A Message from Brooke Giese, Head of School:
At Rumsey Hall, our goal is to prepare each child for a life of purpose and possibility. While we work to ensure every student finds success on campus, our true measure is how well they are prepared for what comes next, for a world that is changing quickly and, in many ways, unpredictably.
Artificial Intelligence is already reshaping how we work, communicate, create, and solve problems. For schools and families, the wisest response is neither to fear AI nor rush towards it, but to thoughtfully collaborate as we learn together how to use these tools well.
Our objective is to prepare children to thrive no matter how the world changes. To guide this work, Rumsey Hall has developed a clear philosophy:
“Rumsey Hall encourages the responsible, legal, and ethical use of AI tools to enhance teaching and learning. When used with intention and integrity, AI can deepen curiosity, creativity, and understanding, helping students learn how to think, not what to think. Students will develop the new literacies needed to navigate, seek truth, and contribute thoughtfully to a rapidly changing digital world. AI can accelerate learning, improve feedback, and support the diverse strengths and needs of every Rumsey learner, but it cannot replace what matters most: at Rumsey, people and the relationships between them, remain at the center of all we do.”
If change is the only certainty in the future, then our role is to cultivate qualities that endure. When we think about what students will need in an AI-shaped world, we return to three essentials: relationships, critical thinking, and innovation.
Relationships
Children learn best when they are known, challenged, and supported. Deep learning grows from trust, and research consistently shows that friendship is fundamental to long-term health and fulfillment. Social intelligence and emotional intelligence are not just “soft” skills; they are essential skills for leadership, citizenship, and fulfilling work.
Rumsey Hall has always believed in the power of the teacher, coach, dorm parent model, where a student’s science teacher may also serve as her coach and club advisor. That steady, human presence, the trusted adult who knows the child across contexts, helps shape character and build confidence. Technology may assist learning, but it cannot replace the layered relationships that support growth.
Critical Thinking
The specific technical skills our students will need in 10 or 20 years are impossible to predict. What will matter is their ability to think critically and independently, and continually learn, unlearn, and relearn. We want them to exhibit curiosity, discipline, adaptability, ethical judgment, and intellectual courage.
Used thoughtfully, AI can provide rapid feedback and personalized practice. AI can provide quick answers, but it cannot replace the intellectual discipline developed through struggle, reflection, and meaningful challenge. At Rumsey, students learn not just to use tools, but to question them, to evaluate information, test ideas, and think for themselves. To use AI wisely, students must learn not only how to ask questions, but how to question the answers they receive. In a world of helpful machines, the capacity to pause, reflect, and challenge one’s own thinking becomes even more valuable.
Innovation
Our school motto reminds us: He who does not advance falls behind. At Rumsey, advancement is not only about what students know, but about what they can create, test, and improve.
As machines become increasingly capable of generating information, summarizing content, and producing competent first drafts, distinctly human capacities rise in value. Creativity, innovation, and the ability to iterate, to try, refine, and improve, will allow our students not simply to keep pace with change, but to lead it. The future will belong to those who can imagine new possibilities, test their ideas, learn from missteps, and continue to improve their work over time.
We want our students to be more than capable users of new technologies; we want them to be thoughtful makers who can bring ideas to life, evaluate their effectiveness, and make them better. In a world where AI can produce quick answers, our students must learn to shape, question, and refine those answers, developing the judgment and persistence required to create something meaningful and original.
None of this work happens without partnership, and we are deeply grateful for the trust families place in us. Together, we will ensure that as technology grows more powerful, our children grow wiser, more intellectually curious, and more human.
