November 2025
Snow flurries were swirling in the skies on our Open House day on Tuesday last week, where we welcomed about 30 visitors for our second on-campus event of the admissions season. It was a gorgeous day–just chilly. It is coat season now, and I have to get out my hat and scarves if I hope to keep walking down the drive. The bite in the air heralds some good New England weather. Here we go! Stay tuned for more information about possible snow days (and perhaps even a Head’s Holiday down the road).
I am so very proud of our students for living our mission every day in the classroom or the lab with our IB program (both MYP and DP), on the field, ring, or court as athletes, in the dance studio, backstage, or on stage as performers, in the studio as artists, behind a podium in a public speaking or debate competition, or in the myriad of clubs that Stoneleigh-Burnham offers. As a part of the IB learner profile and our mission, we ask students to strive to be caring, open minded, balanced, reflective, and principled. And we ask ourselves as adults in this community to do the same. Character matters, and kindness has an incredible impact. None of us is perfect, but we all need to support each other in a world that is often both challenging and rewarding. I love our school spirit, whether we win one game a season, or end up qualifying for the tournament or Nationals. The relationships that we build together are impactful and necessary, and our Bigs and Littles, Houses, advisory groups, class connections, and shared interests aid in the process of creating those bonds.
Our families are so important as well, and we rely on the wider community to give us feedback and partner with us to serve our students all that much better. Thank you for all that you give to SBS as we move through our 156th year, steadily heading to 2029-2030, our 160th year of preparing girls for a college education. We may not have the fanciest school or the shiniest buildings, but we have far more to offer. Take a look at our outcomes; I can (and often do) compare our college list each year to our peer schools, and we always shine. Most importantly, though, we are sending resilient, confident, and prepared student leaders to the next phase of their lives, always knowing that the Nest is here for them if they want to return (as our alumnae do at Reunion every year–and as Jane, Mina, Kathleen, Sara and many others over time have done as faculty and staff). #OwlsForLife
Congratulations to our new inductees into the National Honor Society! We had a lovely ceremony this past Thursday night with the new and returning members of NHS. Families and faculty were there to support the students. Thank you to Heidi M. for her organization of the event and to Carrie and the dining hall for the delicious brownies.
Congratulations as well to the varsity volleyball team on a terrific season! Winning the SENE championship was amazing. Also, we made it to the NEPSAC tournament for the second year in a row. We were defeated by a very strong Christian Heritage School team that held the #1 seed, but the Owl spirit was strong at the game in Trumbull, CT.
September 2025
After a few days of needed rain, we ended up having a gorgeous Junior Ring Ceremony in the Courtyard. It was a beautiful ceremony, in spite of the fire alarms. There was a faulty switch on one hall that contributed to the alarm being triggered, and all was fixed after having the fire alarm company out on Friday and Saturday. It was definitely a memorable Junior Ring! Junior Class advisor/Director of College Counseling, Heidi Merrill, and Aden ’27 both gave heartfelt speeches, dinner from our dining hall team was delicious, and the courtyard looked amazing with twinkle lights and flowers around the reflecting pool. It really was “an enchanted garden.” Thanks to everyone who helped with the planning, especially our Advancement Office and the entire junior class.
After dinner, a big group headed to the local Big Y plaza to stock up for the weeks ahead. Other weekend activities included an IEA hunt seat tournament at Mt. Holyoke College (with multiple ribbons won), a trip to the farmer’s market in town, two home volleyball games vs. Williston, an evening trip to the Holyoke Mall, a showing of Clue, the musical, at Ja’Duke Theater, as well as a couple of fun art projects with our Resident Assistants.
As we head into October in a few days, it looks to be a pretty regular and busy week with classes, games, and preparations for our first Open House on Saturday morning, Oct. 4th, and our first DANEIS Public Speaking (world qualifying) Tournament at home on Sunday, October 5th. We will welcome former faculty member, Parke Burgess, back for a long weekend (all the way from WA) in order to help with the tournament. Good luck to our speakers and debaters!
For those of you who celebrate, we wish you all a meaningful Yom Kippur later this week on Wednesday evening and Thursday. G’mar Chatimah Tovah.
Tomorrow is Mountain Day! We are excited to celebrate one of our oldest traditions! SBS students and employees will hike Skinner Mountain, enjoy lunch and Housemeeting at the top, and take in the beauty of autumn in New England! The date is always kept a surprise until the day before, when seniors announce the news to their Littles during the last period of the day!
August 2025
I hope you are all enjoying these wonderful summer days as we make our way to late August and Stoneleigh-Burnham School registration and orientation days. Our mission continues to guide us: “Stoneleigh-Burnham School is an academic community that fosters an international perspective. We inspire girls to pursue meaningful lives based on honor, respect, and intellectual curiosity. Each student is challenged to discover her best self and graduate with confidence to think independently and act ethically, secure in the knowledge that her voice will be heard.”
We have been a proud girls school since 1869 when the Prospect Hill School was founded in Greenfield. Fast forward 156 years, and we have merged five times in total with the last one occurring in 1968 when Stoneleigh-Prospect Hill joined the Mary A. Burnham School to become SBS. Our house system is named after our four female founders: Bessie Talbot Capen, Mary A. Burnham, Isabel Cressler, and Caroline Sumner. All of their photos hang in the Blue Room just off the main lobby, and the historic, courageous ladies are joined by our one male founder, Reverend John Farwell Moors.
Of course, the world has changed dramatically, and our students are faced with new challenges and opportunities. We believe that our SBS graduates will leave us with the necessary skills and habits of mind to be successful and happy. The International Baccalaureate Program speaks to learners who strive to be “inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open minded, caring, risk takers, balanced, and reflective.” SBS teaches students important aspects that AI simply cannot, but we also need to embrace technological innovation and teach students how to use it wisely and well. Our focus on community, on mental health, and on well-being will also prepare our students for a future beyond SBS.
