In classes throughout the Early Education Center (EEC), tiny feet twitch and eager eyes watch with anticipation for a very special moment: the revealing of the week’s mystery reader! This year, parents were invited to record themselves reading a favorite book to share with their child’s class. The resulting videos have become a main attraction and a meaningful way for families to become involved.

“We have a different mystery reader each week,” said EEC faculty member Rachael Carter. “The children light up when they see their parent or a friend’s parent. It’s been a phenomenal way to build connections between home and school.” Part of the fun is the guessing game of who will virtually appear in the classroom. Parents enjoy choosing books that fit with a special class investigation or help celebrate a holiday. Attention to detail is key; dressing the part for Halloween, Laura Barnhart read Room On the Broom to her son William’s pre-primary class.

Hearing a familiar voice is deeply reassuring to children, as is continuing the EEC tradition of parents taking the time out of their day to read a special book to the class. “Such a fun, creative, and unique way for us to be a part of our child’s day,” said Kate Daughtry, who read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to her daughter Eliza’s pre-primary class. For Ashley Hall faculty members, it is one more way to reinforce the vital partnership between home and school. “The children’s surprise is always the best!” enthused EEC Director Betsy Quirin. “They have been loving it!” With such a supportive learning environment, the reason why is certainly no mystery.

Sometimes, it is the small, normal things that help to start a day off right: hearing class announcements and the lunch menu, celebrating birthdays and athletic team victories, and even having the thrill of being named student of the week. Most of all, the skits, videos, and inside jokes are what everyone eagerly anticipate; somehow, having a reason to laugh makes everything better. A much-loved tradition in the Upper School, Morning Meeting this year transformed to continue fulfilling its purpose: bringing a community together.

“It was important to our student leaders that we continue to gather in some way, and Morning Meeting has always been one of the ways we come together as a full community,” said Dean of Students Kelly Sumner. “Having a virtual Morning Meeting provides us with a common experience that helps us to feel as if we are all together, even if we aren’t in Davies Auditorium as we used to be.”

Most mornings, student body president Mary Scott Brisson ’21 joins other student council leaders to create that unifying force. Broadcast after the first class block of the day, Morning Meeting (and the associated expectations of an entire division) has fallen onto their willing shoulders. “My goals for Morning Meeting this year are to keep the student body and faculty engaged,” Brisson emphasized. “I want to attempt to preserve the ten minutes of fellowship every morning that we have had for so many years, even if it is over Google Meet. I want more underclassmen to be involved!”

Liv Hansen ’25 helped answer that call to action by re-establishing the Nautilus Program’s own Morning Meeting. In addition to tuning into the main meeting, once a week she leads her own team as chief promoter of fun. “Having a Nautilus Morning Meeting is important because it makes school fun even through this whole pandemic and reminds us all that we have each other to lean on,” she said. “I look forward to Tuesdays because we get to dance and start our day with positivity, and we get to have our own announcements so everyone knows what is going on for the week. I love to get everyone excited. It gets me in a good mood and awake for the day!”

Creating an environment where that positivity can shine is crucial, especially for a school that advocates for the benefits of student connection. “The tradition of Morning Meeting is important because it provides a sense of normalcy, but more importantly, it gives the younger girls a platform to gain voice and confidence while forging an even stronger connection among the Nautilus group,” said Assistant Director of Upper School and Director of the Nautilus Program Chris Hughes. As the student leaders fostering those ties, Brisson, Hansen, and their teams have worked hard to be a force of positivity for others. “It is important to preserve the essence of Morning Meeting this year because it is an integral part of the sense of community within our Student Body,” asserted Brisson. Through all the costumes, dance routines, TikTok videos, and shared laughter, they are bringing a school together, ten minutes at a time.

Experiential learning is a core part of Ashley Hall’s curriculum, and first graders tend a garden each year to enhance their study of a plant’s life cycle and what it needs to survive. While past efforts have yielded little because of shady growing conditions, this year Lower School faculty member Beth McCarty had a bright idea. For her students, success never tasted so sweet!

“This year we are trying rolling raised beds so we can move the plants to an optimal growing area with the right amount of sunlight,” noted McCarty. “A hands-on garden shows the students where their food comes from and how much time and energy goes into each bite of food they take! Now when students go to the grocery stores, they know how these fruits and vegetables got to the shelves. Hopefully it also encourages students to be less wasteful when eating meals.”

Having already planted strawberries, kale, broccoli, chives, lemon thyme, dill, basil, lima beans, and of course purple and white pansies, students eagerly anticipate eating from the garden year-round and changing the crops with the seasons. “They were all very excited about the strawberries,” emphasized McCarty. “One plant already has two strawberries and one flower about to become a strawberry. It is great for them to see the plant life cycle in action and then of course eat the end result!”

In the Early Education Center (EEC), play is paramount to learning, and students now have several new ways to pique their curiosity and captivate their attention. “As part of our Reggio-inspired curriculum, we strongly believe that our students learn best through hands-on, experiential learning,” said EEC Director Betsy Quirin. “We recognize the importance of creating a relationship-driven atmosphere where our students can connect with each other, materials in the classroom, and their environment.” Thanks to the efforts of a generous donor, two new STEAM-focused centers have debuted, to the thrill of students and teachers alike.

