| Kentucky Country Day School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 4100 Springdale Road Louisville, KY, 40241 USA |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Private, nonsectarian |
| Motto | Citizen, Scholar, Steward |
| Established | 1972 |
| School district | N/A |
| Principal | Bradley E. Lyman |
| Grades | Junior Kindergarten–12 |
| Enrollment | 910 |
| Campus size | 85 acres (340,000 m2) |
| Campus type | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Royal blue and gold |
| Mascot | "Baxter" or Bearcat IV (2005–present) |
| Nickname | Bearcats |
| Website | www.kcd.org |
Kentucky Country Day (KCD) is an independent co-educational college preparatory day school for junior kindergarten through 12th grade located in Louisville, Kentucky. It is located in northeastern Jefferson County on a large suburban campus. Today KCD is recognized as a regional leader in educational achievement. A comparatively high percentage of KCD graduates are national merit scholars (a complete listing and gallery are provided on the school website). Every KCD graduate has matriculated in a college/university while boasting a high percentage of its alumni enrolled in the most prestigious and selective universities in the country.
KCD has experienced unprecedented student growth with six straight years of increased enrollment. That growth has increased from 680 students in 2003-04 to 931 students in 2009-2010. Much of the student growth has been credited with the board's decision to increase the individual class size from 58 to 72, the school's location near a high growth section of Louisville with interstate accessibility, and its attractive menu and results in the athletic and arts fields. Per administration dictate, the maximum for an individual classroom is 18 students.
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The history of KCD involves four predecessor institutions: Louisville Country Day "LCD", Kentucky Home School for Girls "KHS", Aquinas Preparatory School "APS", and Kentucky Military Institute "KMI".
1967, APS (all-male) merged with LCD (all-male).
August 1972, the current school of Kentucky Country Day was formed with the cooperative merger of Kentucky Home (all-female, founded 1863) and Louisville Country Day (all-male, founded 1948). With the two merging schools, a hybrid name was formulated using "Kentucky" from Kentucky Home and "Country Day" from Louisville Country Day.
1973, KMI (all-male, founded 1845) disbanded and its alumni and military honor code were adopted by KCD.
KCD was initially located on the former LCD campus (Rock Creek Drive) in Louisville, adjacent to Seneca Park for 7th grade to senior class students. Kindergarten through 6th grade students were located on the former APS campus (Browns Lane). A bus called the Blue Goose would transfer students between both campuses. In 1972, in a close vote, students selected the nickname Bearcats over Thoroughbreds as the school mascot along with its present day colors, royal blue and gold.
1979, under the direction of Headmaster John Gernert and the assistance of board members Brown-Forman Distilling executive Owsley Brown Frazier and Humana President David Jones, Sr., a new school was built on today's campus at the intersection of Springdale Road and Brownsboro Road (Kentucky Route 22).
Since KCD moved to its permanent campus on Springdale Road, several capital campaigns, construction projects, and techonologial advancements have changed the face and financial picture of the institution.
1994, former Vencor executive Bruce Lunsford spearheaded a campaign to raise the school's endowment and enhance the faculty pay structure.
2000, under the direction of Headmaster Robert Blair and board members Pat Mulloy and Laura Frazier (Huneke), a new upper school building was constructed in Owsley Frazier's name.
2005, during the tenure of Headmaster Bradley Lyman (2004–present), indoctrination of superior technology has occurred as KCD became the first Jefferson County school to provide a wireless campus and require laptops for all high school students. His leadership has engineered enormous student and faculty growth. Class size is limited to 18 students, and grades are strategically confined to average 72 students, helping to form a 900+ strong student body.
March 2009, to address the student growth, the administration announced the construction of a 400+ seat theatre/assembly center, additional classrooms and arts facilities and the expansion of the commons room. The grand opening for the building occurred in October 2010.
While KCD has been in existence since 1972, many traditions from its predecessors remain. The school's honor code was adopted from Kentucky Military Institute. The football team's Monohan Field is named after the field at Aquinas Prep. "The Rock", located under the KCD football scoreboard, is touched by KCD football players before entering the field, just as it was at Aquinas Prep in the 1960s. Graduation ceremonies at KCD involve girls with long white dresses, a tradition from KHS carrying yellow roses, and the boys wearing white jackets, a tradition from LCD.
