Shady Side Academy

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Shady Side Academy
"Fide Semper Vincere"
(By Faith Always to Conquer)
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
United States
Information
Type independent, secular, coeducational boarding and day preparatory school
Established 1883
President Thomas M. Cangiano[1]
Dean Wendy Skinner
Head of school Cheryl Little (Junior School)

Amy Nixon (Middle School)
Katharine Vavpetic (Senior School)
Grades Pre-K – 12
Enrollment Approx. 950 students (PK-12)[2]
Color(s) Blue and Gold
Athletics conference Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League
Midwest Prep Hockey League
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
Mascot Indian
Website http://www.shadysideacademy.org

Shady Side Academy is an independent preparatory school located in the Fox Chapel and Point Breeze neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883 as an all-male day school in the Shadyside neighborhood of the East End, the Academy now offers a secular coeducational PK–12 program on three campuses in the city and its suburbs, including weekday boarding in the Croft and Morewood Houses of its Senior School Campus.

Formed to provide for the education of the sons of newly moneyed industrialists of Pittsburgh's East End,[3] the Academy counts the Frick and Mellon families among its early patrons.[4][5] In 1922 the Academy expanded to its sprawling Georgian-style Senior School campus in the then-countryside of Fox Chapel under the influence of the Country Day School movement.[6] The Academy merged with the Arnold School in 1940 to form its Junior School campus[7] and added its Gothic-style Middle School campus in 1958,[8] emerging in its current three-school system. The Academy admitted its first female students in 1973.[9]

Shady Side Academy enrolls approximately one thousand students annually and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and the Association of Boarding Schools. The Academy competes locally with the Ellis School, the Winchester Thurston School, and Central Catholic High School, as well as regionally with schools such as the Kiski School and Sewickley Academy. The school's colors are blue and gold, and the mascot of its athletic teams is the Indian.

Contents

[edit] Campuses

Shady Side Academy has three campuses in Pittsburgh.

[edit] History

Shady Side Academy was founded as an all male day school in 1883, on Aiken Avenue in the East End neighborhood of Shadyside, Pittsburgh. In 1921, the Senior School was established on its current suburban campus in Fox Chapel. This move also resulted in Shady Side becoming a boarding school, first with a traditional seven-day program and, later, with the weekday program the school offers.

A later merger in the early 1940s with another local boys' private school, The Arnold School, resulted in the creation of another new campus: a Junior School, located in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze and serving kindergarten through fifth grade students.

In the 1950s, the Academy purchased an estate less than a mile from the Senior School campus, creating a middle school for grades six through eight.

In 1973, the Senior School embraced the concept of co-education and began admitting female students (popularly referred to, particularly in newspapers, as "The Shady Ladies") for the first time. The Junior and Middle Schools followed suit in the 1990s, with the first K-12 "Lifer" female students graduating in 2007. The last all male class at the Academy was the Middle School Form II (eighth grade) class of 1998, which upon entering the Senior School in 1999 became co-educated. It was also the last class at the Middle School to follow a tie and jacket dress code.

Opening in the fall of 2007, a pre-kindergarten was added to Shady Side, located on the Junior School campus. The total enrollment across all grades fluctuates but is generally slightly under 1000 students, with about 500 of them enrolled in the Senior School (grades 9-12 or "Forms" III-VI).

In recent years, the school has worked to implement "green", or environmentally-friendly, changes to its campuses. The 2006 renovation of Rowe Hall, the main academic building, put into use a number of "green" concepts. The $6.8 million renovation of this primary Senior School facility emphasized environmentally-friendly approaches, from glass that allows more light into classrooms (allowing the building to maintain lower electricity usage levels) to rainwater collected in an underground cistern, then used to flush toilets and urinals. In the fall of 2007, the Rowe Hall Complex earned Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification, becoming the only high school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to have done so.[10]

Shady Side Academy is a member school of the Chewonki Foundation's Maine Coast Semester[11]

[edit] Academics

For each class a student is enrolled in (a minimum of five per term), they are given a grade at midterm of the first term and the conclusion of each subsequent term. Each grade has two parts, a letter grade and an effort grade. The Quality Grade is the grade used to calculate the GPA, and the grade to which a letter is assigned. There is also an effort grade from one to five. One is "unacceptable," five is "exemplary effort," and a rating of three indicates "expected" effort. Each student with a GPA of 1.3333 or above, grades of F or better, and an effort rating of 1 or above, is awarded honors. For high honors, a student must achieve a GPA of 1.6667 with grades of D- or better and effort ratings of three or greater. Highest honors are awarded to all students possessing a GPA of 2.0000 or better with grades of D+ or better and effort ratings of 2 and above. Shady Side Academy has a chapter of the Cum Laude Society, which was established in 929 B.C. and consists of the top .05% of the senior class.

