On April 21, nineteen Hathaway Brown seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society, an organization established to recognize academic achievement in secondary schools for the purpose of promoting excellence, justice, and honor.

Elizabeth Harding Gold '90, a New York City-based vice president and literary agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd., delivered the ceremony's keynote address. She described her path from Hathaway Brown to where she is today and she discussed the power and promise that lie in the stories we all have within us. The mother of four boys who professionally represents an award-winning world-class stable of middle-grade and young adult authors in a variety of genres also told the girls that individual journeys can and should be fluid. Defining "success" is truly up to you, she said, but if you are authentically devoted to the things that are important to you and you add in a fair amount of flexibility, you truly can have it all -- your all. 

The 2017 Cum Laude Society inductees are Catherine Areklett, Fiona Blumin, Regan Brady, Margaret Broihier, Alanna Brown, Maggie Cha, Lina Ghosh, Lauren Gillinov, Madeline Howarth, Kristina Mullen, Ally Persky, Rosalie Phillips, Gigi Protasiewicz, Leia Rich, Julia Sabik, Jasper Solt, Lydia Spencer, Rachel Wang, and Carly Wellener. 

Several HB alumnae also joined us for the program, and after the ceremony the newly inducted Cum Laude Society members gathered for a reception with their parents, HB faculty, and guests.

Kavya Ravichandran '16 works in the lab of Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta under the guidance of Christa Modery-Pawlowski in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University. Kavya’s project focuses on developing a targeted therapy for treating vascular disease such as heart attack and stroke.

Margaret Broihier '17 studies the role of TREM2 in Alzheimer’s disease in the Neuroscience Lab of Dr. Gary Landreth at Case Western Reserve University. She is under the direct mentorship of graduate student Taylor Jay.

Caitlin Coyne '17 conducted a screen on a large compound library to identify new potential candidate drugs for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She works in the lab of Dr. David Wald in the Department of Clinical and Experimental Pathology at Case Western Reserve University under the mentorship of graduate student James Ignatz-Hoover.

Congratulations to Kavya, Margaret, and Caitlin!

Two members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2017 have been named U.S. Presidential Scholars. This prestigious honor is reserved for only up to 161 graduating high school seniors in the United States each year. Regan Brady '17 and Lina Ghosh '17 will be honored for their academic accomplishments through the National Recognition Program and they will be guests of the U.S. Department of Education at a special ceremony in June. They'll each receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital to meet with government officials and educators. To commemorate the achievement, the Scholars will be greeted by the President of the United States, and they will receive Presidential Scholar Medallions at a ceremony sponsored by the White House. Each Scholar may select a teacher who has influenced her life to be part of the ceremony. Regan has selected Middle School History Department Chair and Speech & Debate Coach Jason Habig to join her, while Lina has chosen Director of the Center for Global Citizenship Joe Vogel for the honor.

Established in 1964, the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was created by Executive Order of the President to recognize some of our nation's most distinguished students graduating from high school. The Scholars represent "excellence in education and the promise of greatness in young people."

Regan and Lina were identified for the program based on their high academic achievement. Remarkably, this is the second consecutive year that HB has had two students from the same class earn this distinction. Hathaway Brown is proud to be the alma mater of eight alumnae who were named U.S. Presidential Scholars in their senior years: Isabella Nilsson '16, Kavya Ravichandran '16, Alyssa Bryan '13, Laney Kuenzel '08, Amy Hollinger '05, Edith Hines Williams '00, Caroline Campbell '98, and Genevieve Mathieson Kilmer '96. 

To learn more about the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program and for the complete list of this year's Scholars, visit the U.S. Department of Education website: http://1.usa.gov/1beUJXq. 

Two Hathaway Brown students won all-expenses-paid trips to compete at I-SWEEEP as finalists by advancing through the Hathaway Brown 19th Annual Poster Session judging in March. HB has awarded spots to I-SWEEEP each year based on the quantity and excellence of the science and engineering research that comes out of HB year after year through the SREP.

