Worcester Academy

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Worcester Academy
Έφικνού τών Καλών
(Achieve the Honorable)
Location
Worcester, MA, United States
Information
Type Independent, day and boarding
Religious affiliation(s) None
Established 1834
Head of School Ronald Cino
Faculty 80
Enrollment 491 upper school
154 middle school
Average class size 14
Student to teacher ratio 8:1
Campus Urban, 67 acres (270,000 m2)
Color(s) Maroon
Athletics 24 Interscholastic sports
54 Interscholastic teams
Athletics conference NEPSAC
Mascot Hilltoppers (rams)
Average SAT scores 600 Verbal
629 Math
611 Writing  (2006)
Website worcesteracademy.org

Worcester Academy is an independent coeducational preparatory school spread over 67 acres (270,000 m2) in Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States. The school is divided into a middle school, serving approximately 150 students in grades six to eight, and an upper school, serving approximately 500 students in grades nine to twelve, including some postgraduates. Approximately one-third of students in the upper school participate in the school's five- and seven-day boarding programs. Currently there are approximately 80 international students enrolled from 14 different nations.

Worcester Academy is a member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council.

The Academy's motto is the Greek phrase "Έφικνού τών Καλών," which translates to "Achieve the Honorable."

History

Founded in 1834 as the Worcester County Manual Labor High School, the name was changed to Worcester Academy in 1847. The school moved to its current location on Worcester's Union Hill in 1869. The academy moved into the previous Civil War hospital: "THE DALE GENERAL HOSPITAL" and was renamed Davis Hall, in honor of longtime board president, Isaac Davis (lawyer). Worcester Academy was all-male from its founding until 1856, and again from 1890 to 1974. It has been coeducational ever since.

Campus

Warner Memorial Theater
Walker Hall, The Megaron, and Adams Hall

Worcester Academy's campus is currently spread over four main parcels: the main campus, which contains approximately 12 acres (49,000 m2); Francis A. Gaskill Field, a 12-acre (49,000 m2) parcel two blocks south of the main campus; Dexter P. Morse Field; and the New Balance Fields nearly four miles away on Stafford Street, comprising 28 acres (110,000 m2). In 2004, Worcester Academy relocated its alumni offices to a renovated Victorian home one block north of the main campus, at 51 Providence Street. It is now called Alumni House.

Morse Field lies between the main campus and Gaskill Field and is the major focus of the school's expansion plans. The first parcel of a former hospital campus was acquired in 2007 with the completion of the purchase and sale agreement on a 6 acres (24,000 m2)parcel. In January 2010, the Academy purchased an additional 4 acres (16,000 m2) of the former hospital. A Lighted, artificial turf field was opened in the fall of 2011. A walking path along its perimeter connects to the entrance via a pathway. The field serves as both a practice facility and playing field for multiple sports.

Beginning in the summer of 2013, Worcester Academy embarked on the restoration/renovation of the historic Walker Hall building which will include improvements to the connection to the neighboring Megaron. The project includes: installation of handicap access ramps on the campus entrance to Walker and the Megaron entrance; replacement of windows on Walker Hall, installation of an elevator to service both buildings; installation of bathrooms on all floors of Walker; and HVAC installation to Walker. The majority of the work will be completed over the summers of 2013 and 2014, so that classes will remain in Walker throughout the renovations. In addition, the exterior of the Daniels Gymnasium was restored in the summer of 2013.

Worcester Academy
Dexter Hall
Location Worcester Academy Campus, Worcester, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°15′10″N 71°47′30″W / 42.25278°N 71.79167°W / 42.25278; -71.79167
Area 4.9 acres (2.0 ha)
Built 1889
Architectural style Queen Anne, Romanesque, Gothic Revival
Governing body Private
MPS Worcester MRA
NRHP Reference # 80000478[1]
Added to NRHP March 5, 1980
Kingsley Laboratories
Walker Hall
Rader Hall (library)
1898 advertisement for the school.

