The Hun School of Princeton

Congratulations to all of our eighth grade students, who celebrated the end of their Middle School years at the Middle School Closing Ceremony.

See more photos from the ceremony: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBtSaC

Congratulations, graduates 🎓

More photos will be added to Flickr next week, but enjoy this sneak peek for now!

🎓 Today's the day! Join us as we celebrate the Class of 2024, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

The Hun School of Princeton's 110th Commencement Ceremony

Our Upper School students are wrapping up their NextTerm courses this week, and preparing for NeXpo, the exhibition of student projects.

For the past three weeks, our ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students explored new concepts in a tangible and dynamic way. They learned about honey bees alongside professional apiarists, they studied 18th century baseball rules and played a game against some of New Jersey's finest baseball historians, they played an active role in protecting wildlife in Costa Rica, they hiked National Parks, and visited studio lots and filming locations in Los Angeles.

If you're local to campus, join us on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to get a first-hand look at our students' NextTerm experiences.

We're 1️⃣ week away from graduation!

More information about the ceremony (including the livestream link!) and the Class of 2024 is available on the Class of 2024 web page: hunschool.org/commencement-2024

One Course. Three Weeks. Anywhere your mind can go ✨

Students in grades 9 through 11 began their NextTerm courses this week. The experiential mini-semester is an immersion learning experience designed to offer a deep exploration of interdisciplinary topics.

Students choose from a broad menu of credited academic courses that explore new concepts in a tangible and dynamic way. Courses are team-taught, informed by a variety of environments and real-world practitioners, and utilize resources both on and off campus.

Some of the 20 available courses this year include: Behind the Credits: Business and Technology in Film; When the Torch Goes Out: Unraveling the Barcelona Olympic Legacy; Bittersweet Sustainability: Our Love of Chocolate; and Space Race: To Affinity and Beyond.

At the end of the three weeks, each course culminates with a project-based assessment, exhibited to and reviewed by an authentic audience, including students, faculty, and parents.

Join us on campus this summer for weekly sports camps aimed at enhancing skills, improving conditioning, and having fun! Available camps include field hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, and football.

Learn more and register: hunschool.org/summer

Pass it On Day is a tradition that allows our graduating students to celebrate their next big adventure while also sharing advice to younger students and writing notes of gratitude to the faculty members who have helped them along the way.

Our 12th graders are now off on their Capstone Experiences!

See more photos from Pass it On Day: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBqjAk

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our tenth annual Raider Giving Day and helped us celebrate our teachers, coaches, and community members 🎉

We were able to raise more than $200,000 in just twenty-four hours!

We are so grateful for your support ❤️ Go Raiders!

We're one month away from Upper School Commencement! We'll be sad to see our 12th graders and PGs go, but we'll have fun celebrating them in the meantime 🎉

Check out the Class of 2024 web page, which includes photos, stories, and matriculation information about the class, and information about Commencement on June 7th: hunschool.org/commencement-2024

“A Hun School education is probably the greatest gift that a parent could give their child. Hun sets you up with all these powerful examples and an encouraging focus on exploring your capabilities and seeing what you can do, and it’s all done in a familial atmosphere.”

Half a century after graduating from The Hun School, Bruce L. Cohen ’74 is still raving about the impact the School and its faculty have had on his life.

“There isn’t a day I wake up that this place isn’t changing my life,” he says. “It never stops giving.”

Today, Hun is celebrating Raider Giving Day, and doing it in honor of our dedicated teachers and faculty. We’re encouraging our community to donate to The Hun Fund in honor of a teacher, coach, or staff member who changed their life for the better.

Mr. Cohen notes that many of his teachers not only provided him with important lessons and guidance, but also opportunity. His Human Anatomy and Physiology teacher was G. Gerald Donaldson Jr. H’14, a chemistry and biology teacher who became Hun’s head of school in 1979. After observing Mr. Cohen’s talent for science, Mr. Donaldson offered to find him placement in a biology class at Princeton University during his final year of study.

“He pulled it off within a week,” Mr. Cohen recalls. “He [had me] placed into a Princeton University class called Limnology, which was a freshman science course on small pond ecosystems. My teachers were so dedicated and available to advantaging their students that they just created these lasting ripples.”

Read more about Mr. Cohen’s experience at The Hun School, and what he's been up to in the 50 years since graduation: https://bit.ly/3ya4gqr

Or, make a gift to The Hun Fund in honor of a Hun teacher who has made a lasting difference: givecampus.com/pjjgtl

(What's going on in these photos? We caught up with Mr. Cohen at Alumni Weekend recently. When he told us about his nightly band practice and fondness for playing piano in Russell Hall, we pulled the cover off our current piano and let him play for a bit. Then, of course we had to dig up a picture of him playing as a Hun student.)

🎉 Just one day left until Raider Giving Day!

This year, we are celebrating 110 years of teaching excellence. When you make a gift today, we encourage you to do so in honor of a teacher who you think is a 🌟 10 out of 10 🌟

Make your gift early: https://www.givecampus.com/pjjgtl

Michael D. ’24 chose ‘Into The Open Spaces: America’s National Park Experience’ for his eleventh grade NextTerm course. During the three-week interdisciplinary course, he and his classmates explored Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks.

Throughout the trip, his love for nature and philosophy began to blossom – a love that stayed with him long after he returned home and the school year ended. Later that summer, Michael participated in the highly-competitive New Jersey Scholars Program where he studied current events through the lenses of science, music, architecture, literature, and art. His final assignment was an interdisciplinary thesis paper on a topic of his choosing. Michael knew exactly what he wanted to write about: America’s national park experience.