Lina Ghosh '17, working in the lab of Dr. David Katz in the Department of Neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University, presented her research on neuronal abnormalities in a mouse model of Rett Syndrome, and won a Bronze Medal in the Environment category for Health and Disease Prevention.

Madeline Howarth '17 works on recovery after peripheral nerve injury in the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine with Dr. Richard Zigmond. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Environment category for Health and Disease Prevention at I-SWEEEP this year.

Congratulations to Lina and Madeline!

Hathaway Brown is proud to recognize six graduating seniors as Merit Scholar designees, each of whom won a $2,500 scholarship from The National Merit Scholarship Program. HB’s 2017 honorees are Lauren Gillinov, Lina Ghosh, Lydia Spencer, Jasper Solt, Gigi Protasiewicz, and Regan Brady.

According to its website, the National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test —a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements. All winners of Merit Scholarship awards are chosen from the National Merit Finalist group based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments—without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. A variety of information is available for NMSC selectors to evaluate: the finalist's academic record, information about the school's curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, the high school official's written recommendation, information about the student's activities and leadership, and the finalist's own essay.

Congratulations!

Hathaway Brown is proud to recognize seven graduating seniors as Merit Scholar designees, each of whom won a $2,500 scholarship from The National Merit Scholarship Program. HB’s 2017 honorees are Lauren Gillinov, Lina Ghosh, Lydia Spencer, Jasper Solt, Gigi Protasiewicz, Margaret Broihier and Regan Brady.

According to its website, the National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test —a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements. All winners of Merit Scholarship awards are chosen from the National Merit Finalist group based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments—without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference. A variety of information is available for NMSC selectors to evaluate: the finalist's academic record, information about the school's curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, the high school official's written recommendation, information about the student's activities and leadership, and the finalist's own essay.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the Hathaway Brown Class of 2017!

HB girls are impressive. We're biased, we know. But year after year, the best colleges and universities in the world tell us we're not the only ones who think so. In 2017, 82 percent of HB seniors were accepted to their top-choice schools, including all eight Ivies. More than half of the class was admitted to a U.S. News & World Report Top 30 College or Top 30 University as well, and nearly $11 million in merit and other scholarships, including full tuition packages, was offered to HB students.

Whether she chooses a college here in Ohio or one that's halfway across the globe, through a combination of immersive experiential learning and outstanding academic preparation delivered by the best teachers anywhere, each Hathaway Brown student is set on a path to find the campus that's right for her. Our girls are equally at home at historic Ivy League schools, top public and private universities, specialized conservatories, and small liberal arts colleges in the U.S. and abroad. We hate to see them leave, but we know it wouldn't be fair to keep them all to ourselves. 

Click here or see below for the complete list of college destinations for this year's senior class. 

Hathaway Brown's 141st Commencement Exercises will take place around the iconic fountain in the HB Courtyard in just a few short weeks, and we'll be "clapping out" the Class of 2017 for the final time. As we reach the end of another memorable school year, please join us in congratulating these amazing students and wishing them well as they get ready to make their own lasting marks on the world. 

Four Hathaway Brown students spent May 14-19 in Los Angeles, where they competed in the Intel ISEF (International Science & Engineering Fair), the largest pre-college science fair in the world. While they were there, Isha Lele '18 was awarded the Third Place Grand Award of $1,000 in the category of Materials Science, joining the ranks of only 15 HB students enrolled in the school's Science Research & Engineering Program in the past 19 years to win a Grand Award. Additionally, Isha and Ananya Kalahasti '17 were given special awards from the Naval Science Awards Program.

