Pomfret School

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2011)

Pomfret School
Motto	Certa Viriliter (Latin for “Strive Manfully”)
Established	1894
Type	Private, Coeducational, Secondary, Boarding
Affiliation	Episcopalian
Headmaster	Tim Richards
Students	350
Grades	9–12, PG
Location	Pomfret, Connecticut, USA
Campus	Rural
Mascot	Griffin
Website	www.pomfretschool.org

Pomfret School is an independent coeducational boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, United States for grades 9 through 12 plus a post-graduate year. Pomfret School was founded in 1894, on the principles of intellectual rigor and the development of character. It aims to help students realize their scholarly, financial, physical and spiritual potential and recognize their responsibilities as members of a community.

Pomfret is located on Connecticut Route 169 next to The Rectory School.

Facilities

The campus was designed by landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted in 1894. Architect Ernest Flagg (1857–1946) designed the Romanesque stone Clark Memorial Chapel in 1907, and the distinctive brick Georgian school house, four dormitories, Pyne infirmary & Lewis gymnasium from 1907 to 1917. The DuPont Library, the gift of Henry B. DuPont, was designed by The Cambridge Seven in 1970; The Centennial Building of 1994 was designed by Mark Simon '64 of Centerbrook Architects. In October 2004, the school opened a new athletic center and student union designed by Tai Soo Kim Partners. The athletic center was donated by Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey and parent of a recent Pomfret graduate, and the Student Union was donated by Robert Olmsted, an alumnus and long-time trustee of the school. Other new facilities include the Jahn Rink, designed by architect Helmut Jahn, another parent of a recent graduate; the Blodgett Boathouse and Blodgett Tennis Center, both donated by Mark Blodgett '75; a state-of-the-art observatory; and the Lasell Alumni House. The school also owns a student-run radio station, WBVC (FM) 91.1 FM.

Notable alumni

Edward Stettinius

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Ridley Pearson

William F. Draper

• Edward Stettinius, Jr., first United States Ambassador to the United Nations and U.S. Secretary of State
• Edward Streeter '10, banker and author of Father of the Bride and Mr. Hobbs' Vacation.
• William P. Carey '48, businessman, philanthropist
• Herbert Claiborne Pell, Jr., Member of Congress (D-NY) and U.S. Minister to Hungary & Portugal
• Eric D. Coleman, State Senator, Deputy President Pro Tempore in the Connecticut Senate
• Frederic W. Lincoln, Jr., former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York Medical College
• William F. Draper, prominent portrait painter
• Adam Hochschild '60, a founder of Mother Jones, author of the best-selling book King Leopold's Ghost
• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. '72, son of Senator Robert Kennedy, Chairman of the Waterkeeper Alliance
• Ridley Pearson '71, best-selling author of The Art of Deception and co-author of Peter & The Starcatchers.
• Alex Gibney, Academy Award winner for Documentary Feature; American documentary film director and producer.
• Jack Hardy '65, singer-songwriter
• Donald E. Williams, Jr. '75, State Senator, (D) President Pro Tempore of the Connecticut Senate
• Prince Lorenzo Borghese, star of ABC's The Bachelor: Rome
• Sarah Vaillancourt, two time Olympic gold medalist in ice hockey
• Peter Beard '56, photographer.
• Jon Stone '48, a founding producer of Sesame Street and author
• Scott Larned, late member of the Dark Star Orchestra
• Roger Angell '38, Fiction editor and regular contributor at The New Yorker
• Robert B. Fiske '48, United States Attorney and Whitewater controversy Special Prosecutor
• Robert Vickrey '44, artist and author who specializes in the ancient medium of egg tempera
• Joe Boyd, record producer and author of White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s
• Arthur Purdy Stout, '03, noted American surgeon and pathologist
• Mather Zickel '88, actor

Notable faculty

Former Faculty

• William E. Peck, founder and first headmaster 1894-1897, previously Head of St. Mark's School
• Gov. John N. Dempsey, Pomfret soccer coach and subsequently Governor of Connecticut 1961-1971
• Rep. Horace Seely-Brown, Jr., Member of Congress (R-CT) 1947-49, 1951–59, 1961–63

Prominent guests & fellows

David McCullough

Chevy Chase

Lowell Weicker

• David McCullough, writer, historian and host of The American Experience on public television
• Joyce Carol Oates, national award-winning author
• Robert Ballard, oceanographer, discoverer of RMS Titanic
• Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Angela's Ashes
• Carlos Fuentes, Latin American novelist
• Jacques d'Amboise, world renowned dancer with the New York City Ballet Company
• Victor Wooten, Bass guitarist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
• Oteil Burbridge, Bass guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band
• Shelby Foote, Author & American Civil War Historian
• Chevy Chase, writer, actor, performer
• Jean-Michel Cousteau, explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer
• Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and Governor of New Jersey
• Donald Johanson, paleoanthropologist, discovered the 3.2 million-year-old skeleton known as "Lucy"
• Brian Greene, physicist and String Theorist
• Bill Bryson, writer A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
• Rep. Shirley Chisholm, (D-NY) first African American woman elected to the United States Congress
• Tom Brokaw, Anchor of the NBC Nightly News
• David Brinkley, American television newscaster
• Carole Simpson, ABC News Anchor
• Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., (R-CT) U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator and Governor of Connecticut
• Bob Feller, Former Major League Baseball pitcher and Hall of Famer.
• George Plimpton, Journalist, writer, editor, and actor
• Benny Goodman, jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader
• Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts
• Peter Kaplan, Editor-In-Chief of the New York Observer
• Wade Davis, Noted Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and photographer
• Chuck Hogan, Famous novelist, known for The Prince of Thieves and The Strain Trilogy which he co-writes with Guillermo del Toro
• The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York
• Brian Dennehy, Actor
• The Reverend Peter L. Pond, activist and philanthropist
• Carolyn Porco, Planetary scientist and director of the Cassini Imaging Team

References

External links

• Pomfret School website
• Pomfret School Admissions Video on SchoolFair.tv
• Pomfret School's Radio Station: WBVC 91.1 FM
• Norwich Bulletin Article on Bill Bryson
• Faculty John Corrigan's Website

Coordinates: 41°53′10″N 71°57′54″W / 41.8862°N 71.9651°W / 41.8862; -71.9651