About D-E

Head of School Office

Welcome from the Head of School, Jeremy Gregersen

Welcome to Dwight-Englewood School!  It’s a pleasure to welcome you to get to know our dynamic, inspiring, and inclusive community.  I hope that you’ll take some time to explore our website to learn more about the school and our mission.  

As a community of learners, we are most excited about how we can inspire young people to become the very best versions of themselves.  We do this by inviting them to invest in and develop what we call “HumanEd Qualities,” which are meant to be both “Humane,” insofar as they allow our caring educators to treat each student with dignity and compassion while helping them grow, and to be “Human” insofar as they are the uniquely human characteristics that will allow students to grow into their best selves. We feel that, in the face of rapid technological and societal change, the very best way to prepare students to meet the challenges of a changing world is to invest in helping them develop such distinctly human qualities as collaboration, initiative, creativity, critical thinking, risk-taking, perseverance, engagement, and curiosity.

We hope to inspire a love of learning by giving students the chance to learn what they love.  We do this by exposing students to a wide variety of rigorous academic content and approaches, by offering the finest performing and visual arts experiences, and by encouraging athletic excellence in a broad range of sports teams and clubs.  We are committed to the belief that a top-flight education is a “both/and” proposition, and we strive to serve the student with a passion for playing basketball and the violin, the chemist with a love of lacrosse, and the musical theater star fascinated by world history.

The aim of everything we do is to ultimately inspire students to, as our mission states, “make it better.”  We believe that a great educational experience equips students to go out into the world and make a positive impact and it is our hope that by positively impacting the lives of our students we can positively impact their current and future communities.

We hope you will take the time to get to know us, and give us the opportunity to get to know you, by visiting our admissions page and beginning the process of becoming a Bulldog!  Seeing who we are and what we do firsthand is the best way to get to know Dwight-Englewood School.

Sincerely, 
Jeremy Gregersen, Head of School

Learn About our Strategic Plan Process

In May 2023, HoS Mr. Gregersen announced a new Strategic Plan process underway for D-E. Click here to link to our Strategic Plan website and additional details.

Commencement Address 2023

A D-E Community Milestone: The Installation Ceremony for Head of School Jeremy Gregersen

Mr. Jeremy Gregersen began his role as the sixth Head of School for D-E on January 1, 2023. Dwight-Englewood School then celebrated a major community milestone on May 7, when Jeremy Gregersen was officially installed as our new Head of School. (Please see above for video and photo highlights from the event.) 
 
The Installation Ceremony was a wonderful, historic celebration that welcomed more than 400 guests to Leggett Field's "big tent" and which was made even more memorable thanks to picture-perfect sunny skies. The event's attendees included current students and their families, current and former faculty/staff members, Trustees and Trustees Emeriti, alumni of Dwight School, Englewood School for Boys, and D-E, and friends of the School.
 
The program was centered on the themes of honoring D-E's past, present and future, and commenced with the ringing of the D-E Bell, bagpipers, and a procession which included a clear crowd favorite: flags carried by students and family members representing all 15 of the School's class years (2023-2037!)
 
The appreciative audience was treated to nostalgic glimpses into the School's rich history and hopes for an ongoing legacy of learning, hearing from alumni, student and faculty readers and speakers, and executive officers of the Board including President Rob Miller and First Vice President Josh Peirez. Additionally, the program provided a fantastic showcase of our D-E student music ensembles: the All-School Orchestra, Upper School Orchestra, and Jazz Rock all were featured, the last of which provided a soulful performance of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
 
A highlight of the ceremony was when Mr. Gregersen provided his Installation Address remarks. Mr. Gregersen spoke eloquently to the ideas captured in the D-E mission statement and his own vision for D-E going forward, as well as sharing personal reflections.
 
Having served as Head of School since January 1, 2023, Mr. Gregersen expressed sincere gratitude to all who have welcomed him and his family thus far to D-E and for "... truly making this year of transition a joy."
 
Then, thoughtfully weaving together his perspectives as both a poet and teacher as well as an experienced school leader, Mr. Gregersen spoke to the writers who have inspired him and prompted a recent family trip to Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery... "Thoreau is buried there.  So is Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott.  And so is Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau’s friend and mentor.  Their graves sit near one another and I imagined for a moment myself in conversation with them about this great school and about what I hoped it could be... And I thought of some lines of Emerson I’ve highlighted for my students for years: 

'There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.'

There is a moment, Emerson is saying, when we realize that what others do is simply that–what others do.  We must carve out an independent path for ourselves.  And I continued to think about Dwight-Englewood School in this light."
 
"I began to understand that all of my hopes for the school and its students were wrapped up in this notion of counter-culturalism. I’ve come to believe that a truly great school, a school like Dwight-Englewood School, can and must offer a counterpoint to every serious ill our society suffers.  Indeed, isn’t the only way to truly “meet the challenge of a changing world and make it better” to stand as a counterpoint to the parts of our world that run counter to our values?"
 
Mr. Gregersen then went on to speak both comprehensively and meaningfully to how, through instilling leadership and defying "conventional notions"... as well as through DEIB work, the arts, athletics, and academic programs... "we have to remain consistent only in our consistent desire to adapt... in the years to come, again we will survey the needs of the students in our care and do what is right to prepare them to meet the challenges of a changing world that has changed, and will remain changing."
 
