Chan Cottage Named to Honor First Chinese Graduate

Oct. 27, 2022 — On Oct. 21, NMH honored the school’s first Chinese graduate, Chan Loon Teung, Class of 1892, with a ceremony dedicating and renaming the Cottage 1 London dormitory as Chan Cottage. 

The new name, designated by NMH Trustee Justin Wai ’02, is a tribute to an important member of the school’s community and recognizes its historic commitment to serving students from around the world.

“Clearly, the world has changed drastically since the days of Chan’s attendance at Mount Hermon,” Wai said. “But some things have remained constant. Over the past 140 years, this building has been a warm, loving home for our students, full of memories that many, like me, revisit in our dreams.”

For the dedication ceremony, current and former NMH trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, and students gathered outside Chan Cottage, which is a dormitory for 9th-grade boys. Before and after the ceremony, the dorm’s resident leaders, Alex McCollough ’23 and Djibril Diaw ’23, led tours of the building, one of five cottages that overlook the heart of campus from Cottage Row.

Built in 1882, Chan Cottage and the four other cottages on Cottage Row are the oldest brick buildings on campus, Head of School Brian Hargrove shared. Over the past 50 years, Chan Cottage has more than doubled in size, with additions and extensive renovations, he noted.

Board of Trustees Chair Mariah Calagione ’89, P’18, ’20 expressed gratitude on behalf of the entire board for Wai’s “ongoing service, leadership, and generosity — for his very embodiment of head, heart, and hand. Thank you, Justin, for keeping NMH close to your heart, for reflecting on the many lessons learned here, the opportunities gained, the connections made, and for providing exceptional opportunities for future generations of students.”

Hargrove unveiled a plaque that will hang in Chan Cottage and presented Wai with a framed drawing of the building. 

“Today, we finally and formally bestow on this building a name all its own,” he said. “Chan Cottage recalls both those generations of international students who have traveled the furthest to these doors and more especially honors our first Chinese graduate, Chan Loon Teung.

This dedication marks a significant milestone in the life of this campus and the history of this school, and it marks a significant milestone in the living of our values and mission.”

To close the dedication ceremony, McCollough and Diaw read William Blake’s poem “Jerusalem,” on which NMH’s school song is based. 

See photos of this dedication ceremony.