There's Something about Phoebe

On Nov. 19, 50 second graders from Phoebe Hearst Elementary School in NW Washington, DC came to NCS to learn more about the woman for whom their school is named. Mrs. Hearst gave $200,000 to build NCS’ Hearst Hall, with special instructions that the structure be fireproof.

The students had studied Mrs. Hearst’s life prior to the visit and knew all about her involvement in the women’s suffrage movement, her work as a founder of the national Parent Teacher Association, and her role in founding NCS as a school to offer girls an education equal to that available to boys in the nation’s capital.

NCS student ambassadors Adrienne Larson ’11, Claire Lempres ’11, and Catherine O’Donnell ’11 led the students on a tour of Hearst Hall. They showed the Hearst students the original tile in the foyer, the marble staircases, the fireplaces that used to provide heat for dorm rooms, and photos of the early graduating classes. The kids also completed a word find about Phoebe Hearst, searching for “Missouri” (her birthplace) and “Miss Whiton” (one of the first heads of school brought down from New York) among other terms, and left with NCS pencils to remember their visit!

While on the Close, the second graders also had a tour of the Cathedral by former faculty member Ruth Ann Williamson. They had studied symmetry and got to see many examples of it in the Cathedral’s architecture. The visit was organized by Hearst second-grade teacher Thompson Williams, whose sister Emily Williams is a member of the NCS Class of 2003.--Molly Price '95, Associate Director of Admission for the Upper School