Pride Elevates As Anne Hutchinson’s Namesake School Celebrates Her

During the past few months, students at Eastchester’s Anne Hutchinson Elementary School learned about the person for which their school was named.  

On Friday morning, more than 450 students proudly filed into the auditorium at 9:15 a.m. wearing blue T-shirts with the school’s name and insignia to honor and celebrate Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan who lived in New England.

“Anne Hutchinson was a very important woman. She was a pioneer of her time (1600’s),” said Felicia Maldari, a teaching assistant at the school and co-coordinator of the celebration. “She was also a midwife and a person in charge of women’s rights. She also believed in religious freedom and was banished from her country for all of those beliefs.”

Anticipation of the celebration and pride grew as the students sat in their chairs listening to classical music from the 1600’s performed by teachers Suzanne Greene, Nelva Lagerwey, and Tom Snowden.  After Theresa Cherry, the school’s principal, welcomed and greeted everyone, the celebration was underway.

Every grade had a special role to play in the event.

Third graders led the school and event attendees in the pledge of allegiance and showed a PowerPoint presentation about Anne Hutchinson while reciting interesting facts about her. Second graders sang about the life of Anne Hutchinson to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The assembly also had some special guest in the audience: Fred Pack and Roger Miller, who were apart of the first class to matriculate through the school from grades one through six in 1959.  Pack reflected on his experiences at the school.

“I haven’t been in this building since 1959, when I graduated sixth grade so it’s really wonderful experience for me to be here,” he said. ‘It’s great that the kids are learning about Anne Hutchinson. It’s important for people to have an appreciation for things where they live.”

The fourth grade classes did a presentation of quilts they made about Anne Hutchinson’s life. Balladeer Linda Russell then performed. Costumed in clothing from the 1600’s Russell performed period pieces and played songs using unique instruments like the mountain dulcimer, pennywhistle and hammered dulcimer. She even let students help her by composing a mini-band with those in the audience using maracas, claves, triangles, and tambourines.

“Music makes history accessible to children. The 1600's is a hard time to understand.  But through music you can feel the emotion and get the jist of what happened,” Russell said. 

Russell is right. Not only is Eastchester’s elementary school named after Hutchinson, but also the Hutchinson River Parkway. Two other schools in Pelham and the Bronx also bear her name.

Principal Cherry said she was proud of her students’ efforts to celebrate the school’s namesake.

“They really learned first hand what Anne Hutchinson was all about and why it’s so important to know about her as the woman whom our school is named after,” Cherry said. “It gives us a sense of pride for the school.”