| The Loomis Chaffee School | |
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Ne Cede Malis
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| Location | |
| Windsor, Connecticut, United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, Boarding |
| Religious affiliation(s) | No religious affiliation |
| Established | 1874 |
| Head of school | Sheila Culbert |
| Faculty | 160 |
| Enrollment | 680 |
| Average class size | 12 students |
| Student to teacher ratio | 5:1 (4:1 boarding student-to-residential faculty) |
| Campus | 300 acres (1.2 km2) |
| Color(s) | Maroon and Grey |
| Mascot | Pelican |
| USNWR ranking | 1
athletics = 55 interscholastic teams in 18 sports; 19 intramural offerings |
| Average SAT scores | The middle 50% of the Class of 2011 scored in the ranges of 590–700 (critical reading), 610–720 (mathematics) and 590–700 (writing) (2009) |
| Endowment | $197 million |
| Website | loomischaffee.org |
The Loomis Chaffee School (LC or Loomis) is a premier coeducational boarding school for grades 9–12 and postgraduates located on a 300-plus acre campus in the Connecticut River Valley in Windsor, Connecticut, six miles (10 km) north of Hartford. Loomis is a member of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.
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The school was chartered in 1874 by five siblings who had lost all their children and determined to found a school as a gift to the children of others. Six million dollars in need-based financial aid is awarded to more than 30 percent of the student body. In 2011, the school had 79 Advanced Placement Scholars, 28 with Distinction, 22 with Honor. The school has had 2 National Merit Scholars and 24 National Merit Finalists in the last three years. Seven members of the Class of 2009 were identified as potential U.S. Presidential Scholars by the U.S. Presidential Scholar Commission.[1]
Notable alumni include former Secretary of State George Schultz 1938, former governor of Connecticut Ella T. Grasso 1936, satirist Tom Lehrer 1943, New York Times chairman Arthur Ochs Sulzberger 1945, financier Henry R. Kravis 1963, actor, writer and producer James Widdoes 1972, 1998 Winter Olympic Games United States women's ice hockey Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Ulion 1990 and Taiwanese fashion designer Jason Wu graduated in 2001. Wu is known for designing various dresses for First Lady Michelle Obama (notably her inaugural gown).
The roots of Loomis Chaffee run as far back as 1639, when Joseph Loomis and his family first settled at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers. Several generations later, the inspiration for the school was born out of family tragedy, when, in the early 1870s, four Loomis brothers and their sister had outlived all their children.
As a memorial to their own offspring, and as a gift to future children, they pooled their considerable estates to found a secondary school called The Loomis Institute to educate young persons, "hoping and trusting that some good may come to posterity, from the harvest, poor though it be, of our lives." [2] The original 1640 Loomis Homestead was chosen as the site where their dream would become reality.
James Chaffee Loomis, Hezekiah Bradley Loomis, Osbert Burr Loomis, John Mason Loomis, and Abigail Sarah Loomis Hayden broke new educational ground by planning a school that would offer both vocational and college preparatory courses. (Vocational offerings were discontinued during the later development of the school.)
The founders' enlightened and democratic school would have no religious or political admission criteria. Boys and girls would be given as free an education as the endowment would allow.
The Loomis Institute opened its doors in 1914 to 39 boys and five girls. In 1926, their girls’ division broke off to focus more closely on girls’ educational issues and became The Chaffee School.
Both schools continued to expand. The Loomis Institute built several new facilities in 1967, and the two schools reunited in 1970, forming The Loomis Chaffee School. Six years later it began admitting girls as boarders.[3]
The reunification led to a major revision of the curriculum, which combined a demanding basic program with a broad range of electives in art, music, philosophy, religion and other subjects.
The Loomis Chaffee School has enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth since the 1970s. It strengthened its endowment to bolster financial aid and broadened the diversity of the student body. Recently, it opened new dormitories, an enclosed hockey and skating rink, a brand new athletics center, a visual arts center, a new history & social science facility, an expanded dining hall, and a new student center. Within the most recent years, the Clark Center for Science and Mathematics was completely renovated, and Chaffee Hall was transformed and expanded to house the all new Hubbard Music Center.
The school[5]
Finances, tuition and financial aid[6]
The students (2011-12)[7]
The faculty[8]
===Academics===[9]
Loomis Chaffee offers courses in Arabic, Chinese, psychology, writing workshop, videography, English, Latin, Spanish, art, dance, history and social science, mathematics, music, philosophy, religion, science and theater arts. Noncredit diploma requirements include library skills, and physical fitness and health. Advanced Placement courses are offered in 20 subjects.
In 2007, 14 Loomis Chaffee students were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, more than at any other school in Connecticut. In 2009, 247 students were administered 469 AP exams, 84% of which were awarded the three highest grades of 3, 4 and 5.
Loomis Chaffee offers courses in Arabic, Chinese, psychology, writing workshop, videography, English, Latin, Spanish, French, art, dance, history and social science, mathematics, music, philosophy, religion, science and theater arts. Noncredit diploma requirements include library skills, and physical fitness and health. Advanced Placement courses are offered in 20 subjects.
In 2007, 14 Loomis Chaffee students were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, more than at any other school in Connecticut. In 2009, 247 students were administered 469 AP exams, 84% of which were awarded the three highest grades of 3, 4 and 5.[10]
All students participate in interscholastic, intramural or daytime athletic programs each trimester. Interscholastic varsity and junior varsity competition for boys and girls is offered on 60 teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, softball, squash, swimming/diving, tennis, track, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. There are an additional 26 intramural sports, including both team sports and "lifetime and leisure" sports like yoga and weight lifting. Freshman-level teams are offered in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, boys basketball and boys tennis.[11][12] Facilities include a double gymnasium and two other gymnasia, supporting basketball and volleyball courts; a fitness center and a weight room, totalling 6,300 square feet (590 m2); a 25-meter, six-lane swimming pool; an enclosed hockey rink; a 400-meter, eight-lane, all-weather track; eight international squash courts; 17 tennis courts; a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) cross-country course; two baseball diamonds; two softball diamonds; 17 fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey; and a golf practice driving range, putting green and sand trap.[13]
Four full-time college counselors guide students through the college search and application process. Eighty-six percent of the members of the Class of 2010 were admitted to colleges and universities deemed most competitive or highly competitive by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, with sixty-six percent matriculating at the most competitive institutions.[14]
The Loomis Chaffee student council is a student group that is elected at the end and beginning of every year. They focus on aid in education as well as community service. The Loomis Chaffee student council was the first student council democratically elected by students in the United States. The council consists of two representatives per constituency, divided by gender, age, and residency.
The Loomis Chaffee Log is the student-run, school-sponsored newspaper. Its broad readership includes students, faculty, parents, and alumni. Published monthly by a large team of student editors, The Log is now in its 94th year as principle chronicle of life at Loomis Chaffee. It recently launched an online edition to stay current with growing trends in today's media.[15]
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". College Guidance. http://www.loomischaffee.org/page.cfm?p=370&pback=354. Retrieved 12/2/11.
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