Students attending earned the right to compete at Intel ISEF 2017 by winning a top prize at a local, regional, state, or national science fair. Each year, approximately 1,800 high school students from more than 75 countries, regions, and territories are awarded the opportunity to showcase their independent research and compete for on average $4 million in prizes. The participating HB students won all expenses-paid trips to compete at ISEF as Finalists by advancing through the Hathaway Brown 19h Annual Poster Session judging in March:

Catherine Areklett, '17: Surface versus Bulk Chiral Orientation Effects in Liquid Crystals with Dr. Charles Rosenblatt at Case Western Reserve University

Ananya Kalahasti, '17: Presence of Plasmodium falciparum Gametocytes with Asymptomatic Malaria with Dr. Brian Grimberg at Case Western Reserve University

Isha Lele, '18: Investigating the Design of Nanoparticles to Target Difficult-to-Reach Tumor Sites with Dr. Efstathios Karathanasis at Case Western Reserve University

Maya Razmi, '18: Heteromultivalent Approaches to Clot-targeted Nanomedicine: Combination Targeting of Platelets and Fibrin with Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta at Case Western Reserve University

HB has been honored to award spots to ISEF each year based on the quantity and excellence of the science and engineering research being performed in partnership with Cleveland institutions like Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, NASA Glenn Research Center, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

We're thrilled to announce that for the second year in a row, Hathaway Brown has received top billing from Niche, an online platform that tracks educational institutions and provides research findings for public and private schools across the country. In its 2018 ratings, Niche lists HB as #1 in the category of Best Private K-12 Schools in Ohio and #1 in Best All-Girls High Schools in Ohio. We also earned statewide designations as the #2 Best Private High School overall and #3 Best Private High School for STEM. Visit Niche.com to check out all of the rankings and add your review of HB today!

Congratulations to HB's 2017 National Merit Semifinalists: Regan Brady, Margaret Broihier, Maddelana Chesler, Debolina Ghosh, Lauren Gillinov, Madeline Howarth, Prathna Kumar, Leah Marks, Grace Protasiewicz, Leia Rich, Zoe Solt, Lydia Spencer, Rachel Wang, and Alexandra Wiebe

Hathaway Brown School is proud to host the 2016 Young Choreographers’ Brown Bag Workshop Series. The event series, presented by HB’s Department of Dance, is free and open to all high school and college-aged dance students. Students are invited to bring a lunch for a midday Q&A with each of the guest artists. Space is limited. To register, call Jenny Burnett, director of dance and performing arts department chair, at 216-932-4214 ext. 7117. 

Schedule of events: 

Kathy Diehl

Saturday, September 24, 2016: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Kathy Diehl began her professional dance career as a founding company member of Rochester City Ballet under the artistic direction of Timothy Draper. Diehl has danced with Bill Evans Dance Company, Present Tense Dance, Biodance, and Anne Burnidge and Dancers. Diehl has choreographed works for several universities including The College at Brockport, Webster University, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has presented her choreography at the American Dance Guild Festival, WAXworks, Rochester Contemporary Dance Collective, Fort Worth Contemporary Dance Festival, and The Brockport Alumni Showcase. Diehl holds a MFA in Performance and Choreography from The College at Brockport, and a MSW from Case Western Reserve University. She began her teaching career on faculty at Draper Center for Dance Education. She has been a full-time visiting professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Webster University and a lecturer at the College at Brockport, Nazareth College, and the University of Rochester. Recently, Diehl began an appointment as Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Cleveland State University.

Anna Brown Massey

Sunday, October 9, 2016: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Massey is a graduate fellow at the Ohio State University where she is pursuing her MFA in dance with research in intermedia performance, community arts development, and pedagogical practice. She choreographed, performed, and taught in New York City for a decade, and has received grants from the Times Square Alliance, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Work Office, NTHCCC, and the Ohio State University. Massey is co-director of both NACHMO and the Moves Project. Her projects are marked by collaborative practices and highlight themes of agency and authorship. Massey’s teaching emphasizes improvisational-compositional strategies and attention to musical detail–qualities revealed in her award-winning film and concert work. In addition to communicating in bare feet, Anna is a Cape Breton Step dancer and a Scottish Highland dancer.

