When Lee Huskins came to Hill School as a tenth grader, he had never read an entire book cover to cover. In his English class that year, he read several novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo which remains his favorite. “When I first came to Hill,” Lee remembers, “I didn’t know what it meant to have any success in school. I was a C/D student and just getting by. Hill was the first place where I earned an A on anything.”
Lee went on to graduate from Durham Academy in 1988 and Elon University in 1992. He also earned an MBA in Healthcare Management. He is currently the Chief Administrative Officer and President of John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, California.
In further reflection on his experiences as a Hill student, Lee remarks that he learned that teachers were partners with students, helping them to succeed. “Hill is the foundation that provided me the confidence, the skills and the tools to be able to make it to where I am currently.”
He goes on to report that Hill impacted him beyond high school by teaching him good study habits and helping him understand that even though he learns differently, he could succeed. “Without these elements, I would not have graduated from undergraduate, graduate school, and quite possibly even high school. Hill instilled in me a confidence that I had never had in academic settings, and now I’m working with some of the most brilliant people in the world, and they are looking to me as a peer and a leader. For that, I will always be thankful for the opportunity to attend Hill, and the gifts that were life changing and shaped my life in a way that are immeasurable.”
Lee, his wife Ronela, and daughter Jordan live in Lafayette, California, twenty miles from San Francisco. He is a life-long devoted Carolina basketball fan.