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Coordinates: 41°50′24.17″N 72°38′25.96″W / 41.8400472°N 72.6405444°W
| Loomis Chaffee | |
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Ne Cede Malis
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| Location | |
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| Windsor, CT, United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, Boarding |
| Religious affiliation | No religious affiliation |
| Established | 1874 |
| Head of School | Sheila Culbert |
| Faculty | 151 |
| Enrollment | 690 |
| Average class size | 12 students |
| Student:teacher ratio | 5:1 (4:1 boarding student-to-residential faculty) |
| Campus | 300+ acres |
| Color(s) | Maroon and Grey |
| Athletics | 55 interscholastic teams in 18 sports; 19 intramural offerings |
| Mascot | Pelican |
| Average SAT scores | The middle 50% of the Class of 2009 scored in the ranges of 580-710 (critical reading), 590-710 (mathematics) and 600-700 (writing) (2009) |
| Endowment | $161.5 million |
| Website | loomis.org |
The Loomis Chaffee School (LC or Loomis) is a premier coeducational boarding school for grades 9-12 and postgraduates located on a 300-plus acre campus in the Connecticut River Valley in Windsor, Connecticut, six miles north of Hartford. The school was chartered in 1874 by five siblings who had lost all their children and determined to found a school as a gift to the children of others. Six million dollars in need-based financial aid is awarded to more than 30 percent of the student body. In 2009, the school had 82 Advanced Placement Scholars, including 2 National Scholars. The school has had 24 National Merit Finalists in the last three years. Seven members of the Class of 2009 were identified as potential U.S. Presidential Scholars by the U.S. Presidential Scholar Commission. The school's mission statement reads as follows: The mission of The Loomis Chaffee School [1] is to advance the development in spirit, mind and body of boys and girls drawn from diverse cultural and social backgrounds and to inspire in them a commitment to the best self and the common good.
The goal of the school’s academic program is the formation of skilled and discerning minds in preparation for higher education and lifelong learning. Through its courses and community life, Loomis Chaffee also educates its students for service in the nation and in today's global civilization. In all things, the school aims to be, as its founders intended, “a shrine from which boys and girls shall take the highest inspirations for better and grander lives.”
The campus lies at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers. The campus is known informally as "The Island": spring rains and melting snow create floodwaters that raise the level of the rivers and flood the lowlands surrounding the campus, sometimes literally cutting the school off from dry land.
Notable alumni include former Secretary of State George Schultz '38, former governor of Connecticut Ella T. Grasso '36, New York Times chairman Arthur Ochs Sulzberger ’45, financier Henry R. Kravis ’63, actor, writer and producer James Widdoes '72 and 1998 Winter Olympic Games United States women's ice hockey Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Ulion '90.
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History
The roots of Loomis Chaffee run as far back as 1639, when Joseph Loomis and his family first settled at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers. Several generations later, the inspiration for the school was born out of family tragedy, when, in the early 1870s, four Loomis brothers and their sister had outlived all their children.
As a memorial to their own offspring, and as a gift to future children, they pooled their considerable estates to found a secondary school called The Loomis Institute to educate young persons, "hoping and trusting that some good may come to posterity, from the harvest, poor though it be, of our lives." [2] The original 1640 Loomis Homestead was chosen as the site where their dream would become reality.
James Chaffee Loomis, Hezekiah Bradley Loomis, Osbert Burr Loomis, John Mason Loomis and Abigail Sarah Loomis Hayden broke new educational ground by planning a school that would offer both vocational and college preparatory courses. (Vocational offerings were discontinued during the later development of the school.)
The founders' enlightened and democratic school would have no religious or political admission criteria. Boys and girls would be given as free an education as the endowment would allow.
The Loomis Institute opened its doors in 1914 to 39 boys and five girls. In 1926, their girls’ division broke off to focus more closely on girls’ educational issues and became The Chaffee School.
Both schools continued to expand. The Loomis Institute built several new facilities in 1967, and the two schools reunited in 1970, forming The Loomis Chaffee School. Six years later it began admitting girls as boarders.[3]
The reunification led to a major revision of the curriculum, which combined a demanding basic program with a broad range of electives in art, music, philosophy, religion and other subjects.
The Loomis Chaffee School has enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth since the 1970s. It strengthened its endowment to bolster financial aid and broadened the diversity of the student body. Recently, it opened new dormitories, an enclosed hockey and skating rink, a brand new athletic center, a visual arts center and a new student center. Within the most recent years, the Clark Center for Science and Mathematics and Chaffee Hall were under renovation.
