ARCHITECTURAL PLANS Translating Teaching & Learning Principles
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ob Hall P ’13 ’16 joined the Holderness Board of Trustees in 2011 and has served as its chair since 2016. While sons Stepper ’13 and Henry ’16 originally came to Holderness to pursue ski racing, Bob and his wife Joanie quickly recognized that there was so much more to the school; they realized the school’s real strength comes from its commitment to community. “We could feel it walking around campus,” he remembers. “We could feel it in our boys’ interactions.” That feeling grew as Bob interacted with numerous students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff, first through his role as a board member and later as the chair. He saw and heard how the school’s commitment to the outdoors, the Job Program, sitdown dinners, and other time-honored traditions have built and strengthened the foundation of the Holderness community over many generations. These experiences led him to believe that, in some ways, nothing has changed over the years, not with the students (they still look you in the eye—a good thing) or with the facilities (science is taught in the same labs in which it was taught 30 years ago—not such a good thing).
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That is why Bob, the Holderness Board of Trustees, and the school’s leadership set in motion the Elevating Academics Campaign, recognizing that the dedicated faculty who have been agents of change in the classroom deserve the physical structures that match their passion for teaching and mentoring. After the successes of building Woodward and Pichette Dormitories and replacing the hockey rink—showing our commitment to community and athletics—he says it is now time to address another strength—academics. Bob, Head of School Phil Peck, and the Advancement Office have spoken with a number of alumni and parents, past and present, about the impact a new academic building, the addition of an academic quad, and the renovations to Schoolhouse and Hagerman will have on teaching and learning. Bob recounts how so many have responded to this vision with extraordinary gifts. “It’s been so gratifying,” says Bob. The confidence of these early supporters has helped inspire other members of the Holderness family to make stretch gifts, including three exceedingly generous matching gifts—one from past trustee Wendy Kistler and her husband Phil P ’85 for renovating Hagerman, one from an anonymous