Opening Day at Hopkins

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 marks the beginning of the 349th academic year at Hopkins. Students and faculty returned to campus ready to reconnect and eager to learn. Head of School Barbara Riley addressed students at an all-school assembly before they were "off to class" to meet with advisers and teachers for the Term 1. Fall athletic practices rounded out a perfect Opening Day. View photos.

Ms. Riley's assembly speech follows:

"Good morning, Hopkins, and welcome to the 2008-2009 academic year, our school’s 349^th. 

Personally, I could not be happier about having you all back. Over the course of the past several weeks, coaches and athletes have come back for pre-season practices, the Student Council began its year’s work, new teachers and students gathered for orientations, and veteran faculty and staff returned to the Hill to start another school year.  Even our retirees – Rosemary Benedict, Jim Bucar, Bill Ewen and Hank Powell – came back to school this Fall!

But there is something about this first all-school assembly, something about the time when we all gather for another year together at Hopkins.

First, I want to welcome the Class of 2014 – 76 of you, and all new to Hopkins today; welcome seventh graders!  A welcome, as well to a brand new ninth grade - 123 students, every one of you new to high school. As far as I can tell by your orientation yesterday, you have already taken the Hill by storm.

And, finally, the Class of 2009 – welcome to the first day of your senior year at Hopkins.  Although none of you are new to Hopkins, every member of the Class of 2009 is beginning a time that is particularly rich and wonderful – your last year of high school.  I hope you are not counting the days – just yet – to Commencement because, personally, I am counting on you to continue to be a class whose closeness, purpose and commitment to service continue to be models for all of us at Hopkins.  I also hope that every day of your senior year is full of the friendship, adventure, and learning at new levels that has been so characteristic of your class.

There are a number of people I want to introduce to you today.  Some are new to Hopkins; some are new to their roles and responsibilities at our school.  I am going to ask all the new teachers and staff to stand as I read your names, so that we can all start to associate names with faces.

It is my pleasure to introduce:

PAM MCKENNA, our new Director of Admissions.  Ms. McKenna holds a B.A. in English from Duke University, and a J.D. from the Washington University Law School.  Ms. McKenna was the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT. before coming to Hopkins.

MATTHEW TREAT – has come to Hopkins to direct our Academic Support program.  Mr. Treat holds a B.A. in history from Hobart College, and a Masters of Education from St. Joseph’s College.  He comes to Hopkins from Salisbury School and, like Ms. McKenna, he has been on campus since July – getting to know Hopkins, and with all the rest of us, just waiting for you to come back.

MATTHEW LANE – has joined Sue Paton and Erika Chapin in the College Counseling Office.  Mr. Lane holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Boston College and comes to Hopkins from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois.

We have a number of new English teachers:

ALISSA DAVIS, with a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. from Middlebury College, taught most recently at the American School in Rio de Janeiro.

KATHRYN FRENCH, who also earned her undergraduate degree at Yale, taught English in Seoul, South Korea.

BENJAMIN JOHNSON has a B.A. from Rice University; he has taught in Japan and has completed his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins.

And, finally, JOHN WHALEN, who holds a B.S. in International Environmental Studies from Rutgers University, a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New School University, and is working on a Masters Degree from Middlebury College.

The History Department has one new teacher:  CATHERINE WHITE, who holds a B.A. in history from Haverford College, and a Masters in Chinese Studies from the University of London.

There are three new teachers in the Math Department:

ALINA BADUS, whose B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science is from Carleton College and whose M.A., also in Mathematics, is from the University of Pennsylvania.

IAN CLARK, whose undergraduate degree is from Amherst College and M.A. is from Washington University, taught at the Berkshire School before coming to Hopkins.

Last but not least, JULIA ROWNY, a recent graduate of Kenyon College, completes the Math Department.

We have two “new” teachers in the Modern Language Department:  ANGELES de CASTRO holds degrees in Spanish philosophy, in Spanish Language and in Spanish Literature; she has taught for the past twelve years at the Francis Parker School in San Diego.

MARLENE FIRLOTTE’s degrees, a B.A. and a M.A. in Romance Languages and in French Literature, are from Southern Connecticut State University.  She is coming back to Hopkins after teaching at the University of Leeds in England and at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

And, although she is not “new” to Hopkins, I am very happy to say that KRISTEN AMORE, who substituted in Science last year, has joined the Science Department full-time.