The main campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places with six buildings listed as contributing properties: 81 Providence Street, Kingsley Laboratories, Walker Hall, Adams Hall, the Megaron, and Dexter Hall. 81 Providence Street is the home of the Head of School and is named "Abercrombie House" in honor of Daniel Webster Abercrombie, principal from 1882 to 1918.[2] In 2001, the back end of the historic campus changed dramatically with the addition of Rader Hall, named for long-time faculty members Harold G. "Dutch" and Dorothy Rader. Rader Hall houses the school's library and is used for middle school classes and activities. In the past fifteen years restoration work on the historic campus buildings has been completed including in 2008 with the extensive renovation of the Kingsley Laboratories, Walker Hall in 2013/14, and Daniels Gymnasium in 2013.

The most notable building on the campus is the Lewis J. Warner '28 Memorial Theater. Built in 1932, it was a gift from Warner Brothers Studio President Harry Warner, who donated the building to honor the memory of his only son. Lewis died within three years of graduating from the academy. Worcester Academy's middle school student assemblies are held in the 350-seat Hervey S. Ross Auditorium in Warner Theater.

Visual and Performing Arts

Over the 176-year history of the school, fine arts has grown from an extra-curricular student activity into an integral part of the curriculum. Beginning in the 1890s, glee clubs and orchestras, organized by students, performed at term dinners and in the following decade, faculty advisers oversaw these groups. In 1901, the first play was performed by students under the direction of a faculty adviser. These groups evolved into clubs, known as Etta Kappa Alpha (theater) and the Offbeats (singing) which were important contributors to extracurricular life at Worcester Academy. In early the 1980s, courses in performing and visual art were offered. By the end of the decade a Visual and Performing Arts Department was formed. Soon thereafter, theater was offered as a course and this curriculum has expanded greatly since then.

Visual Arts

Upper school studio art course offerings include ceramics, jewelry design, fibers craft, and architecture. In addition to drawing and painting courses, digital art is an offering. Web design and animation are also part of the art curriculum.

The Middle School offers an extensive visual arts program in conjunction with introductory courses in music and theater. A highlight of the program is the Arts Café which studies the art, and cuisine, of a goal culture each year.

Theater Program

Worcester Academy has been offering an extensive curriculum in theater arts since 1988. Teachers emphasize ensemble and artistic excellence. The curricular and co-curricular programs provide both serious training for those who might want to major in theater arts in college as well as opportunities for students who may be studying theater arts for the first time and wish to explore their interests.

Theater arts courses are taught by four degreed professionals in theater arts. Three theater faculty have advanced degrees in theater. One was awarded the Olmsted Prize, a national award for teaching excellence.

Students perform in two distinct theaters:

The Andes Pit Theater located in the basement of Walker Hall will be replaced by building on the South Campus that had formerly been a power plant.
Warner Theater, painstakingly restored in 2000 to its original beauty, is an elegant proscenium theater that seats an audience of 360.

Students perform in three fully mounted Upper School productions and a fully mounted Middle School production. One of these productions is an annual musical. Middle School students present class projects to enthusiastic friends and family.

Theater students attend professional productions at some of the great regional theaters in Boston, Cambridge, Providence, and Hartford.

Each summer, Moonstruck Theater Company,[3] founded by Worcester Academy Alumna Caroline Fonseca '05, presents a fully mounted production in the Andes Pit Theater. Many company members are graduates of the Academy’s theater program, and many WA theater students gain valuable practical experience as Moonstruck Theater interns.

