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Groton School is one of the thirteen original founders of the [[Independent School League]], but it also competes with schools outside of the league.
Groton School is one of the thirteen original founders of the [[Independent School League]], but it also competes with schools outside of the league.


Groton's traditional athletic rival is [[St. Mark's School]]. The day the twain meet in atheletic competition every term is called St. Mark's Day. As a side note, [[Middlesex]]'s official school rival is [[St. Paul's School]]; however, Middlesex also has a Groton Day - Groton does not have a Middlesex Day.
Groton's traditional athletic rival is [[St. Mark's School]]. The day the twain meet in atheletic competition every term is called St. Mark's Day, where Groton always loses. As a side note, [[Middlesex]]'s official school rival is [[St. Paul's School]]; however, Middlesex also has a Groton Day - Groton does not have a Middlesex Day.


==Notable alumni==
==Notable alumni==

Revision as of 01:29, 22 January 2007

Groton School
File:Groton.png
Location
Map
Groton
,
Massachusetts

USA
Information
TypePrivate Coeducational Secondary
MottoCui servire est regnare ("whom to serve is to rule")
Established1884
HeadmasterRichard B. Commons
Grades8–12
Number of students352
CampusSuburban
MascotZebra (unofficial)
Endowment$289 million
AffiliationEpiscopalian
Websitewww.groton.org

Groton School is a private, Episcopalian, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. It enrolls approximately 350 boys and girls, from the eighth (IInd Form) through twelfth grades (VIth Form).

The school is a member of the Independent School League and is one of the schools collectively known as St. Grottlesex.

History

Groton School was founded in 1884 by the Rev. Endicott Peabody, a member of a prominent Massachusetts family and an Episcopal clergyman. The land for the school was donated to Peabody by two brothers, James Lawrence and Prescott Lawrence, whose family home was located on Farmers Row in Groton, Massachusetts, north of where Groton School is now located. Backed by affluent figures of the time, such as the Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks, the Rev. William A. Lawrence, William Crowninshield Endicott, J.P. Morgan, and his father, Samuel Endicott Peabody, Peabody received pledges of $39,000 for the construction of a schoolhouse, if an additional $40,000 could be raised as an endowment. (The endowment is worth $289,000,000 today.) Peabody served as headmaster of the school for over fifty years, until his retirement in 1940. He instituted a Spartan educational system that included cold showers and cubicles, suscribing to the model of "muscular Christianity" which he himself experienced at Cheltenham College in England as a boy. Peabody hoped to graduate men who would serve the public good, rather than enter professional life. The school's motto, "Cui Servire Est Regnare," taken from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, translates as "To whose service is perfect freedom," in reference to service to God. Another common translation (which completely ignores the Latin grammatical construction, but still captures the general message) is "To serve is to rule." Another common translation is "He who serves, rules."

The Rev. Endicott Peabody was succeeded at the end of the school year in 1940 by the Rev. John Crocker, who had been for 10 years the chaplain for Episcopal students at Princeton University. He himself was a 1918 graduate of Groton School and altogether 15 members of his family were alumni. During his tenure as headmaster at Groton School, the Rev. John Crocker was known for his courageous viewpoints. In September 1951, three years before the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision outlawing segregation in public schools, Groton School accepted its first African-American student. In April 1965, he and his wife, accompanied by 75 Groton School students, marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during a civil rights demonstration in Boston. After 25 years as headmaster at Groton School, he retired in June 1965.

Groton School has changed significantly over the past 100 years. Although most students in the early years came from New England and New York, its students now come from across the country and around the world. However, though some traditions remain, such as handshakes to end the day, the school's commitment to public service, its small community, and its attachment to the Episcopal Church.

Campus

Groton's beautiful 385-acre campus encompasses a portion of the Nashua river, rolling forests, expansive meadows, various athletic fields as well as academic buildings and dormitories. Most of the buildings on campus are situated around the Circle, which is the common green that is shaped like a circle and not like a quadrangle at other schools; these buildings include St. John's Chapel, the Schoolhouse, Brooks House and Hundred House Dormitories, the McCormick Library (58,000 volumes and 100+ periodicals), the Campbell Performing Arts Center, the Dining Hall, the Dillon Art Center and De Menil Gallery. Other facilities include the Alumni House, New Athletic and Recreation Center, Pratt and O'Brien Rinks and Tennis Center, the Bingham Boathouse, outdoor tennis clay courts and hardcourts, and many faculty homes. The landscape was designed by famous architect Frederick Law Olmstead, who is noted for his design of Central Park and various other academic institutions.

