The Collegiate School

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The Collegiate School was also the name under which Yale University was founded in 1701
For other uses of the term see Collegiate School (disambiguation)
Collegiate School
collegiate logo
Motto: Nisi Dominus Frustra; Eendracht Maakt Macht
Established 1628
Type Private
Principal Mr. Bruce Breimer '63
Headmaster Dr. Lee M. Levison
President, Board of Trustees Mr. David Forer '69
Faculty 113
Students Lower: 219
Middle: 199
Upper:213
Grades K-12
Location 260 West 78th Street
New York, NY USA
District N/A
Colors Blue and Orange
Mascot The Peg-Legged Dutchman
Newspaper The Journal
Website Collegiate School
[1]

The Collegiate School is a private school for boys in New York City and the oldest independent school in the United States.[1][2] It is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is a member of both the Interschool and the Ivy Preparatory School League.

Contents

[edit] History

Collegiate was founded in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1628 by the Dutch West India Company and the Classis of Amsterdam. The school’s initial incarnation was located south of Canal Street and was an academic institution for both sexes. The school's location has changed several times over the last four centuries, although the school has been at its current location, next to the West End Collegiate Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, since the late 1800s.

Some controversy surrounds the actual founding date. Prior to the mid-eighties, the common belief was that the school had been founded in 1638, placing it two years later than the founding of Harvard University and seven years before the founding date of the Boston Latin School. Historian Massimo Maglione, an Upper School teacher at Collegiate, conducted research into the accuracy of this date and found evidence that the school had in fact been founded ten years prior, in 1628, which would make Collegiate the oldest secondary school still operating in North America.

[edit] The School

[edit] Mission

Currently, the school teaches students in grades K-12. The school's mission is the following: Collegiate School strives to educate each boy to reach his highest level of intellectual, ethical, artistic, and physical development. Drawing on what is known about boys' growth and learning, the school offers a rigorous K-12 program rich in opportunities for cultivating individual talents and interests in a climate of collaboration and respect. Collegiate continues its historic tradition in New York City of educating a diverse and talented student body and of helping boys to become independent adults and responsible citizens who will lead and serve.

[edit] Campus

The campus, located between 77th and 78th Streets and West End Avenue, consists of four separate buildings: The “Old Building,” Platten Hall, West End Plaza, and a new six-story extension that bridges Platten Hall with West End Plaza. The four-story “Old Building” is part of the original church and is home to the “Upper School,” grades 9-12. Platten Hall, originally eight stories, was extended in 1990 by two floors. It includes two gyms (in addition to the “Alumni” Gym located next to the “Old Building”), The Ann and Edgar Bronfman Theatre, the “Lower School” (grades 1-4), the "Middle School" (grades 5-8), a full-service library, music and art studio facilities, a dark room, a computer lab, a weight-lifting room, and the science department. West End Plaza is a hotel that was purchased by the school in 1977. Though it still serves as a residence, Collegiate has renovated several floors into administrative offices, classrooms for the Kindergarten (added in 1997), “Lower School” and the "Middle School" (grades 5-8), and a cafeteria. All four buildings border a courtyard (albeit very small) where students of all grades can congregate.

[edit] Structure

Each grade has approximately 45 boys, many of whom attend Collegiate for the full course of study, thirteen years (nicknamed "Survivors"). A financial aid program attempts to ensure that the boys remain moderately heterogeneous; as with many of its peer NYC schools, however, many of the boys have parents who can afford the high tuition. More than a quarter of Collegiate teachers hold a PhD, and many teach college courses at night and during the summer.

The school is private, though it functions under a New York City non-profit statute enacted in the 1940s. Collegiate is controlled by a Board of Trustees, and the school is administered by a Headmaster.

[edit] Leadership

Collegiate's Board of Trustees selected Dr. Lee M. Levison to serve as the school's 28th Headmaster, replacing Dr. W. Lee Pierson, who served as interim headmaster for two years after Mr. Kerry Brennan left to become headmaster at The Roxbury Latin School, following just a three-year tenure at Collegiate. Dr. Levison, head of school at the Kingswood-Oxford School for many years, began serving at Collegiate July 1, 2006.

[edit] Curriculum

Collegiate's Upper School (high school) curriculum consists of English, Math, Science, History, Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish, French, or Chinese), Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek), Religion & Ethics, Music, Visual Art, Drama, Technology, and Physical Education.

