All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
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William A. Hazel Jr. '74 Delivers Commencement Address
Asking the boys to consider whether their time at Woodberry has fulfilled the school's mission, commencement speaker William A. Hazel Jr. '74 suggested, using stories from his own life, that it may be too early to judge the effect their education will have on their lives.
William A. Hazel Jr., MD, a 1974 graduate of Woodberry Forest School and an orthopaedic surgeon, is Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources.
After earning a degree in civil engineering from Princeton University, Dr. Hazel attended Duke University School of Medicine and completed his orthopaedic residency at the Mayo Clinic. He is a founding member of Commonwealth Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, a medical practice in Northern Virginia.
Dr. Hazel is a former member of the American Medical Association Board of Trustees, past president of the Medical Society of Virginia and the Fairfax County Medical Society, and past chairman of the Inova Health System Medical Affairs Council.
Secretary Hazel oversees twelve state agencies, including Behavioral Health and Human Services, Social Services, Aging, Disability Services, and Medicaid, among others, whose 15,000 employees administer one-third of Virginia’s state budget. Charged with preparing Virginia for health system reform, he has introduced the Virginia Health Reform Initiative, created the Virginia Center for Health Innovation, negotiated with the Department of Justice to improve services for individuals with developmental disabilities, and initiated a transformed IT system for Health and Human Services.
Lauded by Governor McDonnell for his “servant’s heart,” Dr. Hazel has performed joint-replacement procedures in a poverty-stricken region of Bolivia and volunteered as the Chantilly High School physician and at the Remote Area Medical Mission of Mercy in Wise, Virginia. He is a former assistant orthopaedic surgeon for the Washington Redskins and team physician for the D.C. United soccer team.
Dr. Hazel and his wife, Cindy, live in Oakton, Virginia, and are the parents of two grown children. Their nephew, David Little, is a member of Woodberry’s Class of 2012.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.