Northfield Mount Hermon School
Discere et vivere
(Learn and Live)
82% boarding
18% day
Northfield Mount Hermon School (abbreviated as NMH), is a co-educational college-preparatory school in Gill, Massachusetts. It educates boarding and day students in grades 9–12, as well as post-graduate students. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association and the Six Schools League.
History
Egalitarian origins
In 1879, Northfield, Massachusetts native Dwight Lyman Moody (1837–99) established the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies (renamed to the Northfield School for Girls in 1944[1]) in his hometown. Two years later, he established a brother school, the Mount Hermon School for Boys, across the Connecticut River in Gill, Massachusetts. The schools were consolidated into a single non-profit corporation in 1912, but operated separately until 1971.[2][3]
Moody initially envisioned the schools as a source of terminal education; in the early days, some of the students were in their thirties.[4] The schools offered separate programs of study to accommodate its student body's varying goals. Each offered a college-preparatory course and a technical course.[5] For a while, Mount Hermon also offered courses in agriculture and for future ministers.[6][7] In the early days, most Mount Hermon students enrolled in the ministerial program, whose curriculum was designed to be sufficiently rigorous that a graduate could "enter the ministry or a related field without further formal education."[7]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Memorial_Chapel_-_Northfield_Mount_Hermon_School_-_DSC06644.jpg/220px-Memorial_Chapel_-_Northfield_Mount_Hermon_School_-_DSC06644.jpg)
An Evangelical preacher, D. L. Moody sought "to provide a Christian education for [students] of high purpose and limited means."[11] The schools charged low tuition ($100/year in 1881) compared to other boarding schools and relied heavily on donations from Moody's followers.[12] Through the 1920s, the rule was that "[n]o student was accepted if he could afford the fees of more expensive schools"; as a result, the students were "drawn largely from families at or near the poverty line," and as late as 1914, a majority of male students at Mount Hermon had previously worked in an occupation or trade.[13] In 1903 two-fifths of Northfield students did not live within commuting distance of a high school.[14] Students would attend, drop out, and return based on the family's economic needs back home.[15] In 1903, the schools reportedly enrolled 1,200 students and received at least four applicants for every vacancy.[16]
On campus, the schools tended to provide a "community life of minimum expenditure."[17] The schools operated a campus farm, and all students (both boys and girls) were required to perform some kind of labor to help fund the school's operations.[18][2][19] Today, each student is still required to hold a job on campus, working three hours a week.[20]
Evolution to nonsectarian college-preparatory school
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Northfield schools shifted to a more conventional college-preparatory boarding school model. Enrollment remained high; by 1930, the schools' combined enrollment made the institution the largest private secondary school in the United States.[22] Mount Hermon's ministerial curriculum was eliminated, and although a minority of Mount Hermon graduates went on to college during the Moody years, by the 1940s "virtually all [Mount Hermon boys] did so,"[23][24] as did half the girls at Northfield.[25]
During the Great Depression, many Americans proved unable to pay even the Northfield schools' relatively low tuition fees. As such, the schools began accepting wealthy students in the 1930s.[26] Tuition increased from $324 in 1929 to $2,600 by 1963, quadrupling in real terms.[27] Nonetheless, the schools still educated large numbers of working- and middle-class students; in 1963, the school announced that it would double its financial aid budget, putting 60% of students on scholarship.[28][26] The cost of providing a college-preparatory education has increased over time, and the school's reliance on wealthy students has increased accordingly. The percentage of scholarship students halved from 1963 to 2015.[26][29]
The schools' ties to Evangelical Christianity weakened amidst the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, and the schools eventually shifted to "a more liberal brand of Protestantism."[30][22] Compulsory attendance at most Sunday chapel services was abolished in 1970.[31]
Ethnic and regional diversity
Northfield Mount Hermon has a long tradition of educating minority and international students. (D. L. Moody was harshly criticized for his failure to oppose the emerging segregation movement when visiting the South in 1876; he founded Northfield Seminary three years later.[32])
