Berwick Academy
Encyclopedia
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
located in South Berwick, Maine
South Berwick, Maine
South Berwick is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,220 at the 2010 census. South Berwick is home to Berwick Academy, a private, co-educational university-preparatory day school founded in 1791...
. Founded in 1791, it is the oldest educational institution in Maine and one of the oldest private schools in North America. The school sits on a 72-acre, 11-building campus on a hill overlooking the Salmon Falls River
Salmon Falls River
The Salmon Falls River is a tributary of the Piscataqua River in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire. It rises at Great East Lake and flows south-southeast for approximately , forming the border between Maine and New Hampshire....
, near the border of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. Approximately 575 students in grades K through 12 attend the coeducational day school, primarily from the nearby regions of southern Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, southeastern New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and northeastern Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
History
York, Maine
York is a town in York County, Maine, United States at the southwest corner of the state. The population in the 2000 census was 12,854. Situated beside the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Maine, York is a well-known summer resort. It is home to three 18-hole golf clubs, three sandy beaches, and...
, and Wells
Wells, Maine
Wells is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Founded in 1643, it is the third-oldest town in Maine. The population was 9,400 at the 2000 census. Wells Beach is a popular summer destination.-History:...
(then villages in the Maine Territory of Massachusetts) raised $500 to teach languages, liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
and sciences to "the youth in this part of the country." Chartered by Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
Governor John Hancock
John Hancock
John Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...
later that year, the school opened in a small hip-roofed Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
house on land donated by Judge Benjamin Chadbournes. The "1791 House" remains part of the campus today and is home to the Academy's admissions office.
From 1791 the school, now a college "prep" school, contracted with the town of South Berwick to educate local students. As the town grew and industrialized, the Academy's dual educational role necessitated campus expansion. The William Hayes Fogg Memorial Building, built by George Albert Clough
George Albert Clough
George Asa Clough was an architect in Boston, Massachusetts in the later 19th-century. He designed the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square, and numerous other buildings in the city and around New England. Born in Blue Hill, Maine, Clough trained as an architect at the firm of Snell &...
in the Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
style, was completed in 1894 to house both the Academy and the South Berwick Public Library. Landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
, and complete with electricity and state-of-the-art science labs, it became the primary Academy building, as it remains today.
In 1955, Berwick reverted to a completely private status with an exclusive college preparatory program, in accordance with the intent of the Ancients. Berwick became a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for boys, with a day department for girls, and expanded its facility by acquiring land for playing fields and old homes for dormitories.
During the 1970s, Berwick transformed from a boarding academy to a country day school. The founding of a Middle School in 1971 and a Lower School in 1977 and the discontinuation of boarding in 1976 were accompanied by significant enrollment and physical plant expansions which have continued to the present day. The school since has come to occupy a somewhat unique academic position in between the traditional American college prep school and the more progressive country day school – although it predates most prep schools by decades and the country day school movement by a century.
Organization
Berwick Academy is governed by a Board of Trustees, with a Head of School in charge of fundraising and the day-to-day operation of the Academy. The three subsidiary schools are headed by Division Directors.Academics
Classical education movement
The Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture, with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages. The curricula and pedagogy of classical education was first developed during the Middle Ages by Martianus...
and technology. In keeping with the school's classical mission subjects of study are diverse and include Liberal Arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
, Sciences, Fine Arts, Music and Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
.
College placement
Berwick Academy has traditionally prepared students for BowdoinBowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Colby
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
and Bates
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
colleges. While these relationships have continued, graduates now matriculate at a variety of highly selective colleges in the United States, including the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
, the Little Ivies
Little Ivies
Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American liberal arts colleges; however, it does not denote any official organization....
and the Ancient Universities.
Athletics
Participation in sports is generally required for grade advancement. Middle School students are required to play three sports during their course of study, and participation in interscholastic athletics is required of Upper School students. (Waivers are given to Upper School students for other extracurricular activities, such as drama, dance, robotics, or independent research projects through the "Innovation Center".) Lower school students participate in intramural sports.Berwick currently fields teams in Golf, Soccer, Field Hockey, Cross Country, Hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, Basketball, swimming, Skiing, Lacrosse, Softball, Tennis, and Baseball. Teams compete in the Eastern Independent League
Eastern Independent League
The Eastern Independent League is composed of twelve New England preparatory schools that compete athletically and academically. The EIL's twelve members compete in a number of sports in the New England Prep School Athletic Conference ....
(EIL) and New England Preparatory School Athletic Council
New England Preparatory School Athletic Council
The New England Preparatory School Athletic Council was founded in 1942 as an organization of athletic directors from preparatory schools in New England.-Member schools:* The Albany Academy* American School for the Deaf* Applewild School...
(NEPSAC) are divided by gender and skill level. .
In September 2010, a new synthetic turf soccer and lacrosse field was installed on the campus. This addition played an immediate role, hosting the Boys Varsity Soccer team's undefeated 2010-2011 season in the EIL (16-0-0).
Alumni
Some notable alumni of Berwick Academy include:- John Holmes Burleigh (1822–77), U.S. Congressman from Maine.
- John Noble GoodwinJohn Noble GoodwinJohn Noble Goodwin was a United States attorney and politician who served as the first Governor of Arizona Territory...
(1824–87) U.S. Congressman from Maine, Congressional Delegate from Arizona TerritoryArizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, Chief Justice of Arizona Territory, and the first Governor of the State of ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. - Edward Octavius Emerson (1834 - 1901?), co-founder of Sunoco, Inc.
- Sarah Orne JewettSarah Orne JewettSarah Orne Jewett was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set in or near South Berwick, Maine, on the border of New Hampshire, which in her day was a declining New England seaport.-Biography:Jewett's family had been residents of New England for many...
(1849–1909), novelist, author of A Country Doctor (1884), The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896). - Gladys Hasty CarrollGladys Hasty CarrollGladys Hasty Carroll was an American novelist who was a published author from the late 1920s into the 1980s. In her fiction and non-fiction, Carroll wrote about what she knew and people that she loved: specifically, the Southern Maine rural community known as Dunnybrook in South Berwick, Maine...
(1904–99), novelist, author of As The Earth Turns (1933) and Dunnybrook (1943). - Casey ColemanCasey ColemanKenneth R. "Casey" Coleman Jr. was a sportscaster and radio personality in the Cleveland area for nearly 30 years.-Early life:Coleman was born in Cleveland in 1951 to legendary play-by-play announcer Ken Coleman...
(1951–2006), broadcaster and play-by-by announcer for the Cleveland IndiansCleveland IndiansThe Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
. - Mike Eruzione (b. 1954), former National Hockey LeagueNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
player and captain of the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey Team. - Sam FuldSam FuldSamuel Babson "Sam" Fuld is an American professional baseball outfielder with the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball....
(b. 1981), Major League BaseballMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player for the Tampa Bay RaysTampa Bay RaysThe Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
, attended through eighth grade. He was the MVP of the Varsity Baseball Team in eighth grade. - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
(1807–82), poet ("Paul Revere's RidePaul Revere's Ride (poem)"Paul Revere's Ride" is a poem by an American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775.-Overview:...
", Reputed to have attended Berwick before going to Bowdoin CollegeBowdoin CollegeBowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, but this remains unproven.