  • English: In the Freshman year of English, students examine fiction through the study of novels and short stories and explore a wide variety of poets and poetic forms. A semester is also devoted to world literature which is done in conjuncture with the History Department. In the Sophomore year of English, students examine the epic and tragedy while focusing on their essay writing. Students read Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's Henry 4, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Milton's Paradise Lost, Sophocles' Oedipus the King, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Electives in English, available starting Junior year, in recent years have varied to include Modernism and the Manufacture of Form, 19th Century American Literature, 20th Century American Literature, The Art of Horror: The Horror of Art, Beyond Good and Evil, Creative Writing, Shakespeare, Elizabethan and Jacobean Literature, European Modernism, Fundamentals of Fiction, Literature of the Irrational Mind, Melville, Russian and Chinese Literature, New York City in Literature, Postcolonial Literature, Japanese Literature, The Autobiographical Self, The Eloquent Essay, The Essay: Aesthetics, Literature of the Quest, The Essay: Writing About Science, and The Romantic Movement. The Collegiate School is well-known for its superb English department.

  • Mathematics: Collegiate's Mathematics Department offers a wide variety of courses including Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, chaos and fractal geometry, algebra II, precalculus, calculus, statistics, geographic information systems, and symbolic logic.
  • Science: Freshman year science consists of biology. Sophomore year science consists of chemistry. After that students may choose electives in physics, earth science, human anatomy and physiology, marine biology, and controversial topics in biology.
  • History: After an initial Freshman year of World History II (continuing from 8th Grade), and the sophomore survey of U.S. history, students may choose history electives in a variety of interests such as Advanced European and U.S. history, African history, economics, history of psychological thought, Latin American history, Modern China and Japan, Modern South Asia, U.S. Urban Politics, and U.S. Women's history.
  • Foreign Languages: Students must take either Spanish, French, or Chinese for four years in the Upper School. Students can also take Latin, Ancient Greek and German.
  • Religion: The religion department studies and addresses various world theologies and traditions, as well as topics in ethics such as social and biomedical issues.
  • Visual Art: Students may chose electives in art history, architectural design, digital imagery, ceramics, painting, drawing, printmaking, and web design.
  • Drama: Collegiate's drama department puts on around 5-8 productions per year. The school's unique location in the theatrical capital of the world allows it to make usage of the many performances of professional theater that occur in New York City. Students not interested in acting can serve as theater technicians or as design and stage creators.
  • Music: Collegiate's music department offers courses in Afro-Latin Drumming (Djembe, Dundun, etc.), music theory and composition, chorus, orchestra, world music, applied music, and music tech (using computers and synths to create original compositions). Students are also encouraged and given the freedom and time needed to create their own rock/pop bands.

[edit] Rankings

While Collegiate's small size precluded it from being included in an official ranking of schools' college matriculation lists conducted by the Wall Street Journal, the Journal did note that Collegiate's college admissions percentages would have placed first on the list were it not for the school's small size.[3] Furthermore, in 2002, Worth Magazine ranked Collegiate third of the nation's independent schools in terms of percentage of graduates attending Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University.

[edit] Sports and Co-Curricular Activities

The sporting pride of the school lies in the Varsity Basketball, Baseball, and running teams (Cross Country, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track). Collegiate also has Varsity and JV Soccer, Wrestling, Fencing, Lacrosse, and Tennis teams. Students not participating in a sport take either P.E. or weightlifting. Yearly fitness tests are administered to test the fitness of the students. Under the careful leadership of Coach George Calano, the school's Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track teams have become nationally recognized for their depth and strength. In 2006 Collegiate's Cross Country team was #3 in the nation, especially impressive considering the team's small size.

The school has a considerable number of clubs, especially in the Upper School. They include:

  • Student Government
  • The Journal, the school's student-run newspaper
  • The Dutchman, the school's student-run yearbook
  • Debate Team, a nationally competitive team in Lincoln-Douglas Debate
  • JAMAA, a support organization for minority students
  • Asian Cultural Society, an organization which discusses issues relevant to Asian culture
  • Community Service Club
  • Model UN
  • Young Democrats
  • Young Republicans & Conservatives
  • Prufrock, the school's literary magazine
  • Charabia, the school's French language magazine
  • Herencia, the school's Spanish language magazine
  • Forum, the school's classics magazine
  • CENIC, the school's environmental awareness club
  • Science Olympiad, compete at the city and state level
  • C-Tech, the school's play production club
  • Content, Collegiate's diversity club
  • Foreign Policy, a discussion group

[edit] Notable alumni

Some notable people attended Collegiate but left the school before graduation. In particular, John F. Kennedy, Jr. attended Collegiate for the first through tenth grades.

[edit] Affiliated Organizations

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Collegiate's Arithmetic Makes It Oldest School New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 5, 1985. pg. A.54
  2. ^ Multiple sources cited for the founding date of The Collegiate School Google Answers: oldest independent school. Retrieved on April 19, 2006.
  3. ^ April 2, 2004 Wall Street Journal, Cover Story (Personal Journal)


Ivy Preparatory School League
Collegiate School • Dalton School • Fieldston School • Hackley School
Horace Mann School • Poly Prep • Riverdale Country School • Trinity School
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