Head. Heart. Hand. Together, we support Northfield Mount Hermon
At NMH, it’s not about where you’re from or what you’ve done. It’s about who you will become.
At our core. If we’ve learned anything over the past 140 years, it’s this: the right environment makes all the difference. That’s why, at Northfield Mount Hermon, we focus as much on character and citizenship as we do on intellectual development. It’s why we’re committed to creating the kind of diverse and dynamic community that reflects the real world. And it’s why we provide academic experiences that are nothing short of life-changing.
Our extraordinary faculty uphold our mission: “To engage the intellect, compassion, and talents of our students, empowering them to act with humanity and purpose.”
Annual giving is the single most effective way for you to impact all students every day of the year. The NMH Fund comprises a critical 8 percent of the school’s operating budget and helps keep tuition from escalating. It supports tried and true academic programs, and it allows new programs to emerge. When you make a gift to the NMH Fund or NMH Parents Fund, your gift goes to work immediately and has a profound effect on the school’s ability to take advantage of promising opportunities and to respond quickly to unanticipated needs and challenges. Top-notch academic programs; fabulous experiences in the arts; groundbreaking science, math, and engineering coursework; and winning athletics teams. All of this and more is made possible by a growing NMH Fund. No other fund is this versatile. Or this necessary. Or this important to every aspect of the school.
In fiscal year 2019, gifts to the NMH Fund reached $3.6 million! That was $600,000 over our goal and the highest NMH Fund total in history. With the extra revenue the school was able to fund seven additional students in need of partial financial aid. We also put more dollars into dorm renovations, including new furniture! NMH is on track to raise even more dollars for the NMH Fund in fiscal year 2020. We already have $3.4 million in cash and pledges, and we are working diligently to surpass $4 million. These additional funds will give Head of School Brain Hargrove more spending flexibility and allow him to fund projects and initiatives that will strengthen the school’s ability to deliver on our mission now and long into the future.
Our students dive deeper into their studies.
Our faculty bring the world into their classrooms.
Our community supports the whole person.
The academic program at Northfield Mount Hermon encourages students to dig deep and explore the big questions. Our students prepare for college by learning like college students, immersed in three major courses each semester with 80-minute class periods. That means NMH students take six courses per year rather than the five courses offered by most high schools.
NMH faculty support an academic program that values collaboration over competition, and a culture that encourages personal achievement and community responsibility. Teachers ask students to consider what they learn in the classroom as training for what they’ll do in the world.
At Northfield Mount Hermon, well educated is not enough. We want our students to be healthy and well-prepared to thrive and to contribute to our community and our world. We care for them in a way that teaches them to care for others. Our mission begins with “Education for the Head, Heart, and Hand,” and ends with “empowering our students to act with humanity and purpose.”
Our College-Model Academic Program (CMAP) provides more opportunities for exploration and collaboration than a typical high school schedule. Longer class periods means a deeper dive into every subject, and students and teachers develop richer relationships. Students learn to think critically, and they leave NMH as better citizens of the world, equipped to engage in matters of consequence.
Every year NMH Fund dollars are put to work toward faculty development. By helping faculty to pay for seminars, classes, trips, and research, the NMH Fund allows our teachers to stay relevant and to build skills that inspire their teaching.
“CMAP allows kids to learn deeply, to learn well, and to emerge really ready for whatever they do next.” — Dean of Teaching and Learning Hugh Silbaugh
Every NMH student is surrounded by a network of compassionate mentors: advisors, teachers, coaches, and residential staff who guide all students on their individual journeys. NMH Fund dollars help keep these adults trained to meet the unique needs of today’s teenagers. In addition, the O’Connor Health and Wellness Center provides students with integrated care for mind, body, and spirit 24 hours a day, every day that school is in session. It offers wellness programs, a meditation space, and even what we call “happy lights” to help combat winter blues and jet lag.
NMH lives up to our historic mission. At Northfield Mount Hermon we don’t believe in wasting potential. Thank our founder, D.L. Moody, who selected students based on talent, intellect, and their inability to pay. D.L. turned a blind eye to race and nationality at a time when other schools didn’t, and he was especially interested in those who couldn’t afford to go elsewhere. Today, NMH continues to value intellectual promise. Our students come from all over the country and the world, from every kind of background. Financial aid helps us transform a teenager with potential into a young adult with the skills and inclination to “act with humanity and purpose.”
Students like Ami keep NMH true to our roots
Born in Israel and raised in a poor neighborhood in Montreal, Ami Zunenshine ’18 decided at a young age that he would not be defined by the gang activity and financial troubles that plagued his community. “In grade 7, I realized that education would be my tool to break the poverty cycle for my family,” he says. When Ami was accepted to NMH with full financial aid, he promised himself that he would pay this opportunity forward. At NMH he pushed himself academically; he played varsity hockey and varsity lacrosse; he joined the student council and became a leader of the Jewish Students Association. In the summers he volunteered 600 hours at the local YMCA, which serves as a safe haven to keep kids off the streets. Currently attending Concordia University in his home city, Ami reflects on his college education: “Now I am a trendsetter for the next generation of children in my community. I will change my life and change the path of our family name.”
