Programs, Resources & Policies
- Speakers
- Accordion
Speakers
During the academic year, a number of speakers come to Hotchkiss to share their perspectives and engage with students.
Recent Speakers
- The 2019 MLK Celebration was marked by a keynote speech from Nyle Fort, social justice activist, scholar, lecturer, and writer.
- Transgender writer and activist Jennifer Finney Boylan spoke about her experience.
- Fidel Moreno, an American filmmaker & social activist presented his documentary, Standing With Standing Rock-Pray for the Water.
- My Africa Is creator Nosarieme Garrick spoke about her documentary series.
- Majorie Yang P '99, chairman of Esquel Group in Hong Kong
- The Ambassador Speaker Series brings in ambassadors and diplomats from all over the world, including the ambassadors of Chile, Colombia, Croatia, France, Gambia, Japan, Russia, and South Africa.
- Previous speakers have included Elie Wiesel, Anna Deavere Smith, and Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein of Jordan.
- Religious Offerings
- Accordion
Religious Offerings
The Chaplain helps students looking to attend religious services and seeking guidance about spirituality or different faiths. Jason Larson currently serves as the School's Chaplain.
Local Services
Transportation is made available to local services weekly.
- BAPTIST: North East Baptist Church, Millerton [Sundays]
- CONGREGATIONAL: Salisbury Congregational Church [Sundays]; First Congregational Church [Sunday]
- EPISCOPAL: Trinity Episcopal Church, Lime Rock [Sundays]
- HINDU: Please speak with Dr. Larson
- JEWISH: Hevreh of Southern Berkshire, Great Barrington. Information about High Holy Days will be posted separately on the Hillel bulletin board facing the Post Office. Students interested in these or in other Hillel activities are encouraged to speak with Dr. Larson.
- MUSLIM: Please speak with Dr. Larson.
- ORTHODOX: All Saints of America, Salisbury [Sundays]
- PRESBYTERIAN: First Presbyterian Church, Millerton [Sundays]
- ROMAN CATHOLIC: St. Mary's R.C. Church, Lakeville [Saturdays & Sundays]
- In the Classroom
- Sample Courses
In the Classroom
Courses are offered throughout the curriculum to promote cultural understanding and personal growth.
Sample Courses
- A Gay and Lesbian History of the U.S.
- Africa: An Historical Survey
- Design for Social Impact
- Globalization and International Relations
- History of the Middle East Since 1917
- Homeland vs. Promised Land: Global Migration in the Modern Era
- Japan's Empire and Its Legacies
- Race in American History
- Religions of Asia
- Thinking about a Changing China
- Topics in Modern Africa
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
The Prep and Lower Mid year Human Development courses are required for all students, focusing on topics facing their generation and society at large.
- HD 150 Prep Seminar connects the Prep class as a group and helps students navigate their way socially. Students discuss social challenges that affect the quality of community life, such as successful relationships, self-awareness, and living in an intercultural community.
- HD 250 Lower Mid Seminar meets weekly to explore further topics of personal growth, identity, and development as members of an intercultural community.
- Conferences and Off-Campus Opportunities
Conferences and Off-Campus Opportunities
Students and faculty members have access to opportunities to go off-campus and to meet others to discuss social issues facing our nation today.
Sample Student Conferences
- Student Diversity Leadership Conference (National People of Color Conference) - SDLC is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of upper school student leaders (grades nine - 12) from across the U.S.
- ISGP (Independent School Gender Project) -- ISGP empowers independent school communities to pursue and to achieve gender equity at work, school and beyond.
- SPECTRUM Conference
- FIRE Conference
Sample Faculty Opportunities
- SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) -- Faculty members can be part of this monthly three-hour equity/inclusion seminar available (full-year commitment). The National SEED Project is a peer-led professional development program that creates conversational communities to drive personal, organizational, and societal change toward greater equity and diversity. Campus SEED leaders design their seminars to include personal reflection, testimony and listening to others' voices.
- NAIS National People of Color Conference and Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) are conferences on equity and inclusion in the independent school arena.
- NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute is an intensive residential program that provides faculty members with tools to lead and manage the shifting intercultural changes at schools.
- Multicultural Leadership Institute at the Wildwood School is designed for educators to create and sustain authentically multicultural schools through reflection, understanding, planning, and implementation.
- Annual Inclusion Summit, Reston, VA
- Eight School Diversity Conference
Links to Policies that Promote Inclusion
- Disability Policy -- Almanac, page 58
- Code of Ethical Conduct -- Almanac, page 49