<p>actually, if an applicant bother spending the time going on the hotchkiss website reading the announcement which included the introduction of malcolm mckenzie, the direction would be pretty obvious…</p>
<p>Dear Members of the Extended Hotchkiss Family,</p>
<p>On behalf of the Board of Trustees I am writing with great pleasure to tell you that the 12th Head of Hotchkiss will be Malcolm McKenzie.</p>
<p>Malcolm is currently in his seventh year as Principal of Atlantic College in Wales. Atlantic College is the first of the twelve co-educational boarding schools around the world which together constitute the United World Colleges. Prior to Atlantic College, Malcolm served for eight years as Head of Maru-a-Pula School in Botswana. Maru-a-Pula, founded in 1972 out of the anti-apartheid movement, is widely regarded in Africa as a leading boarding school. Between his two headships Malcolm spent the academic year 1999-2000 at Deerfield Academy as its first Bicentennial Fellow.</p>
<p>Malcolm is a native of Cape Town, South Africa, and is a dual citizen of South Africa and the United Kingdom. He earned his first degree at the University of Cape Town in Literature and Philosophy. He then studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he was awarded a BA/MA Honours Degree First Class in Literature. Inspired by his experience teaching English to Africans at the Universities of Witwatersrand and Natal, he later earned a second Masters Degree from Lancaster University in Linguistics.</p>
<p>Malcolm was chosen from among an unusually strong list of candidates from around the world following an intensive and thorough search. I attach to this letter a short document entitled “Hotchkiss and its Next Head,” that was put together by the Board after extensive consultation with every member of the faculty as well as conversations with several hundred members of the extended Hotchkiss family and friends. It was used by the Search Committee and the Board as a guide to its process and deliberations. Malcolm meets every one of the criteria in the document to an impressive degree. </p>
<p>Malcolm has been married for 28 years to Judith Crouch, who is also a native of South Africa and a dual citizen of South Africa and the United Kingdom. Judith was educated at the Universities of Cape Town and Natal. She earned a BA in Fine Arts and a diploma in Pedagogy from the University of Natal. She also recently completed a Masters Degree in Ceramics with Distinction at the University of Cardiff. She is a ceramic sculptor whose work is held in private collections, as well as the Durban Museum, the University of Natal Gallery, the Botswana National Museum and the University of Botswana Gallery. Malcolm and Judith have two children – Cameron (18) who will spend a post-graduate year beginning in January at the United World College in Swaziland and Morag (14) who is a freshman at the Llandaff Cathedral School in Wales.</p>
<p>In addition to having been the very successful Head of two outstanding boarding schools on two continents, Malcolm is also an unusually gifted teacher who has taught literature and the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge course for thirteen of his fifteen years as a Head of School. Malcolm was Chair of the English Department for four years at Maru-a-Pula before he was chosen as its Head. In addition, prior to devoting his life to educating school children, Malcolm taught English as a Lecturer and Assistant Professor at two South African universities, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. Finally, Malcolm has always been a keen athlete, both as a competitor and, at one time or another, as a coach of track and field, cricket, squash and tennis, swimming and volleyball. He played cricket for the first non-racial club in South Africa, Aurora, and is an honorary life member of the club. </p>
<p>Moreover, Malcolm is widely recognized as a leading thinker and writer on educational matters, especially those related to global issues, which will be increasingly fundamental to our students’ future. In due course we will be making available on the Hotchkiss website a representative sample of Malcolm’s writings to give you a sense of his thinking and a small insight into the person who will be our next Head. </p>
<p>I would like to say a special thanks to the faculty, staff, and students who participated so deeply and effectively in the search process. All of you would have been proud to observe firsthand the thoughtful enthusiasm, healthy skepticism, and independent thinking – not to mention the subtle and sophisticated judgments – with which our community in Lakeville individually and collectively assisted the Search Committee and the Board in their deliberations.</p>
<p>I also offer a particular note of thanks to the six trustees and four faculty members who made up the Search Committee. The Chair of the Committee and Vice President of the Board of Trustees, Jeannie Weinberg Rose '80, superbly led an extraordinary effort by all of her committee members to fulfill the charge we set for them six months ago. To remind you, the other nine members of that Committee were Jennifer Craig, Tom Drake, Bill Elfers '67, John Ellis '74, Wayne Gaynor, Diana Gomez '76, Pat Redd Johnson, Eleanor Long '76, and Phil Pillsbury '53. I know that all of the trustee members and indeed all trustees, would want me to highlight especially the contribution of the four faculty members, each of whom went well beyond the call of duty to help us achieve the right result for our school. </p>
<p>As I wrote to you in my letter of February 14, as a result of Skip Mattoon’s leadership, we are in the enviable position of making a strong school even better. Hotchkiss can and should be a leading secondary school not just in the United States, but globally, in preparing students for the increasingly complex and interdependent world of the 21st century.</p>
<p>We believe there is no better person to lead us to do just that than Malcolm McKenzie.</p>
<p>I know you will join me in welcoming the McKenzies to Hotchkiss. </p>
<p>As always, please contact me with any questions or comments.</p>
<p>Warmest regards for the holidays,</p>
<p>John L. Thornton '72
President of the Board of Trustees</p>
but im sure he is very awesome, lol. </p>
hotchkiss IS actually one of my very top choices. </p>