Every May, some graduates walk out the Van Wickle Gates and leave their liberal arts education behind. Some pursue jobs in finance or consulting, while others seek out careers in medicine or law. But some alums never really leave school.
Three of America's most prestigious preparatory schools - Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H. and Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. - are currently led by Brown alums. Despite the different paths that each alum took to his or her current position, what they all share is a Brown education.
Education's building blocks
When he first arrived at Brown, Vincent Tompkins '84 wasn't sure he wanted to be a teacher. But "it grew as a potential interest," he said.
Tompkins concentrated in history, working a part-time job in the library to make ends meet. Though his job took up a "big part of what (he) did outside of class," what consumed his attention was his education.
The classes were "really challenging and intense" and were so engaging he would spend hours thinking about them even after class, he said. He credited faculty such as Richard Schmitt, now professor emeritus of philosophy, with inspiring him to go into education.
"I could see myself devoting my life to that," he said.
After graduating, Tompkins went on to receive a doctorate in history from Harvard and began to teach in its history department. He served in multiple administrative positions at Harvard before becoming Brown's deputy provost in 2005. In 2010, he left the University to become the headmaster at Saint Ann's.
"The philosophy of education at Saint Ann's resonates with the philosophy represented by the open curriculum at Brown," he said. He noted how both schools encourage students to be the "architect of (their) own education."
"It's that sense of empowering students, of giving them a voice, of encouraging them to explore," he said.
Tompkins noted the differences he faced between his administrative duties at a university compared to a preparatory school.
"One of the initial challenges was assuming leadership of a school as an outsider," he said. "So much of leadership is enabled by establishing relationships of trust and mutual respect with everyone in the community."
But "for the most part, the surprises and challenges have been welcome ones," he added.
Tompkins was welcomed into the community when he was elected, said Anna Plumlee '15, who was a junior when Tompkins was chosen for the position.
Before he was selected, the school's search committee held a community-wide talk with each of the three finalists for the position to get feedback from the school community. The talks, which drew an "incredible" turnout including faculty and alums, featured Tompkins on the last day, she said.
"Everyone walked out of the meeting going, 'Vince Tompkins is awesome - that's the way to go,'" she said.
Tompkins also made an effort to connect with students by allowing them to sign up individually to meet and talk to him, she said. "That was really, really great and sort of epitomized the really strong faculty connection" at Saint Ann's, she said.
That faculty connection, Plumlee said, remains one of Saint Ann's distinguishing factors, and is critical to its academic freedom and flexibility.
"You just were allowed to pursue your passions in whatever way you wanted," she said. "The teachers were there for you to do that."
"It's a lot like Brown - you can pretty much take anything you want," she added.
That deep and broad liberal education is fundamental, Tompkins said. "It's about developing a love for education that can last a lifetime."
A '24-hour experience'
For some, that love for education can be found early. Before Thomas Hassan '78 P '15 arrived on campus, he said he knew he wanted to teach.
The connections he was able to forge with faculty was something missing from Hassan's large public high school. "It opened my eyes to a world much, much bigger than where I came from," said Hassan, a self-described "blue-collar kid."
He particularly enjoyed a course entitled "Functional Writing." Hassan said "it was a wonderful course," but his experience in high school had left him unprepared for the level of work it required. "Academically, I had to kick it up."
Despite the difficulty, Hassan began his teaching career by serving as a teaching assistant for the writing course his senior year. He also taught off-campus at Central High School in downtown Providence and at other schools in the city's suburbs.
After completing an independent concentration in math and English education, Hassan began working in the Admission Office. In his role as an admission officer, he visited schools across the country - including boarding schools, which he initially knew little about.
Though the structure of boarding schools was "foreign" to him, "I got really intrigued by it," he said. "It was a 24-hour experience."
Eventually, Hassan went on to Harvard for a master's degree and a doctorate in education. But he could not forget the boarding schools he had visited during his time as an admission officer.
