News Archive

On Friday, September 13th, Hackley Middle and Upper school Chinese students celebrated Zhong Qiu Jie, China’s Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Archeological Institute of America is hosting an event at Hackley on Sunday, September 22, and the featured speaker is our very own Dr. Adrianne Pierce, presenting on her work with students in "Archeology in the Classroom." Interested members of the community are welcome!  2:00 - 3:15 PM in the Lindsay Room.

In her Convocation address, Community Council President Taylor Robin '20 inspired the Hackley community to listen, learn, and expand their perspectives.

Hackley School is proud and grateful to announce the creation of three new endowed funds that will support the ambitious priorities of Redefining Excellence: Learning Beyond Boundaries, Hackley’s strategic plan.

Jonah Gorevic '21, Maggie Broaddus '20, Conor McMahon '20, and Jenny Canoni '20 are Hackley's latest Athletes of the Week.

Jenny Canoni ’20 recorded her 600th save on Wednesday, September 11th, an accomplishment very few have achieved. Jenny, who was already our career saves leader on the Hilltop, continues to stymie offenses with her outstanding play. Congratulations, Jenny.

Challenged to tell what they read this summer (and rewarded for reporting with a Tootsie Pop!), nearly 100 Hackley students reported back about their summer adventures in reading.

Hackley is pleased to welcome 19 new members of the faculty and staff for the 2019-20 school year.

Hackley second graders have been learning about maps and map skills in Social Studies, and used Hackley's trail maps as a real life test of their map skills.

Hackley Lower School's vibrant Team Lego program continues to grow, and recently enjoyed a visit from program "graduate" Ben I., current sixth grader, who has been mentoring the Lower School teams since last year.

The Hackley Upper School Public Forum team started their fall season with a strong showing at their first tournament this past weekend.

The Hudson Independent recently featured Amy Chalan '19 and her great work on behalf of the local Tarrytown community, an extension of her work with Hudson Scholars.

Leah Holmes '20 and the United States U19 Lacrosse Team dominated the World Championship competition, defeating 2nd place Canada 13-3. Leah led the team in scoring, with four goals, including the team's first goal, about 8 minutes into the game. Read about it here.

Ryan Smith ’17 is pitching for the Harwich Mariners, which is competing in the Cape Cod League's championship series, which runs through August 10.

Saturday, July 27th, the Hudson Scholars program will run three exciting Service-Learning projects based in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Please stop by, say hi, join in, buy some lemonade or cheer on our Scholars, Hudson Scholars faculty and amazing Upper School Mentors.

Hackley History teacher Jared Fishman and Dillon Schaevitz '19 ran a one hour seminar and game at Historicon 2019, talking about Hackley’s gaming program, how it evolved, its impact on student well being, and presenting Dillon’s senior project which focused on games.

Julianne Puente ’91’s Journey in Jordan
By Suzy Akin

A career educator learns the growth that comes from learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

What I loved most about working with Julianne was her passion and the way it spread like wildfire.

Julianne’s first visited Hackley at the invitation of Margaret Scarcella ’84, who as a high school student coached Julianne’s 5th grade basketball team back home.

The Spring 2019 Casten Trip to Israel and Palestine.  Steele Sternberg shares the lessons gained across varying perspectives in a place where there's no getting away from difference of opinion.

Valentina Castro '19 is among local students profiled in The Hudson Independent, In the story, she talks of her desire to study medicine, inspired in part by her Hackley Senior Project experience.

New on Hackley Perspectives, Head of School Michael Wirtz reflects on the values represented by a Hackley diploma.

Dribbling a field hockey ball around pylons.  Eating a bowl of popcorn without hands. Translate a Spanish passage. Correctly tie a necktie. These are among the challenges students accomplished as part of the first ever Hackley Hilltop Relay competition between student "houses." Check out video highlights here!

The Performing Arts Department recently debuted its yearlong video project, featuring the K-12 community in a moving and poignant video. Showcasing students, instrumentalists, vocalists, faculty, and staff members, the inspiration came from the virtual choir performance of “You Will Be Found,” from Dear Evan Hanson.

Hackley second grader Luke D. participated in the Tri-State Ambulatory Games, a Paralympic competition, over Memorial Day weekend and qualified to compete in nine track and field events at the US Adaptive Sports Junior Nationals this July in Minnesota. His biggest accomplishment so far has been beating the 800 Meter US national record for 11 and under in his disability class.

