The Pembroke Hill School
| The Pembroke Hill School | |
 |
|
| Freedom with Responsibility | |
| Established | 1910 - Pembroke-Country Day (boys), 1913 - Sunset Hill (girls), 1984 - Pembroke Hill (coed) |
| School type | Private |
| Religious affiliation | Nonsectarian |
| Headmaster | Mr. Steve Bellis |
| Location | Kansas City, MO, USA |
| Campus | Urban, two campuses |
| Enrollment | Approx. 1,200 |
| Faculty | 129 total |
| Average class size | 11 students |
| Student:teacher ratio |
9.5:1 |
| Average SAT scores (2005) |
Verbal: 658, Math: 656 |
| Average ACT scores (2005) |
28 |
| Athletics | 14 interscholastic, numerous club |
| Color(s) | Red & Blue |
| Mascot | Raider (Viking) |
| Conference | N/A |
| Homepage | http://www.pembrokehill.org/ |
The Pembroke Hill School (commonly known simply as Pembroke Hill) is a nonsectarian, coeducational, private preparatory school in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
The school is located on two campuses, the "Ward Parkway Campus" and the "Wornall Campus," both in Kansas City's Sunset Hill neighborhood near the Country Club Plaza. Both campuses, however, pre-date the Plaza itself. Pembroke Hill enrolls approximately 1,200 students in preschool through 12th grade. The school has a strong academic tradition and usually matriculates all of its graduates to four-year colleges, many in the Ivy League.
History
Establishment
Vassie James Hill, born Vassie James in 1875, was a prominent Kansas Citian. She had graduated
from
Seeking a similar education for her three sons in Kansas City, Hill proceeded to arrange funding from twelve prominent Kansas City businessmen in 1910 and founded the Country Day School for boys, accepting both day students and boarders (although boarding ceased in the 1950s). Initial enrollment was 20 students and grew to 52 within three years. Several years later, the Country Day School merged with the Pembroke School for boys to form the Pembroke-Country Day School for boys, establishing itself on the Country Day School's large campus along State Line Road. Commonly, it was referred to as "Pem-Day".
In 1913, Hill sought the same sort of education for her daughter and founded the Sunset Hill School for girls (named after the neighborhood in which it was located). The school established itself on a large campus overlooking what was then the location of the Kansas City Country Club (today Loose Park), including a portion of the battlefield from the Battle of Westport.
Merger
From the start, Sunset Hill and Pembroke-Country Day existed in common. Often, teachers taught at both schools. For generations, many Kansas City families would send their boys to Pem-Day and their girls to Sunset Hill. School activities, such as plays and dances, often were combined.
Given this cooperative environment, in the early 1980s the two schools began merger discussions. Finally, in 1984, Pem-Day and Sunset Hill merged to become the Pembroke Hill School, although the class of 1985 elected to have separate graduation ceremonies. True co-education began the next year. The former Sunset Hill campus became home to preschool through sixth grade, and the former Pem-Day campus became home to seventh grade through twelfth grade.
Image and improvements
In 1988, Pembroke Hill gained some local notoriety and scorn after Kansas City Magazine published an articled entitled "A High School on Easy Street," which criticized Pembroke Hill's students' "advantaged way of life."[1]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Pembroke Hill completed a $51 million capital improvement project, which renovated both campuses extensively. The new upper school campus includes a new middle school building, Boocock Middle School (which now serves grades six through eight), a new upper school building, Jordan Hall, as well as a new library, the William T. Kemper Library. In May of 2007, the fifty-year-old Lottie Dietrich Arts Building is scheduled to be torn down and replaced.
Athletics
Pembroke Hill has a long athletic tradition.[2] Its colors are blue and red, its teams are known as "The Raiders," and its mascot resembles a Viking raider.
