Baylor School

Baylor School
File:Baylor logo.gif Amat Victoria Curam (Victory Loves Care)
Location
Chattanooga , Tennessee United States
Information
Type	Suburban, Private school
Motto	Amat Victoria Curam (Victory Loves Care)
Religious affiliation(s)	None
Established	1893
Headmaster	Dr. Bill Stacy
Faculty	133 teachers
Enrollment	1061 Total (6-12) 205 Boarding (9-12) 856 Day (6-12)
Average class size	14 students
Student to teacher ratio	8:1
Campus	670 acres
Color(s)	Red and Grey
Athletics	18 Interscholastic Sports Teams
Mascot	Tiger
Website	www.baylorschool.org

Baylor School is a co-educational private secondary school on the outskirts of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Set on the banks of the Tennessee River, it is currently one of the largest day and boarding secondary schools in the country. The current headmaster is Dr. Bill Stacy, former Chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The school maintains a rivalry with McCallie School. A boys-only school for most of its history, Baylor has had close ties with the cross-town Girls Preparatory School, which became loosely affiliated with rival McCallie after Baylor admitted girls in 1985.

Baylor currently has an endowment of $96,000,000, according to its tax return for the year ending June 2004. Baylor's yearly tuition is $16,136 for day students and $31,416 for boarding students.

Baylor sends several graduates each year to Ivy League schools, but many more students to Vanderbilt University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Duke University, the University of Virginia, Emory University, Tulane University, and Washington University in St. Louis.

History

File:Baylor old.jpg

Baylor School History

Baylor School was founded in 1893 by John Roy Baylor. The school was originally named "Baylor University" and did not change its name to "Baylor School" until 1925. Baylor began in a building in downtown Chattanooga, but then, in 1915, Baylor moved to its current location on the banks of the Tennessee River. Baylor became a military school in 1917 and remained so until 1971. Baylor was a boys school (with the exception of 1900-1911) until in 1985 it admitted 41 girls. (Because one of the girls dropped out, this group is commonly referred to as the Fab 40.) Today, Baylor attracts students from all over the world in grades (6-12), including boarding students in grades (9-12).

Taken from Baylor's website, for a more complete history, see Baylor's website

Headmasters

• 1893: John Roy Baylor
• 1926: Dr. Alexander Guerry
• 1929: Herbert B. Barks, Sr.
• 1964: Dr. Charles E. Hawkins, III
• 1971: Dr. Herbert B. Barks, Jr.
• 1988: L. Laird Davis, Jr.
• 1998: Jim Buckheit
• 2004: Dr. Bill Stacy

Programs

• Baylor is a member of Round Square, an international organization made up of more than fifty schools.
• Baylor students can participate in Baylor's Walkabout program, an outdoors program that takes students kayaking, rock climbing, bouldering, trekking, hiking, and caving. Walkabout also goes on an annual trip to Costa Rica for advanced kayakers and a biennial tip to India to trek.
• Baylor's community service program goes to Jamaica every year to tutor children in a local orphanage and to Asheville, North Carolina twice a year to volunteer in a local soup kitchen.
• Baylor boasts 59 extracurricular organizations, the tenth most of any high school in the country.

Academics

• Baylor School's mission is to instill in its students both the desire and the ability to make a positive difference in the world.
• Baylor currently offers 22 Advanced Placement courses, the sixth most of any high school in the country.
• Baylor's core curriculum consists of Math, English, Science, History, and Language classes. Baylor offers language classes in the following languages: Spanish, French, Latin, and German.
• Almost 80% of Baylor's students are accepted to their first choice college, colleges including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Georgetown, Brown, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Stanford, Cornell, Johns Hopkins University and many more.
• The class of '05 earned over 6.5 million dollars in merit scholarships.
• Almost 80% of Baylor's senior class took at least one AP class; Almost 50% of Baylor's juniors took at least one AP class; and almost 10% of Baylor's sophomore class took at least one AP class.