The Arrow, Hackley's Middle School literary and art magazine, arrived this week -- preview a digital version here!

On June 2 at the Eastern Track & Field Championships Ismene Germanakos broke her own school record in the Javelin by over 5’, throwing 124’5” to qualify for Nationals in Greensboro NC on June 14th. Several other Hackley athletes brought in exceptional performances as well.

Steele Sternberg’s “History of the Middle East” class skyped with Felicia Schwartz ’10, The Wall Street Journal's Israel and Palestinian Territories correspondent, based in Tel Aviv.

First graders learned about different communities through a hands-on building project. Students selected specific buildings within a community: urban, suburban, and rural, to paint and build.

Regina DiStefano, Lower School Science teacher, is among 18 teachers chosen from across the nation to receive the Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award by the Garden Club of America.

Charles Segal '20, Jared Rosenberg '22, Maddie White '19, and Charlie Hite '19 are the final Athletes of the Week for the 2018-19 school year. Congratuations to all our athletes!

Hackley Spanish teacher Diane Remenar writes about her work with her AP Spanish students on the new "Distinction in Service-Learning" commendation and the learning beyond boundaries it supports. Read her story here.

May 21 was a perfect day for a service learning trip as Ms. Maddox's Drama 5-3 students went to the Pre-K/4s class at Elizabeth Mascia Child Care Center to perform an adaptation of the book "Crazy Hair Day."

On May 17, Hackley Fifth Graders enjoyed their first overnight “Hilltop Campout.”

Anastasia Popova and Ardsley teammate Isha Brahmbahtt presented their work at ISEF last week. Congrats to both girls for their incredible work that won them a spot to present at the world’s largest venue for science projects.

For the fourth time in five years, Hackley had an undefeated team in the finals of the MSPDP Championship year end debate tournament and, for the third time over that span, Hackley won the Championship, its first since 2016.

Check out these highlights from the US Spring Chamber Concert.

Hackley Girls Track & Field captured second place in the NYSAIS meet, led by several individual event champions. Boys Track & Field finished fourth, just five points out of the top three, with several outstanding individual finsihes. Together, they concluded another outstanding season for HackleyTrack and Field.

This past week, the 4th grade students hosted their kindergarten buddies at a “wolf museum.”

In an exciting afternoon of lacrosse between perennial rivals Hackley and Rye Country Day School, Hackley Girls and Boys Lacrosse each delivered strong wins (18-7 and 12-10, respectively) in the NYSAIS championship round at Manhattanville College on Wednesday, May 22.

On this Memorial Day, we remember Hackley alumni who lost their lives in military service. The following alumni are recognized on plaques hanging in the Hackley Chapel and under Kroeger Arch.

Hackley Softball and the Hackley Girls and Boys Lacrosse teams all delivered resounding victories in the semi-final round of the NYSAIS tournament on Monday, May 20, and advance to the Championship round on Wednesday, May 22 at Manhattanville College.  Hackley Golf and Track & Field teams also have NYSAIS competitions on Wednesday.

The weather may not have been very spring-like recently, but it is spring, nevertheless--proven by the arrival of Hackley's ducklings!

On Saturday, May 18, we join in celebration of Armed Forces Day, in appreciation of the men and women in our community and beyond currently serving in the United States Armed Forces.

The Music Institute’s Cello Club had their Inaugural Recital at the Marymount Convent Nursing Home in Tarrytown on Friday, May 10th.

Hackley Track and Field athletes performed well, setting new personal records and bring home championships at the Loucks games and Rasbeck Relays over the weekend of May 11-12.

Hackley Athletics is proud to announce that we have eight spring teams competing over the next week for Ivy and NYSAIS titles. Please come out and support the athletes and coaches as they make runs for championships! Read on for team by team schedules.

On May 11th, Hackley’s Aquabots competed in the Marine Advanced Technology and Engineering, or MATE, Regional Competition at Villanova University.

Our 2nd grade Pirate Adventurers traveled the globe in their recent play, “Traveling the World for Buried Treasure.” One of their stops was China where they learned this beautiful children’s song, “One World, One Dream.”

