News

Five members of the Class of 2024 signed National Letters of Intent today.

Congratulations to Avery Jackson (Class of 2024), who was named as a finalist for the 2023 Annual Davey O’Brien High School Scholarship Award! 

Upper School string orchestra students participated in the Region 20 All-Region Orchestra auditions at Irving High School. Ten of our students were selected into the orchestra and will participate in the Clinic and Concert on December 1 and 2. Region 20 consists of schools in Richardson, Dallas, and Highland Park ISDs and the private and homeschool students in the Dallas Region. Of our ten selected students, seven have advanced to the recorded All-State Round. This is quite an accomplishment, and they will be competing against students from all across the state for a chair in the 2024 TMEA All-State ensembles. The TMEA All-State process is one of the most competitive music contests in the state, Students selected into the All-Region orchestra: Jessica Chung, Lydia Wissel, and Maddy Nguyen. Students selected into the All-Region orchestra and advancing to the recorded round: Abigail Mau, Bridget Qiu, Callie Li, Kimberly Zhang, Angelina Dong, Christina Dong, Emma Lin.

Thirty-six students from the Class of 2024 have been selected as Commended Students in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program.

Several Class of 2024 students were recognized for excelling on College Board assessments and in their classrooms.

The Hockaday School is proud to honor 24 members of the Class of 2024 who were named National Merit Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, a national academic competition for recognition and scholarship that began in 1955.

Hockaday Celebrates Convocation and Installation at Special Ceremony 

Hockaday officially celebrated the opening of the new complex with an Open House and Spirit Night on August 29.

We are thrilled to announce the newest members of the Hockaday faculty and staff. These talented individuals will contribute to a transformative educational experience for our girls, both inside and outside the classroom, and we are delighted for them to join our community. Also, several faculty and staff members will have new roles and responsibilities. Click HERE to read more.

Hockaday completed its first-ever unbeaten season (22-0) with an 18-8 victory over Austin St. Michael’s on May 14 in the Division I state championship.

Hockaday's Debate team headed to New York in May to compete in the International Public Policy Forum.

The Hockaday School is pleased to welcome Amy Talkington ’88 as the 2023 Commencement speaker. 

Fifteen members of the Class of 2023 will continue their athletic careers in college, adding to the 61 collegiate student-athletes who have graduated from Hockaday in the past six years.

Congratulations to the newest members of Hockaday’s Chapter of Cum Laude!

The Hockaday School is pleased to announce that Amelia Brown ’18 has been named a Fulbright Scholar for 2023! She received the Fulbright English teaching assistantship for the 2023-2024 academic year in the La Rioja region of Spain.

Amelia graduated from Tulane as an honors student with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Early Childhood Education and a minor in Spanish. During her time at Tulane, she acted as a virtual tutor for elementary and middle school students and worked for the Tulane Center for Public Service as a service-learning assistant. She now works as an assistant teacher at Audubon Gentilly Charter School in New Orleans.

As a Fulbright scholar, she will support teaching staff and serve as a resource person in conversation groups, provide small group tutorials, serve as an attendant in language laboratories, design motivational activities, promote critical and scientific thinking, and give presentations related to American culture at extracurricular events. As part of the grant, she will organize a community engagement project. “I plan to work with other educators to organize an after-school story time and book exchange for young readers and families,” said Amelia. “Interested individuals will have the opportunity to select a book from home, school, or a local library to read aloud to the group in English or Spanish. Practicing reading aloud promotes greater language fluency, so students learning English will have an opportunity to grow outside of the classroom.”

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by late Senator J. William Fulbright, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the US government. The program is part of the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and provides support for academics and professionals to engage in multi-country, trans-regional projects.

Hockaday Alumnae have won numerous Fulbright Scholarships in the past, most recently Kenya Roy ‘15, Katherine Dau ’15, Kate Cooper ‘16, and Tanvi Jakkampudi ’18.

Congratulations to Avery Jackson (Class of 2024) who was named USA Volleyball’s Junior Female Athlete of the Year! The award will be presented at the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame Banquet and Ceremony on May 24 at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, Texas. The Hall of Fame ceremony, a celebration of volleyball’s greatest athletes, coaches, officials, and leaders, will take place one day before the 2023 USA Volleyball Open National Championship starts at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

Congratulations to our four Founder’s Day awardees - Zoya Haq, Ava Tribolet, Lola Isom, and Elle Chavis!

Today, Eugene McDermott Head of School Dr. Laura Leathers announced that Michelle Goldsmith had accepted the Head of Lower School position. 

Congratulations to the members of the Debate team who competed at State this weekend in Houston! The team of Sherry Long, Meera Thamaran, Mili Pathak, Ayla Sumer, and Eesha Neunaha made it to the final round and received second place in the state! The team of Evita Nino, Sanika Agarwalla, Diya Hegde, Dithyae Devesh and Aarnah Kurella make it to the round of top 16. There were 60 teams at the tournament, and the girls debated six preliminary debates. All teams with at least four wins in those six debates advanced to elimination rounds. 

Nine Upper School students and four Hockaday teachers headed to Woods Hole, Massachusetts in March for a week at The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). 

