Northwest School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Northwest School (originally The Northwest School of the Arts, Humanities and Environment) is a private middle and high school located on Seattle, Washington's First Hill. Founded in 1978, it is located in the 1905 Summit School building, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Literature, art history and history are taught in a combined program called Humanities, taught in a lecture and discussion format. All students take a three-year Humanities core program, one year each of Physical Science, Biology, and Chemistry, and a minimum of three years each of mathematics and a foreign language. Students take two fine art classes each year, and must satisfy distributional requirements (at least one class each of theater, visual art, music, and dance). Fine Arts classes are taught by practicing professionals in the field.
The Northwest School is also famous for being the school with the most sex offenders within a five block radius in the nation as reported in Kiro 7 news.
Seniors are required to take one advanced seminar in writing, philosophy or literature, and one in the social studies—examples of courses offered in the past few years include an introductory law seminar, post-colonial studies, Latin American studies, and women's studies. Students are expected to complete two senior projects in their social studies seminar: volunteer activity with a political campaign during the first two months of the year, and a written senior thesis (20-30pp, although many students write longer papers) during the second half of the year. Seniors are also expected to continue a full academic courseload, with 2-3 courses from the mathematics, science, or language departments and at least one arts course.
Students are responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the school through the Environment program, whereby 15 to 20 minutes of time are set aside three days per week for students to clean and maintain the school. Larger-scale maintenance projects are handled by the school's single janitor and a small maintenance staff.
Notable is the school's Martin Luther King Day, organized by students. The day is spent celebrating the struggle for equal rights, human rights and other issues of social justice. This at times can be very difficult as a result of the school's lack of a substantial African American population. Seasonal festivals include ArtsFest, a yearly arts exposition, and Winterfest, the school's celebration of the sciences. A weekly community meeting brings the school together for discussions and performances.
The school's policy on behavior is "Courtesy and Common sense." Rules that do not result from this policy are usually in some way state-mandated. For example, students are no longer allowed barefoot in the hallways because there is a Washington health law against it. It also teaches that one should advocate social activism.
When a student commits a severe disciplinary infraction, he or she is said to have "initiated the process of withdrawal from the community"; the administration is, by this logic, only making the withdrawal formal, and avoiding the term 'expelled.' In many circumstances, a 'withdrawal' is the result of poor academic performance. Some, however, feel that the administrators refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions by blaming them on students. A community of expat NWS students exists in Seattle.
In 1983, a dispute between trustees and faculty resulted in the creation of the break-off Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences. Some bitter feelings remain between those on both sides to this day, and SAAS is Northwest's principal athletic and administrative rival. Despite the turmoil, The Northwest School has always been headed by one of its three founding teachers, Ellen Taussig, Paul Raymond, or Mark Terry (except for a brief period in 1991-1992 when outsider Art Scott was briefly head of school. After his dismissal, Ellen Taussig took over 'temporarily' as head; she has held the office ever since). All three (Taussig, Raymond, and Terry) are still active in the school, in either an administrative or teaching capacity.
The school has housed members of many notable bands, including Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, and Jason Finn of The Presidents of the United States of America.
Northwest has 463 students, 16% of whom are from outside the United States. There is a dormitory for students in the international program (all of whom currently hail from Asia) two blocks west of the main Summit building. Tuition in 2005-2006 was $21,475.
In the past few years, Northwest School has become a powerhouse in the world of Ultimate. Middle school and high school participation combined is over 30% of the student population. In 2005 the varsity boys team won the Western championships and Northwest students made up half of the team that captured the club national championship in the summer of 2005. The middle school team won the Spring Reign Championship in 2005 as well.
NWS students started a pioneering interscholastic curling program in 2001. However, lack of interest from other schools forced the Angry Alpacas to compete in a less competitive social setting.
A second building adjacent to the Summit School building was completed in 2006; the new addition houses an expanded photography studio, library, and computer lab. The original building has also undergone extensive interior renovation, including paint.
Entrance to Northwest is based on the Independent School Entrance Examination, reference letters, and a parental application. Students are not required to write any essays in order to gain admission. Aid is only offered to local students and admission is not "need-blind". There are no long term goals to institute a "need-blind" admissions policy.
Nearly all of the students go on to four-year colleges.
