Pingry School

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Coordinates: 40°37′11.9″N, 74°34′02″W

The Pingry School
Maxima reverentia pueris debetur
The greatest respect is due to the students.
Established 1861
School type Private, day
Religious affiliation Originally parochial, now secular
Headmaster Nathaniel E. Conard
Location Martinsville and Short Hills, NJ, USA
Campus 240 acres (971,000 m²)
Enrollment 1,020 (519 of whom attend the high school)
Faculty 146 full time
Average class size 14 students[1]

ratio = 6.99
Average SAT
scores (2007)		 Middle 50%: 610-720 critical reading, 630-710 math, 610-720 writing
Athletics 20 varsity sports
Color(s) Blue and white
Mascot Big Blue (Bear)
Conference Colonial Hills
Homepage www.pingry.org
This article is about the K-12 school in New Jersey. For the secondary school in Massachusetts, see Pingree School.

The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School (K-6) campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, and a Middle and Upper School campus in Martinsville. The school was founded in 1861 by Dr. John F. Pingry.

As of 2007, the Headmaster is Nathaniel E. Conard, and the school has an endowment of $58 million.

For 144 years, The Pingry School has stood for excellence in teaching, high moral standards, and development of integrity and character among its students. The school values ethnic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic diversity and strives to promote multicultural inclusion through its curriculum, programming, and outreach efforts to all students, faculty, and staff. Pingry is nationally recognized for its academic excellence and membership in the Cum Laude Society. In addition, The Wall Street Journal ranked Pingry the best high school in New Jersey according to its college matriculation rate for the class of 2003.

The school’s liberal arts curriculum is enriched by extracurricular activities, community service, and athletics. Pingry’s 146 full-time faculty have 11 doctorates and 67 master’s degrees, with an average tenure at Pingry of 12 years[citation needed]. The school strongly upholds the student-initiated Honor System, which dates back to 1925.

Contents

[edit] Student body

The school currently enrolls 1,020 students; 319 at Short Hills and 701 at Martinsville; 182 in the Middle School and 519 in the Upper School. Students come from 99 area communities in twelve counties and over ninety municipalities in New Jersey[citation needed]. With a rigorous admission process, Pingry welcomes students to a sustaining and supportive environment in which students are comfortable with academic competition and excel to reach educational excellence.

[edit] History

Dr. John Francis Pingry founded the school in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1861 to provide both scholastic training and moral education for boys.

The School remained at its original site until 1953, when the Pingry School moved from Elizabeth only a few blocks away to the edge of Hillside, New Jersey.

Early in 1970s two important changes occurred: Pingry began the transition to a coeducational school. The first female students, who graduated in 1976, were succeeded by other young women who today represent half the student body.

Secondly, Pingry grew again by merging with the Short Hills Country Day School to become a school with grades from Kindergarten through grade 12. Today over 300 children attend the Pingry Short Hills Campus.

In 1983, the School moved to Martinsville, a rural area in the Watchung and Somerset Hills. The campuses are approximately 25 minutes apart, and both are located near the New York metropolitan area, which continues to provide many outside resources to supplement the classroom.[1]

Since Dr. Pingry's day, there have been 15 headmasters. Currently, Nathaniel E. Conard holds the post, his appointment effective July 1, 2005. The previous headmaster, John L. Neiswender, had begun his term on July 1, 2000.

Pingry's motto is Maxima reverentia pueris debetur, a Latin phrase literally meaning "the greatest respect is owed to the boys." Since becoming co-educational, the school has modified the motto's translation to "the greatest respect is due to the students." Dr. John Pingry's personal motto, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," hangs as a sign in the Martinsville campus library.