Heather Acomb and Jenny Showalter

Saturday, December 3, 2016: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Heather Acomb is a dancer, choreographer, and educator. She earned her MFA in Choreography and Performance from the College at Brockport, then spent four years performing, touring, and teaching as part of the Bill Evans Dance Company as well as independently as a freelance artist across the U.S. Certified in the Evans Method of teaching Laban/Bartenieff-based modern dance, Heather also teaches her own somatic-based work at Wells College, where she is visiting Assistant Professor of Dance.  Acomb has performed and had her work shown at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, American College Dance Festival, Core Project/Going Dutch, Midwest RAD Fest, and WAX Works, among others. She has performed the works of many dance artists including Bill Evans, Jose Limon, Doris Humphrey, Claire Porter, Bill T. Jones, Larry Keigwin, and Treeline Dance Works.  She is a board certified holistic health practitioner and studies integrative and ayurvedic nutrition.  

Jenny Showalter, co-artistic director of Treeline Dance Works, is a dancer and choreographer whose work has recently been presented in Sweden, France, New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, California, and Illinois. She continues to dance on a project basis with the Bill Evans Dance Company. Showalter has served as full time or part time faculty at Ball State University, St. John Fisher, The College at Brockport, Arizona State University, Grand Canyon University, Glendale Community College and Scottsdale Community College. She holds a MFA in dance choreography and performance and a BS in P.E. exercise science along with being a certified personal trainer, Pilates instructor, and registered somatic movement therapist.

Congratulations to the seven members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2017 who recently have received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise, based on their Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test scores. More than 1.6 million juniors took the PSAT, and these students scored in the top 50,000 of those participants.

This year's HB National Merit Commended Students are:

Alanna Brown, Ananya Kalahasti, Rosalie Phillips, Julia Sabik, Anna Hollweg, Carly Wellener, and Claire Zajaczkowski.

Hathaway Brown School is proud to announce today that three of its seniors have been named semifinalists and one of the three named a regional finalist in the 2016 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology for their multiyear original research projects through the Science Research & Engineering Program (SREP). Hathaway Brown is the only school in the state of Ohio with more than one semifinalist in this year's competition.

Congratulations to (L-R) Margaret Broihier, Gigi Protasiewicz, and Zoë Solt. Solt has also been named a 2016 Siemens Regional Finalist out of 30 individuals and 30 teams in the United States. In November, she will compete for one of six of the national finalists slots.

Broihier has worked three summers on her research in the Case Western School of Medicine in the Department of Neurosciences with Dr. Gary Landreth and graduate student, Taylor Jay. The work she submitted to Siemens is on the topic of The Role of TREM2 in Alzheimer's disease (AD). She reports that there are fewer immune cells in the brain of AD mouse models due to both a decrease in proliferation (new cells) and an increase in cell death.

Protasiewicz has spent three summers in the Biomedical Engineering laboratory of Dr. Jeff Capadona working with John Hermann at Case Western Reserve University on the project "Evaluating the Presence of Toll-like Receptors at the Intracortical Microelectrode Interface." When an electrode is implanted into the brain for a purpose such as functional improvement after paralysis, it eventually leads to neuroinflammation of the brain and microelectrode failure. Gigi has studied particular neuroinflammatory markers and changes in their expression to improve the longevity of the electrode.

Solt has worked with Dr. Jesse Berezovsky and Robert Badea in the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University for 2.5 years for her project on "Domain Wall Motion in Concave Ferromagnetic Nanowires." She studied various nanowire geometries to identify the best structure to facilitate spin-based electronics starting with computer simulations and progressing to actual fabrication of concave permalloy nanowires.

Launched by the Siemens Foundation in 1999, the Siemens competition is the nation’s premier competition in math, science and technology, promoting excellence in math, science and technology. 

For more information on the Siemens competition, click here. 

Congratulations Margaret, Gigi, and Zoë!

Hathaway Brown School is excited to share that, Dani Lawson '17, has committed to play basketball for Purdue University after her senior year at HB.

