One of the hallmarks of a Hutchison girl is a genuine interest in connecting with the community and having a meaningful impact on others. Servant leadership is an important aspect of the Hutchison experience.
Hutchison Serves connects classroom learning with service in the real world. Girls will discover that the concepts and ideas they are discussing in the classroom, whether in their history, science, or English classes, have relationships to issues in the community. Girls in all school divisions, from Early Childhood to Upper School, work on developmentally appropriate service-learning activities and topics. Older girls are encouraged to take part in hands-on service opportunities on campus and in the community. Hutchison Serves seeks to empower students to make a difference in the lives of others, both locally and globally, inspire them to be change agents in their communities, and instill a lifelong interest in philanthropy.
Hutchison Serves was created by a generous gift from Kirby Dobbs Floyd, Hutchison class of 1982, and her husband Glenn Floyd. “The most fulfilling things that I have ever done have come out of what I’ve given to help others,” Kirby Dobbs Floyd said. “Hutchison Serves empowers girls to become change agents in the community and create a lifelong interest in service and philanthropy.”
Providing Service Learning & Leadership Opportunities
Girls are given the autonomy and support to research, design, propose, and implement their own sustainable service project in collaboration with a local non-profit organization. Through this work, girls are able to practice project management and financial literacy and learn more about themselves, their community, and the issues they are tackling. They also learn valuable leadership lessons that they can apply to everyday life. The Wilson Society at Hutchison was established by the Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation.
Hutchison girls meet with, plan, and work together with many of Memphis’ nonprofit and community organizations. These partnerships involve all ages of Hutchison girls. In the early childhood division, girls take part in an annual Trike-A-Thon to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In middle school, girls serve at the Mid-South Food Bank. In the upper school, girls take part in larger service projects with Memphis organizations such as Refugee Empowerment Program and Girls on the Run.
Our Partners
901 POP American Cancer Society American Red Cross Arrow Creative ARTSMemphis Back the Blue Binghampton Christian Academy Binghampton Development Corporation Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis BRIDGES Cancer Kickers Soccer Club Carpenter Art Garden Children's Museum of Memphis Church Health City Leadership - Give901 Collage Dance Collective Company d Concord Academy Creative Aging Daily Memphian Dixon Gallery & Gardens Down Syndrome Association of Memphis & The Mid-South FedEx Family House Forrest Spence Fund Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce Girl Scouts Heart of the South GIRL 24 Girls on the Run Greater Memphis Chamber Hattiloo Theatre Hospitality Hub Joy Life 901 Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South Kingdom Community Builders Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Lester Community Center Lichterman Nature Center Liquid Legacy Lisieux Community Center Literacy Mid-South Memphis Animal Services Memphis Athletic Ministries Memphis Botanic Gardens Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Memphis City Beautiful Memphis Library Foundation Memphis Public Libraries Memphis Teacher Residency Merge Memphis Mid-South Food Bank MIFA More Than a Meal Multinational Memphis Museum of Science and History (MoSH) My Cup of Tea My Town Miracles Paint Memphis Palmer Home for Children Panther Creek Stables Porter-Leath Refugee Empowerment Program Room in the Inn Salvation Army SEED Shrine School Society of Women Engineers St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Su Casa Tennessee Shakespeare Company Theatre Memphis Thistle and Bee Trezevant Manor Vance Avenue Youth Development Center West Cancer Foundation WKNO Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis YMCA
Girls in all grade level divisions find connections between their curriculum and service. Topics such as wellness, social justice, and education and empowerment are used to frame service activities.
The Kirby and Glenn Floyd Excellence in Service Scholarship Award is awarded annually to a Hutchison girl whose service efforts create lasting, positive changes in the community. Considerations for the selection of a winning project include the girl’s commitment to sustainability, overall impact, innovation, and servant leadership. The award winner may focus on a project that is local, national, and/or global in focus and implementation. Those seeking the Floyd Award and Scholarship should exemplify a genuine heart to serve others. All Hutchison girls in Early Childhood, Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School are eligible to apply.
The award includes a $5,000 college scholarship in recognition of the award winner’s significant achievement in service.
For her myExperience capstone project, part of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, Millie Malone ’25 held a voter registration drive where a representative from the League of Women Voters assisted our girls in registering.
Empathy. Discomfort. Controversy. Curiosity. Perspective. Engagement. These six words encompass a wide range of emotional and intellectual ideas. In the fall of 2020, when the Class of 2024 were freshmen, they started attending sessions to learn about civil discourse. While the world was still navigating the pandemic, it was a great time to practice how to have constructive conversations about things we agree on… and things we disagree on.
Rising juniors who are part of four myExperience cohorts in Hutchison’s Institute for Responsible Citizenship – global civic engagement, entrepreneurship, STEM, and art and design – explored their respective fields of study on trips to Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
A discovery in one science class led Izzy Ellis ’24 to delve deeper into her interest in biology and map out a path for college and beyond. Along the way, she nurtured other interests, from athletics to civics. An aspiring oncologist, her dream is to find a new, innovative treatment that could help save lives.
Our inaugural graduating class of the myExperience program presented their capstone projects with confidence, poise, and enthusiasm at our first myExperience Senior Showcase.
Avery Webb ’26 enjoyed the opportunity to shadow Rep. John Gillespie in Nashville as he interacted with state officials and legislators, and she even got to meet Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.
“This trip fostered cultural appreciation, broadened perspectives, and created lasting memories for everyone involved,” said upper school Chinese teacher Lynn Tian, who chaperoned the trip.
Stephanie Park '25 organized Hutchison's blood drive to help fight the national ongoing blood shortage. With her efforts, blood donations at the Hutchison blood drive could have saved as many as 96 lives.
Solving global issues requires research, critical thinking, proposal crafting, and challenging discussions, and our 7th and 8th graders are honing their diplomacy skills through Model United Nations. The YMCA Middle School Model UN Conference provides an opportunity for students to practice their debate and public speaking skills in a formal setting while encouraging them to find ways to join together as a community to solve current global issues.
Seventh, eighth, and ninth graders traveled to Costa Rica, and a group of tenth and eleventh graders journeyed to Italy over fall break, enjoying the opportunity through the Institute for Responsible Citizenship to give them a taste of global travel.
Rising juniors and seniors who are part of four myExperience cohorts in Hutchison's Institute for Responsible Citizenship – global civic engagement, entrepreneurship, STEM, and art and design – explored their respective fields of study on trips to New York and Boston.
Note to the State of Tennessee: If you want to get legislation passed, put Hutchison girls in charge! Seventeen juniors wrote and presented six bills at the YMCA Youth in Government conference in Nashville. All of the bills made it onto the Senate and House dockets, and one was signed into law.
Dabney Roberts Ring ’90 joined Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s staff in January 2016. She is currently a Senior Policy Officer and the Federal Relations Lead on Mayor Strickland’s intergovernmental team. She helped build an immersive internship for Hutchison senior Katie Frazer ’23.
Natalie Alexander ’25 is the first recipient of the award. She was chosen because she exhibits characteristicsthe award’s namesake, Dot Jones Hammons ’76, has demonstrated throughout her life: intellectual curiosity, steadfastness, loyalty, kindness, and compassion.