Second Tuesday Series Keeps Us Connected

On the second Tuesday of the month, the Miss Hall’s community comes together by Zoom to learn, laugh, and celebrate human connection.

Tuesday, November 9, at 7 p.m. Eastern, Miss Hall's alums and friends around the world will hear from Head of School Julia Heaton P’24 in conversation with Alumnae Council President Mary Atwood ’83 on a range of campus updates. Breakout rooms by cohort will follow.

This series of virtual gatherings — inspired by our 2020 Summer Series — features bold and creative graduates of Miss Hall’s inspiring community conversation around passion projects and topics of shared interest.

The inaugural Second Tuesday was Votes For Women, a screening of the short film Into the Light about suffrage activist Inez Millholland. Accomplished writer, producer, and director Martha Wheelock ‘59 was joined by MHS Trustee and Treasurer of the Board of the National Women’s History Museum Susan Danish for a discussion about the 87-year struggle for the passage of the 19th Amendment and the importance of knowing women’s history.

Next came Tea Talk, a dialogue across the globe between Yiyan Zhou ‘91 and Julius Wu, experts in Chinese culture and art, about the legacy and experience of tea drinking.

Speaking Your Truth, on January 12, 2021 featured photographer and author Joan Brooks Baker ‘62 in conversation with Head of School Julia Heaton and MHS English Teacher Liz Kulze. They talked about the beauty of being one’s self and finding role models in rebellious women, topics at the center of Joan’s new memoir, The Magnolia Code.

February’s Second Tuesday provided special access to the film Richard Estes: Actually, Iconic, the recent biopic about the celebrated photo-realist painter whose work is a love letter to the City of New York. The February 9, 2021 screening was followed by a discussion with Director Olympia Stone, daughter of Clare Stone ’58, moderated by Elizabeth Gatchell Klein Expressive Arts Chair Sophie Lane ’96.

On the Second Tuesday in March, we came together for a delightful hour we called Mirror of Design. Hosted by Head of School Julia Heaton, accomplished interior designers Alice Butler Burnham ’65 and Lieve Saether ’90 discussed the thoughtful cultivation of our environment as a way to discover ourselves and reflect who we are.

April’s gathering, Breaking Barriers, centered around Rene Powell, the first woman to compete in a men's golf tournament, second African-American woman ever to play on the LPGA Tour, and daughter of golf course entrepreneur Bill Powell. Ms. Powell talked with Susan O'Day ’77, another pioneering woman, about trailblazing in sport and in life.

We rounded out the inaugural year of Zoom events in May in conjunction with Reunion 2021. On Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15, Miss Hall’s alums around the globe had an opportunity to be students again as teachers at MHS offered master classes based on some of the most advanced courses at Miss Hall's today:

• The History of American Advertising

• Hallmark Art Intensive

• Democracy

• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

These virtual "Hallmark" sessions had an interactive format that featured Miss Hall's juniors and seniors alongside beloved members of our faculty: Dr. Liza Burbank, Ellie Spangler, and Dr. Chris Himes.

After the summer break, we recommenced our Second Tuesday series in August 2021 for a conversation between Metropolitan Opera soprano Sara Heaton and Ph.D. candidate and professional actor Hope Ward ’11 about the future of the performing arts post-pandemic.