Hutchison Magazine - January2025

Bringing Ideas to Life

LOUISE SMYTHE ’06

IN THIS 8th-GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE LAB, Rose Young and Collins Cullum observe the dramatic color changes that occur when red cabbage water, a natural pH indicator, is mixed with common household chemicals like lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda. The students apply their knowledge of compounds and mixtures, observing how substances react and learning how to identify evidence of chemical changes, such as color shifts and bubbling. This hands-on activity is part of a broader unit exploring the di erent types of matter: elements, compounds, and mixtures.

Photograph by Maggie Blake

“ I believe in what art can do for us, the way it can uplift us, challenge us, encourage us, provide new viewpoints, connect us across di erent barriers—whether that’s a language barrier, geographical barrier, racial barrier, cultural—all of our

Photo by Amanda Gentile Photography

erences … art is a common visual language through which we speak, we

we

— CAROLINE ORR ’12

and we

dear friends,

While my forte in school was athletics, I know well the value of teaching, studying, and learning about the arts, whether it is creating a work of art in a studio, acting on the stage, or performing with a vocal group. rough the study of the arts, students develop a wide range of skills for success in career and life. In this magazine issue, we celebrate the inspiring journeys of two remarkable alumnae who are making their mark in the world of the arts. Each has embraced creativity and applied the skills developed at Hutchison to navigate a professional path with con dence and passion. Louise Smythe’06is a storyboard artist at Pixar Animation Studios, where the hit lm Inside Out 2 was made. As she describes in the pro le that starts on page 26, her artistic pursuits at Hutchison—both in the studio and on the stage—helped her to nd her voice and build her con dence. In addition to being an accomplished artist, Louise was lead story artist on Inside Out 2, a leadership role that she relished. Caroline Orr ’12 works as an art services specialist at Bank of America, where she combines her artistic talents with the strategic thinking of the business world. She has found that her work in business parallels her work as an artist—both require the courage to make bold decisions and adapt when the unexpected arises. Her pro le starts on page 34. is issue also highlights our innovative middle school STEM Explorations class, designed to inspire young girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. rough exposure to di erent types of STEMadjacent careers and visits from professionals working in STEM careers, we hope to encourage the next generation of female leaders in these elds. We also tell the story of our recently refreshed advisory curriculum in middle school and upper school. e curriculum highlights the character traits of our school’s acrostic and helps students develop these traits as an integral part of their academic and personal success. At the heart of this issue, you’ll nd themes of creativity, con dence, adaptability, and growth—qualities that not only shape our students’ journeys, but also prepare them to thrive as alumnae in any eld they choose.

Warmly,

Kristen Ring, Ed.D. | President and Head of School

MISSION

Hutchison School is dedicated to academic excellence and to the parallel development of mind, body, and spirit as it educates young women for success in college and for lives of integrity and responsible citizenship.

HUTCHISON MAGAZINE

JANUARY 2025

PRESIDENT AND HEAD OF SCHOOL

Kristen D. Ring, Ed.D.

EDITOR

Max Maddock Director of Communications mmaddock@hutchisonschool.org

CONSULTING EDITOR

Lori Guy Director of Strategy lguy@hutchisonschool.org

ALUMNAE DIRECTOR

Mary Aubrey Landrum Stafford ’10 mstafford@hutchisonschool.org

DESIGNER

Barbara Himber

PHOTOGRAPHY

Maggie Blake, Jessica Coulson, Brandon Dill, Amanda Gentile, Danielle Katz, Melanie Melugin, Gabrielle Prewitt, and various Hutchison constituents.

Hutchison Magazine is published by the Hutchison Communications Office.

Please forward address changes to: HUTCHISON SCHOOL 1740 RIDGEWAY ROAD MEMPHIS, TN 38119 or khouston@hutchisonschool.org

Kristen Ring and other sta dressed up as the characters from Inside Out 2 for Halloween.

Are You Following Us?

Hutchison Receives Highest AP School Honor Roll Distinction

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Two Seniors Recognized by College Board

Hutchison earned Platinum distinction on the 2024 AP School Honor Roll, a recognition given by the College Board. The Platinum distinction reflects Hutchison’s commitment to providing opportunities for students to earn college credit and maximizing college readiness.

The College Board named seniors Kirsten Clark ’25 and Sofia Frisch ’25 National Recognition Program Scholars. This program recognizes academically exceptional African American and Hispanic students who have scored in the top 10 percent of the state on the PSAT or earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP exams by their junior year. To qualify, they must also have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Assistant Head of School Receives TSSAA Administrator of the Year Award

Assistant Head of School Catherine Chubb was named the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) School System Administrator of the Year for District 9. The TSSAA award noted Chubb’s integrity and her ability to lead strategically and guide Hutchison to proactively think and plan both on the granular and macro level.

Student Leaders Attend Facing History Fall Conference

Several upper school students had an opportunity to practice their civil discourse skills when they attended the Facing History & Ourselves fall conference. They were inspired by the remarks from civil rights leader Lynda Lowery (pictured), who was one of the youngest marchers from Selma to Montgomery with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students who attended included: Hailey Litzsey ’25, Maggie Higginbotham ’25, Virginia Unglesby ’25, Varda Kazmi ’25, and Maya Pentecost ’26.

Kirsten Clark ’25

Sofia Frisch ’25

Catherine Chubb with Scott Vogel, TSSAA Board of Control Independent Schools Representative for West Tennessee

Are You Following Us?

Neuroscientist Talks Impact of Smartphones and Social Media on Students

In the 2024-2025 academic year, Hutchison instituted a new policy for students to turn in cell phones during the school day. Hutchison’s parents had several opportunities to hear insights from Eraina Schauss, Ph.D., a parent and one of the nation’s leading experts in the field of pediatric mental health, about the evidence that supports this policy.

Dr. Kristen Ring also appeared on WREG Channel 3 to explain how implementing a cell phone policy is benefiting our girls.

Hutchison Steps Up to Give Back Through Hurricane Helene Relief

Hutchison Serves collected feminine hygiene products, diapers, and baby wipes for Hurricane Helene survivors. A truck loaded with donations was transported and distributed in Greeneville, Tennessee, thanks to our partnership with General Truck Sales and Morgan Steel.

Keeping Security and Safety as Top Priorities

Hutchison hosted a special Cop Stop, a chance for us to thank members of the Memphis Police Department and Memphis Fire Department for their hard work and service and for them to enjoy Chef Willie’s famous fried chicken and fixings. Our faculty and sta also participated in an active threat training led by o cers with the Memphis Police Tactical Unit.

Astronaut Hayley Arceneaux’s Visit Was Out of This World!

The youngest American to orbit the Earth, and a St. Jude physician assistant and cancer survivor, spoke with our fourth and fifth graders after they read her memoir, Wild Ride. Our girls enjoyed the opportunity to ask Arceneaux questions about her trip to space in 2021 and her book. Arceneaux said she appreciated the curiosity and empathy in our girls’ questions.

Dr. Kristen Ring with Dr. Eraina Schauss

Eliza Flores ’25 Recognized for St. Jude Fundraising Efforts

Eliza Flores ’25 received the 2024 SPARK Youth Award, presented by WKNO-TV and cityCURRENT. Flores has raised $11,000 over two years and has several ongoing projects to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude presented a special award for her fundraising e orts, and she was featured on the hospital’s website. She also is a member of the St. Jude Leadership Society, a philanthropic and leadership development program for high school students.

Sophie Wilson ’26 Wins Top

Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest Awards

A short film by Sophie Wilson ’26 won the Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest Audience Award and the CrewUP Jury Award. Wilson made the film as part of the Indie Memphis CrewUP Youth Filmmaking Mentorship and contributed as a writer, editor, lead actress, and co-director of the film. Samantha Ring ’26 also starred in the film.

Voter Registration Drive Organized by Millie Malone ’25

For her myExperience capstone project, part of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, Millie Malone ’25 held a voter registration drive where a representative from the League of Women Voters assisted our girls in registering. To help fund the drive, Malone received a National Voter Registration Day event mini grant of $250 from the Tennessee Nonprofit Network.

Hutchison Honored for Its Impact to the Community

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development visited Hutchison to recognize our impact on local and state communities. This ceremony was part of a State of Tennessee initiative to thank organizations and companies that have been contributing to the state’s growth and success for over 100 years. Hutchison has stood as a pillar of progress and possibility since 1902, helping shape the future one girl at a time.

Sophie Wilson ’26 with co-director Carli Allen

Millie, pictured with Uncle Sam and Deborah Petit, a deputy registrar with training from the Shelby County Election Commission.

Alex Wilson of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development presented Dr. Ring with a special certificate.

Eliza was celebrated for her community impact at a ceremony shown on WKNO Channel 10.

Talking About R.E.A.L. Discussions and Civil Discourse Are You Following Us?

To become responsible citizens, we know our girls must develop the ability to navigate challenging topics and issues with civility and respect. Through R.E.A.L. discussions in lower and middle school and civil discourse sessions in upper school, Hutchison is helping to guide girls in grades 3-12 to build resilience, navigate challenges, and engage in meaningful conversations with others who may have di erent perspectives.

Head of School Dr. Kristen Ring, along with students Hailey Litzsey ’25 and Malie Youngblood ’28, appeared on WREG Channel 3’s Live at 9 show to discuss how building civil discourse skills benefits our girls. “Listening for understanding provides us with the opportunity to really be able to respect and understand other people’s opinions, even though they might be di erent from ours,” Litzsey said, adding that this was her biggest takeaway from the civil discourse sessions.