As late as 1950, the Northfield schools were two of a handful of New England boarding schools admitting African-American students.[33][34] One of Mount Hermon's first graduates, Thomas Nelson Baker Sr., was a freed slave who became the first African-American to obtain a PhD in philosophy in the United States.[35] Several notable black lawyers attended the Northfield schools in the 1940s and 1950s, including judges William C. Pryor and Anna Diggs Taylor[36] and civil rights attorney James Nabrit III, who argued (and won) Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.[37][38] In 1963 Mount Hermon's president pioneered a program to prepare black students to attend private schools, which developed into the A Better Chance program.[39][40]
Sixteen of Northfield Seminary's first 100 students were Native Americans.[2] In an era where the U.S. government sought to relocate Native Americans to federal boarding schools, Moody sought to train Native teachers who would return to their communities and open local schools.[41][42] At Mount Hermon's first commencement in 1887, one student addressed the audience "in his native language, for the representatives of the Sioux, Shawnee, and Alaskan tribes in the school."[43] Henry Roe Cloud, class of 1906, was the first Native American to graduate from Yale.[36][44] The Athabascan Walter Harper attended the school in the 1900s after becoming the first man to summit Denali.[45] In the 1970s and 1980s, the school educated two of "the first Navajos to matriculate at Princeton."[46]
The Northfield schools were also reputed for their openness to international students, many of whom were referred to the schools by American missionaries.[47] They have educated students from Asia since at least 1886;[48] and Chan Loon Teung, class of 1892, was Harvard's first Chinese graduate.[35][49] Pixley Seme, the founder and president of the African National Congress, graduated from NMH in 1902.[36] In 1889 Mount Hermon enrolled 37 international students from 15 countries, mostly Canada and the British Isles; 3 students came from East Asia, 3 from Turkey, and 1 from Africa.[50] In 1904 it enrolled 113 international students from 27 countries, including 14 from Asia.[50]
21st-century downsizing and reorientation
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From 2004 to 2005, NMH closed its Northfield campus and announced that it would halve its enrollment.[53][54] The school explained that it wanted to reduce its high operating costs, including faculty salaries and the expenses of running two campuses.[54] It sold Northfield's academic core in 2009 and the surrounding grounds in 2016.[55][56] Since 2019, Northfield has hosted a satellite campus of California-based Catholic liberal arts college Thomas Aquinas College.[53][57]
Since the downsizing, NMH's faculty and student body have shrunk, but the share of students on financial aid has not increased. In 2003, NMH educated 1,124 students, 42% of whom were on financial aid.[58] In the 2023–24 school year, the school enrolled 630 students, 37% of whom were on financial aid.[59] The student-teacher ratio remained constant at 6:1.[58][59] In the 2023–24 school year, 23% of the student body came from abroad, and 33% of the American students (25.4% of the student body) identified as people of color.[59]
NMH is currently conducting a fundraising campaign which aims to raise $225 million, including $120 million for the endowment ($65 million for financial aid, $10 million for faculty salaries, $45 million for general purposes) and $55 million for facility improvements.[60]
The school was a major filming location for Alexander Payne's 2023 film The Holdovers, standing in for the fictional Barton Academy.[8][61]
Tuition
Tuition and financial aid
In the 2023–24 school year, NMH charged boarding students $72,647 and day students $48,302, plus other mandatory and optional fees.[62] International students were charged an additional $3,345.[62]
37% of the student body is on financial aid, which covers, on average, $56,314 (77.5% of tuition) for boarding students and $34,361 (71.1% of tuition) for day students.[60] The school commits to meet 100% of an admitted student's demonstrated financial need.[63]
Endowment and expenses
NMH's financial endowment stood at $185.9 million as of June 30, 2023.[64] In its Internal Revenue Service filings for the 2021–22 school year, NMH reported total assets of $311.8 million, net assets of $212.4 million, investment holdings of $178.0 million, and cash holdings of $23.3 million. NMH also reported $36.7 million in program service expenses and $9.1 million in grants (primarily student financial aid).[65]
Athletics
NMH has one of the strongest athletic programs in New England. Notable teams include boys' basketball (2013 national title, 4 New England titles),[66][67] boys' cross country (27 New England titles),[68] track and field (8 New England titles),[69] boys' soccer (7 New England titles, the most of any school),[70] girls' volleyball (7 New England titles),[71] girls' basketball (5 New England titles),[72] wrestling (5 New England titles),[73] and girls' alpine skiing (3 New England titles).[74]
