Westford Academy
Encyclopedia
Westford Academy is the public high school (grades 9-12) for the town of Westford
, Massachusetts
. It was founded in 1792, and is one of the oldest public high schools in the United States. Westford Academy was originally established as a private school and was changed to a public school in 1928. Westford maintained the name "Academy" as it maintained the board of trustees to allow students to continue being eligible to receive scholarships established by Westford Academy trustees.
Advanced Placement courses include AP Calculus
(AB & BC), AP Statistics
, AP Computer Science
, AP Biology
, AP Chemistry
, AP Physics B
, AP United States History
, AP European History
, AP English Literature and Composition
, AP French Language
, AP German Language
, AP Spanish Language
, AP Latin Literature
, AP Psychology
, AP Studio Art Drawing, and AP Music Theory
. Often if a particular AP course is not offered as a class, teachers will work with students to study above the normal class curriculum and prepare for the Advanced Placement Exams
.
Westford Academy Post High School Placement (2009)
4 year college- 91%
2 year college- 6%
Military/ Other- 3%
honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior in their state or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. Westford Academy has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
, Soccer, Golf
, Cross Country
, Field Hockey
, Football
, Swimming
, Basketball
, Ice Hockey
, Gymnastics
, Alpine Skiing
, Indoor Track, Wrestling
, Cross-Country Skiing, Women's Ice Hockey, Track and Field
, Lacrosse
, Tennis
, Softball
, Baseball
, Crew
, and Volleyball
.
Westford Academy's football rival is Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
. WA scored its first victory over AB in the Fall of 2005, snapping a 13 year losing streak. Interestingly, Littleton High School (Massachusetts)
had been Westford Academy's Thanksgiving rival from 1969 until Westford Academy moved into the DCL. ABRHS had been Littleton's Thanksgiving Day rival from 1965-1969.
Other extracurricular activities include the Yearbook Club, WATA, Marching Band, After School Chorus, Mock Trial
, DECA
, French, Spanish, German and Latin Clubs, International Club, Ping-Pong Club, Best Buddies, WA Pride, Community service club, Student Council, Speech and Debate, Forensics Club, Museum Club, Book Club, Gay Straight Alliance, Photography Club, Peer Counseling, WA Unicycle Club, Cirrus, WAHYC, Future Educators of America, Amnesty International and many others.
Westford, Massachusetts
Westford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,951 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally a part of neighboring Chelmsford, West Chelmsford soon grew large enough to sustain its own governance, and was officially incorporated as Westford on September 23,...
, 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...
. It was founded in 1792, and is one of the oldest public high schools in the United States. Westford Academy was originally established as a private school and was changed to a public school in 1928. Westford maintained the name "Academy" as it maintained the board of trustees to allow students to continue being eligible to receive scholarships established by Westford Academy trustees.
Curriculum
Westford Academy provides several honors and advanced placement courses.Advanced Placement courses include AP Calculus
AP Calculus
Advanced Placement Calculus is used to indicate one of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC....
(AB & BC), AP Statistics
AP Statistics
Advanced Placement Statistics is a college-level high school statistics course offered in the United States through the College Board's Advanced Placement program...
, AP Computer Science
AP Computer Science
Advanced Placement Computer Science is the name of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board to high school students as an opportunity to earn college credit for a college-level computer science course...
, AP Biology
AP Biology
In the United States, Advanced Placement Biology , is a course and examination offered by the College Board to high school students as an opportunity to earn placement credit for a college-level biology course....
, AP Chemistry
AP Chemistry
Advanced Placement Chemistry is a course and examination offered by the College Board as a part of the Advanced Placement Program to give American and Canadian high school students the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and earn college-level credit.-The course:AP Chemistry is a course...
, AP Physics B
AP Physics B
AP Physics B is an Advanced Placement science course that is divided into nine different sections: Newtonian Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Physics, Waves and Optics, and Atomic and Nuclear Physics. The course is equivalent to a one-year college course that...
, AP United States History
AP United States History
Advanced Placement United States History is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program...
, AP European History
AP European History
Advanced Placement European History is a course and examination offered by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program...
, AP English Literature and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.-The Course:This course is designated for motivated students with a command of standard English, an...
, AP French Language
AP French Language
Advanced Placement French Language and Culture is a course offered by the College Board to high school students in the United States as an opportunity to earn placement credit for a college-level French course...
, AP German Language
AP German Language
Advanced Placement German Language is a course and examination provided by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program...
, AP Spanish Language
AP Spanish Language
Advanced Placement Spanish Language is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.-The course:...
