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| Menlo School | |
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| Address | |
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| 50 Valparaiso Avenue Atherton, California, 94027 USA |
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| Coordinates | 37°27′12″N 122°11′30″W / 37.4533°N 122.1917°WCoordinates: 37°27′12″N 122°11′30″W / 37.4533°N 122.1917°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent |
| Established | 1915 |
| Head of School | Norman M. Colb |
| Faculty | 106 79 full-time 27 part-time |
| Grades | 6–12 |
| Number of students | 750 total 530 upper 220 middle |
| Average class size | 15 students upper 18 students middle |
| Campus | Town |
| Color(s) | Blue and Gold |
| Mascot | Knight |
| Annual tuition | $32,000 |
| Website | www.menloschool.org |
Menlo School, known widely as Menlo, is an independent college preparatory school in Atherton, California, near the heart of Silicon Valley. Menlo comprises a middle school that includes grades 6–8 and a high school that includes grades 9–12. Both the middle school and high schools are located in close physical proximity, but they operate as semi-autonomous units with select overlapping administration.
Menlo was established in 1915 and is located at 50 Valparaiso Avenue, just across the street from Menlo Park. During its early years, the school included a junior college that became a college bearing the name Menlo College. In 1994, Menlo School and the College formally separated, but they continue to share several facilities, namely the athletic fields and dining hall. Menlo School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of the National and California Associations of Independent Schools. The middle school consists of approximately 220 students; the high school is significantly larger, educating roughly 530 students. Menlo is among the most expensive private secondary schools in the country, with a tuition that tops $30,000 per annum.
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History
Founded in 1915, Menlo School originated as an all-male, military school, the William Warren School, with an inaugural enrollment of just 13 boys. In 1924, Mr. Warren, headmaster and founder, sold the school to a group of interested parents. The parents dropped the military focus, formed a new incorporation, and hence the Menlo School for Boys was borne. Three years later, in 1927, Menlo became a non-profit governed by a newly created board of trustees. Moreover, the originally two-year junior college, Menlo College, was fashioned in that year as an intended expansion of the Menlo School for Boys. During its early decades, this expansion hybridized a prep school with a junior college. Students would attend Menlo for the latter two years of high school and then enroll for two years at the college; after graduating, students would transfer directly into four-year universities as upper-division students.
In the past three decades, Menlo has undergone radical transformation. Between 1979 and 1981, Menlo School transitioned from an exclusive male boarding program to a coed day school. In the 1993–1994 academic year, Menlo again experienced reformation intended to ensure its future, including a dramatic increase in the Upper School’s enrollment, the addition of grade 6 to the Middle School, and a renewed expansion of coed enrollment.
The College and School formally split on June 30, 1994. Menlo School and Menlo College now are wholly independent entities, complete with their own boards, administrations and faculty. Although the School and College neighbor one another on the same 62-acre campus, the Menlo Upper School and Menlo Middle School now are highly segregated from their college counterpart. Following an energetic fund-raising effort beginning in the late 1990s, both the middle and upper school campuses have been completely rebuilt. These projects were completed in 1999 and 2004, respectively. The campus includes state-of-the art science laboratories, a dedicated college counseling facility, office suites for faculty, a large lecture hall, library, student café, Smart Boards, and Astroturf, among many other features. A new Athletic Center and gymnasium is under construction with completion scheduled for summer 2010. A new Creative Arts Center is also in development, with a projected completion date in 2011.
Reputation
Menlo School holds a reputation for outstanding academics, athletics, and arts. Approximately 99% of students attend college after graduation. In the past several years, Menlo has increased its national reach, and many graduates now go on to attend top universities. Graduating classes in the past several years have had students matriculate at many elite universities across the nation, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth and UC Berkeley. Menlo School’s small class sizes allow intimate interaction with the faculty, the supermajority of whom hold advanced degrees. The Menlo School full time faculty includes more than 60 master’s and 10 Ph. D’s as well as 2 J.D.’s.
Student life
Menlo offers over 50 student clubs in the upper school and 25 in the middle school. These clubs are wide in breadth, including a knitting club, classics, Model United Nations organization, and a Mock Trial team. Menlo Middle School and Menlo Upper School both maintain active student councils. Additionally, Menlo has a budding artistic scene. Menlo School artistic groups include a chamber orchestra, the Knight Dancers, and three different choruses, among many others. Menlo athletes have done extremely well. Menlo has particularly excelled in Boys Football, Basketball, Baseball, Boys and Girls Tennis, and Waterpolo. Every Varsity athletic team in the fall of 2009 won their respective league championship, and the Varsity football team was not only a CCS Championship runner up, but earned the CCS Scholastic Team Championship for the highest GPA among all competing teams. Menlo student-athletes are recruited each year, and have gone on to compete at both NCAA and professional levels.
Academic programs
Stressing the importance of a commitment to the broader community, upper school students are required to complete 80 hours of community service in order to graduate. Peer leadership and advocacy programs give freshmen the opportunity to make connections with upperclassmen and faculty members as they begin their time at the school.
Menlo has implemented a myriad of programs designed to encourage lifelong learning. Menlo hosts a special academic week known “Knight School” once a year where students substitute traditional classes for alternative intellectual explorations. Past “Knight School” activities have spanned from volunteer trips to New Orleans to cooking classes and video game design seminars. In addition, seniors complete a “Senior Project” where they explore an academic focus of their own choosing during their final weeks of school and culminate their project with a public presentation of their findings.
Notable alumni
- Kevin Bass is a former outfielder who played for more than a decade in Major League Baseball.
- Jon Beekhuis is a former racecar driver and current television commentator.
- Mike Bordin is a professional drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and co-founder of Faith No More.
- Maria Fadiman is an ethnobotanist and named a 2006 National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer.
- Jon Fogarty is a professional racecar driver.
- Brad Greenspan is an internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Myspace.
- Paul Guay is a professional screenwriter who conceived and co-wrote Liar Liar and co-wrote Heartbreakers and The Little Rascals.
- Gary Johnson (baseball) is a veteran of the Anaheim Angels.
- Robbie Krieger was a guitarist for The Doors and songwriter.
- John Matteson is a 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for the biography Eden's Outcasts.
- Chris Paine is a filmmaker and the writer and director of Who Killed the Electric Car?.
- Bob Weir is a professional guitarist and a founding member of The Grateful Dead (n.b. Weir did not graduate).
See also
External links
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