College Matriculation

According to Baylor's college counseling office, here is Baylor's matriculation data relating to top colleges and universities since 2001:

 Harvard - 4 

 Princeton - 3

 Yale - 4

 Duke - 14 

 Stanford - 5 

 University of Pennsylvania - 4 

 MIT- 2 

 Dartmouth - 4 

 Brown - 6
 

 Georgetown - 6 

 Vanderbilt - 62 

 Emory - 38 

 Cornell - 9 

 Johns Hopkins - 10 

 WUStL - 24 

 Rice - 8 

 UVa - 23 

 UNC-Chapel Hill - 17
  

Campus

Baylor's campus consits of 670 acres of lush campus with red brick, turn-of-the-century buildings scattered around the campus. The campus is considered to be one of the finest in the nation, and it was considered as the site for the movie Dead Poet's Society. Some of the buildings and facilities include the following:

Academic facilities

• Katherine and Harrison Weeks Science Building, Baylor's state-of-the-art science building, houses biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, forensic science, human physiology, environmental science, genetics, and lower-school science classes. Baylor's main computer lab, "the bullpen," is located in the bottom floor of Weeks. This computer lab is open to the public but also holds Baylor's computer science and computer applications classes in private computer classrooms.

File:Baylorschool.jpg

Baylor School

• Barks Hall is one of Baylor's oldest buildings. It is the home to Baylor's lower school. However, the top two floors of Barks belong to Hedges Library, Baylor's school library which is the largest high school library in the country.
• Academic Hall is the home of Baylor's sixth grade. The bottom floor of academic hosts Baylor's Spanish classes. Academic used to be home for Baylor's lower-school, but in 2001, Baylor accepted its first sixth grade class, and ever since then, Acadmeic Hall has been known as "the sixth grade building". The bottom floor of Academic is home to Baylor's second largest computer lab.
• Trustee Hall is one of Baylor's oldest buildings. It was formerly a girls dorm, but now the top two floors are offices, and the bottom floor has English, Math, and German classes. Baylor's Writing Center is also located at the bottom of Trustee.
• Baylor's Chapel is Baylor's main location for Math classes, but it is also home to Baylor's Board of Trustees' meeting room. Chapel is also where weekly assembly and chapel services are held. The Alumni Chapel is the top floor, and it is home to Baylor's upper-school study hall.

Student life facilities

• The Frierson Student Center is a place for students to spend their free time. Student have the choice of playing pool, playing ping-pong, playing air hockey, watching TV, eating in "The Grill," or just hanging out with friends on one of the many clusters of couches.
• The Guerry Dining Hall is where Baylor's students and faculty eat. Baylor's dining hall offers a wide variety of choices with a salad bar, a pizza bar, a sandwich bar, a soup bar, a dessert tray, a cereal table, and three main course lines. Often you will see students selling free dress days as a fundraiser.

Art facilities

• Ireland Fine Arts Center is Baylor's newly built fine arts building. Ireland hosts Baylor's pottery, drawing, painting, print making, and lower-school art classes. Ireland overlooks the Tennessee River.
• Roddy Performing Arts Center is home to Baylor's performing arts. Dance, drama, photography, and film classes are located in Roddy. Roddy has its own black box theater that holds over 200 people, dance studio, and dark room.
• Baylor's Music Building is a music studio with acoustically engineered, sound proof rehearsal rooms, private practice rooms, a piano room, and a music library for Baylor's instrumental and vocal programs. The Music Building hosts Baylor's choir, band, and lower-school music classes.

Residential facilities

• Lowrance Dorm is one of Baylor's three girls dorms. Lowrance overlooks the Tennessee River and is by far Baylor's nicest dorm. Lowrance is home to freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Lowarance is also where Baylor's infirmary is located.
• Hunter Hall is home to Baylor's admission and administative staff. Hunter is located at the center of campus and is also a girls dormitory. There are only two classes in Hunter--all History classes.
• Probasco Hall is one of two of Baylor's boy dorms. Probo, as it is commonly referred to, is known as "Baylor's ghetto" because of its age. Probo is Baylor's oldest building and has not been renovated in some time, although that has been broght up. The basement of Probo is home to Latin, English, and History classes.
• Riverfront Dorm is Baylor's newest building. It is a girls dorm that overlooks the Tennessee River. Riverfront is Baylor's only dorm that does not share its rooms with something non-residential. It is the home to Baylor girls in grades eleven and twelve.
• Lupton II, III, and Lupton Annex are the home to Baylor boys from all grades. Lupton is the nicest boys dormitory, and it also overlooks the Tennessee River. Latin, French, English, Math and History classes are also held in the bottom two floors of Lupton. Lupton Annex and Lupton are connected at the third and fourth floors.

