Alumni News

Horace Mann School's annual Homecoming, on Saturday, October 12, 2019, is expected to draw over 5,000 members of the HM community to the school's Bronx campus for athletic games, activities, and a barbecue for the students, families, HM friends, and alumni attending the festivities. Later, on Saturday night, over 400 HM alumni will attend class reunions in Manhattan. Themed "Back to the Bronx" the day will bring participants to HM's Alumni Field, Friedman Hall, the Jeffrey H. Loria Family Aquatic Center, and Four Acres to cheer on Lions teams in competitions scheduled throughout the day. Click to read more.

Horace Mann School alumni from across the decades have a new way to connect with their alma mater, and with one another. The HM Alumni Directory has migrated from the "HM Alumni App" that the school's Alumni and Development Office launched in January 2012, to a new platform that provides alums with numerous resources, including ways to find friends and classmates by location, profession, HM affiliations, and more. The new platform is available free of charge, and can be accessed on phones and other mobile devices, as well as via computer, making its use comfortable for a range of HM graduates from across the decades. The platform was introduced to the alumni community via email, and through a link posted on the HM website (https://www.horacemann.org/page.cfm?p=2286), on August 29, 2019. Over the Labor Day weekend that followed the launch, over 300 alumni had demonstrated their enthusiasm about the platform by signing up or requesting access. To date, over 500 alums have signed on. Click to read more.

Horace Mann School alum Chibuzo (Chichi) Ikwuazom, a former HM varsity volleyball team star who now plays at Columbia University, was named National Player of the Week for the week of September 24, 2019, by Sports Import/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). The honor marked the first time in the history of Columbia University's volleyball program that a player was recognized nationally.

The cloudless blue sky of September 3, 2019 spread over Horace Mann School's beautifully groomed Bronx campuses, as 1,603 new and returning Lower, Middle and Upper Division students began the 2019-2020 academic year. HM's faculty, staff members and administrators had been busy throughout the summer preparing the school, and their classroom curricula, for the new academic year, returning to campus in late August for a series of professional days. The past summer and weeks before school started saw HM's Maintenance Department engaged almost 24-7 to ready classrooms—and particularly, newly refurbished and reconstructed science classrooms and administrative offices in the Middle Division—for the students eagerly arriving to start their sixth-through-eighth-grade classes. Click to read more.

The summer of 2019 marks the premiere of several highly-anticipated blockbuster films in theaters nationwide. Equally anticipated, at Horace Mann School, was the premiere of films made by students in HM's Summer Film Institute (HMSFI). Held on Thursday evening July 11, 2019, the screening featured six short films made by each student in this four-week-long intensive film program. Taught by HM Middle and Upper Division Film, Video and Photography teacher Jordan Rathus, this was HMSFI's second year. Rathus, a noted filmmaker, initiated the program in summer 2018, after her first year of teaching at HM. The class is offered free of charge to any HM student, from beginning to more advanced filmmaking knowledge. "It's for any student interested in trying their hands at telling stories from behind the lens," Rathus told an audience of HM teachers, administrators, parents, family members and friends who gathered at HM for a barbecue and film showing.

Horace Mann School is pleased to announce the appointment of Marinés Arroyo as Head of its Nursery Division for the 2019-2020 academic year, HM Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly announced on Monday, July 15, 2019. "Ms. Arroyo will continue the great work fostered by Marcia Levy, who is retiring after leading our Nursery Division since 2010," said Dr. Kelly. "Marinés will also bring her teaching and leadership experience, most recently as the ND's Teacher in Charge, to the future direction of our work serving HM's youngest students. We are delighted that she has accepted this position."

In the words of Horace Mann School Class of 2019 valedictorian Gibson (Gibby) Thomas '19 graduation day for the class' 187 members was a day to celebrate their years of exploration together, along with the "unbreakable bonds" they had all developed at HM. Gathering on the beautiful morning of June 12, 2019 the graduates marched into the large white tent on Alumni Field where their parents, guardians, grandparents, siblings, family members and friends, and HM alumni were seated. Following the class members were the faculty and administrators who had taught, coached and advised them, and the HM Trustee Board members whose dedicated work on behalf of the school helped enhance their education. Click to read more.

