HOLDERNESS SCHOOL Holderness,

HEAD OF SCHOOL Start Date: July 2022 holderness.org Mission Holderness School fosters equally in each student the resources of the mind, body, and spirit in the creation of an empathetic community, inspiring all to work for the betterment of humankind and God’s creation.

Vision Holderness School strives to develop people the world most needs.

OVERVIEW

Holderness is more than a school, it’s an elevated experience. Surrounded by New Hampshire’s lakes and White Mountains, Holderness School is an independent boarding and day school for grades 9-12 and postgraduate. Offering a rigorous college preparatory education and curriculum in a vibrant and supportive community, Holderness instills within each student an excellent academic foundation, strong leadership skills, and lifelong connections—ingredients for a happy and successful life.

Holderness strives to create a balance in fostering the resources of the mind, body, and spirit: the mind through an intentionally challenging curriculum, the body through outdoor activities and required interscholastic athletics, and the spirit through school and community service, ongoing equity and inclusion work, and affiliation with the Episcopal Church. Holderness remains, by choice, a small school where students and faculty maintain close relationships. Every student at Holderness plays an important role in the life of the school. Through the Jobs Program, academics, athletics, and dorm life, students learn what it means to be engaged members of a strong and healthy community. They learn who they really are, and shape and expand their identity through a wide variety of challenges and experiences. Students graduate from Holderness with the skills and knowledge they need for success in college and a foundation for a lifetime of curiosity, inquiry, and learning.

Current Head of School Phil Peck has announced his retirement from Holderness at the conclusion of the 2021-2022 school year. Mr. Peck came to Holderness in 1984 from the Olympic skiing circuit. First hired to teach history, Mr. Peck also coached several sports and served as dean of faculty before being named to the head of school position in 2001. The school is seeking a new head of school, effective July 2022. The next head will bring both vision and passion for college preparatory education, proven leadership and management skills, and a deep commitment to students and their families. Building a trusting, caring, and balanced community that prepares students to lead as responsible global citizens will be a core responsibility of the next head.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 2 Fast Facts Founded: 1879 Enrollment: 284 Students of color: 8% International students: 15% Teaching faculty: 50 Faculty of color: 12% Faculty with advanced degrees: 72% Student/teacher ratio: 5:1 Financial aid awarded: $4.47M Endowment: $62.5M

SCHOOL HISTORY

Holderness School was founded in 1879 by members of the Episcopal General Convention. The campus was originally part of the historic Livermore Estate, and still holds special services at Trinity Chapel, built in 1797. For the school’s first 75 years, enrollment generally ranged between 30 and 80 boarding and day students.

From the beginning, Holderness School students hiked nearby mountains, camped in the woods, and boated or swam in the surrounding rivers and lakes. In the early 1930s, the school welcomed a trustee who had been a member of the 1928 American Olympic Winter Sports Team; not long afterward, the school began cutting and grooming its own ski trails. From this day forward, snow sports became integral to the school’s athletic program.

Holderness has consistently turned challenges to its advantage. Two campus-razing fires became opportunities to design forward-thinking facilities, and two World Wars and the Great Depression led to the creation of the Job Program which required all students to participate in the upkeep of campus resources. In the 1970s the school explored alternatives to both its traditional curriculum and single- sex educational model. In the 1970s, the school took deliberate steps to develop alternatives to its traditional curriculum and shift to a co-educational school.

Out of this period of intense change rose the now-iconic Special Programs, which make use of a ten- day period in March to focus members of each class on a different aspect of their personal growth. Today Holderness has a $62.5 million endowment, an outstanding faculty, and a program built around educating the whole student. In its history of over 140 years, Holderness School has upheld its core principles, even while embracing the opportunities afforded by change.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 3 THE SCHOOL

Holderness School’s motto— “For God and Humankind”—along with its three core values—Community, Character, and Curiosity—drive the school’s programs and focus while helping to strengthen the minds, bodies, and spiritual lives of all students. The sum of these values is that Holderness has a very warm and connected community with a joyful spirit.

