Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls

Dear Hawthorn Families,

It is with deep regret that we are informing you that Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls will be closing effective August 15, 2023. Although our Board of Directors was optimistic that Hawthorn would reach our student enrollment targets for the coming school year, we were not able to attain the necessary scale and are now faced with the realities of program and budget constraints. A variety of factors contributed to our drop-off in enrollment, a drop experienced by Hawthorn and countless other schools in our region – shifting demographics in the City of St. Louis, overall population decline, the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on student enrollment, and attendance. While we have operated well as a small school, the prohibitive per-student cost of providing a quality educational program for our small student body has led us to this extremely difficult decision.

All of us at Hawthorn are deeply sorry for the disruption this closure will have on our students, their families, our faculty and administrators, our community partners, and our donors. There is no good time to close a school. Until only very recently we remained hopeful that we could increase our enrollment enough to remain open. As soon as we knew that would not be possible, Hawthorn’s Board and school leaders felt that making this decision now, before the school year gets underway, was the best option for all of our stakeholders.

We will work tirelessly over the coming days and weeks to find quality school placements for your students and support your families to help navigate this change. Additionally, we are also assisting our faculty and staff as they transition to new positions for the upcoming school year. Our teachers have played an instrumental role in the success of Hawthorn.

We are proud of the school we built -- the educational program we provided for hundreds of young women, along with the quality educators and administrators who gave so much of themselves to support our girls’ learning and growth. We are proud of the impactful partnerships we developed in the St. Louis community. We are proud of the way we stewarded the generous investment from our donors that enabled Hawthorn to launch and operate. We have, throughout our journey, lived into our school’s core values: integrity, contribution, support, courage and joy.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve your families. You will receive another email in the next few hours sharing the specific resources, points of contact and support that will be available to assist your family through this transition.

For Hawthorn,

Hal Davies - Board Chair
Daphné J Morgan - Head of School

Soon-to-be 10th graders, Adeline and Jeanne, completed their first summer session at the WashU College Prep Program! These students will be learning on the Wash U campus for the next three summers, and have access to university experts while navigating the college admissions process.

There is so little summer left! Our staff is already back at school and working hard to prepare for the return of our students. Luckily, we know that we'll be seeing children who are relaxed and enriched; like the girls who went to Camp Miniwanca

These students enjoyed 2 weeks in Shelby, Michigan living in cabins with their peers and taking part in personalized, high- energy daily activities. We can't wait to hear all about it!
American Youth Foundation

ENROLLING NOW!
If you're still looking for a school, Hawthorn is looking for YOU! At Hawthorn, you'll get a rigorous, high-quality curriculum and a supportive, all- girl environment. Sound good to you? GIVE US A CALL at 314-361-5323 Ext. 104.

You can get a double dose of Hawthorn today! We'll be holding our Back to School Bash 1pm-4pm, AND we're representing at the Urban League Back to School and Community Festival at the Convention Center until 6pm.
Come out and see us!

Thank you so much to our friends from KPMG,who came back again this year to help us prep for staff and students' return. As always, they were amazing and helped us to put together a few surprises for the staff.
We can't show everything yet ( we don't want to ruin the surprise) but there are hints in the picture.

The silver lining to summer going by so quickly is the Hawthorn Back to School Bash! Join us on Saturday, August 5th 1pm-4pm for music, games, food, snow cones, cotton candy and so much more!
If you're new to Hawthorn,or an old friend, bring your friends and family to celebrate another year of Hawthorn!

Last year, we were excited to offer our newest course on Green Architecture. The course is an introduction to architecture, urban planning, 3D modeling and sustainability.
Thanks to an Innovator grant from the Innovative Technology Education Fund, we will be able to offer it again in 2023-2024

This is how we grow together! Thanks to the Bayer Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer, for awarding us a $40,000 grant.
Together, we’ll continue to see the communities that we support, and our commitment to them, flourish. Keep an eye out for how we use the funds, as we plan to grow and sustain our STEM education programming.

WE'RE HIRING!
Hawthorn is looking for talented educators who are committed to our school’s mission. See our website for more information!
*From time to time, staff may take a pie to the face. We will provide paper towels.

https://www.hawthornschool.org/employment-opportunities.html

If you haven't been to a Summer Saturday event at Hawthorn yet, you only have ONE.MORE.CHANCE.
Our final Summer Saturday is July 22nd, and we want to make it the best one! So, come out and bring a friend. Everyone is invited!

https://www.hawthornschool.org/visit-hawthorn.html