For civil discourse sessions, our girls use six skills to help them navigate di cult conversations. To keep these skills top of mind, we’ve posted a list of them in every upper school classroom.

Youngblood added: “Respecting other people’s opinions is really important because you want to create that safe environment with your peers that says, ‘hey I trust you,’ but you also want to get that in return, too.” She mentioned that these conversations happen every day, so

it’s important to learn these skills. Litzsey, who will be heading to college next fall said: “It’s going to be very helpful for me to know how to engage actively and respectfully with other people.” Litzsey and Youngblood served as outstanding ambassadors for the school, showcasing the real-world skills and confidence they have gained as students.

Middle school English teacher Robby Uhrman also presented at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools conference in November about how he worked with Dr. Alyssa Villarreal, academic dean, and Trey Wilson, middle school head, to help launch the in-class discussion technique called R.E.A.L. Discussion. R.E.A.L. is an acronym for four key discussion skills—relate, excerpt, ask, and listen. The technique can be used in both formal discussions and casual conversations and was born out of the need to provide structure to in-person discussions for students who “struggle with expressing themselves, engaging di erent viewpoints, listening deeply, and reading non-verbal cues.” The goal is to help middle school girls learn fundamental skills for engaging in meaningful discussions.

Dr. Ring, Malie Youngblood ’28, and Hailey Litzsey ’25 talk with WREG’s Kontji Anthony on the Live at 9 show.

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Catherine Bowie ’28 Wins Golf State Championship

With a score of 4-under par and a win by three strokes, Catherine Bowie ’28 took home the TSSAA DII-AA State Golf Championship. The standout freshman is the first golf state champion in school history. She helped her team earn third place by posting Hutchison’s best score at state in school history and the 7th best two-day total in tournament history. She was named Girls Golfer of the Year by both The Commercial Appeal and Daily Memphian

Cross Country C ompetes at State

Seven runners and one alternate represented Hutchison at the state tournament for cross country in Hendersonville, Tennessee—Suzanne Smith ’27 (alternate), Bailey Gegg ’25, Morgan McMahon ’28, Addison Gradowski ’28, Eva Schwartz ’28, Sadie Rosenblum ’25, Lily Simpson ’26, and Joy Hillyer ’25. Gegg finished highest among the Sting runners.

Varsity Basketball Wins Local Tournament

The Sting spent Thanksgiving week playing hard and winning the 53rd annual MLK Invitational Tournament. The team played four games over five days, and several seniors were awarded scholarships: Grace Abram ’25, Angeline Dalal ’25, Emily Jackson ’25, and Tyler Jones ’25

Tyler Jones Signs to Play for University of New Mexico

Tyler Jones ’25 signed her National Letter of Intent at a signing ceremony in December. Jones has worked extremely hard throughout her career, recovering from a devastating knee injury two years ago to lead the Sting to a lot of on-court success.

Varsity Soccer Advances to State Tournament

Hutchison’s varsity soccer team continued its streak of state tournament appearances this year, playing in the quarterfinal. Although the Sting didn’t advance beyond the quarterfinals, their 2024 season will be remembered for a hard-working group of players that improved from start to finish.

MS Tennis Team Wins County Championship

Our middle school tennis team finished strong as the Shelby League Champions! They won the team title and competed at state. The silver team finished second in their division, while the bronze team finished third.

Laura Shy

Renee Grinder Lori Guy

Molly Prewitt ’05

Nick Simpson

Paige Hocker

Melissa Berthelson Makayla Boswell

Carmine Gober

Matt Holliman Taylor McKnatt

Cydnie Trice

Lauren Perry Renee Riem

Susan Sarley

Trey Wilson

Kelly Parsons

Andrea Lacher

Beth Robison ’82

Hollis Ligon

Amanda Killen

Lane Clanton ’98

Maggie Haire

Jeanette Leake

Heather Fontana

Susan Steinkamp Becky Deehr Maria Evans

2024-2025

Board of Trustees & Leadership Team

2024 - 2025 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

e Hutchison board of trustees is the guardian of the school’s mission. In partnership with the head of school, the board sets the vision and strategy for the school and ensures sound nancial management and proper stewardship of resources.

Dr. Kristen Ring

PRESIDENT & HEAD OF SCHOOL

Will Deupree III CHAIR

Ragan Crawford

Magness ’88 VICE CHAIR

Craig L. Weiss TREASURER

Chris Crosby SECRETARY

Emily Bryce Bowie ’00

Jenny Werner Carter ’89

Chris Clothier

Edward J. Dobbs

Jason Farmer

Amanda Eckels Goetze ’94

Megan Wellford Grinder ’91

Jason Higginbotham

Betsy Horn

Dr. Shari Je eries

Hardin Barton Kimmel ’92

Veazey Gully Krausnick ’78

Andrew R. McCarroll

Michelle Nelson Miller ’84

Palmer Smith

Dr. Jamila Smith-Young

Susan S. Stephenson

Sequoia Taylor ’04

McLean T. Wilson

Julie Aaron Wunderlich

2024 - 2025 LEADERSHIP TEAM

Great schools are distinguished by exceptional teamwork and collaboration across the organization. Our faculty and sta are led by a dynamic group of individuals known as our leadership team under the guidance of the head of school.

Dr. Kristen Ring

PRESIDENT & HEAD OF SCHOOL

Catherine Chubb

ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dr. Alyssa Villarreal

ACADEMIC DEAN

Elizabeth Chisholm

Jordan ’86

EARLY CHILDHOOD HEAD

Katharine Duerr Kent ’95

LOWER SCHOOL HEAD

Trey Wilson

MIDDLE SCHOOL HEAD

Katy Nair

INTERIM UPPER SCHOOL HEAD

Tonya Faulkner

DIRECTOR OF STUDENT CULTURE AND BELONGING

Nick Simpson DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP

Caroline Schaefer ’08 ATHLETICS DIRECTOR

Sarah Wright DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Melissa Baker CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Lori Guy DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY

Max Maddock DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Laura Shy ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR

The board welcomes the following new members:

Chris Clothier

Amanda Eckels Goetze ’94

Dr. Jamila Smith-Young

Susan S. Stephenson

Hutchison appreciates the service of our retiring board members: Paul Young

Richard C. Moore, Jr.

Allison Cates

Chris Clothier Amanda Eckels Goetze ’94

Dr. Jamila Smith-Young Susan S. Stephenson

Thank you for bringing magic to the Hutchison stage!

PLAYBILL SPONSORS

THE SEA AND ALL ITS CREATURES:

Ginger McCullough ’97 & Lance Wilson

CAMP HALF BLOOD CABINS:

Karen & Tommy Higginbotham

THE RIVER STYX: Michelle & Chris Clothier

MEDUSA’S EMPORIUM AND STATUE GARDEN: Germantown Dermatology

PATRON SPONSORS

Mary Wood

Jennifer & Jay Campbell

BHS Concrete, LLC

Bowen Hollis ’01 & James Cook

Laura Beth & Matt Gabriel

Grinder, Taber & Grinder

Cathy Crill Herrington ’89 & Clara Herrington

Jennifer & Evan Iverson

Amy & Nick Simpson

Reynolds, Bone & Griesbeck, PLC

Photos by Melanie Melugin

When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods. Together they are thrust into battles against monsters, quests that test their strength and friendships, and the discovery of their own identities. This coming-of-age story resonates with so many, because at its core, it’s not just about gods and monsters—it’s about finding your place in the world when the odds seem impossible. The show is a captivating blend of humor, heart, and mythological adventure. Bringing The Lightning Thief to the stage was a special challenge. An incredible team of artists, performers, and crew collaborated on this production, from the intricate set and electrifying lighting to the energetic choreography and unforgettable songs that capture the spirit of the characters and the world they inhabit.

Adapted from The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Book by Joe Tracz Music & Lyrics by Rob Rokicki

photos by Melanie Melugin

GETTING AHEAD OF THE STEM GAP: Early Exposure Leaves Lasting Impression

by Conchita Topinka

This is what career counseling looks like in middle school at Hutchison.

Hannah Dunlap ’25, who is roughly 10 hours away from obtaining her pilot’s license, visited with seventh graders in Jennifer Young’s STEM Explorations class to talk about how she has turned her dream of flying into a reality. She made an impression.

“She made me think ‘I can do that.’ I don’t need to let stereotypes hold me back,” said Caroline Campbell ’30

On Veterans Day, Cris Scheinblum, a Navy veteran and Hutchison parent, presented to middle and upper school girls at a special convocation. The naval pilot shared her experiences, including more than 200 carrier landings and almost as many tactical missions. She made an impression.

“She reminded me of Hannah,” said Charlotte McAdams ’30, while a classmate literally shuddered as she recalled Scheinblum describing how you land planes on a Navy carrier.

Jennifer Young is making an impression as well. Young, who turned to teaching after a career as an engineer and currently teaches sixth grade pre-algebra in addition to STEM Explorations, is determined to usher more young women into science- and mathrelated careers. Keenly aware of the main contributors to the STEM gap—math anxiety, stereotypes, and lack of role models—Young’s class, a quarter-long offering in middle school, is an early yet very

Senior Hannah Dunlap ’25 has been working hard training and earning flight hours. Her goal is to have her pilot’s license by the end of her senior year. A member of Hutchison’s myExperience STEM cohort, she has started an aviation club at Hutchison as part of her capstone project.