[edit] Counseling

76.4

College, personal, and academic counseling are offered on the Senior School campus. College counseling is available to all students in the Kassling College Counseling Center in the main academic building (Rowe Hall). Personal counseling is also available. Academic counseling is also offered to all students in the form of the Advisory Program, in which all students are assigned an advisor, who also acts as a homeroom teacher. They are assigned a new advisor for each academic year, and each advisory group consists of 4-10 students on average. A homeroom meets once a week, and sits together in all-school assemblies, which are held at least twice a week. Additionally, however, each student also meets individually during a free period with their advisor to discuss any academic difficulties they may be having, and their academic life in general.

Academic and personal counseling is offered at the Middle School. Students are assigned an advisor and meet in homerooms regularly, as well as weekly all-school assemblies. Each term a conference with the student, parent(s) and advisor is held to discuss the student's progress, achievements and challenges.

The Junior School provides personal counseling, as well as academic counseling in reading, math and overall learning support. All-school assemblies are held weekly. Each student has at least one opportunity per academic year to speak in front of the school at these assemblies starting in kindergarten. This provides early experience in public speaking and helps students, at a young age, to overcome fear associated with speaking on front of a large group of people in a supportive, non-judgemental environment. Fifth grade students, in preparation for the Middle School, are assigned an advisor. Fifth graders serve as leaders in the school, giving tours to prospective families, assisting students getting on and off the bus in the morning and afternoon, and leading assemblies. These additional responsibilities help prepare them for the transition to the Middle School.

[edit] Financial aid

Shady Side has a financial aid program. In 2011, over $2.6 million in need-based financial aid was distributed to 150 students.[12]

[edit] Boarding program

Shady Side Academy has a long-standing boarding program. Bayard House (1924), Croft House (1931), Ellsworth House (1922) (now called Hunt Hall), and Morewood House (1922)-all at one time or another residence halls on the Senior School campus—have served as home to the many generations of Shady Side students since the school moved to suburban Fox Chapel from the city neighborhood of Shadyside in the early 1920s. Bayard, Morewood, and Ellsworth were named after streets surrounding the former campus, now the home of The Winchester Thurston School. At times nearly 200 students boarded at Shady Side, some as 7-day boarders, some as 5-day boarders, some as Senior Schoolers, and some as Middle Schoolers. Since the 1960s, Shady Side has hosted 5-day Senior School (Grades 9 through 12) boarding exclusively, and is one of only six schools nationwide to offer such an option for its students. With all boarding students going home for the weekend each week, boarders almost always come from the three-state area of eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia. Today, two residence halls are in active use at Shady Side: male students board in Croft House and female students reside in Morewood House.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

[edit] Academic

Shady Side participates in Model United Nations conferences, NAQT and other quiz bowl competitions, the Western PA Math League, Science Olympiad, North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad, National Science Bowl, and Forensics (Speech and Debate) competitions, principally the National Forensics League.

In 2004, Shady Side placed three hundred and forty-fourth in the nation at the National Science Olympiad Tournament at Juniata College, a tournament with over fifty schools from all around the nation. They did this after placing 1st at both the Regional and State Science Olympiad Tournament, which earned them a position in the National tournament. In 2005, the team also placed 1st in the Regional and State Science Olympiad Tournaments, which got them into the National Tournament again, this time held in the University of Illinois. In the 2007 State Tournament, Shady Side's team placed second, as runners up to Sewickley Academy, once again securing a place in the 2007 National Science Olympiad Tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Also, in 2009 the middle school team placed second in the state tournament at Juniata College. They later went on to place 20th in the nation at Augusta State University in Georgia, in which 60 teams participated in.

In 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007, Shady Side was the season champion of Pittsburgh-based game show Hometown High-Q. At the 2006 NAQT Nationals, the team finished 5th overall.

Shady Side also regularly sends students to the National Catholic Forensics League, Pennsylvania High School Speech League, and National Forensics League state and national competitions.

