Many of you have heard the news of a change in the leadership of HCHS. We wish Tony Fisher all the best as he assumes the duties of principal. As concerned alums like you, the Board of Directors wanted to share a letter that Dr. Fisher sent to the parents of current students.
Dear Hunter College High School parents,
Under ordinary circumstances, I would be writing this first letter to
you as part of the mailing that goes out to the High School community
in August. However, it is important that we communicate to you now
about how we are moving forward in light of Dr. Eileen Coppola's
recent resignation as Principal of Hunter College High School. Dr.
Coppola has done so much for the school, and we will miss her very
much. Speaking for myself, working as a team with Dr. Coppola and
with Lisa Siegmann, Assistant Principal for Grades 10-12, has been one
of the true honors and privileges of my career.
As you all know, Dr. Coppola spent a great deal of her time helping
the entire Hunter College Campus Schools community create the Middle
States Self-Evaluation. That document - the objectives, along with
the accompanying action plans - represents the combined vision of
faculty, students, parents, and alumni, detailing where we would like
to be as a school in seven years, in five key areas: student culture,
student wellness, curricular coordination, admissions and school
governance. More than that, the action plans lay out an ambitious
series of steps that the Campus Schools have pledged to take in order
to fulfill that vision.
I am honored, humbled and excited to take on the role of Acting
Principal of the High School. Along with Director Collins, Ms.
Siegmann, our outstanding group of department chairs and our extremely
talented and dedicated faculty, I believe that we are ready to nurture
the best of what Hunter is and always has been while moving toward the
future. I will write more in August; until then, have a restful and
relaxing summer. I look forward to seeing all of you - and most
especially your children - in the fall.
Sincerely,
Dr. Tony Fisher
Holocaust Survivors Visit HCHS
About 20 alums visited classes at Hunter to speak with students about their or their families’ experiences during the Holocaust on November 12, 2008. Funding for this extraordinary day was provided through a gift from Eleanor ULLMAN Light, Jan. ’49. Eleanor, who lives in Arizona, was not able to attend, so her classmate Mildred Speiser, Jan. ’49 represented her and explained that when Eleanor received war reparations from the French government about two years ago, she decided to donate the proceeds to start this program. The visit was organized by HCHS Social Studies Chair Betty Kleinfeld and the Alumnae/i Association. Ms. Kleinfeld, added that for several years she has been assigning readings to 10th graders from the HCHS Holocaust Survivors website put together by Eve KANNER Kugler, Jan. ‘49 and had always felt that a personal visit from alum survivors would help bring history alive for the students.
To read more about this and other events, please see the Spring 2009 issue of AlumNotes.
Social Studies Department and Fed Challenge Club Hold Economic Crisis Assembly
On January 28, in a forum moderated by Social Studies teacher Greg Boyle, alums Cathy Kaplan ’70 and Nancy Yao ’90 joined Hunter High PTA co-president Julia Whitehead to speak to a special assembly of HCHS juniors and seniors about the current global recession. Kaplan is a partner at the New York branch of Sidley Austin LLP; she specializes in structured financial arrangements. Yao currently works at the Council on Foreign Relations and was previously with Goldman, Sachs in Hong Kong. Whitehead is president of Pearson Enterprises. Seniors Khan Shoieb, Natasha Lerner, and Carl Dawson were selected to ask questions and challenge the speakers to defend their assertions. Khan and Carl are president and vice president of the Federal Reserve Challenge, respectively.
Mr. Boyle remarked that the events of the past year have been unprecedented - illustrating the complex interaction of markets, banks, and households – and have brought to the fore the key role of the government in making economic policy. While many Hunter students have been reading about the issues involved, the Social Studies Department felt it would be useful to invite people currently working in the financial sector to try to explain these events. Mr. Boyle deemed the forum “a rousing success.”
To read more about this and other events, please see the Spring 2009 issue of AlumNotes.