Working at Holderness is a lifestyle. Faculty care deeply about the subjects they teach and make a point of connecting with the students they instruct. In addition to teaching, faculty are also dorm parents, coaches, extracurricular advisors, and leaders in the adult community. Most attend evening sit-down dinners, live on campus, and are frequently available for extra help sessions and life lessons.

Students develop deep and lasting friendships while actively learning what it means to be a member of a community where they are respected, known, and challenged. They hail from 23 different states. Fifteen percent of students are international and join the Holderness community from places that include China, Canada, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

Holderness is committed to developing and strengthening the practices needed to build and sustain a respectful, safe, and diverse community. The Office of Equity and Inclusion supports inclusive education and heightened understanding of social justice and equity at the school through programming and policy. By integrating concepts of social justice, specifically notions of empathy and fairness, throughout the curricula, students develop an understanding of how to learn and lead in a complex, inter-connected world.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 4 Each year, Holderness sends students to a variety of conferences as a part of their individual cultural and identity development, including the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, The White Privilege Conference, AISNE High School Students of Color Conference, and Asian American Footstep Conference. Holderness also holds its own event annually, the Lakes Region Students of Color Conference, which recognizes the unique needs, experiences, and challenges of students of color in independent schools, particularly in the Lakes Region area. A yearly social justice theme and affinity and community groups are just two of the additional ways Holderness works to educate students toward a richer humanity.

ACADEMICS

The academic experience at Holderness develops a lifelong passion for learning. Students are known, nurtured, and encouraged. They feel safe enough to take the intellectual risks they need to grow. From graphic design to creative writing to laboratory sciences, faculty share their expertise and passions in their classrooms and bring out the best in their students.

The Holderness classroom is an academically challenging environment. In small classes with no more than 16 students, teachers encourage questions and participation. Learning is very often experiential, with the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire providing further academic experiences. From biology field trips on Squam Lake for water quality testing to visits to the Human Performance Lab at Plymouth State University, the opportunities to experience real-life applications of classroom lessons are endless.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 5 College Matriculation A selection of colleges and universities matriculated to by the Classes of 2018-2020 include:

American University Amherst College Bates College College Boston University Brown University Carnegie Mellon University Colby College Colgate University College of Charleston Columbia University Cornell University Dartmouth College Davidson College Georgetown University Lafayette College New York University Northeastern University Oberlin College Pepperdine University The rigorous preparatory school curriculum is designed Regis College to provide students with the skills and knowledge they Skidmore College need for success in college. With levels ranging from Southern New Hampshire introductory to Advanced Placement, the curriculum is University rich with choices. Students complete courses in visual and St. Lawrence University performing arts, modern and classical languages, STEM, Stanford University literature, theology, history, and independent projects. Syracuse University Honors courses are offered in Chemistry, Physics, Algebra Trinity College 2, and Precalculus, and 18 AP courses are available. The Tufts University curriculum also supports students who need academic University of California, San Diego support. University of Denver University of Maine At Holderness, the college counseling process is more than University of New Hampshire just identifying a list of colleges. Counselors are dedicated University of North Carolina at to fully supporting students throughout their search by Chapel Hill helping them match their individual interests and talents University of Pennsylvania with appropriate, best-fit schools. Each year, nearly 100 University of Richmond representatives from colleges and universities in the United University of South Carolina States, Canada, and other countries visit the Holderness University of Utah campus to meet with students and talk about their college University of Vermont searches. University of Washington, Seattle University of Wisconsin, Madison Vassar College Wake Forest University Wesleyan University Williams College CARNEYSANDOE.COM 6 THE ARTS

The arts are an essential part of a Holderness education. In the performing arts, the theater department mounts full-scale fall and spring productions in addition to regular coursework. The music program offers opportunities for budding musicians in the Jazz Band as well as with String Ensembles. (Student bands also are created on a regular basis.) Music Composition and Theory and Music History courses are available as part of the curriculum. A songwriting afternoon activity also provides students the chance to write and record their own compositions. A wide range of visual arts curricula is offered. The fine arts faculty offers instruction in studio arts, ceramics, and photography, and regularly exhibits student work in the Heide Family Gallery as well as in other campus common spaces.

