Northfield Mount Hermon

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Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) is a ninth-twelfth grade private college preparatory school (secondary school) located in Gill, Massachusetts, United States.

Contents 1 History 2 Northfield Mount Hermon today 3 Mount Hermon buildings 3.1 Dormitories 3.2 Classroom buildings 3.3 Offices, etc. 4 Biblical reference 5 Clubs & organizations 6 Notable alumni 7 Images 8 External links

[edit] History

The school was originally founded by famed Protestant evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody as two separate institutions: Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in 1879, and Mount Hermon School for Boys in 1881. Moody envisaged both these schools as parts of his dream to provide the best possible education for less privileged people. Indeed, even, in their infancy, Moody’s schools matriculated students whose parents were slaves, Native Americans, and from outside the US -- something that was unimaginable in many elite private schools at that time. Dwight Lyman Moody's birthplace and burial place are both located on the Northfield campus.

In Moody's view, Christian religious education was an essential part of the objective of his schools. However, under subsequent administrations, the schools became more theologically liberal and ultimately became nonsectarian and ceased evangelization of students. (This change put them at odds with other Moody institutions such as Moody Bible Institute in Chicago). Spiritual life continued to be an important part of the schools, but religious services ceased to be compulsory and students were no longer instructed in Christian doctrine.

In 1934, reformist headmaster Elliot Speer was murdered by a shotgun blast through his study window. The crime was never solved. The book Murder at Mount Hermon: The Unsolved Killing of Headmaster Elliott Speer by Mount Hermon alumnus Craig Walley proposes a possible solution.

In the 1970s and 1980s, many U.S. private secondary schools that had previously offered single-sex education either became coeducational unilaterally or merged with other schools to become coeducational. In what was then a controversial decision, Northfield Seminary and Mount Hermon School merged to become a single coeducational institution in 1971. The settlement at NMH of mutually accepted terms was a contrast to the takeover of Abbot Academy by its neighbor, Phillips Academy. The schools had been run for many years by a single board of trustees with a similar mission and vision. The new school was dubbed Northfield Mount Hermon School. Both original campuses were retained at that time, a frequent bus schedule to connect the two campuses (five miles apart) was added but students were (and still are) segregated by sex at the dormitory level.

The school operated on two campuses up until the end of the 2004-05 school year, but consolidated all students and classes onto its Mount Hermon Campus when the school's trustees decided that students would best benefit educationally and socially in a smaller, more close-knit community. The capital resources required to maintain duplicate facilities on two campuses and the size of the endowment also influenced the decision. The beautiful Northfield campus has been placed on the market. In addition to the campus itself, the school owns several dozen housing units in the adjacent village that faculty and staff members, as well as the local golf course and water company. Ideally, the school would like to sell the campus to another educational institution. The trustees are committed to the appropriate stewardship of the Moody legacy sites: Round Top (Dwight L. and Emma Moody's burial site), the Birthplace, the Homestead, and the Auditorium.

In 1976, a history of NMH entitled So Much to Learn [1] was written by Burnham Carter to commemorate the school's 100th anniversary.

[edit] Northfield Mount Hermon today

All students are required to participate in the school's work program. The school's handbook states, "The work program is a tradition that dates back to the school's beginning and allows students to know the dignity of labor. The program creates a sense of investment in the welfare of the school and a unique community spirit." Student jobs include washing dishes, shelving books in the library, and making maple syrup on the farm. Utilization of the school's farm has been greatly reduced since days of Mount Hermon School, and presently, students participate in such tasks as editing the school newspaper, performing residential leadership duties, presiding over computer labs, or printing photographs.

The percentage of international students at NMH is above the average of many elite private schools, at 20 per cent compared to perhaps 10 per cent at other institutions. (The 2006-07 handbook lists about 120 students with non-US addresses, more than three-fourths of them from East Asia.) In many cases, international students make a connection with the school through family members who attended NMH. Earlier in the school's history, some international students were evangelized by Moody or his affiliated denominations and religious missions in the 19th century.

NMH has, during the late 20th century, been viewed as informal, tolerant, and progressive. The students at NMH have in the past been described as more culturally or politically liberal than students at other New England private college preparatory schools, although one of its strengths is its richness of diversity and its students' acceptance of differing points of view.