Since 2004, a new student tradition was formed involving the final class day for senior students called the "Senior Rose March". During the last day of school, kindergarten students give every senior a yellow or "gold" rose as the graduating students march from their upper school building for the last time (while the entire student body and faculty form a pathway) to the school's main building for the Awards Day ceremony. A junior class tradition involves the "Junior Class Ring Ceremony" where each student receives a class ring preceded by a speech from an alumnus.
Every student receives a yearly schoolbook, called the Fleur De Lis, a name tracing back to the name of the LCD yearbook. A fleur de lis is affixed to both school's official seals as the French royalty symbol also symbolizes the City of Louisville where the school's campus is located.
KCD requires a low student-to-teacher ratio where classrooms are limited to eighteen students. Each grade totals seventy-two students, being proportionally designed to contain four units of eighteen students.
Every high school student is required to use a personal computer as the entire campus has a wireless network. KCD became the first high school in Jefferson County to establish this mandate. Several instructional courses provide advanced placement courses, where a majority of students take at least one course.
An average of over 11% of junior class students are named National Merit Scholar semifinalists since 2004. As of 2009-10 year many students are taking the Merit Scholar tests for middle-school and high school.
To improve and encourage usage of foreign languages (such as French and Spanish), class trips involving many students will annually travel to places such as Quebec (Canada), France, and Spain.
To enhance diversity, KCD is the first school in Louisville to work with City of Louisville's sister city, Tamale located in the Republic of Ghana. KCD students have offered teaching assistance regarding English classes, technological support and have created fundraisers to build water-retention basins in the African country. Numerous press stories have applauded the school's efforts.
The school offers a student organized endowment fund designed to give annually to noteworthy charities. In 2009, this philanthropic concept, called the "Artemis Fund" gave over $4,000 in grants to various needy organizations.
The school possesses a Cum Laude Society, a society crafted for vigorous secondary school institutions.
As a college preparatory institution, all students take college testing exams and matriculate into post-secondary institutions. The senior classes of 2005-2010 have enrolled in many of the most pretigious academic schools in the country, including most of the Ivy League, Magnolia League (top Southern), and Public Ivy (top public) institutions. Recent Ivy League, Magnolia League, and Public Ivy instutuions include Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Boston College, Brown, Columbia, Emory, Dartmouth, Duke, Davidson, Michigan, MIT, Northwestern, Tufts, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Virginia, Wake Forest, Washington U., and Washington & Lee. Recent regional favorites have included Bellarmine, Centre College, Denison, Depauw, Hanover, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Miami Univ., Murray State, Ohio State, Rhodes College, and St. Louis. Also, students have attended other highly accredited universities such as Colorado-Boulder, Pomona, and Vermont.
For three years, there has been at least one student from each class enrolled at both the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky where their acceptance involves an accelerated three-year undergraduate program with guaranteed acceptance to their respective medical school.
KCD distinguishes itself by offering more fully funded varsity athletic programs per student — boys' and girls' cross country, girls' field hockey, boys' football, boys' and girls' golf, boys' and girls' soccer, girls' volleyball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' swimming, wrestling, baseball, fast-pitch softball, boys' and girls' lacrosse, boys' and girls' tennis, and boys' and girls' track and field for only 280 high school students — than any other high school in Kentucky. Additionally, there are several middle school athletic programs (football -two divisions, field hockey -three divisions, soccer, cross country, basketball, swimming, track, softball, baseball -two divisions, and lacrosse).
KCD's extensive campus provides twelve outdoor game fields, including Monohan Field (football), Molly's Field and Jane Allen Field (field hockey), Michael Field (soccer, lacrosse), Schickli Field (middle school soccer, lacrosse), Patrick's Field (baseball), and Francis Ruth Field (soccer). Additional facilities include two gymnasiums, Gardner Gymnasium, Middle School Gymnasium (basketball and girls volleyball), the Monaco-Walker Track featuring a six-lane rubberized track with all-field facilities, six ATP-designed tennis courts with a viewing gazebo, the Bauer Strength and Conditioning Center, and a gymnastics room. The construction of the Cook Indoor Training Facility, the Gardner Gymnasium renovation, and the tennis storage and concession facility are recent athletic additions. In May 2009, a 2,800-square-foot (260 m2) renovation and expansion was dedicated to the Bauer Strength and Conditioning Center involving a six-figure financial joint venture between the school and Athletic Booster Club. June 2010, the boys locker room was renovated.
