Career-building programs offered this summer such as grant-writing and book publishing would be appreciated by academy founder Samuel A. Hitchcock, as would the academy's health-enhancing classes.
BRIMFIELD - When Samuel Austin Hitchcock founded the Hitchcock Free Academy as the area high school in 1855, he may not have imagined what would be offered to the community today.
Belly dance classes? Shocking!
Partner yoga and henna designs? Not to be found in the curriculum of the 1850s, when the academy offered its students courses to prepare them "for the business of life" - academics such as Latin, Greek, grammar and rhetoric.
What started out as a school to prepare students for college, being upstanding members of one's community, and making a living has evolved into an organization that expands horizons on many fronts, offering not only educational, but recreational and cultural programs for all ages as well.
While Hitchcock may have not envisioned such an evolution for the academy, he was indeed an "out-of-the-box" thinker who inspired local residents to join him in donating funds to create a high school with free tuition (hence the "Free" in Hitchcock Free Academy) when there was no such facility anywhere nearby. Without the academy, many youths' education would have ended with grammar school.
So, it's likely that Hitchcock would have approved of the academy becoming a non-profit community center in 1955, when the Tantasqua Regional High School was formed, and how HFA continues to serve residents of Brimfield and the surrounding communities. The academy still empowers and prepares those who come through its doors for "the business of life" (Samuel A. Hitchcock's motivation for founding the school), but with a wide variety of colorful, vibrant, current programs that everyone can enjoy.
It may be surprising to discover what goes on nowadays inside this stately, historic building. Anyone can try new things and learn something just for fun this summer, such as "Cooking with Table 3 Chef Enrico Giovanello," pottery, garden bench-making, yoga and much more.
Hitchcock would surely have approved of all the programs for children offered this summer: art, drama, music, parent and child yoga classes, babysitter training (a great way for youths to try their hand at creating their first business), and the academy's annual three-week Summer Fun program.
Career-building programs offered this summer such as grant-writing and book publishing would be appreciated by Hitchcock, as would the academy's health-enhancing classes, such as tai chi, aerobics, "Feeling Good Fitness" and "Cooking with Goat Cheese."
Perhaps most dear to Hitchcock's heart would be the programs offered free of charge, such as the three Concerts on the Common in July, the Holi Indian Festival on Aug. 2, the weekly farmers' market each Saturday, and Union 61's free summer playgroup.
In "A History of Hitchcock Free Academy," Alice Sawin Davis notes, "The school that (Samuel Austin Hitchcock) had founded was his deep enjoyment in his declining years. He was especially rejoiced at the number of pupils when there were over a hundred in attendance."
Now, the academy receives more than 20,000 visits per year from those participating in programs and community meetings held here.
Hitchcock Free Academy still honors the philosophy that guided Hitchcock: "In order to make one's life rich, colorful, and productive, one must seize opportunities to learn something new, take a chance, expand one's horizons, and have some fun embarking on a new endeavor."
For more information about Hitchcock Free Academy and the programs offered there, visit hitchcockacademy.org.