Upper School Music Academic Program

  • Chorus offers introductory to intermediate training in ensemble performance with a focus on developing singers’ musicianship, vocal technique and interpretive skills.
  • Advanced Chorus is a performance ensemble open to qualified students by audition. The repertoire includes American, European and World music that is both challenging and rewarding to study and perform. The group regularly participates in choral festivals and has always received excellent or superior ratings.
  • Wind Ensemble is open to students with a desire to play music in an ensemble setting. The repertoire is chosen to develop ensemble techniques and introduce students to varied styles.
  • Orchestra includes string players, as well as auditioned woodwind, brass and percussion players. The group plays a wide variety of repertoire.
  • Music Study is individual and small group lessons that are offered to members of the performance ensembles in voice, piano, woodwinds, brass, bass, and percussion.
  • Music Theory meets two times weekly and is scheduled as an independent study for greater availability for students. The program is based around compositional technique of seventeenth to twentieth century tonal music and focuses on four-part writing. Courses run from Music Theory I through AP. This three-year curriculum is equivalent to three semesters of most college theory classes.

Extra-curricular program:

  • The Academy Singers are selected from members of the choral classes. The Academy Singers perform an eclectic mix of vocal music suitable to a small ensemble, from Renaissance to modern. In addition to school performances, they often reach out to the community. Like the Advanced Chorus, the Academy Singers regularly participate in choral festivals and have always earned excellent or superior ratings.
  • Jazz Combo is a small performance based jazz group (6–10 members/ rhythm section and up to 5 horns) by audition. Repertoire is based upon stylistic and historical perspectives in Jazz, with attention drawn to the innovative artists of those periods. All arrangements are original and many times created by the group during rehearsals. The combo performs at the Academy and in the community throughout the school year.
  • Jazz Lab is a performance based training program for beginning to intermediate players who are interested and wish to explore jazz.
  • The Hillpoppas are a student directed "collegiate" a cappella ensemble. Most of their arrangements are created by the members. The Hillpoppas fill an important spot in the choral music program, offering students opportunities as leaders and composer/arrangers working in contemporary styles.
  • A full musical theater production is mounted by the Visual and Performing Arts Department each year. Our upcoming and recent productions:
2014 Carousel
2013 Cabaret
2012 Pippin
2011 The Mystery of Edwin Drood
2010 Seussical
2009 Anything Goes
2008 Into the Woods
2007 The Mikado
2006 Urinetown

Middle School Music

Music 6 and 7 offer general music classes. Music 8 is an ensemble class for instrumentalists and singers.

Bells, Band and Chorus: All middle school students are encouraged to take part in one of these groups meeting once a week. This program includes Beginning and Advanced Band, Chorus, and Select Chorus.

A middle school production is offered every second year. On alternate years the Upper School Musical is open to middle school students as an all-school production.

Athletics

Worcester Academy is a member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC). Worcester Academy plays most of the larger New England prep schools, and rivalries date back much more than a century. In certain sports, NEPSAC classifies the competition for post-season play and Worcester Academy competes with teams in Class A and Class B.

The formation of the Worcester Academy Athletic Association in 1885 was the official beginning of interscholastic sport at the Academy and like many Eastern boarding schools, Worcester Academy helped pioneer the growth of athletic competition in the United States. This tradition in sports has motivated many graduates to continue their involvement by playing sports at the college or professional level, or through coaching, officiating, management, medicine, apparel, reporting, charitable giving, and the arts.

The nickname of the school teams is the Hilltoppers due to the school’s location at the top of Worcester's Union Hill and the ram is the mascot because of the hilltop location and is named Oskee, after the school fight song. Approximately 60% of the students participate in an interscholastic sport on one of the 54 athletic teams. There are twenty-four different sports offered including in the fall: football, soccer, cross country, field hockey; in the winter: basketball, wrestling, alpine skiing, volleyball, hockey, swimming; and in the spring: track and field, baseball, lacrosse, crew, golf, softball, and tennis.

