Alumni News

Horace Mann School alum Harrison Bader '12 was named Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League Player of the Week on Monday, September 27, 2021 for his stellar play that helped secure a post-season playoff spot for his St. Louis Cardinals. As the Cardinals head into a Wild Card game against the Los Angeles Dodgers this Wednesday night, October 6, 2021, the MLB cited Bader as one of the top 50 players to watch in the post-season. And on Monday, October 4, Bader, himself, responded to the growing excitement with a moving letter to the team's supportive fans.

New York, NY—September 20, 2021—The New-York Historical Society, the oldest museum in New York City, presents "Turn Every Page": Inside the Robert A. Caro Archive, the first public exhibition drawn from the archive of the author whose award-winning works on Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson are regarded as masterpieces of modern biography and history. Opening on October 24, the ongoing exhibition includes never-before-seen highlights from the archive—which New-York Historical acquired in 2019—that provide an intimate view of how Caro started his career and how he worked as a reporter. Caro's meticulousness as a reporter, biographer, and historian—which enabled him to become the country's premier chronicler of political power—is on view to the public in his research notebooks, handwritten interview notes, scrapbooks, photographs, and original manuscript pages. The exhibition also includes one of Caro's Smith Corona Electra 210 typewriters. The riches in the archive make it an essential destination for historians, journalists, students, and anyone interested in 20th-century American history and literature, where they can find materials available nowhere else.

The light rain that fell Thursday morning, September 9, 2021 didn't dampen the spirits of the 1,793 students, and 440 faculty and staff members and administrators who arrived at Horace Mann School for the first day of the 2021-2022 academic year. Rather, the sense of excitement among students returning to HM, and those first entering the school in the Nursery, Lower, Middle and Upper Divisions was apparent in the smiles that beamed from behind the masks worn by everyone on campus.

On Friday, September 10th, Horace Mann School commemorated the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks with a short service on Alumni Field near the 9/11 memorial. More than 200 students and employees came together on the field as the service commenced with the arrival of members of The Pipes & Drums Of The Emerald Society of the New York City Police Department, performing Hard Times. A wreath was laid at the 9/11 memorial by Public Safety Officer and retired Fire Marshall Glenn Smith. After a few moments of silence, the bagpipe band left the field with a moving rendition of Amazing Grace.

Violins sounded softly with almost sanctified emotion, and then swelled sensationally as the musicians, performing solo from their homes, appeared together on screen. Choral voices soon joined in, the face of each singer in similarly separate squares that combined into an urban skyline. The image offered a dazzling visualization of the music's lyrics: "Can we see a ray of hope? One pale thin ray reaching for the day/ We can build a beautiful city/ Yes, we can, yes, we can." Click to read more and to view our "Beautiful City".

Horace Mann School announced the appointment of Christine Moloney as Director of its Office for Identity, Culture and Institutional Equity (ICIE), and Bri'ana Odom as ICIE Associate Director, on August 19, 2021. Jaquan Shaw will continue his work as ICIE Program Associate.

"We are excited to welcome Christine and Bri'ana to the HM community, and to greet Jaquan upon his return to the ICIE office," said Horace Mann Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly. "With this trio of accomplished and dedicated professionals HM will continue to deepen our decades-long pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) throughout our school, N-12."

One of the many ethical issues society faces today concerns the return of art and artifacts to their countries of origin from museums around the world. Horace Mann School alum Nancy Rosoff '78 advanced this discussion when she initiated the voluntary return of over 2,200 ancient artifacts from the Brooklyn Museum to the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica. The artifacts were sent to Costa Rica in two separate shipments, one in 2011, and the second in Fall 2020, and announced by the Museum in Summer 2021.

Horace Mann School alum Dr. Erika Zavaleta '89 was honored by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) with its prestigious Commitment to Human Diversity in Ecology Award for 2021. The award was announced at the ESA's annual meeting, held virtually this year, from August 2-6, 2021.

Founded in 1915 the ESA, with 9,000 members, is the world's largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge. The organization's award recognized the "long-standing contributions toward increasing the diversity of future ecologists through mentoring, teaching, or outreach" that Dr. Zavaleta pursues, in conjunction with her responsibilities as a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California Santa Cruz. Dr. Zavaleta also directs the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program which recruits a diverse cohort of students for experiential training in field research and conservation leadership. As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at UC Santa Cruz Dr. Zavaleta launched the Center to Advance Mentored, Inquiry-Based Opportunities (CAMINO) for students in ecology and conservation programs, and developed a training program for preventing sexual harassment in field research activities.