Navy veteran and Hutchison

parent Cris Scheinblum spoke to middle and upper school girls at a Veterans Day convocation.

intentional exploration of possibilities, personal preferences, and empowerment for seventh grade girls.

An extension of the core curriculum where girls build foundational knowledge and skills, the STEM Explorations class entices girls to explore futures that are aligned with their interests and skills.

Working professionals regularly visit the class to introduce careers in more detail. The class was surprised to learn that a marine biologist does not spend all her time in the water and that, like many of them, a successful lawyer with international experience had participated in Model United Nations when she was in middle school. Young has partnered with Tracey Zerwig Ford, the community engagement director in Hutchison’s Institute for Responsible Citizenship, to identify and secure guest speakers from a wide variety of industries and careers for the class.

“It’s just opening the idea of a career up to them. In some cases, we’re introducing them to careers and possibilities that they didn’t even know existed,” said Young. “We know that girls in middle school start to fall away from math and science. It is a nationwide issue. By the end of middle school and eighth grade, we have lost many girls to career paths that potentially involve math and science because they’re shying away from those subjects in high school.”

THE END GOAL

The gender gap in STEM occupations is welldocumented, but a recent study by the Ruling Our eXperiences (ROX) nonprofit uncovered some discouraging root causes. The Girls’ Index, a national study of the experiences and aspirations of girls in grades 5 through 12, indicates that

girls have misgivings about their abilities to conquer STEM subjects. In 2017, 73 percent of the girls said they felt proficient in math and science, in 2023, that number had dropped to 59 percent.

Young hopes that encouraging girls to discover something they’re interested in will quell some of this math anxiety. She takes a holistic approach, pulling different levers to help girls explore what careers pique their interests, learn how their brains are wired, and discover their unique talents and strengths. Young said thinking about a career path as early as seventh grade gives girls an aspirational “end goal” that can impact their course selections in high school and motivate them to power through math and science challenges as they come up.

“I want to encourage girls to stick with math and science and persevere … and see that they’re capable of working toward these great careers instead of taking themselves out of it,” said Young. “If you’re taking algebra right now as an eighth grader, or geometry as an eighth grader, and it is tough for you, I want you to understand that you have a pathway and need to continue along that path and persevere.”

LEFT BRAIN OR RIGHT BRAIN?

YOUNG TEACHES CODING, working one-on-one with students, guiding them through character selection and coding custom looks in Scratch. Hands-on learning helps bring creativity and programming concepts to life in the STEM Explorations class.

Creating that pathway is easier if you have a clear understanding of your interests and talents. Leveraging students’ strengths to help them excel at something that brings them joy is a tenet of the Hutchison experience, but Young presents it in the context of selecting a career path, something usually reserved for upper school. A recent assignment involved a 24-question survey on left brain vs. right brain personality traits to help girls understand how they are “wired” as they contemplate their futures.

I want to encourage girls to stick with math and science … and see that they’re capable of working toward these great careers.

— JENNIFER YOUNG

By the end of middle school and eighth grade, we have lost many girls to career paths that potentially involve math and science because they’re shying away from those subjects in high school. — JENNIFER YOUNG

Using the careerinstem.com website, girls explore careers based on their personalities and interests. The website also discusses “soft” and “hard” skills and how many degrees are required for certain career paths, which is news to most 12- and 13-yearolds. More importantly, Young said, the girls discover that many careers are “STEM-adjacent.” Something she likes to emphasize as the girls toss around different options. London McCall ’30, a soccer player considering a future in sports management or training, said it makes sense that STEM will be a part of her future.

“When you injure yourself, you have to figure out what happened and how to fix it,” said McCall.

Campbell loves theatre, but sometimes gets stage fright. She

SEVENTH GRADERS GOT A HANDS-ON LESSON IN ENGINEERING, innovation, and making an environmental impact from Dr. Siripong Malasri, a registered professional engineer who conducts packaging research at Christian Brothers University. After watching a virtual consortium presentation and reading Dr. Malasri’s research on sustainable packaging solutions (which Garner Monroe ’25 also contributed to), our girls learned more from him about the science behind protective packaging materials when he visited the classroom.

researched voice work and was surprised that STEM is involved. “I thought you just recorded your voice and went on with your life. No, it’s much more than that. You have to know how to upload the recordings sometimes,” said Campbell.

As part of the process, learning what they don’t like is almost as important as knowing what they like. For example, McAdams stumbled onto “snake therapy” and decided that was a hard “no.”

Emma Cohn ’30 said she is not looking for animal-related careers, but the marine biologist’s stories were interesting to her. Riley Rolfe ’30, who said she is petrified of birds, decided ornithology was not her thing. Young adds that to her credit, Rolfe confessed the phobia after completing the bird-calling assignment without complaint.

TO HELP GIRLS SEE ROLE MODELS AND VISUALIZE FUTURE CAREER POSSIBILITIES, they attended a panel to learn what it is like to work in the technology field or as an engineer who designs software or medical devices. The panel included Maria Recker, senior manager for SDG Corporation; Eliza Keffler, co-founder and VP of marketing for West Tennessee Consulting; Bianca Cordero, quality engineer at Smith+Nephew; and Julia Strecker, product development engineer at Smith+Nephew. The panel described how they chose their careers, what some of their day-to-day experiences are like, when they’ve had to pivot, and their best advice for our girls.

The STEM Explorations class

entices girls to explore futures that are aligned with their

interests and skills.

When

girls set aspirational goals at this age, they are intrinsically motivated to succeed academically and impact their academic journey before reaching upper school.

EXPLORING STEM-ADJACENT CAREERS

Although the exercise did not immediately result in converts to ornithology, girls raved about using a phone app that records bird calls to identify the birds, then imitate the call to communicate with other birds.

“The app will tell you what kind of bird it is, after you record it. And then we went to record the ducks, and it told us what kind of duck it was. It was pretty cool,” said Rolfe, who is leaning toward something in the medical field and knows math and science will be important and a challenge for her.

For a generation comfortable with using a popular phone app to quickly identify random songs, using similar technology to study animal behavior was not a stretch. Young said the experience is fun for the girls and illustrates the evolution of technology in a memorable way.

“We’ve seen how much STEM and technology have come into the world. Something may have started off as a non-STEM career, but now they’re using more technology,” said McCall. And that’s the lesson Young is trying to impart.

“So many careers are STEM adjacent. I’m not just talking to girls who are interested in math and science. I’m talking to all of them. A lot of things are STEM adjacent. Girls have to make sure that they are pushing themselves toward that direction a little bit, whether it’s their favorite subject or not, because careers are leaning that way,” said Young.

GIRLS USED AN APP CALLED MERLIN BIRD ID at the Katherine and John Dobbs Farm. The phone records and analyzes sounds to determine what type of birds are present. They also made simple duck calls from straws and attempted to use them, and the Merlin Bird ID app, to call the ducks at the Hutchison lake.

by Conchita Topinka

“H”

is for Honest, “U” is for Understanding, “T” is for Trustworthy Hutchison’s beloved acrostic got a makeover in middle school this year, but the familiar character traits of the Ideal Hutchison Girl remain unchanged.

Why Is This Important?

. We refer to the

“Every lesson starts with explanation of each trait, we pull quotes of women trailblazers included in the book, and we discuss why it is important to a middle school girl,” said Sentilles.

This story involves four generations of Hutchison girls, a testament to the acrostic’s ability to transcend change and remain relevant.

Last year, middle school division head Trey Wilson and counselor Katie Sentilles were brainstorming creative ways to update the social-emotional programming and advisories, staples of middle school life that Sentilles says are constantly evolving to best serve the girls’ needs. Reinvigorating the advisory with a refreshed acrostic was on the table.

A HUTCHISON GIRL IS… Becoming Her Best Self

A heart of honor speaks the truth. HONEST

UNDERSTANDING

TRUSTWORTHY

COURTEOUS

An understanding girl shows compassion to others and herself.

A trusting friend is loyal and committed.

A courteous girl respects others and extends hospitality.

A humble leader lends her strength to others. HUMBLE

INDUSTRIOUS

SINCERE

OBEDIENT

An industrious bee works hard.

A sincere girl shows thoughtful intention.

An obedient student allows herself room to grow.

A noble daughter walks a path of principle. NOBLE

At the same time, middle school parents and longtime friends Allison Pace and Lindsay Horner Lewis ’99 had decided to use their training as educators, as well as their general “mothers of adolescents” skills, to add supporting context to the acrostic that they felt would bring it to life for their daughters. Both have daughters in the seventh grade, Ruthie Lewis ’30 and Katherine Pace ’30, and Lewis has another daughter, Meriwether Lewis ’32, in fifth grade. Pace and Lewis created The Golden Book and Sentilles and middle school advisors have masterfully woven it throughout the curriculum this year.

In creating the curriculum for advisory, Sentilles considered helpful feedback that indicated that it was important to present the acrostic character traits in practical terms that the girls can apply to real-life scenarios, giving each grade an age-appropriate twist. For example, sixth graders are introduced to a recurring cast of characters and personalities that run throughout the curriculum and confront di erent challenges and scenarios.

“We take one trait and layer several themes under it,” said Sentilles. “Instead of doing a lesson just on friendship, or boundaries, now we take a trait from the acrostic, and all of those things come into every lesson.” She explained that a lesson on being “noble” might begin with the example of a student posting multiple photos on social media and then touch upon friendships and boundaries, with discussions about getting consent to post, respecting friends’ wishes, and resolving conflicts.