Overview
Facts & Figures[4]
The school
- 300-acre semi-rural campus in historic Windsor, Conn. (settled 1633)
- 5-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio
- 4-to-1 boarding student-to-residential faculty ratio; 10 dormitories with 31 live-in faculty families
- 190 courses (regular, advanced and Advanced Placement) and independent study
- Average class size: 12
- 64 girls and boys interscholastic teams in 18 sports; 19 intramural sports offerings
- Fully computerized and wired campus: internal and external email and Internet access for all; campus-wide wireless access
- Numerous extracurricular organizations and an active community service program
- Trimester schedule; classes held on alternate Saturday mornings
- Katharine Brush Library: 60,000 books; more than 42,000 e-books; access to more than 10,000 periodicals and scholarly journals; 1,500 videos; 2,000 CDs, extensive microfilm collection; 18 public computers; full electronic reference and information services; 50 subscription databases
Finances, tuition and financial aid
- $200 million endowment; $31 million annual operating budget
- $2.45 million in Annual Fund contributions (2007-08) with 58% of current parents participating
- $41,200 boarding tuition; $30,100 day tuition (for the 2008-09 school year)
- $6 million in need-based financial aid awarded to 30% of student body (for the 2008-09 school year)
The students (2008-09)
- 690 enrollment
- 50% male, 50% female
- From 5 continents (and Oceania), 20 countries, 25 U.S. states
- 21% students of color; 9% international students
- 70 Advanced Placement Scholars (2007): 1 National Scholar, 20 with Distinction, 22 with Honor
- 24 National Merit finalists in last three years; 70 National Merit commended students in last three years
- SAT: The middle 50% of the class of 2008 scored in the 570–700 range (critical reading), 570-700 (math), and 590-700 (writing).
The faculty
- 150 members
- 50% male, 50% female
- 112 advanced degrees (master’s degrees and doctorates)
- 50% of full-time teaching faculty at Loomis Chaffee more than 10 years
Academics
Loomis Chaffee offers courses in English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Latin, Art, History and Social Science, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology and Religion, Science, and Theater Arts. Noncredit diploma requirements include Library Skills and Fitness and Wellness. Advanced Placement courses are offered in English, Spanish, French, Latin, Calculus AB and BC, Chemistry, Economics, Environmental Science, Physics, Statistics, Studio Art and U.S. History. In 2007, 183 students were administered 349 AP exams, 91% of whom were awarded the three highest grades of 3, 4, and 5.
Arts
The Richmond Art Center, the Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr. Gallery and the visiting artist program make the visual arts a school specialty. Core art courses are supplemented by television production and graphic design. Music programs offer both theoretical training and performance experience, including orchestra, chamber music ensembles, concert band, jazz band, jazz improvisation, concert choir and chamber singers. Training in all aspects of theater is supported by curricular offerings in acting, directing, technical theater and playwriting as well as an active yearly production schedule of full-length plays, musicals and one-acts.[5]
Athletics
All students participate in interscholastic, intramural or daytime athletic programs each trimester. Interscholastic varsity and junior varsity competition for boys and girls is offered on 60 teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, softball, squash, swimming/diving, tennis, track, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. There are an additional 26 intramural sports, including both team sports and "lifetime and leisure" sports like yoga and weight lifting. Freshman-level teams are offered in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, boys basketball and boys tennis.[6][7] Facilities include a double gymnasium and two other gymnasia, supporting basketball and volleyball courts; a fitness center and a weight room, totalling 6,300 square feet (590 m2); a 25-meter, six-lane swimming pool; an enclosed hockey rink; a 400-meter, eight-lane, all-weather track; eight international squash courts; 17 tennis courts; a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) cross-country course; two baseball diamonds; two softball diamonds; 17 fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey; and a golf practice driving range, putting green and sand trap.[8]
College guidance
Four full-time college counselors guide students through the college search and application process.[9] Eighty-seven percent of the members of the Class of 2007 were admitted to colleges and universities deemed most selective or highly selective by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges.[10]
Student Council
The Loomis Chaffee student council is a student group that is elected at the end and beginning of every year. They focus on aid in education as well as community service. The Loomis Chaffee student council was the first student council democratically elected by students in the United States. The council consists of two representatives per constituency, divided by gender, age, and residency.
