News

A Better Masters, The Masters School’s anti-racism and anti-bias action plan, covers six areas of school life: governance; admission; racial diversity among faculty, staff and administrators; policies and procedures; curriculum and pedagogy; and community and belonging.

Perhaps one of the most beloved start-of-year practices for middle school students is organizing and decorating their lockers, when the somewhat dreary metal encasements are transformed into bold and colorful displays of personality.

Being new to a school is a challenging experience, even for teachers. That’s why, every summer, before the school year begins, incoming Masters faculty participate in the New Faculty Institute (NFI), a five-day intensive that aims to welcome them into and get to know all aspects of the community.

After six months away, middle and upper school students returned to campus to spend time together and take part in a variety of outdoor activities. 

Dakota Daniello ’23 made big news over the summer, committing to play NCAA Division II women's basketball at Florida Southern College (FSC).

During a summer when plans for traditional warm-weather activities — sleep-away camps, vacations — were upended by COVID-19, a nascent program, Masters Summer Learning Initiative, gave students the chance to explore new interests and passions. 

After a summer apart, athletes, dancers, actors and even student journalists gathered virtually for several days of preseason training and community building activities. 

The Masters School is delighted to welcome a cohort of new faculty and staff to the community.

Congratulations to the members of the Class of 2020!

The Middle School graduation took place on Friday, June 5. Click here to read more, view a photo gallery and watch videos from the day.

The Masters School celebrated the Class of 2020 on Saturday, June 6. Click here to read more, view a photo gallery and watch videos from the day.

Despite an inability to collaborate in person during remote learning, students in the performing arts created impressive works during the last two months of the school year.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2019-2020 underclass awards, which were announced on Thursday, June 4.

The following students received awards during the Eighth Grade Awards Ceremony on Thursday, June 4. Congratulations to the award winners!

The following seniors received awards during the annual Senior Awards Ceremony on Friday, June 5. Congratulations to all award recipients!

More than 100 students gathered virtually on Friday, June 5, to participate in "Building the Culture at Masters," a student leader training workshop designed by faculty members Lee Dieck and Meghan MacWilliams. 

Matthew Pollack ’20 has always been interested in military history and working with veterans, and his senior project allowed him to pursue his passion by interviewing American veterans about their wartime experiences.

The Masters School’s mission — to be a power for good in the world — seems more important than ever as the country grapples with deep-seated issues of racial injustice.

Recently, as she was reading about the plight of New York City’s homeless population during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sam Coffey ’17 decided to take action.

The fifth grade’s yearlong interdisciplinary study of ancient Egypt and opera culminated in an impressive puppet opera — performed via prerecorded video — on Monday, June 1.

This spring, Jazz Band found an innovative way to make music together while apart.

Click here to read about how we plan to honor the Class of 2020!

Please click here to view Masters' response to the COVID-19 health crisis.

From her early days cutting up T-shirts at summer camp, Emma Rubinson ’17 has been passionate about fashion.

Using virtual galleries, middle and upper school students are proudly displaying the colorful, innovative and powerful artworks they created over the course of the year.

What is history’s most important, impactful and overlooked innovation? The answer, according to the winners of the ninth grade history project Panther Tank, is the concept of translation.

Every day can feel quite similar under stay-at-home orders, but for students in Studio Art Major, the routine of daily life has become an inspiration.

Carolyn Hohl ’21 can add a new set of awards to her growing list: The young poet recently received two national recognitions from the nonprofit organization Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for two of her poems.

Sharks, penguins and whales, oh my! During the week of May 11, middle school students in Dana McNamee’s science classes explored the fascinating world of ocean species with marine scientists.

Masters standout basketball player Brooke Tatarian ’21 put in countless hours of hard work in the classroom and the gym, resulting in a lifelong dream coming to fruition.

Students in Studio Art Major recently created Rube Goldberg machines — contraptions that are intentionally designed to perform simple tasks in indirect and overly complicated ways — out of objects found around their homes. 

With stay-at-home orders in place in the New York area, many people have found themselves spending more time in their kitchens. 

Health care staff at Montefiore Nyack Hospital in Nyack, New York, have been regularly treated to the music of the Malino Family Band, a Masters family trio made up of John Malino Scheuer P’18, ’20, Buster Scheuer ’20 and Sarah Scheuer ’18.

An ordinary FaceTime conversation with his aunt inspired Stephen Boe ’18 to pursue an extraordinary idea.

Congratulations to Caio Lanes ’21 and Sophia Viscarello ’21, who were voted in as the 2020-2021 Executive Committee co-chairs. 

Health care workers at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, received a heart-warming — and delicious — surprise thanks to Serena Sharma ’25 and her family.

They couldn’t go to the ocean, so the ocean came to them.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, members of the Masters community did their part to protect the environment, from organized litter pickups to sustainable recipe shares.

The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting tremendous economic devastation on communities around the United States, and The Masters School has responded by creating a Student Access Fund.

Adding to its growing list of accolades, Tower, the School’s student-run newspaper, placed in the top 10 for Best of Show broadsheet print newspapers from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA).

Sam New ’21 is passionate about school safety, and during her Masters Thesis presentation on Wednesday, April 15, New shared her research on how to make schools safer.

On a typical school day, approximately 1,000 students, faculty and staff head to the dining hall to enjoy meals prepared by Brock & Company, the School’s food service provider.

Exercise, with its innumerable health benefits, is more important than ever these days, and drama and dance teacher Jason Reiff is aiming to keep the Masters community active with weekly adult yoga classes.