There are two new members of the staff at Hopkins, both in the Development Office:  BETTY MONZ, Hopkins Director of Major Gifts, is coming to us from Development work at Choate; CAROL BROUILETTE is from the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

A number of people are taking on new roles this year:  CAROL MIGDALSKI will manage both the Café and the School Store.  KATE HORSLEY is the Head of the Classics Department, and GERARD CASANOVA will lead the History Department while CILLA KELLERT is on her sabbatical.  KEVIN CRONIN, in addition to teaching and coaching, will serve as the Head Adviser to our juniors, the Class of 2010.   DAVID HARPIN has been in training for his responsibilities as Dean of Academics for some time now and is more than ready for the challenges of leading our academic program.

A lot of people – all of them at Hopkins because they prize education, love working with young people, and have chosen our school.  Let’s take a minute and start this school year by thanking all of your teachers.

As we start a new school year, I wanted to talk a bit about Hopkins “at home” and Hopkins “in the world.”

First, Hopkins “at home.”

Our campus has changed, even over the course of the summer.  What was the boys’ soccer and lacrosse field has become a construction site, and the future home of the academic and arts building which will replace DPH and Reigeluth, our current visual arts and music studios.  For the next 14-16 months we will have to walk – carefully – around that big green construction fence and contend with some noise and dust.

But we get quite a reward in the end: a 37,000 square foot building with 15 light and airy classrooms, primarily for Junior Schoolers; spacious visual arts and music studios; common rooms for the seventh and eighth graders; open, outdoor space – a Quad – as a place to play, or read or just gather.

The new building will be called Thompson Hall in honor of Mary Brewster Thompson, who was the principal of the Prospect Hill School, one of our predecessor girls’ schools.  The name Mary Brewster Thompson is familiar to most of you, for it is the name associated with Hopkins’ highest academic prize. That close association between academic accomplishment and Hopkins’ purpose and values was a significant factor when the Trustees chose to call the new academic and arts building “Thompson Hall.”

A second factor, also very important, was the fact that on what has become a sizable campus at a school that has been co-educational since 1972 and has a 100-year association with predecessor girls’ schools in New Haven, no single building was named for a woman. 

Baldwin Hall is named for Simeon Baldwin, Class of 1857, governor of Connecticut, and the President of the Committee of Trustees when Hopkins Grammar School moved to the Hill in 1925.  Hopkins House takes its name from Edward Hopkins, the 17^th century merchant and Connecticut governor whose bequest gave Hopkins Grammar School its start. We are meeting today in the Athletic Center named for Walter Camp, who graduated Hopkins Grammar School in 1876.  Lovell Hall is named for George Lovell and Heath Commons for John Heath, legendary Headmaster and math teacher, respectively.  The Malone Science Center is named for the father of our distinguished alumnus, John Malone, Class of 1959.  It is going to be quite a thrill, just in time for our 350^th anniversary in 2010 to dedicate Thompson Hall to Mary Brewster Thompson.

And, then, Hopkins in “the world.”

A year ago, when we met at our first all-school assembly, we remembered PAUL MACCREADY, Hopkins Class of 1943 and the scientist and inventor who created the Gossamer Albatross, the human-powered aircraft that flew across the English Channel in 1979, the model of which “flies” in the Atrium of the Malone Science Center.  Paul MacCready never lost his sense of curiosity, even as an older man; he understood joy and play; he believed that daydreaming was his most productive activity.  And so last September, as we started a school year together, I asked you to make some room for daydreaming in your very, very busy Hopkins lives.

I hope you did that; I hope again this year that you will take – make -- the time to daydream.  But it’s a new year, and I have a new request.

This year I want you to do a lot of talking, a lot of listening, a lot of reading . . . and to watch some television because I am looking forward to hearing a lot of informed argument around campus this Fall. Here is why:

We have just entered into one of the most exciting and important political seasons in our country’s history.  For the first time, an African American is the presidential candidate of a major political party.  The Republican Party has, for the first time, nominated a woman as its vice-presidential candidate.  History-making and truly exciting as those two nominations are, they are not the only reasons why you should pay attention to this November’s election.

Politics in the past may have exhilarated you, bored you, frustrated you or even scared you.  Regardless of which, or which combination of reactions you have had so far, this election season – if you pay attention – is going to provide an intense course in how Americans live and think, in our country’s place in the world, in our justice system, in the environment, in the economy, in the roles and purposes of government in the first place.  So, in addition to the sounds of classes puzzling through a calculus problem, or reciting Chaucer, or speaking Spanish or Chinese – all the stuff of a normal day at Hopkins – I will look forward to the sounds of impassioned debate over the next two months.

Again:  with high hopes and great expectations, welcome back to Hopkins."