward to our many fall athletic teams as well as our robotic and debate teams, practicing these important HB values.

PARENT ASSOCIATION

I am excited to partner with the HB Parent Association to enhance communication, to promote better understanding and greater unity within the HB community, and to provide a means whereby the parents/guardians may participate authentically in the life of our school. Toward that end, our HBPA presidents, Vicki Pietrick and Beth Anne Nettis, have been working with the communications department to update the HBPA portion of the website to make it easier to see the various volunteer opportunities and events. I hope you can join us for parent coffees throughout the fall and for Light the Night on Friday, October 6.

CURRICULAR INNOVATIONS, CURRICULUM NIGHTS

The faculty and staff read How Google Works this summer, and we have begun to provide support for every person on our team to become Level I and Level II Google certified educators. We will continue to be innovative in how we use technology as a tool, and how we teach technology and coding. We have an outstanding robotics team we are excited to continue to create and engineer in our IDEA lab maker space as well as expand our coding offerings. HB's CIO Barry Kallmeyer and his team will be expanding our computer science curriculum offerings at all levels, and we are excited for our girls to learn these skills.

I look forward to seeing you at each respective division’s curriculum night: 
Wednesday, September 6, 7 p.m.: Primary School Curriculum Night 
Wednesday, September 13, 6 p.m.: Middle School Curriculum Night 
Tuesday, September 26, 6 p.m.: Upper School Curriculum Night 
Wednesday, September 27, 7 p.m.: Early Childhood School Curriculum Night

SURVEY

The faculty, staff, and I will spend the fall making goals and addressing some of the perceived areas in need of attention that emerged from the summer survey results. This survey process was helpful in letting us know what you value as well as areas we can improve on as we work to fulfill our mission and give our students the very best educational experience we can.

The following are some of the highlights from the survey:

• Parents overwhelming believe that Hathaway Brown is delivering on its mission
• Parents gave the school high marks for satisfaction around their students' overall development, academic experience and leadership development
• Of particular note, the school’s academic programs are considered outstanding, rigorously preparing students to enter the next grade level ready to succeed
• The school’s 21st century curriculum is considered both innovative and progressive, offering students a rich mix of experiential and academic programming
• Eighty-six percent of parents feel engaged with school, believe they are treated fairly and with respect, are “extremely likely” to recommend the school to others, and feel proud to be part of the HB Community
• Overall exceptionally strong “top box” scores in many areas, affirming the school’s reputation for providing an exceptional education
• There is a perception that while most of the HB’s facilities are very good, some areas need attention
• Many parents stressed the desire to further tend to the emotional well-being of all girls by making sure the school has outstanding support services in place and by continuing efforts to optimally balance an achievement-oriented academic environment with a sense of community and “sisterhood.”
• Parents also want more consistency, fairness and transparency with disciplinary actions
• Parents rave about the variety of opportunities available at HB but want more opportunities in athletics
• Finally, many parents commented on the need to reduce the demanding and time-intensive homework load. However, in somewhat of a contradiction, it is very clear that the school’s rigor, expectations for achievement and ability to prepare the girls for the next grade level (including college) are highly valued. 

NEW FACULTY AND STAFF

Please give a warm welcome to our new staff and faculty members, listed below. Click here to download their biographies and learn more about each of these outstanding educators. 

Rebecca Biggar, Upper School Counselor
Caitlin Cahill, Upper School Mathematics 
Andrew Clifford, Upper School Science 
Kayleigh Dalton, Early Childhood Teacher 
Eric Dimitrov, Upper School Science 
Cristina Echeverria, Upper School Spanish 
Anass El Bekkari, Technical Support/Computer Systems
Julie Haffke, Annual Giving Coordinator 
Khaki Hermann '07, Drama Teacher
Elissa Hopson, Upper School History 
Deante Jones, Technical Support/Computer Systems 
Kayla Kelly, Assistant Aquatics Director
Johnny Kimani, Physical Education 
Melissa Nilsen, Middle School Art 
Jennifer Oakley, Middle School Math 
Elizabeth Pinkerton, Director of Enrollment Management 
Jasmine Rocco, Upper School Chinese 
Meghan Slanina, Upper School History 
Kristen Zajac, Librarian 
Libia Zapata, Primary School Spanish 

I look forward to welcoming everyone to HB’s 142nd year, to meeting new friends, and to seeing familiar faces.