Congratulations to the Hackley Varsity Baseball team, which has received the number eight seed in the NYSAIS tournament. The team has a play in game against Stony Brook this Thursday at Hackley School at 3:30 PM, and the winner will face the number 1 seed poly on Saturday. (NYSAIS Baseball Tournament Bracket.)

Dr. Adrianne Pierce shares her students' adventures in teaching Latin to elementary school students in Port Chester as our newest contribution to Hackley Perspectives.

On May 3, 2019, Dr. Vin Sandhu, who specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery, came to visit the students in the Independent Research program.

During the first week of May, Hackley kindergartners and 1st graders released into the Lower School Garden the butterflies and ladybugs they had raised from larvae and watched as they went through their metamorphosis in the classrooms.

The 16th Annual Yoho Artists’ Open Studios is on Saturday May, 18th & Sunday, May 19th, from noon – 5pm both days. Four artists in the Hackley community are participating and will be opening their personal art studios for the weekend event as a part of Yonkers Arts Weekend.

Athletes of the Week for the week of May 6th are Josh Saha ‘19 (Track & Field), Julia Thomson ’20 (Girls Lacrosse), Abbey Schiller ’21 (Softball) and Patrick Wertimer ’19 (Boys Lacrosse).

Check out all that our students accomplished in the spring Hack Gives Back effort!

The boys golf team competed in the Fisher's Island golf tournament yesterday--a very special opportunity for these four players to play on such an incredible course. The team placed 2nd out of 12 teams, and Neil Singh placed third individually, shooting a 76.

The Middle School Arts and Literary Magazine submissions are in--take a look at some of the terrific 5th-8th grade works of art and creative writing posted so far on our blog.

Frida S. in the Class of 2027 found connection across Hackley generations with Ilyasah Shabazz '79 by way of her fourth grade biography project on Malcolm X.

At the Somers invitational on May 4 Josh Saha '20 won the 400m hurdles event, setting a new school record time (56.84), surpassing the record set by Ian Parnell '13 in 2012.(57.7).

Hackley Advanced Physics students conducted a study on the theory and design of truss, arch, and suspension bridges, seeking to design the most efficient bridge using only spaghetti, fishing line, and hot glue.

Congratulations to Chiara Kaufman, who won a Superior rating and the Critics’ Choice Award at the 2019 New York State Thespian Competition for Costume Design.

Hackley's Post-AP Advanced French Literature class went to the Vietnamese restaurant Saigonese, located in Hartsdale. The class had been discussing for weeks the politics of food in various French-speaking countries, and it was time to continue the conversation in an actual restaurant!

Two Hackley relay teams traveled to Penn Relays to compete in the world's most widely recognized relay-only competition.

Seniors Philip Bonanno and Tucker Wilke were among just 119 high school debaters in the country to qualify for the Tournament of Champions in Lexington, KY.

If you really want to celebrate this weekend, please come out and join your fellow students
as the Hacktors present The NYC -Acting 4 Showcase.

On April 25, the team of Hackley teachers who traveled to Rwanda as part of Hackley's longstanding partnership with two -- and now three -- schools there talked to Middle School students about their travels and the friends we have there.

On April 27 & 28, six Hackley 8th graders, Mason N., Amy K., Zara Y., Paul E., Bella W., and Arushi C., competed in two Public Debate Program Championship tournaments outside of Los Angeles.

Episode 2, part 2 of Dr. Lauren' Rgby's  "Sound and Stage" podcast series, featuring Hackley Upper School theater students, is now online -- check it out!

Dr. Adrianne Pierce and Dr. Richard Robinson offer our latest addition to Hackley Perspectives, an exploration of roots, sources, inspirations and meanings in Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Enjoy the fruits of their collaboration here.

On Saturday morning, April 27th, over 30 Hackley community members, spanning across all three divisions, came together to help clean up the riverbanks down by the water at Pierson Park in Tarrytown.

On Thursday, May 2, Hackley students who participated in the recent Casten Trip to Israel and Palestine hosted a lunchtime panel conversation about their experience. They also shared impressions of their visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum in recognition of Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was observed on the same day.

On Monday, April 29th, Upper School French students had the exciting opportunity to visit 2H to teach mini-lessons about France, connected to the second grade Social Studies curriculum.

In honor of Earth Day, Lower School and Upper School students have created this terrific set of public service announcements to remind students –and adults -- in every division about the proper ways to recycle.