At a special signing ceremony held in the Anne Cutter Coburn Reception Room, Lawson's family, friends, teammates, teachers, and school administrators joined her in celebration and wished her continued success in her academic and athletic career. 

Congratulations, Dani, and go Blazers!

Hathaway Brown is one of only three schools in the world to advance more than one team to the Top 64 in International Public Policy Forum debate. The IPPF is a worldwide competition of written debate sponsored by the Bickel and Brewer law firm and New York University. Teams from around the globe wrote preliminary round essays on the topic  “Resolved: The obligation to provide safe haven for refugees should outweigh a government’s right to control its borders.” The Top 64 teams are vying for spots in elimination round bracket, hoping for an all-expenses paid trip to NYC to compete live at the IPPF Finals this coming spring. HB has traditionally fared well in this prestigious competition, even ranking as international runner-up in 2014. This is the first time that more than one HB team has made it this far in the contest. 

HB's Top 64 IPPF teams are:

Team 1 - Alison Xin '19, Jennifer Wang '19, Megan Qiang '19, Sukhmani Kaur '18

Team 2 - Farah Sayed '19, Kathy Wang '19, Angela Zhu '19

ABOUT IPPF
Founded in 2001 by the law firm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, the International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) is the only contest that gives high school students around the globe the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of public policy. Now jointly administered by the Brewer Foundation and New York University, this program is available to all public and private high schools for free.

The competition begins in October, as each school submits a qualifying round essay on the IPPF topic. The essay should be no more than 2,800 words, either affirming or negating the topic resolution. The IPPF Essay Review Committee evaluates each essay, and the top 64 teams earn cash awards and advance into a single-elimination, written debate competition.

In the top 64 round, schools volley papers back and forth via e-mail. Judges review the essays in the order they were presented (affirmative constructive, negative constructive, affirmative rebuttal, negative rebuttal) and select the advancing teams. The process begins anew as the Top 32 teams compete for their chance to advance to the Sweet 16 round.

In March, the "Elite 8" teams are announced. These teams win all-expenses-paid trips to New York City to compete during IPPF Finals Weekend. Ultimately, the IPPF Champion wins a $10,000 grand prize and the Brewer Cup. Learn more here. 

Hathaway Brown has been honored with the top spot on Niche's Best Private High Schools in Ohio list for 2017 and we couldn't be prouder! Niche is an online platform that tracks educational institutions and provides research findings for public and private K-12 schools across the country.

Click here to check out the rankings, learn more about HB, and add your review today.

#learnforlife 

Hathaway Brown Upper School students set a new school record in regional commendations from the Scholastic Art Awards, a longstanding, highly competitive local and national visual arts program. For 2017, 51 awards were earned by 34 HB girls in grades 9-12 in seven different arts categories. The faculty advisors for these award-winning students are members of the HB Upper School Visual Arts Department: Jamie Morse, Shelly Ahern, and Tyler Zeleny. 

HB students earned eight Gold Keys, 15 Silver Keys, and 28 Honorable Mention designations in Ceramics & Glass, Comic Art, Digital Art, Drawing & Illustration, Painting, Photography, and Printmaking. 

VIEW A GALLERY OF GOLD KEY AND SILVER KEY WINNING WORK

All of the HB students' Gold Key and Silver Key award-winning work, as well as digital representations of the Honorable Mention work, will be on display at the Cleveland Institute of Art. An Award Ceremony and Reception for Gold Key recipients will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Auditorium at CIA on Saturday, January 14, at 1 p.m.; the Silver Key Winners Reception will be held in the Reinberger Galleries at CIA that same day at 3 p.m.; and the Honorable Mention Award Winners Reception will be in the Reinberger Galleries on January 14 at 4 p.m. 

Each Gold Key-designated work is eligible for the Scholastic national competition and will be sent to New York City for judging at the close of the exhibition. Click here to view a complete listing of HB winners, including award level, category, title of work, and faculty advisor. 

Congratulations to the following students: