| Phillips Exeter Academy | |
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Non Sibi
Finis Origine Pendet Χάριτι Θεοῦ |
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| Location | |
| Exeter, New Hampshire, USA | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent School, boarding |
| Religious affiliation(s) | none |
| Established | 1781 |
| Principal | Thomas Hassan |
| Faculty | 203 |
| Enrollment | 1,050 total 846 boarding 204 day |
| Average class size | 12 students |
| Student to teacher ratio | 5:1 |
| Campus | Town, 619 acres (2.51 km2) 127 buildings |
| Athletics | 20 Interscholastic sports 60 Interscholastic teams |
| Mascot | Lion Rampant |
| Average SAT scores | 694 verbal 705 math 690 writing (2008) |
| Endowment | $970 million[1] |
| Annual tuition | $41,800[2] |
| Website | www.exeter.edu |
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.[3]
Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking questions and creating discussions.[4] The school also differs from conventional public U.S. high schools which do not charge tuition, maintain open admissions, do not provide on campus housing and are owned and managed by independent school districts and municipal and state governments. Furthermore Philips Exeter Academy is an independent school and operates with a greater autonomy than most other American private schools which are parochial.
Phillips Exeter Academy students and alumni who call themselves "Exonians," as well as faculty and staff often refer to the school as "Exeter" or PEA.
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Phillips Exeter Academy was established in 1781 by merchant John Phillips and his wife Elizabeth. The school was to educate students under a Calvinist religious framework. Phillips was previously married to Sarah Gilman, wealthy widow of Phillips's cousin, merchant Nathaniel Gilman,[5] whose large fortune, bequeathed to Phillips, enabled him to endow the Academy.[6] The Gilman family also donated to the Academy much of the land on which it stands, including the initial 1793 grant by New Hampshire Governor John Taylor Gilman of the Yard, the oldest part of campus; the academy's first class in 1783 boasted seven Gilmans.[7][8] In 1814, Nicholas Gilman, signer of the U.S. Constitution, left $1,000 to Exeter to teach "sacred music."[9]
John Phillips was also the uncle of Samuel Phillips, Jr., who had founded Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1778. As a result of this family relationship, the two schools also share an academic rivalry to match their athletic one.[4][10]
Exeter's Deed of Gift, written by John Phillips at the founding of the school, emphasizes that Exeter's mission is to instill in its students both goodness and knowledge:
Above all, it is expected that the attention of instructors to the disposition of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care; well considering that though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.[4][10]
At the opening assembly of every school year, the Principal of the Academy speaks on the subject of the Deed of Gift and its continuing relevance. In this same spirit, the greatest responsibilities to which the faculty and administration hold the students accountable are those of honesty and academic diligence.
In 1859, authors Austin J. Coolidge and John B. Mansfield wrote of Exeter's graduates:
On April 9, 1930, philanthropist and oil magnate Edward Harkness wrote to Exeter Principal Lewis Perry regarding how a substantial donation that Harkness would make to the Academy might be used to fund a new way of teaching and learning:
What I have in mind is a classroom where students could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where each student would feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution in methods.
The result was Harkness teaching, in which a teacher and a group of students work together, exchanging ideas and information, similar to the Socratic method. In November 1930 Harkness gave Exeter $5.8 million to support this initiative. Since then, the Academy's principal mode of instruction has been by discussion, "seminar style," around an oval table known as the Harkness table.
The Academy became coeducational in 1970 when 39 girls began attending.[12] Today the student body is roughly half boys and half girls.
In 1996, to reflect the Academy's coeducational status, a new gender-inclusive Latin inscription Hic Quaerite Pueri Puellaeque Virtutem et Scientiam ("Here, boys and girls, seek goodness and knowledge") was added over the main entrance to the Academy Building. This new inscription augments the original one – Huc Venite, Pueri, ut Viri Sitis ("Come hither boys so that ye may become men").
Classes at Exeter are held Monday through Saturday, although Wednesday and Saturday are half days. Exeter uses an 11-point grading system, in which an A is worth 11 points and an E is worth 0 points. Exeter has a student-to-teacher ratio of 5:1. A majority of the faculty have advanced degrees in their fields.[13]
Students are required to take courses in the arts, classical or modern languages, computer science, English, health & human development, history, mathematics, religion, and science. Most students obtain an English diploma, but students who specialize in Latin and Ancient Greek can obtain a classical diploma.
There is a long tradition of prizes, usually allotted at the Prize Day assembly. Exceptions are Graduation Day awards, the Lamont Young Poet Award, and national awards.
Most classes at Exeter are taught around Harkness tables. No classrooms have rows of chairs, and lectures are virtually nonexistent.
