Bar Avraham ’26, Co-head of the Hopkins Drama Association (HDA) and lead singer in the band Persian Goodbye, is taking her final bow at Hopkins.

If you walked into the scene shop, where the set pieces of each Hopkins Drama Association (HDA) production are built, during the school day you might see students measuring wood, with sawdust on the floor, and music playing in the background. While usually set design for HDA productions takes place during an afterschool program, this semester David Kenton has begun to teach a new Technical Theater class, focusing on the behind-the-scenes of every HDA production.

Hopkins hosted three guest speakers in assembly on January 30, February 2, and February 6 to celebrate Black History Month. These speakers were Professor Lindsay Wright, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chuck D, and actress Renee Elise Goldsberry. Hopkins celebrated Black History Month through a Black Student Union movie night, bells with music to celebrate Black History Month, an assembly speaker series, and more.

With 109 courses available to choose from, it is not easy to find another person who has taken the exact same courses as you. Although there is not complete freedom in course selection due to graduation requirements, there is room to personalize one’s high school experience, especially with Hopkins’s decision to replace AP courses with more in-depth electives. With freedom, however, comes responsibility: How to create the schedule for oneself? In an identified survey sent via school email, where 62 students across 7-12 grades voluntarily responded, their opinions on different subjects showed the importance of self-awareness during the course selection process.

The Connecticut Music Educator’s Association (or CMEA) has been a festival for middle school and high school student musicians in Connecticut for over a century. According to Hopkins’s head of the Arts department, Robert Smith, “Hopkins has sent more students to the festival than any other high school in Connecticut.” The audition entails performing the year’s designated piece, a short sight reading, and a scale. Musicians participate in a regional ensemble that performs in the winter time. Students that are accepted are also able to audition again for a chance to perform at All States on the national level.

As a freshman this year with many more opportunities to meet people and as someone who has been in a lot of new group settings, a common icebreaker I have been given is: what’s your hot take? This question doesn’t only allow kids to meet new people, but also to gauge the person’s overall views and personality. Given the nature of the bubbling political climate, hot takes are increasingly taken out of context or seen as offensive. Recently, when I was in DC with Hopkins for the Civic Leadership Summit in my seminar group, I presented my hot take “Hot dogs are a taco.” One of the kids in my group immediately responded with a gasp and a “What?!” followed by a bunch of shouting and kids were raising their voices. Even though “Hot dogs are a taco” is not very serious, and fortunately for me, did not become a full-scale debate, sometimes a more serious take will blow up and be taken a step too far. But, hot takes aren’t the problem; our inability to disagree lightly is.

Some singers find their voice over time. Quinby Berry ’26 found his—and then used it to lead others. A tenor deeply involved in Hopkins’ arts community, Berry has taken the stage in productions ranging from the musical Cabaret to the Hopkins Drama Associations (HDA) production 1960’s set Twelfth Night. In the latter, he performed in a Beach Boy-inspired band, distinguishing the production's time period. Still, he has most enjoyed his time leading the Harmonaires, Hopkins’  tenor and bass a cappella group.

It was eight AM on a Friday morning, and seven hundred sleepy-eyed Hilltoppers filled the Athletic Center as Mayor Justin Elicker settled into one of the school’s nicer armchairs. While some may have looked up from their phones only when he balanced a chair on his chin, and some may not have even been in attendance at all, those who were paying attention will likely remember one of his most direct claims about civic involvement: “Private schools shouldn’t exist.” For that line alone, I would like to nominate this assembly as one of the most memorable of the year.

During spring break from March 9-12, 20 Hopkins students will travel to Scandinavia to explore Viking and Nordic culture. Students and faculty chaperones will travel through Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, visiting the Viking Planet Experience and Skansen — the world’s first open-air museum — alongside many other Viking and Nordic historic sights. 

As a toddler, Caryn Kim ’26 was already surrounded by music. With a mother who worked as an organist and piano teacher, Kim grew up hearing music at home—and before long, she was learning it too. Music became part of her childhood in a natural, almost inevitable way.

Theater has always been an essential part of Cora Turk-Thomas’s ’26 life. From helping out in elementary school shows to becoming production stage manager (PSM) at Hopkins, their love for it has only grown, not only connecting them with others, but giving them skills they can carry with them throughout the rest of their life.

This year, Hopkins introduced a new entrepreneurship program for Juniors and Seniors- HESIP, standing for Hopkins Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Program. So far, 36 students have applied for 14 open spots.

Hopkins’ Maroon Key Board is partnering with Special Olympics Connecticut this year through a series of events, including the Penguin Plunge and the annual Special Olympics Dance. The group aims to raise $2,000 through the Penguin Plunge to support a Special Olympics athlete’s participation in the Special Olympics USA Games.

During an all-school assembly on January 5, following a $50 million gift from Hopkins alumnus John Malone, Class of 1959 — the largest donation in the school’s history — Head of School Matt Glendinning disclosed plans for Hopkins’ newest building: the Gibbs Center for Innovation. The 32,000-square-foot facility, set to open in fall in 2028, will house expanded research, robotics and computer science spaces to support the school’s rapidly growing STEM programs. Its overarching goal, declared Glendinning, is “develop space that can support hands-on and experiential learning.”

Parents roll out dough and fold dumplings in Upper Heath while students test their chopstick skills, practice calligraphy, and watch a papercut artist work near the café. The scenes are part of Hopkins’ annual Lunar New Year celebration, a campus tradition that blends food, art, and family customs from across Asia.

Hopkins Spanish teacher Marie Doval retired in December 2025 after 37 years at the school, ending a career that included decades of classroom teaching and service as a head adviser. Doval said she decided to retire as she focuses on her health following a recurrence of brain cancer. Now, she says, "I will be taking care of myself."

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has become an increasingly visible part of daily life at Hopkins. Regarding the use of AI at Hopkins, Max Blechinger ’26 said, “I think in general it’s useful for studying or looking stuff up, but I prefer final papers for English so I don’t like that we have English exams now.” As AI tools influence the humanities, questions begin to emerge about its role in music. AI-generated music programs are capable of producing melodies, harmonies, and even complete songs within seconds. While these tools have gained attention online, their long term impact on students and faculty at Hopkins remains unclear, and opinions on AI music range from negative to indifferent.

With a roster of nearly 50 people, intramural basketball (IMBL) is one of the most popular sports at Hopkins. Captains draft teams, and the teams play each other throughout the winter season. In the end, a champion is crowned.

If you ask someone at Hopkins where the nearest bathroom is, you are likely to get more than just directions.

Vivid lights spill across the stage as the crowd erupts into a roar of cheers. The newest Video Production film shines on the screen, lighting up the entire theatre with its glow. From A Day In The Life videos to horror films for the haunted house, Advanced Video Production experiments and refines their skills in all sorts of genres, tinkering with pace, framing, and edit styles. This year, the class will collaborate with the Technical Theater class and the dance community to present their film, “Piroetta” in the APAC theater on May 1st. Made in homage to Italian Filmmaker Dario Argento, the project will showcase the creativity of the filmmakers, tech crew, and the dancers on campus to visually blend storytelling and movement.

A lot has changed since ancient humans gathered in the agora to debate, to learn, to exchange ideas and to be entertained: we no longer believe that the Earth is flat, we made Icarus’s dream of flying a reality and did not get scorched by the sun, our phones contain more information than several libraries of Alexandria, but one thing has remained the same – we keep falling in love and we keep singing about it. Occasionally, we still gather in large stadiums to hear our modern-day poets pour our feelings into songs. When Charles Darwin traced the origins of music to the courtship rituals of birds, he concluded that, “Love is still the commonest theme of our songs.” So, as much as we are sometimes embarrassed to admit – relegating love songs to the guilty pleasure purgatory of our Spotify playlists – singing about love is part of our biology. While love remained an ever-present subject through the ages, the popular cultural attitudes towards love and the love song have waxed and waned, shifting from moralizing to mocking, from sentimental to rebellious, from wholesome to transgressive, from embarrassing to embracing.

