Special Programs
Experience the world! At Chatham Hall boarding school in Virginia 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 our boarding school in Virginia 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 visited Chatham Hall. She was followed by Judith Jamison the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in January 2011.
Most recently we were honored to welcome noted activist and author Gloria Steinem (January 2012) and Olympic Gold Medalist tennis champion Venus Williams (November 2012). Ms. Steinem's keynote address can be viewed below.
Independent Study: Discovery Challenge
Unique to boarding schools in Virginia, 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).
Chatham Hall Travel Opportunities
We really are a campus without borders. Being part of Chatham Hall is being part of the world. Our deep and wide international emphasis is a distinction that clearly (and boldly) sets us apart. From an annual service program in Cape Town, South Africa and language study/home-stay trips to France, Mexico, and Spain to partnerships with The Experiment in International Living and our developing iQuest program, Chatham Hall provides dynamic opportunities for our students to learn far beyond the classroom.
Click here to learn more about all of these exciting offerings.