Fondly,

Fran Bisselle
Head of School 

Adelyn Klimek '18 has been awarded one of the most highly selective merit scholarships in the nation. The Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia has selected Klimek as one of 36 recipients of the Jefferson Scholarship. She will commence her studies in the fall at U.Va.

In order to be named a Jefferson Scholar, candidates must undergo a rigorous, highly competitive, multi-stage selection process. This year, nearly 2,000 students were nominated for the Scholarship, 116 finalists were invited to take part in a four-day competition at U.Va., which included seminar discussions, essay and mathematics examinations, as well as interviews conducted by U.Va. alumni and faculty. In addition to receiving the full cost of attending the University for four years, Jefferson Scholars benefit from a number of enrichment programs sponsored by the Foundation, including travel abroad, career networking activities, an outdoor challenge program, and a leadership speaker series. 

The 36 selected recipients of the 2018 Jefferson Scholarship boast a number of significant achievements and Klimek is no exception. Along with her excellent academic record at HB, she is also a 2018 National Merit Finalist and U.S. Presidential Scholars Semifinalist.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964, by executive order of the President, to recognize and honor some of our nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors. In 1979, the program was extended to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts. In 2015, the program was again extended to recognize students who demonstrate ability and accomplishment in career and technical education fields. Each year, up to 161 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students. 

The 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholars will be announced in May.  

For more information, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/psp/index.html. 

Congratulations Adelyn, and best of luck from the HB community!

HB girls are impressive. We're biased, we know. But year after year, the best colleges and universities in the world tell us we're not the only ones who think so.

The 105 students in the Class of 2018 will attend 66 different institutions in 23 states and three countries. HB students received offers of admission to all eight Ivy League colleges and 48 percent of students in the class were admitted to a U.S. News & World Report Top 30 College or Top 30 University. Eighty percent of these HB seniors were admitted to their top-choice college (or a top choice, if ranked by group), and nine students are committed to becoming DI and DIII collegiate athletes in seven different sports. More than $16 million in merit and other scholarships, including full tuition packages, was offered to HB students this year. Sixteen of these girls are “lifers,” have begun their HB careers in kindergarten or earlier.

CLICK HERE OR SEE BELOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2018 COLLEGE DESTINATIONS

Whether she chooses a college here in Ohio or one that's halfway across the globe, through a combination of immersive experiential learning and outstanding academic preparation delivered by the best teachers anywhere, each Hathaway Brown student is set on a path to find the campus that's right for her. Our girls are equally at home at historic Ivy League schools, top public and private universities, specialized conservatories, and small liberal arts colleges in the U.S. and abroad. We hate to see them leave, but we know it wouldn't be fair to keep them all to ourselves.

Hathaway Brown's 142nd Commencement Exercises will take place around the iconic fountain in the HB Courtyard in just a few short weeks, and we'll be "clapping out" the Class of 2018 for the final time. As we reach the end of another memorable school year, please join us in congratulating these amazing students and wishing them well as they get ready to make their own lasting marks on the world.

Ten Hathaway Brown seniors have been chosen as 63rd annual National Merit Semifinalists for their high scores on the preliminary SAT. Only one percent of high school seniors across the country are part of this prestigious list. The 16,000 Semifinalists may advance as Finalists and compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $32 million, that will be offered next spring. Roughly 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and half of those will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. To learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program, visit www.nationalmerit.org.

