North Shore Country Day School

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North Shore Country Day School
Diller Street Theater
Live and Serve
Established 1919
School type Suburban, Private school
Religious affiliation Nonsectarian
Head of School Tom Doar III
Location Winnetka, Illinois, USA
Enrollment 178 upper school students
Athletics 19 interscholastic sports teams
Color(s) Purple and White
Mascot Raider
Homepage [2]

North Shore Country Day School or NSCDS, is a small private school founded in 1919 which is located in Winnetka, Illinois.[1] It has a lower school, middle school, and upper school. The upper school contains up to 180 students.

Contents

[edit] History

It was founded during the Country Day School movement with the goal of providing a progressive education with the advantages of a boarding school but with students able to live at home. There are no class rankings and no academic awards.[2] The founder and first headmaster was Perry Dunlap Smith, a disciple of Francis Wayland Parker.

The school was one of 27 schools selected from a group of 250 candidate schools in the U.S. chosen in 1933 for alternative admission standards for admission to 200 selective colleges. As a progressive country day school, there was to be an enriched core curriculum with independent study.[3][4] The school sought to fit the curriculum to the students' needs, rather than to require a fixed course of instruction.[5][6]

At the height of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, in 1963, the school was one of 21 schools that publicly supported the Kennedy administration's policies of racial equality, stating that independent schools must offer the benefits of a quality education to all qualified students.[7]

[edit] Buildings

[edit] Upper School

The Upper School contains almost all of the classes for high school students. (9th Grade to 12th Grade) For arts or science, students walk to the Arts Center/ Science Center. The Upper School also contains the admissions offices, administration offices, alumni office, college councelling offices.

[edit] Arts Center

The Arts Center caters to the entire student community. There are class rooms for woodshop, chorus, ceramics, middle school band/ upper school band, practice rooms, art rooms. The Arts Center in adddition has a photography lab and a scene shop. There is also a hallway which leads to the backstage of the Diller Street Theater.

[edit] Middle School/Science Center

The Middle School contains class rooms for the Middle Schoolers (6th Grade to 8th Grade). A recent addition on the roof of the Middle School now serves as the Science Center. The Science Center contains the Biology Lab, Chemistry Lab, Physics room, Multipurpose Room, teachers lounge, meeting rooms, and a computer lab. Equipment is state of the art and up to date with state codes. The Middle School also contains the West Gym, which is used for many different purposes, and the library.

[edit] Lower School

The Lower School is the building which contains most of the classes for Junior Kindergarden through 5th graders. The Lower School was recently refinished.

[edit] Mac Gym

The Mac Gym is outside of the Upper School. It is the biggest gym and it has a pool next to it. In the winter the pool is covered up, but in the summer it is used frequently for day camps. The Mac Gym is where all of the basketball and volleyball games are held. It also has a workout room under it, where PE, track, and people who want to work out go.

[edit] West Gym

The West Gym is North Shore Country Day School's smaller gym. It is older than the Mac Gym, and is above the Cafeteria. The West Gym is used for P.E. and Sunday indoor soccer games. Also sports practices are held here.

[edit] Diller Street Theater

The Diller Street Theater is where most of the plays are performed. The students go to the Diller Street Theater almost every Monday and Wednesday to see the Morning Ex. Many choral and musical pieces are played here.

[edit] Interim

Every year in November, students partake in an event in which learning outside the classroom takes place for a week. The teachers come up with different ideas, and the students sign-up for different activities throughout the week. Teachers can choose community services, trips, and other things. Every student has to do one community service in his or her four years at North Shore. After the week is up, the students work together to create a presentation that shows what they did for Interim Night. Interim Night is when all of the faculty, students, and parents come together to see what different activities occurred over the week.


[edit] Student Meetings

[edit] Morning Ex

Almost every Monday and Wednesday, all of the students in the Upper, Middle, and Lower School come together in the Diller Street Theater to view a presentation. Plays and concerts are previewed here.

[edit] Community Gathering

Every Tuesday, the whole Upper School meets in the Science Center and gives out announcements, such as birthdays, club meetings, and sports. The gathering is lead by Student Council Co-Presidents. This year, they are Scott Nicholson and Bert Kelly-Jarchow. It is a chance for students to let others know about when things are happening. It informs the school about what we need to work on and how we should act.