Athletes of the Week for the week of April 22nd are Tahryam Toure ’20 (Track and Field), Jimin Jung ’20 (Boys Golf), Zoe Naughton ’19 (Track and Field) and Jason Mark ’19 (Baseball).

Please join HEAL (Hackley Earth Action League) and the IT department for the 2nd biennial eRecycling Drive.

Kindergarten students, in KK, recently worked collaboratively in small groups to recreate four U.S. Symbols (The Liberty Bell, The Washington Monument, the bald eagle, and the Statue of Liberty) by upcycling items from Mrs. Murray-Jones’ portable Makerspace cart.

Congratulations to Willie Ezratty '19, Nina Mital '21 and Ryan Chen '21, whose were named 2018-19 All Americans in Squash.

On April 18, the MS Sumobot club invited the LS LEGO teams to visit.

The week of July 22-25, Revolution Field Hockey, GameBreaker Boys & Girls Lacrosse, & Revolution Softball Camp will be held at the HACK.

During the week of April 15, students in 4th, 6th and 10th-12th grades had the opportunity to learn about water resource accessibility in an unusually powerful way and in conjunction with Earth Day.

On Friday, April 12th, Hackley's upper school Chinese language students traveled to Flushing, Queens to explore Chinese culture close to home.

The Hudson Scholars reunion on April 13th, in honor of Earth Day, consisted of a variety of outdoor activities that exposed the Scholars to the wonderful outdoors while also providing stimulating and fun activities for them.

The 2019 Arrow Online is up and running! Please take a look - and check back frequently, as more and more middle school student art and writing will continue to be added until the published magazine is released later this spring.

"Whether you might be ready to hear their thoughts (or not), Middle Schoolers are poised to share their ideas and they want to know that what they say matters and has an impact." Check out MS Community Service Coordinator Jennifer Louros' recent contribution to our blog, Hackley Perspectives.

On Saturday, April 14, senior William Crainer presented his work on “a statistical analysis of cutaneous and environmental microbial communities of pre-and post-metamorphic North American frogs” at the Northeast Natural History Conference (NENHC).

Television producer Scott Weinberger P ’23 shared the unexpected joys of a career that led him from working in law enforcement to becoming an Emmy-winning TV news reporter and producer at a lunchtime conversation hosted by the History Department on Wednesday, April 16.

On Thursday, April 11, 2019, Anastasia Popova attended the WESEF (Westchester Science and Engineering Fair) Finalist Celebration Dinner and presented a brief summary of the work her and Ardsley teammate Isha Brahmbaht completed to win their trip to ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair), the most prestigious science fair in the world.

The Bow Tie Challenge is a community-wide fundraising effort in support of The Annual Fund--if 150 parents participate in the Bow Tie Challenge by making a gift on or before April 26, an additional $100,000 will be donated to The Annual Fund.

On April 13, Hackley Middle School completed the 6th and final MS Soup Kitchen of the year, with a great turn out--close to 15 student volunteers present and enthusiastic to serve others in the community.

Dana Van Buren, Ameera Shaban, Jordan Johnson, Leah Holmes, and Henry Jones have earned Athlete of the Week honors for their performance in last week's games

First graders celebrated the end of their Nonfiction Unit by presenting their work to LS students and teachers, the culmination of an interdisciplinary collaboration between first grade homerooms and Art, Science, and Library.

On April 8, the AFER trip took their annual trip to the Bronx Zoo to take a class on predators and prey.

The Lower School took on the latest Character Education virtue, RESPECT, with the help of our Kindergarteners, who dramatized various ways in which we can show respect for our environment, our classroom, and each other. Check it out here.

On Wednesday, April 17, Hackley History teacher Chris Loomis will be part of a panel discussion alongside other local educators talking about the meaning, origins, and practice of democracy in the U.S. and around the globe at the Warner Library in Tarrytown, 7:15 PM. All welcome: read about it here. Sponsored by the Warner Library and The Hudson Independent.

On Thursday, March 14th, the entire fifth grade, along with students from the 6th grade Chinese language class, visited the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City.

Adam Tannenbaum '20 has been selected to participate in the 2019 NAFME All-Eastern Honors Mixed Chorus.