Sentilles, now in her 19th year at Hutchison, is adept at creating relatable and age-appropriate scenarios for middle school girls, but she appreciates the focus that The Golden Book

Middle school faculty and sta got creative this Halloween, dressing as the letters in the school’s acrostic to show how our guiding principles are always in action.

brings to this curriculum, particularly the symbols that were created to accompany each letter and trait.

“The concrete nature of the symbols has united our entire advisory curriculum. They’ve given the girls something to grasp onto, and they remember it. We also created charm bracelets with the symbols, which serve as a visible reminder. They have been a hit with the girls,” said Sentilles.

It Takes a Village—Of Alumnae

Three generations of Hutchison graduates took part in the acrostic’s middle school makeover, and a fourth generation—from fifth graders to eighth graders (Classes of 2029-2032)—will have the tools to ensure the tradition lives on.

In May, Hutchison leaders headed to Blue Star Ranch in Cashiers, North Carolina, owned by Dr. Trish Calvert Ring ’77 and her husband, Carl, for a productive retreat focused on refreshing our social-emotional learning program. The team drafted key parts of the Ideal Hutchison Girl program while there, getting great feedback from Trish and Carl along the way. Our work with their horses provided meaningful insights into our team dynamics and collaborative work on the new program.

Laurie Fraser Stanton Elliott ’65, alumna and longtime faculty member and administrator, was Lewis’ advisor, history teacher, and middle school head. Lewis has vivid memories of Elliott leading the class on the virtues in the acrostic. It made logical sense to consult her when Lewis and Pace embarked on this project.

“It has been really special to have the acrostic come full circle and have Mrs. Elliott advise me again on the same topic, but as a parent and as an adult,” said Lewis. “I wanted the same values that she had taught me, instilled in my children.”

Sharing What They Learned with Other Educators at TAIS

The middle school team who refreshed the advisory curriculum wanted to share what they had learned with other educators. They were invited to speak about their work at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools conference in November. Middle school division head Trey Wilson, along with counselor Katie Sentilles and parents Allison Pace and Lindsay Horner Lewis ’99, presented at the conference, sharing how they had worked together to bring the acrostic values to life for Hutchison students. They talked about how the acrostic had existed at Hutchison for decades, but they were looking for a way to add more context around the key character traits so that they would be relevant for today’s middle school classes. Their goal, they explained, was to help girls navigate both their academic and personal lives and foster personal growth and emotional intelligence. The team highlighted how the values are not only incorporated into daily lessons but also reinforced through mentorship and group discussions, creating a holistic learning experience.

The presentation explained the practical impact of the curriculum in building girls’ skills and confidence, particularly in areas related to emotional resilience, leadership, and communication. Through carefully structured activities, students are encouraged to reflect on these traits and how they apply them in real-world scenarios. The team shared examples of how the acrostic framework has empowered girls to take ownership of their actions, foster healthy relationships, and develop a stronger sense of self-worth. By embedding these values in the middle school experience, the educators are shaping young girls who are more capable of facing challenges with maturity and integrity, equipping them with the essential tools for success in both school and life.

Middle school girls create charm bracelets featuring symbols that represent the virtues in our school acrostic, serving as daily reminders of these important values.

A shared system of beliefs exists in the Hutchison acrostic. This is already built into the cultural ethos, we just put words around it. — ALLISON PACE

Lewis and Pace tapped alumna and friend, Lauren Kaiser Malone ’02, to design the ubiquitous acrostic symbols that now live in charm bracelets and were immortalized in faculty and administrator costumes for Halloween.

Proud of the new The Golden Book baby, Lewis checked one more source to validate the timeless nature of what she and Pace had created. She gave her neighbor and Hutchison alumna Betty Chalmers Peyton ’54 a copy of The Golden Book for her birthday. Peyton, who learned about the acrostic at Hutchison’s Union Avenue location, was pleased to see that Hutchison girls continue to strive to be Honest, Understanding, Trustworthy, Courteous, Humble, Industrious, Sincere, Obedient, and Noble.

Pace is not an alumna, but as a Hutchison parent since her daughter was in pre-K, she has a deep appreciation for Hutchison’s community, which she views through the lens of a longtime educator of family formation at Saint John’s Episcopal Church. She wanted the book to capture that sense of community defined by a shared system of beliefs.

“A shared system of beliefs exists in the Hutchison acrostic. This is already built into the cultural ethos, we just put words

around it,” said Pace. In writing the book, Pace and Lewis said one line from the Hutchison prayer was foremost in their mind … “Turn

our eyes inward to focus on the spirit and outward to see our obligations in the world.”

They filtered every trait through those words.

This curriculum brings that introspection to life through group exercises and self-reflective “what would you do?” scenarios around everyday issues such as friendships, jealousy, and peer pressure. Regardless of the character trait being discussed, it is easy to spot consistent themes in a quick review of the curricula for Understanding, Trustworthy, and Courteous.

“We talk a lot about being the Ideal Hutchison Girl, but we’re very careful to say that’s a di erent journey for every one of you,” said Sentilles. “It’s not about perfection, it’s about authenticity and legacy.”

Time will tell. Hopefully, when the Class of 2032 enters the rank of Golden Bee, the acrostic will still resonate, like it does for Betty Chalmers Peyton.

Lindsay Horner Lewis ’99, Katie Sentilles, Allison Pace, and Trey Wilson highlighted the unique school-parent partnership behind The Golden Book and its integration into the middle school advisory program at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools annual conference.

Grandparents’ & ents’ & Grandpar G Grandfriends’ Day! Grandfriends

Joy and pride filled the air on campus when students welcomed their grandparents and grandfriends to get a glimpse of their lives at Hutchison!

“

Drawing Her Way to Bliss, One Story at a Time

by Max Maddock

It is a core memory that Louise Smythe ’06 treasures.

There’s a picture of me on the kitchen floor in my parents’ house, and I’m painting something on their floor, and I have this look on my face, like I’m an artist. I’m three or four. I’m a little toddler, and I’m just painting with this vigor. Paper all over their floor with paint all over it.”

These days, Smythe is doing more drawing than painting, but it’s with the same vigor, and she’s doing it professionally. For more than 10 years, she has been a storyboard artist at Pixar Animation Studios in Northern California. Her most recent credit is as the lead storyboard artist on 2024’s hit animated film Inside Out 2. The film centers around a girl named Riley who has just turned 13, and the action of the movie mostly takes place in her mind where we see her emotions (joy, anger, fear, embarrassment, envy, sadness, disgust, and ennui) controlling Riley’s actions from their “headquarters.” Riley begins to experience a new emotion—anxiety—and we watch as the character Anxiety wrestles control of headquarters from the other emotions and drives them to the back of Riley’s mind. The results are chaotic, but the movie is funny, poignant, and relatable.

“I’ve always loved drawing ever since I can remember,” Smythe said. “I was always drawing or painting something, but I didn’t think I could do it as a career, until I was at Hutchison and I realized, ‘Oh, I could do children’s books or illustrations for book covers or magazine articles.’ ”

She recalled how Gwen English, one of her art teachers at Hutchison, was an inspiration.

“I loved working with her, getting a good foundation for certain ways of working, learning how to use di erent types of art tools, like watercolor versus pastel, and understanding the discipline of keeping a sketchbook. I learned how to bind my own sketchbooks from her. We would make sketchbooks and then draw in them. I still have some to this day in my o ce that I saved because I thought they were cool.”

She added that English also made it clear that art could be a career, whether teaching or working as an illustrator, architect, interior designer, fashion designer, or in some other capacity. “She made me feel that art was a viable career option, whatever I did with it. She was encouraging about that.”

Photos by Pixar Animation Studios

When she was a senior at Hutchison, Smythe had another epiphany. A visitor to her art class from Savannah College of Art and Design mentioned a friend who worked on the animated film Cars. “I thought: ‘People can work on those?’ Then I thought, ‘Oh, he’s an animator. That’s computer stu . I don’t do that.’ I didn’t realize that people could also draw as part of the process of making a movie. It blew my mind when I realized that once I went to college.”

Shaping Her Story

Smythe attended Washington University in St. Louis where she studied illustration and graphic design. About halfway through college, she discovered storyboarding. “I fell in love with it, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

After college, she did freelance work on educational games and a children’s book, then moved to Los Angeles and started taking classes at the California Institute of the Arts to learn more about storyboarding and filmmaking.

“Storyboarding and visual development or concept art were the last bastions of actual hand drawn stu that you could do in the animation world, because so much of it is computerized with 3D animation,” Smythe said. “I love that, but with storyboarding I realized: ‘Oh, I could draw.’ ” She also liked the filmmaking aspect of storyboarding—helping the director and writer shape the story as they went along. “I got excited about the idea of storytelling and drawing together.

“Being a storyboard artist is more than just drawing a pretty picture. You’re creating a blueprint for the film before anything gets animated,” Smythe explained. “Understanding shots and how to draw things at certain angles, how to draw character

expressions, and acting—those are a lot of hats to wear and a lot of things to juggle. Taking some classes to hone those skills was great, so that’s what I did in LA for a couple years.”

Soon she found herself moving north to Emeryville, California, situated between Oakland and Berkeley, to work at Pixar’s headquarters. Her first credit with Pixar was the 22-minute animated film Toy Story That Time Forgot, which was released in 2014. While working on The Good Dinosaur, released in 2015, she met fellow story artist Kelsey Mann, who would later direct Inside Out 2. Smythe’s other credits include Cars 3 (2017), Toy Story 4 (2019), Onward (2020), Luca (2021), and Turning Red (2022).

