Miss Hall's School

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Location
Miss Hall's School

What Girls Have In Mind
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA
Information
Head of School	Jeannie Norris
Students	195
Type	All girls, independent
Grades	9-12
Mascot	Hurricanes
Established	1898 by Mira Hinsdale Hall
Homepage	misshalls.org

Miss Hall’s School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, founded in 1898 by Mira Hinsdale Hall, is an all-girls, independent school for grades 9-12. It was one of the first girls’ boarding schools established in New England.

Miss Hall's School was founded in 1898 by Mira Hall, a graduate of Smith College.

Today, Miss Hall’s School offers a sophisticated college preparatory curriculum augmented by two innovative, nationally acclaimed^{[citation needed]} programs, Horizons and the Girls Leadership Project. Horizons is an experiential learning program in which all students do volunteer work in the community. Through Horizons, girls work in one of 72 off-campus sites to hone their communication and problem-solving skills, refine ethical positions, strengthen financial literacy, and explore interests for college majors and careers. Through the Girls Leadership Project, young women conduct research and design programs and workshops around the themes of “voice” and personal authority and leadership.

The school mission statement says that it “inspires and encourages each girl to pursue the highest standards of learning and character; to contribute boldly and creatively to the common good; and to seek a purposeful life based on honor, respect, and personal authenticity.”

Average class size: 11; students of color: 24%; international students: 18%; 20 states and 18 countries; students with need or merit aid: 47%; faculty with advanced degrees: 70%.

1 Academics
2 Extracurricular activities
3 Campus
4 Notable alumnae
5 External links

[edit] Academics

As part of its college preparatory curriculum, the School offers classes in math, science, history, English, foreign languages, English as a second language, the arts, and athletics, as well as an off-campus experiential learning program called Horizons. Students generally take 5 to 6 classes per semester and must complete at least 18 credits to graduate. Advanced Placement courses are offered in all disciplines.

College counseling is offered for all students. According to school officials, recent college placements include: Boston University; Chicago Art Institute; Clark University; Colby; Colgate; College of Charleston; Cornell; Dartmouth; Georgetown; George Washington; Harvard;Lafayette; Lehigh; Middlebury; The New School; Northeastern; NYU; Smith; Williams College; Wellesley; Yale; and the Universities of Massachusetts, Southern California, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

There are many clubs and programs, including:

Vocal Ensemble
International Student Alliance
Gracenotes
Essence
Girls Leadership Project
Students for a Free Tibet
Theater and Technical Theater Ensembles
Hallways - The MHS newspaper
SoL - The MHS literary magazine
Hallmark - the yearbook

[edit] Campus

The Georgian-style, 90,000 square foot Main Building was built in 1923. It underwent an eight-year, renovation and expansion that began in 1996. In this building are classrooms, laboratories, choral and instrumental music rehearsal space, administrative offices, the Humes Euston Hall Library, and residential hallways. Other campus sites include the Anne Meyer Cross Athletic Center, Ara West Grinnell Teaching Greenhouse, Elizabeth Gatchell Klein Arts Center, and Jessie P. Quick Ski Chalet.

[edit] Notable alumnae

Alison Beach, ’81

After MHS: Smith College, Columbia University, Fulbright Fellow

Career: Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, College of William and Mary

Lucy Adams Billings, ’66

After MHS: Smith College, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

Career: New York State Supreme Court Justice

Doreen A. Boatswain, ’75

After MHS: Wellesley College, University of Michigan

Career: Director, Office of Environmental Protection and Industrial Hygiene, MTA New York City Transit

Barbara Cooperman, ’73

After MHS: Trinity College, Harvard Business School

Career: Executive Vice President, Market Communications and Corporate Relations, Elsevier

Kristin Ellison, ’77

After MHS: Bowdoin College, University of Massachusetts, Tufts University

Career: Assistant Professor, Brown University, Director of Electrophysiology, Brown University School of Medicine’s Rhode Island Hospital.

Jean Erdman, '34,

After MHS: Sarah Lawrence College. An influential figure in the world of modern dance and part of the Martha Graham Dance Company; was on the faculty of Columbia University and New York University; was the wife of mythologist Joseph Campbell until his death in 1987.

Career: Now retired.

Louise Hamlin, ’67

After MHS: University of Pennsylvania

Career: Painter/printmaker and Associate Professor of Studio Art, Dartmouth College

Prudence Hostetter, ’65

After MHS: Colby Jr. College, Sorbonne, Paris, Boston University

Career: Pilot, American Airlines

Camille Jackson, ’90

After MHS: Yale University

Career: Journalist, Southern Poverty Law Center

Cameron Catlin Johnson, ’52

After MHS: Swarthmore College

Career: Program Manager for Residential Programs, New Jersey Office of Clean Energy

Priscilla Fierman Kauff, ’58

After MHS: Radcliffe College, New York University

Career: Pyschoanalyst, author, and a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Cornell University and the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital