Kent School
Encyclopedia
Kent School is a private, co-educational college preparatory school
in Kent, Connecticut
, USA. The Reverend Frederick Herbert Sill, Order of the Holy Cross
, established the school in 1906 and it retains its affiliation with the Episcopal Church
of the United States.
Students at Kent come from more than 40 foreign countries and nearly as many states(http://boardingschools.com/school-profile.aspx?schoolid=1002). Situated between the Appalachian Trail
and the Housatonic River
, the 1200 acres (485.6 ha) campus currently serves 560 students, about 510 of whom board. The school was one of the first New England boarding schools to educate both young men and women in 1960. Kent School Boat Club
also became the first American school crew to row at British Henley Royal Regatta
and compete for the Thames Challenge Cup
in 1927(http://www.rowinghistory.net/Time%20Line/TL%201900-1949im.htm).
Kent is a member of the Founders League of New England preparatory schools which consists of, among others, Choate Rosemary Hall
, Hotchkiss School
and The Taft School
. (Founders League Schools)
As of the 2008-09 school year, the school had an enrollment of 560 students and 80.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE
basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 7.1.
and the General Theological Seminary
. He was a monk of the Order of the Holy Cross and in 1906 he saw the need for a school where "young men with slender means could gain an education second to none." Unlike the traditional boarding schools of the day that were reserved for the wealthy American elite, Kent School would serve young men whose parents could not afford the alternative.
Father Sill led the school for the first thirty-five years of its existence. In the ensuing years, four headmasters have led Kent. Father Schell, the current Headmaster and Rector, graduated from Kent in 1969 and studied at Harvard (A.B. '73) and Yale (M.Div. '76) before returning to Kent as Chaplain. He was appointed Headmaster in 1981.
and Kent have a long-running rivalry. The two schools have annual Kent vs. Loomis days in which both schools play a number of sports to compete for a spoon and a bowl. The Kent football team is undefeated in six consecutive matchups.
). The first crew was formed in 1922 with the encouragement of Father Sill, who was intimately familiar with the sport. Father Sill was the coxwain on the Columbia crew which won the first ever Poughkeepsie Regatta.
The program developed fast. In the ensuing years, Kent began competing with the Yale and Harvard teams and by 1927, was the first American school crew to row at British Henley and compete for the Thames Challenge Cup. In 1930, Kent was again Henley-bound, this time with the encouragement of New York Governor and future President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wished the team success and hoped that the "presence of a crew of American school boys will be helpful in strengthening the ties between good sportsmen of the two countries."
In 1933, Kent won the Thames Challenge Cup, just six years after launching the program. The Times in Britain wrote, "Kent School were almost certaintly the best crew that ever rowed in the Thames Cup." Kent continued to achieve success in the sport, competing at Henley 32 times and winning 5 times, most recently in 1972. The school was featured twice in Life magazine, once in May 1937 and the other in June 1948 when Stuart Auchincloss '48 was featured on the cover. Kent Boys Crew has won the New England Championship Regatta 25 times since 1947.
Kent girls crew began in 1973. They have won two National Championships (1986 and 1987), and won New Englands in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1996, and 1997. In 2002, they won at Henley.
In 2006, Kent boys crew won the New Englands championship. This team also became the first American crew to challenge for the new Prince Albert Cup at Henley. In 2010, Kent Boys Crew won the New Englands points trophy and placed 1st at Youth Nationals. They were runners up in the Princess Elizabeth Cup.
Residential Buildings: North Dorm, Borsdorff Hall, Middle Dorm South, Middle Dorm North, Case Dorm, Dining Hall Dorm, Field Dorm
Instructional Buildings: Foley Hall, Dickinson Science Center, Schoolhouse, Mattoon Language Center, Field Building, 50,000-volume John Gray Park Library, Mattison Auditorium, St. Joseph's Chapel, Music Studios, Art Studios
Athletics: Magowan Field House (Basketball, Weight Rooms, Pool), Fitness Center, Brainard Squash Courts, Indoor Tennis Building (4 courts), Springs Center (Nadal Hockey Rink), Sill Boathouse, Waring Partridge Rowing Center, Southfields Facility, Kent Stables, 9 Playing Fields, 13 Outdoor Tennis Courts, Cross-Country Course.
