Last week Tod Sedgwick ’66, former US ambassador to Slovakia, experienced Hawken’s intensive classes first-hand by sharing his knowledge and expertise with students in both Scott Looney’s Politics and Public Opinion course at the Gries Center and Ken Clark’s Genocide class at the Gates Mills campus.

When Hawken senior Phillip Hedayatnia launched his #FightForForensics website earlier this year, little did he know that he would play a critical role in garnering a $25,000 grant to support Speech and Debate programming in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). 

If you’ve had a chance to walk through Hawken's Upper School this month, you probably noticed that the traditional classroom has undergone a transformation.

“It’s cool… it’s different… I like it.”

Seventh graders displayed what Middle School Director Becky Hausammann described as “inventiveness and exuberance” last week at the Biomimicry Exhibition held last week for parents and friends in Lincoln Lobby.

Not all grand openings live up to their name, but today’s opening of the Schneider Family Challenge Course certainly did.

The Hawken football team conducted its annual Lift-a-Thon this morning in support of the JADE Foundation. 

Hawken Science Research III students took part in the 6th annual Bob Maciunas STEMM Research Symposium on Monday November 17, presenting their projects before a panel of expert judges, families, and other guests, including Hawken middle school students, who received a special invitation to the event.

The Annual Bob Maciunas Hawken STEMM Symposium will take place on Monday, November 16 in the Arts Communication building at the Gates Mills campus beginning at 6:45 pm.

The Hawken Debate Team made school history last weekend at the Minneapple Tournament in Minneapolis, MN through impressive performances in both Public Forum and Congressional Debate.

Milena Fernsler, a Hawken 6^th grader, will play one of the lead roles in The Star on My Heart, an original play based on the true story of Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher.

Against a backdrop of clear blue November sky, Stirn Hall’s final beam was lifted from the ground of the construction site at Hawken’s Upper School earlier today.

Destynn Keuchel ’22 and Nicholas Bislich ’19 were among 137 students who participated in the Canton Scholastic Chess League tournament last Saturday.

Phillip Hedayatnia '16, Chair of the City Club of Cleveland's Youth Council, introduced a youth forum on the college admissions process on Monday, October 26th.

Hawken School's year of Centennial celebrations - from the all-school photo on the Great Lawn to the Party of the Century in May to the 100th birthday party commemorating Hawken’s October 1915 opening - will soon come to an end, and in grand fashion.

Ask any student enrolled in the Hawken’s Entrepreneurial Studies class held at the Gries Center and they’ll tell you: It doesn’t feel like school. Yet they are learning by leaps and bounds.

Jock Collens from the Class of 1931 was born October 21, 1915, just weeks after Hawken School first opened its doors.

BuildZoom, cofounded by Jiyan Wei '96 and his friend David Petersen, is featured in a recent Forbes article.

Eleven Lower School students have been accepted by audition to participate in the Ohio Music Education Association All-State Children’s Chorus.

Seysha Mehta '17 had the honor of presenting her STEMM research to the Society of General Internal Medicine Mid-West regional meeting at the Cleveland Convetion Center in late August.

Hawken School congratulates the Class of 2017 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees:

Hawken recently hosted 10 students and 2 teachers from the Thomas Jefferson School in Concepción, Chile for a cultural and language immersion experience.

Six Hawken students have been named semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program. Congratulations to John Antolik, Tommy Dell, Sarah Senkfor, James Swingos, Hilary Vogelbaum and Matthew Zhu.

Kennedy Auditorium filled with parents, teachers and administrators on September 16 to watch the award-winning education documentary "Most Likely to Succeed." After the screening, Ted Dintersmith, the film's producer, participated in a lively audience discussion alongside three area school administrators.

Former student and drama club enthusiast Andrew Watson '84 returned to Hawken's stage this week, this time in the role of educational expert.

Three members of the Class of 2013 connected with film producer Todd Lieberman '91 for a summer internship with the help of Hawken's alumni office.

Hawken families welcomed two ASSIST exchange students on Saturday, August 22.

Freshman Ashley Fulton performed at Nighttown on July 31.

Hawken is thrilled to welcome a record-breaking 1022 students for the 2015-2016 school year – 571 at our Lyndhurst campus, 451 at our Gates Mills campus, and 172 students new to Hawken.

Michael Weiss '75, a cancer research professsor at CASE, was elected to the board of trustees of two national high school programs.

Phillip Hedayatnia '16 has formed Fight For Forensics in an effort to bring speech and debate to students who can't afford or don't have access to debate programs.

Jodie Ricci, PS-12 Performing Arts Chair, performs as a duo-pianist in a new album released in July.

Alex Ashley '15 has received a first place scholarship of $2,000 through the National Spanish Examinations.

Sonia Aggarwal '02 will speak about clean energy policies at 7pm on Thursday, July 23 at the Gates Mills Community House.

Happy Birthday to our school's founder, James A. Hawken! Mr. Hawken was born on July 14, 1882 into a large working class family and grew up in Rochester, NY. 

2010 graduate Jennifer Waxman won the Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic Cleveland Grand Prix on Sunday, July 12.

Hawken's workshops for educators in entrepreneurial studies are featured in an article on edSurge, an independent education technology website.

Congratulations to Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Brie Zeltner ’97 on being awarded the inaugural Urban Health Journalism Prize.

Hawken senior Alex Ashley recently released a video that documents Hawken's life-changing service work in Nicaragua.

Sunday, June 7 marked the culmination of high school for seniors at Hawken School.

Hawken Upper School took time to celebrate the hard work and dedication of its students at Awards Day on Friday, June 5th.

The Class of 2019 bid farewell to the Lyndhurst campus on Friday, June 5th.

