Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) is a ninth-twelfth grade private college preparatory high school (secondary school) located in western Massachusetts, U.S.A. Its Northfield campus is located in Northfield, Massachusetts, and its Mount Hermon campus is located in nearby Gill, Massachusetts. 1879 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Private schools are schools not administered by local or national government, which retain the right to select their student body and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students tuition rather than with public funds. ... Northfield is a town located in Franklin County, Massachusetts. ... State nickname: Bay State Other U.S. States Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney Official languages English Area 27,360 km² (44th)  - Land 20,317 km²  - Water 7,043 km² (25. ... Rural areas are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities and towns. ... State nickname: Bay State Other U.S. States Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney Official languages English Area 27,360 km² (44th)  - Land 20,317 km²  - Water 7,043 km² (25. ... Northfield is a town located in Franklin County, Massachusetts. ... Gill is a town located in Franklin County, Massachusetts. ...

History

The school was originally founded by internationally famed Protestant Christian evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody (DLM) as two separate institutions: The Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in 1879 and Mount Hermon School for Boys in 1881. DLM envisioned both these schools as parts of his dream to provide the best possible education for less privileged people. Indeed, even, in their infancy, DLM’s schools matriculated students whose parents were slaves, Native-Americans, and from outside the US -- something that was unimaginable in many elite private schools at that time. Dwight Lyman Moody's birthplace and burial place are both located on the Northfield campus. Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 - December 22, 1899), also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church, Northfield Schools in Massachusetts, the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Press. ...

In DLM's view, Christian religious education was an essential part of the objective of his schools. However, under subsequent administrations, the schools became more theologically liberal and ultimately became nonsectarian and ceased evangelization of students. (This change put them at odds with other Moody institutions such as the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.) Religious life continued to be an important part of the schools, but religious services ceased to be compulsory and students were no longer instructed in Christian doctrine. Moody Bible Institute is a prominent Christian institution for higher education. ...

In the 1970s and 1980s, many U.S. private secondary schools that had previously offered single-sex education either became coeducational unilaterally or merged with other schools to become coeducational. In what was then a controversial decision, the Northfield Seminary and the Mount Hermon School merged to become a single coeducational institution in 1971, on mutually accepted terms, rather than a hostile takeover that Phillips Academy, Andover did to Abbott Academy. The name of the new school was Northfield Mount Hermon School, and it retained both the original Northfield campus and the original Mount Hermon campus, making both campuses co-ed but segregating students by sex at the dormitory level. The school operated on two campuses from 1971 and provided bus service to transport students back and forth, a distance of approximately five miles across the Connecticut River. Phillips Academy (also known as Andover and Phillips Andover) is a coed high school for flagrant metrosexuals grades 9-12 located in Andover, Massachusetts, near Boston. ... The Connecticut River as seen from the French King Bridge in western Massachusetts The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through Western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Long Island...

In 1980, a history of NMH entitled So Much to Learn was written by Burnham Carter on the occasion of the school's 100th anniversary.

Northfield Mount Hermon Today

DLM’s vision of an education for the less privileged remains at the heart of NMH’s education: the school is known to give a generous amount of financial aid to the students, even though its endowment is not that large. Moody's bearded visage and Golden Rule philosophies influence the campus today. To graduate, all students must perform several hours of physical labor each week, be it scrubbing dishes in the dining halls or harvesting maple syrup at the Mount Hermon farm.

The percentage of international students at NMH is also far above the average of many elite private schools, at 25 percent compared to perhaps 10 percent at other institutions. In many cases, international students make a connection with the school through family members who attended NMH or, in some cases, were evangelized by Moody or his affiliated denominations and religious missions in the 19th century.

The students at NMH are sometimes described as more culturally or politically liberal than students at other New England private college preparatory schools. NMH has no dress code and is sometimes viewed as informal, tolerant, and progressive.

In 2004, the Trustees of Northfield Mount Hermon School, forseeing difficult financial challenges, decided to close the Northfield campus in 2005 and to consolidate the school with a smaller coeducational student body on the Mount Hermon campus. This decision has been controversial. Before consolidation, the school had about 1100 students enrolled per year; afterward, it is expected that enrollment will decrease to around 600.

Famous alumni of NMH include William Ackerman (founder of Windham Hill Records and 2005 Grammy Award winner, Prestley Blake (founder of Friendly Ice Cream), Natalie Cole, controversial radio pioneer Lee de Forest, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Dore Gold (former Israel ambassador to the United Nations and advisor to Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon), David Hartman (television host), composer Erik Lindgren, sports journalist Buster Olney, actress Laura Linney, ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, well-known literary theorist and critic Edward Said, technologist Seth Schoen, author Neil Sheehan, runner Frank Shorter, actress Uma Thurman (attended), and DeWitt Wallace (founder of Reader's Digest). Windham Hill Records is a record company, founded in the 1976 by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and wife Anne Robinson. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... Natalie Cole (born February 6, 1950) is an American singer/songwriter. ... Lee De Forest Lee De Forest, (August 26, 1873 - June 30, 1961), was an American inventor with over 300 patents to his name. ... Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born March 24, 1919) is a poet who is best known as the co-owner of the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house, which published early literary works of the Beat Generation, including Jack Kerouac, Kenneth Rexroth and Allen Ginsberg. ... Ambassador Dore Gold (born 1954) is a former Israeli diplomat. ... The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ... Ariel Sharon, the eleventh Prime Minister of Israel, spent many years in the Israel Defense Forces before being elected in March 2001. ... David Hartman (born May 19, 1935, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island) is a well-known American television personality. ... Buster Olney is currently a columnist for ESPN: The Magazine, ESPN.com, and was formerly lead Sports Editor at The New York Times. ... Laura Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress. ... Edward Wadie Said (إدوارد سعيد) (November 1, 1935 – September 24, 2003) was a well-known literary theorist, critic and outspoken Palestinian activist. ... Seth David Schoen (born September 30?, 1979) is staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology civil rights organisation, and has been actively involved in discussing digital copyright law and encryption since the 1990s. ... Cornelius Mahoney Neil Sheehan (born October 27, 1936) is an American journalist. ... Frank Shorter (born October 31, 1947) is a former American athlete and winner of the marathon race at the 1972 Summer Olympics. ... Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970), is an American film actress. ... DeWitt Wallace (November 12, 1889 -- March 30, 1981, otherwise known as William Roy) was a United States magazine publisher. ... The cover of the May 2004 issue of Readers Digest. ...