Sports offered
For girls, Pembroke Hill offers:
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
|---|---|---|
| Cheerleading (V) | Basketball (8, 9, JV, V) | Soccer (JV/V) |
| Cross Country (7/8, JV, V) | Cheerleading (V) | Swimming (JV, V) |
| Field hockey (8, C, JV, V) | Dance team | Track and field (7/8, JV, V) |
| Golf (JV, V) | ||
| Tennis (JV, V)[3] | ||
For boys, Pembroke Hill offers:
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
|---|---|---|
| Cross Country (7/8, JV, V) | Basketball (8, 9, JV, V) | Baseball (JV/V)[4] |
| Football (7/8, JV, V)[5] | Wrestling (7/8, JV, V) | Golf (JV/V |
| Soccer (JV, V) | Lacrosse (JV/V) | |
| Swimming (JV, V) | Tennis (JV, V)[6] | |
| Cheerleading (V) | Track and field (7/8, JV, V) |
In the past, Pembroke also has participated in softball, rugby,and ice hockey. Additionally, the lower campus has facilities for racquetball, and the upper campus is one of only three locations in Kansas City which contain squash facilities.[7]
Championships
For three years in a row between 1997 and 1999, Pembroke Hill's boys' basketball team won the Missouri division 2A state title. In 2000, however, the Missouri State High School Activities Association stripped the school of the titles after the Kansas City Star revealed, in a much-publicized local scandal, that promoter and AAU coach Myron Piggie had made cash payments to two of the school's star players, Kareem Rush and his brother JaRon Rush.[8] In 2006 and 2007, the girls' basketball team won their Missouri Class 2 state title.
The school is also a perennial contender for or winner of Class 2 state championships in boys' golf, boys' tennis, boys' soccer, girls' golf, and girls' tennis.
Rivalries
Pembroke Hill has cross-state athletic rivalries with MICDS and John Burroughs School, both located in Ladue, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.
Additional information
Tutition and financial aid
In the 2007-2008 school year, tuition and fees will range from $14,440 (for students up to second grade) to $16,880 for high schoolers.[9] About 17 percent of students receive financial aid, totaling over $1.5 million per year.
In May 2007, the Malone Family Foundation, established by John C. Malone of Denver, Colorado, gave a $2 million grant to Pembroke's endowment, the largest single endowment gift in the school's history.[10] The gift will be used to create a "Malone Scholars Program" to give need-based financial aid to students with "high-caliber academics" who otherwise would qualify for at least 50 percent in financial aid, including not only low-income families, but also middle-income families as well.
Assets and contributions
The school has assets of over $85 million and an endowment of more than $18 million.[11] It receives substantial contributions not only from a large percentage of its alumni base, but also from Hallmark Cards, Kansas City Southern Industries, Sprint, H&R Block, and other leading regional corporations, many of whose executives attended Pembroke Hill.
Accreditation
Pembroke Hill is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The school is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).
Notable alumni
Politics, government, and sociology
- D. Brook Bartlett, class of 1955; Former Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
- Richard L. Berkley, class of 1949; Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri (1979-1991)
- Bruce M. Forrester, class of 1928; former judge, United States Tax Court
- Jay Lorsch, class of 1950; Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at the Harvard Business School
- Robert H. Mnookin, class of 1960; Samuel Williston Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School, former law clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan II
- Charles H. Price II, class of 1948; Former Ambassador of the United States to Belgium (1981-1983) and the United Kingdom (1983-1989); appointed by President Ronald Reagan
- Michaela Walsh, class of 1953; investment banker and feminist activist; President and Chair of Women's Asset Management; American delegate to the United Nations Decade for Women in the 1970s and 1980s
Media and the arts
- Elizabeth Craft, class of 1989; writer for the television series Angel and The Shield; also co-producer of The Shield[12]
- Henry A. Guettel, class of 1944; Broadway producer; credits include national touring companies of The Sound of Music, Camelot, and Oliver!
- John Kander, class of 1944; American musical theatre composer; musicals include
Chicago, Cabaret, and
Fosse ; famous songs include Theme from New York, New York; films include Chicago and Cabaret; nominated for Academy Award for Best Song, 2002, for I Move On from Chicago[13] - Whitney Terrell, class of 1986; author; credits include The King of Kings County and The Huntsman, which was named to the New York Times "notable" list in 2001
Science and technology
- Dr. Betty Grover Eisner, class of 1933; Pioneer in LSD research.