Members of the Hawken community are invited to join students and faculty in celebrating the lives of Alex Doody and Josh Weil on Monday, June 8 at 4:30 pm in the Red Gym on the Gates Mills campus, to be followed by a reception in Smith Lobby.

Parents, faculty, staff, friends and the largest gathering of alumni ever to assemble at one time came together to commemorate Hawken School's 100th anniversary during a series of inspiring events held May 15-17.

Hawken boys lacrosse defeated University School 13-9 in the OHSLA Region Championship game. The Hawks now play Chagrin Falls HS in a State Semifinal Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:00pm at Medina HS.

Today is Field Day for grades 4-8 at the Lyndhurst Campus.

Spring Intensives have started at the Upper School, which means students will engage in one course for the next three weeks, allowing them to dive deep into their topic of study.

Hawken faculty and administrators are frequently invited to other schools to share their experiences with the School's innovative programming.

Hawken School has planned an impressive array of community-wide events May 15-17 to celebrate the School's 100th anniversary.

Hawken sophomore Criel Hart, who earned three gold and one silver medal at states, has been named Swimmer of the Year by cleveland.com. 

Congratulations to seniors Maureen Rakovec and Matthew Thompson for receiving corporate scholarships from The National Merit Scholarship Corp.

1992 graduate Andy Simm, founder of PlayersRep Sports Management, has a reputation for being genuine and knowing how to best represent professional athletes.

Director of Faculty Development and Humanities Teacher Dorothy Moulthrop visited Albuquerque Academy during spring break to share Hawken's experience with teaching and learning in long blocks.

In what has become a yearly tradition, Hawken students will work with two jazz legends this week, and then perform with them in a concert on Saturday.

Parents, graduates and friends are invited to attend a public forum in the AC Lobby at Gates Mills on Thursday, April 16 at 7pm to discuss a recently installed exhibit "Art Interprets Alzheimer's."

Four Hawken students recently competed at the 2015 Ohio High School Middle School Chess Championships.

During spring break, Phillip Hedayatnia '16 attended the Facebook F8 conference held in San Francisco, California.

With only 40 days left until Hawken's Party of the Century, nearly 1200 tickets have been sold and only a few hundred tickets remain.

Robby Gray '15 was a grand prize winner at the Northeastern Ohio Science and Engineering Fair and will represent Hawken at the Intel international science fair this May in Pittsburgh.

Ten Hawken families hosted 11 guests from Japan during spring break, making it the 27th exchange with the small community of Haibara.

President Obama traveled to Ohio last week and during his day-long trip answered questions from citizens at The City Club of Cleveland -- a Presidential tradition stretching back to President Reagan.

The parent and grandparent community of Hawken met a challenge to raise $1 Million in just 100 Hours the week before spring break.

Emily Philips Stephens '95 came to America without her family and next to no money.

Hawken swimmers competed at the Division II State Championships yesterday. The girls placed 1st to win their 17th consecutive state title, and the boys placed 5th.

Upper School Director Kim Samson and Gries Center Director Sara Mierke '84 attended the January Institute of the Independent Schools Experiential Education Network.

Eighteen months ago, 17 Hawken students and three chaperones travelled to Nicaragua to help build a school in a small town of Tipitapa called Villa Japón.  For two weeks, we laid the foundation for three classrooms in a community once devastated by Hurricane Mitch.

The Hawken community has raised $7 million toward the $8 million Smith Challenge to build Stirn Hall, the new Upper School Building. 

1980 graduate Beth Gibans was named 2014 Agriculture Citizen of the Year at a January awards ceremony in Oregon.

Congratulations to Hawken figure skaters Sydney Harper '18, Helena Costantini '18,  and Marilena DeGennaro '19 who competed in the 2015 Ohio High School Team Figure Skating Competition February 7 and 8 at Thornton Park Ice Arena in Shaker Heights.

Hawken speech and debate has qualified an impressive number of 29 students for the state tournament in March. Even more impressive is the depth of the qualifiers: 8 are seniors, 12 are juniors, 5 are sophomores, and 4 are freshman.

In 100 days on Saturday, May 16, the Hawken community will come together to celebrate 100 years of Fair Play at the Cleveland Convention Center.

February 13-22, Hawken Upper School will present Blood Brothers by Willy Russell, a heartbreaking musical about twins separated at birth and reunited as children.

Anton Salem '16 spoke at the 39th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, addressing 1,100 scientists and engineers gathered in Daytona Beach from around the world.

Ten Hawken art students earned awards in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and had their works exhibited at the Reinberger Galleries.  Click here to view their pieces.

Students, faculty and staff from both campuses gathered at Gates Mills for a historic "100" photograph in October.

Hawken Middle School returned from winter break for Insights Week: 5 days of mixed-grade courses designed to inspire and inform.

Hawken's entrepreneurship program is featured in a Wall Street Journal article that addresses the need to more effectively teach students how to start and run their own businesses.

Hilary Vogelbaum '16 testifed at a hearing before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio addressing a FirstEnergy Corp. plan that would force Illuminating Co. customers to pay extra to keep the environmentally controversial W.H. Sammis and the Davis-Besse plants operating.

Phillip Hedayatnia '16, a member of the City Club's Youth Forum Council, gave the opening speech kicking off "A Conversation on Race," a forum at the City Club of Cleveland that will air Monday, at 8pm on C-SPAN.

The Hawken Speech and Debate Team kicked off 2015 with a bang as 56 students traveled to the Sylvania Invitational in Sylvania, OH.

Graduates who started Hawken in kindergarten may remember reading The Gingerbread Man, and then participating in an exciting hunt for cookies that escaped during the night.

Michael Cassara '99 has been nominated by the Casting Society of America for an Artios Award.

2015 is a momentous year for our School as we celebrate our 100th anniversary.