Learn about what has been happening in the classrooms at Hockaday!
Learn about what has been happening in the classrooms at Hockaday!

Hockaday Highlights

Thank you to all who joined us on Sunday at our Middle School and Upper School Preview Day!  It was a beautiful day and our faculty, administrators and students enjoyed sharing a glimpse of Hockaday with our attendees. We continue to host Parent Visits, Campus Tours, and other special events such as a Financial Aid Information Night and a Diversity and Inclusion panel and reception, throughout the fall and winter. I hope you will join us.
The Hockaday halls continue buzz. Our Upper School girls have been busy wrapping up the end of the quarter and enjoyed hearing from Dr. Massimino, Columbia University Professor of Engineering and former NASA astronaut, this past week. This weekend, our girls are looking forward to watching their friends perform in the 8th grade Musical, Wizard of Oz as well as cheer on the Varsity Field Hockey Team. Lately, Middle Schoolers have been donating coats and socks to students in DISD and adults at Austin Street, the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) team put together a robot that competed in the BEST Competition and made it to the wildcard round, we celebrated Mole Day and National Chemistry Week by making moles in the IDEA lab, the Fall One Act Play: Women and War was performed by our Upper School girls, and the Student Diversity Board had its first forum of the year. In the Lower School, our Prekindergarten students made bat hats and filmed themselves sharing facts about a variety of bats for their parents to see. Prekindergarten through third grade got to bring quarters and shop for books at the Fourth Grade Book Sale to raise money for a gift to the Lower School as well as a donation for Reading Partners.
For more school news and events, as well as admission information, please visit our website, www.hockaday.org. We look forward to getting to know you and your family. 
All my best,
Maryanna Phipps
Director of Admission and Enrollment Management
Register for an Admission Event
Boarder Visit Info

AP Comparative  Government and Spycraft

If you attended Admission Preview, you may know that one of our Upper School Faculty members, Tracy Walder worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and she created and teaches two Spycraft classes at Hockaday as well as an AP Comparative Government class.  Below are some of the past and upcoming events in her class.
In early October, Admiral Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, spoke to the entire Upper School. Spycraft had formed a relationship with the Admiral/Secretary as a result of the threat assessments the girls write in the class. These assessments evaluate the probability the terrorist group (to which students are assigned) will commit an attack using biological weapons.  The assessments are bound together and send to the appropriate government officials who would be interested in reviewing them. The admiral was so impressed with our students work, that he wanted to visit campus to remind Hockaday students that they are the world's future and encouraged them to work hard to change the world in a positive way.
Today, Edward Bollen spoke to both of the Spycraft classes. Mr. Bollen is a 26 year veteran of the CIA, serving as the top CIA liaison to Central Command (CENT COM) after 9/11. He was also the chief of many CIA stations overseas. He is a former colleague of Mrs. Walder's, but more importantly, a current Form IV student is currently interning for him at Trident Securities. 
On October 29th, Member of Parliament (MP) Stephen Crabb will be Skyping with Mrs. Walder's AP Comparative Government class. This will be the first time that Hockaday will have a sitting member of parliament speaking with our students. 
On October 31st, Dr. Steven Schandler, a Psychology professor at Chapman University, who donated his Neurocognitive Psychophysiology Lab to the Hockaday Science Department last spring, will be showing students enrolled in the Spycraft classes how to use the polygraph machine in the lab.   

Middle School Robotics

ScribbleBots were created by Hockaday girls and the students at Joe May Elementary---these robots can draw, wiggle, and dance around, and they even have names. The robots were made with commonly recycled materials and a few electronic components. One of Hockaday’s Middle School electives, NEWSWAY staff members interviewed two 8th graders on the Robotics Team. Read the interview below. 
What is the theme for this year?
Ayla: Space Travel
Savannah: The theme for this year is Into Orbit. This means our project and robot missions are space-themed.
What are you looking forward to?
Ayla: Building and testing prototypes for our project.
Savannah: I am looking forward to learning how to program the robot and making a project prototype. “Our motivation is the excitement on the little girls’ faces when we arrive.”
For those who don’t know about your community service project, how would you explain it?
Ayla: Every week, our Lego League teams visit a local elementary school and teach girls in grades 1-3 about engineering, robotics, and STEM through hands-on activities.
Savannah: We are volunteering at a public elementary school and forming a STEM club for the girls there. We are hoping to encourage them to appreciate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
What is your motivation for volunteering on Fridays? What are some ideas that you have?
Ayla: It’s rewarding to see how excited they are to be in the classroom learning about technology. So far, we have done an engineering challenge, but we plan to build simple robots and circuits in the future.
Savannah: Our motivation is the excitement on the little girls’ faces when we arrive. Some ideas we have for them to do are building sturdy, tall towers out of random materials, building robots and learning to program them--a couple more ideas are in the works.
What is your goal by starting the club?
Ayla: Our goal is to inspire the next generation of girls to be interested in robotics and FLL competition.
Savannah: Our goal is for these girls to study STEM when they grow older and boost girls’ interest in science. 
As an experienced member, how does Robotics differ than previous years? What is your favorite aspect of it?
Ayla: Through my years in robotics, I have gained valuable competition experience which carries over to this year. My favorite aspect is the creative freedom you are given in each aspect of the competition.
Savannah. As a new member, what is your favorite aspect of Robotics? Savannah: So far, my favorite part of Robotics is brainstorming as a group with my team and coming up with problems and solutions within space travel.
Is there anything else that you would like to tell the Middle School?
Ayla: Even if you aren’t interested in robotics, there is a job for every interest/ passion in FLL. Savannah: Robotics is a major time commitment but very fun and rewarding as well!

Meet the Director of Athletics

As the 2018-2019 school year begins, Hockaday welcomes new Athletic Director Deb Surgi to the community. Deb joins the School after serving as the Director of Athletics at The Baldwin School, a PK-12 all-girls' independent school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, bringing more than 35 years of teaching and coaching experience. Her in-depth experience leading athletic staffs and serving as a member of administrative teams at independent schools will serve the students, parents, and coaches well and will foster a unified athletic community. Read more here.

Girls' Schools 
Girls’ schools help girls to find their voices and to learn how to use them at a young age.
At girls’ schools, students are encouraged – really, expected – to speak their minds, without interruption. A national survey found that nearly 87% of girls’ school students feel their voices – their opinions – are respected compared to 58% of girls at coed schools.
All-girls schools do not shelter their students from the real world. To the contrary, the greater sense of respect that girls feel at girls’ schools enables them to better find and use their voices, first in the classroom, and then beyond in boardrooms, on the political stage, or in any other arena. Resource: www.ncgs.org
powered by emma
Subscribe to our email list.