News

Chatham Hall is reopening its grounds to neighbors interested in walking or jogging through campus. 

At the Alumnae Association Annual Meeting in May, this year’s award winners were announced including a special recognition of naming an honorary alumna.

Chatham Hall’s Class of 2021 graduated on May 22 in an outdoor ceremony on Pruden Lawn. Holding an on-campus, in-person graduation had been a goal for the entire School from the first day of a year noticeably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jostens has announced that Chatham Hall’s 2021 yearbook program has achieved the Silver National Yearbook Program of Excellence Award. The National Yearbook Program of Excellence recognizes engaging yearbooks that reflect a broad representation of the student body while helping students develop 21^st century skills such as communication, collaboration, and information and communication technologies literacy.

Carolyn Whatley ’23 began her Girl Scout journey in kindergarten, and today is close to completing her senior Gold Award project to drive lasting change in the two communities in which she lives. Whatley, who lives both in eastern North Carolina and St. Croix, USVI, identified the need to transport shelter pets from the island in order to more efficiently find homes for them. To do this, she is raising money by making and selling her homemade pimento cheese, Carolyn’s Pimento Gold.

Library manager Ms. Donna Moroni continued her Late-Night Library tradition this past weekend with students staying until the wee hours reading, helping, and socializing.

“I’ve never been a flashy person,” said Spiritual Life League leader Libby Murphy '21. “But I love talking about the Spiritual Life League and what we do.”

Dr. Beth Stephens '79 was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the creative arts. Dr. Stephens, a professor of art at the University of California Santa Cruz, was one of 184 artists, writers, scholars, and scientists to receive a 2021 Fellowship.

Lizzie-O Blackburn ‘22 began selling peaches in the summer about a decade ago. What started as a way to productively pass the time has flourished into a two-location business selling nearly 2,000 pounds of peaches each week.

In the Episcopal Church and in Episcopal schools, the Crucifer tends to the altar and carries the cross, leading the procession into the chapel and the recession out into the world again. The symbolism of this act is significant in that it is hoped that experiences in Chapel inform and inspire experiences out of Chapel.

From April 30 - May 2, Chatham Hall’s Reunion Weekend offered a plethora of virtual events and celebrated classes ending in 0, 1, 5, and 6.

On April 22, the Chatham Hall community joined the world in celebrating Earth Day. Having already hosted an Earth Day Chapel is Curtis’ Garden earlier in the week, the community began the day with a sunrise walk led by Alexa Keating ’22 followed by a LINK group information session led by Kennedy Martin ’22 and Whitney Byington ’22. Later in the day, the normal afternoon sports and arts time was reallocated to several environmentally friendly activities led by the Sustainability Club.

In Chaplain Barksdale’s World Religions course, a graduation requirement for Chatham Hall, students find and present their “ultimate concern” in a culminating project.

A good idea can be a powerful thing, especially when combined with tenacity, hard work, and teamwork. The six students of the Global Entrepreneurism class had all of these characteristics and a great idea: a food truck for the Chatham Hall community.

By the time Amy Keller Webber '97 was standing on a red carpet receiving career advice from actor Harrison Ford, she had already earned degrees from George Mason University and University of Durham, lived in Europe, moved to Los Angeles, and made a name for herself in the international press world with bylines in Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Self, and a monthly article in the Japanese issue of GQ - all within a decade of graduating from Chatham Hall.

As part of Chatham Hall’s Women’s History Month Celebration, community members came together to help create a public installation honoring the women who have taught, led, encouraged, supported, and inspired them.

On April 10, Chatham Hall's Riding program hosted the South West Virginia Hunter Jumper Association (SWVHJA) Horse Show at Mars Arena.

Filled with candy, bookstore vouchers, and a total of $500 to designate to local charities, more than 1,000 eggs were hidden on Pruden Lawn for this year’s Easter Egg Hunt.

In her February 2021 Winter Letter, Rector Rachel Connell announced to the Chatham Hall community that beginning in the 2021-2022 academic year the School would no longer offer the College Board’s Advanced Placement® (AP) courses. Instead, advanced courses would be created by faculty members and crafted specifically for Chatham Hall students.

