A young man attended Hyde for three years on a scholarship program we operate for urban kids from New York. He did extremely well at Hyde and set about applying to top liberal arts colleges in hopes of securing the same scholarship he had at Hyde. One day he found himself talking to the director of admissions at a prestigious New England liberal arts college. After the director had interviewed him for close to an hour, he eventually turned to him and said, "I've been grilling you for a while, are there any questions you would like to ask me?" He replied, "Yes," and went on to explain a bit about the senior year at Hyde. He noted that it was a year of deep challenge and that he had set the bar high on himself in terms of academics and personal goals. He then asked the director of admissions, "So, I was wondering, what are you struggling with?" Suffice it to say that the director initially found himself caught off guard and at a loss for words.
That same afternoon the director called Hyde’s Director of College Counseling and simply said, "Make sure he gets all of his materials in, as we would like to give him a full scholarship."
While the traditional prep schools may prepare their students far more thoroughly than we do when it comes to preparing for a college interview, I tend to doubt that any of their students would ever ask a question like that.*
*Today that young man is a junior at that very same college, active in student government, and looking toward a career in investment banking.
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| When 60 Minutes did its piece on Hyde in 1989, CBS commentator Ed Bradley said to Hyde Founder Joe Gauld, “When I went to school, it was my job to impress my parents. It almost seems like you've got this whole thing turned the other way around." |
60 Minutes and CBS News
Correspondent Ed Bradley. (CBS) |
A Hydeparent had been afraid of the water since nearly drowning at a young age. At Fall Family Weekend she set a goal of learning to swim by Spring Family Weekend. Today she completed her final swimming lesson and now looks forward to swimming with her family. “This is a great day for me and I have Hyde School to thank.”
-A visitor of the Hyde-DC school walked into the cafeteria to find a couple hundred 10-to 11- year olds eating lunch. Something was out of the ordinary: these kids are eating in total silence! A teacher explained that sometimes when things get rowdy and boisterous in the classrooms the teachers will declare “Quiet Lunch.” The weird thing is that the kids actually honor this expectation. As the teacher said, “Go to any public elementary school in the District and you won’t see this."
Yesterday afternoon, I heard Rich Truluck (outdoor trip leader, football and wrestling coach among other things) on his cell phone talking with someone about putting more ”umph” into a song. OK, I thought, so Rich sings. Didn’t know that. Then as I got to the end of the hallway, I heard, “Well, after all, I choreographed the dance number.” Thought I died laughing! I think of Rich during the summer in his shorts, crocs and sunglasses hanging around his neck and to see those red crocs rocking really made me take a moment and laugh. And I honestly thought, “Only at Hyde.”
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| A faculty member and a father were watching a lacrosse practice. The father kept pointing out the kids on the team and saying things such as, “Oh, there’s Teddy. He sure has grown up a lot. I hope he has said what he needs to say to his father.”The father was basically going around the entire team speaking with affection and concern for each kid. |
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| At one point he paused and said something such as, “That’s the thing about Hyde, I had my boys at School X for more than five years and I barely knew any of their friends let alone any of their classmates and teammates. At Hyde, I've gotten to know the kids my son goes to school with at a really deep and meaningful level.” |
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