A sample of the clubs offered at Shady Side Academy includes: Chinese Club (Mandarin Chinese is taught at the senior school), Sign Language (ASL) Club, Speech and Debate (Forensics), Christian Fellowship, the Gay-Straight Alliance, Film Club, Service Learning, The Led Zeppelin Club, Guitar Club, Robotics Club, and many others not listed here. Since 2008, the Robotics Club has sent a team annually to the Pittsburgh Regional event of the FIRST Robotics Competition, and they were an alternate to the elimination portion in 2010, having achieved their highest-ever seed thus far.

Additionally, Shady Side has numerous language and nationality clubs, i.e., Spanish Club, German Club, Latin Club, French Club, etc. While Italian is not offered at Shady Side Academy, there is an active Study of Italian Club. In the winter of 2007, an Arabic Study Club also formed. There are Black and Jewish Student Unions as well.

Shady Side's major rivals in academics are Central Catholic, Ellis, Saint Joseph and Winchester Thurston .

[edit] Arts, theater, and music

Since 2003, the school has sponsored a benefit concert led and organized by a student group with the name "Untucked" as a homage to the school dress code which before 2004 required all shirts to be tucked in. Members of the Untucked Committee include students (chosen annually from an applicant pool) and a member of the faculty. Recent bands to appear at Untucked include local favorites Rusted Root, The Clarks, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Better than Ezra and Sister Hazel. The "Untucked" event is usually held at the end of the year and includes many activities beyond the band itself, including food and carnival games.

Shady Side Academy's main theater, the 650-seat Richard E. Rauh Theater, is named after local teacher, actor and arts patron Richard Rauh. It resides in the newly-constructed Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the Senior School campus.[13] There is also a blackbox theater (The Kountz Theater), which holds many smaller productions, such as the annual Fall Play, Children's Homecoming Play and the Senior One-Act Play Festival . Recent theater performances include: Amadeus, Footloose, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pygmalion, South Pacific, Oliver!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Kiss Me, Kate, Babes in Arms, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The debut musical in the Hillman Center for the Performing Arts was Oliver! which took place in the spring of 2005, starring Danielle Papincak (Nancy, Class of '05) and Bernard Balbot (Fagin, Class of '05). In 2006, the Academy launched the Hillman Performing Arts Series series with the Golden Dragon Acrobats, River City Brass Band, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

Shady Side Academy students also produce several publications. The Shady Side News, which is written and produced on campus by Senior School students, is published five times each academic year and contains campus news, commentary and political opinion, and photographs. The Egerian, the school's literary magazine, collects the best student-written prose and poetry and publishes it at the end of every year. It is released exclusively online by a committee of student editors at http://egerian.org/. Angles, the school's other literary magazine, collects the best of student-written nonfiction and also publishes at the end of every year. A science magazine, SSA Frontiers of Science, helps to relay to the community significant scientific advances; it is produced once per term under the leadership of a student committee. A political magazine, The Forum, is also published, sponsored by the Senior School History Department and a committee of student editors.

[edit] Athletics

Shady Side's athletic team name is "The Indians". The name is not widely used, but attempts to change it have been thwarted by various alumni.[14] However, some claim that the school's nickname has some substance to it in Shady Side's case because Chief Guyasuta had his encampment on the site that now houses the senior school and no other high schools in the area are on grounds once occupied by Native Americans.[14]

In 1924, Shady Side Academy was a founding member of the Interstate Prep School League (IPSL) -- a league composed of Mid-West preparatory schools. The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL), which is the league in which local public schools compete and is part of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), was founded in 1906 by Headmaster Jones of Allegheny Prep and W. R. Crabbe of Shady Side Academy, but Shady Side did not join until 1993. This membership allowed them to compete for regional and state championships against local schools. Since this, Shady Side has won eight state championships: two in boys' basketball, two in girls' golf, two in boys' swimming, one in girls' tennis, and one in boys' tennis, along with numerous WPIAL championships, in several sports including baseball, field hockey, tennis, swimming, football and golf. The Shady Side Girls' Tennis and Field Hockey Teams won the 2005, 2006, and 2007. WPIAL Championship titles for AAA and AA, respectively. The Girls' Tennis team went on to place second in the 2007 PIAA Championships and first in the 2008 PIAA Championships. Shady Side's Lauren Greco also won the PIAA and WPIAL AAA girls' tennis singles championships.The girls' tennis team, again, won the WPIAL and state championships in 2010, while Sara Perelman placed second individually. In 2010, the boys swim team won the WPIAL championship for the 9th consecutive year (10th in 11 years). In addition, the wrestling team went on to place first in the PIAA Individual Championships of the 2007-2008 season, with both Dane Johnson placing first (his second time) and Roman San Doval placing first in the PIAA. They defended their state championship in wrestling with another championship in the 2008-2009 season, with Johnson winning his 3rd PIAA Championship and Matt Cunningham placing second in his weight class. Shady Side Academy wrestling is the first AA team in the WPIAL to have won the PIAA State Championship. The boys' tennis team won the WPIALs in 2010, and also placed second in states. Chris Mengel won the individual state championships as well in 2010.

