News

The Hotchkiss community honored the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a series of virtual events, beginning on Jan. 17 with the screening of Between the World and Me. The powerful HBO film is based on readings from author Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book. First published in 2015, Between The World And Me was written as a letter to Coates’s teenage son, and recounts the author’s experiences growing up in Baltimore’s inner city and his growing fear of daily violence against the Black community. 

It's early August 2020, and Kevin Ervin, executive director of Charge for Kids (CFK), has a little more than a month to raise $1 million for an educational outreach program he has designed for New York City schoolchildren.

His enthusiasm is irrepressible. He is absolutely confident he can raise the money, though he concedes his ambitious staff thinks he is crazy for taking on such a tough challenge under a tight deadline in the midst of pandemic. But Ervin is a bit like the Energizer Bunny, that iconic battery mascot who just “keeps going and going and going.” Once he gets an idea in his head, he is unstoppable.

The School regrets to announce the death of Edward R. “Ted” Davis of Hampton, NH, who died on Dec. 27, 2020, following complications from a stroke. He was 77.

Since the summer, Hotchkiss has continued to focus on anti-racism across the School community. On September 25, student organizers led demonstrations in protest of systemic racism. Meanwhile, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI) of the Board of Trustees has been working on policies and practices to enact change, as have volunteers from the Alumni Association’s Board of Governors. Hotchkiss Magazine reached out to several Black alumni and students active in this work for their take on the School’s progress toward building a more diverse and inclusive community. Annika Lescott ’06 and Danielle S. Ferguson ’97, along with students Aleema Kelly ’22 and Langston Harris ’21 agreed to share their thoughts.