The Horace Mann School community was deeply saddened by the death of civil rights leader Dr. Robert Parris (Bob) Moses, on July 25, 2021. A former math teacher at HM, Dr. Moses continued to inspire students and faculty through his lifelong social activism. Dr. Moses returned to HM in 2001 and in 2017 to speak with students about his work, while encouraging their own social justice efforts. HM honored him in 2015 by establishing the Robert Moses Prize, assisted by the Class of 1964, which included some of his former students.

June 16, 2021 was a gift of a day for Horace Mann School, and for the greater HM community. Wrapped in bright sunlight and decorated with clear blue skies the school's Bronx campus set a vibrant stage for celebrating graduation for the 178 members of the HM Class of 2021.

And, celebrate the graduates did – with their families and HM faculty, administrators and staff –with a joyful mix of awe and gratitude over being able to experience this day together. After all, this graduating Class had spent a significant stretch of the final phase of their HM education separated from one another, in response to the coronavirus pandemic that turned the last part of their junior year into a remote learning experience, back in March 2020. A true highpoint of the graduates' HM years was their return to campus as seniors, in September 2020, after their classrooms, laboratories, physical education and athletics facilities had been transformed to incorporate the most stringent COVID-19 health and safety precautions possible. The grade had also returned to pursue their studies and co-curricular activities, their creative endeavors and art, and their community involvement and social action with renewed energy, and special intensity, as noted by each of the speakers who addressed those gathered for HM's 2021 Upper Division graduation.

Horace Mann School alumni enjoyed a magical evening together on May 12, 2021, gathering virtually for the annual Horace Mann Alumni Council (HMAC) Benefit.Now in its 18^th year, the Benefit will also bring a little magic to the HM experience, through its support of the school's Student Lunch Initiative.

Horace Mann School alum Bethany Donaphin '98 is a leader among today's professional athletes engaged in pursuing social justice.

A former center for the New York Liberty basketball team—after her starring on the Girls and Women's Varsity Basketball teams at HM and at Stanford University, as well as on overseas teams—Donaphin is now Head of League Operations for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). This position sees her assisting every team in the League coordinate its players' equity activism. WNBA athletes are at the forefront of this effort, with a social justice focus intrinsic to the history of the League, now celebrating its first quarter century. Donaphin spoke about the WNBA's long record of activism, that was heightened during last year's 2020 season, on a "Sports and Social Justice: Creating Platforms for Change" panel during the espnW Summit NYC, held virtually on May 13, 2021.

Sports competitions have returned to Horace Mann School, following a year-long hiatus resulting from COVID-19 safety precautions. Throughout the 2020-2021 school year HM's student athletes involved in fall and winter sports engaged in practices, drills, and studied techniques together in the school's gyms and on its fields when classes were in session on campus, and with strict COVID-19 safety provisions in place. They also maintained their practice schedules via Zoom meetings with their coaches and teammates during the remote learning periods that HM had planned before the start of the school year. However, last fall's increased possibility of COVID-19 exposure, and the indoor aspect of winter sports, prevented competitions with other schools from taking place. As spring 2021 sees a gradual release in COVID-19 restrictions, with most adults and many Upper Division students having received vaccinations, HM athletes will participate in a limited number of contests with the other Hilltop Schools.

Students in Horace Mann School's Middle Division brought their best to the 2021 National Latin Exam (NLE), with four HMers logging perfect scores, and almost all achieving the exam's worldwide average, or above. The scores of the test, taken by a total of 79,627 students from 2,607 schools around the world were announced April 15, 2021.

Horace Mann School student Ericka Familia '21 is one of 104 graduating high school seniors nationwide selected to receive a prestigious Cooke College Scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Familia was selected from among 5,800 applicants from all 50 states and U.S. Territories to receive up to $40,000 annually to cover costs associated with their undergraduate education. Cooke College Scholars are granted financial support, along with ongoing educational advising from Foundation staff, as well as access to a network of over 2,800 active Cooke Scholars and Alumni. Scholars also gain opportunities for internships, study abroad, and are eligible to apply for further funding for graduate school from the Foundation. Established in 2000, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation "is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need."