Chris Hughes, 12th Head of School

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Welcome Home

CHRIS HUGHES 12th Head of Garrison Forest School

Spirited. Transparent. Collaborative. Positive. Visible. Personable. A leader and team-builder. The position description for Garrison Forest’s 12th Head of School listed these qualities as essential for the school’s next leader to embody as the search for Garrison Forest’s next head got underway in the spring of 2017. The search was international and competitive, yielding an outstanding pool of talented, capable leaders who checked every box, and quite a few more, when it came to the ability to effectively lead a school.

Chris Hughes was among this exceptional

group. Even before he arrived at GFS for his campus visit last October, it was clear from his background alone that he was a highly qualified and dynamic leader. At the time, Mr. Hughes was in his 10th year as Upper School Principal at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, a coed, K-12 day school in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he led the school’s largest division. A lifelong educator, his independent school experience spans several decades and includes an extensive background in boarding and girls’ schools. He has chaired K-12 committees, led renovation projects, helped redesign curriculum, collaborated in increasing

enrollment, taught in the classroom and lived as a member of residential life. He had a proven track record of success and possessed the background and the skill to lead Garrison Forest into its next chapter.

His background was impressive; yet, it was not simply this that allowed Mr. Hughes to stand out among the head-of-school search candidates. As he spoke to alumnae and parents during town halls, interacted with students on campus tours and got to know Garrison Forest’s faculty and staff, it became increasingly clear that there was something refreshingly different about Mr. Hughes. As he made his way around the campus, he seemed to connect with everything that

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Chris and Farida Hughes

makes the school uniquely GFS, and the school, as a result, connected with him. It was clear that Mr. Hughes was not just capable of leading Garrison Forest, he recognized the school’s spirit and energy; he understood the heartbeat of what has continued to be at the center of a GFS education and has allowed the school to remain a leader in girls’ education for more than 100 years.

“Chris just gets it,” said Co-Chair of the head search committee Kim Gordon (Cammy ’16 and Mia ’18). “He understands who and what we are. His passion and energy, combined with his background and experience, have prepared him well to lead our school into what promises to be an exciting future.”

This fact, this “getting it” that Mr. Hughes possesses, was immediately evident during the announcement of his selection as Head of School at an Upper School assembly last fall. At the end of his video addressing the Upper School students and sharing his excitement about becoming their next school head, the camera panned out to reveal that in addition to his GFS tie, his choice of wardrobe for the announcement included a pair of grizzly bear slippers. Cheers filled Garland Theater as the delighted students expressed their grateful enthusiasm for a leader who had recognized their spirit and, in turn, let them know that he was ready to dive in to their dynamic community.

He brought the same level of connection and energy with him as he and wife Farida returned to GFS in February to get to know students, faculty and parents and again for Reunion Weekend in May to spend time with GFS alumnae who graduated from the school as recently as 2013 and 70 years ago in 1948. The sentiment held by alumnae of all ages was the same as the one held by the search committee half a year before. While his tenure will allow him the time and opportunity to immerse himself in the school and all that it offers, he grasps what is at the core of GFS and is more than ready to take on the challenge of holding true to those values while advancing the school to new heights.

“It was a true pleasure getting to know Chris through the search process,” said Co-Chair of the search committee Helen Zinreich Shafer ’93 (Serena ’19). “Chris

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embodies Garrison’s motto and core values. His strong belief and dedication to educating young women to find their passion and purpose is what makes him a natural fit for our community.”

Chris Hughes Quick Facts

In His Own Words

Head of School Chris Hughes sat down for a Q&A to share in his own words the importance of girls’ education, the skills students need for today’s rapidly changing world and what he looks forward to as he begins his new adventure as Head of Garrison Forest.

What are you most looking forward to about being in Maryland?

Coming to GFS is coming back to Maryland for me. We lived in Maryland for the first seven years of our marriage, and both of our kids were born in Maryland, but this will be an opportunity to explore Baltimore in new ways. We will certainly be involved in the arts scene through my wife, a professional artist. There’s no question about that.

What is one thing you are excited about as you prepare for GFS?

I am excited to continue to get to know the people. The quality of the connections that I made during the visits I had were fabulous and I’m looking forward to getting myself immersed in the community and coming back into the world of girls’ boarding, which is something I’m so fond of.

He was most recently an Upper School principal at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, a coed, K-12 day school in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Prior to his position at St. Paul Academy, he served as an academic dean at Chatham Hall, a girls’ boarding school in Chatham Hall, Virginia and was dean of students at St. James School, a boarding school in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Chris holds a B.A. in history and education from Lafayette College and an M.A. in history and education from Lehigh University.

He has authored 12 books including a series on nations in conflict in the developing world.

Aurora and Koda, Chris and Farida’s mixed-breed rescue dogs.

He and wife Farida, an artist, have two children; Jordan, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis and Leah, a sophomore at Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Chris and Farida live on campus in Lochinvar with their two dogs, Aurora, 1, and Koda, 5.

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In your career, you’ve worked at coed schools and girls’ schools. What makes single-sex education and girls’ education, in particular, different?

