Berwick Academy (Maine)

Berwick Academy File:Berwick Logo.jpg
Location
South Berwick , Maine country = United States
Coordinates	43°13′50″N 70°48′15″W
Information
Type	Private, Day
Motto	Latin: Dei Timor Initium Sapiente
Religious affiliation(s)	Unaffiliated
Established	1791
Head of School	Greg Schneider
Enrollment	575
Campus	Rural, 81 acres (33 ha), 11 Buildings
Color(s)	Blue and White
Athletics conference	Eastern Independent League
Mascot	Bulldog
Website	www.berwickacademy.org
Berwick Academy
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Fogg Memorial Building
Location	Academy St., South Berwick, Maine
Area	81 acres (33 ha)
Built	1791
Architectural style	Richardsonian Romanesque, Victorian, Federal, Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	78000336
Added to NRHP	March 29, 1978

Berwick Academy is a college preparatory school located in South Berwick, Maine. Founded in 1791, it is the oldest educational institution in Maine and one of the oldest private schools in North America. The school sits on a 81-acre (33 ha), 11-building campus on a hill overlooking the Salmon Falls River, near the border between Maine and New Hampshire. Approximately 575 students in grades K through 12 attend the coeducational day school, primarily from the surrounding 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 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 youth in this part of the country." Chartered by Massachusetts Governor John Hancock later that year and armed with a classical educational mission, the school opened in a small hip-roofed Georgian building on land donated by Judge Benjamin Chadbournes. Today this building, dubbed the "1791 House," is home to the Academy's admissions office.

From its founding the school contracted with the town of South Berwick to educate local students, serving both as a private college preparatory school and the de facto public school for the town. As the town grew and industrialized, the school's dual role necessitated campus expansion. A second Academy building (1830) was destroyed by fire in 1851; its successor, designed by architect Richard Upjohn, was itself superseded by the William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building. Built in 1894 by George Albert Clough in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, and built complete with electricity and state-of-the-art science labs, it remains the main Academy building today.

In 1955, the contract with South Berwick terminated and the school reverted to a purely private "prep school," featuring boarding for boys, a day department for girls, and college preparation on a classical model for both. Considerable physical expansion during this period included the acquisitions of surrounding homes for dormitories and of adjacent lands for playing fields.

In the 1970s the burdensome cost of boarding students and the increasing suburbanization of the region dictated a further transformation from boarding academy to country day school. A Middle School was founded in 1971 and a Lower School in 1977; boarding was discontinued in 1976 the surrounding homes were sold or converted to other uses. Enrollment, physical plant and endowment have steadily increased to the present day. The school has come to occupy a unique academic position in between the 18th century American college preparatory school and the 19th Century progressive country day school – although it predates, sometimes by more than a century, most schools of either movement.

All Boys Basketball, Berwick Academy

Earliest Co-Ed Classes, Berwick Academy

Organization

The Academy is governed by a Board of Trustees, with a Head of School 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 trimesters; students typically take year-long classes, with some trimester-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 subjects of study are diverse and include Liberal Arts, Sciences, Fine Arts, Music and Mathematics.

College placement

Berwick Academy has traditionally prepared students for Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Colby and Bates colleges. While these relationships have continued, graduates now matriculate at a variety of highly selective colleges in the United States, including the Ivy League, the Little Ivies and the Ancient Universities.

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, dance, robotics, or independent research projects through the "Innovation Center".) Lower school students participate in intramural sports.

Berwick currently fields teams in Golf, Soccer, Field Hockey, Cross Country, Hockey, Basketball, swimming, Skiing, Lacrosse, Softball, Tennis, and Baseball. Teams compete in the Eastern Independent League (EIL) and New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) are divided by gender and skill level. .

In September 2010, a new synthetic turf soccer and lacrosse field was installed on the campus.

Notable alumni

Sam Fuld

• 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 Arizona.
• Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909), novelist, author of A Country Doctor (1884), The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896).
• Gladys Hasty Carroll (1904–99), novelist, author of As The Earth Turns (1933) and Dunnybrook (1943).
• Casey Coleman (1951–2006), radio broadcaster and play-by-by announcer for the Cleveland Indians.
• Mike Eruzione (b. 1954), former National Hockey League player and captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.
• Sam Fuld (b. 1981), Major League Baseball player for the Tampa Bay Rays.