In 1995, Kent partnered with Microsoft
, Toshiba
and 29 other pioneer schools creating the Anytime Anywhere Learning program.Traditions and Innovations This program equips Kent students with laptop computers for use in every classroom on campus. Since 2002, these have been Tablet PCs. In addition, all of the classrooms and dorm rooms, as well as the library and administrative offices, have access to the Internet and the School network. All dorm rooms are equipped with individual data and voice connections which provide phone, Internet
, and intranet
access for each student. All of the academic areas, dorm common rooms and many public areas provide secure wireless as well.
is a fictionalized account of Peter Farrelly's
experiences at the school.
The animated TV show Family Guy
is written by alumnus Seth MacFarlane
. In 1999, the school's headmaster, Father Schell, wrote to a number of companies urging them not to advertise with the TV show calling it obnoxious. Seth MacFarlane's parents, who worked at the school, resigned in protest.
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...
in Kent, Connecticut
Kent, Connecticut
Kent is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, alongside the border with New York. The population was 2,858 at the 2000 census. The town is home to three New England boarding schools: South Kent School, Kent School and The Marvelwood School. The Schaghticoke Indian Reservation is also located...
, USA. The Reverend Frederick Herbert Sill, Order of the Holy Cross
Order of the Holy Cross
The Order of the Holy Cross is an international Anglican monastic Order that follows the Rule of St. Benedict.-History:The Order was founded in 1884 by the Rev. James Otis Sargent Huntington, an Episcopal priest, in New York City. The Order moved to Maryland briefly before settling in West Park,...
, established the school in 1906 and it retains its affiliation with the Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
of the United States.
Students at Kent come from more than 40 foreign countries and nearly as many states(http://boardingschools.com/school-profile.aspx?schoolid=1002). Situated between the Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
and the Housatonic River
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...
, the 1200 acres (485.6 ha) campus currently serves 560 students, about 510 of whom board. The school was one of the first New England boarding schools to educate both young men and women in 1960. Kent School Boat Club
Kent School Boat Club
The Kent School Boat Club was founded in 1922 on the banks of the Housatonic River as Kent School's rowing team. KSBC has three varsity boats and one fourth boat, which races in a few of the varsity races. KSBC only races in the spring, and conducts its spring training in Tampa during the school's...
also became the first American school crew to row at British Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
and compete for the Thames Challenge Cup
Thames Challenge Cup
The Thames Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's eights at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from a single rowing club. Boat clubs from any university, college or secondary school are not permitted, neither are squad...
in 1927(http://www.rowinghistory.net/Time%20Line/TL%201900-1949im.htm).
Kent is a member of the Founders League of New England preparatory schools which consists of, among others, Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut...
, Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...
and The Taft School
The Taft School
The Taft School is a private, coeducational prep school located in Watertown, Connecticut, USA. The school was founded by Horace Dutton Taft in 1890. It has 570 students, about 470 of whom live on the campus. Taft is a member of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization...
. (Founders League Schools)
As of the 2008-09 school year, the school had an enrollment of 560 students and 80.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 7.1.
History
Born in New York City on March 10, 1874, Father Reverend Frederick Herbert Sill attended Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and the General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
. He was a monk of the Order of the Holy Cross and in 1906 he saw the need for a school where "young men with slender means could gain an education second to none." Unlike the traditional boarding schools of the day that were reserved for the wealthy American elite, Kent School would serve young men whose parents could not afford the alternative.
