Westminster School (Connecticut)
| Westminster School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| 995 Hopmeadow St, Simsbury, CT 06070 | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, Boarding, Day |
| Motto | Virtute et Numine (Grit and Grace) |
| Established | 1888 |
| Headmaster | William V. N. Philip |
| Faculty | 86 |
| Enrollment | 390 |
| Color(s) | Black and Gold |
| Mascot | The Martlet |
| Endowment | $110,000,000 |
| Website | www.westminster-school.org |
Westminster School is a private, coeducational college-preparatory, boarding and day school located in Simsbury, Connecticut accepting around 20% of applicants. Students come to Williams Hill from 25 states and 30 countries, serving a total student population of approximately 400 pupils [1]. It is also a member of the Founders League, an athletic league comprising ten college preparatory boarding schools in Connecticut and one in New York[2].
Contents
1 History
2 Faculty and staff
2.1 Headmasters
3 Student activities
3.1 Athletics
3.2 Theater
4 Campus facilities
5 Alumni
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
History
Gund House, on the campus of Westminster School, is a student and faculty residence.
Westminster School was founded in 1888 as a boys' school.[1] Girls were first admitted to the school in 1971. Like many boarding schools, Westminster faced difficult times in the 1970s as it competed for a shrinking pool of boarding students. When Donald Werner retired in 1993, after serving as Headmaster for 21 years, he was succeeded by Graham Cole. During the Cole years, enrollment for the school grew from 340 to 385 students, with 88 faculty.[citation needed]
Significant building projects undertaken include:
- Edge House. Designed by Westminster alumnus Graham Gund and built in 1996, Edge House houses 33 students and three faculty families.[3]
- Kohn Squash Pavilion. Completed in the Spring of 2000, The Squash Pavilion contains eight squash courts around a stepped viewing area with natural light from skylights above. The team rooms, locker rooms, and other support spaces are located on a second floor mezzanine overlooking the viewing area and squash courts below.[4]
- Sherwin Health & Athletic Center. Completed in 2003, the Sherwin Health & Athletic Center, the Hibbard Aquatic Center and the Health & Counseling Center is a multipurpose building. The Aquatic Center contains a competition pool with support facilities and a viewing area on the mezzanine floor.[5]
- Armour Academic Center. This 85,000-square-foot Center houses the Humanities, Math and Science departments, library, and administration. Building features include a centrally located atrium, two-story library, classrooms and laboratories, 120-seat lecture hall, planetarium, faculty and administrative offices, and a variety of lounge spaces.[6]
With Cole's retirement in 2010, Westminster appointed William V.N. Philip as its eighth Headmaster. Philip ascended to the top job after a 26-year career at Westminster as a teacher, coach, dormitory parent, college counselor, and most recently Associate and Assistant Headmaster.[1]
Faculty and staff
Headmasters
- William Lee Cushing (1888–1920), first headmaster and school founder[1]
- Lemuel Gardner Pettee (1920–1922), school faculty member for over 50 years and namesake of one of the school's gymnasiums
- Raymond McOrmond (1922–1936), namesake of a faculty home
- Arthur Milliken (1936–1956)
- Francis Keyes (1956–1970),[7] namesake of the Admission and Development building
- Donald H. Werner (1970–1993), namesake of the Centennial Center, home to most of the arts on campus
- W. Graham Cole, Jr. (1993–2010), namesake of the school's library[8]
- William V.N. Philip (2010 -)[9]
Student activities
Athletics
| Sport | Season | Boys/Girls | Competitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross Country | Fall | B/G | Yes |
| Field Hockey | Fall | G | Yes |
| Soccer | Fall | B/G | Yes |
Water Polo | Fall | B | Yes |
| Basketball | Winter | B/G | Yes |
| Ice Hockey | Winter | B/G | Yes |
| Squash | Winter | B/G | Yes |
Swimming and Diving | Winter | B/G | Yes |
| Baseball | Spring | B | Yes |
| Golf | Spring | B/G | Yes |
| Lacrosse | Spring | B/G | Yes |
| Softball | Spring | G | Yes |
| Tennis | Spring | B/G | Yes |
| Track and Field | Spring | B/G | Yes |
A student tradition, dating as far back as the 1920s, is stickball, a game in which teams made up of dormitory floors and day student teams compete in a baseball-like game on the quad and athletic fields in late spring.[10] Each floor makes its own bat, usually a hockey or lacrosse stick that has been cut, or a wooden dowel of a large diameter. Generally the stickball "season" will culminate in a single-elimination tournament to crown the Hill Stickball champion.
