While in many ways Shipley looks very different today than it did 125 years ago, its educators and students still strive to honor this mission.

In this anniversary year, the community has the opportunity to reflect gratefully upon the 125 years of hard work that has shaped Shipley into the school that it is today.

Beginning with just six students, sisters Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katherine Shipley first opened the Shipley School to prepare young women for the Bryn Mawr College entrance exam. In 1916, the school was sold to co-headmistresses Alice Howland and Eleanor Brownell, the “Hownells”, who worked to preserve the legacy of the Shipley sisters.

Throughout its years, Shipley has made various monumental changes such as the founding of the Board of Trustees, various land purchases and renovations, and transitioning from a single-sex boarding school to a co-educational day school.

As the community celebrates the 125th anniversary this year, there is much to reflect upon and learn from the story of the school’s founding.

As stated by Head of the Upper School Margaret Van Steenwyk, “Oftentimes when someone founds something, it’s really about them. One of the things that is the most stunning is that there were three founders and that in everything that they did they practiced this sort of collaboration and community.”

Mrs. Van Steenwyk also notes how inspired she is by Shipley’s historic emphasis on educating the whole student by offering a well rounded and complete education: “All of the themes about excellence and inquiry and the emphasis on culture and global competency and compassionate participation in the world, those are enduring.”

However, there are many aspects of Shipley life today that could have not have been imagined by its founders. “In any school, embracing 21st century education really means relying on collaboration.”

Mrs. Van Steenwyk notes that Shipley’s recent undertaking to collaborate with and include more student voices has been momentous in the shaping of daily school life, from the creation of the STEAM department to the dress code and schedule committees.

She also feels that, “The facility changes are huge, but they’re not just bricks and mortar. It’s how those buildings have been able to bring us together as a community.”

While the Shipley sisters may not have foreseen these advances in 1894, Mrs. Van Steenwyk feels hopeful that they and their successors would be proud of the school Shipley has become over the past 125 years.