Gordon Hight (’94) announced to faculty and students today his plans to step down as director of Upper School at the end of the current school year.
“Ever since I graduated from business school, I have been very career driven,” Hight told faculty. “Everything I’ve done in my life has been strategic and intentional to prepare me for my next step professionally. But I’ve realized in the past couple of years that something is missing – it’s time for me to start focusing more on my personal and family life.”
Hight, the great-grandson of Darlington’s very first graduate, Gordon Lee Hight Sr. (1908), said the school has a great deal of significance to his family and always will. Many generations of the Hight family have been educated at Darlington, including members of his immediate family – his father, trustee Gordon Lee Hight II (’62), and his sister, Alberta (Hight) Fitzgerald (’93). In fact, the Hight Gates, poised at the school’s front entrance, are named for his ancestors, Charles Alexander Sr. and Mary Lee Hight.
“I’ve been with Darlington for 20 years – 13 as a student and seven as a faculty member,” he said. “Darlington has taught me a great deal. It was here that I learned how to learn, how to teach and how to lead. Every experience I’ve had here has been enriching and fulfilling, and Darlington will always be near and dear to my heart.”
In fact, it was during his very first interview at Darlington after earning his M.B.A. from The University of Georgia that Hight expressed his desire to one day become director of Upper School and head lacrosse coach. It took him only seven years to achieve those goals.
“My love for this community runs deep and professionally, I didn’t want to be anywhere else,” he said.
Hight taught history, government and economics at Darlington from 2002 until 2005, in addition to serving terms as director of student activities and director of summer programs. To gain additional experience, he spent the next three years at Wellington School in Columbus, Ohio, serving as assistant to the dean of students, chairman of the history department and head coach of two varsity athletic teams. He returned to Darlington in 2008 to take on a new role as dean of students, and at the end of that year he was promoted to acting director of Upper School.
“My mother became ill in the spring of 2008, and I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to come back to Darlington and spend what ultimately became the last few months of her life here with her,” Hight said. “I am forever grateful for the support this community has provided me over the years and I will always treasure the wonderful relationships I have formed with members of the Darlington family. Darlington has always served me well and I hope that I have done the same for this remarkable institution. In terms of my plan for right now, there is no plan. I’m wide open to really focus on some things I’m looking for in life, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”
Headmaster Tom Whitworth said Hight has proven his ability to lead during his two years as director of Upper School.
“I have always said that Gordon is a tremendous role model for young men and women,” Whitworth said. “He is a scholar and a gentleman; he is kind and generous; and he looks for the best in people. Gordon embodies the aspect of our mission that calls for acting with courage and conviction, practicing ethical leadership and exhibiting honorable character, and I know he will continue to do so in his life. We wish him all the best.”
A search is already underway for Hight’s replacement.
“Our goal is to locate an eminent leader to fill his shoes who will meet the high expectations of the position,” Whitworth said. “We are moving quickly in order to attract the most capable candidates available, and we will keep our school family apprised of our progress.”