The level of empowerment, of course, is something that’s valuable. Every role on campus is filled by girls and young women. Being a girls’ school means that leadership is not just an opportunity, it’s a need that requires girls to step into those roles. My career as a whole has been helping students find their voices. Coming back into a girls’ school allows me to help girls and young women find their voices and figure out how to best use them. The value of that can’t be overestimated. I’ve seen in coed schools that despite the best of intentions, it can be harder for girls to fill all of those roles and really establish a powerful voice.

At GFS you will return to being part of a boarding community, which you have done in the past. What are the benefits of being part of a residential community like this one?

I often say that in the independent school world there are boarding-school people and nonboarding-school people. I am absolutely a boarding-school person. I spent 16 years in boarding schools and have been out of them for 10. I am happy to come back into it. The level of connection and community you build in a residential program is phenomenal. When you think about the entire program, it connects girls from different states, different countries and vastly different backgrounds and experiences and puts them together at GFS. It creates a mix across local day and boarding students. I am excited to come back into a world where I can be in a place with weekend activities and evening activities, where the student program and experience extends beyond the 8 a.m–4 p.m. school day.

How did you come to decide on education as a career path?

I don’t know the “how,” but since middle school, I knew I wanted to go into education. Around seventh grade I decided I wanted to a be a teacher and an educator, and I made

HUGHES IS “HEAD”ED YOUR WAY!

Get to know Head of School Chris Hughes in your city! Chris will meet-and-greet alumnae in cities nationally and internationally during the 2018-19 school year.

Look for gatherings in the following areas:

California Colorado Florida Massachusetts New York Washington, DC

This list will continue to be updated. Visit gfs.org/headofschool for the most up-to-date list.

join us

for the Installation of Christopher A. Hughes as 12th Head of School

Friday, September 21, 2018 10:00 a.m.

Elizabeth B. Searle ’74 Athletic Center

Livestream livestream.com/garrisonforest/installation

decisions that never wavered from that. I don’t come from a family of educators; there was nothing in my world that showed me that was the path to take, but it was absolutely the path that spoke to me. I went straight into it in college and grad school.

You continued to teach as upper school head. Why has that been important to you?

I love teaching. I love the classroom connection with students. As an upper school head, it was helpful to be in the classroom to model what I was looking for from other teachers and to live their lives as we went through some changes in our approach to pedagogy. It allowed me to be out in front, and doing it myself gave me a different level of connection with the program and the students that was valuable. At GFS, I will always be happy to guest teach or to do something with a lesson. I love and value classroom time and will miss being in the classroom, but I’m looking forward to other opportunities to help our academic programs grow.

You have published several books. What motivated you to become an author? What was that experience like?

I started my career teaching history in Hagerstown, Maryland. I had done some writing in college and had some pieces published and worked with some professors. I had a friend in publishing who reached out to me knowing my background in history. They had a book on the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War and I was living up the street from Antietam at the time. The publisher wasn’t happy with where the book had gone and asked if I could fix the manuscript. I said no, I was not going to fix someone else’s work. So instead, they gave me a contract to write the book. From there, they pegged me as a Civil War scholar, which wasn’t really true, but I became enough of one to do the writing. After I had done several books, I went back and said that my primary area of study is the developing world and asked if they would do a series on nations in conflict. I ended up doing a book series on nations in conflict that

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“Being a girls’ school means that leadership is not just an opportunity, it’s a need that requires girls to step into those roles. My career as a whole has been helping students find their voices. Coming into a girls’ school allows me to help girls and young women find their voices and figure out how to use them. The value of that can’t be overestimated.”

The Hughes family: Farida, Jordan, Chris and Leah

lasted for the rest of my time at St. James and into my time at Chatham Hall. In the end, I authored 12 books and had some parts in others as well.

Students today are preparing for a future that is rapidly changing in terms of the types of careers that will be available to them as adults. For students in Preschool through

12th Grade right now, what skills do you think are most important for them to learn?

One thing we know absolutely is that students have got to develop flexibility. We are not preparing them for fixed careers, so they will need a level of facility to make adjustments. In thinking about specific skills, one of them is creativity, and I use that not only in the sense of creating things, but also in creative problem solving: the ability to go after complex problems, develop empathy for where the problem is coming from and generate a series of different approaches to solve it.

To paint with a broad stroke, one skill that is still vital is literacy, not only in the classic sense, which remains important, but also digital literacy and understanding the electronic world in order to analyze, develop and read sources. This need is fundamentally different for students today than it was when people in my generation were growing up. Today’s students need to take massive amounts of information and be able to make decisions about what is useful and not useful.

Interpersonal intelligence remains increasingly vital, as well. When you look at the world today, the need for the ability to read and understand others, develop empathy and communicate across broad lines far surpasses what was needed 20 years ago, and that need will continue to grow in ways that we will not be able to predict now.

What types of activities do you enjoy outside of work and school life? I love to read. I enjoy athletics, which at this point in life includes biking and tennis.

At various points I’ve been an ultimate frisbee player, a volleyball player and a soccer coach and player for a long time. I like athletics at all levels, which includes participating and watching. I like the outdoors; my wife and I are campers and hikers. I also like drama, plays and going to concerts

What is your favorite book?

I would say the book I’ve been most inspired by is A Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.

What is something that people may not know or would be surprised to learn about you?

I was the lead singer of a rock band called Red Shift in college. I don’t sing anymore in public, but I’m sure if people are close enough to Lochinvar, they will hear me singing if I think no one is around.

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