Father Sill led the school for the first thirty-five years of its existence. In the ensuing years, four headmasters have led Kent. Father Schell, the current Headmaster and Rector, graduated from Kent in 1969 and studied at Harvard (A.B. '73) and Yale (M.Div. '76) before returning to Kent as Chaplain. He was appointed Headmaster in 1981.
Spiritual affiliation
Founded in the Episcopal tradition, as were many New England boarding schools, Kent has retained its spiritual affiliation in an era when many other institutions have relinquished theirs. Kent's diverse student body comes from a variety of religious backgrounds and secular traditions. The entire student body gathers at St. Joseph's Chapel for three weekly services, which often include a student, faculty, or guest speaker or performance.Pioneer Of co-education
Originally an all-boys school, a campus for girls opened in 1960 with 100 girls in the third and fourth forms, making Kent one of the first of the traditional New England boarding schools to offer co-education. The girls' and boys' campuses were consolidated in 1992, resulting in the current, fully integrated co-educational campus of 560 students. Currently 46% of students are female and 54% male."Sliding scale tuition"
From the onset, Kent has been a pioneer in educating a variety of students, regardless of their social or economic status. Father Sill was committed to educating students from "all walks of life." This original mission resulted in his "sliding scale tuition," where families paid a tuition which Father Sill felt they could afford. Kent continues this mission today with the Parents Fund and the Financial Aid Program, with one-third of the student body receiving some form of aid. Awarding more than six million dollars in the 2008 academic year, Kent's commitment to financial aid, relative to its endowment, ranks first among its peer schools.Faculty
Of the 66 teachers who compose the faculty, 71% have advanced degrees. Sixty percent of the teachers are men; forty percent, women. The average length of tenure at the School is greater than twelve years. Several teachers live on campus with their families. The student-to-faculty ratio is 8:1.Courses
Kent offers a college-preparatory curriculum with 160 courses, 25 of which are Advanced Placement. The average class size is twelve students.Athletics
Kent offers 22 interscholastic sports with 56 interscholastic teams ranging from the 3rds, Junior Varsity, and Varsity. More than three-quarters of the student body participate in interscholastic sports. Many of the school's athletes earn All-League or All-New England Honors, and go on to compete at Division I, II, and III colleges and universities. Kent is a member of the athletics Founders League of New England prep schools. Its mascot is the lion, and formerly, the fighting Episcopalian. Loomis ChaffeeLoomis Chaffee
The Loomis Chaffee School is a premier coeducational boarding school for grades 9–12 and postgraduates located on a 300-plus acre campus in the Connecticut River Valley in Windsor, Connecticut, six miles north of Hartford...
and Kent have a long-running rivalry. The two schools have annual Kent vs. Loomis days in which both schools play a number of sports to compete for a spoon and a bowl. The Kent football team is undefeated in six consecutive matchups.
Crew
Crew at Kent has had a long history (Kent School Boat ClubKent School Boat Club
The Kent School Boat Club was founded in 1922 on the banks of the Housatonic River as Kent School's rowing team. KSBC has three varsity boats and one fourth boat, which races in a few of the varsity races. KSBC only races in the spring, and conducts its spring training in Tampa during the school's...
). The first crew was formed in 1922 with the encouragement of Father Sill, who was intimately familiar with the sport. Father Sill was the coxwain on the Columbia crew which won the first ever Poughkeepsie Regatta.
The program developed fast. In the ensuing years, Kent began competing with the Yale and Harvard teams and by 1927, was the first American school crew to row at British Henley and compete for the Thames Challenge Cup. In 1930, Kent was again Henley-bound, this time with the encouragement of New York Governor and future President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wished the team success and hoped that the "presence of a crew of American school boys will be helpful in strengthening the ties between good sportsmen of the two countries."