In 2004, the trustees of Northfield Mount Hermon School decided to close the Northfield campus and to consolidate the school as of September 2005 with a smaller coeducational student body on the Mount Hermon campus. This decision has been controversial. Before consolidation, the school had about 1,100 students enrolled per year; it is expected that enrollment will settle between 600 and 750.

In May 2006 it was announced that David Bolger '50 will donate $10 million in securities to the school. It is the largest gift in the school's history. In addition to his $10 million gift, in October 2006 it was announced that David Bolger will donate another $2.5 million to fund a new admissions building. In June 2006 it was announced that William R. Rhodes '53 had donated $5 million as the lead gift for the upcoming $29 million arts center. The arts center will be named Rhodes Center for the Arts in honor of Rhodes and his father Edward, class of 1916.

In November 2006 the school announced that it would abandon its trimester block schedule in favor of a semester block schedule, beginning in 2007-08 school year.

[edit] Mount Hermon buildings

Assorted NMH maps

[edit] Dormitories

• London ("Cottage 1" or "C-1") - Freshman boys' dorm
• Monadnock ("Cottage 2" or "C-2") - Boys' dorm
• Hubbard ("Cottage 4" or "C-4") - Girls' dorm
• Hayden ("Motel H") - Boys' dorm
• Manchester ("Cottage 5" or "C-5") - Freshman girls' dorm
• Shea Family Cottage (completed in 2005) (Named Subzero by the residing students) - Boys' dorm
• Mary E. Mackinnon Cottage (completed in 2005) - Girls' dorm
• Wallace Hall - Girls' dorm
• Overtoun - ("TRON") - Boys' dorm
• Rikert - Girls' dorm
• North Crossley: Upper and Lower (divided into Upper and Lower as of 2005 - 2006) - Boys' dorms
• South Crossley: Upper and Lower (divided into Upper and Lower as of 2005 - 2006) - Girls' dorms

[edit] Classroom buildings

• Cutler Science Center - basement: computer labs, misc.; 1st floor: physics; 2nd floor: chemistry; 3rd floor: biology
• Blake Hall (primarily the student center) - top floor: English, history, and social science classrooms
• Beveridge - basement: foreign language; 1st floor: humanities, misc.; 2nd floor: math & misc.
• Lower Modular - English, misc.
• Upper Modular - Humanities, Theatre classroom, Dance classroom, Arts Program office, soundproofed practice rooms
• Art Studios (Pottery Shed, Milk Shed, etc.: on the farm) - all arts courses
• Music Building - Music
• Recitation Hall - the site has been empty since the original building burned down in 1974: a new arts building is now under construction with projected completion in 2008.

[edit] Offices, etc.

This listing does not include the offices that may be included in classroom buildings (ex: International Students Assoc. in Beveridge basement) or on campus faculty housing.

• Blake - Student Center, Student Activities office, snack bar, book store, mail room (upstairs: classrooms & Grandin Auditorium)
• Grandin (attached to Blake) - old theatre that is now used for dance, occasional performances, and movies
• O'Connor Health Center - 24/7 medical staff, beds, x-ray machine, counselors, etc.
• Alumni Hall (formerly "West Hall") - cafeteria, conference rooms, etc.
• Cottage III ("C-3") - chaplain's office, satellite advancement office
• Oaknoll Cottage - workjob office, deans' offices
• Holbrook Hall - head of school's office, deans' offices, college counseling, etc.
• Memorial Chapel - multifaith chapel, related offices, etc.
• Schauffler Library - library, info commons, IT, etc.
• Farm - a functional New England farm, with cattle, horses, chickens, as well as a flower garden with many lavender plants, a ciderhouse, and a sugarhouse.
• Forslund Gym/James Gym (Forslund Gym was an addon to James Gym in the 1960s) - basketball courts, wrestling gym, weight room, locker rooms, swimming/water polo pool, athletic department offices, etc.
• McCollum Ice Rink - fully functioning hockey arena, boasting heated bleachers
• Power Plant
• Plant Facilities

[edit] Biblical reference

Mount Hermon is referred to in the Bible as comprising one of Joshua's conquests: “Thus Joshua took all this land: the mountain country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, and the Jordan plain--the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, from Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.” (Joshua 11:16-17).

