With current Chaplain Father John Houghton retiring at the end of this year, The Hill School has been looking into hiring a new chaplain for the 2018-2019 academic year.

On February 26 Headmaster Zach Lehman announced that the Reverend Khristi Adams will serve as the school’s next Firestone Endowment Chaplain and an Instructor of Religious Studies and Philosophy.

A group of Hill community members including Associate Headmaster Len Miller, Chair of the Trustee’s Education Committee Peter Benedict (Class of ’88, Parent ’21), Assistant Headmaster for Student Life Jennifer Lagor, Director of Information Services David Allain, Modern Language Department Chair Yassine Benzinane (Parent ’21), Amy Wolf P ’19, and student representative Amelia Sniffin ’19 have worked with search consultant George Andrews to find viable candidates for the chaplain position.

The search process had been ongoing since October 2017. After an initial dinner with the search committee, Andrews worked with the criteria and produced a list of about a dozen candidates. Each committee

member personally reviewed each candidate throughout December and January 2017 to determine who they believed would best fit the Hill community. Miller then interviewed each candidate over Skype to decide who would visit Hill’s campus in February.

“We’ve had resumes come in from all over the country,” Miller said. “One of our strongest interests is people who want to do the boarding school life.”

With the finalists chosen, they visited Hill’s campus for two days. On the first day, the candidates had dinner with the search committee and gave a 10 minute talk on what matters to him or her and why. Hill students and faculty mem- bers were invited to attend these dinners and talks to ask the candidate questions.

Miller strongly believes in the importance of involving Hill students in decisions for any faculty hire. He wants to see not only the students’ potential reactions, but also hear about what they think.

“When I was a candidate, my favorite moment was seated lunch and getting to know the students here,” Miller said.

On the second day, the candidates had breakfast with the search committee, spent their mornings teaching a class, and finally had a lunch with the student spiritual life committee. These lunches were exclusive to the students and the chaplain – giving the candidates the full experience of a seated meal at Hill as well as an opportunity to ask more informal questions.

When asked the most important thing the new Chaplain should know about Hill, Father Houghton responded:

“Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, once reminded his readers that the Jewish High Priest, back when the Temple was still standing in Jerusalem, wore a ceremonial breastplate decorated with gemstones on which were engraved the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. To be a pastor to a community, the archbishop said (and I agree), is still like that: you have to stand before God every day with all its names bound over your heart.”