Congratulations to Director of Hudson Scholars and Upper School economics teacher David Sykes on being recognized by the Tarrytown Union Free School District for his work with the Hudson Scholars program.

In some ways, we initially joined the Hudson Scholars program in 2021 for the wrong reasons. Although we thoroughly believed in the importance of creating and teaching a financial literacy course for the Scholars, we also saw the benefit of adding such an activity to our college applications. That changed when we started the program. By the time it ended, we built lifelong connections with the Scholars and had the most meaningful four weeks of our lives. The impact Hudson Scholars had on us was a newly found feeling of fulfillment, and, even after we both got into our colleges in December 2021, we yearned to find meaningful ways to further enhance the program.

Founding Director and Hackley faculty member David Sykes explains, “Hudson Scholars is a program that brings together two amazing communities for an incredible journey filled with learning growth and fun. The Hackley community, with our teachers and student Mentors, work with middle school students from Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown to provide them with a transformational experience.” Learn more about the program’s impact below, directly from alumni who served as Hudson Scholars Mentors.

In their capacity as leaders of Hackley's Hudson Scholars program, David Sykes and Dawn Crainer presented at the National Network for Schools in Partnership conference in Philadelphia on Sunday, January 26th and Monday, January 27th.

The conference was focused on community engagement and partnerships. Dave and Dawn, Director and Assistant Director of the program, respectively, focused on the meaningful opportunities that the Hudson Scholars program provides for enrichment, for service learning, and for growth for all participants: Scholars, upper school mentors, and teachers.

Sixth-graders sat together in a circle, shared greetings and their impressions of the Broadway Show, “Come from Away,” which they attended as part of Hudson Scholars. The program located on the Hackley School campus in Tarrytown, provides sixth through eighth-graders from the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns with an avenue to learn more about themselves and the community in which they live.

Our Hudson Scholars program, now in its third year, brings tremendous life and spirit to the Hilltop. The program enriches the lives of middle school students from the local Tarrytown community as well as all the Hackley Upper School mentors who work in the program. This summer the program engaged in a number of particularly exciting partnerships that extended beyond the Hilltop.

I’m writing as a Hackley parent of the last 13 years, whose daughter became involved with Hudson Scholars last summer. The program is the most significant community service Hackley has offered in my experience, and its potential for creating goodwill with Hackley's neighbors and truly changing the lives of young people cannot be undervalued. Thank you for your initial and continued support of the program.

On any given day at the Hudson Scholars enrichment program, you’ll find groups of Hackley School mentors and Sleepy Hollow Middle School students immersed in variety of activities challenging their minds and bodies. Hackley's campus in Tarrytown acts a backdrop for the academic and social development of the children over four weeks.

While Hackley Modern Languages students venture forth from the Hilltop to work with diverse communities in Westchester, the Hudson Scholars program enacts a similar community partnership right here at Hackley. Created in 2016, Hudson Scholars completed a successful second season in Summer 2017.

Washington Irving Intermediate School Students who are entering 6th grade in the fall are this year’s Hudson Scholars, spending four weeks in a unique program at the Hackley School Campus in Tarrytown that pairs Hackley student mentors with the Tarrytown students. The Mentors consist of nearly two dozen students from Hackley’s Upper school who share their academic knowledge in the classroom and their friendship with the Tarrytown youngsters in the day-long program.

In 1904, Hackley’s First Headmaster, Theodore Chickering Williams, wrote that he had hoped to create a school “where it should be easy to be good.” Generations of Hackley students, teachers and families have felt drawn to the Hilltop by that beautiful aspiration ever since.