Observations from Jess Hill

When you walk on our campus and talk to one of our students or teachers, it is almost impossible not to see Harpeth Hall as a place brimming with bright and exciting ideas. Our students are focused and engaged, and they are taught and mentored by thoughtful and dedicated teachers. Why wouldn’t this school be an incubator for innovation?

But turning those ideas into action is not always easy. That is why we are intentional about fostering the right environment for bright ideas to form while ensuring that those ideas are tried and tested — and tested again. We want our girls to understand that a new idea only signals the beginning of the work to come. Next comes the dedication.

In these pages, you will see how dedicated Harpeth Hall students, faculty, and alumnae are to generating fresh thoughts, new approaches, and different ways to look at the same old problems. You will read about our 6th grade students who have been inspired to pursue their own big ideas after bringing the role models of history alive through their Distinguised Women projects. You will learn more about the student diversity leadership group, BELONG, and how it is generating ideas for meaningful ways to bring together Nashville educators and students from all schools. You will get a glimpse into the ideation that happens in every nook of the brand new Bullard Bright IDEA Lab. And you will hear from two accomplished members of the Harpeth Hall community — Entrepreneur Center President and CEO Jane Allen and actress and businesswoman Reese Witherspoon ’94 — about the limitless possibilities that come in pursuit of academic and professional curiosities. And that is just a part of the illumination at Harpeth Hall. Fostering innovation happens in all corners of campus — in classrooms, pods, studios, and labs. STEM subjects explode with possibilties for problem solving and deep thinking. Our Worlds-qualifying robotics team can tell you just what it takes to come up with the best strategy to get a robot competition ready. Hint: it takes hours, weeks, and months of creating new code. But idea generation does not just happen in STEM. In the English classrooms, our students are describing their thoughts, feelings, and ideas in the most eloquent ways. What use is a bright idea if it cannot be successfully communicated? In the history classrooms, our girls are making the connections across cultures and historical events that influence our time and our decisions. Understanding context is an essential element of success.

As a school, we are also cultivating bright ideas. We continually search for a better way to educate, engage, and connect with our students. We cling to the values that are the foundation of our mission while evolving to meet the needs of our students today. We support our girls and young women as they stretch and reach. We also know that in order for them to achieve their goals, we need to slowly let out more slack so that they will have room to take bigger risks and even fail at times.

Though I am not a scientist, I appreciate the value of thinking like one. Whenever a scientist looks for a solution to a problem, she looks for flaws in the logic and reasoning. She doesn’t search for affirmation. Rethinking, and in some cases unlearning, previous assumptions may be the most crucial step to innovation. Trying and failing immediately calls for a new and innovative approach. It becomes increasingly difficult to stick to the old method when it ceases to work. We want our girls to search for their best critics before they can feel secure with their own line of reasoning. Searching for those who disagree with our premise is essential in readying our ideas for implementation and ultimately to a finished product. At Harpeth Hall, we know well that enhancing a school culture of innovation requires a commitment to building capacity for these skills in the classroom, in faculty meetings, and at the leadership level. Turning insight into action breeds a better school. A better school produces a graduate who “rises to intellectual challenges and discerns solutions to complex issues.” Harpeth Hall is a better school each year because of the bright ideas fostered here. Never remaining idle, our students and faculty continually find new ways to think critically, lead confidently, and live honorably.

Jess Hill Head of School