The DNA of scientific discovery

Harpeth Hall opens Warner Science Building, marking first phase of the Dettwiller STEM Center

Mary Laird Warner Stewart ’82 took science in a handful of small, retrofitted classrooms at Harpeth Hall. In the 1970s and early 80s, the STEM offerings at the all-girls school were slim. There was no dedicated building, and the upper school curriculum was limited to biology, chemistry, and physiology. If girls wanted to study physics, they had to travel elsewhere to take it.

For Mary Laird’s older sister, Jeanette Warner ’78, that meant driving to Montgomery Bell Academy — the all-boys school a few miles away that their brother, Sloan, attended. Mary Laird chose to take summer school in the northeast for her advanced studies.

But even in the cramped spaces on Harpeth Hall’s campus where the girls mixed solutions and measured reactions, Mary Laird remembers the classroom as an “exciting place of learning.” 

Science — just like their family’s belief in all-girls education — was in their DNA. 

The girls’ grandmother, Margaret Thompson Smith, graduated from Ward Belmont in 1931 and majored in chemistry at Vanderbilt University, one of a handful of women in the department at a time when very few were represented in the field. Their father, John Sloan Warner, studied biology and became a physician — beginning a family legacy in medicine that would span four generations. Mary Laird, too, would follow that path, becoming a Vanderbilt-trained pulmonologist and, today, chief medical officer of HCA HealthONE Swedish in Colorado. 

And decades after Harpeth Hall helped nurture that scientific curiosity, the Warner family hopes to spark that same sense of possibility in the next generation of Harpeth Hall girls — this time with more space for experimentation, collaboration, and discovery.

On Friday, Aug. 14, with students, faculty, alumnae, trustees, donors, and friends of the school looking on, the Warner family joined a group of Harpeth Hall lead donors to cut the ribbon and dedicate the Warner Science Building, the first phase of the new Dettwiller STEM Center.

The soaring, two-story 19,550-square-foot Warner Science Building includes expansive chemistry, biology, and physics laboratories and classrooms with state-of-the-art equipment. 

Combined with the STEM Commons and the 14,600-square-foot Massey Mathematics Building now under renovation, the completed Dettwiller STEM Center will open in January 2027 and encompass nearly 41,000 square feet devoted to STEM education for girls at Harpeth Hall.

“There is so much opportunity here,” upper school physics teacher Leslie Chamberlain said. 

The new and updated spaces expand what Harpeth Hall has been building for years. The school established its Center for STEM Education for Girls in 2011 with the mission to advance research, curriculum development, innovation, and collaboration with other all-girls schools interested in increasing STEM opportunities for young women. Today, Harpeth Hall students pursue STEM through classroom study and programs including Honors STEM Research, robotics, the STEM Summer Institute, and partnerships beyond campus. 

The Warner Science Building adds the room and resources to match the breadth of STEM learning already taking place at Harpeth Hall. 

“When I had an opportunity to walk through the new spaces, I realized how lucky the next generation of students will be to have those classrooms and workspaces and collaborative spaces to learn and grow and challenge themselves in STEM,” Mary Laird said.

A COMMUNITY BUILDS THE FUTURE OF STEM EDUCATION FOR GIRLS

The Warner Science Building honors Mary Laird, Jeannette, and Sloan’s parents, Dr. John and Peggy Smith Warner ’54, whose support of Harpeth Hall spanned decades.

Peggy’s connection to the school began as a student. She started high school at Ward-Belmont in 1950 and, after the school closed, joined her classmates in the first sophomore class at Harpeth Hall in fall 1951. She served as president of both her junior and senior classes and graduated as valedictorian in 1954.

Her commitment continued long after graduation. Peggy served as a Harpeth Hall trustee from 1985 to 1996 and as board chair from 1991 to 1995, helping lead the school through a pivotal period. During her tenure, she recruited Nashville business leaders to the board — including Fred Dettwiller and Ken Melkus — and helped strengthen the school’s endowment.

Those relationships made Friday’s ribbon-cutting and dedication particularly meaningful. Decades after the three served at Harpeth Hall together, their families stood together to open a building that will serve generations of girls.

A $6.5 million gift from the Dettwiller Foundation helped propel the project forward and gave the center its name in honor of the late Fred Dettwiller, a former Harpeth Hall trustee and father of new trustee A.K. Dettwiller ’96. An early challenge gift from Lynn and Ken Melkus and their daughter Lauren Melkus ‘96 helped build fundraising momentum.

The project also carries forward the legacy of Jack C. Massey, whose name has been associated with mathematics and science education at Harpeth Hall since the original Massey Center was dedicated in 1991. His granddaughter, Beth Clark Poe ’83, joined representatives of the Dettwiller, Melkus, and Warner families participating in Friday’s ribbon-cutting.

“We would not be at this moment without you,” Board of Trustees Chair Crissy Wieck said to the families at the dedication ceremony. “... I am forever grateful for each of you.”

ROOM FOR SCIENCE DISCOVERY

Before the ribbon was cut, Harpeth Hall STEM faculty leaders and upper school class officers released butterflies in memory of Peggy and John Warner, Fred Dettwiller, and Barbara Massey Rogers ’56 from the steps leading to The Adams Terrace as they marked a new chapter in STEM at Harpeth Hall.

Then, surrounded by the school community and many other generous donors who helped bring phase one of the project to fruition, Crissy gave the countdown to cut the ribbon and open the STEM Center doors.

Guests moved into the STEM commons and through the new laboratories and classrooms, where science faculty welcomed them into spaces that would soon be filled with students. The rooms — complete with large lab tables, custom fume hoods, dedicated refrigerated space for dissection specimen storage, experiment prep rooms, exhaust snorkels for chemical ventilation, and walls of whiteboards — will give the girls experiences closer to those in college and professional research institutions.

“[Learning] is going to be a lot more dynamic,” upper school chemistry and biology teacher Cole Hackett said.

The celebration will continue in January, when renovation of the Massey Mathematics Building is complete and Harpeth Hall officially opens the entire Dettwiller STEM Center.

For Mary Laird, what matters most is what generations of girls will do with the opportunities inside the new buildings.

“We hope that this facility will inspire Harpeth Hall students to pursue graduate and post-graduate degrees in STEM fields and prepare for careers in medicine and other fields we can’t even imagine,” she said.

And, perhaps, those students will one day create opportunities for the generations that follow them.

“We hope students who benefit from the Warner Science Building will pay it forward,” Mary Laird said. “Maybe they will discover that Harpeth Hall is in their DNA, too.”