Tower Hill BULLETIN EDITOR Teresa Messmore Director of Communications and Marketing LAYOUT Grace DeSeta Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing CONTRIBUTORS Kathy Warner Director of Alumni Programs Kate Bailey Advancement Associate Michael Bradley Jennifer Houston Tara Malloy Kathryn Mahon Peach Anthony Pisapia Julia Stone Leslie Sysko Ellis A. Wasson Timothy Weymouth STUDENT CONTRIBUTOR Joseph Zakielarz ‘20 PHOTOGRAPHY Grace DeSeta, Teresa Messmore, Kathy Warner, Michele McCauley, Geo Ritteneyer/Feld Entertainment, Jason Minto/USA Today Sports, Dan Stroud The Tower Hill Bulletin magazine is published twice annually to share how alumni, faculty, staff and students embody the school’s motto Multa Bene Facta, Many Things Done Well. Send Class Notes to thalum@towerhill.org with a high-resolution photo.
TOWER HILL SCHOOL 2813 W. 17th Street Wilmington, DE 19806 302-575-0550 | www.towerhill.org HEAD OF SCHOOL Elizabeth C. Speers DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT Julie Tyson 2016-2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Michelle Shepherd – Chair Ellen Kullman ‘74 – Vice Chair William Daiger Jr. – Treasurer Linda Boyden – Secretary Jon Abramczyk, Ted Ashford III, Earl Ball, Ed.D., Anthony Cucuzzella, M.D. ‘82, Regis de Ramel, Benjamin du Pont ‘82, Charles Elson, W. Whitfield Gardner ‘81, Laird Hayward ‘02, Eric Johnson, M.D., Henry Mellon, Ann Rose, David Roselle, Elizabeth C. Speers P ‘19, Head of School, Carmen Wallace ‘93, Gina Ward Tower Hill School welcomes students of any race, religion, color or nationality. The school does not discriminate in its administrative policies or in the administration of its program.
From the HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Tower Hill families and friends, Last year, I began my tenure at Tower Hill by asking teachers and students to join in a year-long conversation about curricular innovation. What does innovation mean for us at Tower Hill, and what innovative approaches to teaching and learning are already happening here on 17th Street? What might innovation look like embedded in a program that will continue to be firmly rooted in the liberal arts? How is tradition important to innovation and vice versa? What skill sets are required across disciplines for our students to lead in a world that values creativity, entrepreneurship, agility and the dexterity to iterate? How are we teaching our students to develop the tenacity, perseverance and grace to succeed and grow? In response, I have been mightily impressed by our faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents who have engaged in robust conversations, initiatives, task forces, committee work and a year-long comprehensive strategic planning process. We are all indeed fortunate to be part of an educational community wherein considering the future is part of our daily work. Top schools across the country are challenging themselves to deliver their missions in innovative ways. At Tower Hill, we have the luxury of asking ourselves bold questions from a position of strength. Just as we ask our students to stretch and grow every day, we are approaching 100 years of Tower Hill education with the same spirit, all the while ensuring that our mission is the bedrock upon which we build with a growth mindset. As you will read through these pages, it is part and parcel of Tower Hill’s “DNA” to embrace innovation. Our school has many examples of innovation—past and present—from Burton Fowler’s emphasis on cooperative “learning by doing” in the 1920s and 1930s (see pages 28-31) to our Global Scholars Certificate Program, Model United Nations, engineering class and Robotics Club, to name a few. As I convene with heads of school from across the country, one gains a national perspective on the independent school landscape. While all schools are different, one theme is consistent throughout education today: change is a constant, and the pace of change is increasing exponentially. In the workplace our students will enter, automation is upending human effort and freelancing is replacing traditional employment (see pages 7-10). For some this is daunting, however for Tower Hill, the revolution that is happening in education provides us the opportunity to pose important, fundamental questions about our purpose. Why and how do we educate our students for their world, versus ours? While none of us has a crystal ball, there is one thing I am clear about when it comes to Tower Hill: intelligence and integrity will go hand in hand in all we do. We are committed to being a school of Wilmington and the World, and we will continue to do so in a way that calls upon our students to use both their intellect and integrity, as it is within this very combination that Tower Hill students will distinguish themselves as engaged citizens and leaders. I hope you will agree as you read through the pages of this magazine that Tower Hill teachers, students and alumni are using their intelligence in innovative ways. It continues to be a privilege to lead Tower Hill into its centennial chapter. Please mark the date for Tower Hill’s Centennial Celebration: Sept. 20-22, 2019. We will surely be celebrating both tradition and innovation within Tower Hill’s extraordinary history. We will be “calling” all Tower Hill artists, athletes, scholars, entrepreneurs, leaders, innovators and everyone in between as we wrap our arms around this wonderful school. Thanks for all your support, and as always, please feel free to be in touch—as we are so proud to claim the creativity, intelligence and innovation of the entire Tower Hill community! Sincerely,
Elizabeth C. Speers Head of School