[edit] Clubs & organizations

Complete listing of clubs & organizations

NMH's Student Activities (located in the Blake Student Center) office handles the student clubs, offering support and services for whatever those organizations might need (places to meet, materials, money, etc.). These clubs include the yearbook, the school's radio station, computers and technology, multicultural groups, arts, spiritual life, social concerns, etc.

[edit] Notable alumni

• William Ackerman '67, founder of Windham Hill Records and 2005 Grammy Award winner
• Brian Atwater '69, Geologist and Professor, Nominated as one of the 100 most influential people of 2005 in Time Magazine.
• Dallas Baker '02, Football Player
• Lucy Wilson Benson ’45—Appointed CEO of the Federal Aviation Administration; former under secretary of state
• S. Prestley Blake '34, founder of Friendly Ice Cream
• Aurelia E. Brazeal '61, ambassador
• Mark H. Chardack '73, CFO of LextraNet and Chairman of NMH Board of Trustees
• Natalie Cole ’68—Grammy Award-winning vocalist
• Amy Domini '68, the "first lady of social investing"
• Charles T. Duncan ’42—Member of Iran-US Claims Tribunal, The Hague; was the NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney during Brown v. Board of Education (deceased)
• William S. Edgerly ’44—Chairman emeritus, State Street Boston Corporation (CEO 1975-91)
• Albert R. Dowden ’59—President and CEO of Volvo North America (retired January 1999)
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti '37, poet
• Lee de Forest 1893, controversial radio pioneer
• Dore Gold '71, former Israel ambassador to the United Nations and advisor to Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
• David Hartman '52, television host
• YaYa Johnson, 2000, actress
• June Jordan, 1953, Poet, professor of African American Studies, UC Berkeley (deceased)
• David King '73, author
• Erik Lindgren, composer
• Laura Linney '82, actress
• James W. McLamore '43, founder of Burger King
• William G. Morgan 1893, inventor of volleyball
• Tad Mosel ’40—Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright for All the Way Home
• Richard Mueller '62, former United States Consul General to Hong Kong and former NMH Head of School presently Head of School of HKIS (Hong Kong International School)
• J. Richard Munro ’50—Retired chairman and CEO, Time Warner, Inc.
• Buster Olney '82, sports journalist
• Thomas W. Payzant ’58—Superintendent, Boston Public Schools; former assistant secretary of education for elementary and secondary education
• Elizabeth Perkins '78, actress (did not graduate)
• John E. Potter '76, US Postmaster General
• Kim Raver '85, actress
• William R. Rhodes '53, Chairman of Citicorp and Chairman Emeritus of the NMH Board of Trustees
• J. Stapleton Roy '53, ambassador
• Edward Said '53, well-known literary theorist and critic
• Frank Sandford, 1887, evangelist, founder of "The Kingdom" sect.
• Ida S. Scudder, medical missionary
• Pixley Seme 1902, founder of the African National Congress
• Neil Sheehan '54, author
• Frank Shorter '65, runner
• Rini Soewandi '76—Indonesia minister of industry and trade (2001-)
• Robert Starzel ’58—Chairman of Anschutz San Francisco Newspaper Company
• John D. Stobo ’59—President, University of Texas Medical Branch; former chairman and CEO of Johns Hopkins Healthcare LLC
• Uma Thurman '88, actress (attended but did not graduate)
• Seth Schoen '97, copyright activist
• DeWitt Wallace 1907, founder of Reader's Digest
• Willy Wolfe, founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army^{[citation needed]}
• Beatrice Biira '04, person the book Beatrice's Goat based upon
• Ryan Vaughan '98, regular dude

[edit] Images

Topographic map of NMH School environs

[edit] External links

• Northfield Mount Hermon School — Official homepage.
• Northfield Mount Hermon School Admissions Video on SchoolFair.tv
• Book on the unsolved murder of North Hermon Headmaster Elliot Speer in 1934
• Assorted NMH maps
• Satellite view - From Google Maps (Note: as of 1/26/06, Google satellite image does not reflect new campus additions, including two new dorms, two new modular classroom buildings, the completion of which date from summer 2005)