From the HEAD OF SCHOOL

Dear Tower Hill Community,

This summer Tower Hill will launch the very first Horizons program in the state of Delaware—Horizons at Tower Hill. Within this Bulletin you can read further about our wonderful founding Executive Director, a Tower Hill alumna herself, and the mission of Horizons, a national academic outreach program. In 1919 Tower Hill’s founders had a bold vision—to create a school that “offered students an opportunity for education of the highest order and also shape the future of education in the state.” While there is plenty of progress still to be made, we can feel proud that our founders’ vision has been realized, both in our daily mission at Tower Hill and as the school continues to live into its commitment of being a school of Wilmington and of the world.

Eight years ago when I came to Tower Hill, I simply posed this question to our talented faculty and staff: What would it mean to become a school of Wilmington and of the world? With incredible agility, talent and passion, our teachers, students, alumni, trustees and friends of the school realized that vision. They committed to curriculum, classes, service learning initiatives, social justice commitments, affinity opportunities, international cultural exchanges, experiential and innovative teaching and learning opportunities, environmental initiatives and more—that have truly shaped Tower Hill’s recent renaissance and helped us become more of the school our founders imagined.

Tower Hill has always been a stellar academic institution, however it was the deliberate shift to a posture of both confidence and humility that won the day. While there will always be work to do, today’s Tower Hill includes many more students, teachers and families who perhaps were not as sure that Tower Hill was the place for them; and we have become a school that understands that academic rigor is indeed enhanced by compassion, real world learning pedagogy and a student-centered philosophy.

Tower Hill does not belong to any one student, teacher, family, trustee or head of school. In fact, that is part of the magic of the Tower Hill community. We have the privilege of being part of the school community for a period of time, we hope to use our gifts and dreams for the good of others, and then we graduate, or move on with our lives, knowing that we have been the lucky beneficiaries of Tower Hill’s gift—one that will live on in our souls forever. It is the intertwining of Tower Hill’s stories that offer the history and texture we come to love and appreciate as members of this wonderful community. Tower Hill’s next Head of School Sarah Baker will soon have the opportunity to discover and share in the rich tapestry of Tower Hill stories.

Leadership extends well beyond heads of school and to this end, leadership has always been at the core of a Tower Hill education. Each day, we ask our youngest and oldest students and everyone in between, to be leaders and learners. We teach leadership in all we do, whether in math or history class, on the athletic field or in the art studio. You will read about just a few of the many Tower

Hill students who are talented leaders of their school. Tower Hill alumni are leading all over the world, as you will read within these pages as well. Leaders are in essence story tellers who are willing to examine their own stories with humility and an open heart.

A Tower Hill education offers us each a compass—it provides direction, orientation and an opportunity to share our stories and learn the stories of others, in order to make meaning and progress in the world. A compass functions differently than a map; the work of living is creating that map for ourselves; Tower Hill will always ensure that its students are prepared to create the map for their own lives. And surely part of that map will include a path to and from Tower Hill always.

At Tower Hill’s Centennial celebration in 2019, over 1,600 alums, parents, faculty, trustees and friends gathered under an enormous tent. Ceremonies like Centennial, Tree Trim and Field Day provide us a way to “remember to remember” the power of Tower Hill stories that intertwine through the generations! As Centennial evening concluded after a magical fireworks display, an evergreen sprig was handed to everyone as a momento. I like to imagine all the evergreen saplings that have sprouted around the country and the world, symbolizing Tower Hill’s impact—forever green. It has been a true privilege to have been part of the Tower Hill story and the Speers family will surely be rooting on the green and white from afar forever—forever green!

With appreciation,

Elizabeth C. Speers