As we near the end of the month and our application deadline, I would like to share a glimpse of Hockaday campus life this January and provide a few important reminders.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration last Friday was an inspiring experience! From engaging keynote speaker Cynthia Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, to the uplifting all-school choir directed by Dr. Raymond Wise, to the beautiful and thoughtful student performances, our whole community was energized (enjoy the video below)! Later in the afternoon, hundreds of students - Pre-K through 12^th - worked together as One Hockaday to create and paint 60 boards to be placed on the interior walls of the Habitat for Humanity House to be built this winter by Hockaday and St. Mark’s upperclassmen.

This month in the Lower School, the girls in prekindergarten are learning to persevere which is a part of the Hockaday pledge in Lower School. They enjoyed learning of Sarah Thomas’ story and how she became the first female on-field to officiate an NFL playoff game. Our first graders are discussing penguins via Skype with educator and researcher Jenny Pennycook in Antarctica. Our fourth graders are reading to students at Mi Escuelita School while our fifth graders are working on their string project in art class.

Ten Hockadaisies grades fourth-eighth recently became finalists in the National Geographic Geography Bee. The Middle and Upper School advisories are currently collecting items for our annual food drive benefitting the Salvation Army food pantry and T.R. Hoover Center Food Pantry. Upper School students currently can be found admiring their peer’s work in the ceramics exhibit and selecting their courses for next year. In addition to our residential students who join us from around the nation and the world, did you know Hockaday has an Argentine Exchange program? This week, we welcomed Argentinian students to Hockaday who will be staying with current students over the next four weeks and reciprocating by hosting those girls in their homes during the summer.

There is a lot happening at Hockaday and we know you are busy too. We want to remind you that the application deadline is approaching on Monday, January 28. Please note, all testing and interviews must be scheduled by January 28, even if they will not be completed at that time.

Due to the high volume of paperwork coming into The Office of Admission this week and next, we ask that you please not contact our office at this time to ask whether her file is complete. Instead, please wait until the week of February 4^th for us to confirm receipt of all required documents. If we find that a file is incomplete, we will let you know specifically what we are missing. Rest assured, your daughter’s application will not be negatively affected during this time.

Feel free to login to the parent portal below to track the application progress and review your checklist.

All my best,

Maryanna Phipps
Director of Admission and Enrollment Management

Celebration of Cultures

We celebrate diversity and inclusion at Hockaday in many ways. This week at Hockaday is a Celebration of Cultures. As such, we are having conversations during Advisories and Form Meetings that focus on true understanding of the many cultures represented at Hockaday. This is a student-led initiative with the goal of raising our cultural competencies through dialogue and celebration. Students are representing different cultures by bringing food to share with one another, taking part in a fun fashion show and talent show, as well as hosting a few festivals. While these are important parts of culture, there is so much more that defines each one of us. To that end, the Student Council has arranged for student leaders to assist faculty in student conversations around culture this week.

Robotics Teams Advance to Championship

Middle school robotics teams performed well at the North Texas 2^nd Round Qualifier at Kimball High School on January 12th. The Hockanauts won the Project Award for the second time in a row for their space scent pods. The Intergalactic Unicorns won the 2nd Place Champions Award, performing high in all areas, and thus placing 2nd overall at the competition. Out of the 43 teams who advanced to this competition, only the top five move on to the February 9^th Championship. Both Hockaday teams placed in the top five and so all of Hockaday's teams have advanced to the championship.

From the CIA to the FBI to the Classroom

Read about how Faculty Member Tracy Walder, came from working for the CIA on September 11, 2001, to teaching Spycraft, AP US History, and AP Comparative Government to the Upper School girls at Hockaday. ABC-TV, with actress Ellen Pompeo of “Grey’s Anatomy” as a producer, is developing a show based on Walder’s career. There’s a book deal with publisher St. Martin’s Press. “Tracy’s real-life story is fascinating,” Pompeo said, “and we are honored that she has entrusted our team to put a fictional twist on her real-life wild ride.”

Seventh Graders Build Wind Turbines

It’s wind turbine time in 7th-grade science! Students have learned about the aerodynamics of wind turbine blades and how wind turbines convert energy in the wind into electricity. This week, they will design and build their wind turbine rotors, and next week, they will test their rotors to see how much electric power they are able to generate.

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