- Dr. Ruth Myrtle Patrick, class of 1925; botanist and limnologist at the University of Virginia specializing in diatoms and freshwater ecology
- Kathryn Stephenson, class of 1930; first woman to be an American, board-certified plastic surgeon
Education
- Dr. Dean C. Allard, class of 1951; historian; former director, United States Naval Historical Center
- Mary Lou Cook, class of 1935; noted educator, nuclear safety advocate, and designated "living treasure" of Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Dr. Carlos E. Cortes, class of 1952; Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Riverside
- C. Stewart Gillmor, class of 1956; noted author and professor of history and science at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut
- Franklin D. Murphy, class of 1932; former Chancellor of both the University of Kansas (1951-1960) and the University of California, Los Angeles (1960-1968); former Chairman and CEO of the Times Mirror Company; noted Los Angeles philanthropist
Business
- Gordon T. Beaham, III, class of 1949; Chairman of the Board and President of the Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company, the maker of Bon Ami household cleaner
- Stanley Durwood, class of 1938; founder of AMC Theatres
- Donald J. Hall, Sr., class of 1946; Chairman of the Board and former President and CEO, Hallmark Cards; Founder, Hall Family Foundation
- Donald J. Hall, Jr., class of 1974; President and CEO, Hallmark Cards
- Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr., class of 1952; jewelry magnate, sold his company, Helzberg Diamonds, to
Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway in 1995; wrote book What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett - Irvine O. Hockaday, Jr., class of 1954; Former President and CEO, Hallmark Cards; Former President and CEO, Kansas City Southern Industries; Member or Former Member of the Board, Kansas City Southern Industries, Ford Motor Company, Dow Jones & Co., Aquila, Inc., Sprint, Estee Lauder; Former Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City; Trustee, Hall Family Foundation
- David H. Hughes, class of 1945; former president and CEO of Hallmark Cards
- Members of the Kemper family, which funded both Kemper Arena and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art:
- David Kemper, class of 1968;[14] President and CEO of Commerce Bancshares
- James M. Kemper, Jr., class of 1939; Chairman of the Board of Commerce Bancshares
- George R. Mrkonic, Jr., class of 1970; former President and Vice Chairman of Borders Group; son of professional football player George Mrkonic
- The family of J. C. Nichols, major Kansas City developer
- Miller Nichols, class of 1929; son of J.C. Nichols; former Chairman, President, and CEO of the J.C. Nichols Company; major Kansas City real estate developer
- Jeanette Nichols, class of 1943; wife and survivor or Miller Nichols; major Kansas City philanthropist
Sports
- Masten Gregory, attended; Formula One driver
- Bill Rockne (class of 1935) and Knute Rockne, Jr. (class of 1937), sons of famed University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne
- JaRon Rush, class of 1998; Averaged 32 points per game in high school and played 2 years at UCLA before declaring for the NBA draft. Played in the 1998 McDonald's All-American Game, participated in the dunk contest. Was not drafted and remained a free agent before ending up with the ABA's Kansas City Knights.
- Kareem Rush, class of 1999; former shooting guard for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and Los Angeles Lakers basketball teams. Currently with the Indiana Pacers.
- Tom Watson, class of 1967; professional golfer, won The Masters Tournament in 1977 and 1981, won the U.S. Open in 1981, and won the British Open in 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, and 1983
References
- ^ The Kansas City Library: Catalogue
- ^ The Pembroke Hill School (Official Website): Athletics
- ^ The Pembroke Hill School (Official Website): Tennis
- ^ Pembroke Hill Baseball (Official Website)
- ^ Pembroke Hill Football (Official Website)
- ^ The Pembroke Hill School (Official Website): Tennis
- ^ United States Squash Racquets Association: Missouri facility locations
- ^ ESPN: "Piggie indicted on 11 counts in Kansas City" (April 14, 2000)
- ^ The Pembroke Hill School (Official Website): Tuition and Financial Aid Information
- ^ "Pembroke Hill gets $2 million", The Kansas City Star, May 31, 2007.
- ^ [1]
- ^ IMDB: Elizabeth Craft
- ^ IMDB: 2002 Academy Awards
- ^ St. Louis Commerce Magazine: Cover Story, November 2002
External links
- The Pembroke Hill School (Official Website)
- University of Missouri-Kansas City: "Ward Parkway: a Grand American Avenue"
- Maps and aerial photos for Coordinates:
- Maps from WikiMapia, Google Maps, Live Search Maps, Yahoo! Maps, or MapQuest
- Topographic maps from TopoZone or TerraServer-USA
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