Brentwood School (Los Angeles, California)

Brentwood School
Location
Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Information
Type	Private
Administration	Mike Riera, Ph.D. Head of School
Enrollment	West Campus: 300 East Campus: 693
Average class size	K-6: 43 7-8: 104-105 9-12: 120-121
Campus	27 acres (109,000 m²)
Color(s)	Red and blue
Mascot	The Eagles
Newspaper	The Flyer

Brentwood School is a private, secular K-12 coed day school with two campuses located four blocks apart in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. The school has a high reputation for academics and athletics.

History

Founded in 1972, Brentwood School took over the Brentwood Military Academy, which had existed since 1902. The Academy was founded by Miss Mary McDonnell in a remodeled residence located in Los Angeles. During the period from 1902 to 1972, the Academy moved sites twice, yet continued under the direction of Miss McDonnell and family members. In 1972, the Academy closed, and the property was sold to a non-profit corporation, which opened in 1972 as the Brentwood School, a college preparatory day school serving Grades 7-10. The first Headmaster of Brentwood School was Father Grant. Grade 11 was added in 1973, and the school graduated its first Senior class in June 1975. In 1994, under the guidance of Headmaster Hunter M. Temple, Brentwood School purchased the Marymount Junior School campus and opened the Lower Division West Campus, K-6, in the fall of 1995. In 2001 the 22 acre (89,000 m²) Brentwood School Athletics Complex opened on the East Campus. On December 2, 2011, four new modular classrooms were installed by Gen7 at Brentwood School's East Campus. The classrooms, LEED Gold certified, will provide 100% of their own energy, making them the first zero net energy classrooms in Los Angeles County.

Overview

The Brentwood School East Campus Tower.

Combined enrollment on both campuses is approximately 985 students. Tuition in the Lower Division is listed at $23,850 per year, while tuition in the Middle and Upper Divisions is listed at $27,650 per year. In the 2008-2009 year, $3,000,000 in need-based financial aid was awarded. Brentwood is a highly selective school, with major admissions entry points in kindergarten, 7th, and 9th grades, and only sporadic openings at other levels. Admissions decisions are made by a committee composed of faculty and administrators. Brentwood offers a liberal arts curriculum, including over 100 courses each year, including advanced placement courses in 17 subject areas. The School year runs from August 29 to June 9.

Athletics

During any given school year, Brentwood School fields 67 different athletic teams in grades 7-12. Brentwood School Upper Division fields 36 teams in 23 different sports. Students fill about 500 roster spots and work with more than 80 coaches. Approximately 80% of Brentwood’s students will participate in at least one interscholastic sport. The school primarily employs its own teachers as coaches, and requires that students maintain a certain degree of academic standing in order to participate in sports. Brentwood School has a history of hosting the annual Special Olympics Games put on in conjunction with the Special Olympics Southern California Westside Chapter. In 2003, Brentwood-area resident (and former Governor of California) Arnold Schwarzenegger was the Guest of Honor and presided over the Special Olympics Games' Opening Ceremony. Since 1992, the School has also provided venue for the Peter Vidmar Men's Gymnastic's Invitational, hosted by former U.S Gold-Medal winning Olympian and Brentwood School alumnus, Peter Vidmar.

Notable alumni

• Peter Vidmar - Olympic medalist, Gold
• Jason Rogers - Olympic medalist, Silver
• Fred Savage and Ben Savage
• Jon Landau (film producer) - Producer of Titanic and Avatar
• Casey Wasserman
• Jennifer Landon - Daytime Emmy Award Winner
• Molly Stanton
• Katherine Schwarzenegger - Author
• Lorraine Nicholson - 2007 Miss Golden Globe
• Azura Skye
• John O'Brien, a soccer player for MLS team Chivas USA (formerly of Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch Soccer league), and on the US national team, attended Brentwood for two years before leaving for Holland.
• Maroon 5, members including Adam Levine, attended Brentwood School while forming the band Kara's Flowers which would later evolve into Maroon 5.
• Emily Frances, Emmy Award Winning New York City Entertainment Anchor
• Jonah Hill attended Brentwood School, but later transferred to Crossroads School.

Relation to Olympics

Brentwood School track and cross-country coaches Joanna Hayes and Malakai Davis participated in 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Joanna Hayes was a Gold-Medalist in the Women's 100 metres hurdles competition for the United States. Malakai Davis was a participant in the Men's 4x400 metres relay for Great Britain. Jason Rogers, a Brentwood School alumnus as well as an Ohio State graduate, was a participant in the 2004 Olympic Games, as a Sabre Fencer for the United States National team. He was part of the 2008 team in the Beijing Olympics and won a Silver Medal in the Team tournament for Sabre. Peter Vidmar, who led the United States to a Gold-medal in Men's Gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, is also a Brentwood School alumnus, and was an acting member of their Board of Trustees for several years.

Famous speakers

Brentwood School organizes and hosts the John Hutson Memorial Guest Lecture Series, an event where various notable speakers address a mixed audience of students, faculty, parents and members of the public. The Guest Lecture Series is name in honor of John Hutson, the former Chair of the Political Science and History Departments at Brentwood School. Past speakers in the John Hutson Memorial Guest Lecture Series include:

• Edward Albee - American playwright
• Dr. Maya Angelou - African-American poet
• Doris Kearns Goodwin - Biographer of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt
• Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick - former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Senior Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute
• Frank McCourt - writer
• Leah Rabin - widow of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
• Amy Tan - American novelist, of The Joy Luck Club fame
• Kurt Vonnegut - American novelist of Slaughterhouse-Five fame
• Leon Panetta - former White House Chief of Staff
• Joyce Carol Oates - American writer
• William Styron - American novelist (Sophie's Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner)
• Tony Kushner - American playwright (Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul)
• Edward O. Wilson - American Biologist
• Alice Walker - American novelist of The Color Purple fame
• Alice Sebold - American novelist of The Lovely Bones and Lucky fame
• Eric Schlosser - best-selling author of Fast Food Nation
• Margaret Atwood- Canadian novelist of "The Handmaid's Tale" and other works
• Daniel H. Pink - American writer of A Whole New Mind
• Ira Glass - Host of Public Radio International's This American Life.

Past speakers not part of the John Hutson Memorial Guest Lecture Series include:

• Orville Schell - Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
• Jason Rogers, Malakai Davis and Joanna Hayes - Members of the Brentwood School Community and participants in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
• Dr. Drew Pinsky (A.K.A. Dr. Drew) - board-certified Physician and Addiction Medicine Specialist as well as co-host of popular late-night radio show Loveline.
• Mark Mathabane - former tennis player, White House Fellow for the Clinton Administration, and novelist of Kaffir Boy fame.
• Antonio Villaraigosa - current Mayor of Los Angeles and former California State Assemblyman.
• Gus Lee - American author of China Boy fame.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger - American actor and governor of California
• Wesley Clark - Retired US Army four star general.

Accreditation

Brentwood School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and is a member of the following organizations:

• National Association of Independent Schools
• California Association of Independent Schools
• A Better Chance
• Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs

External links

• Brentwood School - official website
• Link to Notes on William Styron presentation at the Brentwood School John Hutson Memorial Guest Lecture Series.
• Official Webpage of the Peter Vidmar Men's Gymnastics Invitational