Horace Mann School
- This article is about the Horace Mann School in New York City. For others of a similar name, see Horace Mann School (disambiguation)
| Horace Mann School | |
(Great is the truth and it prevails) | |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1887 |
| Head of School | Dr Thomas M. Kelly |
| Enrollment | approx. 1,750 |
| Campus | Urban and Suburban |
| Location | 231 West 246th St. Riverdale, NY 10471 |
| Website | www.horacemann.org |
The Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City. Founded in 1887, Horace Mann spans from nursery school to the twelfth grade and is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. Its Upper, Middle, and Lower Divisions are located in Riverdale, a neighborhood of the Bronx, and the Nursery School is located in Manhattan.
History
The school was founded in 1887 by Nicholas Murray Butler as a co-educational experimental and developmental unit of Teachers College at Columbia University. Its first location was a building at 9 University Place in Manhattan, but it was moved in 1901 to 120th Street in Morningside Heights. Columbia University followed suit soon afterwards, moving northwards to its present campus. The name of the school can still be seen on the western-most building at the Columbia campus, named Horace Mann Hall. However, Horace Mann was becoming a school in its own right instead of just a teaching laboratory, and it became more independent of the University and Teachers College. Thus, Teachers College created the Lincoln School to continue its experiments in teaching.
Shedding its co-educational roots, the school split into separate all-male and all-female schools. In 1912, the Boys' School moved to 246th Street in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and during the 1940's it severed formal ties with Teachers College and became Horace Mann School. The Girls' School merged with the Lincoln School in 1940, and then finally closed in 1946.
The New York School for Nursery Years (founded in 1954 on 90th Street) became the Horace Mann School for Nursery Years in 1968. In 1972, Horace Mann merged with the nearby Barnard School to form the Horace Mann-Barnard Lower School for kindergarten through grade six, located on the former Barnard School campus. In 1975, the Horace Mann School returned to its roots as a co-educational learning environment and began admitting women to the Upper School. In 1999, the sixth grade moved from the Horace Mann-Barnard campus to the main 246th Street campus and formed a distinct Middle School along with the seventh and eighth grades.
Institution
Divisions
There are four divisions of the school, all co-educational: a Nursery Division located on 90th Street in Manhattan, a Lower Division on the Horace Mann campus on Tibbett Avenue in Riverdale (kindergarten through fifth grade), a Middle Division on the 246th Street campus in Riverdale (sixth through eighth grades), and an Upper Division also on the 246th Street campus (ninth through twelfth grades). There is also the John Dorr Nature Laboratory, located on 100 acres in Washington, Connecticut, used for extended field trips for classes of students starting in fourth grade and an orientation program for new students entering the High School.
Each division of the school has its own Division Head and the Middle and Upper Schools have separate student government organizations. The entire school is overseen by a Head of School. The current Head is Dr. Thomas M. Kelly, who was appointed ninth Head of School, effective July 1, 2005, succeeding Dr. Eileen Mullady, formerly of Princeton University and the Lawrenceville School, in whose honor the school named one of its new buildings. Prior to Dr. Mullady, the long-standing Head was the late R. Inslee Clark, Jr., previously Dean of Admissions at Yale University. Dr. Kelly previously served as Superintendent of Schools in Valhalla, NY. The current Horace Mann Nursery Division Head is Patricia Zuroski, the current Lower Division Head is Dr. Steven B. Tobolsky, the current Middle Division Head is Robin Ann Ingram, and the current Upper Division Interim Head is Dr. Barbara Tischler. Glenn Sherratt is the current Director of the John Dorr Nature Laboratory.
Academics
Horace Mann is known for its academic rigor. The school offers 20 Advanced Placement courses and 9 foreign languages. Its 220 faculty members hold 210 master's degrees and 25 doctoral degrees.
Students in the Upper Division are required to study English, Modern World History, United States History, Biology, Chemistry and/or Physics, Geometry, Algebra II and Trigonometry, and meet various requirements in the Arts, Computer Science, Health & Counseling, and Physical Education. Students must go beyond these basic requirements in at least some, if not all, subjects. They are also required to take at least three years of either French, German, Japanese, Latin, or Spanish. Additional classes in Greek, Italian, and Russian are offered. Starting in the 2006-07 academic year, Mandarin will be offered.
