The Heart of the ’60s

Billy Howard
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

from “Fair Play,” a coffee table book celebrating the 100th anniversary of Hawken School. I co-authored the book and produced new photography. The history was divided into decades, this is my introduction to the 1960s followed by an assessment of the state of the school in the closing chapter.

Nineteen sixty-five marked a half-century for Hawken School, a chronological signpost of longevity arrived at through the upheavals of an economic depression, two world wars, the assassination of a president, and a burgeoning atomic age where unimaginable dangers and promise mingled in a moment of seismic shift. The ’60s would become one of America’s defining decades: civil rights, Vietnam, the summer of love, and a man walking on the moon would all play out, and Hawken School became a microcosm of the moment. America made a shift from a more naive time into an era where a new kind of war emboldened young people to speak out, rejecting traditional authoritative voices for the reality they experienced firsthand.


The State of the School

From the moment they step onto Hawken’s campus, young children begin a journey that can take them from preschool all the way through high school graduation, mastering skills each step along the way while growing increasingly aware of themselves as individuals and contributors. They leave Hawken ready to embrace not only college but also a world and life beyond. The development of character honored alongside academics and the words “Fair Play” become ingrained in their interactions.

A centennial anniversary provides an opportunity to pause and assess the state of the School, in this case, four distinct divisions within the broader framework of Hawken.

Foremost, Hawken is forward-focused, constantly striving to become better. A nimble institution in a glacial field, it is willing to adapt where others stay the course, and as such, any attempt to define a moment in time is apt to become outdated before type is dry on the page. But any history is a snapshot in time, and whatever the future holds, Hawken in 2015 is filled with excellence.

An overview of Hawken School today is a kaleidoscopic vision of ideas, programs, disciplines, art, music, activities, and discoveries choreographed to the soundtrack of learning: the tapping of keyboards, voices raised in debate or filled with song, musical instruments beginning in discordant notes which miraculously blend together into school concerts, beakers clinking in the laboratory, the yells and whoops of athletes and fans, and of course, the laughter of students, and teachers interacting through a common journey, finally ending in the stately sounds of pomp and circumstance.

The Write Photographer

Billy Howard

Written by

Atlanta based photographer and writer.

The Write Photographer

A photograph is worth a thousand words, sometimes I just write the words.

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