Miss Porter's School

Miss Porter's School
Puellae venerunt. Abíerunt mulieres.
Location
Farmington, Connecticut, USA
Information
Type	Independent, boarding
Religious affiliation(s)	none
Established	1843
Head of School	Katherine G. Windsor
Faculty	60
Gender	female
Enrollment	333 total 223 boarding 110 day
Average class size	11
Student to teacher ratio	8:1
Campus	55 acre township campus
Color(s)	Green and White
Athletics	18 Interscholastic teams
Mascot	Fighting Daisy (unofficial)
Average SAT scores	627 critical reading 636 math 633 writing  (2011)
Endowment	$100 million
Annual tuition	$46,650 boarding $36,850 day
Website	www.porters.org

Miss Porter's School, sometimes simply referred to as Porter's or Farmington, is a private college preparatory school for girls located in Farmington, Connecticut.

Porter's alumnae call themselves "Ancients," and faculty and staff often refer to the school as "Porter's" or MPS.

History

Origins

Sarah Porter, the founder of Miss Porter's School

Miss Porter's School was established in 1843 by education reformer Sarah Porter, who recognized the importance of women's education. She was insistent that the school's curriculum include chemistry, physiology, botany, geology, and astronomy in addition to the more traditional Latin, French, German, spelling, reading, arithmetic, trigonometry, history, and geography. Also encouraged were such athletic opportunities as tennis, horseback riding, and—in 1867—the school formed its very own baseball team, called the Tunxises.^[1] Management passed on to her nephew, Robert Porter Keep, after her death in 1900. From then until the school was incorporated as a non-profit institution in 1943, he, his wife, Elizabeth Hale Keep, and their son Robert Porter Keep Jr. ran the school. To this day, "Porter's remains a place where girls are supported by a close-knit community of students and faculty." ^[2]

On Sunday, June 12, 1994, Oprah Winfrey gave the commencement address, reminding the graduating class, which included her niece Chrishaunda Lee, that "[t]here is no success without joy."^[3]

Oprah Winfrey modeled her Leadership Academy for Girls after Porter's. ^[4]

Academics

As a college preparatory school, Porter's offers a fairly rigorous curriculum as it prepares young women to "shape a changing world."

As of the 2010-2011 school year, Porter's was welcomed into the consortium network of the Online School for Girls as a member.^[5] Three Porter's faculty members are currently listed as teachers on the OSG website.^[6]

Porter's is a member of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives.^[7]

Porter's has partnered with the University of Pennsylvania's Master's in Teaching program.^[8]

Notable faculty

• Director of Music Karl Klauser, music teacher and composer, taught at the school from 1855 to 1895^[9][10][11]
• Head of the Art Department Robert B. Brandegee, an American Impressionist, taught at the school from 1880 to 1903^[12][10]
• Miss Porter's School's Associate Director of Admission Tricia Davol was selected as a Cannady Visiting Teacher to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Ms. Davol, who began her tenure at Porter’s as a Spanish teacher, was one of two educators selected for this program in 2012.^[13]

Off Campus Study

If so desired, a student in her third year at Porter's may choose to participate in any of the following programs:

• Maine Coast Semester
• Rocky Mountain Semester
• School Year Abroad offers students the chance to enhance their foreign language by studying in its native country. Countries include, but are not limited to, China, France, Italy, and Spain.

Finances

Tuition and financial aid

Miss Porter's offers need-based financial aid as well as a variety of merit scholarships. The school reports that, for the 2011-12 school year, roughly 34 percent of the student body receives some form of financial aid, with a total of over $3.3 million in aid awarded.^[14]

Oprah Scholars

The school regularly awards five students with a full scholarship, endowed by the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, which includes tuition, room and board, travel, a laptop, and other miscellaneous expenses. Biographer Kitty Kelley wrote regarding Oprah's connection to the school:

Oprah had been so impressed by the change in her niece after Chrishaunda attended Miss Porter's School that she established the Oprah Winfrey Prep School Scholars, and through the years contributed more than $2 million to scholarships.^[15]

On November 12, 2011, Oprah Scholar Ayanna Hall '11 presented Oprah Winfrey with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Governors Awards ceremony in Hollywood, California.^[16]

Endowment

As of late 2007, the school's endowment was estimated at $100 million. It reportedly dropped 12% to settle at $88 million during the economic downturn, but has recently gained over $12 million in unrestricted assets during "the largest fundraising campaign in the school's history," which was concluded as of June 30, 2011.^[17] The school currently reports its endowment as $100 million.

Campus facilities

Academic facilities

• The Main building, the front door of which is depicted on the school seal, was built in 1830 as the Union Hotel on Main Street. Originally intended to serve patrons of the nearby Farmington Canal, it was rented by Sarah Porter in 1848 until her purchase on April 19, 1866.^[18][19] To this day, the building continues to house the school's dining facility, several administrative offices, and a small dormitory for first year boarding students.
• The M. Burch Tracy Ford Library, as the newest academic facility on campus is named for the school's eleventh Head of School and houses over 22,000 volumes, electronic books, magazines, journals, newspapers in addition to a collection of 1,308 academic and entertainment DVDs and videos. The building also houses a computer lab and eight study rooms.^[20]
• The Hamilton building, formerly a dorm, is home to the English and History departments. Named for the Hamilton sisters, namely Alice and Edith.

The Olin Arts and Science Center

• The Olin Arts and Science Center is home to the schools Science, Mathematics, and Visual Arts Departments. Thanks to a contribution from the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation, the Olin Arts and Science Center was built to honor three members of the Olin family who have graduated from the school. In 1997, renovations and the construction of an extensive addition to this building, designed by architect Tai Soo Kim, were completed. Renovations to the existing structure provided the community with a painting and ceramics studio, each with 25-foot ceilings and 500 feet of windows; a computer art lab with the most current programs and equipment; a multi-media studio for jewelry and textiles; and a photography studio and dark room. The addition, connected to the existing structure by a glass corridor, includes science labs, a greenhouse, a number of computer labs. The completion of this project earned the architect an AIA Connecticut Design Citation.^[21]
• The Leila Dilworth Jones '44 Memorial building was formerly the school's library but later converted into the school's language department. It is equipped with "a state-of-the-art language laboratory and classrooms for foreign language instruction," which include, but are not limited to, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Latin. ^[22][23]
• The Barbara Lang Hacker Theater is home to the Theater department and the Players Mandolin Performance Troupe (PMPT).
• The Kate Lewis Gym, once the gymnasium and later the theater, now houses the Music department and includes a performance hall, faculty and administrative offices, and rehearsal rooms.^[19] This building also serves as the rehearsal space for the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra.^[24]

Athletic facilities

• The Student Recreation Center, designed by Tai Soo Kim^[25] and built in 1991, includes the Wean Student Center (a gift of the Raymond John Wean Foundation), the skylit Crisp Gymnasium with an elevated running track, a weight and exercise room, an athletic training room, and four outdated squash courts which have since been converted into an Erg room, a free weight room, and a climbing wall.
• The Mellon Gymnasium, designed by Maxwell Moore and built in 1962 as part of the theater-gymnasium complex, was a gift of the Richard King Mellon Foundation. It is home to Varsity Badminton in the fall, JV and Thirds Basketball in the winter, and is the designated indoor practice space for Varsity and JV Softball in the spring.
• The Gaines Dance Barn, built c. 1930 and recently renovated, is the rehearsal space for all dance programs at the school.
• The Pool & Squash Building was designed and built by StanMar Inc. in 2007.^[26] As the newest athletic facility on campus, it contains an eight-lane, 25-yard pool and eight international squash courts. Its nickname, the "Cool House," was coined by Theater Director Mr. Eric Ort, as a combination of terms "Court" and "Pool House."
• The Farmington Boat House, a cold storage boathouse on the nearby Farmington River, is home to the Varsity and JV Crew teams of both Miss Porter's and Farmington High School, shared in a unique public-private relationship.^[27] The program is equipped with six Vespoli fours, a pair/double and three recreational singles.^[28]
• Lower Kiki's Field is home to Varsity Soccer in the fall and Varsity Lacrosse in the spring. Upper Kiki's Field is home to JV and Thirds Soccer in the fall and JV and Thirds Lacrosse in the spring. Named in memory of Helene Kinnucan Brown '53 by her family, classmates, and friends.
• The Riding Ring Field at Mountain Road is home to Varsity Field Hockey in the fall and Ultimate in the spring.
• The Cowbarn Field is home to the Varsity and JV Softball teams in the spring and the JV Field Hockey in the fall.
• 7 deco-turf tennis courts

Other facilities

• The Colgate Health Center, historically known as the "Edward Whitman House," was built c. 1850 for Erastus and Grace (Cowles) Gay, purchased by Elizabeth V. Keep in 1916, and left to the school upon her death. Once a dorm, now this building features the school health center and faculty housing.^[29]
• Weekend House, built by and for Julius Gay in 1878, was left to the school by his daughter, Florence Gay, upon her death in 1952. The building now houses the school's Alumnae/Development Office.
• Counting House, once used to house the school's Music Department, is now the Business Office.

Sarah Porter School House

• School House, built in 1849 for the Farmington Female Seminary, was rented by Sarah Porter until her purchase in 1885.^[30] The building now houses the school's daycare facility.
• The Timothy Cowles House, built in 1815 for Major Timothy Cowles and since enlarged (c. 1900), was acquired by the school in 1955. It now serves as faculty housing and houses the school archives.
• The Horse Barn was used for student horses until 1969. It is currently used as a garage for school maintenance vehicles.

Dormitories

West of Main Street

• Brick House, or "Brick" as it's known to the school community, was built in 1840 for Francis Cowles, purchased in 1889 by Sarah Porter, and left to the school upon her death.^[31] Brick is known as one of the dorms in which Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis resided.
• Ward House, or "Ward" as it's known to the school community, was built c. 1842 for Susan and Augustus Ward, purchased by Sarah Porter in 1891, and left to the school upon her death.^[32]

East of Main Street

• Colony House, or simply "Colony," was built c. 1799 for Jonathan Cowles. This three-story Federal style mansion was acquired by the school in 1908, has since undergone several renovations, and is home to students in their senior year. It became known as "Colony", as it was the first offshoot from the mother country, "Main", which has always been the center of school life.^[19] Colony is also known as one of the dorms in which Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis resided.^[33]
• Humphrey House, built c. 1800 as a private residence, is a Federal style building that is home to students in their senior year.
• Lathrop House, built in 1841 as a private residence for Harriet Cowles upon her marriage to Charles Thompson, was acquired by the school in 1889.
• Porter-Keep House, or "Keep" as it is known to the school community, was built in 1844 for John Edward Cowles and passed down until it was sold to Rose Anne (Day) Keep and her husband and Head of School, Robert Porter-Keep, who left it to the school upon his death in 1967. The house underwent extensive remodeling, as it was converted into a dorm, for a year beginning September 1968.^[34]
• New Place, built c. 1906, remains the only dormitory designed specifically for that purpose.

Athletics

Interscholastic sports

Opponents

Porter's competes in the Founders League with Choate Rosemary Hall, Hotchkiss, Kingswood-Oxford, Loomis Chaffee, Taft and Westminster schools. ^[35] Porter's archrival is Ethel Walker's.

Championships

In 1997, the Crew Team ranked 1st in the New England Championships.^[36] In 2010, the varsity volleyball team defeated Convent of the Sacred Heart to become the 2010 New England School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B Champions.^[37]

In 2009, the Varsity Crew Team placed fourth in the New England Championships.^[38] In 2012, the Varsity Squash and Basketball teams each placed fourth in the New England Championships.

Student life

Extra-curricular activities

Porter's offers a variety of different extracurricular clubs and organizations, of varying degrees of commitment and function in a given school year. At the beginning of each school year, one night is designated for students to learn about each club and for each club to register new members. The Salmagundy is the school's student run monthly newspaper. Only recently has the paper become an online publication. The school's social service club, Concordia, and Daeges Eage, the school's yearbook, have long been a part of MPS. It was only in 1947 that former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, on her senior page, made a promised to herself: “Not to be a housewife.”

Also important to the school's history is the Perhilhettes, the senior a cappella group, as well as Haggis/Baggis and Chataqua, the school's magazines for creative and expository writing, respectively.

Residential life

Most Porter's girls live in dormitories, most of which are former Farmington private residences left to the school. Each dormitory has a house director. "Their doors are always open, and they often invite students into their apartments for snacks, movies, and group discussions." ^[39]

Emblems

School Seal

The official seal of Miss Porter's School.

Miss Porter's has two chief symbols: a seal depicting a the front door of Main, with the school motto etched to each side, and a newer simpler logo with "Porter's" and "Farmington". This logo was introduced by communications officials in an effort to combat the school's common misperception as a finishing school.

The image of the front door of Main on the school seal is intended to reinforce the accompanying school motto, Puellae venerunt. Abíerunt mulieres. (Latin 'They come as girls. They leave as women.') as the door through which girls enter and exit the school.

School colors

School colors include green, white, and yellow. Old Girl colors have traditionally been grey and yellow.