On March 14 (a.k.a. 3.14 or "Pi" Day) 3S had a Pi Challenge in which students set out to memorize "Pi" to the most digits.  Emma P. triumphed, successfully memorizing Pi to 106 digits! Close on her heels, Jack M. made it to 105. That's some good Pi!

2H helping bring the Garden back to life!

Hackley Fourth grade teacher Lesley Turton explores the introduction of "makerspace" activities to her History curriculum and the opportunities for hands-on, independent problem solving it opened up for her students. Read her story here.

Over Hackley’s Spring Break, History Department Chair Bill Davies devoted himself to his “other” life’s work, outside of teaching history, that of Music Director for Christ Church, Bloomfield and Glen Ridge, NJ, as his choir presented Lenten Evensong with the works of Thomas Tallis, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Sir John Stainer.

Hackley golf standout junior Jimin Jung was recognized in 2019 season preview by LoHud as one of the top local high school players.

On Saturday, March 16th, seniors Anastasia Popova and Josh Zhang (IRP) were among the 670+ students from the region that participated in the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF).

Head Varsity squash coach Adrian Grant hosted a US junior sanctioned silver event on March 16/17, attracting over 50 participants many of the top junior players in the country for this tier, which included Hackley students.

On March 12, Tony Award-winner LaChanze Sapp-Gooding P' 18,'19 offered this year's W.E.B. DuBois Lecture, an annual tradition honoring Black history and culture.  Originally scheduled for February but postponed due to snow, Ms. Sapp-Gooding's talk shared experiences and insights ranging from growing up in th segregated South to making it as an actor on stage and screen. Here are excerpts form her talk.

On March 13, students from Spanish 8 helped Hackley second graders expand their International Studies with a lesson about the parts of the body including songs, movement, and even a game of Spanish Simon Says!

Rob Horan ’21 was selected 1st team Westchester/Putnam All-Stars at 113lbs by the Journal News and Jack Bosco ’20 received Honorable mention at 120lbs. Congratulations to both on this impressive honor!

The Advanced Forest Ecology Research class continues to capture great images of Hackley forest life -- from songbirds to predators!

The five Hackley eighth grade students currently representing Hackley at the Round Square Globally Accessible Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland visited Giant’s Causeway on March 13th.

On Saturday, March 9th, Hackley School, in conjunction with HMGS (Historical Miniature Gaming Society), ran its second annual Mega-Game in the Chapel.

Approximately 30 MS debaters competed this past weekend at two separate locations – one of which was at Hackley – for the final regular season debate tournament of the season.

Adam Tannenbaum '20 has been selected to participate in the 2019 NAFME All-Eastern Honors Mixed Chorus.

One of the joys of being at a K-12 school is the many opportunities for cross-divisional partnerships -- most recently seen when our 11th grade English students visited Hackley third graders to coach them in the craft of writing!

This production, done in the round, will consist of eight-10 minute scenes around love, life and all the strangeness in between the beginning and the end. Come see it in the PAC, Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm.

The 2018-19 Hackley Hornets Boys Varsity Basketball team took positive steps forward in a season that found wins hard to come by, but new coach Zach Kuba focused on establishing a new culture in the program that included a positive atmosphere, the joy of practicing and playing basketball together, good communication and chemistry.

The Hackley Girls Basketball Team vaulted past their high pre-season expectation to finish the year with an impressive 19 – 5 record, second place in the Ivy League with a record of 10 - 2, and the #3 seed in the NYSAIS state tournament.

The Hackley Girls Squash Team finished with a 6-8 record on the way to the #5 seed in the NYSAIS tournament, and then went on to beat the 4th seed in thrilling fashion demonstrating how their hard work was paying off.

The 2018-2019 season has been a year of growth and learning, for Hackley swimmers and coaches. Following the nearly 30 year reign of coaching excellence from Coach Gillard, this year saw a new trio of coaches at the helm: Anne Budlong, Mike Ruggiero, and Jeremy Storm, in addition to practicing and competing in the new JCHW pool.

The 2018-2019 Winter Track Team consisted of 52 athletes and their coaches, Seth Karpinski, Dejan Maksimovic, Jessie Gaines, and Bill McLay. The team participated in several meets over the season, including four Ivy League meets, the New Balance Games, the New Jersey Classic, the Ivy League Championships, and the NYSAIS Championships.

