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Miss Porter's School

Coordinates: 41°43′20.737″N 72°49′45.894″W / 41.72242694°N 72.82941500°W / 41.72242694; -72.82941500
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Miss Porter's School
Location
Map
Farmington
,
Connecticut

USA
Information
TypePrivate boarding school
MottoPuellae venerunt. Abíerunt mulieres.
Latin > "They came as girls and left as women."
Established1843
FounderSarah Porter
Head of schoolDr. Katherine G. Windsor
Faculty60
Grades9-12
GenderFemale
Enrollment327 total
210 boarding
117 day
Campus55 acre township campus
Color(s)Green and White
MascotFighting Daisy (unofficial)
SAT average1963
NewspaperSalmagundy
YearbookDaeges Eage
Endowment$85 million
Websiteporters.org
File:Mainb.jpg

Miss Porter's School, sometimes simply referred to as Porter's or Farmington, is a private college preparatory school for girls, aged 14–18, located in Farmington, Connecticut. It was founded by education reformer Sarah Porter in 1843, with an eye to educating the elite young women of the Eastern seaboard.

History

Sarah Porter founded Miss Porter's School in 1843. The School, which had 25 students by 1847, grew with the encouragement of a group of Farmington fathers, who wanted a superior education for their daughters. Steadily increasing in national reputation and size, the School graduated 62 girls in 1886, many from the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states.

Miss Porter was born into an illustrious and learned Farmington family. Her father, Noah Porter was the minister of First Church of Christ, Congregational 1652 for 60 years, and one of her brothers, Noah Porter, Jr., was the president of Yale University. She received the most advanced education available to a young woman of her era, including tutoring by Yale professors. A life-long scholar, she not only mastered four languages but also taught herself Hebrew when she was in her 80s. At her school, Miss Porter emphasized the traditional values with which she was raised and the importance of women receiving educations equal to those available to men. A social traditionalist, she believed that the school atmosphere should resemble that of a home. She wanted her pupils to be prepared to head their own households and pass along to their families the values she held dear, including education and the importance of service to others.

But there was nothing traditional about the educational opportunities she offered women. The curriculum taught at Porter's in the 19th century included Latin, French, and German, spelling, reading, arithmetic, trigonometry, history, and geography. Because Miss Porter believed young women to be as capable of learning as young men, her curriculum also included chemistry, physiology, botany, geology and astronomy. In addition, the arts were emphasized; Miss Porter hired prominent men to teach drawing and give music lessons, and chamber music concerts were frequently given at the School. Each student was expected to design her course selection to meet her individual needs and talents.

Miss Porter was also a firm believer in the value of physical exercise. She banned the fashionable trains and bustles from students' clothing, because they limited a woman's freedom of movement. She prescribed daily, two-hour afternoon walks and encouraged horseback riding and tennis. In 1867, the School formed a baseball team, called the Tunxises.

After Sarah Porter's death in 1900, management of the school passed into the hands of her nephew, Robert Porter Keep, and his wife. Robert Porter Keep Jr. later became the Headmaster. In 1943, Miss Porter's School was incorporated as a non-profit institution.

Her portraits are hung all around the school including the Head of School's office, the dining room, and the library.

Athletics

Miss Porter's School successfully competes in the Founders League with Avon Old Farms (all-boys), Choate Rosemary Hall, Hotchkiss, Kent, Kingswood-Oxford, Loomis Chaffee, Taft and Westminster School. In addition, teams may compete in the New England Championships at the end of each season.

Fall Interscholastics

Winter Interscholastics

Spring Interscholastics

Porter's Terminology

  • Big-D - Formal Dress
  • Daeges Eage - Yearbook
  • Haggis Baggis - literary magazine
  • Little-D - Semi-Formal Dress
  • Milk Lunch - Morning Break
  • Mountain Day - School holiday granted once a semester
  • Nova Nine - 9 members of student council
  • P-lettes - Perilhettes, Senior Singing Group
  • Prescott - Visiting Speaker Program sponsored by The Prescott Fund
  • Salma - Salmagundy, School Newspaper
  • Sit-Down Dinner - Semi-Formal Dinner

Campus room terminology

  • Amphitheater - Outdoor stage
  • Congo - Congregational Church used as a meeting house
  • Cool House - Squash and Pool Building
  • Daisy - Daisy Cafe and Common Room
  • Hacker - Barbara Hacker Theater
  • Hamilton - English Literature, History Building
  • Nonie - Nona Evans Room
  • Olin - Sciences, Mathematics, Arts, and Computer Sciences Building
  • Timco - Timothy Cowles Archives Building

Notable alumnae

Miss Porter's in fiction

Onscreen

  • In the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when Buffy's mother thinks it would be best to send Buffy away to school, she picks up an application to Miss Porter's.
  • In the television series Dynasty Blake Carrington's headstrong daughter Fallon Carrington (Pamela Sue Martin) is a graduate of Miss Porter's.
  • In the 1938 movie Holiday, the lead female, played by Katharine Hepburn, went to Miss Porter's.
  • In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, the record for Joan (played by Julia Stiles) shows that she attended Miss Porter's though the record incorrectly locates the school in Pennsylvania.
  • In the television show The Nanny, in Mr. Sheffield's office, Fran suggests Gracie attend the summer program at Miss Porter's.
  • In the musical Rent, one of the leads, Harvard-educated lesbian lawyer Joanne, attended and learned to tango with the French ambassador's daughter in her dorm room at Miss Porter's.
  • In the movie, The Skulls, the lead female went to Miss Porter's.

In publications

  • In the novel, Betrayed (A House of Night Novel) by P.C and Kristin Cast, Zoey finds Miss Porter's after researching different "private preparatory schools" to find examples of good student councils to model her own new Dark Daughters' council after.
  • In the novel The Debutantes by June Flaum Singer, the four main characters met at Miss Porter's.[1]
  • In the novel The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, a main character is sent to Miss Porter's.
  • In the movie Metropolitan written and directed by Whit Stillman, the characters Jane and Audrey state that they went to "Farmington".
  • The novel The New Girls (1979), by Beth Gutcheon, is set in a school called Miss Pratt's based on Miss Porter's.

References

  1. ^ http://www.boardingschools.com/for-students/old-school/famous-grads.aspx
  2. ^ Wool, Hillary. "Petit remembered as an athlete, role model." The Dartmouth. Friday July 27, 2007. Retrieved on November 9, 2010.
  3. ^ http://www.whitehouse.gov/citizensmedal

41°43′20.737″N 72°49′45.894″W / 41.72242694°N 72.82941500°W / 41.72242694; -72.82941500

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