In 1933, Kent won the Thames Challenge Cup, just six years after launching the program. The Times in Britain wrote, "Kent School were almost certaintly the best crew that ever rowed in the Thames Cup." Kent continued to achieve success in the sport, competing at Henley 32 times and winning 5 times, most recently in 1972. The school was featured twice in Life magazine, once in May 1937 and the other in June 1948 when Stuart Auchincloss '48 was featured on the cover. Kent Boys Crew has won the New England Championship Regatta 25 times since 1947.
Kent girls crew began in 1973. They have won two National Championships (1986 and 1987), and won New Englands in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1996, and 1997. In 2002, they won at Henley.
In 2006, Kent boys crew won the New Englands championship. This team also became the first American crew to challenge for the new Prince Albert Cup at Henley. In 2010, Kent Boys Crew won the New Englands points trophy and placed 1st at Youth Nationals. They were runners up in the Princess Elizabeth Cup.
Football
In the fall of 2009, Kent Football was the first American secondary school to compete internationally during the Fall season.Facilities
Kent is situated on 1200 acres (4.9 km²) between the Appalachian Trail and Housatonic River. The picturesque New England landscape surrounds the campus' Georgian brick buildings, arranged comfortably along the river bank.Residential Buildings: North Dorm, Borsdorff Hall, Middle Dorm South, Middle Dorm North, Case Dorm, Dining Hall Dorm, Field Dorm
Instructional Buildings: Foley Hall, Dickinson Science Center, Schoolhouse, Mattoon Language Center, Field Building, 50,000-volume John Gray Park Library, Mattison Auditorium, St. Joseph's Chapel, Music Studios, Art Studios
Athletics: Magowan Field House (Basketball, Weight Rooms, Pool), Fitness Center, Brainard Squash Courts, Indoor Tennis Building (4 courts), Springs Center (Nadal Hockey Rink), Sill Boathouse, Waring Partridge Rowing Center, Southfields Facility, Kent Stables, 9 Playing Fields, 13 Outdoor Tennis Courts, Cross-Country Course.
In 1995, Kent partnered with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
and 29 other pioneer schools creating the Anytime Anywhere Learning program.Traditions and Innovations This program equips Kent students with laptop computers for use in every classroom on campus. Since 2002, these have been Tablet PCs. In addition, all of the classrooms and dorm rooms, as well as the library and administrative offices, have access to the Internet and the School network. All dorm rooms are equipped with individual data and voice connections which provide phone, Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, and intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
access for each student. All of the academic areas, dorm common rooms and many public areas provide secure wireless as well.
Headmasters
- Rev. Frederick Herbert Sill (Founder)(1906–1941)
- Rev. William Scott Chalmers (1941–1949)
- Rev. John Oliver Patterson (1949–1962)
- Sidney Norwood Towle '31 (1962–1981)
- The Rev. Richardson W. Schell '69 (1981–Present)
Kent School in media
The book (and 1999 film adaptation) Outside ProvidenceOutside Providence
Outside Providence is an English language novel by writer, producer, and director Peter Farrelly, published in 1988.-Plot summary:Largely an autobiographical tale, the novel revolves around Timothy "Dildo" Dunphy, a ne'er-do-well from the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which borders Providence...
is a fictionalized account of Peter Farrelly's
Peter Farrelly
Peter John Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and novelist. The Farrelly Brothers are mostly famous for directing and producing gross-out humor romantic comedy films such as, Dumb and Dumber, Me, Myself and Irene, There's Something About Mary and The Heartbreak...
experiences at the school.
The animated TV show Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
is written by alumnus Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American animator, writer, comedian, producer, actor, singer, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated sitcoms Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, for which he also voices many of the shows' various characters.A native of Kent,...
. In 1999, the school's headmaster, Father Schell, wrote to a number of companies urging them not to advertise with the TV show calling it obnoxious. Seth MacFarlane's parents, who worked at the school, resigned in protest.
See also
William G. Pollard, Fiftieth anniversary of Kent SchoolExternal links
- Kent School website
- Kent School review by boardingschoolreview.com.
- Data for Kent School, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...