Starting in eleventh grade, students have more flexibility with their requirements and can choose from courses in Economics, Psychology, Classical History, Political Philosophy, United States Legal History, Calculus, Statistics, Astronomy, Science and Public Policy, and many other elective classes.
Independent Study and Senior Projects, where students create their own coursework and present their findings in weekly meetings, are also common. Additionally, many students develop original research projects with faculty at Columbia University, Cornell University Medical Center, NYU, and Rockefeller University.
Arts
Horace Mann has an extensive arts program, offering a variety of courses in the fields of Performing and Visual arts. At least 1.5 arts credits are required for graduation, with at least one half-credit course in performance/studio arts and one half-credit course in art history/appreciation.
Horace Mann has two major instrumental ensembles: The Horace Mann Orchestra and the Horace Mann Jazz Band. Both ensembles perform at least two to three concerts per year along with performing all over the United States and Europe. In 2005, the Horace Mann Orchestra travelled to Germany and is planning to travel to France this year. Horace Mann also has an established Glee Club, which performs several concerts each year, including past performances at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center.
Admission
Admission to Horace Mann is highly selective. Decisions are based on an applicant's recent grades, an interview, and the candidate's score on either the ISEE or SSAT test.
Sixth grade is Horace Mann's largest entry point, with between 50 and 55 places available each year. In the ninth grade, Horace Mann traditionally enrolls between 35 and 45 new students. A smaller number of students are accepted in other grades, although there are no admissions to the twelfth grade. The admissions office maintains a substantial waiting list.
Rankings
The Wall Street Journal ranks Horace Mann as the fourth best high school in the United States, as measured by student admission rates to exclusive colleges.[1] In fact, each year almost all Horace Mann graduates attend nationally-ranked universities.[2] Worth Magazine ranked Horace Mann seventh out of all the nation's high schools based on the proportion of graduates attending Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities.[3]
Co-Curricular Activities
Co-curricular activities, or "clubs", are an integral part of Horace Mann. These clubs give students the opportunity to produce publications, hone their debating skills, participate in activism and much more.
Student Clubs & Organizations
The school has a considerable number of clubs, especially in the Upper School. Prominent clubs include:
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Student Publications
The Record
The Record, established in 1903, is the weekly, student-run newspaper of the Horace Mann School. Throughout its history, The Record has won national journalism awards and has been staffed by students who went on to become distinguished journalists and authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners Anthony Lewis (class of 1944), Richard Kluger (class of 1952) and Robert Caro (class of 1953).
In 1954, Horace Mann made national headlines for translating a copy of The Record into Russian and distributing it in the USSR. The purpose of the exercise was to show Russian schoolchildren what life in America was like. The staff purposely kept in an article about the Horace Mann soccer team losing one of their games to demonstrate the operation of an independent free press.[4][5]
The American Scholastic Press Association twice honored The Record as the "Best High School Weekly Newspaper" for 2001-2002 (Volume 99) and 2003-2004 (Volume 101). The Record is published every Friday during the academic year.[6]
The Review
The Horace Mann Review, now in its sixteenth volume, is a quarterly journal of opinion on current events, politics, public policy, and culture. The Review strives to cover issues from unique and otherwise unexamined perspectives. The publication has paying subscribers throughout the nation and abroad and has been the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in journalism. In April 2001, the American Scholastic Press Association honored the Review with its award for Best Magazine.[7]
Other Publications
Other publications include Folio.51, the women's issues publication; The Thespian, the triannual publication of the Horace Mann Theatre Company; Mental Boom, a compilation of literary pieces, and the Agora, a publication dedicated to debating current events and important political issues.
Student Athletics
Interscholastic leagues
Horace Mann School is a part of the Ivy Preparatory School League. Fieldston, Riverdale, and Horace Mann together are known as the "hilltop schools," as all three are located within two miles of each other in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, on a hilly area above Van Cortlandt Park. The three also share perhaps the greatest amount of inter-school sports rivalry; Horace Mann's annual charity basketball game, the Buzzell Game, is almost always against either Fieldston or Riverdale.
