The Hill School launches 164th year with new construction, courses, planning – and students!

Headmaster Lehman welcomes parents at a preseason reception at the new Lehrman '56 Pavilion

The Hill School will proudly and officially launch its 164th academic year, with Convocation on Sunday, September 7, and classes beginning Monday, September 8. About 200 preseason athletes arrived Sunday, August 24 to begin practices; international students will arrive Thursday, September 4; our 178 new students arrive Friday, September 5 to meet advisers, begin orientation, and enjoy a cookout and other fun activities. Returning students arrive “home” on Saturday, September 6.

This coming year’s 515-member student body includes young men and women from 27 states and 26 foreign countries. Our students will benefit from 15 talented new faculty members (10 women and five men) coming from a range of backgrounds and communities as near as Pottstown and as far away as South Africa. Three of Hill’s faculty member will be living in new homes dedicated this past June in the School’s East Campus Faculty Village located off Green Street in Pottstown.

Students will explore a number of new courses including a team-taught AP Physics 1 with Pre-calculus Honors course; introductory Arabic; pilot STEM initiatives; a financial literacy workshop for sixth formers; new offerings in the fine and performing arts including term courses in animation, digital media, and Music Appreciation Through Technology; a course on the history of jazz; and an English 4 Honors course on literature and religion. This year the first-rate Jonathan Silverstein ’09 Electronic Media Studio, dedicated in June, will be put to good use.

In athletics, three new club sports will be offered this year: crew, fencing, and equestrian. The crew season will consist of winter conditioning before hitting the water in the spring; fencing will be offered in the winter only; and organized support will be offered for equestrians in the spring. The Hill is excited to introduce three new head varsity coaches who will lead four programs. New faculty member Clarence Oliver will head the girls’ and boys’ tennis teams; Dave Rackovan will head football; and returning English teacher Sue Repko has been promoted from assistant coach to head coach of the varsity girls’ basketball team. Blues’ fans should look for coming additions of new permanent dugouts and a new electronic scoreboard at the varsity softball diamond. 

Students and faculty will enjoy an updated John P. Ryan Library, where summer construction involved a reconfiguration of the Information and Technology Services offices and other public spaces. All area visitors who use the School’s Far Fields athletics facilities (which now include the new turf Briggs S. Cunningham ’26 ’50 Field and Harry L. Price Field and the William West Hauser ’81 track) will experience the new Lehrman ’56 Pavilion (designed by Hill alumnus and architect Richard McElhiney ’71) and its rooftop observation deck, concession stand, restrooms, and other facilities including new parking accommodations. Other construction and facilities upgrades occurring over the summer have include substantial renovations to the Sherrill Guest House and several faculty homes, and the addition of landscaping, attractive fencing, lighting, and other improvements throughout campus. 

The School closed the 2013-14 fiscal year very successfully, with a record $3.3M+ Hill Fund. The Hill School now has entered the two-year leadership phase of a comprehensive fundraising campaign to address goals including enhancing our living-learning environment through essential campus renovations and additions; greatly increasing the School’s endowment for student aid; growing the School’s endowment for teaching faculty compensation; supporting The Hill Fund for vital annual support; and securing funds for an initiative that will address our neighborhood’s aesthetics and safety, increase home ownership, and promote commercial and retail development.

In addition to continuing and strengthening our vibrant community service program, The Hill looks forward to again partnering with the Pottstown School District and Borough to conduct our second annual CARES Day clean-up throughout Pottstown’s downtown on Friday, October 24.

A big “welcome home” is extended to all new and returning students, faculty, staff, and families – and we hope to see our alumni family back on campus soon, as well.