Westover School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Westover School
Cogitare Agere Esse
To Think, to Do, to Be
Established 1909
School type All Girls, Private school
Religious affiliation Nondenominational
Head of School Ann Pollina
Location Middlebury, Connecticut, USA
Campus 125 acres
Enrollment 203 students
(65% boarding, 35% day)
Faculty 59 teachers
Average class size 11 students
Student:teacher
ratio
1:7
Average SAT
scores (2004)
1222
Athletics 10 interscholastic sports teams
Color(s) Blue and Gold
Mascot Wildcat
Homepage www.westoverschool.org

The Westover School, often referred to simply as "Westover," is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women, located in Middlebury, Connecticut offering grades 9-12. It has an endowment of $41 million.

[edit] Notable Alumnae

Sylvia Shaw Judson (aka Sylvia Shaw Haskins), Class of 1915 (d) Sculptor, creator of "Bird Girl" (used on the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Evil) and many other works

Edith Cummings Munson, Class of 1917 (d)national women's golf champion (1923) and the first American woman on the cover of Time magazine (Aug. 25, 1924)

Ginevra King Pirie, Class of 1917 (d) Chicago socialite who was F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for the character of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (Their story is the subject of The Perfect Hour: The Romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ginevra King, His First Love by James L.W. West III).

Katharine Ordway, Class of 1917 (d)Philanthropist whose support for land conservation was detailed in Katharine Ordway: The Lady Who Saved the Prairies.

Mary Bush House, Class of 1917 (d) Margaret Bush Clement, Class of 1918 (d) Sisters of Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush, aunts of President George H.W. Bush, and great-aunts of President George W. Bush (about a dozen other Bush relatives are Westover alumnae)

Alice Tully, Class of 1920 (d) Philanthropist, patron of New York City's music institutions. Lincoln Center's chamber music hall is named after her.

Polly Thayer Starr, Class of 1922 (d) Artist whose paintings and drawings are part of permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, among other institutions.

Minnie Cushing Astor Fosburgh, Class of 1925 (d), Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney, Class of 1928 (d) and Babe Cushing Mortimer Paley, Class of 1934 (d) The Cushing Sisters were socialites whose marriages connected them to some of the most noted and wealthy families in America of mid-20th century American (the Astors, Roosevelts, Whitneys, Mortimers,and Paleys). Their lives were detailed in The Sisters: The Lives and Times of the Fabulous Cushing Sisters by David Grafton.

Kate Rand Lloyd, Class of 1944 An editor at several magazines (Glamour, Vogue) and editor-in-chief at Working Woman during a 47-year career in magazine publishing.

Katherine Woodruff Fanning, Class of 1946 (d) Editor of The Christian Science Monitor from 1983-1988, Editor and Publisher of The Anchorage Daily News from 1971-1983 (which won a Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service in 1976 for a series on the Alaska Teamster's Union during the construction of the Alaska pipeline).

Susan Silliman Addiss, Class of 1947 Served as Commissioner of Health for the State of Connecticut from 1991 to 1995 under Governor Lowell Weicker.

Jennifer Robbins Manocherian, Class of 1956 Successful Broadway producer, including the Tony-Award-winning The Boyfriend and a revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

Eunice Strong Groark, Class of 1956 Former Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1991-1995, and candidate for Governor on the Connecticut Party ticket in 1994 (member of Hartford City Council 1981-1985, Hartford Corporation Council 1987-1990, executive director of the Connecticut Bar Association 1977-1981).

Sally Hoover Zeckhauser, Class of 1960 Harvard University's Vice President for Administration (from 1987 to the present) and the University's first female vice president.

Tina Read Frost, Class of 1960 (d) Rhode Island Deputy Secretary of State in the early 1980s.

Laurie Lisle, Class of 1961 Former Newsweek writer and author of three books, Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe; Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life; and Without Child: Challenging the Stigma of Childlessness. She is currently at work on the first 100 years of Westover School.

Amanda Mortimer Burden, Class of 1962 Director of New York City's City Planning Department in the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from 2002 through the present (daughter of Babe Cushing Paley '34)

Kitty Hawks, Class of 1963 Celebrated New York interior designer.

Eleanor Dean Acheson, Class of 1965 Assistant Attorney General for Policy Development in the U.S. Department of Justice during the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 2001.

Debbie Massey, Class of 1968 Member of the LPGA Golf tour from 1977-1995 (she was the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1977). Earlier, as a member of the amateur tour she won 11 golf championships in five years and was named Woman Amateur Golfer of the year by Golf Digest. She represented the U.S. on two U.S. Curtis Cup teams and two World Cup teams. She holds an unequaled American record in Curtis Cup competition - 5-0-0.

Elizabeth "Beppie" Huidekoper, Class of 1970 Harvard University's Vice President for Finance from 1996 until 2002 (she and fellow Westover alumna, Sally Hoover Zeckhauser '60, have been the only female Vice Presidents of Harvard and they served there together while Beppie was at Harvard). She has been Brown University's Vice President for Finance since 2002.

Soomi Lee, Class of 1975 and Mihae Lee, Class of 1976 Cousins with careers as concert pianists and music instructors

Victoria Schaefer Blewer, Class of 1978 Fine art photographer

Gae Zimmerman Savannah, Class of 1978 Artist and instructor

Ann Vileisis, Class of 1985 Environmental educator and writer, author of Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America's Wetlands

Zein Hussein, Class of 1986 Jordanian Princess, daughter of the late King Hussein

Camilla Bradley, Class of 1994 Went on to graduate from Trinity College. Created the nationally famous CK Bradley fashion line of clothing and accessories.

Ambika Conroy, Class of 1998 Swimsuit designer whose work has been featured in the 2001 and 2002 Sports Illustrated "Swimsuit Editions," as well as in Vogue and Women's Wear Daily.

Savannah Knoop, Class of 1999 The face of the JT Leroy literary hoax.

Mothers of Noted Actors: Grace Ewing Huffman, Class of 1940 (mother of actress Felicity Huffman, star of television's Sports Night, Desperate Housewives and Oscar-nominated star of Transamerica) Barbara Lamb Johnson, Class of 1949 (mother of actor Christopher Reeve) Penny Levy Peet, Class of 1959 (mother of actress Amanda Peet of Something's Got to Give and other recent films)

[edit] External links