Congratulations to Ava Shipp (Class of 2024), who represented Hockaday at the Texas Poetry Out Loud competition and finished as runner-up in the state! 

Yoyo Yuan (Class of 2024) qualified for the USA Mathematical Olympiad based on scores from the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. 

On March 11th, four Hockaday teams (consisting of 23 students) competed in the FIRST LEGO League State Championship in Stafford, Texas. 

Zoya Haq (Class of 2023) is now part of the 35th class of Coca-Cola Scholars.

Members of The Hockaday School’s debate team make up one of 16 teams remaining in the 2022-2023 International Public Policy Forum competition.

Congratulations to these seven Middle School Orchestra daisies, who won playing positions with the 2023 Texas Private Schools Music Educators Association Middle School Honor Orchestra!

Jaden Thomas (Class of 2024) was selected for the U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team, which traveled to England in February to play two matches against England.

Seventeen Upper School students involved in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) competed at the District 11 Career Development Conference in January and qualified for the Texas State Career Development conference in March.

Congratulations to the four Hockaday FIRST LEGO League teams who qualified for and competed in the North Texas Championships in February.

Members of Hockaday's Model UN club competed with 4,000 students from around the world at the Harvard Model UN Conference in Boston in February.

Class of 2023 members Isabel Bhasin, Jayna Dave and Jordan Hanna were invited to apply for the U.S. Presidential Scholars program.

Zoya Haq (Class of 2023) was among 1,557 Semifinalists who were selected from over 91,000 initial applicants and is now one of just 250 students who have moved to the final selection phase, regional interviews.

High school students from all over Texas prepare and audition to participate in the Texas Private School Music Educators Association (TPSMEA) All-Region and All-State festivals. This year, 14 members of the Upper School Concert Choir were selected and invited to sing with the Treble and Mixed All-Region choirs. Additionally, seven of these students advanced and were selected to sing in the All-State Choir Festival in January. Congratulations to the following Hockaday Upper School students!

All-Region: Georgia Fuller (Class of 2025), Layo Isaacs-Sodeye (Class of 2024), Aiswarya Koratala (Class of 2025), Neha Kumar (Class of 2023), Charlotte Lauten (Class of 2024), Megan Manning (Class of 2023), and Mia Matthews (Class of 2025).

All-Region and All-State: Erin Antes (Class of 2024), Zoe Bennett (Class of 2026), Jessica Cai (Class of 2024), Caraday Martin (Class of 2023), Aneeka Misra (Class of 2026), Jessica Moran (Class of 2026), Laya Ragunathan (Class of 2024)

Congratulations to our four Hockaday Middle School First LEGO League teams who won big at their North Texas FLL Regional Qualifier this year.

Daisies Energized (Aiza Ali, Joyce Jin, Sudha Kodem, Evie Lewis, Cate Strom, Kayla Zhang) competed at Academy High School in Plano on December 10th. They won the Engineering Excellence Award and 2nd place Robot Performance Award, in addition Mrs. Laura Baker won the Coach’s Award at this event.

Flower Powered (Cecilia Chen, Siena Ebert, Virginia Epperson, Margaret Hohenshelt, Kashmira Kuloor, Naisha Randhar) won the 2nd Place Champions Award at Williams High School in Plano on December 10th, 2022.

Power Pandas (Jenny Chu, Hannah Park, Sophia Salem, Natalia Salem, Ira Sirohi) won the 2nd Place Champions Award at UME Preparatory School in Dallas on January 14th, 2023.

Might-ochondria (Kavya Chava, Miranda Chen, Michelle Cheng, Ameya Indaram, Sara Sidi, Connie Zhao) won 2nd Place Champions Award at Shelton School in Dallas on December 17th, 2022.

In addition to these impressive awards, all four teams were each awarded a coveted spot at the North Texas Championship competition to be held in February 2023. 

Hockaday welcomed Brittani Carter-Durant Hite '05 to campus on Friday to speak to students about making an impact in the world during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr./One Hockaday celebration.

Rachel Simmons, author of the New York Times bestsellers Odd Girl Out, The Curse of the Good Girl, and Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy and Fulfilling Lives, spoke to parents, faculty, and students in January.

Alinda Wikert ’66 met with Head Rowing Coach Will Forteith and Eugene McDermott Head of School Laura Leathers this winter to share the early history of Hockaday Rowing.

Emma Zhao (Class of 2024) was selected into the Texas Music Educators Association Region 20 Wind Ensemble.

Emily McShane (Class of 2025) and Ariana Wang (Class of 2024), were recently recognized by YoungArts.

Congratulations to Class of 2028 students Kavya Chava, Aashu Shankar, Ameya Indaram, Anya Jain, and Caroline Hayes who are one of the 60 winning teams in the nation in NASA’s TechRise competition!

Congratulations to the 2023 Hockaday Scripps Spelling Bee Champion, Carolyn Mitchell (Class of 2027). Runners-up were Natalia Salem (Class of 2027) and Yuna Son (Class of 2028). Carolyn will go on to represent Hockaday at the Dallas County Private School Bee!

Three members of the Class of 2023 will continue their athletic careers in college, adding to the 61 collegiate student-athletes who have graduated from Hockaday in the past six years.