Berwick Academy (Maine)

Berwick Academy
File:Berwick Logo.jpg
Location
South Berwick , Maine United States
Coordinates	43°13′50″N 70°48′15″W
Information
Type	Private, Day
Motto	Latin: Dei Timor Initium Sapiente (The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge." - Prov. 1:7)
Religious affiliation(s)	Unaffiliated
Established	1791
Headmaster	Greg Schneider
Faculty	Approx. 45
Enrollment	586
Average class size	19 students
Student to teacher ratio	80:1
Campus	Rural, 72 Acres, 11 Buildings
Color(s)	Blue and White
Athletics	13 Interscholastic Sports 27 Interscholastic Teams
Athletics conference	Eastern Independent League
Mascot	Bulldog
Website	www.berwickacademy.org

Fogg Memorial Building, Berwick Academy

Berwick Academy is a private college preparatory school located in South Berwick, Maine. Founded in 1791, it is the oldest school in Maine and one of the oldest private schools in America. The school sits on a 72-acre (29 ha), 11-building campus on a hill overlooking the Salmon Falls River, near the border of Maine and New Hampshire. Approximately 600 students in grades K through 12 attend the coeducational day school, primarily from the nearby regions of southern Maine, southeastern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts.

History

Fogg Memorial Building in c. 1910, Berwick Academy

The school was founded in 1791 when the citizens of Berwick, York, and Wells (then villages in the Maine Territory of Massachusetts) raised $500 to teach languages, liberal arts and sciences to "the deplorable youth in this part of the country." Chartered by Massachusetts Governor John Hancock later that year, the school opened in a small hip-roofed Georgian house on land donated by Judge Benjamin Chadbournes. The "1791 House" remains part of the campus today and is home to the Academy's admissions office.

From 1814 the school, now a college "prep" school, contracted with the town of South Berwick to educate local students. As the town grew and industrialized, the Academy's dual educational role necessitated campus expansion. The William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building, built by George A. Clough in the Romanesque Revival style, was completed in 1894 to house both the Academy and the South Berwick Public Library. Landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, and complete with electricity and state-of-the-art science labs, it became the primary Academy building, as it remains today.

In 1955, Berwick reverted to a completely private status with an exclusive college preparatory program, in accordance with the intent of the Academy's founders. Berwick became a boarding school for boys, with a day department for girls, and expanded its facility by acquiring land for playing fields and old homes for dormitories.

During the 1970s, Berwick transformed from a boarding academy to a country day school, although it was neither historically nor academically part of the Country Day School movement. The founding of a Middle School in 1971 and a Lower School in 1977 and the discontinuation of boarding in 1976 were accompanied by significant enrollment and physical plant expansions which have continued to the present day. The school since has come to occupy a somewhat unique academic position in between the traditional American college prep school and the more progressive country day school - although it predates most prep schools by decades and the country day school movement by a century.

All Boys Basketball, Berwick Academy

Earliest Co-Ed Classes, Berwick Academy

Organization

Berwick Academy is governed by a Board of Trustees, with a Headmaster in charge of fundraising and the day-to-day operation of the Academy. The three subsidiary schools are headed by Division Directors.

Academics

Jackson Library, Berwick Academy

The Academy is divided into three schools: the Lower School (grades K–4), the Middle School (grades 5–8) and the Upper School (grades 9–12). The academic calendar is divided into semesters and quarters; students typically take year-long classes, with some semester-length elective classes in the Upper School. Students follow a rigorous academic program combining classical education and technology. In keeping with the school's classical mission of "educating the whole person," subjects of study are diverse and include Liberal Arts, Sciences, Fine Arts, Music and Mathematics. The Academy has implemented "Learning with Tablets", a one-to-one notebook program, which requires each student to purchase a tablet PC in the seventh grade.

College placement

Berwick Academy has traditionally prepared students for Maine's three highly selective private liberal arts colleges -Bowdoin, Bates and Colby- and Dartmouth College. This has continued, but graduates now matriculate at a variety of such colleges in the United States, including the Ivy League and "Little Ivies."

Athletics

Participation in sports is generally required for grade advancement. Middle School students are required to play three sports during their course of study, and participation in interscholastic athletics is required of Upper School students. (Waivers are given to Upper School students for other extracurricular activities, such as drama or dance.) Lower school students participate in intramural sports.

Berwick currently fields teams in soccer, cross country, golf, ice hockey, swimming, skiing, basketball, lacrosse, baseball, softball and tennis. Teams compete in the Eastern Independent League and New England Preparatory School Athletic Council and are divided by gender and skill level. The boys and girls' lacrosse teams are traditionally competitive, and boys' ice hockey is a perennial power.

Interscholastic sports teams are known as the "Bulldogs", though during the Academy's years as a boarding school the nickname "Vikings" was sometimes used.

Notable alumni

Some notable alumni of Berwick Academy include:

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82), poet (Paul Revere's Ride, A Psalm of Life, The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline). Reputed to have attended Berwick before going to Bowdoin College, but this remains unproven.
• John Holmes Burleigh (1822–77), U.S. Congressman from Maine.
• John Noble Goodwin (1824–87) U.S. Congressman from Maine, Congressional Delegate from Arizona Territory, Chief Justice of Arizona Territory, and the first Governor of the State of Arizona.
• Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909), novelist, author of A Country Doctor (1884), The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896).
• Gladys Hasty Carroll (1904-1999), novelist, author of As The Earth Turns (1933) and Dunnybrook (1943).
• Casey Coleman (1951–2006), Cleveland, OH broadcaster and play-by-by announcer for the Cleveland Indians.
• Mike Eruzione (b. 1954), former National Hockey League player and captain of the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey Team.
• Sam Fuld (b. 1981), Major League Baseball player.

This year 2009-2010 Berwick Academy is offering Field Hockey to its sports