Loomis Chaffee

The Loomis Chaffee School
Ne Cede Malis
Location
Windsor, Connecticut, United States
Information
Type	Private, Boarding
Religious affiliation(s)	No religious affiliation
Established	1874
Head of school	Sheila Culbert
Faculty	160
Enrollment	680
Average class size	12 students
Student to teacher ratio	5:1 (4:1 boarding student-to-residential faculty)
Campus	300 acres (1.2 km2)
Color(s)	Maroon and Grey
Mascot	Pelican
Rival	Kent
USNWR ranking	1 athletics = 55 interscholastic teams in 18 sports; 19 intramural offerings
Average SAT scores	The middle 50% of the Class of 2011 scored in the ranges of 590–700 (critical reading), 610–720 (mathematics) and 590–700 (writing)  (2009)
Endowment	$197 million
Website	loomischaffee.org

The Loomis Chaffee School (LC or Loomis) is a premier coeducational boarding school for grades 9–12 and postgraduates located on a 300-plus acre campus in the Connecticut River Valley in Windsor, Connecticut, six miles (10 km) north of Hartford. Loomis is a member of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.

Foundation

The school was chartered in 1874 by five siblings who had lost all their children and determined to found a school as a gift to the children of others. Six million dollars in need-based financial aid is awarded to more than 30 percent of the student body. In 2011, the school had 79 Advanced Placement Scholars, 28 with Distinction, 22 with Honor. The school has had 2 National Merit Scholars and 24 National Merit Finalists in the last three years. Seven members of the Class of 2009 were identified as potential U.S. Presidential Scholars by the U.S. Presidential Scholar Commission.

Alumni

Notable alumni include former Secretary of State George Schultz 1938, former governor of Connecticut Ella T. Grasso 1936, satirist Tom Lehrer 1943, New York Times chairman Arthur Ochs Sulzberger 1945, financier Henry R. Kravis 1963, actor, writer and producer James Widdoes 1972, 1998 Winter Olympic Games United States women's ice hockey Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Ulion 1990 and Taiwanese fashion designer Jason Wu graduated in 2001. Wu is known for designing various dresses for First Lady Michelle Obama (notably her inaugural gown).

History

Loomis Homestead (1640), one of the oldest houses in the state, still remains on the campus of the Loomis Chaffee School (1910 postcard)

The roots of Loomis Chaffee run as far back as 1639, when Joseph Loomis and his family first settled at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers. Several generations later, the inspiration for the school was born out of family tragedy, when, in the early 1870s, four Loomis brothers and their sister had outlived all their children.

As a memorial to their own offspring, and as a gift to future children, they pooled their considerable estates to found a secondary school called The Loomis Institute to educate young persons, "hoping and trusting that some good may come to posterity, from the harvest, poor though it be, of our lives." The original 1640 Loomis Homestead was chosen as the site where their dream would become reality.

James Chaffee Loomis, Hezekiah Bradley Loomis, Osbert Burr Loomis, John Mason Loomis, and Abigail Sarah Loomis Hayden broke new educational ground by planning a school that would offer both vocational and college preparatory courses. (Vocational offerings were discontinued during the later development of the school.)

The founders' enlightened and democratic school would have no religious or political admission criteria. Boys and girls would be given as free an education as the endowment would allow.

The Loomis Institute opened its doors in 1914 to 39 boys and five girls. In 1926, their girls’ division broke off to focus more closely on girls’ educational issues and became The Chaffee School.

Both schools continued to expand. The Loomis Institute built several new facilities in 1967, and the two schools reunited in 1970, forming The Loomis Chaffee School. Six years later it began admitting girls as boarders.

The reunification led to a major revision of the curriculum, which combined a demanding basic program with a broad range of electives in art, music, philosophy, religion and other subjects.

The Loomis Chaffee School has enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth since the 1970s. It strengthened its endowment to bolster financial aid and broadened the diversity of the student body. Recently, it opened new dormitories, an enclosed hockey and skating rink, a brand new athletics center, a visual arts center, a new history & social science facility, an expanded dining hall, and a new student center. Within the most recent years, the Clark Center for Science and Mathematics was completely renovated, and Chaffee Hall was transformed and expanded to house the all new Hubbard Music Center.

Overview

Facts & Figures

Grubbs Quadrangle looking toward the Dining Hall, The Loomis Chaffee School (circa the 1950s).