ATHLETICS

Being active is a foundation for great health and at Holderness, athletics and adventure sports are paramount to the student experience. Three seasons of sports bring new opportunities and challenges for students.

Geographically, the landscape surrounding Holderness School is ideal for activities like rock climbing and mountain biking, as students can travel to premier climbing and biking destinations close to campus. Some students join these teams with riding and climbing experience, while others join as beginners and discover a lifelong love for the sport.

There’s no better place to be in the winter than at Holderness. Mittersill at Cannon Mountain and Loon Mountain are within 45 minutes of campus, and the school’s backyard is home to Nordic ski trails and an outdoor hockey rink. Holderness is known as having the best preparatory school ski program in the CARNEYSANDOE.COM 7 nation. Since 1940, the school has produced 17 Olympic athletes, six World Cup Team members, 15 Collegiate All-Americans, and 38 National Team members. Winter sports include alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, hockey, Nordic skiing, ski jumping, and snowboarding, as well as winter mountaineering. For those unfamiliar with winter sports, the Intro to Snow Sports Program teaches students how to alpine and Nordic ski, snowboard, ice skate, and snowshoe. The program promotes outdoor adventuring, the learning of new skills, and the benefits of physical fitness.

Fall and spring bring even more opportunities for student-athletes to hone their skills, try a new sport, and be a proud Holderness Bull. In addition to snow sports, teams include crew, cross country, field hockey, football, soccer, basketball, baseball, cycling, golf, lacrosse, softball, and tennis.

SCHOOL LIFE

Community is at the center of everything at Holderness. Whether sitting down to dinner together, singing out the HOL-DER-NESS cheer, or high-fiving in the halls, students, coaches, and teachers form strong bonds. Students feel known and supported. This inclusive culture encourages all students to invest in the community and participate in a wide range of activities. Whether a day or boarding, everyone is fully engaged in the experience of Holderness School.

Leadership is built into every aspect of the school culture, with grade-level appropriate curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to apply learning in real time, in real conditions. In the longstanding Job Program, students play a fundamental role in managing the day-to-day of the school. Students work on grounds crews, give Admission tours, serve as dinner stewards, organize community service, lead campus sustainability and recycling efforts, and build community as house and floor leaders.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 8 The moment students step onto campus, nature plays a role in their Holderness Experience. From their first Orientation Hike at Holderness to weekend hiking expeditions to Monday outdoor chapel services, students are encouraged to connect with their natural environment and be open to the lessons of Mother Nature. Out Back, which began in 1969, is the school’s most powerful expression of love of the outdoors, experiential learning, and its core values. In March, after a series of meetings and wilderness trainings, the junior class disperses into the White Mountains. There, they meet the challenges of an 11-day winter experience, including a three-day “solo.” Ask any Holderness graduate about Out Back and you’ll hear not one, but dozens of stories and insights about the Holderness experience that shaped their lives.

Holderness School was founded as an Episcopal school, and it remains deeply connected to the Episcopal Church. At the same time, Holderness supports, encourages, and nurtures a variety of religious beliefs and levels of commitment. Twice weekly the community gathers at the Chapel of the Holy Cross to worship and reflect on all things spiritual. In addition to inquiries about scripture, chapel talks often focus on honesty, community engagement, and leadership. While many services follow the Episcopal litany, other services borrow from other traditions. The school’s spiritual sense of place also extends beyond the main campus and into the Outdoor Chapel, Trinity Church—the 18th century wood frame building that was the school’s original chapel—and on Chocorua Island, or “Church Island,” where the ninth grade makes an annual trip to visit an outdoor chapel founded by the same donor who made the original land grant to Holderness School.

