At Hill, the Clark Gifts That Keep on Giving
by Leonard Shapiro
In October 1991, the entire student body and faculty at the Hill School gathered in the auditorium for a special assembly that would have a far-reaching impact not only for the school but for the Middleburg community as well.
That day, Tom Northrup, the Headmaster at the time, introduced the late Stephen C. Clark, Jr. and announced that the then-owner of Boxwood Farm, right across The Plains Road, had recently donated 123 acres and a home to Hill. Without prompting, every child in the room rose and gave Mr. Clark a standing ovation.
“No, they weren’t coached,” Northrup said in a recent interview. “And Mr. Clark was very moved by that response. After he had a stroke about a month later, our students sent him get-well cards. His wife later told us how much those cards had meant to him.”
A year later in 1992, his daughter and Hill alumna, Jane Forbes Clark, donated an additional ten acres, two houses, and a barn. Those transforming gifts of 133 acres of land, along with three homes and a barn have meant and continue to mean the world to the school.
This land not only provided the school the space to fully develop its buildings and grounds master plan, but it also has become a valuable resource for the Middleburg community. It is utilized by countless local residents who walk its trails, play on its athletic fields and wander off the beaten track to enjoy the wildlife, wetlands, gardens and forests.
Hill students have and continue to benefit immensely from the gift. The school has developed what is known as a place-based educational curriculum that frequently gets the students out of the classroom and into the outdoors. All the students, from the youngest in Junior Kindergarten to the teenagers in the eighth grade, participate in this program.
Every class has a project directly tied to the campus, such as the second grade’s study of local birds and the sixth grade being responsible for the entire school’s recycling. Students have been involved in counting critters in the streams to determine the quality of the water and have helped remove as many as 600 invasive plants and trees.
“You want to provide experiential programs that include doing a lot of projects outside of the classroom,” said Lois Johnson-Mead, a former Hill science teacher who is currently a part-time consultant to the school while she attends graduate school. She, Hunt Lyman, the Academic Dean, and the science teachers have led the development of these place-based programs, with assistance from the homeroom teachers and other members of the faculty.
Johnson-Mead recalled that day in January 2007, when she and Dr. Lyman held a meeting with the staff and challenged one and all to “blue-sky” suggestions for ways to fully utilize the Clark gift of land.
“We asked, ‘what would you design if you could do whatever you wanted with your class?’” she said. “Many of the ideas were both creative and practical. We also wanted to incorporate our other disciplines – music, art, history, math – as well as science into this place-based program. And we’ve been able to do that. It’s a great program and has an amazing legacy behind it.”
One of the early practitioners of this place-based concept was the late Bob Dornin, Sr. who taught science at Hill from 1960-1985 and for whom Hill’s science center is named. The beloved teacher is one of eight honored as a Faculty Emeritus and was essentially doing “place-based education” long before it had a name. He took his students on excursions, with permission, of course, on the Clark property to study their environment.
His son, Bob Dornin, Jr. (Hill ’72) who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the entire campus, is also very much involved as a member of the teaching team on “Science Fridays” when groups of children from various grades come out to the Dornin Science Center to study a wide variety of topics.
“We take small groups around campus. For example, we do activities related to paleo-botany and animal habitats, and we build bluebird boxes.” Dornin said. “The children love this hands-on learning, and it’s very enjoyable for me to work with them.”
Dornin also is delighted that the entire campus also has become “a wonderful resource for the Middleburg community. When Polly Rowley designed and planted the arboretum she wanted it to be a learning experience for the children and something the community could enjoy, too.”
Two other Hill graduates, Martha Spencer Burke (’76) and Susan Young McCaskey (’86), both teach science and help coordinate the place-based program.
“Each year, we try to do something new,” McCaskey said. “This year (seventh grade science teacher) Paul Haefner wanted to study the deer population on campus. His goal is to do a night count with his class. The weather hasn’t been too cooperative, but they’ll get it done.”
Burke recalled the example that Bob Dornin, Sr. set for her and her classmates in the 1970s in the importance of recycling and being good stewards of nature.
Northrup who now serves as Hill’s Headmaster Emeritus and remains active in development and strategic planning said, “from Day One of the Clarks gifts, the trustees have been committed to maintaining the entire property as an educational resource for our students, faculty and the Middleburg community.”
Tim Harmon, current president of the Board of Trustees, expressed his gratitude for the generosity of the Clark family and the vision of Hill’s previous trustees for this commitment of stewardship of the land. Harmon said that “often schools will use a valuable asset such as land as a source of revenue to solve a short term financial challenge. In fact, another school with which I’m closely affiliated made this mistake.
“All of us in the Hill and Middleburg communities are fortunate that the school’s trustees have always fully endorsed maintaining the open-space environment of the campus, which many call Middleburg’s ‘Central Park.’”
Treavor Lord, Hill’s Head of School since 2010 and a faculty member since 1990, added that “it’s gratifying to me to lead a school which has an opportunity to serve its students, teachers and the local community so well. This is very unusual in today’s world. We are so grateful to the Clark family to have this beautiful campus, and we want to ensure that we continue to utilize and care for it in the most responsible way possible.”
Clearly, the legacy of Stephen and Jane Clark lives on.