News Archive

This morning, Hackley English teacher Wil Lobko reached at random for a poem to share with colleagues to kick off the month, and the poem he happened upon has particular resonance as we enter into "Day 3" of distance learning on the Hilltop.

Two Hackley alumni visited Hackley Chinese language students and shared insights into the benefits of learning and speaking Chinese.

On Friday, March 6, the Lower School was thrilled to spend an interactive day with STEM author David Schwartz.

Thursday evening, March 5, the Lower, Middle, and Upper divisions came together to celebrate our 7th annual STEM Night.

Hackley students and faculty across all three divisions made bowls in this week's Empty Bowls event,  part of a collaboration with the Clay Art Center in Port Chester to raise money and awareness of hunger and food insecurity in Westchester County.

On Friday, February 27th, Hackley Ethics Bowl NYC winners Daniel Cai, Greg Occhiogrosso, Kiri Fitzpatrick, and Ava Lattimore traveled to Summit, New Jersey to take on the New Jersey champion team, Kent Place School for the right to compete in Nationals later this spring.

March is National Athletic Trainers (ATs) Month, and we’re celebrating by highlight the important role these health care professionals provide in caring for the patients that they serve.

The 2019-20 Hackley Hornets Boys Varsity Basketball Team finished the season on a very high note, winning two of our last three games, including an exciting 79-75 win on Senior Night versus Leman Prep. It was a great way to honor the four seniors, Matt Wiele, James Sexton-Holtmeir, Enzi Teacher, and Andrew Abrons.

The Boys Varsity Squash Team concluded their 2019-20 season last weekend at High School Nationals. The team was led at No.1 by Ryan Chen ‘21, who excelled, especially in the match against Tabor Academy against a very strong Egyptian player.

The Hackley Girls Varsity Basketball Team ended the season with an overall record of 12-12 and an Ivy League record of 7-5, good for third place. The girls earned the #9 seed in the NYSAIS state tournament where they won their first round game before losing to the #1 seed and eventual NYSAIS Champions Horace Mann.

The 2019- 2020 season for Girls Varsity Squash ended with a total of 12 wins and 13 loses. Captain and senior Jordan Miller led the team with great integrity, character and dedication, setting an excellent example for our future squash captains.

Hackley's Winter Track & Field athletes each saw improvement this season, setting personal bests in their events, with new records set, and strong Ivy League and NYSAIS finishes, and four athletes qualifying for the Federation Indoor Track meet.

Led by Ivy champions Mary Rotenberg ’21 and Max Hardart ’21, the Hackley Girls and Boys Swim Teams had strong seasons, the girls team finishing second in league behind the strong and large Trinity team, and the boys finishing fourth.

Despite small numbers, the Hackley Wrestling team brought home strong results, including top individual finishes in regional and state-level competition.

On Friday, Feb 21 students from the 7th grade gathered in the dining hall for a fun-filled cooking extravaganza.

At the February 22 Sumo Bot Robotics tournament at Long Ridge School in Stamford, CT, Hackley 5th and 6th graders were challenged to build and program Lego robots to battle each other in various autonomous and remote control competitions -- and won four out of the six competitions.

The Hackley Fencing program had an amazing weekend at the Independent School Fencing League Championships.

Congratulations to Lara Schechter ‘21 and Hadassah Henderson ‘21 for their performances at the NY State Girls Wrestling Tournament at Truman High School (Bronx) on Saturday 2/22/20.

To conclude their Biography Research project -- an interdisciplinary effort that brought together literacy, history, library research skills, and technology skills -- Hackley fourth graders launched their "Hall of Fame Museum" on February 19.

Congratulations to Lara Schechter and Hadassah Henderson, who will compete at NY Girls State Folkstyle Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, February 22nd at Truman High School, and to Cole Joseph and Jack Bosco, who will compete at NY State Federation Championships at Times Union Center in Albany on February 28 and 29.

Hackley hosted its inaugural teaching artist -- a drama educator -- during the week of February 9-14.  The Creative Residency program is part of the new strategic plan, Redefining Excellence: Learning Beyond Boundaries, and will serve to “promote the Hilltop as a learning hub” by bringing creative teaching artists in Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Digital Arts to campus.

Hackley Lower School celebrated the second annual Leading with Literacy Day on Friday, February 14 -- appropriately themed Falling in Love with Literacy!

Hackley Girls Varsity Basketball competes in the opening round of the NYSAIS Tournament on Wednesday, February 19, 5:00 PM vs. Rye Country Day School at RCDS.  The winner of that round will play Horace Mann on Thursday in the quarterfinal round.  Semi-finals and finals are scheduled for Saturday and Monday, respectively.

Four Hackley Track & Field athletes earned first place honors at the Ivy Preparatory League championship meet for Winter Track on February 13.

Five athletes earned seven league championship titles at the 2020 Ivy League Championship meet.

Bruce Dunbar ’85 and Aidan Wilson ’20, two of the most accomplished Hackley swimmers of all-time, share the Hackley School record in the 500 Free (4:34.61).

• Hackley Boys Squash placed second in the NYSAIS Championships, hosted this week at Hackley. 
• Hackley Girls and Boys Swimming placed third and fifth, respectively, in their Ivy League meet.
• Hackley Winter Track brought in a Girls 2nd place finish overall and 3rd place overall for Boys in Ivy League competition.

The Athletes of the Week for the week of Feb 10th are Tyler Wyman ’21 (Wrestling) and the Boys 4x800m Relay Team (Track).

As we head into the Presidents Day weekend, we bid a fond farewell to our two current Round Square Exchange students.

Over the past two weeks, the Hackley Lower School students, teachers, and many parent volunteers participated in the Building Bridges program. The primary goals of “Building Bridges” are to increase student awareness and understanding of people with different abilities; to provide first-person experiences in order to develop empathy and compassion; and to reinforce the belief that all people — no matter their differences in abilities — have the same social-emotional needs and feelings.

Ten talented Hackley senior artists are participating in this year’s annual Katonah Museum Young Artist Exhibition. The exhibition, generously hosted by the museum administration and staff during their busy winter exhibition calendar, features outstanding senior paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photography from selected regional high schools.

Hackley's Pickert Field signage was enhanced with the language below chronicling Coach Robert Pickert's achievements as Hackley Teacher, Coach, Athletics Director, and Varsity Football Coach.

Hackley Varsity Wrestling Coach Fran Stanek was honored at this year's NYSAIS Wrestling Championship with the 25 years of Service Award in the sport of wrestling.

On February 10, Hackley Boys’ and Girls’ squash teams hosted the quarterfinals of the NYSAIS Squash Championships. Both teams advanced to the semi-finals and will compete here at Hackley School on Wednesday, February 12th.

Seniors Josh Saha and Yingshyan Ku joined 550+ students from Westchester/Rockland County to present their scientific work at the Westchester/Rockland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium on Saturday, Feb 8, 2020.

Madeline Zuckerman '20 represented Hackley at the English Speaking Union NYC Branch Semi-Finals on 2/10. Madeline was one of fifteen students selected from various schools in the NYC Branch to compete in this prestigious competition. Fellow Hack-tors Amanda Mooney, Liz Hetzel and Conor McMahon attended to cheer her on!

The 8th grade gathered in the dining hall after school on Feb 7 for a fun session of Cupcake Wars. Students worked in teams to bake cupcakes from basic ingredients, and then decorated their cupcakes using icing and fondant. It was an enjoyable evening for everyone who participated.

Hackley US Debate had an outstanding showing at the University of Pennsylvania’s 45th annual Liberty Bell Classic.

On Saturday, February 8th, four teams of Hackley Parliamentary debaters competed at our 3rd High School Public Debate tournament of the season, hosted here at Hackley.

Hackley Wrestlers Cole Joseph ’23 (113lbs), Jack Bosco ’20 (126) and Tyler Wyman ’21 (132) were crowned NYSAIS champions this past weekend.

On Thursday, February 6, fifth grade students joined their second grade buddies up at the Lower School to make Valentine’s Day cards for the Hackley Buildings and Grounds staff, Flik employees, and Hackley security guards.

Hackley is presenting its first musical in many years! The Upper School Musical Theater Workshop Class will present “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Tuesday, February 11 at 5:00 and Wednesday and Thursday, February 12th and 13th, at 7:00 in the Bridges Theater.  Check out the promo video!

As part of the Creative Residency established through the Strategic Plan, Hackley's first visiting artist, Elizabeth Anne Smith, arrives on February 9 to begin a week-long residency working with drama students in grades 7-12 during the week of February 10.

The Independent Research Program was lucky to be able to host Dr. Yancopoulos (Co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and parent of alumni in the classes of '12, '14, '16 and '18) on Friday, Jan 31, 2020.

Enzi Teacher '20 and Conor McMahon '20 were named to the 2020 Golden Dozen Team. The Golden Dozen is an award given to the top student-athletes in the Westchester area in the sport of football.

Sarah Coble, Seth Karpinski, Dan Lipin, and Tony Maisonet have been appointed to endowed chairs starting with the 2020-2021 school year. Sarah Coble will be the new holder of the Parents' Chair. Seth Karpinski has been chosen for the Head of School Chair and Dan Lipin for the McLean Chair in Mathematics and Science. Tony Maisonet has been named to the M.H. Davidson Chair in History.

On Tuesday, February 4th Upper School Chinese 5 students visited with Hackley second graders to teach a lesson about the Chinese/Lunar New Year, connected to the second grade Social Studies curriculum.

Thanks to Director of Health Education Renee Pabst for this wonderful cross-divisional partnership, in which 7th grade students taught 1st graders about proper nutrition. Enjoy the article on Hackley Perspectives.

Hackley's Middle School Squash teams competing at the MS Squash Nationals won their respective divisions on February 1. The girls team won division 2 and the boys division 3, both finishing with strong 3-2 wins in the championship.

The Hackley Wrestling Team crowned three champions and two second place finishers at the Ivy League Championships this weekend.

With the end of January comes the departure of Thomas Tung-Yep, our visitor from fellow Round Square school Trinity Anglican School in Cairns, Australia, and today his English 12 class celebrated him with treats and well-wishes.

On January 30, Hackley hosted Mr. Michael B. Moore, Founding President and CEO of the International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, as the 2019-2020 DuBois Speaker.

On Saturday, January 25th, ten middle school students volunteered at the Loaves and Fish Soup Kitchen in Ossining. It was wonderful to see all four grade levels represented among the volunteers, united to serve their local community.

In their capacity as leaders of Hackley's Hudson Scholars program, David Sykes and Dawn Crainer presented at the National Network for Schools in Partnership conference in Philadelphia on Sunday, January 26th and Monday, January 27th.

On Saturday, January 25th, over 35 MS students debated at two separate events in our MS Public Debate League, one of which was hosted by Hackley. Though we have a lot of new and younger debaters who are still learning the ropes, one of our 8th grade teams placed 3rd at one of the events and we earned 3rd place overall as a school at the other.

Athletes of the Week for January 27th are Kiara Abbey ’21 (Track and Field), Jake Abraham ’21 (Wrestling), James DiStefano ’20 (Fencing – Epee), and Nicky Wind ’22 (Fencing – Saber).

Hackley will be hosting the 2020 NYSAIS Wrestling Championships on Saturday, February 8th in the double gym in the Walter C. Johnson Center for Health and Wellness, beginning at 10:00 AM.

The Hackley Fencing Team had thirteen medalist at the 21st Independent School Fencing League Individual Championships at Horace Mann on Saturday, Jan. 25th, including gold medals for James DiStefano ‘20 and Nicky Wind ’22. This medal count equaled the record breaking results of last season when Hackley took home 27% of the overall medals in the ten-school league.

Hackley Upper School students came together for a successful "Snow Ball" -- the winter-themed dance sponsored and organized by Community Council. Students dressed up and enjoyed the festivities -- thanks to all who made it possible!

On January 27, seventeen Hackley Upper School students presented Shakespeare monologues as they competed in the first round of the English Speaking Union (ESU) National Shakespeare Competition.

Hackley Wrestling had a strong showing this past weekend with Lara Schechter ‘21, Cole Joseph ’23 and Jack Bosco ’20 all winning their respective divisions.

The Hackley Independent Research Program was happy host Dr. Ianchulev (P’ 26) on Friday, January 17, 2020. Dr. Ianchulev gave an inspiring talk on innovation, and the various projects and products that he has founded since his residency.

Dr. Ying's 9th grade physics classes went to the Fitness Center in the JCHW to do a “work"-out--investigating the physics of "work". a.k.a., the transfer of energy.

Hackley Upper School biology students wrote postcards to Hackley first graders highlighting the differences between human digestion and the digestive systems of other animals.

Over the Martin Luther King, Jr, holiday weekend, in Lexington, MA, 12 debaters braved inclement weather and a tough national circuit debating Resolved: The United States should end its economic sanctions against Venezuela.