Students from 53 countries and 31 states International students: 25% Students of color: 24% Boarding student tuition: $65,500 Day student tuition: $44,000 Financial aid: $9.4 million Average grant: $57,626 boarding; $32,353 day Percent of students receiving aid: 30%
Access to NMH Excellence Challenge
Give to financial aid now, and double your impact. All new gifts made to NMH endowed funds for financial aid will be matched 1:1 up to $5 million. This challenge from an anonymous donor will run through 2021 and includes gifts to both alreadyestablished funds and new ones.
An unforgettable sense of place. A campus that’s on the move.
Surrounded by forests and fields, and bordering the mighty Connecticut River, the NMH campus is truly stunning. This landscape permeates the soul. Most NMH alumni never forget the early morning fog that settles on the hills or the quiet of a January snowfall or the rainbows that stretch across the sky after a spring rainstorm. In the midst of this natural beauty, NMH continuously works hard to improve our grounds and update our facilities. In the past two years, we’ve renovated three dorms, created new classrooms in the library, and added airconditioning in the dining hall.
74 buildings 215 acre core campus 1,353 acres of forest and fields Access to the spectacular Connecticut River
Northfield Mount Hermon builds for the future. Over the past five years NMH has been working diligently toward creating new and improved spaces that support academics, campus life, and athletics. Six new faculty houses were completed in 2015, allowing the school to move families who were still living in the town of Northfield to our campus in Gill. The Bolger Center for Early Childhood Education opened its doors in 2017. Named for the late David F. Bolger ’50, who made the lead gift, the bright, spacious 5,630-square-foot facility serves families of NMH employees and community members with programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Currently under construction, the Draper Riverhouse puts NMH Rowing in a powerful position to build and grow. Named for the late Thomas Draper ’60 by his daughter and son-in-law Mariah Draper Calagione ’89 and Sam Caligione ’88, P’18, ’20, the facility has a spectacular view of the Connecticut River and will provide a new meeting space for the entire NMH community.
Up Next: The Gilder Center Northfield Mount Hermon breaks ground this May on the 42,000-square-foot Gilder Center, our new home for math and science education. Named for Richard “Dick” Gilder ’50, who spearheaded the project with an early generous donation, the Gilder Center will comprise flexible, multiuse academic spaces that encourage collaboration and innovation across disciplines. The $30 million building also will support emerging educational needs. It will include an expanded makerspace where students can design and fabricate projects, and breakout spaces where both students and faculty can collaborate. By meeting the sustainability standards of the global 2030 Challenge, the Gilder Center will be the “greenest” building on campus.
NMH Facts and Figures
Annual Expenditures: $48.5 million Endowment and NMH Fund Support: $9.2 million (19 percent of revenue) Total Endowment: $159.9 million (as of June 30, 2019)
Ways to Impact NMH Cash, check, or credit card Make a one-time gift or a sustaining gift by charging a fixed amount to your credit card, once or every month. Use the enclosed card and envelope, or visit nmhschool.org/give. Appreciated securities, including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds If you have held securities for more than one year and they have appreciated in value, consider donating them directly to NMH. If you itemize, you can take a charitable deduction for the securities’ fair market value on the day you give them away. Plus, you will not have to pay capital gains tax on the appreciated value. Gifts directly from your IRA At the age of 72 you must take your required minimum distribution (RMD) from your IRA and claim it as ordinary income on your taxes. By making a gift directly from your IRA to NMH, the gift becomes a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, and counts as part or all of your RMD. The gift amount does not count as ordinary income for federal taxes (state taxes vary), which means that it is not taxed by the federal government. At age 70½ you don’t have to take an RMD, but you can still benefit from making a gift directly from your IRA. Gifts from a donor-advised fund If you have created a donor-advised fund (DAF), simply download the grant recommendation form from your account administrator’s website and name NMH as a recommended charity. You will need the school’s address and tax ID number: Northfield Mount Hermon, One Lamplighter Way, Mount Hermon, MA 01354; tax ID number: 042-109-865 Gifts of a life insurance policy Life changes. If you purchased a life insurance policy long ago, when your family make-up was quite different, it may now have a significant cash value but you may no longer need it. (Contact your insurance company and fill out a surrender form [often found online], submit it to NMH, and the school does the rest.)
Northfield Mount Hermon Office of Advancement 1 Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354 1-866-NMH-GIVE (664-4483) nmhschool.org/Support-NMH