Over time, the Harkness method has made learning at Exeter both active and student-centered. For example, Exeter does not teach math with traditional textbooks. Instead, math teachers assign problems from workbooks that have been written collectively by the Academy's math department. From these custom workbooks, students are assigned word problems as homework. In class, students then present their solutions at the blackboard. This means that in math class at Exeter, students are not given theorems, model problems, or principles beforehand. Instead, theorems and principles emerge more organically, as students work through the word problems.
The completion of the Phelps Science Center in 2001 meant that all science classes, which previously had been taught in more conventional classrooms, could also be conducted around the same Harkness tables.
Classes at Exeter are small, with only 8–12 students in each class. Small class sizes, and the Harkness tables, encourage all students to participate. These Harkness classes feature heavily in Exeter's identity and its day-to-day life. "There are no corners to hide behind."
Elements of the Harkness method, including the Harkness table, can now be found at academic institutions across the globe.
Exeter's tenth Principal, Richard Ward Day, believed in the value of students studying outside Exeter, and broadening their experience and education in this way. During Day's tenure, the Washington Intern Program and the Foreign Studies Program began.
The academy currently sponsors trimester-long foreign study programs in Stratford, Grenoble, St. Petersburg, Cape Eleuthera, Göttingen, Ballytobin, Taichung, and San Fernando; as well as school-year abroad programs in Beijing, Rennes, Viterbo, and Zaragoza. The academy also offers foreign language summer programs in France, Japan, Spain, and Taiwan.
Exeter offers the Washington Intern Program, where students intern in the office of a senator or congressional representative. Exeter also participates in the Milton Academy Mountain School program, which allows students to study in a small rural setting in Vershire, Vermont.
Originally, Exeter was effectively a preparatory school for Harvard, much as its archrival Phillips Academy was seen as a Yale feeder school. But today neither is true: Exonians matriculate to many top universities across America and abroad. Averaged over many years, more Exeter students go to Harvard than to any other single college or university, but the number matriculating to Harvard in a single year is not always the highest.[15]
Members of the classes of 2007–2009 most frequently enrolled at Harvard, Georgetown, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, and Dartmouth.[16]
The Academy claims a tradition of democracy and diversity.
During the Civil War, three white students from Kentucky confronted the then-principal Gideon Lane Soule over the presence of an African-American student at Exeter. When they demanded that the black student be expelled on account of his color, Soule replied, "The boy is to stay; you may do as you please."
One of Exeter's unofficial mottoes – "Youth from Every Quarter" – is taken from the Deed of Gift, and is widely quoted and emphasized in the introductory course for freshmen in the fall. This phrase has also guided the Academy's admissions policies. Exeter's longtime Director of Scholarships H. Hamilton "Hammy" Bissell (1929) worked for decades to enable qualified students from all over the U.S. to attend Exeter.[17]
Currently, the Exeter student body includes students from 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and 26 countries. Students of non-European descent comprise 38% of the student body (Asian 24%, Black 8%, Hispanic/Latino 6%, Native American 0.4%). Legacy students account for 13% of the students. Of new students entering in 2006 (a total of 345), 54% attended public school and 46% attended private, parochial, military, home, or foreign schools.[4]
Most Exeter students – 81 percent – live on campus in dormitories or houses. The remaining 19 percent of the student body are day students from the surrounding communities.
The Academy uses a unique designation for its grade levels. Entering first-year students are called Juniors (nicknamed "Preps"), second-years students are Lower Middlers ("Lowers"), third-year students are Upper Middlers ("Uppers"), and fourth-year students are Seniors. Exeter also admits postgraduate students ("PGs").[4]
Tuition to Exeter for the 2009–2010 school year is $41,800 for boarding students and $32,470 for day students. In addition, each student will spend an estimated $850 for books. Mandatory fees are $720 for boarding students and $300 for day students. There are also optional fees of $1,213 and $684, respectively, for discretionary services.[18]
Exeter offers needs-based financial aid. Since 2008, students whose family income is $75,000 or less have received a free education, including tuition, room and board, travel, a laptop, and other miscellaneous expenses;[19] many families earning up to $200,000 receive partial assistance. Since 2007, financial aid has been entirely in the form of grants that do not need to be repaid.[19] From 2004–2008, Exeter admissions was effectively needs-blind, but in 2008, the school announced that the decline in its endowment forced it to suspend that policy.[20]
A previous President of the Academy's Trustees, Charles T. 'Chuck' Harris III, a former Goldman Sachs managing partner, attended Exeter on full scholarship. "Everything I am is a result of that experience," Harris has said of financial aid, "and I'd like to think there's some opportunity like that for every kid in the world."[21]
Exeter's endowment as of 5 October 2007 was $1 billion,[22] but due to the recent economic downturn, has since fallen 21.8%. This is the third-highest endowment of any American secondary school, behind the $9.0 billion endowment of Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii,[23] and the $7.8 billion of the Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania. Due largely to the successful investments of the school and gifts from wealthy alumni, this school has an endowment of over $1 million per student.[24]
According to The New York Times, Exeter devotes an average of $63,500 annually to each of its students, an amount well above the 2007-8 annual tuition of $36,500.[24] This money is spent on, operating expenses, small classes (with a typical student-teacher ratio of no more than 12 to one), computers for students, financial aid, and Exeter's facilities, which include two swimming pools, two hockey rinks, and the largest secondary-school library in the world. Exeter also has a high-quality cafeteria, which serves such fare as made-to-order omelets for breakfast.[24]
Exeter has a history of highly competitive athletic teams. PEA first organized its PEA Baseball Club on October 19, 1859, and on September 6, 1875, Exeter had the first meeting of the Phillips Exeter Academy Athletic Association. Captains of all Exeter's athletic teams were awarded the right to display Exeter's "E" on their sweaters, along with a certificate from the Phillips Exeter Academy Athletic Association authenticating their rights in writing.[4][10] The school's traditional rival is Phillips Academy (Andover), and the annual Exeter-Andover Football game has been played since 1878. The school is a member of the G20 Schools Group.
Students are required to participate in intramural or interscholastic athletic programs. The school offers 65 interscholastic teams at the varsity and junior varsity level as well as 27 intramural sports squads. Other various fitness classes are also offered.
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Exeter's main rival is Phillips Academy (Andover). The rivalry is America's earliest between preparatory schools. Exeter defeated Andover 12–1 in the first ever baseball game played between these two academies on May 2, 1878. Andover, in turn, defeated Exeter 22–0 in football on November 2, 1878. One of Exeter's most notable football games took place in 1913 with a 59–0 victory over Andover. Exeter and Andover have competed nearly every year in football since 1878; currently Andover leads in the number of games won.[31]
Other athletic opponents include Belmont Hill School, Berwick Academy, Deerfield Academy, Northfield Mount Hermon, Brewster Academy, Choate Rosemary Hall, Groton School, The Governor's Academy, Loomis Chaffee, Tabor Academy, Milton Academy, Avon Old Farms, Worcester Academy, Cushing Academy, and various other northeastern prep and boarding schools.[4]
The boys' water polo team has won twenty-two New England prep school championships. Until winter of 2008, boys' swimming had won 15 of the last 17 New England championships, placing runner-up both losing years. The cycling team is the defending champion. Wrestling has won the New England tournament 13 times as well.
Exeter is a fixture in New England championship tournaments in nearly all sports, missing the championship in both boys' and girls' soccer in 2005, and winning the New England Class A Championship in football in 2003 and 2009. In 2007, the boys' squash team finished second at the New England Division A Interscholastic Championship and fourth at the National High School Team Tournament. Both the men's and women's cross country teams have won the NEPSTA Championship multiple times in the past decade. The wrestling team has won more Class A and New England Prep School Wrestling Association titles than any other team, most recently winning the Class A tourney in 2007 and 2003 and the New England tourney in 2001. It has also crowned a National Prep Wrestling champion, Rei Tanaka, in 1990. Both the girls' and boys' ice hockey teams have won New England championships recently.[4]
The boys' crew took first, fourth and fourth place at the U.S. Rowing Junior National Championships in 1996, 2002 and 2008 respectively. The girls' team took sixth place at the 2006 championships, fourth in 2007, third in 2008, second in 2009, and fourth in 2011. The girls crew program also swept the NIERA championships in 2011. The boys' crew was the first organized sport at Exeter, and over its more than 100 years of competition has produced several Olympians, National Team members and numerous Division I rowers.
Exeter has a dress code. Boys are required to wear shirts and ties or turtlenecks. Girls are required to wear either a dress, skirt, or slacks with a blouse, turtleneck, sweater or collared shirt. The attire must be appropriate and reach finger-tip length. Jeans are allowed for both boys and girls. Dress code is only required in the classroom setting and Assembly.
The Academy has over 100 clubs listed. The number of functioning and reputable clubs fluctuates; several of the listed clubs on the website do not hold tables on Club Night. The Exonian is the school's weekly newspaper. It is the oldest continuously-running preparatory school newspaper in the United States, having begun publishing in 1878. Recently, The Exonian began online publication. Other long established clubs include ESSO, which focuses on social service outreach, and the PEAN, which is the academy's yearbook.
Exeter also has the oldest-surviving secondary school society, The Golden Branch (founded in 1818), a society for public speaking, inspired by PEA's Rhetorical Society of 1807–1820. Now known simply as "Debate Team", these groups served as America's first secondary school organization for oratory and prepared students for the communication skills required for success at Harvard University.[32]
Most students live in the dormitories. Each floor has a faculty member and a senior student proctor. There are check in hours of 8:00pm (for first and second year students), 9:00pm (for third years), and 10:00pm (for seniors) during the weekdays and 11:00pm on Saturday night.
