Jump to content

The Winchendon School

Edit links
Coordinates: 42°40′28.0″N 72°2′16.3″W / 42.674444°N 72.037861°W / 42.674444; -72.037861
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by LiberalArtsCollegeEditor (talk | contribs) at 18:06, 27 December 2020 (→The Winchendon School | MA Campus: removed for academic boosterism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Winchendon School
School Crest
Address
Map
172 Ash St, Winchendon, MA 01475

Winchendon
,
MA

United States
Information
TypePrivate, boarding and day
MottoA better way to do high school - since 1926.
Established1926
Head of SchoolLaurie Lambert
Faculty60
Grades9–12, PG
Enrollment285
Average class size7
Student to teacher ratio6:1
Campus326 acres (1,320,000 m2)
Color(s)Dark green, kelly green, and white   
Athletics conferenceNEPSAC
AccreditationNEASC, NAIS
Endowment$30.00million (as of August 2017)
Websitewww.winchendon.org

The Winchendon School is a coeducational, preparatory boarding and day school composed of two campuses; one in Massachusetts, and another in New York.[1] Founded in 1926, The Winchendon School has an average classroom size of eight students, an enrollment of approximately 290 students, and a student to teacher ratio of 6:1

One School, Two Campuses

The Winchendon School is composed of two campuses; a main campus located in Winchendon, Massachusetts, and a newly opened campus in Brooklyn, New York City. The School's flagship campus in Winchendon, MA serves boarding and day students in grades 9-12 and PGs. The picturesque setting and extensive facilities provide a safe environment while also enjoying easy access to Boston, Providence, NYC, and the rest of the northeast. The close proximity and good transportation options allow families from Boston to Springfield and from Providence to Portsmouth to consider the five-day boarding option and regularly enjoy a meal, event, or contest with their students.

The NYC satellite campus is in the heart of Brooklyn, within walking distance of some of the world's great resources, including universities and libraries, athletics and arts facilities, museums, and potential employers. The NYC campus is also closely connected with local neighborhoods through its partnership with the CDSC (Child Development Support Corporation).[1]

The Winchendon School | MA Campus

The MA campus includes six academic and lab buildings, six dorms, a theater, a two-story arts studio, and a music room. Its athletic facilities feature the Ritchie Ice Arena, the LaBelle Athletic Fields, Boomhower Field, six tennis courts, and two basketball and volleyball courts and a fitness center.[2]

TWS | MA

The Winchendon School | NYC Campus

Winchendon's NYC campus is purposefully located in the center of Brooklyn, in a building owned by the CDSC, a long-time provider of services for the BedStuy, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene neighborhoods.  Students can be tackling quadratic equations or the next draft of an essay one period, and 10 minutes later, moving downstairs to help in the food pantry or the hydroponic garden. With a subway stop less than 200’ from our door, commuting and access to all of NYC is easy.

Facilities near the New York City Campus include:

  • Brooklyn Museum
  • Transportation Museum
  • Pratt Institute (2 blocks)
  • NYU
  • LIU
  • BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
  • Mark Morris
  • BRIC
  • YMCA
  • Brooklyn Bridge and Prospect Park
  • Barclays Center
  • Thousands of potential employers, laboratories, artist studios and other potential “classrooms” [1]

The MA campus is 15 miles (24 km) from Mount Monadnock, one of the most-climbed mountains in the world.

Students

Winchendon students come from all across the world. Numbers change year-to-year, but a typical student body represents over 15 countries and approximately 15 US states. The school community includes students in 9th grade to students in 12th grade, as well as post-graduates (PGs). The Winchendon School offers a total of $3 million in needs-based grants to its students every year.[3]

Special academic programs

The School is recognized for three academic programs: Global Dynamics, Service Learning, and ColLABS,.

Global Dynamics is a four-year sequence of courses that provides students with an integrated, multicultural survey of different regions of the world: Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the United States. Students examine history, art, literature, political science, economics and sociology to grapple with the forces of human nature - what unites and divides us - both in centuries past and as events became news yesterday.  Contemporary challenges require interdisciplinary solutions, and Global Dynamics is based on that model. In addition to comprehension, expression, and problem-solving skills, students develop increasingly robust critical thinking and collaborative skills.