Facilities

  • Daniels Gymnasium (1915 with a 1983 addition) has two basketball courts, a wrestling room, a weight room, and a four lane swimming pool. Volleyball is played in this building in the fall. A running track is above the original basketball court.
  • Gaskill Field (1910) is a located a few blocks south of the main campus and was completely renovated in 1995. This complex includes a football field with stands, a six lane quarter mile composition track, four tennis courts, and a baseball field.
  • New Balance Field (2001) is located four miles from the main campus and it includes fields on three planes of different elevations. These are used for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, and baseball based upon the season. There is also a field dedicated to softball.
  • Morse Field (2011) is located a block south of the main campus on the site of the former St. Vincent Hospital. In May 2012, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name it the Dexter P. Morse Field in honor of Dexter and Barbara Morse. Morse served as the Head of School for 15 years and was instrumental in the construction of the turf field. Morse Field consists of a multi-purpose synthetic turf field that hosts varsity football, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and softball. As part of the $3.2 million project, lights were installed for Friday night football games. There is also a small walking track surrounding the field. On September 22, 2012 the field was officially dedicated in honor of Dexter Morse.
  • Off-campus facilities: The crew teams row on Lake Quinsigamond and store their shells at the Donahue Rowing Center in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The hockey teams play their homes games at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro. The golf teams play at the Cyprian Keyes Golf Course in Boylston, Massachusetts. The ski team practices and competes at Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, Massachusetts.

Recent Highlights

On November 17, 2013, the Boys Varsity Soccer Team appeared in the final game of the NEPSAC Class A soccer tournament for the first time in the 102-year history of the soccer program at Worcester Academy. WA lost to the Berkshire School which won the championship for the second year in a row. In the past decade, the Worcester Academy Varsity Boys Soccer team has appeared regularly in the NEPSAC tournament.

In 2011, the Girls Varsity Soccer Team won NEPSAC Class A tournament in the first year that the team had moved up to the division. ESPN named the team the best private school girls soccer team in the U.S. In previous years, the girls team won the NEPSAC Class B crown two times and appeared in the finals.

In 2011, the varsity baseball team won the NEPSAC crown by winning the Blackburn Tournament at the College of the Holy Cross. In 2012 and 2013, the team has lost in the final game of the Blackburn tournament.

Notable coaches

Worcester Academy has a long history of coaches who have had gone on to become great coaches at all levels of sports: Some of them are: Frank Cavanaugh, Mike Sherman, Ken O'Keefe, Dave Gavitt, William F. Donovan, Al Hall, and Bill Livesey. In addition, Gordon Lockbaum is a coach at Worcester Academy.

Clubs

Student organizations or clubs date back to the very beginning of Worcester Academy in 1834, when the Legomathenian Society was formed. Initially, the Legomathenian Society was a literary society which published articles written by students. The Legomathenian Society is now the debate club at Worcester Academy. There are 55 organizations and just a few of them are: Model UN, Habitat for Humanity, Math Team, and Newman Society. The Worcester Academy Clubs Program is designed to create a rich tapestry of opportunities for students to foster leadership, while learning, growing, exploring and identifying common interests and passions beyond the classroom experience. The clubs serve as a platform for community engagement and an active reflection of the WA Core Values: Respect, Community, Challenge, Honor and Personal Growth. Each club has a student leader along with a faculty advisor.

Recent Highlights

In January 2010, the Worcester Academy team won the Brain Bee competition for the state of Massachusetts and Raji Pyda '12, won the overall competition. She represented the state in the national Brain Bee, which was held in Baltimore, Maryland in April 2010.

In May 2010, Worcester Academy's Walk and Rock for the Jimmy Fund raised $21,862 for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer research and support at Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. In 2005, two juniors, Jeffrey Rothschild '07 and Elizabeth Tripp '07 with the support of their faculty adviser, Dr. Francine Smith, founded Walk and Rock for the Jimmy Fund. The event—a walkathon and music festival—raised $221,862 over a five-year period. This total includes an anonymous $100,000 donation from a Jimmy Fund supporter and parent of Worcester Academy alumni. In its first years, the event headlined the bands State Radio and ZOX. Other notable leaders of the event include Aaron Faucher '08, Stonleigh Caswell '09, and Jake Arthur '10. Although the Jimmy Fund Club still remains, the last Walk and Rock ended in 2010 due to the amount of time and effort it took to plan and organize.

