Loomis Chaffee
Coordinates: 41°50′24.17″N 72°38′25.96″W / 41.8400472°N 72.6405444°W
| The Loomis Chaffee School | |
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Ne Cede Malis
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| 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 | 650 |
| Average class size | 11 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 |
| Endowment | $175 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.
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Foundation [edit]
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. Almost 8 million dollars in need-based financial aid is awarded to 34 percent of the student body.
Alumni [edit]
Notable alumni include former United States|Secretary of State George Shultz 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). Winner of MTV's Wanna be a VJ contest (1998) Jesse Camp 1997.
History [edit]
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."[1] 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.[2]
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. In the summer of 2012, the first floor of the Katharine Brush Library was extensively renovated, increasing the usable space of the library by 17 percent.
Overview [edit]
Facts & Figures[3] [edit]
The school[4]
- 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; 11 dormitories with 32 live-in faculty families
- 180 courses (regular, advanced and Advanced Placement) and independent study
- Average class size: 11
- 55 girls and boys interscholastic teams in 18 sports; 19 intramural sports offerings
Finances, tuition and financial aid[5]
- $175 million endowment; $44 million annual operating budget
- $2.8 million in Annual Fund contributions (2010–11) with 82% of current parents participating
- $49,220 boarding tuition; $37,570 day tuition (for the 2012–13 school year)
- $7.9 million in need-based financial aid awarded to 34% of student body
The students (2012–13)[6]
- 650 enrollment
- 62% boarding, 38% day
- From 5 continents (and Oceania), 31 countries and 30 U.S. states
- 24% students of color; 15% international students
The faculty[7]
- 160 members
- 50% male, 50% female
- 55% of full-time teaching faculty at Loomis Chaffee for 10 years or longer
Academics [edit]
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.[8]
At Loomis Chaffee, there are two centers that work to engage them in their community and the world while at school. The Norton Family Center for the Common Good and the Center for Global Studies are two resources that help students choose the overall path that is right for them.
The Norton Family Center for the Common Good nurtures an active approach to citizenship in the global society. The center seeks to help students embrace service to the common good in intentional, real, creative, and meaningful ways. Under the guidance of the center, all freshman students share a common first-year experience that engages them in important conversations about citizenship and democratic values. These conversations expand to the wider school community through the c enter's blog and through Hubbard Speakers Series, which brings to campus authors, filmmakers, journalists, scientists, and others to discuss annual school themes. The center also helps develop and facilitate student service efforts that will have real and lasting impact on local, national, and international communities.
The Center for Global Studies encourages greater global awareness through curriculum development across disciplines, coordinates international travel opportunities, promotes student exchange, and builds formal relationships with schools overseas. Through the center, students can pursue a Certificate in Global Studies with the completion of specialized coarse work in international relations and global studies, in-depth studies of a foreign language, and experience abroad.[9]
Athletics [edit]
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 55 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 19 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.[10][11] Facilities include a double gymnasium and two other gymnasia, supporting basketball and volleyball courts; a fitness center and a weight room, totaling 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.[12]
College Guidance [edit]
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.[13]
The Loomis Chaffee Log [edit]
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.[14]
Traditions [edit]
- Loomis and Kent School have a long-running athletic tradition. On November 11, 1921, the Kent football team played Loomis here on the Island and despite a strong showing of our team, we lost 14 to 7. After the game, as was the custom of the day, the boys from both teams showered and went to the headmaster's home where Mrs. Batchelder served them tea. Once the Kent boys returned home, the Batchelders discovered that a silver teaspoon, one from a wedding set belonging to the Batchelders, was missing. Mr. Batchelder wrote to Father Sill, Kent's founder, about the missing spoon. Heated words were exchanged defending the honesty of the young men at each school until finally, the matter was dropped. In June 1922, the guilty young Kent football player went to Father Sill and confessed. At Father Chalmers thirty-fifth anniversay dinner years later, Kent's new headmaster told the whole story and offered the spoon back to Mr. B. who graciously declined. He insisted that the spoon stay at Kent. Father Chalmers then suggested that a large spoon serve as a permanent football trophy to be held by the victorious school. Kent would secure the spoon "to in someway ... return to Loomis for our keeping borrowed property."[15] The two schools take this historic enmity quite seriously, and have annual Kent vs. Loomis days. The two schools compete for the spoon and the bowl. 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 of Founders Hall, the tunnels, and some parts of the health center are rumored to be haunted.
Distinguished alumni [edit]
- Moby - Went to Loomis
- 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
- Chris Cillizza 1994 - Political journalist for the Washington Post and author.
- 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[16]
- 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
- Benjamin Hedges 1926 – Olympic track and field athlete (1928)
- 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
- Robert Grant Irving 1958 – Author of Indian Summer
- 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.
- Henry R. Kravis 1963 – Founding partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
- Tom Lehrer 1943 – musical satirist, entertainer, and mathematician
- Peter A. LeWitt 1968- World renowned neurologist in the field of Parkinson's disease research
- Alan Loewy 1995 - Founder, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager of Chicago-based Avocet Capital Management
- 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
- Matthew M. Murray 1989 – Major League Baseball pitcher, Boston Red Sox (1995)
- John D. Rockefeller III 1925 – successful businessman and philanthropist
- Winthrop Rockefeller 1931 – Governor of Arkansas
- George P. Shultz 1938 – former United States Secretary of State
- 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).
- Arthur Ochs Sulzberger 1945 – Chairman and Publisher of The New York Times
- John Terry 1968 – Film and television actor, Against the Grain, A Dangerous Woman, Iron Will, Lost
- George Selden Thompson 1947 – author of The Cricket in Times Square and other children's classics
- 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)
- 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)
- David Wild 1980 – Senior Editor, Rolling Stone; host of Musicians (Bravo television)
- Terry Walters 1984 - sustainable food and health advocate and author of Clean Food and Clean Start
- Robert Winters 1949 – President and CEO, The Prudential Insurance Company of America
- Jason Wu 2001 – Fashion Designer (designed First Lady Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown and other pieces for the first lady).
References [edit]
- ^ "History & Origins of Loomis Chaffee". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ History & Origins of Loomis Chaffee[dead link]
- ^ "Facts & Figures". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "Key Facts 2011-12". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ "Key Facts 2011-12". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ "Key Facts 2012-13". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
- ^ "Key Facts 2011-12". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ "Key Facts 2011-12". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ "Key Facts 2011-12". Loomischaffee.org. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ Loomis Chaffee Athletics Program[dead link]
- ^ Loomis Chaffee Teams & Schedules[dead link]
- ^ Loomis Chaffee Athletic Facilities[dead link]
- ^ "College Guidance". Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- ^ Loomis Chaffee Log
- ^ "Loomis Chaffee Website". Retrieved November 8, 2012.
- ^ Baseball Digest. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
External links [edit]
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