[edit] Honor code

Before the school year begins, all students at Pingry sign an honor code, originally drafted by students in the class of 1925, and revised in 1988:[2]

"Pingry believes that students should understand and live by standards of honorable behavior, which are essentially a matter of attitude and spirit rather than a system of rules and regulations. Decent, self-respecting behavior must be based on personal integrity and genuine concern for others and on the ethical principles which are the basis of civilized society.
"The members of the Pingry community should conduct themselves in a trustworthy manner that will further the best interests of the school, their class, and any teams or clubs to which they belong. They should act as responsible members of the community, working for the common good rather than solely for personal advantage. They should honor the rights of others, conducting themselves at all times in a moral and decent manner while at Pingry and throughout their lives as citizens of and contributors to the larger community of the world."

Further, on their graded work, students are obliged to write and sign the statement, "I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment."

[edit] Graduation

Fifty-one credits are required for graduation: full-year courses carry three credits. The usual academic load is five courses. With permission, seniors with very rigorous schedules may take four courses. Classes meet for 44 minutes, four times a week (except lab sciences). The academic year is divided into two semesters. Minimum requirements for graduation are: 12 credits in English (three each year), one year-long course in art, drama, or music, nine credits in foreign language (three consecutive years of the same language at Pingry’s Upper School), nine credits in history, nine credits in mathematics, six credits of lab science, three elective credits, and two trimesters of health. Four years of physical education credit may be earned through interscholastic athletic participation, formal physical education classes, or an approved outside activity. Courses are offered at the college preparatory, honors, and advanced placement levels. Students must also complete 10 hours of community service for each year they are enrolled at Pingry.

[edit] Athletics

The school offers 28 varsity teams, with a total of 70 teams covering seventh to 12th grade. Many of the school’s athletes have been recognized as athletic scholars, and some have gone on to play for college teams.

Pingry School competes in the Colonial Hills Conference which is composed of eighteen public and parochial high schools covering Essex County, Morris County and Somerset County in west central New Jersey, under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).

Pingry is a dual member of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association and the New Jersey Independent School Athletic Association.

[edit] Facilities

Pingry has recently added a new middle school building to the Martinsville Campus. In early 2007, Forms I and II (grades 7 and 8) moved into the new building. Grade 6 will be moved from the Short Hills campus to this new facility at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. The building's most notable feature is its specially designed large common area, which will be used for assemblies of the middle school. This new wing, however, still shares the cafeteria, the library, the arts wing, and the athletic facilities with the main building.

The Pingry school's Martinsville campus has a modern-looking turquoise and pink architecture. The turquoise bricks that compose the school's central clock tower were originally supposed to be navy blue, but by the time the incorrectly colored paint arrived it was too late to make a change. The main building was designed by the architecture firm Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, and demonstrates their idiosyncratic open steel and glass style.

[edit] Student publications

[edit] Accreditation

The Pingry School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the National Association of Independent Schools, the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools, and the New Jersey Department of Education. The Pingry School is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and subscribes to its Statement of Principles of Good Practice.

[edit] Notable alumni

5 people on the 2006 Forbes 400 list graduated from the Pingry School

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of The Pingry School, accessed October 12, 2006
  2. ^ The Honor Code, accessed October 11, 2006
  3. ^ More Personal Look at DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, Government Security News, February 3, 2005
  4. ^ Mark Donohue: Master of the Science of Speed, accessed November 29, 2006
  5. ^ Thomas H. Kean, Jr. Biography (Prepared by staff of the Eagleton Institute from public sources), accessed November 29, 2006
  6. ^ National Bureau of Economic Research CV for N. Gregory Mankiw, accessed December 6, 2006
  7. ^ Andrew McCarthy at Yahoo! Movies, accessed November 29, 2006

[edit] External links


Private High Schools and Prep Schools in New Jersey
Blair Academy | Christian Brothers Academy | Delbarton School | Dwight-Englewood School | Gill St. Bernard's School | Hun School of Princeton | Lawrenceville School | Morristown-Beard School | Newark Academy | Peddie School | The Pennington School | The Pingry School | Princeton Day School | Ranney School | Rutgers Preparatory School | Seton Hall Preparatory School | Saint Benedict's Preparatory School | St. Peter's Preparatory School | Wardlaw-Hartridge School
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