The Hackley Wrestling had an impressive season as young stars broke through and the team went 5-3 on the year with a 3rd place finish in the Ivy Prep League, and a 4th place finish at the NYSAIS Championships.

Dr. Adrianne Pierce, Hackley Classics Department Chair, shares this story in Hackley Perspectives about deepening connection with ancient history through archeology in our own back yard.

Hackley Boys Fencing dominated this season, with undefeated Foil and Epee Teams and 2nd place in the league for the Saber Team, while Girls Fencing, small but feisty, captured an individual championship and two fifth place team finishes.

Hackley Lower School students set about shoveling off the playground first thing on Monday's snowy morning--many hands making light work!

The Hudson Scholars February reunion began with Hackley Upper School students leading small group sessions about Hackley clubs/organizations in order to foster conversation around pursuing your passions and different leadership styles.

After learning about Brazil, the Amazon Rainforest, and deforestation, Hackley second graders presented their research on different species of animals that live there, sharing interesting facts, and discussing what would happen to the animals if the rainforest continued to be cut down.

A multi-talented (and brave!) group of Hackley parents demonstrated the virtue of Flexibility for Lower School students.  Watch highlights of the action here!

Congratuations to the athletes and coaches of the Hackley Boys Squash team, which defeated Horace Mann 5-2 on Sunday, 2/24 to win the boys NYSAIS squash championship.

Upper School students were treated to a little puppy love in the middle of their exam review.

Hackley Girls Squash vs. St. Ann's at Hackley, Sunday, 2/24, 2PM.
Hackley Boys Squash vs. Masters at Hackley, Sunday, 2/24, 4 PM.

Hackley fencers brought home first and second place tournament finishes and a Team Tournament win for Boys' Foil.

Hackley Girls Basketball defeats RCDS to advance; Girls squash advances. Boys Squash advances.

At the NYSAIS Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Armory in New York City on February 21, Princess Ohia-Enyia '20 finished first in the Girls 600 Yard Dash and Gracelynn Green '21 out-threw all other competitors in winning the Girls Weight Throw.

Director of Upper School Andy King explores what it means to "learn beyond boundaries" in our latest edition of Hackley Perspectives.

Merideth Maddox and Bettie-Ann Candelora presented a workshop titled “Setting the Stage for Success: The Role of Theatrical Improvisation in Shaping Strong, Successful, and Supportive Young Women” at the NCGS-NYSAIS Educating Girls Symposium at the Nightingale-Bamford School on February 20th.

The Hackley Middle School Lego Robotics team competed against two other schools (Greenwich Country Day School and Long Ridge Elementary School) at Long Ridge Elementary School in Stamford, CT.

Check out the latest installment of Dr. Rigby's podcast series, "Sound and Stage."

American Girl Doll Tea Party & Crafting (D. O’Lunney) has been added to the Hackley Summer Program course offerings for rising grades K-2 . This fantastic new course will be offered in the afternoon of WEEK 2 and WEEK 3.

Congratulations to Lara Schechter ’21 and Hadassah Henderson ’21 for their strong performances at the Girls State Wrestling Championships at Truman High School (Bronx) this past weekend.

We would like to congratulate many of our athletics teams for making the NYSAIS championships and moving on to the post season.

Swim season in Hackley P.E. has begun -- in the new Johnson Center Pool-- with Mr. Hasslinger's 5th grade PE class taking the honors as  the first ever Hackley PE class to swim in the new pool.

The Hackley Wrestling Team took home 4th place overall at the NYSAIS Championship this week at Long Island Lutheran. Three individual Hackley wrestlers won their respective weight classes.

Hear Hackley faculty talk about progress on early initiatives supporting Redefining Excellence: Learning Beyond Boundaries.

Athletes of the Week for the week of February 4th are Aidan Wilson ’20 (Swimming), Mary Rotenberg ’21 (Swimming),
Jack Bosco ’20 (Wrestling) and Tyler Wyman ’21 (Wrestling).

Monday was a very exciting day for the fencing program. Heading into their last regular season matches the Foil and Epee Teams had perfection looming in front of them.

Over the past two weeks, the Hackley Lower School students, teachers, and many parents participated in the Building Bridges program.