[edit] Town Meeting

Some weeks North Shore has Town Meeting rather that Morning Ex. Town Meeting takes place in the library or Diller Street Theater. Students usually listen to a speaker where issues such as life, death, AIDS awareness, drug and alcohol awareness are discussed.

[edit] Homeroom

On Thursdays, students attend to their homerooms to talk and discuss current events. It is like Community Gathering except it takes place in each homeroom class and only one grade is with each other.

[edit] Student Clubs

There are many student run organizations and clubs at North Shore Country Day School. Every Tuesday and Friday at 2:10, students have forty minutes of clubs time to do different activities. Below are clubs and classes are very important to the students and school.

  • Student Council - Students are elected for the council by their classes to discuss different things throughout North Shore.
  • The Mirror - School yearbook. Students and teachers actively contribute, taking pictures of advisories, clubs, and events at North Shore.
  • Music Ensemble - students and their teachers in the music ensemble perform for the school during Morning Ex's or designated nights.
  • Chorus - Students and teachers practice singing songs. Several times a year, they perform for the school.
  • Community Service Club - Students and teachers create ideas about how to help the needy and will have many different types of "drives."
  • Diller Street Journal - Students and teachers print a newspaper helping students find out what is happening around North Shore.
  • Gay-Straight Alliance - Students meet together once a week to discuss Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual related issues.
  • Dance Club - Students, with the help of some teachers, work together to create dances for school events.
  • Ultimate Frisbee Club - Students meet on one of the fields of North Shore and play pick up games.
  • Photography Club - Students devlop Black and White film, critique each others prints, discuss techniques and talk about all things photography.
  • Kaleidoscope - Students and teachers meet together to discuss social problems.
  • International Club - Students and teachers learn about different cultures and serve corresponding ethnic foods.
  • P.I.L.L.O.W.S. - Students and teachers get together in the Senior Lounge and do what they want, whether it's a poem, music, or nothing.
  • Environmental Club - Students and teachers discuss ways to clean up the Skokie Lagoon, forest preserve, and recycle around the school. Every Tuesday and Friday during clubs time, students volunteer to go around and recycle everything in the school.
  • Prosody - The school literary journal. Students submit their pictures or stories to Prosody. It is then published and distributed among teachers and the student body.

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Sports

North Shore is a member of the Chicago Independent School League and competes against eight other independent schools in the Chicago area. [8]

Fall:

Winter:

Spring:

[edit] Mascot and Icon

North Shore's mascot is a raider. This can commonly be confused with the school's icon, which is an acorn.

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Old-fashioned progressive." Time Apr. 5, 1954. retrieved Nov. 21, 2006
  2. ^ North Shore Country Day School, Winnetkahistory.org. retrieved November 20, 2006
  3. ^ "High Schools Begin A Big Experiment; Group Named to Test Newer Methods Under a Revised College Entrance Plan. 200 Colleges To Assist Units Scattered Over the Country Join in Effort to Systematize Student's Educational Career." By Wilford M. Aikin, Chairman Commission on the Relation of School and College. The New York Times. New York, N.Y.: June 4, 1933. pg. E7
  4. ^ "'Progressives' Hail New Type School; Advocates of 'Unshackled' Preparation Say Students Met College Tests. Entered Without Credits Records of 332 Men, Women In 18 Institutions Are Offered for Comparison. Social Problems Emphasized." By Eunive Barnard. The New York Times. New York, N.Y.: August 1, 1937. pg. 77
  5. ^ "Tiny College Offers New Teaching Course; Illinois Institution Trains the Students to Aid Creative Ability of Children," The New York Times. New York, N.Y.: November 21, 1937. pg. 5
  6. ^ [1] Aikin, Wilford M. Adventure In American Education Volume I: The Story of the Eight-Year Study" Publisher: Harper and Brothers;New York and London. 1st edition (1942). ASIN: B000CEBXUU. retrieved Nov. 20, 2006
  7. ^ "Private Schools Support Equality; Racial Statement Backed by 21 Secondary Educators", The New York Times. New York, N.Y.: September 1, 1963. p. 43
  8. ^ North Shore Athetics. Dec. 09 2006. <http://nscds.org/campus/athletics/philosophy/>

[edit] External links

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