Kate Beinkampen’ 19: Cathy Hall, current assistant Head of School and integral part of the Episcopal community, recently announced her leave from Episcopal. She will be leaving her position in order to become Head of School at the Noble and Greenough school in Massachusetts at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year.
Hall admitted that she had not actually been looking for a new job. “For me, being [at EA] has always just been the best place to be.” However, she explained that this opportunity was one she could not decline. She explained that she had been asked to join their search for a new Head of School, “I was essentially just pulled into the search. As I went along the way, the school really resonated in a way that was different and felt like it was the right time to take this step for that particular school.”
“Nobles is one of the best schools in the country,” adds TJ Locke, Head of School. “This opportunity is amazing and we are all so proud of her.”
The Noble and Greenough School embodies many of the things Hall loves about Episcopal, and these factors kept coming back to her as she was making the decision. The faculty and administrators “truly have a joy for their work.,” according to Hall. Additionally, the new school gives her an opportunity to lead a school that has so many of the things she cares so much about, such as teaching, education and educational leadership.
Nick Loring ‘18, a student at Noble and Greenough, is excited the change to his community. He says, “We have never had a female headmaster, but I think everyone is really excited. None of the students know what to expect because we’ve all only been under one headmaster, so I think it’ll be an interesting transition.” Loring hopes that under Hall’s leadership, his school will be able to “revamp some of the facilities we have and bring in new ways for student discussion forums to occur or ways to connect the diverse community.”
After being at EA for 13 years, Hall feels she has learned a lot and hopes to bring many of the ideas she has seen form at Episcopal to a new environment. Among these are the “tremendous sense of community at Episcopal” and “a value on relationships.”
Leaving the school will be, in Hall’s words, “bittersweet. She says it will be “exhilarating and fun in lots of different ways. But at the same time, Episcopal has been such an important part of my life and my children’s lives for the past 13 years. There are a lot of dear friends and memories.”
Hall says she will miss the people at EA the most. She says, “Friends, kids… there are people I care tremendously about who have mattered a lot to me.” She says that one of the reasons Episcopal is so special is because it is a “school that invests tremendously in its people.”
“I’ve been here for 13 years in great part because I have been supported by school leaders, colleagues, teachers and people who have given me chances to grow and have given me so many opportunities.” says Hall.