St. George's School, Newport

St. George's School
Sapientia Utriusque Vitae Lumen
Location
Middletown, Rhode Island USA
Information
Type	Private coeducational secondary, boarding
Established	1896
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	370
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Red, black, and white
Mascot	Dragon
Rival	Middlesex School
Affiliation	Episcopal
Website	St George's website
St. George's School—Church of St. George, Little Chapel, and Memorial Schoolhouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	372 Purgatory Rd., Middletown, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°29′27″N 71°16′6″W / 41.49083°N 71.26833°W / 41.49083; -71.26833
Area	less than one acre
Built	1910
Architectural style	Tudor Revival, Late Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference #	04001235[1]
Added to NRHP	November 12, 2004

The Exterior of the St. George's School Chapel

St. George's School is a private, Episcopal and coeducational boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA, just north of the city of Newport. The school was founded in 1896 by the Rev. John Byron Diman, a member of a prominent Rhode Island family. It sits on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It is a member of the Independent School League and one of five schools collectively termed St. Grottlesex.

History

In 2016 the school stated that sexual misconduct had previously occurred, dating from the 1970s, and perpetrated by employees and students.^[2]

The Hilltop

The school's campus is familiarly known as "The Hilltop", as it is located on a prominent hill just east of Newport. Its oldest buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[3]

• Memorial Schoolhouse – The main academic building in which most classes are held in subjects other than art, music and science.
• Old School – The oldest building on campus, Old School serves a variety of purposes. The first floor serves as the office of the Head of School, Eric Peterson, as well as many administrators and admissions counselors. To the East, the Main Common Room serves as a meeting space for any purpose. The Faculty Lounge and kitchen are attached to the Main Common Room. On the second and third floors are Old School (girls) and Red (boys) dorms.
• DuPont Science Building – Hosting all science classes, it houses laboratories for all physical sciences, and is close by to the observatory. It also has a larger hall used for presentations or examinations.
• Chapel – A classic Gothic chapel built in 1928 with John Nicholas Brown's donation and designed by Ralph Adams Cram, the whole school congregates in the Chapel for two services weekly, one of which is an Episcopal Church service. There are two additional optional services; a Friday night Compline service, and a Sunday Evening Prayer. In 2005, the Chapel organ was completely renovated, and the Chapel now also features a choral practice space and a new pipe organ. Once a week the chapel choir, consisting of nearly 80 students, sings.
• Hill Library – Contains more than 40,000 volumes and 75 periodicals.
• John Nicholas Brown '18 Center – Named in honor of the school's alumnus John Nicholas Brown '18, the Brown Center was dedicated in the spring of 2005. It houses the College Counseling Offices on the main level, deans' offices on the second floor (director of studies, dean of students, dean of faculty), and the bookstore, Geronimo office, mail room and summer school office on the lower level.
• Sixth-Form House – Originally used as the school gymnasium in 1903, it became a Schoolhouse in 1911. Dormitory rooms for school prefects were also once located in the building. Currently the business office, advancement office, and communications office are housed in Sixth-Form House.
• King Hall – The School's dining hall, it serves three meals daily
• William H. Drury and Richard Grosvenor Center for the Arts – home to St. George's 450-seat theatre, where drama productions, musical performances, and lectures are held. The building also features two drawing studios, painting studio, scenery shop (used by Stage Crew for the drama productions), ceramics and photography studios, two computer labs, black box theatre, exhibition gallery, and many soundproof practice rooms.
• Charles A. and Carol J. Hamblet Campus Center – Named in honor of the 10th headmaster and his wife, the Campus Center was dedicated in the fall of 2004. It includes a grille restaurant open during the off-hours of King Hall, a great room, a game room, and a meeting room.
• Dorrance Field House – Built in 1987, the Field House includes four indoor tennis courts, three basketball courts and a ninth of a mile indoor track.
• Hoopes Squash Center – The Joseph C. Hoopes Sr. Squash Center, housing eight international glass-backed courts, was completed in 1996. Using the German made ASB court system, it serves during the summer months as the home for Mark Talbott's Squash Academy, the official training center of the U.S. Squash Racquets Association, and served as the site for both the National Junior Squash Championships in 1996 and 1998 and the Men's Squash Softball Championships in February 1997.
• Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Ice Center – The $4.5 million Stephen P. Cabot and Archer Harman Jr. Ice Center, completed in November 2000, features two ice hockey facilities. Originally built in 1954 as an outdoor rink and enclosed in 1968, the Cabot Memorial rink has new boards, a completely new surface (200' X 85') and a new roof.
• Norris D. Hoyt Pool – The Norris D. Hoyt Swimming Pool is an eight-lane pool with overflow gutters and a Colorado Timing System. Completed in the fall of 2004, the pool holds a large balcony seating area as well as many deck level glass viewing windows.
• Ted Hersey Track – The track is all-weather, completed in the fall of 1996. It is a six-lane, 400 meter oval, with an eight lane sprint chute along the east side. All St. George's field events are held on the inside, with the exception of the javelin throw. It includes the high jump area at the northern end of the oval, the discus throw area at the northwestern corner, the shotput throw area at the northeastern corner, the long and triple jump parallel along the western straight-away and the pole vault way parallel to the eastern straightaway. The area inside the oval is the Redway Field and is large enough for a full, international-sized soccer field (360 feet by 225 feet). The track is named for the longest-serving (1952–2004) faculty member in school history, who founded the programs in cross-country and track and field.
• 

  The "Hilltop", viewed from Second Beach
  Blazer and Wood Tennis courts – Blazer Tennis Courts are hardcourt-surfaced courts located at the main entrance of the school. Both junior varsity teams host their games on these courts. The Wood Tennis Courts are six hardcourt-surfaced courts located across the street from the main entrance of the school.
• Playing Fields – The 10 athletic fields include Crocker Field (used for Varsity Football and Girls' Varsity Lacrosse), Elliott Field (used for Varsity Baseball), a JV baseball field, two field hockey fields, four lacrosse/soccer fields, and a softball field.
• There are five boys' dorms and six girls' dorms. Two or three faculty members live with their families in apartments within each of the buildings.