Service Learning is a year-long, student-led, project-based curriculum in which students identify a problem or issue in the community around them and then work to fix it in collaborative groups. Service Learning is another element of the Winchendon experience where student interests reign supreme: from the theater to animal rights, from the impact of addiction to protecting the environment - whatever it is that our students feel the world needs. They put together the ideas, resources, and plan to make it happen.  Service Learning is as important as any course of study at Winchendon, as not only are the students practicing the core disciplines of problem solving, comprehension and communication, but they also have the opportunity to develop empathy, resourcefulness, adaptability, resilience and collaborative skills—and SL may be the single greatest opportunity for teens to develop leadership skills.

ColLABs, or collaborative laboratories, are immersive, interest driven learning opportunities open to all Winchendon students. Twice a year, Winchendon students engage in two week intensive courses, collaborative projects, and internships. Short for Collaborative Laboratory, these Courses are elective-style workshops based on one of three types of learning experiences:

  • Faculty-led, immersive classes with extensive project and field-based learning
  • Student-designed (with teachers as mentors) independent projects in areas of specific interest
  • Internships

Regular classes are set aside for the last two weeks of each semester so that students can pursue ColLABs of their choosing - all of which emphasize fundamental skills and habits central to The Winchendon School: character, collaboration, resilience, resourcefulness, and adaptability, just to name a few. Risk-taking is encouraged, and the design process and experience are often as important as the actual ColLAB itself. The Winchendon School website contains more information on the ColLAB program: https://winchendon.org/collabs-project-based-learning-and-electives/

Immersive learning through ColLABorative studies at The Winchendon School means our students have achieved subject mastery and personal growth through our experience-based learning. This can look different for different students. For some students, it may look like an internship at a non-profit learning how to fundraise, while for another student it may be writing a research paper on The Detection Mechanism of Gravitational Waves Emitted from a Type 1A Supernovae.[4]

Winchendon Boys' Hockey at NEPSAC Championships

Winchendon's athletic teams are known as the Wapitis, and their colors are dark green and white. The following competitive sports are offered at The Winchendon School:[5]

  • Ice Hockey (boys and girls)
  • Basketball (boys and girls)
  • Soccer (boys and girls)
  • Cross Country (boys and girls)
  • Badminton (boys and girls)
  • Tennis (boys and girls)
  • Baseball (boys)
  • Softball (girls)
  • Ultimate Frisbee (boys and girls)
  • Volleyball (girls)
  • Golf (boys and girls)
  • Lacrosse (boys and girls)

Winchendon is a part of New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC).

History

Williams College alumnus Robert Marr's experience at Deerfield Academy, and earlier at Vermont Academy, provided him knowledge to take The Winchendon School into its permanent home. As new headmaster in Newport at The Hatch School in 1959, Marr maintained its tutorial model while introducing his own leadership brand. Finding a new campus emerged as a focus for the new Head. Marr settled on Winchendon's current location. The school moved in the summer 1961 to Winchendon, Massachusetts.

Teachers like Charles Dillaway and Clifford Eriksen provided teaching in the traditional Hatch mold. The seasoned leadership of Bob Marr and his assistant head (and former Vermont Academy colleague) Frederick L. Zins enabled newly arrived students to sense the great traditions of Hatch-Newport – while also experiencing a revitalized school and its own setting.

During the early to mid-1980s, the school faced financial difficulties, which drew attention to the failures of the school. This led to many successful and grateful alumni donating to The Winchendon School. In the late 1980s, a rolling capital campaign was started that led to the addition of new dorms, a gymnasium and additional classrooms. Much of this attention happened during Headmaster LaBelle's tenure and pushed the school onto its feet, and it has been financially healthy ever since.

The Winchendon School has only had six headmasters. Marr's tenure (1959–1973), was followed by Lewis V. Posich, Stephen V.A. Samborski, J. William LaBelle, John A. Kerney, and current Head of School Laurie Lambert.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c "Campuses • TWS|Winchendon". TWS|Winchendon. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  2. ^ "Campus & Facilities - The Winchendon School". The Winchendon School. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  3. ^ "About - The Winchendon School". The Winchendon School. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  4. ^ "The Winchendon School". Winchendon.org. The Winchendon School. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  5. ^ "Athletics - The Winchendon School". The Winchendon School. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  6. ^ "Mark Concannon hockey statistics and profile at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2017-07-25.

42°40′28.0″N 72°2′16.3″W / 42.674444°N 72.037861°W / 42.674444; -72.037861

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Winchendon_School&oldid=996617902"