Bringing Ideas to Life

What does a storyboard artist do exactly? Smythe explained that for any animated film, there are teams of storyboard artists headed up by a person called the head of story. Long before any computer animation is done, the storyboard artists divide up the movie into sequences (a series of connected scenes), which each artist draws. In addition to reviewing script pages, they meet with the director and writer to find out what they are looking for, and then start drawing. They may be creating initial sketches to define what a character or scene looks like. Oftentimes they are starting from scratch and making things up. The sketches are either drawn on paper or on tablet computers, but they are usually done quickly and are kept rough. It might even be as simple as a quick sketch on a post-it note.

“Sometimes we’ll be in the writing room with the writer and the director talking about how they want to solve a problem,”

Smythe explained. “As a story artist, I might draw something and say: ‘Like this?’ And if they say ‘no,’ I draw something else and say, ‘Okay, how about this?’ and they might respond, ‘Great! Do that!’ It may just be a chicken scratch drawing, but they get the idea. Then the writer goes o and writes, and we go o and draw, and all meet in the middle.

“You get to have this kind of ground level start at taking a stab at what the movie is going to be through your drawings,” Smythe added.

Once scenes have been sketched out, the storyboard artists put their ideas together and pitch them to the director and others, often acting out their ideas to make the story more animated. Smythe said her experiences acting on the stage at Hutchison helped build her confidence to do this part of her job. They then take feedback and revise their sequences. This can go back and forth a few times. Eventually, they give their drawings to an editor who cuts together a temporary reel with music, sound, and voices, even if the voices are temporary.

“We watch it and we judge it, and ask: ‘Is the movie good?’ Usually it’s not, and we tear it down and start again. It’s a great way to make a movie when you’re working rough and scrappy and trying to make sure it makes sense before you commit to all the work of animation.”

Once Smythe’s work is finished, there are many more steps to completing a movie: digital character models, set design, animation, lighting, recording the actors’ voices, post production, and much more.

Obviously, her drawing skills are paramount, but she said there are many other things to consider as she’s working.

“I’m always trying to think, what’s the story point?” Smythe explained. “What is the point of this shot? Who is it about? Who’s talking and who’s feeling impacted by this scene? Is this a scene where Sadness is worried about Riley? If so, I’ll focus more on Sadness and draw her a little more. Or is this a scene where the emotions are trying to escape a labyrinth or maze and I have to make sure that the geography is clear and you understand the location that they’re in so that you don’t get confused. It’s always about, what’s the point of this sequence, what’s the point of this shot, and what’s the theme as well.”

While at Hutchison, Smythe took a survey of western civilization class that she credits for instilling a love of art history. “I was inspired to learn about all the art that came before us, how artists thought, what these artists were

Making animated films such as Inside Out 2 is a collaborative project. Smythe and other artists are usually sketching during meetings to try out ideas for characters or scenes.

Photos by Pixar Animation Studios

Louise Smythe’s sketch of some of the characters from Inside Out 2—Fear, Anger, Joy, Disgust, and Sadness—in their headquarters control room

communicating, and how they communicated it,” she recalled. “I still think a lot about historical pieces of art that inspire me when I’m working.”

Art history also informs the stories of the movies she works on. “For Coco, they did a lot of research on Mexican folk art and culture for the Day of the Dead, and for Onward, we did a lot of research on fantasy as a genre and went to renaissance fairs and researched fantasy art, specifically from the ’70s and ’80s eras,” said Smythe. “Research is a huge aspect of how we make our movies, because we want them to have that authenticity. I feel like my love of art history and getting to learn that at Hutchison planted the seed of valuing the research part of making a film.”

Collaborating and Contributing

Anxiety is, of course, one of the main characters in Inside Out 2. The character has a wide smile full of teeth, big eyes, and a shock of feather-like hair that stands up straight and trembles with nervous energy. Creating the look of Anxiety’s character was collaborative, Smythe said. “The big eyes and kind of palm tree hair, those were two things I was thinking about, and there were other artists doing the exact same kind of thinking. We started to hone in on Anxiety’s design.”

In drawing the characters for Inside Out 2, Smythe said she often thought about how each emotion in the film made her feel and how to draw that feeling. Anxiety having big eyes made sense since she was scared and worried. She remembered talking to the director about how Anxiety would always be shaking a little bit, which made the featherlike hair vibrate.

“There’s something that feels true about Anxiety, but also a little charming,” Smythe explained. “You think, ‘Oh that feels like anxiety, but I’m not scared of Anxiety. She’s kind of cute in a way.’ We wanted to have the character be relatable as well, especially for kids feeling anxious. I think making Anxiety a little less frightening was a powerful thing to do.”

Smythe said that even though she can be introverted, she loves the collaborative process of these films. “I find it invigorating and fun, because I feel like I’m part of a team making this movie magic happen,” she said.

She also doesn’t mind working on a project that takes years to finish. Inside Out 2 took approximately four years to complete from start to finish. When they started the movie in 2020, everyone was at home, working via Zoom video calls.

“I like seeing one project evolve over time and being on it for the long haul. I felt passionate about this particular movie and what it was saying about emotions, and I’m happy I got to stay on it for the whole run.”

In addition to all her storyboarding work on Inside Out 2, there were a few contributions that Smythe made to the film that she’s particularly proud of. In one sequence, the emotions that Anxiety banished from headquarters are locked in a vault of secrets in Riley’s memories. They encounter another character in the vault named Lance Slashblade, a melodramatic character from a video game that Riley played in her childhood and whom she secretly had a crush on. He is a classic fighting game hero and ultimately helps the emotions escape from the vault.

Smythe remembered discussing the vault of secrets plot point with Kenna Harris, one of the heads of story on the

Louise Smythe presents her storyboard ideas to the team working on the film Onward. She said her experiences acting on Hutchison’s stage helped her feel more comfortable making these presentations.

Photos by

“ Gwen English made me feel that art was a viable career option, whatever I did with it. She was encouraging about that.”

production. Harris came up with the idea of the video game character and Smythe created the name Lance Slashblade. “I got so excited, because I remembered when I was 13, there were those kinds of characters that I had a secret crush on and felt embarrassed about because they were animated characters. We had the best time coming up with that and brainstorming together,” she said.

While she didn’t create the character of Anxiety, Smythe believes she brought a lot of her own experiences with the emotion to discussions. When she was 13 or 14 years old, Smythe moved to Hutchison from Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School. Even though there were other girls from GSL at Hutchison, she still had anxiety about whether she would have friends and how she would fit in. She also recalled that as a teenager she began to care more about fashion and boy bands and had crushes on boys and video game characters.

“I feel like I was able to bring a lot of authenticity to the discussion of anxiety and how that felt and how it still feels,” said Smythe. “We all deal with anxiety on some level, but especially at that age, it feels like the biggest thing in the world. It was nice to get to talk with the director about that and share how that made me feel when I was a kid.”

Moving Her Name Up in the Credits

If you’ve ever watched the end credits for an animated film like Inside Out 2, you know that the list of people who work on these kinds of movies is extensive and scrolls on for quite a while. Smythe’s name in the credits was more prominent in this movie because she served as the lead storyboard artist, the first time she’s had that role. As the lead story artist, she was able to participate in more writing and leadership meetings about the movie. Most importantly, though, she was able to continue drawing, which she didn’t want to give up.

“When I first started, I would get overwhelmed, because there’s so much I would have to do with a sequence,” she described. “Slowly breaking it down and saying ‘Okay, today I’m going to just sketch the whole thing out really rough. It’s okay if it’s not perfect.’ My worst enemy is a blank page.”

“It’s sort of this in-between role,” Smythe said. “I think the first time being in that leadership position was a challenge, because I was trying to figure out being the lead, but also working with the director. I didn’t want to overstep if there was a vision the director had. Figuring out that balance was a little tricky at first, and then once I got into the groove, it felt great.”

One of the things that Smythe said she has learned over her career through trial and error is how to manage her time and break her “to do list” down into manageable chunks.

She said she once got advice to “start early, start rough, fail fast, fail often.” It came from Andrew Stanton, a writer and director at Pixar who has many credits to his name, most notably as co-writer of the Academy Award nominated screenplay for the original Toy Story.

“I feel like that’s helped me grow a lot as an artist over the years, and that’s what I do all the time. Start early, get it done right away, and then you can always finesse it and have time to go back and make it perfect, make it pretty.”

Working on a movie about emotions was bound to have some personal lessons too. Smythe said that one of the problems they discussed was the ending of Inside Out 2 Would Joy banish Anxiety from headquarters? They decided it didn’t quite feel right because you still feel anxiety as an adult, so there was no way Riley wouldn’t continue to feel anxiety.

“It doesn’t go away; it’s about how you manage it. We wanted it to be believable for people watching,” Smythe said. “So, the decision at the end was to have Anxiety stay in headquarters, but she has a little relaxing corner now where she has a massage chair she sits in.”

There also was a lesson about how joy changes when you get older. “Our writer, Dave (Holstein), wrote the line, ‘Maybe this is what happens when you grow up. You feel less joy.’” Smythe recalled. “I remember when he wrote that, I was thinking, ‘Wow, a lot of people feel that way.’ I think it’s great to show people you can still connect with your joy even if you’ve been through much, much more di cult things than what Riley went through. What is the importance of joy as you grow up, and what does that look like, and how does joy change as you mature? Those were profound conversations that we had about that emotion and all the emotions.”

