Seven Hills School (Cincinnati, Ohio)

The Seven Hills School
"Intellectually vibrant, individually attuned"
Location
Hillsdale 5400 Red Bank Road Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton, 45227 Doherty 2726 Johnstone Place Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton, 45206
Information
School type	Non-profit, Private
Established	1974
Founded	1906
Status	Open
Head	Christopher P. Garten
Head of Upper	Matthew Bolton
Head of Middle	William J. Waskowitz
Head of Doherty	Patricia V. Guethlein
Head of Lotspeich	Carolyn A. Fox
Faculty	137
Grades	PK-12
Enrollment	1, 047 (2014-2015[1])
• Elementary	465
• Middle	246
• Upper	336
Average class size	15
Student to teacher ratio	9:1
Language	English
Hours in school day	7
Campuses	Hillsdale Doherty
Campus type	Urban/Suburban
Color(s)	Blue, Gold, and Green
Athletics conference	MVC
Team name	Stingers
Rival	Summit, CCDS, CHCA, Mariemont
Average SAT scores (2009)	1810-2120
Publication	Seven Hills Buzz Seven Hills Magazine
Newspaper	Canvass (Upper) The Hive (Middle) Doherty Press (Doherty)
Yearbook	Carpe Diem (Upper)[2]
Tuition	$5,500 - $19,850[3]
Affiliation	NAIS
Alumni	Mohini Bhardwaj Dana Fabe Tiffany Hines Andy Paris Curtis Sittenfeld P.G. Sittenfeld
Information	513-271-9027
Website	7hills.org
An alternate logo that has been in use for several decades

Coordinates: 39°10′0″N 84°24′8″W / 39.16667°N 84.40222°W / 39.16667; -84.40222

The Seven Hills School is a private, non-denominational school in Cincinnati, Ohio. It consists of Doherty (PK-5) and Lotspeich (PK-5), Seven Hills Middle School (6-8) and Seven Hills Upper School (9-12). The Seven Hills School is the largest independent, non-church-affiliated school in Ohio.^[4] The Seven Hills School is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools. Along with four other local schools, Seven Hills was recognized in 2009 by Cincinnati Magazine for Outstanding Achievement in the category of General Excellence.^[5]

History

The Seven Hills School was formed in 1974 from the combination of three Cincinnati institutions — the College Preparatory School, the Hillsdale School and the Lotspeich School. The Doherty School was founded by Miss Doherty. It was called Miss Doherty's College Preparatory School for Young Girls from its founding in 1906 until 1974. Meanwhile, Lotspeich, the middle school, and the high school were known as Hillsdale-Lotspeich. Both schools were originally only open to women until around the 1960s/early 1970s.^[4][6]

Values

Seven Hills is named after the "Seven Hills of Cincinnati", where it is located. The school promotes seven values that are represented by each hill. Those values are:

• Striving for excellence in everything
• Respect for others and appreciation of diversity
• Kindness, caring, and compassion
• Honesty and integrity
• Fairness and justice
• Personal responsibility and accountability
• Commitment to community^[7]

Campuses

The Seven Hills School is divided into two campuses: Hillsdale and Doherty.

Hillsdale

Hillsdale is the main campus of the school. It includes the Upper School, the Middle School, and Lotspeich, one of Seven Hills' two elementary schools. It is also home to most of the athletic fields and gymnasiums as well as the school's main administrative office.

• 

  One of the main entrances of the primary building of Lotspeich

• 

  Side of the same building, showing solar panels on the roof

• 

  The rear of the Middle School, showing a birdhouse used for 7th grade bird studies

• 

  A side view of the Middle School's former main entrance, which has since been replaced with a colonnade

• 

  Entrance to the main building of the Upper School

• 

  The Alumni Courtyard, to the left of which is the Upper School

• 

  Another view of the main Upper School building entrance

• 

  The Donovan Arts Center, a building used by the Middle and Upper schools for fine & performing arts

Doherty

Doherty is another campus of the school. It is home to an elementary school of the same name.

At Doherty, grade 1 is also known as Unit 1, grades 2 and 3 are grouped together into Unit 2, and grades 4 and 5 are grouped into Unit 3. Grades in the same unit are grouped together for some classes, assemblies, and other purposes.

Curriculum

Seven Hills offers courses on English, Fine and Performing Arts, Foreign Language, History, Mathematics, Physical Education and Health, Science, and Technology and Computer Science. To graduate from the Upper School, students are required to complete four years of English and three years of mathematics, science, history, and a foreign language.^[8] Additionally, each student is required to complete their Personal Challenge. A Personal Challenge is worked on throughout each students time in the Upper School. Personal Challenges must stretch a student's personal limitations (without being dangerous), take thirty or more hours to complete, and be shared with the community.^[9]

Sister Schools

Seven Hills maintains sister school relationships with Lycée Paul Melizan in La Valentine, a suburb of Marseille, France, and Liuzhou High School in Liuzhou, China. Seven Hills has also previously partnered with Colegio La Salle Burgos in Burgos, Castilla y Leon, but will partner with a school in Bilbao, Pais Vasco beginning in the 2013-2014 school year. Foreign exchanges are maintained with each school—students in Spanish and French 3 or higher are eligible for exchanges to the respective country in alternating years, while exchange to Liuzhou is offered to any rising senior each year. Students travel to Marseille and Paris in March of odd years, with foreign students arriving in April of the same year; in even years, students travel to Madrid and Bilbao in March, with foreign students arriving in the previous October. Students travel to China in July, with foreign students arriving in January of the following year.