Theater
Each year the theater program stages three productions in the Werner Centennial Theater: one dramatic production spanning the varied genre of Western theater, a musical production, and the student-directed performances, which offer advanced students the opportunity to direct. Each of these productions offers many opportunities for student involvement and leadership, both on stage and backstage.[11]
Situated at the northeastern corner of the campus’s central quadrangle, Centennial Center was upgraded in 1988 into a 30,000 square-foot building including a two-story lobby, a 400-seat, multi-use Shakespearean-style theater, music and dance studios and rehearsal room, dressing rooms, a scene shop/laboratory and other production support spaces. Particular to the “courtyard” theater form, all 400 seats are within 40 feet of the front of the stage, and there is built-in flexibility for both audience size and style of production.[12]
Westminster School's Werner Centennial Center Theatre. Designed by Graham Gund '59
Campus facilities
Dormitories[13]
- Cushing Hall - 1900 (originally named Main Building)
- Memorial Hall - 1928 (remodeled in 1998)
- Alumni House - 1973
- Edge House - 1996
- Squibb House - 2013
- Gund House - 2013
- Kelter House - 2017
Academic / Arts facilities[14]
- Hamilton Art Studios (houses studio art and architecture classrooms)
- Werner Centennial Center & Theater - 1989[15] (houses theater, dance studios, band/music rooms, practice rooms, and scene and prop shops)
- Armour Academic Center - 2009
Athletic facilities[14]
- Pettee Gymnasium
- Jackson Hockey Rink
- Hovey Field - 2012
- Kohn Squash Pavilion - 2001
- Sherwin Health and Aquatic Center - 2005
- Michelini Field and Brooks Family Track
- Osborn Baseball Field
- Wilbraham Field, Harrison Field, Sawyer Field, and other multi-purpose sports fields
- Gow and Haynes Tennis Courts
Other on-campus facilities[14]
- Andrews Memorial Chapel - 1961
- Armstrong Dining Hall - 2017
- Brockelman Student Center - 2018
- Barnes-Bristow Observatory
The Armstrong Dining Hall of Westminster School. Built 2017.
Former buildings[13]
- Hay Chapel - 1909-1961
- East Cottage - unknown-2008
- Baxter Academic Center - 1964-2009
- Original Squibb House - demolished 2013
- Andrews Dormitory - demolished 2013
- Timken Student Center
Alumni
Notable alumni include:
Lake Bell '97, actress
Eric Boguniecki, NHL Hockey player
Ethan Brooks '91, NFL Football player
Joy Bryant '92, actress
William S. Beinecke, ‘32, Namesake of Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library[16][17][18][19]
Tommy Cross '08, Boston Bruins 2nd round draft pick and currently with the Columbus Blue Jackets
David Doubilet '65, National Geographic photographer
Jack Du Brul, writer
Andrew Firestone, The Bachelor TV series
Peter Fonda, actor
Bryan Nash Gill, '80, artist
Graham Gund '59, architect
Alec Musser, actor
Ben Smith '06, NHL Hockey player[20]
John V. Tunney '52, former United States Senator and Representative from the state of California
Wellesley Wild '90, writer and executive producer of Family Guy
References
^ abcd "Westminster School History". Westminster School website. Accessed 23 March 2012.
^ "Founders League". www.thefoundersleague.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "Simsbury Prep School Gets Gift Of $27 Million" (Web article). The Hartford Courant. September 21, 1996.
^ "http://www.gundpartnership.com/The-Athletic-and-Wellness-Complex-at-Westminster-School". www.gundpartnership.com. Retrieved 2018-11-17. External link in|title=(help)
^ "Sherwin Health & Academic Center" Gund Partnership, Hibbard Aquatic Center, Sherwin Health & Athletic Center and Kohn Squash Pavilion
^ "Armour Academic Center" Gund Partnership, Armour Academic Center, Westminster School
^ Francis Keyes, a Headmaster at Westminster School, Dies. New York Times, Dec 13, 1981; p.54.
^ Buck, Rinker. "The Westminster School Names New Headmaster". The Hartford Courant. Hartford Courant. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
^ "A Biography of Board Member William V.N. Philip". National Network of Schools in Partnership. National Network of Schools in Partnership. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
^ Baron, Peter. "A Guided Tour of Westminster School". Admissions Quest. Admissions Quest. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
^ "Westminster School ~ Theater". Westminster-school.org. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
^ "Centennial Performing Arts Center, Westminster School". Gund Partnership. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
^ ab "Campus Tour | Westminster School | Westminster School". www.westminster-school.org. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
^ abc https://westminster-school.myschoolapp.com/ftpimages/188/download/download_1379060.pdf
^ Anderson, Grace. "Theatrical romance." Architectural Record 178.n9 (August 1990): 90(2).
^ Philip, B. (2018). Westminster School Fall Magazine 2018. Westminster School Press. pp. Class Notes.
^ "William "Bill" Sperry Beinecke". Cape Cod Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
^ "Directors and Staff". prospect-hill.org. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
^ Vidani, Peter. "WILLIAM BEINECKE- 96". Old New York Stories. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
^ Fitts, John. "Avon's Ben Smith Brings Hockey's Famed Stanley Cup to Westminster School". Avon Patch. Patch. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
Further reading
- Rinker Buck. Enrollment Shift Could Burden Farmington Valley Towns: From Private to Public Schools. Hartford Courant, 25 Mar 2009.
The True Life: Westminster School 1989-2013 by Charles E. Griffith III- Westminster School Viewbook: A Guide to Westminster School
External links
- Westminster School
Coordinates: 41°53′13″N 72°47′48″W / 41.8869°N 72.7968°W / 41.8869; -72.7968
