Special Programs
Experience the world! At Chatham Hall students enjoy travel opportunities and prominent guest speakers, as well as an independent study program that offers valuable one-on-one research and discovery with a faculty mentor.
Leader-in Residence and Artists-in-Residence Programs
One of Chatham Hall’s strengths is helping girls find and develop their own unique “voices” as they prepare to become leaders in college, work, family life and community. To help you along this path, a number of extraordinary leaders and educators are in residence at the school each year, demonstrating how their “voices” have helped change the world’s cultural, social, and political environments. They will inspire you to envision how someday you, too, might fuel change in the world.
Chatham Hall’s leader-in-residence program brings influential women of international stature to campus to interact with students in class, in small-group discussions, over meals, and in the lecture hall.
Past participants have included former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto and Liberian Prsident, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. In the spring of 2009, Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the former and first woman President of Sri Lanka will come to Chatham Hall.
Chatham Hall’s Program of Social Action in South Africa
Students, parents, alumnae, faculty, and administrators traveled to Cape Town March 9-21, 2008. Last year's trip was a strong first step by Chatham Hall in our long-term, strategic commitment to global education, and this year the group had the opportunity to deepen Chatham Hall's work with community action groups, while also expanding collaborations with schools in South Africa.
Learn more about this unique and exciting opportunity.
Independent Study: Discovery Challenge
Discovery Challenge is a one-trimester independent study program that offers students on the dean’s or rector’s lists the opportunity to pursue a topic of particular interest in depth under the guidance and direction of a faculty mentor of their choosing. Emphasis is on the processes of exploration and discovery, with students learning to locate and use resources, analyze information, and present findings. A final presentation is made to the Discovery Challenge Committee and includes two major elements, such as a daily journal, research paper, portfolio of art, science project, collection of creative writings, or presentation (dramatic, informal, musical).
Study Abroad: Language Study/Home-Stay Program
Take your learning experience abroad with Chatham Hall’s study abroad program – and receive a trimester credit of 1/3 hour!
Our language study/home-stay program is open to foreign language students. During the last two weeks of June, French students can travel to Amboise, France; Spanish students to Seville, Spain; and Latin students to Rome, Italy. Faculty members accompany each group. The cost is approximately $4,000, which covers all expenses except some means and personal spending money.
Destinations
Destinations is a one-week program designed to provide a select group of juniors the opportunity to learn about a variety of professions with the help of alumnae and friends of the school. It also gives the girls an opportunity to enjoy the rich cultural, educational, and historical life of Washington, D.C.
The 2006 Destinations group attended a performance of the New York City Ballet at the Kennedy Center; met with Ambassador Margaret Heckler; enjoyed tea with Ambassador Nancy Brinker (Chatham Hall’s 2005-2006 Leader in Residence); and toured Southland Industries, Gensler Architects, the National School Boards Association, the National Institutes of Health, Discovery Communications and the PodestaMattoon government relations/public affairs firm. They also visited the State Rooms and West Wing of the White House, the National Building Museum, and the National Gallery of Art.
Gothic Novel Project
The Novel Project is the work of this year’s first Gothic Literature course for Chatham Hall seniors. Each of the students in our class has chosen a particular character and is writing a series of letters, using her understanding of that persona (each a Gothic “type”) as a guide for her contributions. To begin, each character was given a skeletal “personality,” as well as some idea about the general subject of the first two letters she had to write. Since these preliminaries have been established, though, the novel is now proceeding where it will; its plot is being determined by the students as they write and react to each other’s writing. The role of an often malevolent Fate is reserved for the instructor, who also acts as editor and webmaster. Read more.