After Harvard, Hassan began teaching math at Exeter, drawn in by the school's distinctive teaching style. Exeter employs a teaching philosophy called the Harkness method, which was developed at the school to encourage round-table discussion rather than the traditional lecture.
"We work our way through problems," he said. "I'm the guide - it's a very, very interactive way of learning."
Three years ago, Hassan became the fourteenth principal in Exeter's 231-year history.
"This is the perfect place" for his motivated students, he said. "You get the intellectual challenge, but it's still a high school with rules."
Kevin Jung '15 said that Exeter has become "more relaxed" under Hassan's tenure.
"Every principal leaves a mark on an institution," Jung said. Hassan was "very interested in the life of the students, the happiness level, the stress level," and made small improvements to student lifestyles, from scheduling an extra half hour of sleep for students in the mornings to making sure sports practice did not interfere with academics, he said.
Jung, who attended a Rhode Island public high school for two years before transferring to Exeter, also noted the value of its academic environment.
="p2"> "I had to be responsible for my work," he said. "It's very easy to go to English class pretending to do the reading. But when you're on the Harkness table and you're responsible for other students' education, that's a responsibility that every Exeter student is aware of.""I learned three times, four times what I learned in public school," Jung added.
This mode of learning is at the heart of both a Brown and an Exeter education, Hassan said. "There's a motivation to learn and push one another."
'Intellectual awakening'
For Barbara Chase '67 P '97, fellow students triggered her "intellectual awakening" at Brown.
"The quality of the student body, both intellectually and in terms of diversity, has always stuck with me," she wrote in an email to The Herald.
Chase attended public school before being admitted to Pembroke College, the women's college that merged with Brown in 1971. She noted the vastly different education she received in college compared to high school.
A history concentrator, Chase wrote that the history department was "a terrific department across every area."
Chase also sang in the Pembroke Double Quartet, her main extracurricular activity, and "loved that experience," she wrote.
After graduating, Chase moved directly to teaching, first at two Providence schools - Moses Brown School, then the Wheeler School, where she also served as director of admissions. She served as headmistress at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore for 14 years before she finally moved to Andover in 1994.
During her time at Andover, Chase became well known for her involvement with students and the community, hosting dinners for students at her home and staying connected with community members on campus.
"She's kind of like Ruth here, but at Andover," said Faiyad Ahmad '14, who served as student body president at Andover. "She was always checking up on us. Considering the responsibilities she had, that was pretty amazing."
When Ahmad was admitted to Brown, Chase shared anecdotes about "all the times she spent here and the things she learned here," he said.
"She told me there was some sort of secret handshake here that I haven't learned yet," he said jokingly, noting how special Brown was to her. "She told me to make the most of it."
Students at Andover have managed to do so, thanks to the University's similarities to the prep school, Stephanie Teo '12 said. "The liberal arts curriculum mirrored the open curriculum," she said. "There was a lot of emphasis on learning for the sake of learning."
"I wanted to find a place that was like Andover - but bigger," she added. "And I definitely found it in Brown."
Moving forward
The three alums have varied plans for their futures.
Chase, who is stepping down as head of school at Andover this summer, noted Brown's role in her personal development.
The experiences she shared with fellow students "made me work towards diversity and excellence in the student body of any school where I have taught or led," she wrote.
Tompkins, who assumed his post at Saint Ann's in 2010, has further plans for the school. "I'm hoping to have a long stretch here, making this amazing school even more amazing," he said.
"One of the things that distinguishes Saint Ann's from my perspective is our remarkable faculty," he said. "The most important job I have over the coming years is sustaining that very high level of faculty and commitment."
Hassan, however, is looking more to the present. "I'm happy here and happy to be here," he said.
His enthusiasm was no surprise to his classmates at their 25th reunion, he said.
"My classmates at Brown kind of laugh because they knew education was what I wanted to do," Hassan said. 'They said, 'You followed your heart,' and 'you're doing what you love.'"