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

We're excited to share the good news that of the top six spots in the annual Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Contest administered by The City Club of Cleveland, four of the winning works were submitted by HB students. Big congratulations are in order for Alison Xin '19 (first place, grades 11/12), Shruthi Ravichandran '21 (first place, grades 9/10), Zuha Jaffar '21 (second place, grades 9/10), and Jasmine Hanna-Funk '19 (third place, grades 11/12). This is the fourth year in a row that HB students have earned placement among the contest's winners. Read more here.

All of these students have been invited to attend the May 23 City Club forum, where they will be honored and have the opportunity to read their work from behind the famed City Club podium. 

Three Hathaway Brown students spent May 13-18 in Pittsburgh, PA where they competed in the Intel ISEF (International Science & Engineering Fair), the largest pre-college science fair in the world. Each year, approximately 1,800 high school students from more  than 75 countries, regions, and territories are awarded the opportunity to showcase their independent research and compete for an average of $5 million in prizes.

Three Hathaway Brown students won all expenses-paid trips to compete at ISEF as Finalists by advancing through the Hathaway Brown 20th Annual Poster Session judging in March:

Maya Razmi, '18: Heteromultivalent Approaches to Clot-Targeted Nanomedicine: Combination Targeting of Drug Delivery Systems to Activate Platelet and Fibrin with Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta, under the mentorship of Michael Sun at Case Western Reserve University

Michelle Yin, '18: Sucrose Addition Improves Targeted ECO/sibeta3 Nanoparticle Stability with Dr. Zheng Rong Lu under the mentorship of Nadia Ayat at Case Western Reserve University

Alison Xin, '19: Computational Prediction in the Design of Affinity-Based Drug Delivery with Dr. Horst von Recum and under the mentorship of Dr. Edgardo Rivera at Case Western Reserve University

Maya was awarded a Third Place Grand Award of $1,000 in her category of Materials Science and Alison won a Fourth Place Grand Award of $500 in Chemistry. They join the ranks of less than 20 SREP students in the past 20 years to win a Grand Award. In addition, Alison was also recognized with a Special Award from the Air Force Research Laboratory for her research as well as an Honorable Mention from the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Hathaway Brown has been honored to award spots to ISEF each year based on the quantity and excellence of the science and engineering research being performed in partnership with Cleveland institutions like Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, NASA Glenn Research Center, and the Natural History Museum.

Congratulations are in order for Hathaway Brown rising senior Alison Xin, who is one of four recipients of the four-year, full-support Coolidge Scholarship for academic merit. The award was announced by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation on May 15. The Coolidge Scholarship is among the most generous scholarships in America. This non-partisan merit award covers a student's tuition, room and board for four years of undergraduate study. Unlike many other full scholarships, the Coolidge Scholarship may be used by recipients at any accredited college or university in the United States. 

The Coolidge Scholarship was established by the Coolidge Foundation to honor America's 30th president, and to elevate the values of principled civil leadership for which President Coolidge stood. The main criterion that distinguishes Coolidge Scholars is academic merit. Students must also demonstrate a keen interest in public policy, an appreciation for the values Coolidge championed, humility, and leadership potential.

More than 3,200 students from around the United States applied for the Coolidge Scholarship this year. Alison was among 12 finalists who were flown to the Coolidge Historic Site in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where they were interviewed by the Coolidge Finalist Jury, chaired by former Vermont governor James H. Douglas.

This is the second time in three years that an HB student has earned this selective and prestigious honor. Regan Brady ’17 was awarded the scholarship in 2016.

In announcing the scholarship, the Coolidge Foundation shared the following biographical sketch of Alison and her many activities and accomplishments:

Alison Xin is a junior at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Since freshman year, Alison has worked in a biomedical engineering lab at Case Western Reserve University, developing an open-source computational model for polymer-drug interactions. On the school’s FIRST Robotics team, Alison has contributed in design and led team branding. She has debated in two-person policy debate, qualifying to the state level, as well as in International Public Policy Forum written debate, making it all the way to the “Sweet 16” round.