In recent years, NMH's postgraduate program has become a popular option for students seeking to bolster their academic and athletic resumes before applying to college.[75] In 2014, the Harvard Crimson wrote that NMH "has become the standard layover destination for [postgraduate basketball] players in the Ivy League."[76] (The previous year, 47.7% of Ivy League men's basketball players had prep school experience.[75]) According to the NMH website, "[o]ver the past 15 years, NMH has sent 45 players to the Ivy League, which is more than 3x the amount of any other program."[67]
In February 2024, the school announced plans to build a new hockey rink (to open in 2025-26) and to convert its existing hockey rink into a new set of basketball and tennis courts (to open in 2026). The project is estimated to cost $20 million.[77]
William G. Morgan, the inventor of volleyball, graduated from Mount Hermon in 1893.[78] NMH also claims to have invented the sport of Ultimate Frisbee in 1968.[79]
Arts programs
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/NMH_buildings_-_Rhodes_Arts_Center.jpg/220px-NMH_buildings_-_Rhodes_Arts_Center.jpg)
The Rhodes Arts Center houses a concert hall, a black-box theater, and art and music rehearsal spaces and practice rooms.[80][81]
Memorial Chapel houses a 2-manual 27-stop, 37-rank tracker organ with a pedal compass of 30, and a manual compass of 56.[82]
Notable alumni
- Aurelia E. Brazeal, 1962, diplomat[83]
- Bette Davis, 1927, actress[36]
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1937, poet[84]
- Juliana Force, 1900, director of the Whitney Museum of Art[85]
- Lee de Forest, 1893, radio pioneer; inventor of the first commercially practical vacuum tube[36]
- David Hartman, 1952, host of Good Morning America[36]
- Valerie Jarrett, 1974, senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama[36]
- William R. Rhodes, 1953, CEO of Citibank[36]
- Uma Thurman, 1988, actor/model[36]
- Danny Wolf (born 2004), American-Israeli college basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines
- Mike Pieciak, 2002, politician[86]
References
- ^ Carter, Burnham (1976). So Much to Learn: The History of Northfield Mount Hermon School for the One Hundredth Anniversary. Northfield, MA: Northfield Mount Hermon School. p. 187.
- ^ a b c "Our History". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ State Library of Massachusetts (1912). Acts and resolves passed by the General Court, 1912. Boston, MA: Secretary of the Commonwealth. pp. 610–11.
- ^ Curry, Joseph (1972). Mount Hermon from 1881 to 1971 : an historical analysis of a distinctive American boarding school. University of Massachusetts, Amherst. pp. 48-52.
- ^ Carter, pp. 79, 87.
- ^ Carter, pp. 87, 126.
- ^ a b Curry, pp. 39-40.
- ^ a b Moon, Ra. "Where was The Holdovers filmed? The Barton School and all the locations". Atlas of Wonders. Archived from the original on 2024-02-26. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "Campus & Spiritual Life". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Tour-Memorial Chapel". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Curry, p. 1.
- ^ Curry, pp. 1-2, 103.
- ^ Curry, pp. 1-2, 56-57, 99-100.
- ^ Carter, p. 101.
- ^ Carter, p. 84.
- ^ "College Notes". The Journal of Education. 58 (19 (1453)): 330–330. 1903. ISSN 0022-0574.
- ^ Allis, Jr., Frederick S. (1979). Youth from Every Quarter: A Bicentennial History of Phillips Academy, Andover. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. p. 279.
- ^ "Education: At Northfield". Time. 1934-09-24. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ "PUPILS EARN $66,000 OF TUITION COSTS; All at Northfield Contribute to Total of 330,000 Work Hours in Schools' Year". The New York Times. 1938-12-11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Workjob". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ Heinonen, Sarah (2021-02-23). "Blake's philanthropy can be seen around the region". Reminder Publishing. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ a b "Education: Northfield Milestone". Time. 1930-11-03. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Curry, pp. 6, 75-76.
- ^ Carter, p. 115 (in 1926, only 10% of Mount Hermon boys and 5% of Northfield girls went to college).
- ^ Carter, p. 170.
- ^ a b c Curry, pp. 101-03.
- ^ Carter, p. 123.
- ^ Carter, p. 215.
- ^ "2015-16 Fast Facts" (PDF). Northfield Mount Hermon School. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Curry, p. 5.
- ^ Carter, pp. 228-30.
- ^ Blum, Edward J. (2001). "Gilded Crosses: Postbellum Revivalism and the Reforging of American Nationalism". The Journal of Presbyterian History (1997-). 79 (4): 288–90. ISSN 1521-9216.
- ^ Plaut, Richard L. (1954). "Racial Integration in Higher Education in the North". The Journal of Negro Education. 23 (3): 314–15. doi:10.2307/2293229. ISSN 0022-2984.
- ^ Yoo, Paula (2021-04-20). From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement. WW Norton. ISBN 978-1-324-00288-8.
