Calhoun School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established | 1896 |
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| Type | Private |
| Head of School | Steve Nelson |
| Students | approx. 750 |
| Location | 433 West End Avenue, New York, NY 10024, New York City, New York, United States |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Green and White |
| Mascot | Cougar |
| Newspaper | The Issue |
| Lower School Location | 160 West 74th Street
New York, NY 10023 |
| Average Class Size | 12 - 15 |
| Student to Teacher Ratio | 7:1 |
| Website | http://www.calhoun.org/ |
The Calhoun School is an independent, coeducational college preparatory school located in New York City's Upper West Side. Classes are offered for preschool (3s and 4s) through 12th grade. It was founded in 1896, and currently has approximately 750 students enrolled in the lower, middle and upper schools.
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[edit] Philosophy
The Calhoun School is committed to a progressive educational approach that values intellectual pursuit, creativity, diversity, and community involvement. It accepts about 35% of students that apply.
[edit] History
In 1896, The Calhoun School was founded by Laura Jacobi as the Jacobi School in a brownstone at 158–160 West 80th Street. Originally, the Calhoun School was an all-girls school, but it went co-ed in 1971.
[edit] Athletics
Calhoun has revampled its entire athletic program, thanks to a new full-size gym and fitness room, completed in September 2004 as part of a major renovation. The school offers an extensive physical education program that promotes team play and individual fitness. Among the special electives are pilates, weight training, and a Project Adventure facility that includes rock-climbing walls. Calhoun plays interscholastic sports as part of the Independent Schools Athletic League (New York), GISAL, PSAL, and PSAA leagues. Varsity teams have recently won three championships: Men's ISAL Basketball in 2005 and 2006 (undefeated) and Men's PSAA Volleyball in 2006 (undefeated). Students also excel in track-and-field: three team members recently qualified for New York State Championships.
[edit] Facilities
The Calhoun School's 200 preschoolers, 3s through first graders, are taught at the Robert L. Beir Building, on West 74th St between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenue, in a completely renovated five-story townhouse. The building houses one of Calhoun's two theaters, its own gym and rooftop garden, as well as large, bright classrooms, a library, an art/woodshop. and an outdoor play terrace.
Grades 2–12 are taught in the Main Building, located on West 81st St and West End Avenue. Originally completed in 1975, the building was designed by Costas Machlouzarides. (The building is easy to spot as the façade once looked like the front of a television set.) Calhoun prides itself on its free and open learning experience, and the building's architecture reflects this. Wide expanses of window help create a light, open environment. Instead of halls and classrooms, the first three academic floors are divided into classroom areas by bookshelves, dividers and flexible walls.
In September of 2004, Calhoun completed a 4-year renovation of its main building. Four more stories were added, including the following:
- A full-sized gym and weight room
- A performing arts center with theater and rehearsal rooms
- Three new, fully equipped science labs
- A greatly expanded art studio with kiln, darkroom, and woodshop
- Additional classrooms for language classes
- An eco-friendly Green Roof Learning Center that also provides programmable space for educational purposes, light recreation, and the school's herb and vegetable garden (for the school's nutritious lunch program).
[edit] Architecture
Commonly called the "television" building, due to its obvious resemblance to a CRT television, the Calhoun School building was completed in 1975 and designed by Costas Machlouzarides. In year 2000 The Calhoun School hired Sciame Architects Inc. to do a 4 story renovation, which was to be completed for the 2004 school year. Most would agree that the performing arts center with theater and rehearsal rooms were the most well thought out additions, if not the only ones. The initial reaction to the Gymnasium was one of great ecstasy because it was now qualified to host sporting events (the old gym wasn't big enough to play ISAL or GSAL Basketball games); however, the students quickly realized that it was not actually full-sized. In fact its width is quite undersized due to a poor layout of an entire hallway dedicated to elevator openings, making not only impossible to have full width, but also impossible to have more than 1 row of bleachers. Some may argue that the wall separating the elevator hallway and the gym make is what makes it possible to have a mezzanine, but that is obviously not the case because the wall is not a weight-bearing wall and is just drywall. The school also has temperature control problems due to the building "equilibrium" system. For example if it is above room temperature in the chemistry lab and a window is opened the buildings system will sense that cool air is making the temperature drop making it try to stabilize the entire buildings temperature, making some classrooms unbearably hot, when in reality only one room is cooling down. Because of various architectural deficiencies the Calhoun student body is constantly complaining about the schools noise pollution, bathroom layout, central temperature system, etc.
[edit] Performing Arts
Calhoun's new Mary Lea Johnson Performing Arts Center is used for student productions, assemblies, and school events, as well as for Calhoun's Performing Arts Series, open to the public. The yearly series hosts professional Children's Theater, Music Concerts, Dance, Documentary Films, and Town Hall Meetings and Lectures, all at nominal cost. The guests artists and speakers bring added richness to the school and local community; students and faculty have the added benefit of meeting with many of these artists and guest speakers prior to the events, in class or specially arranged assembly programs.
[edit] Distinguished Alumni
- Ben Stiller ’83, American comedian, actor, and film director
- Wendy Wasserstein ’67, playwright and author
- Ann Godoff ’68, president and publisher, Penguin Press
- Suzi Oppenheimer ’52, New York State Senator, 36th District of Westchester, New York
- Allyson Young Schwartz ’66, Democratic Pennsylvania Congresswoman
- Jordan Peele ’97, Actor-Comedian, MAD TV
- Peggy Guggenheim 1915, patron of the arts
- Toby Emmerich, '81, president of production at Newline Cinema
- Adam Redfield, '77, actor
