Norwich Free Academy

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The Norwich Free Academy
Location
Norwich, Connecticut, USA
Coordinates 41°32′13″N 72°04′52″W / 41.537, -72.081Coordinates: 41°32′13″N 72°04′52″W / 41.537, -72.081
Information
Head teacher Superintendent Mark E. Cohan, Ph.D.
Students About 2400
Faculty About 130
Type Public (often described as Independent)
Motto Tradition & Innovation
Color(s) Red & White
Established 1854
Athletics Eastern CT Conference

Class LL
Homepage http://www.norwichfreeacademy.com

The Norwich Free Academy (commonly called "NFA") founded in 1854 and in operation since 1856, is a high school located in the city of Norwich, Connecticut. The Academy serves as the primary high school for Norwich and the surrounding towns of Canterbury, Bozrah, Voluntown, Sprague, Lisbon, Franklin, Preston and several others. It was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 2001, despite having an ERG of H, the second-lowest level of affluence that the rating provides for. The class of 2006 gratuated in NFA's 150th year of operation.

The Norwich Free Academy was incorporated in 1855 by an act of the Connecticut Legislature, and it operates as an endowed educational institution. It is governed by its Board of Trustees without control from either the City of Norwich or the Norwich Public Schools. The Academy therefore describes itself as an independent school. The Connecticut State Department of Education does not list NFA in its list of non-public schools [1] and therefore considers it to be a public school because the state of Connecticut oversees the school [2]. NFA is a member of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools [3].

Contents

[edit] Campus

NFA is located at 305 Broadway [4] across from Park Church and the Chelsea Parade.

[edit] Alumni Hall

Named in honor of numerous alumni who contributed to its construction, this is the newer and larger gymnasium. This concrete building is where all indoor sporting events and many assemblies/dances are held.

[edit] Shattuck House

Shattuck House is the building in which most upperclassmen English and history-based classes are held; consisting of three floors of classrooms in the larger section of the building, as well as a smaller section that houses four other classrooms as well as the Shattuck main offices.

[edit] Levanto House

This building is used for all alumni affairs, and should not be confused with Alumni Hall. It is named in honor of a former superintendent, Joseph Levanto.

[edit] Bradlaw House

Main building for most math and computer related classes. There are also Tech Ed classes in the basement, and painting and sculpture classes held on the main floor. The structure was named after a former teacher, Paul Bradlaw, progenitor of the Academy's formerly successful and renowned printing and publishing program. In 2005, the Bradlaw House had a major addition put on it, the Sidney E. Frank Center for Visual and Performing Arts.

[edit] Converse Art Gallery

The gallery and building is named in the memory of Colonel John Converse. The Converse building holds various art, English, marine biology and mathematics classes on the first floors and basement. Capped with a large pyramid skylight for a roof, the upper floor is home to the Converse Art Gallery on the third floor, showcasing quite a bit of student work as well as that of other local artists.

[edit] Cranston House

Cranston, formerly known as Commercial, was established as the ninth grade house in the early 1990s and the building now houses very few classes for upperclassmen. The cooking classroom, as well as The Brickview Inn, a student run alternative to the cafeteria, is located in the basement of the building. Classes include all freshmen level academics, as well as some business classes. The roof of the Cranston building sports an astronomical observatory donated by members of the Mallove and Albertson families.

[edit] The Brickview Inn

The Brickview Inn was originally opened on the third floor of the Bradlaw House before it moved its facilities. It gained the name because of the prominence of the red brick that composed the nearby Tirrell House, Slater Hall and Converse Art Gallery. Now located in the basement of the Cranston House, the Brickview is managed entirely by the student body. The Restaurant Management class uses this as their classroom, with the seniors who elect to take the course managing, shopping for, cooking and serving the food to guests. The Brickview serves gourmet and often exotic meals to students on Tuesdays and Thursdays from October to May. The restaurant has a homestyle theme, with paintings on the walls and various plants.

[edit] Latham Science and Information Center

Latham is home to many science classrooms. A number of modernized physics and chemistry labs are located in this building. There are also a few meeting rooms and offices However, Latham's most notable point is the Land Library upstairs. Spanning two floors, the library contains a comprehensive selection of books ranging from fiction to nonfiction, volumes of poetry, biographies, references, archives and mircofilm. It also has numerous computer terminals for online information.

The building is named after Nathaniel Latham, and the Library after Edwin H. Land, the inventor of the Polaroid, both alumni.

[edit] Norton-Peck Library

The Peck Library was originally located in southwestern corner of the second floor of Slater Hall in space that is now used for museum purposes. NFA acquired the Lafayette Foster House, a large Italianite Victorian mansion, and an endowment for a library from the Norton estate about 1953, and the Peck Library was relocated into the Lafayette Foster House to create the Norton-Peck Library. The Norton-Peck Library served as the school library until Latham was constructed and connected to the house. The Norton-Peck and Land Libraries are now one building. After the library moved its collection to the more modern facilities of Land, the Lafayette Foster House was converted to use for office space and conference rooms. Occasionally, school clubs use the rooms as meeting spaces.

[edit] Norton Gymnasium

This is the older of the two gymnasia, under which the female locker room and weight rooms are held. A large multipurpose classroom utilized for CPR training, dance, and some PE classes are located on the second floor.

[edit] Slater Hall and Museum

Named in honor of John Fox Slater, it holds the theater, where many plays and concerts have been held. In the basement, there are various classes as well as the campus safety department. Above the theater, Slater Museum resides. This museum marks NFA as one of the few high schools in the nation with an active historical institution on campus. The museum contains a collection of plaster casts of famous Roman, Greek and Egyptian statues. The museum also contains numerous exhibits of colonial and historic artifacts, as well as a collection of representationalist paintings, smaller sculpture and ethnic art. [5]

[edit] Sidney E. Frank Center For Visual and Performing Arts

This building was completed in 2005 as an addition to the Bradlaw building. It has become the new home to the instrumental and vocal music programs, located in the Eva Virginia Smith Instrumental Music Suite, as well as an ensemble room, used mainly for computer presentations and small assemblies, but will hopefully be home to a recording center in the future as the Musicians Club pushes to have a place where students can record their own music. The ensemble room has all the necessary equipment and technology to do so, it just needs to be set up properly. There are a few math and social studies classrooms in this building as well. A small student art gallery is located in the lobby.

[edit] Tirrell Building

Also called Main or Main Building, it holds the TV studio and cafeteria, as well as the language classrooms, health classroom, and many science classrooms. While many students believe that this and Slater are the original two buildings, neither are right, as an older, structurally unsound, building stood where Tirrell does now. Tirrell is named after former superintendent Bill Tirrell. [6]

[edit] Demographics

Racial makeup of the school in 2006-2007 was
White 72.5%,
African American 11.4%,
Native American 1.6%,
Asian 5.7%,
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.7% of the population. [7]

The total minority population for the school in 2006-2007 was 27.5%
The total minority population for the school in 2001-2002 was 20.1%

[edit] Statistics

Graduation Rate
Graduation Rate for Class of 2006: 93.6%
State Average: 92.2% [8]

Activities of Graduates
% Attending Two or Four Year College:
2006: 82.5%
2001: 77.6% [9]

Staff Education
% of Staff with Master’s degree or Above: 84.0%
State Average: 76.0% [10]

[edit] Varsity Sport Teams at Norwich Free Academy

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] External links