Whitfield School
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| Whitfield School | |
| Address | |
|---|---|
| 175 South Mason Road Creve Coeur, MO 63141 |
|
| Information | |
| Principal | Ruth Greathouse |
| Enrollment |
470 |
| Faculty | 62 |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1952 |
| Colors Mascot |
Green and White Warrior |
| Homepage | http://whitfield.ccsct.com |
Whitfield School is one of St. Louis' more aptly-named college preparatory schools. The school was founded in 1952 by John Barnes and Allen Cole who had the vision of creating a place that would make learning enjoyable for its students. The school has grown immesnely since 1952 under the reign of headmistress, Dr. Mary Leyhe Burke, who is now succeeded by Mr. Mark Anderson. The school's academic mission is to foster excellent habits of mind, productive social skills, and personal integrity in an innovative, student-centered environment.
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[edit] School History
Whitfield School was founded in 1952 by John Barnes and Allen Cole. Before Whitfield's current building came to be, the school was located in a house, which now serves as administrative offices as well as a meeting and congregating facility, and has come to be named the "Barnes and Cole Alumni House." This house doubled as the residence of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Cole. The environment that they tried to create was one where learning was challenging, yet fun and a place where students had every opportunity to succeed. The school experienced major growth and changes, under the second headmistress, Dr. Mary Burke, the successor of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Cole. Dr. Burke raised money to build a new building on the land which was directly adjacent to the house. The original building was completed in the early 1990s. The building then received major additions, as well as several renovations in the early 2000s. Two new gymnasiums were added, locker rooms, a state-of-the-art weight room with coachs' offices, a new dance studio and a new music studio compete with recording technology, as well as an atrium which would serve as an entrance to the Woods Performing Arts Center, which was instead called Woods Hall. Other renovations the school received was new equipment for the theatre department, new computer commons areas added, as well as a cyber cafe which occupies the space of one of the old gyms. A new phase of construction will begin within the next few years where a lower parking lot will be added, the baseball field will be repositioned, and a new building will be built to house a concession stand and restrooms.
[edit] Academics
Whitfield School is based on a strong liberal arts core which requires students to take four years of high school english, history, science, math, and an art prior to graduation. The art requirement may be fulfilled through theater, drawing, ceramics, or photography. All students take the same english and history courses, the content of which are different for each grade level. Students generally follow a standard mathematics track which culminates in Intro. to Calculus the student's senior year. Students may follow the advanced track if they test into it at the time of admission or by taking the course privately over the summer. This advanced track generally culminates in AB Calculus, but opportunities exist for students to take higher level math courses independently through the school. Their sophomore year, students have the choice of taking, regular, advanced, or AP Calculus and must also take Biology. Junior year students must either continue on the Chemistry track they chose their Junior year or switch to another track; in addition, students must take either regular or advanced Physics. Senior year students have the option of taking Advanced Biology; physics is still required along with chemistry for those on the AP track.
[edit] Arts
The Whitfield School Performing Arts department is headed by chair, Amy Allen-Cano. The department also has two other teachers, Mary Schnitzler and Keith Borzillo. Whitfield Performing Arts takes an experimental approach to the way that the mainstage shows are done. An abstract space allows for the variation of the stage position, audience seating and hanging of lights and speakers. Whitfield School is part of the International Thespian Society and is chapter #5436. The school often employs outside professionals to work on their shows, such as costumers and lighting, sound and scenic designers. The school puts an emphasis on the performing arts and encourages students to either appear in shows or work backstage as a way to try and produce a well rounded student.
[edit] Athletics
Whitfield School is known for their outstanding soccer team led by Coach Bill Daues. Since 2001 Whitfield's soccer team has won five state championships, that's five out of six state championships in Missouri Class 1 soccer. Whitfield's wrestling team, coached by Charlie Sherertz, won the state championships in February 2008. Whitfield school also won their first Wickenhieser Cup in Varsity Hockey in March 2008.
[edit] Traditions
Whitfield is known for its relaxed environment in which most students opt not to use the lockers offered to all students. Instead students leave backpacks, gym bags, and even purses in the hallways.
Great pride is taken in Whitfield lunches prepared by a full, professional staff. Lunches have been known to include salmon, pecan pie, and steak.
Whitfield School is proud to be the only school in St. Louis with its own dog, a golden lab named Rascal. Rascal was purchased as a replacement after the sudden death of the beloved Murphy, a chocolate lab unofficially adopted by the school over a decade ago. Murphy belonged to a neighboring family, but ran away to play with Whitfield students so often that he became a staple and could constantly be seen roaming the halls searching for the grounds keeper Ricky Goodwin, of whom Murphy was quite fond.
[edit] Alumni
Ralph Silverman, MD, FACS, FASCRS, 1992: Surgeon, Board Certified in General Surgery and Board Certified in Colorectal Surgery, Contributing Editor of Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, and Committee Member for The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeon.
[edit] Technology
All Whitfield students are provided with a laptop. The school hosts a campus-wide wireless network and high-speed wired connections throughout the building. Each student and family is provided a network and e-mail account for school use.
Whitfield's laptop program faced scrutiny in October of 2007, when the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran an article titled "The Laptop Debate." The article contrasted the technology programs of several private schools in the Metro area, saying that "Whitfield['s laptop program] offers more freedom - even Playboy's Web site is accessible."
Whitfield's technology team also faces blame from most if not almost all of whitfields students for the laptops either failing to work or not working at all. However the technology team is working to improve that over the summer
