Lancaster Country Day School
Encyclopedia
Lancaster Country Day School (LCDS) is a private
, secular, coeducational college preparatory school in Lancaster
, Pennsylvania
. It serves 530 students in preschool through twelfth grade
. All grades are housed under one roof, similar to schools of the 19th century.
A facilities renovation and expansion project was undertaken in 2005, including demolition of existing facilities and construction of a new two-story classroom wing that houses 23 classrooms, administrative offices and board room, computer labs, lecture hall, student lounges, conference rooms, book store, kitchen, and dining commons area.
for math and reading
instruction, and emphasizes art
, music
and physical education
in parallel with academics. Spanish language
instruction begins in preschool. In the middle school (grades six to eight), French
joins Spanish as a foreign language, and students are encouraged to participate in the fine and performing arts, including art, chorus
, instrumental music ensemble, theatre, and animation
art. In the upper school
, Advanced Placement courses are offered in 11 subjects, and the foreign languages taught are French, Latin
, and Spanish. Independent study
opportunities are offered for upper school students wanting to do advanced work beyond the curriculum.
for International Model United Nations
conferences. In 2009 it was one of just six U.S. schools invited to participate in this annual program.
. The school sponsors the following sports:
Fall
Winter
Spring
It has a cooperative agreement with the School District of Lancaster where McCaskey High School students can play lacrosse
for LCDS, and LCDS students can participate in football
, cross country
, swimming
, track and field
, and wrestling
for McCaskey. The school mascot is a cougar, and the school colors are burgundy and grey.
Their small athletic program is fairly successful. Teams from the school have competed for districts and states. The girls basketball team have made it to the district finals. Their soccer program is always strong. The teams are dedicated to playing their very best when they are competing against larger schools in the area. The squash team has gone to nationals two years in a row now. The lacrosse teams are currently taking in players from many different schools and their athletic program is currently very strong.
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
, secular, coeducational college preparatory school in Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. It serves 530 students in preschool through twelfth grade
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
. All grades are housed under one roof, similar to schools of the 19th century.
History
The school was founded in 1908 as a girls' school known as The Shippen School for Girls, the result of a merger between Lancaster College and Miss Stahr's School. In 1943, with the closing of nearby Franklin and Marshall Academy for Boys, the Shippen School changed its charter to become coeducational and adopted its current name. In 1949, it moved to its current location on Hamilton Road.A facilities renovation and expansion project was undertaken in 2005, including demolition of existing facilities and construction of a new two-story classroom wing that houses 23 classrooms, administrative offices and board room, computer labs, lecture hall, student lounges, conference rooms, book store, kitchen, and dining commons area.
Academics
LCDS takes pride in its small class sizes (averaging 15 students) and its programs in the arts. The LCDS lower school program (preschool through fifth grade) includes skill-based groupingTracking (education)
Tracking is separating pupils by academic ability into groups for all subjects or certain classes and curriculum within a school. It may be referred as streaming or phasing in certain schools. In a tracking system, the entire school population is assigned to classes according to whether the...
for math and reading
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
instruction, and emphasizes art
Art education
Art education is the area of learning that is based upon the visual, tangible arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practical fields such as commercial graphics and home furnishings...
, music
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
and physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
in parallel with academics. Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
instruction begins in preschool. In the middle school (grades six to eight), French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
joins Spanish as a foreign language, and students are encouraged to participate in the fine and performing arts, including art, chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, instrumental music ensemble, theatre, and animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
art. In the upper school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Advanced Placement courses are offered in 11 subjects, and the foreign languages taught are French, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and Spanish. Independent study
Independent study
Independent study is a form of education offered by many high schools, colleges, and other educational institutions around the world. It is sometimes referred to as directed study...
opportunities are offered for upper school students wanting to do advanced work beyond the curriculum.
Extracurricular activities
Since 1980, LCDS has regularly sent senior students to The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
for International Model United Nations
Model United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
conferences. In 2009 it was one of just six U.S. schools invited to participate in this annual program.
Athletics
LCDS competes in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic AssociationPennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. is one of the governing bodies of high school and junior high school sports for the state of Pennsylvania, United States....
. The school sponsors the following sports:
Fall
- (C) GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- (G) Field HockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
- (B), (G) Soccer
- (G) TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
Winter
- (B), (G) BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- (B), (G) SquashSquash (sport)Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
Spring
- (B) BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- (B), (G) LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
- (G) Soccer
- (B) TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- (B), (G) Ultimate Frisbee
It has a cooperative agreement with the School District of Lancaster where McCaskey High School students can play lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
for LCDS, and LCDS students can participate in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
for McCaskey. The school mascot is a cougar, and the school colors are burgundy and grey.
Their small athletic program is fairly successful. Teams from the school have competed for districts and states. The girls basketball team have made it to the district finals. Their soccer program is always strong. The teams are dedicated to playing their very best when they are competing against larger schools in the area. The squash team has gone to nationals two years in a row now. The lacrosse teams are currently taking in players from many different schools and their athletic program is currently very strong.
Community involvement and outreach
LCDS participates in A Better Chance, a program organized to offer educational opportunity to young African-American children. Community service is a large part of the LCDS life from early years. Eighth graders visit Milagro House weekly to volunteer and there are a variety of service oriented clubs available in the Upper School, such as Community Service Club, Peer Mentoring Club, or Free the Children.Notable alumni
- Alice Rebecca Appenzeller (1885–1950), who served as president of Ewha CollegeEwha Womans UniversityEwha Womans University is a private women's university in central Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the city's largest institutions of higher learning and currently the world's largest female educational institute. It is one of the best-known universities in South Korea, and often considered to...
, graduated from Miss Stahr's School and taught at The Shippen School.