Each March, the school begins its two-week period of Special Programs. Students, grouped by graduating class, engage in activities that address lessons of mind, body, and spirit through hands-on experience. With Project Outreach, ninth graders travel to Massachusetts where work with a variety of non-profit organizations. Artward Bound is a nationally recognized program during which working artists from all over the country work closely with and perform alongside tenth-grade students and faculty. In

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 9 the year-long Senior Thesis, students practice research and presentation skills with guidance from a class advisor and mentoring from adults with expertise within the student’s field of interest; in March, during Special Programs, they embark on self-designed, hands-on learning opportunities and present their theses to the school community later in May.

CAMPUS

Holderness School’s 600-acre campus contains academic buildings, athletic facilities, dining hall, library, health center, and residential dormitories.

Highlights of the campus include the Davis Center, slated to open for student use in fall of 2021. The Davis Center is a 35,000 square foot academic facility that will be home to the math and science departments. Designed under the themes of innovation, collaboration, flexibility, and connecting to the outdoors, The Davis Center will feature wet and dry science labs, versatile classrooms, enhanced faculty planning spaces, break-out rooms, and an atrium-like Winter Garden with stunning views of Stinson Mountain.

The Carpenter Arts Center is a spacious and sunny renovation of the original Holderness School gymnasium, which is home to most of the fine arts courses. The facility features a digital photography lab, a ceramics studio with eight wheels and a gas kiln, a press for linoleum or wood block printing, equipment for jewelry and stained-glass production, a darkroom with 11 enlarger-equipped work stations, a studio for still-life and portrait photography, a matting and critiquing room, and student gallery space. Holderness School is also home to a blacksmith forge, a mural printing darkroom, soundproof rehearsal rooms, and a recording studio.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 10 The Hagerman Center—which features a 325-seat auditorium—hosts student and professional performances as well as weekly all-school assemblies.

The Barbara Lawrence Alfond Library is Holderness School’s dynamic and well-resourced learning commons with digital and print collections. The Library features a main reading room, meeting spaces for one-to-one learning support, the Tower reading room, classrooms—one of which is named for Robert Creeley, major American poet and Holderness alumnus—and the school’s technology department and help desk. The main room in Alfond provides an open gallery for student artwork, spaces for student study, and areas for various members of the community to gather for Advisory meetings, equity and inclusion programming, and community conversations. The Library is also home to the Holderness Center for Teaching and Learning.

On-campus athletic facilities include an outdoor refrigerated hockey rink, a turf field, a fully-equipped athletics center, seven playing fields, eight tennis courts, two basketball courts, two baseball diamonds, and ten kilometers of competition-quality running trails. In the winter, the same trails are fully groomed for Nordic skiing and are the favored venue for many national competitions.

HOLDERNESS, NEW HAMPSHIRE

The town of Holderness is in central New Hampshire, nestled between the foothills of the White Mountains and the shores of the Squam Lakes. With around 2,100 residents, the town is small and largely rural. It doesn’t take long to discover, however, that Holderness and the nearby towns have wonderful educational, cultural, and commercial assets as well. Shopping, theater, music, restaurants, galleries, and bookstores are within a few miles of Holderness Village.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 11 Just a five-minute jump over the is the town of Plymouth, a New England landmark and one of National Geographic Adventure Magazine’s next great adventure towns. Home to Plymouth State University, Plymouth is a true college town with a variety of shops, restaurants, attractions, and its infamous movie theater The Flying Monkey. Neighboring Ashland, Hebron, Groton, and Campton also bring unique charm and new sites to explore.