Several teams do not compete in the WPIAL. The ice hockey teams compete at the Division 1 Prep Level. The boys' team is a member of the Midwest Prep Hockey League and the girls' team competes in the Women's Ice Hockey League of the Mid- Atlantic. The boys' lacrosse team, which as of the 2009 season participates in the WPIAL's newly formed Lacrosse league, which won the Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association championship in 2004 and were State Runners-Up in 2004, participates in the Midwest Scholastic Lacrosse Association as well as the previously mentioned WPSLA. The squash team also is a prep-level team, composed of top-rated junior players.

Shady Side Academy competes often with local schools, including Sewickley Academy, The Kiski School, Western Reserve Academy, Fox Chapel Area High School, University School, and The Ellis School.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Administration". Shady Side Academy. http://www.shadysideacademy.org/page.cfm?p=9. Retrieved April 19, 2011. 
  2. ^ "About Us: HISTORY". Shady Side Academy. http://www.shadysideacademy.org/page.cfm?p=11. Retrieved April 19, 2011. 
  3. ^ David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (New York: Random House, 2008), 105.
  4. ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, Henry Clay Frick: the Life of the Perfect Capitalist (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010), 154.
  5. ^ David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life (New York: Random House, 2008), 339.
  6. ^ “Shadyside Academy Cornerstone Laid,” The Pittsburgh Press, May 3, 1922.
  7. ^ “Principals in School Merger,” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 31, 1940.
  8. ^ "History". http://www.shadysideacademy.org/page.cfm?p=11. Retrieved 2011-12-25. 
  9. ^ Jennifer Bails, "A Legacy of Learning: Shady Side Academy celebrates 125 Years of Academic Excellence," Shady Side Academy Magazine, Winter 2008-2009, 4.
  10. ^ Chute, Eleanor (2005-06-09). "Shady Side Academy plans green renovation". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05160/518333.stm. Retrieved 2006-02-13. 
  11. ^ "Sending Schools for Maine Coast Semester". http://www.chewonki.org/mcs/mcs_sendingschools.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 
  12. ^ http://www.shadysideacademy.org/page.cfm?p=4003.
  13. ^ New Works Festival honors Rauh - Tribune-Review
  14. ^ a b Dunlap, Colin (2005-07-01). "Nicknames of teams still source of conflict". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05182/531459.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-16. 
  15. ^ Gangewere, R. Jay (July/August 1997). eums.org/cmag/bk_issue/1997/julaug/feat1.htm "Astronaut Jay Apt: Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History". Carnegie. http://www.carnegiemus, eums.org/cmag/bk_issue/1997/julaug/feat1.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-16. 
  16. ^ "Eugene Baker Profile". Scout.com. http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=122&p=8&c=1&nid=2071354. Retrieved 2006-12-16. 
  17. ^ "Summer 2007 Teacher Workshop". http://shadysideacademy.org/discovery/documents/2007ModelingInstructioninPhysics.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-16. 
  18. ^ Hattendorf, John B. (Summer 2008). "Admiral Richard G. Colbert: Pioneer in Building Global Maritime Partnerships". Naval War College Review 61 (3): p. 110–111. https://portal.nwc.navy.mil/press/Naval%20War%20College%20Review/2008/Hattendorf%20NWCR%20Summer08WEB.pdf. 
  19. ^ Pittsburgh Press - June 17, 1927
  20. ^ Behe, Regis (2002-09-26). "Tom Tom Club to drum up support for Haiti at benefit". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_93399.html. Retrieved 2006-12-18. 
  21. ^ Guido, George (2005-08-21). "SSA lacks experience, not heart; Fast Facts Sidebar". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_364772.html. Retrieved 2006-12-19. 
  22. ^ Sherman, Jerome L (2006-12-16). "Presidential biographer gets presidential medal". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06350/746640-44.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-18. 

[edit] External links

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