In the spring of 2011, the We The People club won the Massachusetts championship and traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the national championship. The Worcester Academy team competed with teams from every state.

In 2011, Worcester Academy's math team won its seventh (and fourth straight[4]) Worcester County Mathematics League championship,[5] its seventh (and sixth straight[6]) state championship,[7] and its fourth New England championship (the third in six years[8]).[9][10]

In October 2013, Worcester Academy sponsored s Model UN conference on the campus. The Secretary General was Claire Leibmann '14 and the keynote speaker was Tanja Bernstein '90, Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations. More than 60 student delegates attended the conference representing schools that included Worcester Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, the Dana Hall School, Foxboro High School, and the Francis Parker Charter Essential School.

Other Highlights

  • In September 2006, Boston Magazine rated Worcester Academy the sixteenth best private school in the Boston Area, and the best in Worcester County. In an article entitled "The Right Private School for Your Kid," Boston Magazine rated Worcester Academy the best private school in the Boston area for students to exercise their mathematical talents.
  • Worcester Academy celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2008–2009.
  • The Open Gates program began in 2008. Open Gates is Worcester Academy’s coordinated approach to experiential learning. It provides a program that integrates real-world experiences with the school’s curriculum. The program brings our students out beyond the campus and the classroom, and brings guests and real-word dimensions in, reinforcing the relevance of the academic experience as well as our connections with the various communities in which we learn and live. Programs and opportunities range from the local to New York City, Washington D.C., Costa Rica, Denmark, Italy, England and China. In short, Open Gates is a major initiative aimed at fulfilling the school’s mission statement: “Worcester Academy exists to instill in its students the desire to learn throughout life, to engage passionately with the world around them, and to be honorable persons of strong and resourceful character.”
  • On November 20, 2011, Elizabeth Butterworth, Class of 2007, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. A graduate of Princeton University, she is in her second year of studies at Oxford. Elizabeth is the second Worcester Academy graduate to receive a Rhodes Scholarship. The first was Troyer Steele Anderson, Class of 1918, who was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1923.

Alumni Awards

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Established in 2002, this award recognizes the accomplishment of an alumnus/a who has demonstrated the Academy's mission through excellence in his or her chosen field. The award is presented annually during reunion weekend.

  • 2002 Recipient: Lt. Gen. Alcide M. LaNoue, M.D. '52
  • 2003 Recipient: Dr. Richard Talamo '53 (posthumously)
  • 2004 Recipient: Robert E. Weissman '58
  • 2005 Recipient: N. Scott Knight '65
  • 2006 Recipient: Sen. Louis C. D'Allesandro '56
  • 2006 Recipient: Dr. Thomas V. Healey '36 (posthumously)
  • 2007 Recipient: Alan J. Bernon '72
  • 2008 Recipient: Michael Puk Sun Tien '68
  • 2009 Recipient: Dr. Craig R. Dufresne '69
  • 2010 Recipient: Dr. Chulsu Kim '60
  • 2011 Recipient: Dr. Everett F. Lang, Jr. '61
  • 2012 Recipient: Congressman James P. McGovern '77
  • 2013 Recipient: Carol Goldsberry Tucker '83

Young Alumnus Recognition Award

Established in 2003, this award is given to an alumnus/a who graduated from the Academy in the past twenty years and has demonstrated success in his or her chosen field or has contributed significantly to his or her community. The award is presented annually during reunion weekend.

  • 2003 Recipient: Ira Stoll '90
  • 2004 Recipient: Naomi A. Schaefer '94
  • 2005 Recipient: Tanja Bernstein '90
  • 2006 Recipient: Alta M. Boover '96
  • 2007 Recipient: Neil S. Patel '87
  • 2008 Recipient: Niels Tangherlini '88
  • 2009 Recipient: Zoey L. Breslar '89
  • 2010 Recipient: Jonathan Starr '94
  • 2011 Recipient: Rodolfo Perecin Mareno '01
  • 2012 Recipient: Philip A. Kalmanovitch '02
  • 2013 Recipient: Andrew Chalupka '03

Worcester Academy Hall of Fame

The Worcester Academy Hall of Fame, established in 1976, recognizes individuals who through their many years of service and devotion to the Academy have had an important impact on the school and society. The Hall of Fame members include alumni, former faculty members, heads of school, coaches, faculty wives, trustees, benefactors and friends of the Academy. The Hall of Fame also includes alumni whose work has influenced the lives of people everywhere.