In addition to academic pursuits, Alison enjoys a variety of creative arts. An avid piano player, she has performed at Carnegie Hall thrice. She founded her school’s digital art club and is at work on a digital graphic novel that will be published online. Additionally, she practices Kung Fu, performing at local cultural exhibitions and competing at national tournaments. Alison serves her school community in a variety of ways. She is a member of Honor Council, a library volunteer, and a student-leader at the IT Hub which provides technological assistance to students, teachers, and staff. Alison frequently plays piano at nursing homes and volunteers at University Hospitals. Alison is the daughter of Lan Zhou and Wei Xin.

Please join us in applauding Alison on this terrific achievement. 

A previous version of this post listed Xin's graduation year as '18. It has been corrected to '19. 

Congratulations are in order for Hathaway Brown seniors Stephanie Kaiser, Alison Xin, and Yasmine Zein, who have been chosen as National Merit Semifinalists for their high scores on the preliminary SAT. Only one percent of high school seniors across the country are part of this prestigious list. The approximately 16,000 Semifinalists for 2019 may advance as Finalists and compete for 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $32 million, that will be offered next spring. Roughly 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and half of those will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. To learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program, visit www.nationalmerit.org.

Congratulations to the 11 members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2019 who have received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise, based on their Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test scores. More than 1.6 million juniors took the PSAT in 2017, and these students scored in the top 50,000 of those participants.

This brings the number of HB students to be recognized in the National Merit Scholarship Program this year to 14. Last week, it was announced that three seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists for 2019. Congratulations to all of these students.

This year's HB National Merit Commended Students are:

Arianna Anderson, Ainsley Bradbury, Yardena Carmi, Greta Cywinska, Anna Doak, Carolyn Homolka, Megan Qiang, Mia Shein, Jennifer Wang, Katherine Wang, and Angela Zhu. 

Seventy Hathaway Brown students set a school record with their 2019 Scholastic Art and Writing Award wins. Combined in the art and writing competitions were 38 gold key, 65 silver key, and 107 honorable mention recognitions.

View a listing of all Scholastic Art and Writing Award winners and their work.

Students who receive Gold Key Awards for individual works and portfolios advance to the national competition. Those students are: 

• Grace Amjad ‘19
• Jane Berick ‘19
• Rachel Broihier ‘21
• Hayden Brooks ‘20
• Yardena Carmi ‘19
• Jessica Chang ‘21
• Courtney Conrad ‘20
• Greta Cywinska ‘19
• Magda Ellis ‘19
• Susie Glickman ‘20
• Zuha Jaffar ‘21
• Stephanie Kaiser ‘19
• Anna Keresztesy ‘20
• Nikhita Kumar ‘19
• Galia Madfis ‘20
• Tori Margulies ‘24
• Harleigh Markowitz ‘20
• Vedha Muvva ‘20
• Rebecca Oet ‘20
• Sophia Onyski ‘23
• Tejal Pendekanti ‘20
• Anya Razmi ‘20
• Sejal Sangani ‘20
• Vala Schriefer ‘19
• Lila Williams ‘21

Held annually at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition recognizes creative achievement in area 7-12 grade students. The artists and writers compete for cash prizes, medals, and scholarship awards. A panel of local professional artists, art educators, writers, and writing educators jury the exhibit and select the awarded pieces from nearly 3,000 entries.

Based on extensive judging from both internal faculty and external scientists from Case Western, Cleveland Clinic, and NASA Glenn, the top three projects from the Poster Session were selected as finalists to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) May 12-17 in Phoenix, Arizona. This is largest pre-college science event in the nation and more than 1800 student finalists from local and regional fairs from roughly 75 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, HB students won a number of special awards at the Poster Session in recognition for their research efforts. Each winner received a certificate and many awards were also accompanied by cash awards, gifts, or medals of recognition.

