About NMH Today

Education of the Head, Heart, and Hand

Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) offers a unique educational program, diverse and talented people, a values-oriented experience, and extensive resources. Focus, individual attention, values, and opportunity are at the core of the program because the school believes these are the elements that allow students to learn and grow in the most balanced and effective way possible.

Students focus their minds and energy by taking three major courses each semester in extended periods, for a total of six, rigorous college-prep courses per year. These courses are complemented by cocurricular enrichment courses and a special ninth-grade foundation program. Individualized attention is ensured through the Moody system of advising, which matches teachers with advisee groups of about seven students; small class size; a teacher-student ratio of 1:7; a focused college counseling program; and a nurturing residential life program.

NMH challenges its students to examine their values and to develop a sense of commitment and community responsibility. Every student participates in the school's work program four hours per week, and 200 students volunteer each semester in outreach activities. Multifaith beliefs are examined in religious studies courses, at school meetings, and in spiritual life groups that are supported by the faculty. The school offers an extensive choice of courses, sports teams, performing arts groups, club activities, and study-abroad options.

Northfield Mount Hermon began as two schools: the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies, which opened in 1879, and the Mount Hermon School for Boys, which began in 1881. Both schools were founded by Dwight Lyman Moody, who wanted to provide an excellent secondary education for young people regardless of race, religion, and economic circumstances. In 1971, the schools became a single coeducational institution with one faculty, one administration, and two coeducational campuses.

In January 2004, the NMH Board of Trustees decided to reduce the size of the student body and become a one-campus school as of September 2005. The school is located on the former Mount Hermon campus in Gill, which encompasses 1,100 acres on the wooded banks of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, and is near the borders of Vermont and New Hampshire. Brattleboro, Vermont, is 13 miles north, and Greenfield, Massachusetts, is located 10 miles to the south. New York is 3½ hours south via I-91 and I-95; Boston is 2 hours east on Route 2 or the Massachusetts Turnpike. Bradley International Airport, which serves Hartford and Springfield, is 1¼ hours south via I-91.

Northfield Mount Hermon has been designated an exemplary school by the U.S. Department of Education, is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and is a member of the Independent School Association of Massachusetts, the National Association of Independent Schools, and the Educational Records Bureau.