First encountering the EEC’s new wind tunnel, Jack Bischoff ’36 exclaimed to his teacher, “This. is. Amazing. Mrs. Carter!” and his classmates enthusiastically agreed! “The wind tunnel is a truly unique experience where our students can explore the movement and pressure of air, object weight, and force,” noted Quirin. “It can transition to different angles to allow for even more experimentation, and the children love exploring the cause and effect relationship of placing different objects inside of the tunnel to see the exciting results!” All kinds of appropriate objects have safely been launched airborne, inspiring numerous investigations in the classroom.

The addition of light laboratories for each EEC grade level has also encouraged new understandings of color, with students leading their own color mixing explorations. “The children are fascinated with experimenting with not just color mixing but also object translucency and manipulation,” Quirin pointed out. “We love how this hands-on, exploratory tool allows our students to transform and create.”

Key in fostering experiential play, the wind tunnel and light laboratories will offer students hours of enrichment and learning. Just as importantly, these centers are sparking new ways for young minds to understand the scientific and creative underpinnings of life. What an amazing gift, indeed.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was renowned as an advocate for gender equality and the rights of women, and it is only fitting that Ashley Hall’s Intermediate Program students honored her recent passing with a House competition activity that emphasized balance, team work, and collaboration. Taking Ginsburg’s quote “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you” as inspiration, students first learned more about Ginsburg’s groundbreaking achievements in their humanities classes and then worked in teams to design and build their own “scale of justice” as part of a STEAM activity.

In addition to strategizing how to balance their scale with different objects, students made weight estimates and charted their findings. In the spirit of the activity, teachers emphasized that final scores would be based not only on accurate estimates but also on each group’s ability to demonstrate collaborative teamwork, where all members showed guided, patient leadership. The resulting creations and display of cooperation were fitting tributes to the legacy of a woman known for her collaborative nature and quest for balance. “It was a truly awesome day of activities,” emphasized Intermediate Program faculty member Olivia Hipp ’10. “One of those ‘this is why I do this’ days.”

The essence of any school is found in its values, and Ashley Hall’s Honor Pledge is embedded deeply within its community: “I pledge that I will not lie, cheat, or steal nor tolerate those who do.” For the last two weeks, Intermediate Program and Upper School students have been challenged to think deeply about the place of honor within their own lives and the ways in which they uphold this most vital promise to themselves and others. “During times of caution and change, it’s easy to lose sight of the morals and values that bind this great school together, and that is why the Honor Code is so vital,” said Head of the Honor Council Kayla Kirkland ’21. “My goal is to make sure that this school year, though it looks so different than years past, remains true to the same values that Ashley Hall has always embodied.”

Having investigated the meaning behind each of the School’s Hallmarks throughout Lower School, Intermediate Program students are fully prepared to take the next step. “At this age, the responsibility of making a pledge to uphold our school’s Honor Code is truly significant to them and goes along with a deeper understanding of what it means to be an honorable person,” noted Intermediate Program faculty member Olivia Hipp ’10. For the first time, students at this age are asked to sign their name to the pledge, both as a commitment to upholding its tenets and as an acknowledgement of honor’s central role in their life. “I think that the students learn early on the Hallmarks which are built on our foundation of honor,” emphasized Intermediate Program Coordinator Mary Schweers. “We go over the pledge with them and ask them moving forward to write it on their tests so that we are embedding and promoting a culture of honor because it is a cornerstone of our entire community, and it is what sets Ashley Hall apart.”

In the Upper School during each day’s Morning Meeting this week, students have focused on a different element of the Honor Pledge in preparation for their signing of the pledge. As part of their virtual assembly on Wednesday, they listened to Upper School faculty member Andrea Muti, the keynote speaker for Honor Week, who offered a moving and inspirational look at honor’s place within a community and its role in his own development of character and integrity. He emphasized:

“I learned that role models are not individuals that always seek the attention of their peers but leaders who lead their community in silence because their actions speak for themselves. I learned that making mistakes is human, but we can stand up with dignity if we have the courage to take responsibility for our actions. Finally, I learned that the most honorable people are not those who seek honor for their personal glory but those who, while leading honorably and following their conscience, expect the same from the people around them. They are not scared to let you know that you are wrong because they see the potential inside of you and sincerely want you to be the best version of yourself.”

“When we have the fortune, ladies, of finding a community like Ashley Hall, made of individuals who support us and value us for who we are, we have the duty to protect it and place it before our individual needs. So when you sign the Honor Pledge and you promise that you will not cheat, lie, nor tolerate those who do, remember that you not only commit to honorable behavior but also become part of a larger community that loves you, that believes in you, and that trusts that with your actions you will shape and inspire the integrity of your little sisters. After all, this is exactly what a tradition is: committing, generation after generation, to the same shared principles and values, so that when you one day leave Ashley Hall to go to college, your honor and examples will continue to live reflected in the actions of those who will come after you.”

That enduring legacy of honor continues to bind Ashley Hall’s many generations, both those who have gone before and those still to come.