Sports teams
| Sport | Level | Season | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | V, JV, MD | Spring | Boys' |
| Basketball | V, JV, MD | Winter | Boys', Girls' |
| Crew | V, JV | Spring | Boys', Girls' |
| Cross-Country | V, JV, MD | Fall | Boys', Girls', Coed (MD Only) |
| Field Hockey | V, JV, MD | Fall | Girls' |
| Fencing | V, JV | Winter | Boys', Girls' |
| Football | V, JV, MD | Fall | Boys' |
| Golf | V | Spring | Coed |
| Gymnastics | V, JV | Winter | Girls' |
| Lacrosse | V, JV, MD | Spring | Boys', Girls' |
| Soccer | V, JV, MD | Fall | Boys', Girls' |
| Skiing | V | Winter | Boys', Girls' |
| Softball | V, JV, MD | Spring | Girls' |
| Squash | V | Winter | Boys'[8] |
| Swimming | V, JV, MD | Winter | Boys', Girls' |
| Tennis | V, JV, MD | Fall (Girls'), Spring (Boys') | Boys', Girls' |
| Track (indoor) | V, JV | Winter | Boys', Girls' |
| Track (outdoor) | V, JV, MD | Spring | Boys', Girls', Coed (MD Only) |
| Ultimate (Frisbee) | V | Spring | Coed |
| Volleyball | V, JV, MD | Fall | Girls' |
| Water Polo | V, JV, MD | Fall | Coed |
| Wrestling | V, JV, MD | Winter | Coed |
- V = Varsity, JV = Junior Varsity, MD = Middle Division
Athletic accomplishments
Horace Mann's Boys Varsity Tennis team has won the New York City Mayor's Cup Team Competition four times since 1994; its most recent victory was in 2005.[9] In 2006, the Boys Varsity Tennis team placed 5th in the All-American Invitational Boys Team Tennis Tournament beating the defending champions Santa Barbara High School.[10]
Pedro Alvarez (class of 2005) was drafted as the 438th overall pick of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft by the Boston Red Sox.[11]
Charles Altchek (class of 2003), of the Harvard Varsity Mens' Soccer Team, was named Ivy League Player of the Year in 2005.
In 2005-2006, the Boys' Varsity Swimming Team completed their first undefeated season in the history of the Ivy League with a 6-0 league record (6-1 overall, including a loss to St Benedict's). They have now won the league championship three consecutive years (04-06), also for the first time in the history of the league.
Horace Mann's Girls' Cross-Country team has had an exceptional record since the appointment of Coach Kevin Nicholas. In their first year under his guidance, the girls were Ivy League champions and New York State Federation qualifiers. The year before, they won the NYSAIS championships. This year, they took 2nd at the Ivy League Championships, 3rd at NYSAIS, and qualified for Federation yet again.
The Horace Mann Wrestling team has won the Mayor's Cup all three years it has been in existence. It has also won the NYS Private School Championships five of the last six years.
Horace Mann Girl's Indoor Track won the Ivy League Championships for 2006. Horace Mann Girl's Outdoor Track and Field won Ivy Championships as well as NYSAIS for 2006. They also placed 2nd at Croton Harmon relays.
Student Government
The main body of student government is the Governing Council (GC), made up of students and teachers. There are five full time 12th grade representatives, and one alternate, while in grades 9-11, there are five full time representatives and two alternates for each grade. Because there are significantly fewer faculty members, each voting faculty representative is granted two votes.[12] Over the years the Council has removed the once-strict dress code, instituted an honor code, begun a debit card system to pay for items at the cafeteria and bookstore, and revised the school's constitution.
There is also a student body president (SBP) and a student body vice-president (SBVP). These two students are elected to office after successfully receiving enough signatures for a petition and being voted through the preliminary rounds (all candidates) and then the runoff (2 candidates). The first SBP was Dr. Jeremy Leeds in 1973.
Notable alumni
Famous graduates of Horace Mann include:
- Peter L. Bernstein, class of 1936 - economist and editor
- Josh Bernstein, class of 1989 - host of The History Channel's "Digging For the Truth"[13]
- Jordy Bratman, class of 1995 - music producer
- Robert Caro, class of 1953 - author and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner
- Elliot Carter, composer
- Peter Cincotti, class of 2001 - Famous jazz pianist
- Roy Cohn, lawyer in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Trial
- Martin Duberman, class of 1948 - author and gay rights historian
- Henry Geldzahler, class of 1953 - first curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Twentieth Century Art
- E. J. Kahn, class of 1933 - author
- August Kleinzahler, poet
- Richard Kluger, class of 1952 - author and Pulitzer Prize-winner
- Tom Lehrer, a political satirist and math professor
- Ira Levin, author of Rosemary's Baby and the Stepford Wives
- Anthony Lewis, class of 1944 - journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner
- Allard K. Lowenstein, Congressman
- James Murdoch, media executive; likely successor to Rupert Murdoch as CEO of News Corporation
- Samuel Newhouse, media executive; one of the top 25 richest Americans
- Ilario Pantano, US Marine accused of and since cleared of murdering Iraqis while on duty in 2004
- Generoso Pope, founder of the National Enquirer and American Media, Inc.