Academics

As of the 2014–15 school year, students are required to take a minimum of four years of English, mathematics through precalculus, three years of a foreign language, two years of laboratory science courses, two years of social sciences, one or two semesters of religious studies, and two semesters of art classes.^[4]

View, from St. George's School, of Sachuest Point

Tuition and Fees

Cost of attendance (2015–2016)^[5]

• Boarding student: $56,000
• Day student: $38,500

Extracurricular activities

Sports

The school is a member of the Independent School League (ISL) and the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC).^[6][7]

Geronimo

Geronimo is a Ted Hood designed 69-foot fiberglass sloop. Three times during the academic year, Geronimo carries students from St. George's School on six-week long voyages. She sails year round between Canadian waters and the Caribbean, and she is now making a two year long journey to the Mediterranean . Students are taught Nautical Science and Oceanography/Marine Biology while on board. Summer trainees range in age from high school to adult.^[8][9]

In popular culture

• St. George's has made a public disclosure of years of sexual abuse of students by several staff members.
• St. George's is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic first novel, This Side of Paradise, where the school is described as "prosperous and well-dressed"
• Featured in The Official Preppy Handbook by Lisa Birnbach
• The Education of Charlie Banks (2007), co-starring Jesse Eisenberg and Eva Amurri and directed by Fred Durst, was filmed on the campus of St. George's. The establishing shots of the Old School building, King Hall and the chapel were used to represent Vassar College. The motion picture also filmed at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

Notable St. Georgians (Old Boys)

• Vincent Astor, Philanthropist, major holder in Newsweek Magazine, Member of the prominent Astor family
• John Jacob Astor VI, Major Investor, Member of the prominent Astor family
• John Jacob Astor V, Philanthropist, Owner of The Times Newspaper
• Leonard Bacon 1905, Well recognized Poet, Writer and Book Critic. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1940
• Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. 1936, a descendant of the storied Philadelphia family who wrote the legislation that led to the creation of the National Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and was chairman of the endowment from 1977 to 1981. From 1968 to 1970, he was a professor and the chairman of the arts division at Fordham University in New York City and in 1971 and 1972 he was chairman of the Pennsylvania Ballet Company
• Julie Bowen 1987, Actress best known for playing Claire Dunphy on Modern Family
• John Nicholas Brown 1918, Philanthropist, Donor of the School's Chapel, member of the prestigious Brown Family of Rhode Island, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy
• Billy Bush 1990, Access Hollywood Anchor, host of an NBC prime-time show of Let's Make A Deal
• Prescott Bush 1913, WWI artillery Captain, U.S. Senator from Connecticut 1953–1963, father of President George H.W. Bush and grandfather of President George W. Bush
• Tucker Carlson 1987, writer and former host of Crossfire on CNN followed by Tucker on MSNBC. Now pan-NBC political commentator
• Peter Cook (American anchor) 1985, Washington anchor for Bloomberg Television
• Philippe Cousteau Jr. 1998, founder of EarthEcho International, grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau
• Charles Dean 1968, brother of Howard Dean, captured and executed in Laos
• Howard Brush Dean III 1966, MD, longest-serving Vermont Governor 1991–2003, Presidential Candidate 2004 and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee 2005–2009
• David Gilbert (author) 1986
• Robert E. Gross 1915, famous American businessman in Aviation, Founder and President of the Lockheed Corporation from 1934 to 1956. Featured in the 2004 blockbuster hit The Aviator
• William C. Hayes 1961, leading authority on Egyptian history, and former curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Laurence G. Leavitt, headmaster of Vermont Academy, Saxtons River, Vermont, for 25 years
• Ogden Nash 1920, famous American Poet and Writer
• Diane Nelson 1985, President of DC Entertainment
• Morgan Parker, inventor of the disposable scalpel
• Claiborne Pell 1936, longest-serving Rhode Island Senator (in office 1961–1997), famous for creating the Pell Grant
• Roger W. Straus, Jr., was co-founder of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a New York book publishing company
• Ian W. Toll 1985, American author and historian
• Whitney Tower, longtime horse racing journalist and former chairman of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
• Russell E. Train 1937, founder and past-president of the World Wildlife Fund
• William Henry Vanderbilt III, Governor of Rhode Island, philanthropist
• Harry Werksman, Writer-producer for the third season of Grey's Anatomy
• Wilfrid Zogbaum, widely respected US avant-garde sculptor

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Newport County, Rhode Island

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint George's (Middletown, Rhode Island).

• www.stgeorges.edu

Coordinates: 41°29′28″N 71°16′24″W / 41.49111°N 71.27333°W / 41.49111; -71.27333