Presence, Persistence, & Principle

The numerous achievements should not overshadow another, equally important aspect of Bessie’s tenure: the personal impact she made by the way she led Tower Hill. Her presence, principle and persistence as a leader propelled Tower Hill forward in a way that will have a lasting impact on our community.

Presence

As soon as Elizabeth Cromwell Speers arrived as 10th head and first woman to lead Tower Hill, she was “Bessie” to everyone she met (or maybe “Mrs. Speers” to the students). Her name and her manner announced that she would be engaged and visible. And for the next eight years, she lived up to that first impression.

With her husband Tom and son Guthrie (daughter Nellie already off to college), the Speers family enlivened Hayward House and made it a more integral part of Tower Hill, opening it to informal gatherings of students, teachers and staff as well as formal receptions, holiday parties and alumni reunions. Lawn chairs and games dotted the yard, and Nola, the Speers’ yellow lab, became a special guest at outdoor events around campus. Tom’s immersion in apiculture added to the buzz, providing some curricular opportunities for teachers and students, and introducing the community to Hiller Honey.

Bessie and Tom were fixtures at Tower Hill competitions, cheering on Tower Hill athletes of every stripe. In one of her first letters to the community, Bessie (an athlete all her life) held up the “life lessons from sports—including perseverance, teamwork, dedication and hard work” and the importance of “learning to lose with grace and humility.” She often invoked sports when talking about the work being done at Tower Hill, as in this update sent to parents during the pandemic: “Every day, our students came to school ready to learn, even when things were new and different. Just like the French Open competitors, our teachers and students persevered, taught, learned and played with agility, endurance and belief in themselves and in Tower Hill.”

Whether hosting in Hayward House, cheering a team, introducing a play or closing a concert, Bessie exhibited pride and joy in all things Tower Hill, especially its students. To make a point, or a connection, she would go to great measure and was known to hula hoop, beat a bongo drum or dance the floss. She donned many a fancy hat and festive cape, and her collection of green and white apparel seemed limitless. She coaxed, cajoled and compelled students of every age to engage, and they were all the better for it. Bessie Speers’ role as an advisor and her commitment to being truly present for all Tower Hill students were as important to her as any other facet of her job as Head of School.

Persistence

Bessie had barely settled into Hayward House in 2015 when she began preparing for the school’s Centennial Celebration in 2019. In her first message to the community, she introduced the “Centennial chapter at Tower Hill” and called on us to “aim high and claim our history together as we approach 100 years of Tower Hill in 2019.” Though not a Tower Hill alumna, she recognized the central importance of history and traditions to Tower Hill and saw the centennial as the perfect opportunity to celebrate and reaffirm them. Looking to the future, she also saw the milestone as a once-in-a-century chance to unite all who love the school and to encourage their support of the institution.

She pursued these two aims of the Centennial with her characteristic enthusiasm and persistence and using the talents that helped her achieve so much. She envisioned what could be; communicated the vision broadly and often; inspired a skilled team of volunteers to carry the load; and stayed with it. The years of preparation paid off, with a series of joyful celebrations engaging the entire community and befitting Tower Hill’s first century. (Revelers will never forget the fireworks or the student-penned theme song!) And in celebrating our history, Bessie tapped the pride and excitement to well position Tower Hill for its second century, realizing the largest fundraising campaign in the school’s history.

The Centennial Celebration was not only a success for its result, but for the way Bessie, in characteristic manner, led the entire community to share in the work and the triumph: by thinking big, setting a goal, telling everybody about it, getting the right people to drive the effort and encouraging the community to join in.

Principle

It was clear early on that for Bessie “aim high” meant more than just pursuing lofty goals. She challenged herself, students and colleagues—and the Tower Hill community at large—to be better.

One way she conveyed that message was through the annual “Word of the Year.” The first, Gratitude, was introduced with a call to “celebrate a culture of gratitude for the school’s traditions, history and excellent reputation.” Kindness, Bessie wrote, could be “both gentle and powerful, understated and ubiquitous” and is “woven into the fabric of our Tower Hill community.” For the 2017-2018 school year, staff and faculty chose Courage, highlighting its importance in maintaining our commitment to strong values, well lived. Integrity marked the next year, Bessie explaining to students that to have integrity is “to always be honest, to never take shortcuts, to put in the hard work, to stand for what is right and just, and to have strong values.” The Centennial year focused on Community, which was a source of strength both in the celebration in the fall and the onset of the pandemic in the spring. And as we came together in-person after many months apart, Unity was the clarion call. “Have faith in one another,” she wrote. Inspire was the message in 2021-

2022, and Bessie shared the many things at Tower Hill that inspired her, from the arrival of spring when grass greened, robins revealed themselves and “light lingered longer in the afternoon” to “the gallant procession of Field Day… muscle and minds engaged in teamwork,” and in the “true poetry offered by our musicians, actors and actresses.” Gratitude. Kindness. Courage. Integrity. Community. Unity. Inspire. The qualities are simple, easy for all to appreciate, uplifting but not revelations. What is remarkable, though, is a leader who calls not just for students, and the community, to do better, but to be better. Bessie has been remarkable for her willingness to publicly challenge herself, and all of us, to lead with character.

And this year, as Bessie Speers prepares to leave Tower Hill, the word is Curiosity. At the final Opening Assembly of a tenure marked by achievement and expansion, innovation and introspection, challenges and change, Bessie reminded students that “to be truly curious about one another, with a loving mind and heart, is what learning is all about—and it helps us care outward, beyond ourselves.”

And so, we turn to the future, curious about what it will bring, but confident that Bessie Speers’ eight years leading Tower Hill have well prepared us to seize the opportunities and overcome the challenges we will encounter.

Thank you, and Godspeed, Bessie!

The Speers Scholarship

Elizabeth C. Speers, Tower Hill’s 10th Head of School and first woman to lead the school, believed that making a Tower Hill education more accessible would have far reaching benefits to Tower Hill and the broader community.

To that end, Bessie led efforts that significantly grew the endowment for financial aid and nearly doubled the aid provided to families. She viewed Tower Hill as a “school of Wilmington and of the world” and strived to increase Tower Hill School’s engagement with both. In her final year as Head of School, the Board of Trustees approved Horizons at Tower Hill, a summer academic and enrichment program designed to advance educational equity. Bessie introduced Tower Hill to this national program when she arrived at the school in 2015 and, by her unflagging advocacy, brought it to life in 2023.

To honor Bessie’s steadfast commitment to increasing the accessibility of a Tower Hill School education, and to recognize her efforts to foster more community engagement, The Speers Scholarship was established in March of 2023.

“Bessie is passionate about education and Tower Hill, and she has made the school a better place. Her vision has lifted the school in so many ways and there has been a notable renaissance in the breadth of academics and in the school’s attention to inclusivity and diversity.”

— Ben duPont, Board Chair