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Press Release

Northfield Mount Hermon makes historic decision

NORTHFIELD, Mass. – Northfield Mount Hermon School’s Board of Trustees formally announced on Saturday new directions for the school that will strengthen its unique educational program and secure its position as one of the nation’s preeminent boarding schools for the long-term future. The 125-year-old independent school will be located on its Mount Hermon campus in Gill, Massachusetts. It will be a coeducational boarding and day school, with a student body of approximately 600 to 750 students. The school will operate on one campus at Mount Hermon in September 2005.

Based on extensive studies carried out over many months, the board believes this decision will best serve coming generations of students and carry forward the enduring aspects of founder Dwight L. Moody’s legacy. A single campus provides greater academic excellence, enhanced care and support for students, community pride and spirit, and increased financial strength, which will permit the school to provide additional assistance to attract deserving, qualified students. 

“The board recognizes its special responsibility for the Northfield campus. It intends that the Moody legacy buildings will remain a part of NMH and that the entire campus will be used in a way that continues to fulfill our institutional mission,” said William Rhodes ’53, chairman of the NMH board since 1998. The board has 18 members, 16 of whom are alumni of the school. 

Rhodes added that there will be places for all current students as the school moves toward the desired enrollment. “Their educational experience will not be disrupted in any significant way,” he said. “Similarly, faculty and staff will be integral to the development of the strategic plans. Regretfully, there will be a reduction in the number of faculty and staff positions, proportionate to the size of the student body. The school will be as helpful and generous in providing transition assistance as possible.”

To strengthen overall school leadership, the board is reestablishing the position of president to be filled by Richard W. Mueller, the current head of the school. Reporting to him will be Tom Sturtevant, the current associate head, who will take over as head of the school.

Northfield Mount Hermon has been a prestigious provider of private secondary education since its founding by educational visionary Dwight L. Moody as the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in 1879, followed by the establishment of the Mount Hermon School for Boys in Gill two years later. The schools were combined into one coeducational institution in 1971. For the past 32 years, classes, residential life, sports, and extracurricular activities have been carried out on both campuses, which are approximately four miles apart.

The school has been best known for its emphases on college preparation, values education, its work program, diversity, spirituality, and crosscultural understanding.

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