KCD is a member of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA). Although KCD is a small, private school, it competes in most sports alongside much larger schools, as the KHSAA only divides schools into enrollment-based classes for three sports (football, track, and cross country). In those three classified sports, KCD competes in Class A. Several sports, most notably basketball and soccer along with volleyball, baseball, and softball, will compete in All "A" tournaments which serve as de facto state championships for the state's smallest schools, though not officially recognized by the KHSAA. Although state championships exist for field hockey and boys' and girls' lacrosse, they are not sponsored by the KHSAA because of an insufficient number of participating schools.
The Bearcat athletic program has garnered 17 Kentucky state championships and 29 state runner-up honors. The most recent state titles include the 2004 field hockey, 2007 All "A" boys' soccer, and the 2008 and 2010 girls' lacrosse teams. State runner-up finishes include field hockey in 2006 and 2007, girls lacrosse in 2006, 2007, and 2009 and boys' tennis in 2001 and 2008. There have been 128 individual state champions (60) and runners-up (68). These state champions include 16 boys' swimming and diving, 18 girls' gymnastics, 5 boys' track and field, 6 girls' swimming and 3 boys' tennis individual medals. The most recent individual state champions include swimmer Will Heyburn (50 freestyle) in 2006 and track and field athlete Marc Speed (discus) in 2009.
There are fourteen individuals with "retired jersey" status who have been inducted into the Royal Bearcat Society, including 1980 Swimming Olympian Lisa Buese, six-time state swimming champion Bruce Dorman, along with two-time individual state golf champions George "Skip" Stigger (1953, 1954) and Charlotte Allen (1974, 1975) and 1979 girls golf state champion Betty Baird. The school has a Bearcat Hall of Fame, whose members are announced and inducted annually in February. Ten varsity head coaches have achieved 100+ victory status. All of the school's champions, records, achievements and various retro jerseys and equipment are displayed in either the Gardner Gymnasium, "Middle School Gymnasium", and the William T Beam Jr Hall of Fame Hallway. As of 2010, 12.59% of KCD graduates have participated in college athletics.
In 2004, the school established an athletic booster club, which has authorized an extensive athletic records archive titled The Bearcat Shield, created an endowment fund to enhance the Bearcat program, established an annual varsity coaches and middle school coaches award, and allocated funds for various items to every school sport. The Bearcat Shield with all of the school's athletic records became available online to the public under the "athletics" header on the school's website, www.kcd.org.
The school's athletic director since 2004 is Dr. J. Timothy Green, a four-year football letterman at Vanderbilt University with graduate degrees from University of Alabama and the University of Florida.
A minimum of two student performances are conducted annually by both the upper and middle school divisions. Historically, these performances occurred either in the school's commons room (middle school) or at the Clifton Center (upper school), a nearby theater in Louisville from Spring 1980 to Spring 2010.
Beginning in Fall 2010, all performances are staged at the new theatre building. This building became a reality under the direction of campaign co-chairs Gary Smith, Sr. and Richard Clay. Construction began immediately at the close of school in May 2009 and was completed in Fall 2010. The 400+ seat auditorium/assembly center also includes additional classrooms for arts and theatre activities.
Currently, there are designated labs for both the music and art sections. The program has won numerous awards, including national acclaim. Many performances have been reported by The Courier-Journal and The Voice-Tribune. Supporters of the arts divisions have formed a "KCD Fine Arts Guild" in 2006 providing additional equipment and enhancements to the program.
The KCD arts director is Ms. Kate Scinta.
There are several endowments dedicated to the institution and its students. Some of these endowments provide financial assistance, training for faculty, athletic enhancements and improvements regarding school maintenance. The most recent endowment to be announced (May 2009) was a two million dollar grant from the Malone Foundation. KCD is the only school in Kentucky to receive the gift. The Malone Foundation is designed to provide assistance to exceptional children along with financial need.
For decades, alumni reunions were held in June after the conclusion of the school calendar year. Alumni were invited to play in a golf scramble tournament, followed by a bar-b-que dinner. Individual class reunions were held the next day. Beginning in 2011, class reunions were moved to reflect a more traditional Fall Homecoming schedule. The reunion event features a Friday evening Fall Homecoming football game, preceded by an afternoon field hockey game.
It is common for out-of-town alumni to frequent with local alumni at school-sponsored events during the Thanksgiving holiday break. There also have been school-sponsored alumni events in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC.
Every alumnus receives three annual issues of Connections, a publication dedicated to informing alumni of the school's activities along with class notes.
More than 10% of current students have an alumni parent.