It’s the breathtaking natural beauty of the surrounding area that draws visitors and residents alike all year round. The Lakes Region and White Mountains of New Hampshire offer an unlimited variety of adventures with an abundance of lakes for swimming and boating and mountains for skiing and hiking. The crown jewel of New Hampshire’s Lakes Region is beautiful, blue Lake Winnipesaukee, the northernmost parts of which are under 30 minutes from campus. The lake, which covers 72 square miles and includes 253 islands, is a monster in size, but it should not overshadow the equally lovely Squam Lakes less than 15 minutes from campus. The Squam Lakes include some of the most pristine bodies of water in New Hampshire. When the winter snows arrive, the area draws cross-country skiers and snowmobilers.

Holderness’ location also means it is within driving distance to the larger cities—and their respective attractions and resources—of Boston (two hours’ drive); Montreal (four hours’ drive); Burlington, VT (two hours’ drive); Portland, ME (two hours’ drive); Providence, RI (three hours’ drive); and Hartford, CT (three hours’ drive).

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Holderness is a close-knit community that is centered on strong relationships, kindness, inclusivity, and joy. Everyone knows each other on campus; the school’s small size and its affinity for the outdoors bind the community together. Candidates interested in the Head of School position must fundamentally cherish these central defining characteristics of the school. CARNEYSANDOE.COM 12 Candidates can expect the following opportunities and challenges inherent in the role of Head of School at Holderness:

• An opportunity to lead a uniquely invested and collegial community in a naturally beautiful setting; • Given the school’s small size, an opportunity to become involved in a wide variety of the school’s programs and initiatives, and to connect on a personalized level with everyone campus; • An opportunity to connect one’s own love of the outdoors with a community that prioritizes nature, environmental sustainability, exploration, and a sense of adventure; • A ‘modeling’ opportunity to exhibit ‘servant-leadership’ to students and faculty where leadership cultivation remains a defining aspect of the school; • An opportunity to work in partnership with a highly functional and supportive Board of Trustees; • An opportunity to continue expanding the school’s focus and commitment to equity and inclusion, particularly as it relates to diversifying the faculty and student body and expanding the financial resources for prospective students; • A challenge which characterizes all boarding schools to some degree or another—ensuring (long- term) financially sustainability for future generations of Holderness families; • Balancing the imperative to preserve and celebrate the various signature programs and traditions of the school, while also ensuring the school remains responsive to a changing marketplace, shifting demographics, and evolving best practice with respect to teaching and learning; • A challenge inherent in bolstering the important ‘snow sports’ programs, while also sustaining and improving other athletic and artistic programs; • A challenge of successfully leading increasingly important fundraising initiatives for the school, while also maintaining an internal focus and a visible, engaging presence with students and faculty.

CARNEYSANDOE.COM 13 DESIRED QUALITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS

The Holderness Search Task Force is excited to consider a wide range of leaders for this role. Candidates who are most likely to advance will demonstrate many of the following:

• A desire to be an active, visible presence within the Holderness campus and community; • A predisposition to lead by cultivating and sustaining meaningful personal relationships throughout the various Holderness constituencies; • An appreciation for the outdoors and a desire to engage in the natural beauty of the Plymouth, NH area during all four seasons of the year; • A passion and demonstrable history of leadership in the areas of equity, inclusion, and social justice; • Fluency and currency in the emerging challenges and opportunities in secondary education, and particularly with respect to boarding schools; • A leadership style that is characterized by joy, ‘active listening,’ self-awareness, humility, and team- orientation; • A visionary, forward-thinking orientation; • An appreciation for the value in nurturing and sustaining key traditions and programs; • A history of teaching and learning in a close-knit secondary school community; • An appreciation of the importance of spiritual exploration among students and faculty, and a respect for the particular significance of Chapel in the life of the school.

TO APPLY

Interested and qualified candidates are invited to contact the consultants in confidence. Candidates will ultimately need to submit the following materials as separate PDF documents:

• A cover letter expressing their interest in this particular position; • A current résumé; • A one-page statement of leadership philosophy and practice or a relevant writing sample to:

Rice Bryan Senior Consultant [email protected]

Devereaux McClatchey President [email protected]

Jessica Wright Director of School Services, President’s Office [email protected]

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