Athletic facilities

• The Field House is Baylor's main home for athletics. It has three basketball courts made of a multi-vercitile surface, a cardio room, a weight room, several men's and women's locker rooms, several coaches' offices, the training room, Duke Arena (Baylor's main basketball court), and the meeting room for Baylor's Honor Council. The newest addition to the Field House is Baylor's new Aquatic Center, which is arguably the best in the nation.
• The Lower Fields are home to Baylor's varsity and junior varsity baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Baylor's cross country loop is also located at the Lower Fields.
• The Parry Center is home to Baylor's Walkabout program. Walkabout keeps their supplies and clothing in the Parry Center. There is also an indoor climbing gym in the Parry Center.
• Baylor's Alexander Guerry Tennis Center is Baylor's state-of-the-art tennis center. It boasts 12 outdoor courts and 7 indoor courts.
• Baylor also has its own Short Game Center where Baylor's six-time state championship golf team can practice.
• Heywood Stadium is home to Baylor's football team in the fall, and Baylor's track and field team in the spring.
• The Luke Worsham Memorial Wrestling Arena is Baylor's new wrestling arena. It was built in the structure of Baylor's former swimming pool, but is now a state-of-the-art wrestling arena.

Sports/Athletics

Baylor was recently named the leading high school sports program in Tennessee and in the top 25 nationwide by Sports Illustrated. Baylor's mascot is a tiger, and its colors are red and grey. Baylor competes in the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) and its current varsity sports are:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Bowling
• Cheerleading
• Crew
• Cross Country
• Diving
• Fencing
• Football

• Golf
• Lacrosse
• Softball
• Soccer
• Swimming
• Tennis
• Track and Field
• Volleyball
• Wrestling

The Honor Council

Baylor students must abide by the rules of Baylor's honor council. Baylor School's honor council is based on the honor code at the University of Virginia. When students enter the school, they sign a pledge: "the Honor System is an understanding among Baylor student that they do not want among them one who will lie, cheat, or falsify information. I understand this principle, and I recognize that I shall be expected to live in accordance with it." After entry to Baylor, before every test, Baylor students sign their name, pledging "I hereby pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized information on this test." Students who are charged with violating the honor code must stand trial with the Honor Council, consisting of two freshman, three sophomores, four juniors, and five seniors. Punishments for violation of the honor code range from a warning to expulsion.

Notable alumni

• David M. Abshire, '44, former ambassador to NATO, former director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and adviser to president Ronald Reagan.
• Bill Dedman, '78, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner.
• William Duff, '45, author, FBI counterintelligence specialist.
• Arthur Golden, '74, author, Memoirs of a Geisha.
• John Hannah, '69, NFL football player for the Patriots, Hall-of-Famer.
• Jon Kinsey, '72, former mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• David Lowance, '58, kidney transplant specialist, Emory University.
• Sandlin Mattice, Jr., '72, judge, U.S. District Court.
• Alan Murray, '73, assistant managing editor and columnist, The Wall Street Journal.
• Wendell Rawls, Jr., '60, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner.
• Roscoe Tanner, '69, professional tennis player, Australian Open winner, Wimbledon runner-up.
• Morris Weinberg, Jr., '68, former federal prosecutor, defense attorney.

Traditions

As an outgrowth of the Baylor-McCallie rivalry, each year, during the school week prior to the football game, the school engages in Spirit Week, during which time students may forgo wearing the uniform to wear themed costumes. The most commonly recurring of these themes is "Red Day," in celebration of the school's color, in which the theme is to dress in as much red as is humanly possible. Prizes are awarded to whichever student is deemed by the school to be wearing the most red.

Every year Baylor's Habitat for Humanity hosts a festival to help raise money for the house Baylor builds every other year. This festival is called Habifest. It consists of many different activities including dunk the teacher, a moonwalk, and many other work-related activities.

External links

• Baylor School website