On Saturday, Feb 9, 2019, Hackley US students William Catalano, William Crainer, Varun Krishna, Yingshyan Ku, and Josh Saha joined over 350 students from the region to present their science research projects at the Westchester Rockland Science and Humanities Symposium.

The Advanced Forest Ecology Research class set up five camera traps in the Hackley forest.

The Hackley Boys Squash Team has enjoyed an incredible year finishing the season a perfect 10-0.

Hackley Lower School students were truly leaders in literacy on Feb 1st!

Hackley Middle School Chinese students have been expanding their language studies in creative and fun ways.

Twelve Hackley seniors are participating in the Katonah Museum of Art’s annual Young Artists Exhibition.

Stacy Kaegi, lead kindergarten teacher, has been named Hackley's next holder of the Alumni Humanities Chair, following nomination by faculty peers who wrote thoughtfully about her work.

Hackley gave beck through several student led initiatives from January 22 to February 1.

The Hackley Middle School "Pillars Day" celebration, devoted to the theme of Women's Leadership, launched with a visit with Ilyasah Shabazz, Hackley Class of 1979, whose book, Betty Before X, was the Middle School Summer Reading selection.

Upper School Chinese V students visited with second graders this week to teach them about the Lunar New Year and Chinese culture -- a timely extension of the 2nd grade Social Studies unit on Asia--and helped them create the Chinese symbol for "Spring." Fun and learning was enjoyed by one and all!

Hackley's Round Square visitor from Romania, Sergiu Ciavoi, visited Hackley's 1st grade classes on 2/7, and led an interactive presentation on his home country of Romania.

The Independent Research Program had a special visitor on Tuesday Feb 5, 2019: Dr. Louis Catalano III (P ’19), who came to talk about surgical techniques on distal radius fractures, and presented results from his past clinical research and more current anatomical research.

Eleven Hackley HS Parli debaters competed this past weekend as Hackley hosted it’s 3rd annual HS Public Debate Program parliamentary debate tournament.

The Hackley Wrestling Team placed 3rd overall at the Ivy League Championships this past weekend with three Hornets taking home individual titles.

On Saturday, January 12th, 30 Upper School mentors, under the leadership of computer science teachers Melissa Tranchida and Jed Dioguardi, worked with 25 Hudson Scholars in what was a fun day of engaging STEM/tech activities

On the first weekend of February, two teams represented Hackley Lower School at a First Lego League Junior Tournament, with the theme "Mission Moon."

From the department of “when life gives you lemons...” Our intrepid Latin 4 crew, in the midst of their Archeology study, were gifted a gorgeous digging day, albeit in February, and battled ice deposits, mud, and accumulated leaves to have a great class experience.

Director of Informational Technology Jed Dioguardi's reflects on the powerful intersection of curiosity and change in Hackley Perspectives.

Athletes of the Week for the week of Jan. 28 are Jordan Wade ’19 (Girls Basketball), Zaya Gooding ’19 (Fencing), Joshua Zhang ’19 (Fencing) and Nicky Wind ’22 (Fencing).

Congratulations to the Hackley Fencing Program for their outstanding performances this past weekend. Thirteen of our fencers medaled on Saturday with three individual champions. Congratulations to the coaches and fencers on a fantastic day.

Leah Holmes '20, member of Hackley's Girls Varsity Lacrosse team,is one of 23 players named to the U.S. women's U19 National Team training roster following the recent Spring Premiere at Stanford University, a first for Coach Leffler's players. Read about it here.

Two late additions to the Hackley Summer Program (not in the printed catalog) include the Adirondack River Road Trip (July 8-12) with Mr. Ogden and Hackley Basketball Camp with Varsity Boys Basketball coach Zach Kuba (July 15-18).

Upper and Middle School students enjoyed an inspiring and engaging performance by -- and with, since students stood, knelt, and chanted along -- visiting artists performing the powerful "Prayers for the People," based on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s important "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Our students have been learning about the letter this week -- for those less familiar, here is History Department Chair Bill Davies' eloquent lesson on the topic.

Senior Jordan Wade joined Hackley's elite group of basketball players to reach the 1000 point mark in points scored at the Winter Sting. Jordan is the 10th female athlete and the 18th athlete overall to reach this benchmark.

Last week, Hackley squash players took advantage of the opportunity to see some of the world's top professional squash players compete at Grand Central Station.