Hackley's Athletic Trainer team supports a broad spectrum of Health and Wellness programming -- learn more about their work on Hackley Perspectives.

The Hackley Fencing program continues to see success in 2019-2020 as the new fencing studio has helped build the growth and strength of the program. Four Hackley teams are in the hunt for ISFL titles.

On January 19, four Hackley students represented Hackley at the New York City Regional Competition for the 2020 National High School Ethics Bowl and won first place.

Hackley School is partnering with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to host the first Hudson Valley Young Musicians Concert on Sunday, February 2nd and we are pleased to announced that one of our Upper School chamber groups, comprised of Eliana Lee '20, Oren Tirschwell '20, and Marie Wurtz '22, has been selected to perform.

Six athletes earned Athlete of the Week honors in the week before Winter Break and in the two weeks since.

On Friday, 1/17, students in the Civic Engagement for Advanced Spanish Speakers course spent time with the Hispanic community at Neighbors Link, a resource center that aids the local community in Northern Westchester County.

During December, Hackley 8th graders learned block printing techniques in their regular art classes and created many prints of their own. They then designed a workshop to share their newfound knowledge with Hackley kindergarten students.

Hackley Review Winter 2019-20

Two Hackley teachers, Melissa Boviero and Dan Lipin, have completed the Regeneron STEM Teaching Fellowship.

Hackley Review Winter 2019-20 By Michael Canterino '03, Upper School English Teacher

While this academic school year offers Hackley’s first course explicitly designed around roleplay gaming as the central mechanism for understanding, analyzing, and creating content, games and simulations have been a tradition in Hackley classrooms for years.

Hackley Review Winter 2019-20 By Cyndy Jean, Director of the Middle School

When I first accepted my new role as the Director of the Middle School, many colleagues and mentors offered me great insight and advice into the new career path I had chosen. Although I felt a tug at my heart knowing I was preparing to step out of the classroom and away from consistent, direct interaction with students, I was heartened by the first early interactions I had with the middle school faculty.

Hackley Review Winter 2019-20 By Lisa Oberstein, Director of the Lower School

With less than half a year’s tenure on the Hilltop and in my role as Hackley’s new Director of Lower School, I get to experience so many “firsts,” and so many discoveries, that I feel a special kinship with the Class of 2032, our kindergarteners who began their own Hackley journey in September. Meeting so many wonderful people and experiencing the invitation to “Enter here to be and find a friend” myself, I am reminded every day that the root of “wonderful” is “wonder.”

Hackley Middle and Lower School students celebrated the Lunar New Year this week as they enjoyed performances of music, dance, and face-changing given by three Chinese artists on January 14th (in the Lower School) and 15th (in the Middle School).

On January 9, Hackley hosted Pavel Litvinov, this year’s Henry Wendt Visiting Scholar, who addressed Upper School students in the morning, visited classes, and then continued conversation with students over lunch.

The Advanced Forest Ecology Students are continuing the annual tradition of using recycled Christmas tree to build habitat for birds.

Jasmine Bayrooti '18 returned to the Hilltop to talk with Hackley’s Independent Research program students about her research projects, both as a Hackley student and more recently at Stanford.

On Thursday, January 2nd, Hackley US students Zach Yusaf, Zara Yusaf, Michael Lee, and Ella Rodriguez ran two separate two-hour presentations on debate at P.S. 105 in the Bronx.

Hackley senior Becky Steinberg '20's recent Chapel Talk to fellow students underscores the value of struggle, shared here on Hackley Perspectives.

On Sunday, January 26, at 1:00 p.m., in Allen Hall, Hackley's College Counseling Office and Athletics Department will offer a program on college athletic recruitment. This meeting is open to all, but since it focuses on the college athletic recruitment process, it necessarily targets very strong athletes.

The 4th annual Hudson Scholars Holiday Party on 12/15 brought together about 150 people--the Scholars and their families, over 20 Upper School mentors (and some of their families too), numerous Hackley teachers--and a great deal of Holiday cheer and joy!

Upper School students in the "Topics in the History of Warfare" class went to the Jacob Burns Film Center this week for a screening of "1917" with the goal of gaining better understanding of why WWI played out the way it did.

At a tournament in Minnesota, Hackley's work on the Venezuela resolution got off to an incredible start.

In the 2018-19 school year, Lower School students in the Brick Builders After School Club embarked on a year-long group project to create a Hackley-themed roller coaster, complete with Hackley Hornet mascot roller coaster cars.