The school

• 300-acre (1.2 km²) semi-rural campus in historic Windsor, Connecticut (settled 1633)
• 5-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio
• 4-to-1 boarding student-to-residential faculty ratio; 10 dormitories with 31 live-in faculty families
• 190 courses (regular, advanced and Advanced Placement) and independent study
• Average class size: 12
• 64 girls and boys interscholastic teams in 18 sports; 19 intramural sports offerings
• Fully computerized and wired campus: internal and external email and Internet access for all; campus-wide wireless access
• Numerous extracurricular organizations and an active community service program
• Trimester schedule; classes held on alternate Saturday mornings
• Katharine Brush Library: 60,000 books; more than 60,000 e-books; access to more than 10,000 periodicals and scholarly journals; 4 major newspapers with access to 65 current full-text newspapers and 12 historical newspapers; 2,700 videos & DVDs; 2,000 CDs, extensive microfilm collection; 18 public computers; full electronic reference and information services; 50 subscription databases

Finances, tuition and financial aid

• $197 million endowment; $40 million annual operating budget
• $2.7 million in Annual Fund contributions (2010–11) with 82% of current parents participating
• $47,100 boarding tuition; $35,850 day tuition (for the 2011–12 school year)
• $7.7 million in need-based financial aid awarded to 34% of student body

The students (2011-12)

• 680 enrollment
• 60% boarding, 40% day
• 50% male, 50% female
• From 5 continents (and Oceania), 35 countries, 28 U.S. states
• 23% students of color; 17% international students
• 79 Advanced Placement Scholars (2011): 28 with Distinction, 22 with Honor
• 24 National Merit finalists in last three years; 70 National Merit commended students in last three years
• SAT: The middle 50% of the class of 2011 scored in the 590–700 range (critical reading), 600–720 (math), and 590–700 (writing).

The faculty

• 160 members
• 50% male, 50% female
• 70% of the teaching faculty hold advanced degrees (master’s degrees and doctorates)
• 50% of full-time teaching faculty at Loomis Chaffee more than 10 years

Cupola atop Founders Hall

Academics

Loomis Chaffee offers courses in Arabic, Chinese, psychology, writing workshop, videography, English, Latin, Spanish, French, art, dance, history and social science, mathematics, music, philosophy, religion, science and theater arts. Noncredit diploma requirements include library skills, and physical fitness and health. Advanced Placement courses are offered in 20 subjects.

In 2007, 14 Loomis Chaffee students were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, more than at any other school in Connecticut. In 2009, 247 students were administered 469 AP exams, 84% of which were awarded the three highest grades of 3, 4 and 5.

File:Quad in the spring cropped.jpg

The Loomis Chaffee Grubbs Quad (Photo Credit: Bob Benson)

Athletics

All students participate in interscholastic, intramural or daytime athletic programs each trimester. Interscholastic varsity and junior varsity competition for boys and girls is offered on 60 teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, softball, squash, swimming/diving, tennis, track, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. There are an additional 26 intramural sports, including both team sports and "lifetime and leisure" sports like yoga and weight lifting. Freshman-level teams are offered in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, boys basketball and boys tennis. Facilities include a double gymnasium and two other gymnasia, supporting basketball and volleyball courts; a fitness center and a weight room, totalling 6,300 square feet (590 m²); a 25-meter, six-lane swimming pool; an enclosed hockey rink; a 400-meter, eight-lane, all-weather track; eight international squash courts; 17 tennis courts; a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) cross-country course; two baseball diamonds; two softball diamonds; 17 fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey; and a golf practice driving range, putting green and sand trap.

College Guidance

Four full-time college counselors guide students through the college search and application process. Eighty-six percent of the members of the Class of 2010 were admitted to colleges and universities deemed most competitive or highly competitive by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, with sixty-six percent matriculating at the most competitive institutions.

The Senior Path, Grubbs Quadrangle looking toward Founders Hall, The Loomis Chaffee School

Student Council

The Loomis Chaffee student council is a student group that is elected at the end and beginning of every year. They focus on aid in education as well as community service. The Loomis Chaffee student council was the first student council democratically elected by students in the United States.^{[citation needed]} The council consists of two representatives per constituency, divided by gender, age, and residency.

The Loomis Chaffee Log

The Loomis Chaffee Log is the student-run, school-sponsored newspaper. Its broad readership includes students, faculty, parents, and alumni. Published monthly by a large team of student editors, The Log is now in its 94th year as principle chronicle of life at Loomis Chaffee. It recently launched an online edition to stay current with growing trends in today's media.