Mr. Gregersen concluded his remarks by quoting from poet Alice Fulton, and then noting "...Like poetry, like education, the building of a school unique as ours is never finished.  Which means there’s no time like now to get started..."
 
 
Sincere congratulations to Mr. Gregersen and welcome again to him and his family!

And to all in our community who were involved in the Installation Ceremony, thank you for being a part of this important moment in the life of Dwight-Englewood School!
 
 

Installation Ceremony Photo Highlights!

Installation Ceremony Video Highlights

Getting to Know Mr. Gregersen

Getting to Know Mr. Gregersen
 An Interview with Jeremy Gregersen

Note: The below is excerpted from an article in the June 2022 print edition of Spectrum, the D-E Upper School newspaper, when it was first announced that Mr. Gregersen was named as the new incoming Head of School. This article was written by Spectrum Student Editors Sunaya Mueller '22 and Giulia Silverstein '22 .

“I think that the proximity to New York City is really exciting to me,” says Gregersen. “I am really looking forward to four seasons, that there is not just heat and not heat, which is what you have in Las Vegas. But for me, the place I am looking forward to the most is Dwight-Englewood. You don’t take on a job like this without the school being the center of it.” 

With a Master’s Degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan, a Master’s in English from the University of Oregon, and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah, Jeremy Gregersen joined his current independent school as a middle school English teacher in 2005. Although his family never planned on living in Las Vegas permanently, Gregersen was soon appointed as Head of School in 2014. 
 
Since his appointment, Gregersen says that The Meadows School has grown in size, has built up its arts programs, and has seen increased success in its athletic programs. But Gregersen is most proud of leading the shift towards a more holistic education. “I have asked the school to think more about students than student resumes,” he says. “I think that education should inspire joy in people. Even the highest level education, even the most rigorous educational experience, should inspire joy.” 

On the issue of joy in education, Gregersen shares, “So much of what happens in this country is that, if you are not miserable, you are not trying. If you are not not sleeping, not only doing academics, then you are not going to go to a great university. I want to be able to illustrate that you can have both. That you can have it all.” 

Compared to [The Meadows School], Gregersen describes Dwight-Englewood as “the future. It is like stepping into a time machine at my current school for ten years, in terms of building out programs to support students with regard to counselors and psychologists, but also just the overarching philosophy that you can both have a really demanding high-level academic experience, as well as a focus on the health and wellness of students.” 

Yet, Gregersen values the importance of academic rigor: “Challenging students is transformative. You can really transform lives with highly rigorous academic experiences.” 

According to Gregersen, the Head of School search process was challenging. After the Dwight-Englewood Board of Trustees narrowed down its competitive search to its semi-finalist pool, Gregersen “flew out to D-E for 90 minutes of interviewing, where I was grilled by the Search Committee. But when I was done, I called my wife, and I said to her, ‘If I don’t get this job, that’s cool, because I just had the greatest time.’ It was actually really fun to sit and talk about school with these people who cared so deeply about Dwight-Englewood.” 

Mr. Gregersen has taught in the classroom since his appointment as Head of School in 2014, and hopes to continue this tradition at D-E. “I think it is important to be a teacher, that you spend time in the classroom, that you know what it is like to be a student or teacher at a school,” says Gregersen. “I just love it. I love being in classes, I love being around students. I always used to joke that I get paid to talk about books with smart people. Who gets that?” 

While speaking to Spectrum, Mr. Gregersen raves about his favorite novel, Moby Dick: “I feel like every time I read it, I get something new out of it.” Gregersen’s favorite hobby? Running! “I am a big runner, both road runs and trail runs. I haven’t run a race in a while, but I have run a handful of 50ks.” His worst job experience? “It was at the University of Utah, and I had taken a job filling vending machines all over campus. I was supposed to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fill vending machines. I woke up in the morning, and it was snowing, so I just went back to bed. I was fired immediately!” 

When he steps into his role at Dwight-Englewood in 2023, Gregersen is focused on finding a balance between students’ academic and emotional experiences. “More than anything else, Dwight-Englewood offers this opportunity to illustrate not only that you can focus on the student experience and do high level academic work, but that focusing on the student experience actually allows for superior approaches to academic work,” says Gregersen. “You don’t have to choose one or the other. In a country where prep school academics are focused on rigor and on getting into the right university, you will actually be in better condition if you are focusing on what students actually need out of their educational experience.” 

Gregersen strives to “be present” and foster a tight-knit community at Dwight-Englewood. “More than anything else, I am lucky to be landing in a place that is so community-oriented. One of the reasons that we have stayed in Las Vegas is that the school has become our home. It has become an extended family to us, and we look forward to doing the same thing in New Jersey.” 
Mailing Address: 315 East Palisade Avenue Englewood, NJ 07631
gps: 81 Lincoln Street, Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-9500 Email: d-e@d-e.org
Located in Englewood, New Jersey, Dwight-Englewood is a greater New York City area private school with a rigorous college prep curriculum for boys and girls in preschool through grade 12.