- Bob Rafelson, film director, writer, and producer; one of the creators of The Monkees
- James Salter, writer
- Barry Scheck, class of 1967 - attorney and founder of the Innocence Project
- James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense
- Gil Shaham, class of 1989 - violinist
- Eliot Spitzer, class of 1977 – New York State Attorney General
- Andrew Tobias, class of 1964 - author and Democratic National Committee fundraiser
- Paul Francis Webster, Academy Award-winning and Grammy Award-winning songwriter
- William Carlos Williams, class of 1903 - poet and Pulitzer Prize-winner
- Dr. Z (Paul Zimmerman) - Senior football writer for Sports Illustrated
Writer Jack Kerouac also attended Horace Mann for one year of high school as part of the class of 1940 and played on the football team. Hollywood agent and Broadway producer Leland Hayward also attended the school for a time.
Miscellaneous
The school's motto is "Magna est veritas et prævalet", meaning "Great is the truth, and it prevails". It comes from the King James version of the Old Testament, which is usually translated today as "Magna est veritas et prævalebit", or will prevail. The school mascot is a lion, possibly a holdover from the days when the school was associated with Columbia University, whose mascot is also a lion. The Varsity Swim Team has adopted the Sealion as their unofficial mascot.
All students are required to take American Red Cross CPR certification in order to graduate. Horace Mann students are also required to complete at least 80 hours of community service, with at least 40 hours in ninth and tenth grades and 40 hours in eleventh and twelfth. In eighth grade, one out-of-school project or three in-school projects are necessary for graduation to the ninth grade; in sixth and seventh grades a homeroom project is done cooperatively. In the Lower and Nursery Divisions, there is no community service requirement, although there is an annual "Caring-in-Action" day dedicated to community service that students and their families can attend.
Several films have been shot on the Horace Mann campus over the years, including Splendor in the Grass and The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love.
See also
External links
- Official website
- Official alumni website
- School Constitution
- College Admissions Process at Horace Mann
References
- ^ College Bound News. "Admissions Watch." Vol. 18 No. 9, citing the April 2, 2004 Wall Street Journal. May, 2004. See http://www.collegeboundnews.com/03-04issues/may04.html#anchor514965 or http://webreprints.djreprints.com/wsj_tuition_040104.pdf for the full WSJ rankings reprint.
- ^ A break down of which universities HM graduates attend. [1]
- ^ Prep School USA. "2003 High School Rankings," citing the Sept. 2002 Worth Magazine article entitled "Getting Inside the Ivy Gates," by Reshma Memon Yaqub. http://www.auap.com/prepschoolclass.html
- ^ http://www.horacemann.pvt.k12.ny.us/general/history/history_the_record.html
- ^ New York Times. "A Student Paper Savors Its Past, and Its Stars." by Seth Kugel. October 13, 2002. http://www.highschooljournalism.org/Content.cfm?mode=1&newsid=107&id=65
- ^ "About Us", The Record
- ^ About the Review, The Review
- ^ "Horace Mann: Squash – Boys Varsity". Horace Mann School.
- ^ "St. Francis Prep Captures Girls Mayor's Cup Tennis Crown". Queens Ledger. 2005-06-09. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
- ^ Lee, James (2006-03-26). "No Sea King surprises on Saturday". Daily Pilot. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
- ^ Fitt, Aaron (2006-06-07). "Sox Try Alvarez". Daily Pilot. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
- ^ Horace Mann School Upper Division Governing Council (2005). "The Second Constitution of the Horace Mann School Government" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-05-19.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Lee, Felicia R. (2006-02-06). "Chatty Host Who Makes Archaeology Glamorous". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-06-24.