Although Smythe can’t reveal the next project she’s working on, one thing is certain: she wants to keep drawing. “I would love to continue being a story lead. I love that role. But no matter what, I just want to keep storyboarding. I mean, that’s my favorite thing. Give me all the sequences. I want to draw them.”

Your Gift Makes a Di erence.

Your gift to the Hutchison Fund allows us to make choices rather than compromises for our girls. By supporting our school, you’re enhancing the programs that elevate us from good to great, celebrating each girl’s individuality.

“We choose to give because we want to ensure the school has the resources it needs to provide the best experience possible, both now and in the future. That’s why we are honored to contribute each year, supporting Hutchison in delivering a premium educational experience.”

Paige Phillips ’07 & Paul Gillespie | Bailey ’36 & Grace ’38 Palmer & Foster Smith | Ann ’28 Hutchison Fund Co-Chairs

To make a gift to the Hutchison Fund, please visit hutchisonschool.org/give or scan the QR Code.

Hutchison

photo by Cathy Barber; inset by Danielle Katz

WORKING WITH A DIVERSE PALETTE: Art, History, & Busine

by Max Maddock

If you listen to Caroline Orr ’12 talk about a painting, the artistry and history of the work come to life. While working as a contemporary art specialist at the venerable auction house Sotheby’s, Orr was featured in a video that describes a painting by the artist Helen Frankenthaler, called “Eye of the Storm,” that was about to come to auction:

“Moving up the canvas, we have flashes of icy blue, a flash of lightning, and I love the demarcation lines that are then protruding out of these pools and puddles of color. As our eye moves across the surface of the canvas, we notice a myriad of textures. But most of all, there’s a shimmer. There is really a glowing, illuminating part of the paint that just jumps o the canvas. As far as technique, here Helen is using acrylic paint. You see a lot of active brush work and a lot of paint that is really sitting on top of the surface, almost creating an impasto and thickly painted area. We love to see evidence of Helen working in her studio, laying the paint down onto the canvas. And this really does bear resonance to her as a person who is dedicated to studio practice, to technique, to play, to exploration, and everything that a true artist represents.”

Orr is uniquely qualified to talk about paintings such as the Frankenthaler because she is not only a working artist who studied studio art, art history, and entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), but she also has had unique access to many works of art that have not been shown in years and has interacted with their collectors. She spent a little over six years at Sotheby’s, and now works with collectors as an art specialist at Bank of America.

“I think pairing art history with studio art was such a wonderful combination,” Orr explained about her double major at UNC. “A lot of the time, studio art majors only study studio art and art history majors only study art history, but the two disciplines speak to each other. When you make art, you have to look back at art history and know the giants you are referencing and the artistic luminaries to whom you are paying homage. For me, it was important to study art history as a painter and as a creative and vice versa. I knew about paint and technique, and when I write about an artist or specific works, I know what studio practice is like, I know what the viscosity of the paint is, and I have a technical language that I am able to synthesize with art history.”

Left: photo by Amanda Gentile Photography

IT WAS INEVITABLY ART

“I was always painting, and my parents knew that it was something I was interested in,” Orr said. “I took art classes from a young age, like five or six. I was always doing something artistic.”

Still, when she started at UNC, Orr originally planned to major in business. “That did not last long. I took one economics class and realized it was not for me. I quickly changed my major and decided that I would pursue art.

“I’m motivated by things that are passion-driven and less black and white,” she said, explaining her decision to pursue art. “The idea of interpretation of art, creating art, and the openness of creativity were what drew me to study art.”

Orr was the first of four Hutchison graduates to be awarded a Morehead-Cain scholarship at UNC. (The three who followed her were Gaby Nair ’14, Gabi Stein ’15, and Francie Sentilles ’17). Modeled after the Rhodes Scholarship, the Morehead-Cain at UNC is the first meritbased scholarship program in the United States. Scholars are challenged to pursue meaningful summer enrichment experiences that align with their passions.

D.C., doing independent research for a curator, which allowed her to return to India to study a contemporary female Indian artist whose work focused on social change. During her junior year, Orr studied at the University of Oxford in England, focusing on two disparate fields of art history—contemporary Chinese art post Mao and Italian Renaissance art.

“The Morehead-Cain program was an extraordinary honor and opportunity which provided the framework to think more critically about how my studies and interests could be the defining part of my career,” Orr said.

In addition to being passionate about making and studying art, Orr believes in the intrinsic value of art in the world.

During her time at UNC as a Morehead-Cain scholar, Orr was intentional about seeking opportunities to explore her passions. One summer, Orr taught art, Shakespeare, and poetry to seventh and eighth graders at the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, a school in Bangalore, India. She said the opportunity to work with students interested in art was special because the usual emphasis in India is on science and math. Another summer she interned at Christie’s auction house in New Yok, which foreshadowed her future job at Sotheby’s. The next summer she worked at the Smithsonian in Washington,

“I stand by the belief that I’ve always had, that we cannot live in a world without art,” she said. “I’m in this career because I believe in what art can do for us, the way it can uplift us, challenge us, encourage us, provide new viewpoints, connect us across different barriers—whether that’s a language barrier, geographical barrier, racial barrier, cultural—all of our differences. I think art is a common visual language through which we speak, we connect, we share ideas, we communicate, and without it, it would be a very different world. That extends through all of the arts, not just visual arts.”

THE BUSINESS OF ART

Even though she changed her college major from business to art, Orr’s career so far has included both business and art.

She said her summer working at Christie’s during college inspired her to continue working in the auction business. “I knew I wanted to do that instead of working at a museum because I wanted to be thrown into the epicenter of the art

There’s always been an undercurrent and a theme of how I’ve seen the way that art can transform lives and be a vehicle for opportunity and an avenue for change. So, long term, I’m looking for something that will weave those passions together.

Mural painted by Orr at Shanti Bhavan school, India, 2013

market. The great thing about having worked at Sotheby’s was that it is a business—there’s strategy, and it’s sales—but it’s doing business around the appreciation of art and working with collectors who love it very much.”

Her art history studies have come in handy. While at Sotheby’s, Orr helped create the catalogs that are produced before artworks go to auction. She started in copyright work, reaching out to galleries and artists’ studios to secure the rights to use artwork in the catalogs. Eventually she was researching and writing many of the essays about the art being auctioned, which she explained were a combination of an academic essay describing the work and a piece that would present and package the work to be palatable for buyers. The research might include information about a work’s provenance as well as finding other artworks that were comparable to the one being sold. She said the research and the deadlines were intense.

next. She said working in an auction house can be grueling, and she wanted to build a new skill set and look at the art business from a different angle. That led to her current role at Bank of America, where she was hired to help create a program for art collectors who are clients of Merrill Lynch, a subsidiary of the bank. Even though Bank of America is a huge corporation, she looked at the opportunity as sort of like a startup business, which appealed to her entrepreneurial appetite.

One of the most taxing times while at Sotheby’s, she remembered, was during the COVID-19 pandemic when they couldn’t produce the printed catalogs and had to move auctions online. “I was part of the first team to digitize the catalogs. Sotheby’s had been around for decades, and things had always been done the same way, so quickly shifting gears was a challenge. We were successful in making this digital transition, and it ushered in the path for a new auction format moving forward.”

There were other, more physical challenges as well. When prepping the exhibitions that would precede an auction, they might have to bring in a crane to move a sculpture or if a painting was damaged during shipping they might have to repair it. “Many of the issues that we ran into were about coming up with solutions and quickly figuring out a way to still make things happen under a deadline.

“I always say that my time at Sotheby’s was like getting a master’s in art history and the business of art all at once,” Orr said. “It’s fast-paced, it’s quick, there’s so much art that comes in and out of auction houses that you get to see on a daily basis.”

After six years, Orr started to think about what might be

As an art services specialist, Orr helps art collectors navigate their collecting journey from an advisory and financial standpoint. For instance, she might guide a client through selling her art at auction; she might advise a client about taking a line of credit out against his collection; or she might strategize with a collector about what she will do with her collection in the future, whether it’s donating it to a museum or bequeathing it to family members. Her team also brings collectors together at major world art events.

“It is about supporting our clients who are art collectors and providing tailored advice and strategy around their collection and art collecting journey,” she explained.

“Working at a bank is an analytical job in many ways, and what I’m doing is a lot of business strategy. That’s sort of been new territory for me. There are many different kinds of hats that I wear or potential things that could fall under my job description. So there’s a lot of shifting. It’s not so clear-cut. Being able to adapt and move in different directions all at once has been a great learning experience.”

She’s found that there are some similarities between working in business and creating art. “When you’re developing a business strategy … you have to have a sense of where you want to go. I think the same is true for any sort of creative process. The first mark that you make may just be a mark, but you have to then be thinking several steps ahead about a larger plan or direction that you want to go in and be proactive and reactive at the same time, but also very adaptable.”

In addition, she said, being an artist teaches you to work through discomfort. “There’s no formula that says, ‘Now

Studying in artist Paul Balmer’s studio, 2015

your painting is done.’ In art, it doesn’t always go well. You might not like what you’re making, or you might feel that it’s not right yet, or it’s not ready. It can be very frustrating to make art. Artists are occasionally thought of as moody and temperamental because they wrestle so hard with pieces. Sometimes that uneasy wrestling—sitting in the uneasiness and the wrestling—but working through that with some resilience and adaptability is a huge thing.”

She believes studying art has been valuable to her in the business world. “There’s no doubt in my mind that, on a daily basis, we exercise both sides of our brain—the creative and the analytical. Even if someone goes into a different field, I think that having studied the arts and practiced them continues to pay dividends.”