“I was so inspired coming out of Mr. Hews’ NextTerm course,” he said. “His class changed my understanding of education. Everything was experiential and collaborative and learning was a product of having fun. So when it came time to write my final research paper for the New Jersey Scholars Program I knew that I wanted to research and write about America’s national parks. My paper called for a reevaluation of the national parks’ legacy, applying their founding transcendental principles to modern challenges such as politicization.”

Next year, Michael will matriculate to Princeton University where he will continue to broaden his academic horizons. While he explores his options for a major, he will continue to research political philosophy and find ways to further the conversation regarding America’s national parks.

Our tenth annual Raider Giving Day is coming up on May 7th, but you can join the festivities early! Let's rally together and aim high — our goal is to reach 600 donors 🎉

Make your gift early: https://www.givecampus.com/pjjgtl

In addition to rowing with the Hun varsity boys’ crew team for more than an hour in the afternoon during his visit this week, Venezuelan political leader and pro-democracy activist Leopoldo López answered questions from an intimate group of students in various global studies courses, many of whom were international students from countries where democracy is waning. Mr. López advised them never to lose hope or be quiet and to value the opportunities provided to them by a Hun education, which he credited for many of his successes.

“That quest for freedom, for me, started at The Hun School. You are very lucky to be here,” he said. “I think you should do all the things that you would like to do. Meet the people you want; be good; be bad in some ways. Take the best advantage of friendship and having fun. But also know that these are the years that are going to shape you. I would ask you to dream big.”

Read more about Mr. López’s visit: https://bit.ly/49UBFm7

“I have taken a lot of STEM classes here at Hun, because I recognize that those courses will guide me to success in my future studies and career. But the humanities classes I have been able to take at Hun have filled my cup and allowed me to nourish my passion and love for reading. I’m so thankful that I have been able to take courses that have allowed me to branch out and find new things that I love while still maintaining my focus on STEM,” says Lana C. ’24.

Lana has always wanted to pursue a career in STEM. In her time at Hun, she has taken a majority of the offered STEM courses. Outside of Hun, she has been a molecular biologist intern at Rutgers University Waksman Summer Institute, a biomedical scholar at Rowan University, and an oncology intern at Sutter Health Hospital. Yet, even with a career as a doctor on the horizon, Lana is equally as passionate about humanities courses. She often seeks out educational opportunities where she can connect the two. In fact, her college essay was about how Dr. Bucy’s detective fiction English class helped her envision what a career as a molecular biologist will look like.

“In my first week of biology, my teacher told us that ‘to be a good scholar in biology is to be a good detective’, I thought ‘how could detection ever be associated with biology?’ But then it struck me – science is about perspective.” she said. “A good molecular biologist looks at every possible perspective as well as recognizes that there is more than one way to do an experiment, just like a good detective knows that there is more than one way to solve a crime.”

Next year Lana will matriculate at Johns Hopkins University where she will major in molecular and cellular biology paired with a pre-med track.

What an honor to welcome Venezuelan political leader, pro-democracy activist, and 2024 Alum of the Year Leopoldo Lopez '89 to campus today!

And if that wasn't enough, journalist, news anchor, and author Susan Hendricks '91 moderated a discussion with him before meeting with our Young Women's Leadership Cohort.

Watch the Centennial Speakers Series event:

The Hun School Welcomes Leopoldo Lopez '89, Moderated by Susan Hendrick '91

Congratulations to The Janus Players for their spring play, "The Importance of Being Earnest!"

More photos are on Flickr: flic.kr/s/aHBqjBniC2

Well that was fun ✨

Thanks to all of our alums who made it back home for Alumni Weekend 2024.

We're already looking forward to next year, but if you want to relive the fun from this weekend, check out our Alumni Weekend albums on Flickr: flickr.com/photos/hunschool/albums

This morning we hosted the inaugural booking ceremony to celebrate our students who are committing to majoring in the arts in college.

The ceremony was a recognition of the importance of their contributions to our School community during their high school career, and a celebration of their choice to continue a pursuit of the arts.

More photos from this morning's celebration are available on Flickr: flic.kr/s/aHBqjBn57m

Susan Hendricks ’91 has had many roles during her storied career. From her early days as a local field reporter to the anchor of HLN’s Weekend Express, and now book author, however, it all goes back to something she heard legendary broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite say when he spoke at Arizona State University, where she was a student.

Mr. Cronkite spoke about “the responsibility of witnessing history, of witnessing stories, and the importance of a journalist,” says Ms. Hendricks. She was hooked, and went on to earn a B.A. in Journalism.

Read more about Ms. Hendricks at hunschool.org/news

We're thrilled to welcome Ms. Hendricks to campus next week as she moderates a discussion with her former classmate Leopoldo López ’89, a Venezuelan political leader and pro-democracy activist. Mr. López will receive the Alum of the Year Award during Alumni Weekend.

We're just days away from Alumni Weekend!

⏰ There's still time to register: hunschool.org/alumni/alumni-news-and-events/alumni-weekend

It was (almost) a Total Eclipse at The Hun ☀️

We gathered as a community to learn about the eclipse and then watch it! Thanks to our science department and the Science Olympiad team for their time and dedication to helping make this experience so fun for our community!

What does History and Global Studies Teacher Connor Brennan say is his best memory as a dorm parent?

"Whether it’s dinner or study hall, I like being the go-to dorm parent when you’re on duty. During study hall, it’s nice to just check in with the kids on a regular basis. I usually post myself up in the second-floor lounge after I do the checks in the rooms. If they want, they can come and talk to me, and I think that’s a comforting thing. Hopefully, they feel like they can trust me and get some good advice on whatever they’re asking about."