How do Hackley Lower School students show their spirit?  In so many ways!!

As we frequently highlight, "wellness" comes in many forms: physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and social, and Hackley employees are engaging in many forms -- including finding cognitive, social, and emotional gratification through needlework!

This week, Lower School parents wrote, directed and starred in a Character Education performance on the virtue of flexibility.

On Saturday, January 26th, 2019, twenty MS debaters participated in the 3rd NY Debate league MS tournament of the season. It was a great day with a nice mix of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade debaters competing.

This past month, Hackley MS students have been competing through their history classes in the National Geographic Geography Bee, an annual competition in which Hackley has participated for almost 20 years.

This past Saturday, 10 middle school students volunteered to serve a hot meal to residents in the Ossining area at the Trinity Episcopal Church’s Loaves and Fish Soup Kitchen.

Hackley Second Graders were enthusiastically adorned for Pajama Day this week -- part of the Lower School Spirit Week!

Heavy winds and rain on 1/24 made for a dramatic weather day at Hackley--culminating with a dramatic rainbow crowning the Hilltop during afternoon dismissal!

Hackley Middle School students did such an awesome job in the 1/25 Spelling Bee that they ran through all the words their teachers had planned -- sending the faculty scurrying for more words!

"Diversity at Hackley encompasses more than identity (“backgrounds”) and it requires that we embrace the value that arises in a diverse community: differences in experiences, opinions, and thought (“perspectives”) that enrich the learning environment for everyone." Michael Wirtz shared this essay in our blog, Hackley Perspectives.

Hackley Athletics recognized six Athletes of the Week over the last two weeks.

The Boys Fencing Team has had a terrific start to the season with strength across all disciplines, with undefeated Foil and Epee teams sitting in first place, and the Saber team in second place.

Hackley Girls Basketball coach and Hackley alum Margaret Scarcella ’84 recorded her 100th career varsity coaching win with a 40-28 win over Convent of the Sacred Heart in NYC.

Hackley wrestler Robert Horan' 21 won the prestigious Westchester County Championships in Yonkers on Saturday, January 19th.

The Hackley Boys Varsity Basketball Team earned their First Ivy League victory of the season on Monday evening when they ousted a feisty Fieldston team, 67-64, in the Johnson Center.

Guest artist Ivy Walz provided vocal workshops to 7-12 choral classes on January 17th.

Middle School drama students in the All Things Theatrical classes had a visit from theatrical engineer Dan Hanessian.

Varsity Football coach Simon Berk offers this thoughtful reflection on "The Power of Perspective" in our blog, Hackley Perspectives, noting the important difference the shift from "I have to" to "I get to" makes--a message that applies to athletics and to everything else we do.

Fourth grade students enjoyed participating in a Western Square Dance with their parents on January 11, part of their learning on Westward Expansion in the U.S,

During the month of December students in Mr Lipin’s 5th grade science class created marble rollercoasters out of cardstock and tape, a  challenging project that developed student’s teamworking and problem-solving skills and also introduced them to concepts such as potential and kinetic energy. (View the student videos here.)

On Tuesday, January 8th, Hackley alum Joanna Miller ‘15 visited Chinese V and AP Chinese to discuss her experience as an intern for the U.S. State Department.

Hackley started the new year on January 7 in the Johnson Center with an official Welcome Back from Head of School Michael Wirtz and Community Council President Zaya Gooding before launching into activities designed to exercise one particular dimension of wellness — cognitive/mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual.  Enjoy these video highlights from the morning's work!

History teacher Steve Fitzpatrick shared this report in Hackley Perspectives about his students' use of Minecraft to engage in new and creative ways with history studies.

On Saturday, December 15, Hudson Scholars and their families gathered at Hackley for a potluck dinner to celebrate the holidays with Hackley friends.

After studying the dwellings of the Eastern Woodlands Native Americans, 3S students ventured out into the Hackley forest to find all the materials needed to build a chickee, wigwam, and longhouse.

On the Friday before winter break (12/21/2018), the Independent Research Program hosted a special guest: Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Christina Rapp Prescott, MD, PhD class of ’94.

Just before our Holiday break, 6th Grade science students worked with Mr. Lipin and Mr. Molter in our Hackery makerspace to create artwork with Hackley and non-Hackley rocks.