Traditions

• Loomis and Kent School have a long-running rivalry. The two schools take this historic enmity quite seriously, and have annual Kent vs. Loomis days. The two schools compete for a bowl and spoon. The spoon goes to the winner of the football game and the bowl goes to the winner of the most athletic contests on that particular day.
• The Senior Path is brick pathway running through the middle of the Grubbs Quadrangle. Tradition holds that only seniors, PGs, and graduates are allowed to walk the length of the path. As each class heads into its final months at Loomis, the soon-to-be-graduates design a new section of brick to be laid.
• Traditionally, the third floor floor of Founders Hall, the tunnels, and some parts of the health center are rumored to be haunted.

Distinguished alumni

• Gerald Warner Brace 1918 (1901–1978) was an American writer, educator, sailor and boat builder.
• Mark Brown 1977 – Major League Baseball pitcher, Baltimore Orioles (1984) and Minnesota Twins (1985)
• Frank Bruni 1982 – Reporter and food critic, The New York Times; author of Ambling into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush
• Jonathan Carroll 1967 – Author of The Land of Laughs, Voice of Our Shadow, Bones of the Moon, A Child Across the Sky, Black Cocktail, Sleeping in Flame, Outside the Dog Museum, After Silence, From the Teeth of Angels
• Benjamin Cheever 1967 – Author of The Plagiarist, The Partisan, Famous After Death
• Larry Collins 1947 – author of Is Paris Burning?
• Nancy W. Collins 1991 – Columbia University professor of European Studies; Editor of European Studies Forum
• Myron “Moe” W. Drabowsky 1953 – Major League Baseball player with the Baltimore Orioles
• Guilford Dudley Jr. 1925 – United States Ambassador to Denmark
• David Edelstein 1977 – Film Critic, New York Magazine, NPR's Fresh Air, CBS Sunday Morning, Slate, the New York Post, the Village Voice, and the Boston Phoenix.
• Ella Grasso 1936 – former Governor of Connecticut
• John D. Rockefeller III 1925 – successful businessman and philanthropist
• Benjamin Hedges 1926 – Olympic track and field athlete (1928)
• Winthrop Rockefeller 1931 – Governor of Arkansas
• George P. Shultz 1938 – former United States Secretary of State
• Tom Lehrer 1943 – musical satirist, entertainer, and mathematician
• Arthur Ochs Sulzberger 1945 – Chairman and Publisher of The New York Times
• George Selden Thompson 1947 – author of The Cricket in Times Square and other children's classics
• Robert Winters 1949 – President and CEO, The Prudential Insurance Company of America
• Robert Grant Irving 1958 – Author of Indian Summer
• Henry R. Kravis 1963 – Founding partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
• David E. Kaiser 1965, professor of history, Naval War College, Newport, R.I., author of American Tragedy, Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler, Epic Season: The 1948 American League Pennant Race, and others.
• John Terry 1968 – Film and television actor, Against the Grain, A Dangerous Woman, Iron Will, Lost
• David Margolick 1970 – Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair; National Legal Affairs Correspondent, The New York Times; author of At the Bar, Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune, Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song, Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling and a World on the Brink
• James Widdoes 1972 – Film and television actor, director, and producer: Animal House (actor), Charles in Charge (actor), Night Court (actor), Dave's World (director/actor), My Wife and Kids (director/actor), 8 Simple Rules... For Dating My Teenage Daughter (director/producer), Two and a Half Men (director)
• Chris Hedges 1975 – Fellow at The Nation Institute; professor at Princeton University; author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning; former Middle East Bureau Chief for The New York Times; former correspondent, National Public Radio; member of team winning 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism; 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism
• Steven Strogatz 1976 – Professor of Applied Mathematics, Cornell University; recipient of Presidential Young Investigator Award; author of SYNC: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order; math blogger for The New York Times (2010).
• David Wild 1980 – Senior Editor, Rolling Stone; host of Musicians (Bravo television)
• Matthew M. Murray 1989 – Major League Baseball pitcher, Boston Red Sox (1995)
• Gretchen Ulion 1990 – Olympic gold medalist, U.S. Women's Olympic Hockey Team, Nagano, Japan 1998 (see Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics and list of athletes on Wheaties boxes)
• Jason Wu 2001 – Fashion Designer (designed First Lady Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown and other pieces for the first lady).

External links

• The Loomis Chaffee School
• The Loomis Chaffee School Video on SchoolFair.tv
• Loomis Chaffee Log