Upper School News Archive

On Saturday, November 14th, three teams of Hackley Parliamentary debaters competed in the second regular season HSPDP (High School Public Debate Program) online tournament, including schools from New York, New Jersey, and California. 

From November 6 to 8, 2020, 4 Hackley teams competed in the AppleValley Minneapple Debate Tournament against 170 of the top Public Forum Debate teams in the country.  Hackley Senior Ben Kirsch and Junior Zach Yusaf went 4-2 in Preliminary Rounds but then went on a run winning triples, doubles, octafinals, quarterfinals, semifinals, and then won the finals to become Tournament Champions.

October has been a busy month for Hackley debaters. The debate teams competed at Bronx Science, Byram Hills, and the Connecticut Debate Association Tournaments.

With Election Day approaching, students in all three divisions have been asking questions and discussing the 2020 election cycle.

The Independent Research Program kicked off our 2020-2021 guest lecture series with the valedictorian the Jonathan Packer ‘11, PhD.

On Saturday, October 3rd, 12 Hackley Upper School debaters competed in the Yale Invitational, one of the biggest debate tournaments of the season. While moving to an online format, the Yale tournament involves over 2500 students from around the country and almost 1000 virtual debate rooms.

(By Dr. Pierce, Classics Department Chair, MS DEI Coordinator) This article is long overdue, but fortunately we were able to celebrate our scholars at an online ceremony in the spring.  At that time, we also bid farewell to the wonderful Claudia DeSantis who retired after 5 years on the Hilltop.  Her 6th grade class spearheaded an initiative to make a movie of memories and fun in her honor, and we watched it all together during the party.

She was so touched, and I’m sure she has watched the video over and over again.

The Hackley Upper School Public Forum team participated in the National Speech and Debate Season Opener tournament held virtually by the University of Kentucky on Saturday, September 12, 2020.

Upper School History teacher Christopher Loomis writes about the great opportunities for discovery that were born out of this year's Independent Research in History and English project. From War of the Roses to Harry Potter, 17 juniors and seniors participated in this new academic opportunity.

In the midst of COVID-19 and Distance Learning, Hackley’s Service Team organized a campaign for students to create letters expressing their heartfelt thanks to essential workers and emergency responders in our local community. The response from all divisions was heartwarming.

Hackley Senior Oren Tirschwell will be teaching a class on how to use Google Apps Scripts to open new possibilities in Google Drive.

The Upper School Advanced Communication in Spanish class created a Public Service Announcement video for Governor Cuomo’s #newyorktough challenge.

Hackley Juniors Arav Misra, Charlie Wind, Tres Winslow Griffen, and Sebi Docters created a fundraising online game tournament.

This essay is the summation of Lara Schechter’s independent study as a Hackley Junior in which she researched and evaluated the impact that gender roles play in society with relation to athletics.

Hackley alum Phil Brooks (Class of ’14) virtually visited our Independent Research Program on Wednesday April 22, 2020.

Twelve Hackley seniors are recipients of the 2020 3x4 award for their commitment to being three-season athletes in each of their four years in Hackley's Upper School. This award attests to the commitment, dedication and love these athletes have for sport on the Hilltop.

For the last faculty Chapel Talk of the 2019-20 academic year, Head of School Michael Wirtz addressed the Class of 2020. He spoke about looking through the windows of time and making connections with the past and future. Watch the Chapel Talk video.

The Hackley community came together to create a special send off for the Class of 2020. K-12 faculty serenaded the senior class with “We’ll Meet Again”, a very fitting wish for this incredible group of students.

Congratulations to Eliana Lee ’20, Oren Tirschwell ’20, and Marie Wurtz ’22 on winning the Lincoln Center Young Musicians regional program on February 2nd.

During Hackley's spring break, Zach '22 and Zara '23 Yusaf made face shields for healthcare workers at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Emergency Department, one of the first Epicenters for COVID-19. The doctors and nurses reportedly all use them and really appreciated the well made masks. Thank you, Zach and Zara!

Ten Hackley debaters, including juniors Lily Napach and Kiri Fitzpatrick, sophomore Michael Potanin, freshman Amy Kliatchko, Arushi Chandra, and Mason Napach, along with 8^th graders Jake C., Harper K., and Jad B., took part in a 5 round Parliamentary online debate tournament hosted by Westfield Academy, debating such impromptu topics such as “This House would tax men to reduce the gender pay gap,” “This House would eliminate adoption preference on the basis of race and ethnicity,” and “This House would support the significant automation of the justice system.”

The Hackley Girls Varsity Soccer team joins in this virtual collaboration to keep their spirit -- and their skills -- alive during social isolation!  We love their attitude!

We are grateful to Alex Evangelidis '20 for allowing us to share Hackley's first Zoom Chapel Talk!

Katherine Hannon's piece on Food and Power not only highlights one of Hackley's creative, interdisciplinary courses growing out of Refining Excellence: Learning Beyond Boundaries, but also throws into relief the impact of coronavirus on issues of food supply and food scarcity.

Hackley Trustee Eric Gyasi ’01 Hosts  Night of Ghanaian Cuisine with Top Chef Eric Adjepong!

Hackley Junior Arjun Dayal was inspired by outreach to the 3-D printing community to help health care professionals by making masks and face shields, and was interviewed by local news.  Watch the feature here.  Way to go, Arjun!

His work continues: on April 20, he donated 100 more face shields to White Plains Hospital!

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

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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!

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 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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.