FINDING HER ARTISTIC STYLE

“I used to draw in a hyperrealistic style, where it almost looked like a photograph,” Orr recalled. “One time at Hutchison, I was playing around with some paint and my teachers, Anne Davey and Gwen English, stopped by. I didn’t want to show what I was working on to anyone because it didn’t look like the portrait I was painting. It was loose brush work and was a bit abstract. But they said, ‘Keep doing that, it’s so expressive and gestural.’ I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this can be good?’”

What Orr realized later is that Davey and English had recognized a personal style emerging in her work. “That continued to set the tone for the painting style that I still have today,” Orr said, “which is loose and gestural, with lots of active brush work, color, and the vigor of mark making and laying paint onto the surface.”

During high school and in college, Orr mounted several shows of her work, always with the purpose of raising funds for worthy causes. While at Hutchison, the proceeds of her shows helped to endow a lunch program at a school in Tanzania that she had visited and taught at. While at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sales of her work helped raise funds to build a pipeline in Peru for a

Amanda Gentile Photography

Orr with some of her recent artwork

village that didn’t have access to running water. Her work also has benefited Habitat for Humanity.

“That was always the undercurrent of the art shows,” Orr explained. “I wasn’t selling the work for myself or to keep the funds. It was always a way to bring people together and use the art as an agent to help make a difference.”

Even while she was at Sotheby’s, she collaborated with her boss to help launch a series of limited edition prints that were sold to benefit an eye clinic in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Orr said that she’s been creating art again recently, and she’s enjoying it. Because space is limited in New York City, she’s rented a studio in the financial district. In addition to painting, she’s also been working in collage.

“My art straddles abstraction and figurative work. So it may have the essence of being in a gorgeous field of poppies, but it’s still abstracted. It’s more about memory and feeling. I look to Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell and some of those post-war American abstract artists who referenced specific feelings and emotions in their work, but it wasn’t so explicit.”

For her collage work, Orr said she is fascinated by a concept called “kintsugi,” which is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken areas with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

“The whole concept is that the piece itself is more valuable because it is broken and because the shattered elements gain prominence,” she explained. “It’s more whole in its brokenness because it’s been repaired with something that’s gold, not just glue. I’ve always loved that metaphor, and it has lent itself to my collages. The torn pieces and bits and fragments are pieced together and create something where the sum of

Above: Enjoying NYC, 2024

Left: Phone bidding at Sotheby’s, 2018

the parts is greater. It’s a wonderful tenet to live by. Let your broken parts shine and give them prominence and own them.”

A FUTURE FOR ARTISTS

While Orr is content in her current job, she has dreams for the future, both for herself and other artists. One idea is to establish a place for artists to have a residency where they could come and recalibrate and make work for a set period of time, whether it be six months or a year. She might design it to have a specific focus, like all women artists, or perhaps artists who have been incarcerated and look to art as a way to get back on their feet.

“I think my goal, ultimately, is to get back to a place where I’m even more directly connecting my passion for service and being socially minded and working in an entrepreneurial way with my love for art,” she explained. “There’s always been an undercurrent and a theme of how I’ve seen the way that art can transform lives and be a vehicle for opportunity and an avenue for change. So, long term, I’m looking for something that will weave those passions together.

“Hutchison laid the groundwork. I continue to think fondly back on my years there and all that I learned. The nurturing and the support, the empathy, the compassion, the constant cheerleading of the faculty and staff were unparalleled. Our teachers helped us believe that we could hang the moon, that we could reach the stars, and that is so empowering when you’re a young woman, to be able to just have that everyday guidance and encouragement. Out of all of the mentors I’ve met and people who have supported me, I still think back to my Hutchison teachers. I’m eternally appreciative and grateful for them.”

Amanda Gentile Photography

Graduation

CLASS of 2024

Izzy Ellis, Emily Heim, J’oules Williams, Sakshi Singh, Caroline Kim,

Top honors for the Class of 2024: Izzy Ellis received Four Years, Top Honors, and Jordan Deupree received Four Years, Second Honors. Izzy Ellis and Anne Hartmann Lewis tied for Senior Year, Top Honors. Paige Corzine received Senior Year, Second Honors. Jordan Deupree also earned the Edward P. Russell Award, given to a senior who through her leadership and devotion to Hutchison’s founding ideals brings honor to herself and the school. Lauren Dukes received the Ideal Hutchison Girl Award, which is presented to a senior best representing the ideal woman as described in Proverbs 31. Ruthie Richey delivered a speech as the Meg omas Student Speaker, selected by her classmates.

Jynesis Jones, Ayrah Kashmiri, Lauren Coleman, Zelia Cedeño-Avila,

Garner Smythe, Noorain Gill, and Lauren Dukes

photos by Jessica Coulson

Anne Hartmann Lewis, Ruthie Richey, Lauren Dukes, Dr. Ring, Jordan Deupree, Paige Corzine, and Izzy Ellis

Hutchison

Eva Mollerup and Ainsley Geno

Sara Kate ’22, Patrick, Rebecca, Sara, and Anna Margaret ’20 Burnett

Mary Ross Whipple, Ann Grier Johnston, Ella Dobbs, and Emily Nunn

Katie Wiener ’22, Ed Eleazer, Bailey Wiener, Katie Dobbs Eleazer ’67, and Katie Eleazer ’91

Shifa Qureshi, Kaki Lackie, and Hira Janjua

Sakshi Singh and Shubhi Singh ’22

Angie, Jordan, Will, and Reese Deupree

Collins Farmer ’26, Sarah Dow McVean, Caroline Farmer, Kaki Lackie, and Eva Lackie ’26

Gracie Wilkinson and Blair Mellone

Sophie Boeving, Adela Calzada, Alyssa Johnson, Lindsay Robertson, and Melanie Woodbury

Adela Calzada with Dr. Ring

Jordan Deupree, Gracie Wilkinson, Lilly Rower, Mae Stockburger, Hollis Wondries, and Ruthie Richey

Front row: Sophie Siler, Lila Phillips, Paige Corzine, Anna Grace Huddleston, Melanie Woodbury, and Kate Anderson; back row: Lara Eason, Anne Hartmann Lewis, Sophie Boeving, Emma Grace Hibbard, and Lindsay Robertson

Hutchison

Young, Caroline, and Christy Kim

Commencement Speaker Holly Labry ’11

Chris, Emily, and Kim Nunn

Warren, Alyssa, Camilla ’21, and Olivia Johnson

Caroline Gibert, Rebecca Burnett, Paige Corzine, and Kate Anderson with flower girls Lou Wilson ’35, Joey Johnston ’36, and Palmer Smith ’36

Ava Guido ’36 and Kendall Blaylock

Jayla Dorsey and Alaina Smith ’36

Alexis Parent and Ayrah Kashmiri

Ella Dobbs hugging her father, Edward Dobbs

Ann Camp ’79 and Maddie Lee

Hollis Wondries and Ann Roane Walton ’36

Caroline Gibert, Mary Ross Whipple, Emma Haire, Rebecca Burnett, Ann Grier Johnston, Meriel Rowland, Sarah Dow McVean, and Eva Mollerup

HUTCHISON 2024 GOLF

SCRAMBLE

Presenting Sponsor

BLACK AND GOLD SPONSORS

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

STING SPONSORS FG3 Construction | Memphis Center for Family and Cosmetic Dentistry | Paragon Bank | Reynolds, Bone, and Griesbeck

The Doug Marchant Family | Memphis University School | Duncan Williams Asset Management | The Marston Group, PLC | Pinnacle Bank Boyle Investment Company | Wright Construction Company | Martin, Tate, Morrow and Marston | City Silo Table + Pantry | Greenfield Arena

FLAG SPONSORS Green Square Wealth Management | Campbell Clinic

TEE BOX SPONSORS Diversified Trust | The Crump Firm | Weiss and Glassell Orthodontics | Haynie Electric and HVAC | Presbyterian Day School

Taylor, Bean & Hamer | Coolmore Logistics | Colliers

IN-KIND SPONSORS

Doug Marchant, Chair

TOURNAMENT COMMITTEE

Jennings Pitts Barnes ’05

Paul Berryhill

Chip Campbell

Larkin Grisanti

Jackie Majors

Dennis Ring

Stephen Rodda

Tommy Stephenson

Ben Wunderlich

Hutchison Athletics Director Caroline Schaefer ’08 and Head of School

Dr. Kristen Ring with Susan Stephenson and Tommy Stephenson from Independent Bank

THE HUTCHISON GOLF SCRAMBLE was held at Chickasaw Country Club on Monday, September 16. More than 125 golfers took to the course to raise funds for Hutchison Athletics. Special thanks to the sponsors, players, and volunteers that made this year’s event a big success.

2024 WINNERS! 9-HOLE/LADIES

Closest to the Pin

Olivia Delozier

Longest Drive

Olivia Delozier

Championship Flight

1st Place

Ali Sinkular

Jeree Wheat

Michelle Bolton

Kathy Albertine

2nd Place

Jeanne Bowen Hollis ’75

Lisa Burkhalter Mitchum ’75

Janet Wepfer Leavell ’78

Selden Early Popwell ’79

18-HOLE/MEN

Championship Flight

1st Place

Alex Butterworth

Drew Plunk

Zach Justice

Paul Zampini

Championship Flight 2nd Place

Jay Keras

Ben Wunderlich

Rob Tayloe

Andrew Phillips

First Flight/ 1st Place

Aaron Brubacjk

Wes Seale

Dustin Hopkins

Lea Manhein

Second Flight/ 1st Place

Jason Peters

Joe Cummings

Thad McCracken

Ross Spain

Closest to the Pin

Chad Rounder

Longest Drive/ 1st Place

Chris Messer

Longest Drive/ 2nd Place

Joe Cummings

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 2025 HUTCHISON GOLF SCRAMBLE: SEPTEMBER 29

Congratulations to the 9-hole Championship Flight winners Kathy Albertine, Jeree Wheat, Ali Sinkular, and Michelle Bolton.