The Horace Mann School community shared an evening of baseball together when some 170 alumni, teachers, coaches, staff and administrators headed out to Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. on Thursday night, June 13, 2019. While they gathered together at the home of the local New York Mets, it was the team's match-up with the visiting St. Louis Cardinals that drew the HM crowd. Starting for the Cardinals in Center Field was HM alum Harrison Bader '12.

For the 153 members of Horace Mann School's eighth grade class the bright, sunny morning of June 6, 2019 marked a special moment. The day of the HM Middle Division's annual Middle Memories ceremony, it was also a day for the Division's students and teachers, deans, administrative aids, and student mentors from HM's Upper Division to share their appreciation for one another, and to extend their thanks. As they commemorated the completion of their middle school years the students shared with the parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends gathered under a gleaming white tent on HM's Alumni Field reflections on the classes, co-curricular and service learning activities, and more they'd experienced over the past three years. Coming to the stage, one Advisory Group after another, each "homeroom's" designated speaker also described discussions they'd shared, and spoke of the significant friendships they'd made. Interspersed among these thoughtful reminiscences were performances by the eight grade's string, band, dance, steel band, and vocal ensembles, as well as stories crafted and delivered by members of the MD's English elective in Storytelling.

Filling the stage of Horace Mann School's Gross Theater the 85 members of HM's Fifth Grade class shared one common characteristic: the smiles they wore throughout the ceremony that marked the end of their Lower Division years. Gathered together as a grade on Friday morning, June 7, 2019, the students shared those smiles with their teachers, administrators, parents, guardians, grandparents, siblings and family friends who comprised the graduation audience. The students also listened to words of encouragement and advice from those who had taught and guided them during their last year in HM's Lower Division, including their Lower Division Head Deena Neuwirth, their grade's team leader Sandy Rubenstein, and from Horace Mann Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly. Click to read more and see photos.

Horace Mann School student Benjamin Hu '19 was selected as one of 161 graduating seniors from across the United States to be designated a 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholar. The award, announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on May 7, 2019, recognizes these outstanding high school seniors for their accomplishments in academics, the arts and career and technical education fields.The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars selects candidates for this award, created in 1964, from among the 3.6 million students expected to graduate from high school in 2019, based on outstanding performance on the College Board SAT and ACT exams or through nominations made by Chief State School Officers, other partner recognition organizations and the National YoungArts Foundation's nationwide YoungArts™ competition.

Horace Mann School student Miyu Imai '19 is one of 27 graduating high school seniors across the U.S. selected as a Milken Scholar, it was announced on May 27, 2019. The Milken Scholars program, a joint initiative of the Milken Institute and the Milken Family Foundation, is open to college-bound high school seniors in New York City, Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C. Milken Scholars are selected based on academic performance, community service, leadership and their ability to persevere in the face of personal challenges, and after a rigorous nomination, application and interview process. Imai is one of six New Yorkers chosen for this honor that includes a $10,000 cash prize and a lifetime of mentoring and resources.

While the Horace Mann School academic year is drawing to a close, summer offers new learning opportunities for HM students, as well as for the School's young alumni. For current students, there's a hearty roster of Summer School classes, and 2019 marks the second year of HM's Summer Film Institute. But for many students, and for college-age alums and newly-minted college grads, summer is a time to continue learning—not only in classrooms but through experiences that provide them with skills, prepare them for careers, and pave the way to the world of employment. Horace Mann School's Internship program does all this and much more, providing students and alumni "with exposure to careers while affording them opportunities for personal growth" as the Horace Mann Parents Association (HMPA) notes. Further, as HM parent, Mieko Willoughby, Chair of the Horace Mann Internship Committee, reported, a record number of exciting internship opportunities were made available to HM students and young alumni for the upcoming summer of 2019.

For high school students everywhere any given school week is filled with classes, assessments, co-curriculars and a range of other activities that define their time. During the second last week of April 2019 Horace Mann School junior Ryan Jonas '20 added another definition: that of "New Yorker of the Week." Jonas was designated holder of that title on April 22, 2019 by NY1, NYC's 24-hour news station. A regular feature of the station "New Yorker of the Week" recognizes residents of NYC's five boroughs who are assisting their communities and fellow citizens in a variety of ways. Jonas got the shout out from NY1 for how he turned a hobby into a source of income and empowerment for residents of the Bronx.