Bears Repeating: 'Written into being'

The 2026-2027 school year is a very special one, and our school-wide theme, “Making History,” fits right in.

We all know it is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our country’s semiquincentennial. It is also hard to believe that Harpeth Hall’s tradition of excellence in education for girls — dating back to our predecessor school Ward Seminary’s inception in 1865 and continued through Ward-Belmont’s beginnings in 1913 — has prevailed for more than half of our country’s history.

That is a claim not many schools can make.

This year, we celebrate 75 years of Harpeth Hall, our place beloved. Through each passing decade, we have remained steadfast in the commitment that has guided us from the beginning. Beginnings are so significant — our school’s and our country’s. When I spoke to our students on convocation morning in August, I shared a phrase that kept ringing in my ears: our country was “written into being 250 years ago.”

I love that phrase, “written into being.” Our country was formed by powerful and meaningful words, sentences, and speeches. The ideas of men — who were most certainly surrounded by very smart women — were then written into the Declaration of Independence. Those individuals wrote a document that brought our country into being.

And here’s something important to note: The Declaration of Independence signed by our country’s founders was not a first draft. It had over 80 changes along the way after Thomas Jefferson and the committee of five drafted it. What that tells me is that carefully chosen words and phrases and individual thoughts, ideas, and beliefs can bring much of what we dream into being. Words tell us who we are, and when we write them and spend time to consider them, they can become our most effective tool. They can form our stories and become our history.

Our students understand the power of words. When our graduates come back, they share that they are the ones who have their papers read in class. (I just heard a story about this happening last week.) They are the ones helping the others on their hall with their papers, and they are the ones with the courage to share their thoughts in class. 

I didn’t realize until much later in life that writing is not just a tool for communication; writing is a tool for thinking. Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but sometimes I am not sure what I think until I try to express my thoughts through writing. Writing helps us think critically. We are able to find flaws in our thinking when we write. We are able to organize our thoughts when we write. And as I said, writing can enable us to think altogether.

Which brings me back to “writing us into being.” If we are able to write countries and institutions into being — what are those words that give our country and culture shape? Would we be the same as Americans without these words to anchor us? “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Did these words and so many others evoke a certain movement or era into being? Or maybe they crystallized the moment so that we could never forget it?

There is great purpose and strength in putting our thoughts and beliefs into words. Not AI’s thoughts and beliefs, but our own. With precision and authenticity, we can describe our darkest fears, our deepest joy, or our most expansive dreams. We can have our hopes and dreams written into being.

So, how was our school, our culture, our community written into being? What are the important words that shape our history? We begin with the words of our mission, our mandate to educate girls and young women to think critically, lead confidently, and live honorably. Our seniors pledge to “transmit this school, not less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to them.” That oath and promise describe the heart of our work each year. It seems our school and culture have also been “written into being.”

We have other significant words:

• “At Harpeth Hall, girls matter.”
• “Harpeth Hall is not about the absence of boys, it is about the presence of girls.”
• And a sentiment from one of our alumnae that has been repeated again and again in the last year: “Harpeth Hall doesn’t change, it evolves.”

When our school moved to this campus 75 years ago, Mrs. Morrison, of Morrison Hall, remarked, “Faith in the school’s future prevailed.”

There were just two buildings on our campus that September in 1951 — a home that would later be named Souby Hall in honor of Susan Souby, the first head of school, and a smaller brick building known from the outset as the Senior House. On the first day of school, Harpeth Hall opened with 161 high school students and 15 teachers.

It's hard to believe, but back then, educating girls and young women to prepare for college and future careers was a bold idea. Harpeth Hall's first year was made possible by community supporters and families who believed so strongly in the importance of girls education that after our predecessor school, Ward-Belmont, closed its doors and became a co-educational college, our community worked hard to find a place for a new school just for girls.

That place is the campus we know today — our place beloved. I am so grateful that, throughout our school’s history, so many people have held the enduring belief that Harpeth Hall’s future will prevail. The future is bright for our girls, our alumnae, this place, and our beautifully written history and story.