Traditions
- Loomis and Kent School have a long-running rivalry. The two schools take this historic enmity quite seriously, and have annual Kent vs. Loomis days. The two schools compete for a bowl and spoon. The spoon goes to the winner of the football game and the bowl goes to the winner of the most athletic contests on that particular day.
- The Senior Path is brick pathway running through the middle of the Grubbs Quadrangle. Tradition holds that only seniors, PGs, and graduates are allowed to walk the length of the path. As each class heads into its final months at Loomis, the soon-to-be-graduates design a new section of brick to be laid.
- Traditionally, the third floor floor of founders hall, the tunnels, and some parts of the health center are rumored to be haunted.
Distinguished alumni
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- Gerald Warner Brace '18 (1901–1978) was an American writer, educator, sailor and boat builder.
- John D. Rockefeller III '25 - industrialist and philanthropist
- Guilford Dudley Jr. ’25 - United States Ambassador to Denmark
- Benjamin Hedges ’26 - Olympic track and field athlete (1928)
- Winthrop Rockefeller ’31 - Governor of Arkansas
- Ella Grasso '36 - former Governor of Connecticut
- George P. Shultz ’38 - former United States Secretary of State
- Tom Lehrer ’43 - musical satirist, entertainer
- Arthur Ochs Sulzberger ’45 - Chairman and Publisher of The New York Times
- Larry Collins ’47 - author of Is Paris Burning?
- George Selden Thompson '47 - author of The Cricket in Times Square and other children's classics
- Robert Winters ’49 - President and CEO, The Prudential Insurance Company of America
- Myron “Moe” W. Drabowsky ’53 - Major League Baseball player with the Baltimore Orioles
- Robert Grant Irving '58 - Author of Indian Summer
- William Weld '62 - Governor of Massachusetts (1991-1997), United States Ambassador to Mexico
- Henry R. Kravis ’63 - Founding partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
- David E. Kaiser '65, professor of history, Naval War College, Newport, R.I., author of American Tragedy, Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler, Epic Season: The 1948 American League Pennant Race, and others.
- Benjamin Cheever ’67 - Author of The Plagiarist, The Partisan, Famous After Death
- Jonathan Carroll ’67 - Author of The Land of Laughs, Voice of Our Shadow, Bones of the Moon, A Child Across the Sky, Black Cocktail, Sleeping in Flame, Outside the Dog Museum, After Silence, From the Teeth of Angels
- John Terry ’68 - Film and television actor, Against the Grain, A Dangerous Woman, Iron Will
- David Margolick ’70 - Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair; National Legal Affairs Correspondent, The New York Times; author of At the Bar, Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune, Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song, Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling and a World on the Brink
- James Widdoes ’72 - Film and television actor, director, and producer: Animal House (actor), Charles in Charge (actor), Night Court (actor), Dave's World (director/actor), My Wife and Kids (director/actor), 8 Simple Rules... For Dating My Teenage Daughter (director/producer), Two and a Half Men (director)
- Chris Hedges ’75 - Fellow at The Nation Institute; professor at Princeton University; author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning; former Middle East Bureau Chief for The New York Times; former correspondent, National Public Radio; member of team winning 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism; 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism
- Steven Strogatz ’76 - Professor of Applied Mathematics, Cornell University; recipient of Presidential Young Investigator Award; author of SYNC: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order
- Mark Brown ’77 - Major League Baseball pitcher, Baltimore Orioles (1984) and Minnesota Twins (1985)
- David Edelstein '77 - Film Critic, New York Magazine, NPR's Fresh Air, CBS Sunday Morning, Slate, the New York Post, the Village Voice, and the Boston Phoenix.
- David Wild ’80 - Senior Editor, Rolling Stone; host of Musicians (Bravo television)
- Frank Bruni ’82 - Reporter and food critic, The New York Times; author of Ambling into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush
- Matthew M. Murray ’89 - Major League Baseball pitcher, Boston Red Sox (1995)
- Gretchen Ulion ’90 - Olympic gold medalist, U.S. Women's Olympic Hockey Team, Nagano, Japan 1998 (see Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics and list of athletes on Wheaties boxes)
- Nancy W. Collins '91 - Columbia University professor of European Studies; Editor of European Studies Forum
- Jason Wu '01 - Fashion Designer (designed First Lady Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown and other pieces for the first lady).
References
External links
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