Exeter has two chief symbols: a seal depicting a river, sun and beehive, incorporating the academy's mottos; and the Lion Rampant. The seal has similarities to that used by Phillips Academy—an emblem designed by Paul Revere—and its imagery is Masonic in nature. A beehive often represented the industry and cooperation of a lodge or, in this case, the studies and united efforts of Academy students. The Lion Rampant is derived from the Phillips family's coat of arms, and suggests that all of the Academy's alumni are part of the "Exonian family".[4]
Exeter has three mottoes on the Academy seal: Non Sibi (Latin 'Not for oneself') indicating a life based on community and duty; Finis origine pendet (Latin 'The end depends on the beginning') reflecting Exeter's emphasis on hard work as preparation for a fruitful adult life; and Χάριτι Θεοῦ (Greek 'By the grace of God') reflecting Exeter's Calvinist origins, of which the only remnant today is the school's requirement that most students take two courses in religion or philosophy.[4]
There are several variants of school colors associated with Phillips Exeter Academy that range from crimson red and white to burgundy red and silver. Black is also a color associated with the school to a lesser extent. The official school colors are lively maroon and grey. The traditional school tie is a burgundy red tie with alternating diagonal silver stripes and silver lions rampant.
Early alumni of Exeter include US Senator Daniel Webster (1796); US President Franklin Pierce (1820); Abraham Lincoln's son and 35th Secretary of War Robert Lincoln (1860); Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (1870), Richard and Francis Cleveland;[33] "grandfather of football" Amos Alonzo Stagg (1880); and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Booth Tarkington (1889). John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace and Peace Breaks Out, was a 1945 graduate; both novels are set at the fictional Devon School, which serves as an analog for his alma mater.
Exeter alumni pursue careers in various fields. Alumni noted for their work in government include Daniel Webster, Franklin Pierce, Lewis Cass, Judd Gregg, Jay Rockefeller, Kent Conrad, John Negroponte, Bobby Shriver and Robert Bauer. Those choosing military careers include historian George Bancroft and Charles C. Krulak. Authors George Plimpton, John Knowles, Gore Vidal, John Irving (whose stepfather taught at Exeter), Robert Anderson, Dan Brown (whose father taught at Exeter), Peter Benchley, James Agee, Chang-Rae Lee, Debby Herbenick and Roland Merullo attended the academy.
Other notable alumni include businessmen Joseph Coors, David Rockefeller, Jr., Pierre S. du Pont and Mark Zuckerberg; journalists Drew Pearson, Dwight Macdonald, James F. Hoge, Jr., Paul Klebnikov, Trish Regan, Suzy Welch and Sarah Lyall; actors Michael Cerveris, Jack Gilpin, and Alessandro Nivola; film director Howard Hawks; musicians Benmont Tench, China Forbes, Ketch Secor, Win Butler and William Butler; historians Robert Cowley and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; baseball player Sam Fuld; educators Jared Sparks and Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.; and composer Adam Guettel. Humorist Greg Daniels also attended.
Each summer, Phillips Exeter hosts over 700 students for a five-week program of academic study. The summer program accommodates a diverse student body typically derived from over 40 different states and dozens of foreign countries.
Exeter's summer school is divided into two programs of study: Upper School, which offers a wide variety of classes to students currently enrolled in high school who are entering grades ten through 12 as well as serving post graduates; and Access Exeter, a program for students entering grades eight and nine, which offers accelerated study in the arts, sciences and writing as well as serving as an introduction to the school itself. Access Exeter curriculum consists of six academic clusters; each cluster consists of three courses organized around a focused central theme. Some of Exeter's summer school programs also give students the opportunity to experience studies outside of Exeter's campus environment, including interactions with other top schools and students, experience with Washington D.C., and travel abroad.[4]
The Academy offers a number of workshops and conferences for secondary school educators. These include the Exeter Math Institute; the Exeter Humanities Institute; the Math, Science and Technology Conference; the Exeter Astronomy Conference; and the Shakespeare Conference.[34]
The On Beyond Exeter program offers one week seminars for alumni. Most courses are held at the Academy but some meet in the locations central to the courses topic.
In 1952, Exeter, Andover, Lawrenceville, Harvard, Princeton and Yale published the study General Education in School and College: A Committee Report. The report recommended examinations that would place students after admission to college. This program evolved into the Advanced Placement Program.[35] [36]
In 1965 Exeter became the second charter member (after Andover) of the School Year Abroad program.[37] The program allows students to reside and study a foreign language abroad.
Certain works are based on Exeter and portray the lives of its students. Many are written by alumni who disguise Exeter's name, but not its character. Key works are listed below.
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