- ^ a b Neubert, Martha (Spring 2022). "Throughline". NMH Magazine: 9 – via Issuu.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Prominent Alumni | Northfield Mount Hermon". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Archived from the original on 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ Yardley, William (2013-03-28). "James M. Nabrit, a Fighter for Civil Rights, Dies at 80". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "James M. Nabrit, III". Oyez. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Allis, pp. 626-27.
- ^ Carter, p. 220.
- ^ Carter, p. 69.
- ^ Ehrlander, Mary F. (2017). Walter Harper: Alaska Native Son. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 85–86.
- ^ Askins, Kathryn (2009). Bridging Cultures: American Indian Students at the Northfield Mount Hermon School. University of New Hampshire. pp. 116, 119–120.
- ^ "Yale Celebrates First Native American Graduate: Henry Roe Cloud". YaleNews. 2010-10-29. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ James, David (2022-05-21). "Alaska Magazine | The Brief, But Bright Story of Walter Harper". Alaska Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Bush, Alfred L. (2020). "A Few Incidents from My Life Among the Indians on the Princeton Campus". The Princeton University Library Chronicle. 78 (1): 115. ISSN 0032-8456.
- ^ Sargent, Porter (1920). A Handbook of American Private Schools. Boston, MA: Porter Sargent. p. 227.
- ^ Curry, pp. 59-61.
- ^ Ly, Long V.; Jager, Martine J. (2012). "Three Generations of Eminent American Chinese: Lives Intertwined With History". Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology (Philadelphia, Pa.). 1 (3): 129–134. doi:10.1097/APO.0b013e31825633e4. ISSN 2162-0989. PMID 26107327.
- ^ a b Curry, p. 61.
- ^ "Marquand Hall, Northfield Seminary". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "New England Campus Map". Thomas Aquinas College. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ a b Kinney, Jim (2021-07-28). "College buys nine campus homes from Northfield Mount Hermon". Springfield Republican. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ a b Badman, John (2004-01-24). "NMH to Consolidate School Into Single Mount Hermon Campus". The Phillipian. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ Associated Press (2013-01-02). "Former Northfield-Mount Hermon campus given to group that will find owner". Mass Live. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ "Baker-Polito Administration Preserves 1,300 Acres of Land in Northfield". Trust for Public Land. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ "New England". Thomas Aquinas College. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ a b "NMH Fast Facts". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Archived from the original on 2003-02-24. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ a b c "2023 NMH Facts and Figures". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2024-03-14. p. 6-7. Retrieved 2024-04-23 – via Issuu.
- ^ a b "This Place, This Moment: The Campaign for Northfield Mount Hermon". NMH Campaign. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Rathe, Adam (2023-11-04). "How The Holdovers Makes a Star of Boarding School". Town & Country. Archived from the original on 2024-02-26. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ a b "Admission - Tuition & Expenses | Boarding & Day School | NMH". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
- ^ "Admission - Need-based Scholarships". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "NMH 2023 Financial Highlights". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2024-03-07. Retrieved 2024-04-23 – via Issuu.
- ^ "Northfield Mount Hermon School, Full Filing - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "NMH Wins National Prep Championship |". newenglandrecruitingreport.com. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ a b "Basketball". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2023-11-17. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Cross Country". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2023-10-14. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Track & Field". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Soccer". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2023-11-18. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Volleyball". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2023-09-09. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Basketball". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Wrestling". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Alpine Skiing". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ a b "Taking Their Talents to the Ivies". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Playing With The Rules". The Harvard Crimson. 2024-11-20. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "New Field House and Hockey Arena Planned". Northfield Mount Hermon School. 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "A Selected List of NMH Notable Alumni". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Archived from the original on 2003-02-24. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ "Ultimate Frisbee". Northfield Mount Hermon School.
- ^ a b "Academics - Arts". Northfield Mount Hermon School. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ "Northfield Mount Hermon School-Rhodes Arts Center". CBT. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Lawson, Steve E. (2015-06-11). "Andover Organ Co. Opus 67 (1970)". The OHS Pipe Organ Database. Archived from the original on 2017-03-31. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
- ^ Jessie Carney Smith, Notable Black American Women, Book 2, Cengage Gale, 1996, ISBN 9780810391772, p. 53-54
- ^ "Prominent Alumni | Northfield Mount Hermon". Nmhschool.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
- ^ "The Force Behind The Whitney". AMERICAN HERITAGE. 1907-04-09. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
- ^ "Northfield Mount Hermon winter honor roll announced". Brattleboro Reformer. Brattleboro, VT. April 13, 2002. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official website
- Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) No. MA-1, "Northfield Campus", 14 data pages
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