From February 6th through 8th, 103 students in grades 7-12 will travel to Jay Peak, Vermont for the annual ski trip.

Growing up, especially as a kid in the arts (I prefer that term to theatre-kid because it has negative connotations these days), I was always aware of the fact that I was taking up space. Physically, I was a pretty small kid, but I had a personality the size of half my second grade class. I knew that when I talked, people laughed, but when I talked at the wrong times, I would get sent to “the office,” which was where the principal told you to behave and asked you not to get your parents involved. As I have grown older, however, my perspective on taking up space has shifted. It has taken countless hours of overthinking, years of embarrassing myself for a good laugh, and many periods of being the only person talking in my English class to make me realize that there is one thing that makes people sacrifice the space they should be taking up: Embarrassment. I have felt an abundance of embarrassment in my life, but I am now coming to you, as a person who is a pro at making a fool of themselves, to say that, in the big 26, being embarrassed is embarrassing.

Imagine it’s early September. The leaves are starting to change, and everyone has that fresh, back-to-school glow, naive to the burnout most of us face later in the school year. On Thompson Quad, you’re met with an onslaught of sticker-covered poster boards and plastic bowls filled with snickers. Upperclassmen shout to be heard above the chaos as they pitch their ideas, droning on far longer than anyone is actually listening. Freshmen race to put their names on as many sign up sheets as possible while seniors steal candy from their friends’ tables. Yep, you guessed it, you’re at the activities fair. But although this day is supposed to be inspiring, most of us are left with one question: Are these students really invested in the activities they sign up for?

On October 23, the Hopkins Parent Outing Committee hosted their fall event at the Lost in New Haven (LINH) museum. The event consisted of a private tour led by Amy Caplan ’91, the museum’s Director of Development, and was organized by Madeline Fejos ’90 and Annie Adams, co-chairs of committee and parents to students in the classes of ’26 and ’31, respectively.

The Razor asked Hopkins community members for their New Year’s resolutions for 2026 and their 2025 achievements.

As Term 1 comes to an end and the holiday season is upon us again, some may find themselves scrambling to throw together gifts for their friends and family. Don’t panic! Even if you only have five minutes or five dollars, these last-minute ideas from the Hopkins community can save you from showing up empty-handed.

It’s that time of the year again, when the halls smell faintly of peppermint mochas, AirPods blast “Last Christmas” by Wham!, and Starbucks cups everywhere are filled with Sugar Cookie Lattes. The snow piles up just enough to cancel class, and people begin to whisper the same question: What are the seniors going to do for Five Golden Rings?

On Tuesday October 28, seniors gathered into the Academic and Performing Arts Center for a two-hour performance of Tina Packer’s Women Of Will. The performance offered seniors the chance to view Shakespeare scenes live and explore the evolutions of female characters in Shakespeare's plays. This event, organized by English teacher Alissa Davis in collaboration with the Elm Shakespeare Company, marked the first time Hopkins brought an outside theater company to perform live in Hopkins’ theater.

I wish...

Forty-three days of a shuttered federal government didn’t just expose a budget crisis. It exposed something deeper: a media ecosystem so polarized that it helped cause and sustain the longest shutdown in American history, whose effects continue to linger.

Thanksgiving and winter break are not only weeks for students to rest but also for teachers and faculty to take some time off from intense schedules and everlasting numbers of  homework and assessments to grade.

Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Yale’s most popular course, “Psychology and the Good Life,” spoke at a Hopkins all-school assembly on Friday, October 17. Santos advised Hopkins students on how to optimize happiness and answered questions from Hopkins Peer Supporters.