Humphrey Family Writing Center

The Humphrey Family Writing Center is the home for The Hill School ’s student writers, and the hub of Hill student publications, The Record, The Hill News, and The Dial.Located on the third floor of the John P. Ryan Library in a beautifully renovated room with an inspiring view of the campus, The Writing Center provides Hill’s student writers with a place of their own to develop their skills in the company of other writers. Students visit the Center to seek critiques and assistance on any type of writing project from Director of the Writing Center Mark Pearson, Ph.D., ’78 and his colleagues as well as the Writing Fellows.

The Writing Fellows is a group of sixth form students selected for this honor and responsibility through a competitive process that includes an application and recommendations from teachers. In an effort to make the Writing Fellows more accessible to students, fellows are “on duty” in the dormitories to provide support to their peers during evening study hall. 

Dr. Pearson is a veteran English teacher, former journalist, and published author. Pearson’s fiction and essays have appeared not only in his book of short stories, Famous Last Lines (2013, Mainstreet Rag Publishing Company), but also in The Best American Sports Writing 2011, Altered States, Aethlon, Blueline, Broken Bridge Review, Carve, North Dakota Quarterly, Short Story, Sport Literate, Stories, and Suicidally Beautiful.

The Humphrey Family Writing Center was established in 2008 through the generosity and vision of Wolcott "Bud" Humphrey, Jr. '41; Peter Humphrey '72 and his wife, Sally; John B. Humphrey '75; and Christopher Humphrey '02, Peter and Sally's son. The Center has hosted visiting writers such as Tobias Wolff ’64, Pinckney Benedict ’82, Sam "S.C." Gwynne ’70, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jane Leavy, Christine Brennan, Daniel Hoffman, David Kindred, Gene Weingarten, and Lew Schneider.