The Hockaday School

🐞🐛🪲🦋Kindergarten and Primer’s production of “Squirm! A Wiggly, Giggly, Squiggly Musical” was adorable with spiders, butterflies, ladybugs, and other critters that took over the Lower School stage.

https://www.peoplenewspapers.com/2025/03/05/former-hockaday-students-teach-next-generation-of-dance/

Former Hockaday Students Teach Next Generation of Dance - People Newspapers Ellie Nerenberg has been a part of “Hockadance” for all four years of high school but this year is different.

Congratulations to Hayden Eberhart ’03, who performed at the Academy Awards ceremony with the Los Angeles Master Chorale! She sang “Defying Gravity” with Cynthia Erivo, during part of the opening monologue with Conan O’Brien, and “Lacrimosa” from Mozart’s Requiem during the In Memoriam segment.

https://www.peoplenewspapers.com/2025/03/05/teen-podcast-charts-new-territory/

Teen Podcast Charts New Territory - People Newspapers Anya Bohil gives the impression she’d be a regular guest on Super Soul Sundays.

Form IV Neuroscience students had the unique and awe-inspiring opportunity to meet Dr. David Fajgenbaum at Pegasus Park Thursday night and hear about his journey. In 2010, Dr. Fajgenbaum was diagnosed with an extremely rare disease and nearly died five times. He discovered a new use for an existing drug that had never been used for treating his disease and has now been in remission for over 11 years! Dr. Fajgenbaum and his nonprofit, Every Cure are now on a mission to utilize AI to help identify more diseases to cure by repurposing existing FDA-approved drugs.

Lower School celebrated Black History this month with a special gathering! Anjy F. (Class of 2025) read an original poem and spoke to the girls about famous black poets; Marley R. (Class of 2027) showcased her beautiful ballet skills, and Madison Camper ’18 talked about stepping and the history of rhythm, while Lower Schoolers performed the steps she taught them! A special shoutout to our parent and faculty participants, who helped make the event so amazing!

🧪✨ Chemistry Enriched students perfected their titration skills today! They were thrilled to hit that perfect light pink endpoint in their reactions. 💧 The goal? Determining the mass percent of hydrogen peroxide in household peroxide bottles. Science in action! 🔬👏

Such a great partnership between our Statistics classes and Dallas Animal Services!

It feels like just yesterday it was freezing, but spring is nearly upon us - time to Spring Break 'Em Out!

We've opened up more slots for - it's a great way to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather AND help a dog in need.

The statistics students at The Hockaday School were so kind to analyze several months of data on this program - here is some of what they found!

💙Dogs that went on Doggie Daycations were nearly twice as likely to be adopted (62%) than non-Daycation dogs (33%)

🐕Dogs that went on Doggie Daycations were also more likely to be transferred to a rescue (23%) than non-Daycation dogs (14%)

🧡 Overall, for the 395 dogs who participated from May to November 2024, 97% found positive outcomes with an adopter, rescue, foster, or return to previous owner.

We're grateful to the math department at the Hockaday School for conducting this study - we are excited about how we can use their full list of findings to improve the program!

You can make the world of difference in a homeless pet's life in just a single day. Learn more about our Doggie Daycation program and sign up at https://bedallas90.org/doggie-daycations/

Music & Medicine - Preston Hollow How a Hockaday senior is composing a path in biomedical innovation During Aimee Guo’s freshman year at The Hockaday School, her grandfather died from lung cancer. The loss shifted Guo’s view of healthcare and led to her interest in medicine. She began to think about how she could

Lower Schools’s Field Studies class headed outside to go on a bug hunt! This nature-inspired class combines art, writing, and science as the adventurous First Graders study the world around them and engage with plants, animals, and weather!

Members of the Entrepreneurship Club welcomed Mandy Ginsberg ’88 to campus today to learn about making their mark in business. Mandy shared her journey, which led her to become the CEO of Match.com, and a board member for Uber, thredUP, Universal Music Group, and Flo Health, and took questions from aspiring Hockaday entrepreneurs!

This week, Second Grade visited the Children’s Aquarium of Dallas at Fair Park to kick off their Social Impact business unit. Students explored their social impact theme by learning about sharks, which they will help protect through adopting one with their profits from the unit. They also gained real-world experience through hands-on interactions with the animals, while building empathy and advocacy skills as they learned about the importance of water conservation and designing solutions to protect marine life.

