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For Hill Head Treavor Lord, Clearly the Right Choice
For Hill Head Treavor Lord, Clearly the Right Choice
By Leonard Shapiro
Treavor Lord still remembers that day shortly before the start of his senior year at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York, sitting on a back porch with some friends and talking about the future at a time in his life when he admitted, “I had no idea what I was going to do.”
“I was speaking to one girl who said she had a friend who was teaching in a private school and really liked it,” he recalled. “And I think that planted the seed.”
These days, that seed has fully blossomed into a widely respected and highly regarded educator about to celebrate his 35th year at The Hill School in Middleburg. He began as a teacher there in 1990, and twenty years later was named Head of School, a position he’s held ever since at the JK-8th grade independent school founded in 1926.
Lord was recently named the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Sally K. Boese Distinguished Service Award by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS). It recognizes individual educators who exhibit extraordinary creativity, innovation, and service, honoring them at the VAIS annual conference each fall.
The school’s faculty and administrators along with countless Hill parents and alums have experienced all of Lord’s considerable skills as he’s about to celebrate his 15th year at the helm. Ironically, not long after he graduated from St. Lawrence, he thought at the time he wanted to teach at a private New England boarding high school.
A native of Williamstown, Massachusetts in the northwest corner of the state, Lord was teaching sailing, English and creative writing one summer at Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass. at the base of Cape Cod. He got a call from Tom Northrup, Hill’s long-time Head of School, who wondered if Lord might be interested in coming south to Hill to teach middle school.
“I told Tom, ‘You’re calling me from a Virginia day school and I wanted to work at a high school and boarding school,’” Lord said. “But at the time, my brother, Steve, was in the Army and stationed at Fort Myer (in Arlington). I thought okay, I’ll visit the school and get to see my brother.”
It turned out to be a journey that changed his life.
“I really liked Hill School,” said Lord, who began in 1990 teaching history and English, coaching a variety of sports, and serving as a seventh grade homeroom teacher. It didn’t take him long to realize he’d absolutely made the right choice.
“I learned pretty quickly that I much preferred JK-8 over boarding school,” he said. “These are the most important years. If you want children to become happy, successful adults, this is the age when it starts.”
From 1990 to 1994, Lord spent ten months teaching and coaching at Hill and the two summer months back at Tabor, still teaching sailing and English at the Massachusetts school. He also earned a Masters in Education from the University of Virginia, taking night classes at UVA’s Falls Church facility.
His elevation to Head of School came a dozen years after he was named assistant head in 1998. Ten years later, Hill launched a nationwide search for Northrup’s replacement after he announced he’d be retiring following the 2009 school year.
“I was not a shoo-in by any means,” Lord said. “I went through the same set of interviews, the same process that every other candidate went through.
The Board announced my appointment as Head in 2009, Tom’s last year, and that allowed for an overlap year when we worked together for a smooth transition.”
Lord has seen major changes and challenges during his time at Hill, most significantly the expansion of the campus and the Covid outbreak. “However, during these times not only did Hill not waver in our commitment to our education philosophy,” he said. “We based our decisions on these tenets.
“Strong academics is at the core of our program. And we want everyone to do everything. Each student plays sports and competes on our teams. When there’s a play, everyone is in it. Everyone performs in concerts. We don’t call these events extra-curricular. At Hill, we offer a co-curricular program with art, music, sports, and theater.
“We believe this is incredibly important in developing character -- that every child gets to do something that is their strength. We want children to be geniuses when it comes to interpersonal skills and intrapersonal knowledge—how to lead, how to work with each other, how to step up.”
“There are now 233 students at Hill, and that’s our optimal size,” Lord said. “I think every part of our program has gotten better—how to teach reading, how to utilize our campus better, especially the outdoors. What hasn’t changed is our basic philosophy.”
Lord said he often speaks with Hill alumni and he’s particularly delighted that many of his former students are moving back to the Middleburg area. They want their children to attend Hill and have the same “whole child” educational experience that they had. There are now 39 children of alumni attending the school, and 22 current Hill parents had Lord as a teacher at some point.
In 1986 the late Reverend Richard Peard gave a blessing at Hill’s graduation. He said, “When you find your place in this world, help others find theirs.”
“This community—the students, parents, parents of alumni, the faculty and staff—all helped me find my place and helped me become the man I am today,” Lord said. “I consider it a privilege to serve as Hill’s Head of School. This is a special place that has grown and changed over the years, but its heart and soul have remained the same.”