Intel ISEF Finalists:

• Tejal Pendekanti '20: Thrombus-Directed Drug Delivery Systems For Targeted Fibrinolysis with Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta and Michael Sun at Case Western Reserve University

• Shruthi Ravichandran '21: Site-Specific Delivery of Immune Adjuvants for Antitumoral Response of the Tumor Microenvironment with Dr. Efstathios Karathanasis and Peter Bielecki at Case Western Reserve University

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

Intel Computer Science Award Winner:
Sinead Li, '20: Building an Automatic Methodology for Meta-Analysis Using Web-Scraping on PubMed with Dr. Cheryl Thompson at Case Western Reserve University

US Air Force Awards: (top background and starting project boards):

• Hiba Daud ‘21
• Anjali Dhanekula ‘22
• Avery Simon ‘22
• Madeleine Williams ‘22

Office of Naval Research Awards:

• Sahej Bindra ‘19
• Ainsley Bradbury ‘19
• Lina Zein ‘20

American Psychological Association Award: Carolyn Homolka ‘19

American Material Society (ASM) Award: Greta Cywinska ‘19

Mu Alpha Theta Award: Anya Razmi ‘20

NASA Earth System Science Award: Megan Qiang ‘19

Ricoh's Sustainable Development Award: Selby Vaughn ‘20

Society for In Vitro Biology Award: Hannah Basali ‘20

US Metric SI Award: Jennifer Wang ‘19

Yale Science and Engineering Award: Helen Sun ‘20

The Intel ISEF unites the top young scientific minds, showcasing their talents on an international stage, where doctoral-level scientists review and judge their work. Each year, approximately 1,800 high school students from more than 75 countries, regions, and territories are awarded the opportunity to showcase their independent research and compete for on average $5 million in prizes at Intel ISEF. The competition focuses on identifying, inspiring, and engaging the world's next STEM generation. The finalists of 420 regional and state events go on to participate in Intel ISEF. Intel ISEF alumni have gone on to receive some of the world's most esteemed academic honors, including one Nobel Prize, one Breakthrough Prize, three National Medals of Science, and six MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. They're involved in some of the most groundbreaking scientific research.

HB's Speech and Debate IPPF Team B— Sejal Sangani '20, Ryan Brady '20, and Sinead Li '20—has advanced to the Sweet 16 in the International Public Policy Forum debate competition. They will now debate a team from Georgia to reach the Elite 8 for a chance to earn an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City for a live debate. 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. In this year’s competition, students write detailed essays based on the following prompt: RESOLVED—U.S. abdication of international leadership creates dangerous global instability.

Kudos also go to HB IPPF Team A, Alison Xin '19, Jennifer Wang '19, and Megan Qiang '19, who wrote amazing essays as well. Team B will submit their next round of work during Spring Break. Please join us in wishing them luck!

Of the 340,000 works of art and writing submitted this year to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, only about 10 percent were awarded regional Gold Key status and moved on to national judging. Of those Gold Key works, only 10 percent received national awards, and this year an incredible nine HB students have been recognized with 10 national medals in writing.

Jessica Chang '21, Stephanie Kaiser '19, Anna Keresztesy '20, Rebecca Oet '20, Sejal Sangani '20, and Vala Schriefer '19 were awarded medals in Poetry; Galia Madfis '20 and Harleigh Markowitz '20 in Personal Essay/Memoir; and senior Stephanie Kaiser is one of only 11 students in the country to receive the Silver Medal with Distinction award for a Writing Portfolio. Stephanie's portfolio, Boundary, consists of poetry, personal essays, and an introductory writer's statement. She is the first HB student to receive this prestigious award. In addition to being recognized at Carnegie Hall, Stephanie will receive a $1,000 scholarship for her achievement. Stephanie has also been awarded the American Voices medal, a special best-in-region award selected by the national judges.

From the classroom to the Osborne Writing Center to our annual Young Writers and Artists Festival and forums with visiting writers, Hathaway Brown students have an unparalleled number of opportunities to develop their voices and explore the world through writing, and they take advantage of it all to produce extraordinary pieces of writing. Congratulations to all of these students and to their teachers who support and guide them in their work.