Way to go Anjy!!

On Saturday, TCA held the 2025 Texas Poetry Out Loud finals, graciously hosted by our friends at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. Nine finalists competed and showed great, engaging skill! Ultimately, Anjy Fadairo (right), a 12th grader at The Hockaday School in Dallas, was named the 2025 Texas champion, and Anna Rodriguez (left), a junior at James M. Steele Early College High School in Roanoke, took the runner-up spot. Anjy will represent Texas in the national finals in Washington, DC, in early May. We appreciate all the competitors, teachers, family members, judges, MC Shihab Nye, and staff who helped make this such a special event!

Photo: Lens of Athena Photography

Middle School students Deetya D. (Class of 2029), Zoya K. (Class of 2031), Emily Lu (Class of 2031), Olivia L. (Class of 2030), Alexa M. (Class of 2030), Trisha M. (Class of 2030), Sarah N. (Class of 2029), Kristine Q. (Class of 2029), Adhya R. (Class of 2029), Radha R. (Class of 2029), Isabella S. (Class of 2031), and Olivia Z. (Class of 2030), participated in the Math Counts competition in February.

Four girls (Olivia Z., Kristine Q., Deetya D., and Radha R.) were selected to participate in the Countdown Round based on their excellent performance on the written portions of the competition. The Countdown Round is an exciting gameshow-like competition where two contestants are called up two at a time to answer challenging math questions. The students have to perform in front of an audience and buzz in with the correct answer. Olivia Z. placed second in a very competitive field.

The four-person team made up of Kristine Q., Radha R., Trisha M., and Isabella S. placed third overall.

Finally, two competitors, Kristine Q. and Olivia Z., placed high enough on their individual written tests (seventh and fifth respectively) to advance to the State MathCounts Competition in March.

At today’s assembly, Middle School students heard from Dr. Leona Tate, a Civil Rights pioneer and one of the first African American students to integrate public schools in New Orleans in 1960. Her courageous actions helped pave the way for school desegregation and continue to inspire generations. Dr. Tate will be speaking tonight at 6pm in The Nancy N. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Theater.

Lower School welcomed some amazing women for Engineer Week! Students in Pre-K, Kinder, and Primer learned about what engineering is, how to become an engineer, and different types of jobs an engineer can have. Students also practiced independence by reading their schedules and navigating to the correct sessions. Thank you to our presenters:

Liana Wottrich, Infrastructure Engineer at Google

Amanda Alsbrook, Senior Product Development Engineer on the Craniomaxillofacial team at Acumed

Danieli Rodrigues, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Department at UT Dallas 

Cyonna Holmes ’09, Global Business Strategy Leader for Ophthalmology, Rare Diseases and RNA Therapeutics at Celanese

Mandy McBride, Senior Manager Digital Platforms - Mobile at Southwest Airlines

Rana Karimi, Solutions Manager for ProcureAbility

Two members of the Class of 2025 completed Girl Scout Gold awards, the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA. 
 
For her project, Christiana Adesanya (Class of 2025) focused on adolescent substance abuse education. Inspired by her mother’s nursing experience, she developed “Facts for the Future: Combating Adolescent Substance Abuse.” This educational initiative provided middle school students with engaging, research-based lessons on ni****ne, THC, and fentanyl. In collaboration with the Irving Police Department and healthcare professionals, she hosted and directed a week-long summer camp educating and empowering youth to advocate for their own well-being, fostering a safe and healthier community.  

Elle Myers (Class of 2025) completed a project titled, “TIP: Food Choices Matter” that aimed to help families become aware of food additives and chemicals and the need to swap for healthier options. She also started a petition at change.org to bring awareness and hopefully change the manufacturing of food in the US. Finally, she wrote an article that reached over 1200 homes regarding healthier food options and she completed direct education at community events.

Chloe Grinnell ’24 recorded a special video for Lower School students to celebrate Black History Month! She spoke about her experience as a lifer (Pre-K through graduation) and how it prepared her for college. She also taught the girls about Historically Black Colleges and Universities, why they exist, and why she chose to attend Spelman College. Thank you Chloe for sharing your experiences!