Five members of Harpeth Hall’s Class of 2024 earned the distinct honor of being named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship program. The highest-scoring program entrants in each state are selected as National Merit semifinalists. Harpeth Hall’s honorees are in the top 1% of high school seniors across the country.

If you are in the field of education and preoccupied with teaching students to think for themselves — or in any profession with a healthy skepticism surrounding the automation of your industry due to artificial intelligence — you probably have been swamped with discussions and articles about “intelligent” computer systems. The current conversation seems to contain two schools of thought. One view is that ChatGPT or any form of generative artificial intelligence will cause the end of critical thinking, or, let’s face it, the end of civilization as we know it. The other view, equally distorted, is that AI, anthropomorphized by Hollywood and sci-fi movies, will solve our problems and make life and work much more efficient.   

Leadership Day is a distinguishing opportunity for those elected by their peers as student leaders. Each fall before the school year begins, the young women gather to learn the skills of effective and inclusive leadership. Retreat sessions include how to build a team, run an effective meeting, the logistics of project management, and how to ensure different voices are heard.

In our opening convocation last week, I urged our students to make their definitions of “smart” as expansive as possible. They intuitively understand that being smart encompasses knowledge, understanding, and skill. Still, seeing those qualities in themselves and the many activities they pursue can be difficult. I reminded them that in all they do — from language translations to lab dissections, from implementing strategy on the soccer field to making people laugh — there are hundreds of ways to be smart.