, AP Latin Literature
AP Latin Literature
Advanced Placement Latin Literature was one of two examinations offered by the College Board's Advanced Placement Program for high school students to earn college credit for a college-level course in Latin literature.Due to low numbers of students taking AP Latin Literature, it was discontinued...
, AP Psychology
AP Psychology
The Advanced Placement Psychology course and corresponding exam is part of the College Board's Advanced Placement Program. This course is tailored for students interested in the field of psychology and as an opportunity to earn placement credit or exemption from a college-level psychology course...
, AP Studio Art Drawing, and AP Music Theory
AP Music Theory
Advanced Placement Music Theory is a course and examination offered in the United States by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program to high school students who wish to earn credit for a college level music theory course.-The course:Some of the material covered in the course...
. Often if a particular AP course is not offered as a class, teachers will work with students to study above the normal class curriculum and prepare for the Advanced Placement Exams
Advanced Placement Exams
Advanced Placement examinations are taken each May by students at participating American, Canadian, and international educational institutions. The tests are the culmination of year-long Advanced Placement courses. All but one of the AP exams combine multiple-choice questions with a...
.
Westford Academy Post High School Placement (2009)
4 year college- 91%
2 year college- 6%
Military/ Other- 3%
Awards
The 2008 Blue Ribbon Schools were announced on September 9. 329 public and private schools were honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., October 20–21. Westford Academy was named a NCLB-Blue Ribbon School. The No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools ProgramBlue Ribbon Schools Program
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1981 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or significant improvements with emphasis on schools serving disadvantaged students. The program centers around a self-assessment conducted by the...
honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior in their state or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. Westford Academy has been accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Athletics
Westford Academy participates in the DCL (Dual County League), arguably one of the most competitive leagues in the state of Massachusetts. Sports teams include CheerleadingCheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, Soccer, Golf
Golf
Golf 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....
, 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...
, Field Hockey
Field hockey
Field 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...
, 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...
, 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...
, Basketball
Basketball
Basketball 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...
, Ice Hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, Gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, Alpine Skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
, Indoor Track, 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...
, Cross-Country Skiing, Women's Ice Hockey, 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...
, 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...
, Tennis
Tennis
Tennis 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...
, Softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, Baseball
Baseball
Baseball 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...
, Crew
Crew
A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard...
, and Volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
.
Westford Academy's football rival is Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School is an open enrollment high school in Acton, Massachusetts. It serves the Massachusetts towns of Acton and Boxborough, with roughly 500 students per grade level in grades 9 through 12. ABRHS has consistently ranked among the top secondary schools in Massachusetts...
. WA scored its first victory over AB in the Fall of 2005, snapping a 13 year losing streak. Interestingly, Littleton High School (Massachusetts)
Littleton High School (Massachusetts)
Littleton High School is a public high school located at 56 King Street, Littleton, Massachusetts. It serves students in grades 9-12 from the town of Littleton....
had been Westford Academy's Thanksgiving rival from 1969 until Westford Academy moved into the DCL. ABRHS had been Littleton's Thanksgiving Day rival from 1965-1969.
Special Interests
The Westford Academy Performing Arts Center seats around 850 people.Other extracurricular activities include the Yearbook Club, WATA, Marching Band, After School Chorus, Mock Trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
, DECA
DECA (organization)
DECA, also known as Collegiate DECA on the college level) is an international association of students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service . DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing,...
, French, Spanish, German and Latin Clubs, International Club, Ping-Pong Club, Best Buddies, WA Pride, Community service club, Student Council, Speech and Debate, Forensics Club, Museum Club, Book Club, Gay Straight Alliance, Photography Club, Peer Counseling, WA Unicycle Club, Cirrus, WAHYC, Future Educators of America, Amnesty International and many others.
Notable alumni
- Pat Bradley, LPGA Hall of Fame Golfer
- John Revere, youngest son of Paul ReverePaul ReverePaul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
- Ellen Swallow RichardsEllen Swallow RichardsEllen Henrietta Swallow Richards was the foremost female industrial and environmental chemist in the United States in the 19th century, pioneering the field of home economics. Richards graduated from Westford Academy...
, chemist, home economist, first woman student and instructor at MIT - Aaron StanfordAaron StanfordAaron Stanford is an American actor, best known for his role as Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand films, and Doug Bukowski in the 2006 The Hills Have Eyes remake....
, actor - Alison Walshe, Current LPGA tour player
- Tommy Severo, Comedian, Winner: Season 5 Beauty and the Geek