Sacramento Country Day School

Sacramento Country Day School (SCDS) is an independent, co-educational, college preparatory school serving pre-kindergarten through grade 12 since 1964. SCDS is located in the unincorporated Arden Arcade neighborhood of Sacramento, California, and serves students from all surrounding areas, including Carmichael, Davis, Elk Grove, Penryn, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, and Shingle Springs. The mission of Sacramento Country Day School is to provide a traditional, college preparatory education to students from a variety of backgrounds who possess both strong academic potential and respect for others, and to develop in them the qualities of self-confidence, creativity, integrity, and responsibility.

History

Seeking an academically-challenging school for their son, Greg, Dr. Baxter Geeting and his wife, Corinne, formulated the concept for Country Day around their kitchen table. About that time, Dr. Geeting met Herbert Matthews, who was teaching math at a small school in Carmichael, and convinced him to join the discussion. Soon, the school envisioned by these educators became a reality.

September 14, 1964, the school opened with 12 students in portable buildings at the Unitarian Church on Sierra Blvd. The following year, the school relocated to its present campus on Latham Drive with 123 students in grades kindergarten through nine. High School buildings arrived in 1970, the multi-purpose building in 1977, and Lower School classrooms in 1979. The building boom of the 1980s produced the gymnasium (1982), the Matthews Library (1985), the administration building (1985), and the Lower School library “wing” (1985). Recent construction includes the Frank Science Center (2005), and the new Lower School building and renovation, completed in August 2008.

As the physical plant and enrollment steadily grew, so did the strength and breadth of the school’s educational programs. Over the decades, SCDS added many Advanced Placement, honors, and elective courses in addition to co-curricular programs such as Mock Trial and Renaissance Day; and field trips such as Sutter’s Fort, Marin Headlands, Yosemite, Redwood Glen, and Washington D.C.; and over two dozen interscholastic athletic teams.

The founders’ foresight in anticipating the need for a school like SCDS was astute. Country Day remains the premier independent pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade school in the region, guiding children at every grade level toward the skills and knowledge that will enable them to gain admission to selective colleges and universities across the country. The tradition of “Excellence in Education” continues, as our students’ standardized test scores are consistently the highest in the Sacramento area.

Lower School

The Lower School begins with prekindergarten and continues through the fifth grade. The integrated and enriched curriculum is designed to build a strong foundation of skills and knowledge. With a focus on experiential, hands-on learning activities, the Lower School grades are filled with joyful learning. The educational experience is led by creative, nurturing classroom teachers and enhanced by specialists in physical education, visual arts, performing arts and music, world cultures and languages, and technology.

Middle school

SCDS's middle school consists of grades six through eight. Seventh and eighth grades have specialized teachers for each subject, in addition to a home-room teacher and a rotating schedule. Each student is required to take two electives per semester. There are no final exams for middle school students. Most students in the middle school take a foreign language, either Latin, Spanish or French.

Each middle school grade spends a week on an educational class trip, including an eighth grade class trip to Washington DC, a seventh grade trip to Yosemite, and a sixth grade trip to Redwood Glen.

High school

The high school consists of roughly 150 students grades 9 through 12. There are many student clubs. Community service is required to graduate.. There are many varsity sports teams. Sacramento Country Day School has a no-cut policy. Therefore, if a student meets the academic requirements and is willing to participate fully, he or she will play on the school team. The students must take at least three consecutive years of French, Spanish, or Latin in order to graduate. Arts and drama activities are also available. According to SCDS publications, 100% of students go on to a higher education institution, including universities such as Columbia, Yale, UCLA, Stanford University, Cornell University, Princeton University and other top-tier schools.^[3]

Sponsorships

Sacramento Country Day School sponsors the Breakthrough Sacramento program. One of 34 programs that together form the Breakthrough Collaborative, this is a college preparatory program for students from under-resourced schools in selected urban neighborhoods of the city. Each summer over 70 middle school students attend a rigorous academic enrichment program where they are taught by 24 high school and college students. The program's dual goal are to prepare the younger students for success in college-preparatory high school programs and provide support to thrive in university while preparing future educational leaders to schools or advocates of educational equity in their career choice. The program's motto is "Students Teaching Students" and Breakthrough Sacramento's first class started the summer of 1994. The current directors are Adolfo R. Mercado and Marianne Ceballos and the Breakthrough Sacramento Advisory Board is chaired by program alumna, Ms. Jacqueline Wong-Hernández

Octagon

The Octagon is an established school newspaper with a staff of 22 students. The publication has previously won the Pacemaker award, an award equal in prestige to a Pulitzer Prize for high school journalism, and is a finalist for its 08-09 publications. It is a part of the High School National Ad Network and can be viewed online at SCDS Octagon webpage.

References

1. ↑ WASC-ACS. "WASC-Accrediting Commission for Schools". Retrieved 2010-03-15. 
2. ↑ California Association of Independent Schools. "California Association of Independent Schools". Retrieved 2010-03-15. 
3. ↑ Sacramento Country Day School website

External links

• School Website - www.saccds.org