Recent recipients:

  • 1998 – Bruce Daniels '43, Janet Macko
  • 1999 – Harold Keohane '56, Duane Sargisson '51, Elizabeth J. Jung '79
  • 2000 – James Davis '62, Robert Hall '62, Michael Mone '60
  • 2001 – Earle Leeder '51
  • 2002 – David Forsberg '65, Jacques LeBermuth '24
  • 2005 – Ronald A. Siff '55
  • 2009 – Donald Bloom '59, Elaine Willey Bloom

Notable Alumni

Notable faculty and alumni of Worcester Academy include:

In certain instances, student-athletes attend Worcester Academy solely for their senior year, or for a single postgraduate year, to increase their exposure to college coaches or to improve their academic standing. Notable student-athletes include:

Headmasters of Worcester Academy

Number Name Years
1st Silas Bailey, D.D. 1834–1838
2nd Samuel S. Greene, LL.D. 1838–1840
3rd Nelson Wheeler, A.M. 1840–1847
4th Eli Thayer 1840, A.M. 1847–1849
5th Charles C. Burnett, A.M. 1849–1852
6th Eleazer J. Avery, A.M. 1852–1854
7th William S. Greene, A.M. 1854–1858
8th Werden Reynolds, A.M. 1858–1860
9th James R. Stone, D.D. 1860–1862
10th Ambrose P. S. Stuart, A.M. 1862–1864
11th Charles Ayer, A.B. 1865–1866
12th Albert Prescott Marble, PhD 1866–1868
13th William C. Poland, A.B. 1868–1870
14th Willard T. Leonard, M.A. 1870
15th Rev. David Weston, A.B. 1870–1871
16th John D. Smith, A.B. 1872–1875
17th Nathan Leavenworth, A.M. 1875–1882
18th Daniel Abercrombie, Litt.D., LL.D. 1882–1918
19th Samuel Foss Holmes, A.M. 1918–1933
20th Harold H. Wade 1933–1942
21st LeRoy A. Campbell, PhD 1942–1950
22nd Paul K. Phillips, A.B. 1950–1954
23rd William S. Piper, Jr., Ed.D. 1954–1968
24th Harold G. Rader, Ed.D. 1968–1969
25th David R. Jefferson, B.A., B.D. 1969–1970
26th Robert A. LaBranche 1946, M.S. 1970–1974
27th John A. Bloom, M.A. 1974–1985
28th Ben Williams, M.A. 1985–1991
29th John Mackenzie, M.A. 1991–1997
30th Dexter P. Morse,* M Ed., C.A.G.S. 1997–2012
31st Ronald M. Cino 2012–present

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09. 
  2. ↑ History of Worcester Academy
  3. ↑ http://www.moonstrucktheater.org
  4. ↑ WOCOMAL Varsity Team Championships by Year. Wocomal.org. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.
  5. ↑ WOCOMAL Varsity Team Rankings 2010–11. Wocomal.org. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ MAML Team Championships by Year. Wocomal.org. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.
  7. ↑ MAML State Meet Team Rankings 2011. Wocomal.org. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.
  8. ↑ NEAML Team Championships by Year. Wocomal.org. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.
  9. ↑ NEAML State Meet Team Rankings 2011. Wocomal.org. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.
  10. ↑ Worcester Academy wins NE math championship. Telegram.com. Retrieved on October 14, 2011.

External links

Coordinates: 42°15′10″N 71°47′27″W / 42.252675°N 71.790703°W / 42.252675; -71.790703

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