Clubs and activities

Seven Hills has a variety of clubs and other activities open to students.

Upper clubs

Thirty-five clubs and organizations currently meet in the upper school, the majority of which meet at lunch time on a weekly basis.

Latin Club

Seven Hills' Latin Club functions as a local chapter of both the Ohio Junior Classical League and National Junior Classical League. In the 2009–10 OJCL convention, Seven Hills' Latin club earned second place in the Points per Capita Sweepstakes.^[10]

Paper Noise

Paper Noise is the biannual literary magazine published by members of the Upper School, featuring writing pieces from all grade levels of Seven Hills. The group also holds an annual open mike lunch where students can read poetry or literature, whether it is written by themselves or someone else.

Middle clubs

Roots & Shoots

Since 2005, members of the middle school have run a member group of the organization Roots & Shoots. The group coordinates projects that raise money for charitable causes or that help the environment.^[11][12] Some of their projects include adding a fountain in the middle school for reusable water bottles to discourage the use of disposable water bottles and arranging for the school cafeteria to have reusable silverware instead of disposable plasticware.^[13]

Doherty clubs

At Doherty, Stamp Club, Good Apples, and Student Council meet weekly at lunch time.

Stamp Club

Stamp Club, run by the librarians, is open to students in fourth or fifth grade. Usually, the students collect, organize, and trade stamps or play a stamp-related form of bingo.

Good Apples

Fourth and fifth grade students at Doherty and fifth graders at Lotspeich can join Good Apples. At the beginning of the year, those students are assigned to a teacher. Each week, they'll help the teacher with whatever task that teacher might need help with.

Athletics

A middle school golfer teeing off at a match

The Seven Hills Stingers are a member of the Miami Valley Conference, which is part of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Seven Hills has a combined total of ninety-seven teams playing soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, track and field, volleyball, tennis, cross country running, golf, gymnastics, cheerleading, lacrosse, and swimming. The school has also received the OHSAA Harold A. Meyer Sportsmanship Award for the past three years, and was also awarded the Charlie Selzer Sportsmanship Award in 2005.^[14] Additionally, the middle and upper schools both offer various intramural sports which take place throughout the year during lunch time.

Fall Sports

Golf

In 2009, the school's varsity golf team earned sixth place in the OHSAA Boys Division III State Golf Championship. Also in 2014, the golf team earned eleventh place in the OHSAA Boys Division III State Golf Championship.^[15]

Soccer

In 2009, the Seven Hills varsity boys soccer team, coached by Terry Nicholl, won the league, sectional, district, and regional tournaments, losing only in the state semifinal match against Worthington Christian School. They completed their season with a record of 19-2-1.^[16][17] In 2010, the middle school boys team had 19-0 for their season, with 76 goals, 4 goals against and 15 shutouts.

Winter Sports

Swimming

In 2014, the Seven Hills Swim Team achieved three, first-place finishes and another three, second-place finishes. The boys 200 Medley Relay Team consisting of Marquardt, Kieser, Guo, and Skoufalos won the SW Ohio Districts, and set a new school and meet record.^[18] At the state meet, the swimming team placed 4th in Division II. The team had one state win, and four runners-up, including 2nd-place finishes in the 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay.^[19] Also, 2014 was the first year of the Middle School Swim Team, which placed 1st in the boys at the Junior High Swimming Championships. The team had 15 first-place finishes including wins in the 200 Medley and Free Relay, consisting of Callard, Cyr, Kalin, and Maring, which both barely missed the meet record. In addition, Cyr set a new meet record in the 100 I.M., and Maring set a new meet record in the 25 Breast.^[20] In 2015, the boys swimming and diving team gave Seven Hills their first team [OHSAA] state championship in school history.^[21]

Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships

Boys Swimming and Diving- 2015 (Division II)

Notable alumni

• Mohini Bhardwaj, Olympic gymnast^[22]
• Dana Fabe, Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, class of 1969^[23]
• Tiffany Hines, actress, class of 1995^[24]
• Andy Paris, actor and playwright, class of 1989^[25]
• Curtis Sittenfeld, writer
• P.G. Sittenfeld, City Council of Cincinnati member, class of 2003^[26]
• Sara Eisen, CNBC anchor

References

• "School Overview". The Seven Hills School. Retrieved 16 March 2010. 

External links

• The Seven Hills School website
• Seven Hills High School Sports - Cincinnati.Com