Not even social distancing and remote learning could stop members of The Masters School's varsity girls soccer team from continuing to build team chemistry. 

The Masters School’s admission cycle is wrapping up in full virtual swing with remote interviews through Skype and virtual events for prospective families through Zoom. 

Staying active has innumerable health benefits, and starting next week, the Athletics Department is going to get our community moving with daily workouts and weekly challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended myriad aspects of our world, including in-school education. Due to an inability to meet in person, The Masters School recently began a new journey of remote learning. 

The Masters School once again lived its mission — to be a power for good in the world — by donating boxes of goggles, germicidal wipes and gloves to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

A cast of 34 students staged a powerful performance of the musical “Side Show” on Friday, February 28, and Saturday, February 29.

For Masters Thesis students, months of research culminated in the annual evening symposia on Tuesday, March 3, and Wednesday, March 4.

From climate change to migration, the tenth grade tackled a host of global issues during the annual Model United Nations Day on Monday, March 2.

Our girls basketball, swimming, indoor track, fencing and squash teams all closed out their respective postseason campaigns over the past 10 days.

“How can I help?” This was the question that fifth grade students answered on Friday, February 21, when each student stood before an audience in Doc Wilson Hall and presented on a well-researched topic.

Julia Levin ’21 first started playing guitar when she was young — just 8 or 9 years old — and since then has become a passionate musician who has even given a TEDxTheMastersSchool Talk on the subject of female guitarists in the music industry.

Masters brought the bookstore to students this week during the School’s 3rd Annual Middle School Book Fair.

It was the day of Chinese New Year, when he learned that a hospital in Wuhan, China, was asking for donations, that Victor Li ’21 realized how serious the coronavirus problem was in his home country.

Upper school artists had the opportunity to take a lesson with Yonkers-based painter and printmaker Elizabeth de Béthune on Thursday, February 20.

Challah bread, samosas, jerk chicken and cannoli were just some of the culinary delights on the menu for the Middle School during a potluck lunch hosted by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) leadership group on Thursday, February 20.

Upper school students in French 4 class recently explored the culture of Francophone West Africa during their reading of “Le coiffeur de Kouta” by Malian author Massa Makan Diabaté. 

The varsity girls basketball team kicked off its New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) title defense on Thursday afternoon at home.

The sounds of bass drums and turntables filled Doc Wilson Hall on Wednesday, February 12, but the only instruments present were the voices of champion beatboxers Kaila Mullady and Mark Martin.

Stacey Tisdale P’23, a more than 20-year veteran TV broadcast financial journalist and the first African American to report from the New York Stock Exchange, brought inspiration to the Upper School on Friday, February 7.

One of the world’s largest art museums became a classroom for sixth graders on Friday, February 7.

Alex Pinnock ’26 cares about helping animals – especially the eastern bluebird, the state bird of New York.

The entire tenth grade took a deep dive into the workings of the United Nations on Monday, February 3, in preparation for their annual Model UN day next month.

An impressive total of seven indoor track school records were smashed at the Varsity Classic meet on Monday, February 3, at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York City.

A cast of 17 upper school students delighted the audience with a musical journey on Friday, January 31, and Saturday, February 1, during the second annual Upper School Musical Revue.

A group of sixth graders has found a way to use memes for good by creating Time for Memes, a publication that celebrates and analyzes the internet cultural phenomena.

As millions of Americans were watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 2, senior AP English students were taking in a vastly different form of entertainment: Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

During the week of January 27 through 31, students across campus were spotted sporting neon attire, 90s fashion and fuzzy pajamas.

Along with a passel of other talented young artists, Jonah Ginsburg ’20 traveled to Miami earlier this month to participate in the National YoungArts Week, a weeklong program for National YoungArts Foundation finalists that features master classes, workshops and mentorship from leading artists in their fields.

Students and faculty, brought together by the School’s Jewish Culture Club, gathered in the Sharon Room on Monday, January 27, to honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

On Tuesday, January 28, eighth grade Mandarin students learned about Chinese history and culture, all while enjoying a spread of traditional Chinese food.

The Masters School's varsity girls fencing team took first place in all three weapons at the Independent School Fencing League Individual Championships at Horace Mann School.

The Dobbs Athletic Association is hosting a spirit and Pack the Den week next week, Monday, January 27, through Friday, January 31. 

Upper school French students were treated to a day of French culture on Thursday, January 23.

The upper school community embraced Masters’ mission – to be a power for good in the world – by honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, January 16.

A pair of indoor track school records were broken at the Ivy League Prep Schools Meet at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York City on Monday, January 13.

Standout varsity girls basketball player Brooke Tatarian ’21 reached an impressive milestone in a 56-55 victory over Summit Academy on December 29, 2019.

Building on their accomplishments during the 2018-2019 school year, The Masters School’s Cybersecurity Team, comprised of Zach Battleman ’21, Matt Nappo ’21 and Brandon Zazza ’21, advanced to the platinum tier in the state round of CyberPatriot’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition on Saturday, December 7, 2019.

The Masters School Debate Team emerged from the Regis Christmas Classic tournament with bragging rights: Partners Kai Cowin ’21 and Carolyn Hohl ’21 won third overall in the varsity public forum, and Cowin was awarded best speaker in the varsity public forum.

Friends, faculty and sushi was a recipe for a great night on Wednesday, January 8. More than 80 young alums, current seniors and faculty members filled Estherwood Mansion for the annual Young Alumnae/i Sushi Soiree.