Newton Country Day School
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| [[Image:]] | |
| Established | 1880 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private, Females only |
| Founder | ?? |
| Faculty | ? |
| Students | 380 |
| Grades | 5-12 |
| Location | Newton, Massachusetts, USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colors | Blue and Silver |
| Mascot | Falcon |
| Website | www.newtoncountryday.org |
Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (often abbreviated to Newton Country Day School, Newton, or NCDS) is a private, all-girls Roman Catholic high school in Newton, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
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[edit] Background
Founded in 1880, Newton Country Day School is a member of the international Network of Sacred Heart Schools, which spans forty-four countries and twenty-one cities in the United States.
All Sacred Heart schools are associated with and live by the values of the Society of the Sacred Heart, founded by Saint Philippine Duchesne and Saint Madeleine Sophie.
The motto of the school is "Courage and Confidence".
[edit] Academics
Academics at Newton Country Day School are rigorous and demanding.[citation needed] The school offers 19 Advanced Placement courses, including Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, English, and History. Roughly three quarters of students graduate having taken at least one AP course.
A sampling of recent college enrollment includes Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard, Holy Cross, New York University, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Princeton, Tufts, University of Chicago, Wellesley, and Yale.[1]
[edit] Athletics
Newton Country Day is a member of the Eastern Independent League (EIL) and competes against member schools and other independent schools throughout New England. [2].
The school fields 33 teams in 12 interscholastic sports over the course of three seasons, at the middle school, junior varsity, and varsity levels. Athletics teams include soccer, cross country, field hockey, basketball, ice hockey, squash, volleyball, tennis, lacrosse, softball, sailing, and golf.
Newton's varsity softball team is, as of June 2007, undefeated for two straight years. The team captured the Eastern Independent League regular season and post-season championships in 2006 and 2007.
Newton's varsity hockey team won the regular season title as well as the EIL tournament championship in 2007-2008.
[edit] Arts
The school offers various opportunities to take part in the arts, both in and outside of class. Courses in the visual arts are offered through the AP level. Shakespeare performance projects are performed by each grade beginning in grade 6. The school stages at least 4 major dramatic productions per year. Dance classes range from ballet to jazz to modern to liturgical, and the upper school Dance Team performs in competitions throughout New England. The Middle School Chorus and Upper School Chorale are the heart of the music programs, and are supplemented by the Gospel Choir, the Heartbeats (a capella group), and the Instrumental Ensemble, among other groups.
NCDS performs annually in the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild. In 2007, the group performed an original adaptation of Edith Wharton's short story Xingu,[3] and reached the semi-final round, earning 4 all-star cast awards and an award for best stage design.
The Medley, Newton's annual literary journal, is student-run under the direction of a faculty advisor, and accepts submissions of prose, poetry, photography, and other art. The Medley was named a 2007 National Scholastic Press Association Magazine Pacemaker Finalist, with comments by the judges naming the Medley a "smaller but beautifully focused presentation"[4].
[edit] Extracurriculars
Newton Country Day offers more than 40 opportunities for extracurricular involvement. All students choose one or more "committee" to take part in, which meet at designated assembly times during the week. Committees include Amnesty International, Economics Committee, Environmental Awareness Committee, Liturgical Dance, Model United Nations, Peer Education, Photo Journalism, P.R.I.S.M. (People for a Racially Inclusive Society of Multiculturalism), Service Committee, and the Step Team.
[edit] Technology
NCDS has an extensive technology program dating to the mid-1990s. The middle school technology program includes a one period course in which students are introduced to the uses of Microsoft Office applications (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), Macromedia Flash, the Internet, etc. The technology course is often used in conjunction with students' science, math, or history classes in teaching research skills and data analysis. In the upper school, all new students receive a laptop as part of the technology program. Laptops are integrated into most classes, whether it is for note-taking, project presentations, research, data analysis, computer-aided experimentation, or online language labs. All students and faculty have school email addresses via the First Class email client, which is used as an additional line of communication for assignments or out-of-class discussions.
[edit] Traditions
Blue and Silver Teams: Competitive interschool "teams" based on the school colors that offer opportunities for a friendly and constructive rivalry. All members of the Newton Country Day School community are inducted into either the Blue or Silver Team during the fall of their first year at Newton. Throughout the school year, the teams compete for points in various areas of school life, including school spirit, participation and attendance at school events, Halloween costume competition, Congé, etc. At the end of the year, the team with the greater number of points is awarded the traditional Blue-Silver Trophy.
Congé: Congé, a French word meaning "holiday", is a surprise, in-school holiday during which the usual class schedule is suspended in favor of fun activities that help to build community. Planned by the Committee of Games, Congé is traditionally announced mid-morning by Seniors, sparking bursts of excitement and laughter throughout the school halls. Recent Congés have featured game shows and trivia contests, carnival games and other activities.
Ring Ceremony: Held in the Spring of each year, Ring Ceremony is one of the most anticipated events in a girl’s career at NCDS. The class ring marks a student’s transition from junior to senior year.
Vespers: Each December just before Christmas, the school community, including students and their families, faculty and alumnae, gather for Advent worship. A popular family tradition, Newton Country Day School's Vespers features the school's acclaimed Schola Cantorum, as well as the Middle School Chorus and Upper School Chorale, Gospel Choir, Liturgical Dancers, and Instrumental Ensembles. [5]
[edit] Notable Alumnae
- Sarah Van Patten, principal dancer, San Francisco Ballet
- Niia Bertino '05, musician, featured on Wyclef Jean's 2007 top 20 single, "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)"
[edit] Really Cool Current Students
- Deebz*
- Amburger*
- Sash*, these three are aka the Black Winged Bush Tits
- Sofa*
- Sweet-stuff*
- Franny*
- Tinkerbell*
- Keeya*
- Ms. Holiness*