Congratulations to the 18-hole Championship Flight winners Paul Zampini, Alex Butterworth, Zach Justice, and Drew Plunk

Jeanna Bond, Jeanne Cousair, Anne Hamer, and Angela Brown

Daniel Connerley, Chris Thompson, Brenton Glassell, and Frank Lequerica

Jeanne Bowen Hollis ’75, Janet Wepfer Leavell ’78, Lisa Burkhalter Mitchum ’75, and Selden Early Popwell ’79

Duncan Williams, Morgan Hammond, Dennis Ring, and Matt Hayden

Gena Moore Morrow ’79, Debbie Bryce, Carroll Shannon Nenon ’72, and Sophia Bollinger

Rob Tayloe, Jay Keras, Ben Wunderlich, and Andrew Phillips

by Paige Miller Photography

2024 HUTCHISON TENNIS ROUND ROBIN PRESENTED BY

THE HUTCHISON TENNIS ROUND ROBIN was held at the Dunavant-Wellford Tennis Center on Monday, October 21. More than 80 tennis players took to the court to raise funds for Hutchison Athletics. Special thanks to the sponsors, players, and volunteers that made this year’s event a big success.

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 2025 TENNIS ROUND ROBIN: OCTOBER 20

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

STING SPONSORS

IN-KIND SPONSORS

COURT SPONSORS

City Silo Table + Pantry

The Hammons Investment Group of Raymond James Haygood Realty Healthgram iBank

Jim Keras Automotive

The Lewis Family OrthoSouth

Nancy Welsh Smith ’68 Wright Construction Company

FRIENDS OF HUTCHISON Jennifer Stover

Photo

Overall 2024 Champions Rachel Atkins Montague ’09 and Hallie Biggs with Caroline Schaefer ’08 (left) and Phil Chamberlain

At this year’s event, we recognized Coach Phil Chamberlain for his dedication and service to the event. Each year, The Chamberlain Cup will be presented to the overall champion. Pictured with Coach Phil Chamberlain are Brett Grinder and Caroline Schaefer ’08.

Section winners: Angie Deupree, Ruth Wood Garrett ’05, Brooks Klepper, Hattie Rounder, Hallie Biggs, Rachel Atkins Montague ’09, and Mary Marshall Maxwell ’06, pictured with Caroline Schaefer ’08 and Phil Chamberlain

Hutchison

Pictured clockwise from left: Anna Rose Thomas ’21, Kate Wunderlich ’23, Mary Aubrey Landrum Stafford ’10, Ellen Gannaway Lail ’84, Emmy Yambrek ’22, Izzy Ellis ’24, Emma Frances Gibbs ’24, Sarah Wright, Sarah Dow McVean ’24, Emily Nunn ’24, Ella Dobbs ’24, Mae Stockburger ’24, and Caroline Schaefer ’08

Charlotte

Emily Nunn ’24, Ella Dobbs ’24, Claiborne Collier ’23, and Sara Byrnes ’23

D.C.Julia Taylor Ellison ’06, Betsy Dumas Gebhardt ’53, Betsey Haight Hawthorne ’05, Lawrence Freeburg Zucker ’07, Claire Frisby Bell ’02, Kristen Ring, Ann Bennett Nash ’15, and Libby Moore Maslyn ’07

Back row, L to R: Amy Sebes ’84, Hannah Freeman ’20, Lucy Driscoll ’19, Liza Luter ’19, Coco Conrad ’26, Harper Behnke ’26, Lilly Hussey ’26, Kristen Ring, Emma Goughnour ’26, AB Stone Dickinson ’12, Cidney Simmons ’12, Allison Blankenship ’12, Frances Dornette Schafer ’66, Helen Morrison Guyton ’05, Mary Aubrey Landrum Stafford ’10, Caroline Willson, and John Reynolds; front row: Whitney Ellis ’02, Kennon Humphreys ’26, Hannah Roark ’26, Sophia Henderson ’26, Lily Simpson ’26, Jenny George Lauderdale ’95, and Beth Henson Tudan ’83

Charlottesville

Young Alums

Burson Taylor Snyder ’93, Elizabeth Wilson Pelly ’00, Lacy Moore Zegel ’10, Kristen Ring, Grier McCain Abbey ’99, Holly Zenner ’81, Claire Higginbotham Frantz ’10, Mary Aubrey Landrum Sta ord ’10, and Margaret Bass Smith ’81

Above: Back row, L to R: Ellie Weeks ’19, Madison Grinder ’19, Alyssa Hausmann ’19, and Macy Williams ’19; Front row: Lizzie Pierotti ’19, Nora Tillmanns ’19, Anna Catron Lee ’19, and Josephine Redd ’19

Helen Gillespie ’20, Kristen Ring, and Lauren Halbach ’20

Katherine Hammond ’10, Mary Aubrey Landrum Sta ord ’10, and Kendra Powers ’10

Keely Martin West ’18 and Meggy Muller ’18

Alumnae enjoyed filling vases with flowers from the Katherine and John Dobbs Farm.

PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING

Robin Saxon ’82 moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to become VP of Real Estate & Facilities Development for Wellstar Health System.

After more than 11 years at FedEx, Lizzy Moser Haymond ’01 has joined LifeLinc Anesthesia as VP of Human Resources.

Lille Flenorl ’04 was honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Urban Elite Professional. She also stepped into a new role as a media relations advisor at ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Sara Jones Nunnery ’06 is now the Director of Breast Cancer Research and a breast oncologist at Tennessee Oncology in Nashville, Tennessee.

Whitney West Alexander ’06 was promoted to purchasing agent at Drexel Chemical Company where she is responsible for procuring all packaging materials and raw materials for the company.

Katie Weeks Zawisza ’07 was promoted to executive sous chef at Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, California.

Kate Christenbury Curry ’07 is still at ConocoPhillips in Houston but moved into a new role as an IT Business Partner for Global Security, Real Estate, and Facilities Services.

of the Association for Women Attorneys, a bar association in Shelby County dedicated to supporting fellow attorneys, educating themselves and others in the law, and being of service to the community with particular reference to the legal needs of women. Obaji also serves as coach of the Hutchison Mock Trial Team.

Danielle Fong ’13 started a new role as an associate attorney for Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP in Austin, Texas. She was previously serving as a judicial law clerk.

Emily Woodbury ’08, an OB-GYN doctor in Boca Raton, Florida, just founded her own private boutique medical practice, Mira Women’s Health.

Noor Obaji ’10, associate at Lewis Thomason, has been elected President

Morgan Murdock ’14 was promoted to senior project manager at W&A Engineering in Atlanta, Georgia.

Brooks Hussey ’15 was promoted to director at Joele Frank. She has been at the public relations and communications firm in New York for five years.

Kelsey Kerkhof ’15 was promoted to account executive at StudentBridge, an enrollment marketing and management software company.

Rachel Woodman Turry ’16 has taken on a new role as a retail broker with SHOP Companies in Dallas, specializing in tenant representation and project leasing.

Daria Letcher ’17 was recently promoted to branch manager at Enterprise.

Sarah Tillman Neece ’17 began working as an associate attorney in the Commercial Real Estate practice group at Thompson Burton PLLC in Nashville.

Gracie Hussey ’18 started a new position as a recruiting specialist at Elmington, a commercial real estate investment, development, construction, affordable housing, and property management firm in Nashville.

Haley Clift ’19 moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where she is now working as a digital engagement manager for bread & Butter, a public relations, marketing, and creative agency.

Lauren Ma ’19 started working as a marketing operations specialist for Permobil in Nashville, a global leader in solutions for power and manual wheelchairs, seating and positioning products, and power assist.

Katherine Harding ’20 returned to Memphis and is working as an analyst of investments at

Pittco Management, which provides investment, accounting, tax and financial services.

Mary Chapman Morrow ’20 was the September Revenue Champ for the Nashville Predators sales team. She is working as an inside sales representative for the hockey team.

Isabelle Sharp ’20 returned to Memphis to work as an associate procurement specialist at FedEx.

Mayers Wallace ’20 is working as a search engine optimization analyst at 20North, a fullservice digital marketing agency, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ella Watson ’20 joined The Armstrong Company as a sales account manager.

Shade Webb ’20 is working as a marketing coordinator at Newport Healthcare.

LET US KNOW ABOUT YOUR WORK

Please share your latest professional achievements and news so your fellow classmates will know what you are doing. Send professional news and photos to alumnae@hutchisonschool. org. The deadline for the next magazine is Friday, April 11, 2025

Seni & Flower Girl Reveal

Like Taylor Swift’s fans, our seniors and their flower girls made friendship bracelets! The Class of 2025 met with their flower girls for the first time and cemented their bonds with beautiful bracelets, keychains, and drawings. It was heartwarming to see all the big smiles and hugs as our girls got to know one another.

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PARENTS of ALUMNAE: If your publication is addressed to your daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the Alumnae Office of her new mailing address at (901) 762-6664.

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Hutchison accepts qualified female students regardless of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin.

Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5