Notable alumnae

• Mimi Alford - former White House intern who wrote a book about her affair with JFK
• Letitia Baldrige Hollensteiner (1943) - author and social secretary to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy^[40]
• Mildred Barnes Bliss - American art collector, philantropist, and cofounder of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C.
• Dorothy Walker Bush (1919) - mother of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush and grandmother of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush
• Anne Cox Chambers (1937) - U.S. Ambassador to Belgium during the Carter administration.
• Laura Rockefeller Chasin (1954) - American socialite
• Pema Chodron (formerly Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) (1955) - Buddhist nun and author; resident director of Gampo Abbey
• Patience Cleveland - American actress and published author
• Edith Roelker Curtis (1912) - author, historian, and diarist

• Brenda Frazier (1939) - American socialite
• Ruth Pine Furniss - short story writer and novelist
• Susannah Grant (1980) - director and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for Erin Brockovich^[41]
• Mamie Gummer - (2001; never graduated) actress and daughter of actress Meryl Streep
• Agnes Gund (1956) - President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and 1997 recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton, she was nominated by President Barack Obama as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council on the Arts in 2011^[42]
• Alice Hamilton (1888) - First female faculty member of Harvard Medical School, founder of the field of industrial medicine
• Edith Hamilton (1886) - Greek Mythology scholar and sister of Alice Hamilton
• Barbara Hutton (1930) - American socialite, dubbed "Poor Little Rich Girl"
• Dorothy Bush Koch (1977) - philanthropist and member of the First Family
• Julia Lathrop (1876) - the first woman ever to head a government agency in the United States.
• Chrishaunda Lee (1994) - niece of Oprah Winfrey and hostess of the PBS program Animal Attractions Television
• Elizabeth May (1972) - the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada and leader of the Green Party of Canada
• Ruth Hanna McCormick (1897) - member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and the first woman to run for the U.S. Senate.
• Polly Allen Mellen (1942) - Editor with Vogue magazine
• Dina Merrill (née Nedenia Hutton) (1943) - actress and American socialite
• Mary Anne Amirthi Mohanraj (1989) - American writer and editor
• Helen Coley Nauts (1925) - founder of the Cancer Research Institute ^[43][44]
• Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1947) - First Lady of the United States^[45]
• Hayley Petit, victim of the Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders^[46]
• Lilly Pulitzer (née Lillian Lee McKim) (1949) - fashion designer and American socialite
• Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam (1951) - founding president of the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal ^[47][48][49]
• Lee Radziwill (1950) - public relations executive for Giorgio Armani, author, and younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
• Theodate Pope Riddle (1888) - architect and founder of Avon Old Farms
• Gene Tierney (1938) - Academy Award-nominated actress
• Gloria Vanderbilt (1941) - fashion designer and American socialite
• Mary Knight Wood (1875) - American pianist, music educator and composer

Summer programs

The summer programs, offered to girls entering grades 7 through 9, provide access to most of Porter's facilities and staff.

The Sarah Porter Leadership Institute Level I offers girls the opportunity to "learn, practice and hone" their problem solving, quick thinking, teamwork and trust skills. The Sarah Porter Leadership Institute Level II gives those who have attended Level I of the program the opportunity to more completely develop their leadership skills. This program includes an off campus camping and rafting trip, which test the skills and responsibilities that come with those activities.

The Porter's Junior Model U.N., offered by faculty advisors Heather and Robert Mooney, is "designed to teach students about civics, current events, effective communication, and global perspective through engaging and interactive lessons and exercises." The program concludes with a "two-day Model UN-style conference at Porter's."^[50]

In popular culture

• In the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when Buffy's mother thinks it would be best to send Buffy away to school, she picks up an application to Miss Porter's.
• In the television show The Nanny, in Mr. Sheffield's office, Fran suggests Gracie attend the summer program at Miss Porter's.
• In the musical Rent, one of the leads, Harvard-educated lesbian lawyer Joanne, attended and learned to tango with the French ambassador's daughter in her dorm room at Miss Porter's.
• In the novel, Betrayed (A House of Night Novel) by P.C and Kristin Cast, Zoey finds Miss Porter's after researching different "private preparatory schools" to find examples of good student councils to model her own new Dark Daughters' council after.
• In the novel The Debutantes by June Flaum Singer, the four main characters met at Miss Porter's.^[51]
• In the novel The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, a main character is sent to Miss Porter's.
• The novel The New Girls (1979), by Beth Gutcheon, is set in a school called Miss Pratt's based on Miss Porter's.^[52]
• In the film, Metropolitan (1990), the character Jane Clark tells Tom Townsend that she, Audrey Rouget and Serena Slocum attended "Farmington."
• In the film, Mona Lisa Smile (2003), as Katherine Watson is studying Joan Brandwyn's file, a cutaway shot of it reveals that she attended Miss Porter's School, but incorrectly locates it in Lower Merion, PA.^[53]

References

External links

	Connecticut portal
	Schools portal

• Official Website
• The Association of Boarding Schools
• Boarding School Review
• America's Best College Preparatory Boarding School Information
• National Coalition of Girls' Schools

Coordinates: 41°43′20.737″N 72°49′45.894″W / 41.72242694°N 72.829415°W / 41.72242694; -72.829415