For more than 125 years, Chatham Hall’s location has been described as many things — picturesque, remote, bucolic, rural. Unfortunately, such descriptions fail to take into account all that happens on the nearly 400 acres comprising the School’s campus. Dorm life, classroom experiences, afternoon activities, athletics and riding events, performances, experiments, friendships, and the list goes on. For the students, faculty, and staff of the Chatham Hall community, life on campus is rich and full.

When teens post on social media like TikTok or Snapchat, many don’t realize that a seemingly harmless video or comment could hurt other people or even haunt their online presence for years to come when colleges or potential employers Google them.

As Chatham Hall students prepare for college and eventual adulthood, understanding concepts like borrowing money, budgeting, and saving for the future is crucial to making smart financial decisions - especially for women. But like many schools across the U.S., Chatham Hall didn’t have a course devoted to personal finance until recently.

For several Chatham Hall students in China, this year has been one of online learning and also in person support.

When the Dennys came to campus for the first time, it was during a five-school tour of the East Coast. Yet Chatham Hall stood out immediately.

There are many ways students can spend their time away from campus over breaks. For Carolyn Whatley ’23, hers has recently been spent using her entrepreneurial skills to partner with St. Croix Animal Welfare Center and Paws from Paradise to help find forever homes for rescue animals.

Shannon Huth ’18 originally published Beyond the Patient: My battle with cancer and the nurses who carried me through my fight in Sweet Briar College’s Mindful Writer magazine. Below is a reflection she wrote in fall 2019 of her experiences on her journey through battling ovarian cancer the summer following her graduation from Chatham Hall. This essay is reprinted with permission.

On Feb. 27, Chatham Hall's Riding Program hosted the Interscholastic Equestrian Associations (IEA) Region 9 Regional Finals. This competition consisted of five high school and three middle school teams, as well as numerous individual competitors traveling from all over the region.

In December 2020, Velda Asare '22 and five other Chatham Hall students attended the virtual National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC). The conference is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of high school student leaders from across the world. According to the conference website, “SDLC focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators, participating students develop cross-cultural communication skills, design effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learn the foundations of allyship and networking principles.” Below, Asare reflects on her experience.

Chinese medicine. Jiu jitsu. Mardi Gras. Saving the oceans. GIRLS’ Day 2021 had it all.

Performing live theatre in the winter during a pandemic presented many unique challenges for the Arts Department but led to something truly special.

Kyra Rogers ’21 was recently named one of the top 21 youth leaders in Georgia by 21st Century Leaders (21CL), a Georgia-based youth leadership and talent development program for high school students from diverse backgrounds. The Georgia Youth Leadership Awards (GYLA) will be presented by WarnerMedia at a virtual event on March 25.

When the Tutu Turtles, Chatham Hall’s FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team, learned that they would be competing in a purely intramural season this year, it would have been easy for them to feel discouraged. Instead, they opted to look at the valuable opportunities that had just become available.

Not to be upstaged by a national ice storm, the Winter Dance Performance took place on Feb. 12 & 13, delighting the community and family members that were able to make it to Dutch to watch.

Each Friday, members of the Spiritual Life League meet with Chaplain Barksdale for lunch and conversation, and to plan upcoming programs and events for the students on campus. In early January, talk turned to Valentine’s Day traditions and how Barksdale and her mother used to make and deliver cards - and roses from her mother’s garden - to the most vulnerable members of their community. Inspired, students decided to put together their own project for the town of Chatham and Mission: Valentine was born.

When Virginia school campuses closed last spring, it was the first of many unique challenges for Chatham Hall’s international student community.

Congratulations to Dr. Martha Ann Keels on being selected as the 2021 Distinguished Alumna Award recipient!

For Sonja Andrews ‘89, a real estate and probate lawyer with Andrews Law Firm LLC, having her daughter Zion Andrews ‘22 attend Chatham Hall is a happy continuation of a family legacy.

Living Well at Chatham Hall is a commitment that health, wellness, and balance be at the center of all that the School does. This focus brings exciting opportunities not only to students, but to the adults in the Chatham Hall community as well.

For more than 30 years, Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science (TEAMS) has hosted an annual theme-based competition.

When Mia Vega Tovar ’06 arrived at Chatham Hall it was one of her first times away from her family’s home in Texas.