Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls

Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls was the first single-sex public school in Missouri. Hawthorn provides a unique educational option: an all-girls school that has no admission requirements and is tuition free. Hawthorn's academic and extracurricular programs offer a unique experience to St. Louis young women. A majority of our students enter Hawthorn one or more grade levels behind in reading, math, and science. The purpose of the school is to provide equal access to quality education for our students and to enable Hawthorn students to be successful in college and careers.

Hawthorn starts in 6th grade, capturing girls as they enter the often tumultuous adolescent years. This is the time many young women begin to lose some confidence and/or struggle with self-esteem. Many of our students come from high trauma backgrounds. For these reasons and more, we provide individualized academic and social/emotional support. The all-girls' environment is designed to create a safe-haven of sorts for young women where they can be valued for themselves and their intellect, apart from the often hyper-sexualized culture of today. Hawthorn girls are encouraged to take healthy risks, try new things, confront academic challenges, and support each other.

Hawthorn's primary goal is to prepare Hawthorn graduates for post-secondary success; we want 100% of Hawthorn students admitted to college. We want to build a pipeline of educated young women who are prepared for well-paying 21st century jobs - jobs that employers often find difficult to fill as the workforce is not keeping up with demand. To achieve this goal, we have to make sure we do the following: ensure Hawthorn students receive excellent teaching in all core subjects; develop innovative hands-on curriculum and guarantee students have access to tools necessary to support that curriculum; and move students toward mastery in STEM subjects.