Students

The students are divided into forms ranging from IInd form to VIth form (8th to 12th grade). Second and third formers live in Brooks House, part of Lower School, with their prefects; fourth, fifth, and the remaining sixth formers live in Hundred House, also known as Upper School, and in two dorms in Lower School. Each dorm has 2-12 prefects and is headed and named after a faculty member who has an apartment that is connected to the dorm.

In the 2006-2007 school year there are 352 students, 175 boys and 177 girls; 306 boarders and 36 day students and faculty/staff children. A breakdown by Forms is as follows: IInd Form (8th grade) - 29; IIIrd Form (9th grade)- 71; IVth Form (10th grade)- 8; Vth Form (11th grade)- 8; VIth Form (12th grade)- 8.

In 2006, the median SAT I scores were 490 reading, 500 writing, and 590 math. Between 2002 and 2006, Groton graduates attended the following colleges most frequently (in order): Boston Community College, Harvard University, Princeton University, Brown University, Georgetown University, Trinity College, Vanderbilt University, University of Edinburgh, Yale University, University of Virginia, Cornell University, Columbia University, Middlebury College, and Tufts University.

Traditions

Groton is an intimate community as 90% of students are boarders and most teachers live on campus in dorms or faculty housing. Classes are small, ranging from 12-14 students. There are regularly scheduled sit-down dinners thrice during fall term and twice during spring term; at sit-down dinner, faculty and students dress up formally and sit down for a proper 45 minute dinner and are served by waiters. On the school's birthday in the fall, sit-down dinner that night features a jolly singing of a song called "Blue Bottles" (the tune is similar to "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"). At the request of the VIth form, the members of which yell "We want blue bottles!", the Vth form gathers at the entrance to the dining hall and, under the conductorship of the youngest faculty alumnus who sets the tempo of the song by swinging a large carving knife back and forth, counts down the age of the school. Following Thursday evening sit-down dinners, many students and faculty gather in the Webb-Marshall Room below the dining hall for an intramural debate featuring members of the school's Debating Society -- Groton's oldest extracurricular organization. These debates also feature the Triple Speak, a fun and lighthearted speech during which the speaker is given three random words in succession and has to give an improptu and humorous speech that includes all three words in the order they were given.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays the Groton community begins the day with daily chapel. Preceding daily chapel is a prelude played by the school's organist; the service then begins at eight o'clock with a period of silence followed by a prayer and reading from one of several religious faiths and then a chapel talk. A "chapel talk" is delivered by the Headmaster, the Chaplain, a faculty member, a musical ensemble, a club or student organization, or a member of the VIth form. Many students see giving a chapel talk in their VIth form year as a right of passage. Daily chapel concludes with a hymn and a postlude, which is also played by the school's organist. Students and faculty may opt to leave chapel during the postlude to do work program and to attend Roll Call.

Originally intended for taking attendance, Roll Call is now a general assembly where daily announcements are made. Led by one of the school's two Senior Prefects, the Brooks House Prefect, or the Hundred House Prefect (all of whom are members of the VIth Form and are elected by their peers), Roll Call usually features both clever and entertaining skits and serious announcements. Once a term, the Headmaster calls off class and announces a Surprise Holiday. Surprise Holiday is announced at Roll Call by the appearance of a bright green jacket, usually integrated into a skit. One day near the end of the year, the VIth form will collectively conduct a filibuster during Roll Call, causing the meeting to run well into (and sometimes right through) first period. However, since the installment of Mr. Commons as Headmaster, the administration has been less lenient, and the filibuster seems to be a dying tradition.

One of the most notable of the school's traditions is hand-shaking. Each day at Groton concludes with students shaking hands with their dorm heads and prefects. As part of the school's Prize Day (commencement) proceedings, every member of the VIth form shakes hands with both the entire faculty and all underclassmen. After examinations, a similar ritual takes place as all underclassmen shake hands with the faculty before leaving for summer vacation.

The tradition of the service of Nine Lessons and Carols dates back to the 1930s, only a few years after the service was introduced by King's College at Cambridge University (which is still the most famous Lessons and Carols service, broadcast on radio each year). Every year, students prepare a Christmas service of carols sung to the music of the school chamber ensemble and the school's 5000+ pipe Aeolian-Skinner organ. The nine lessons begin with the story of Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis and include readings from Isaiah, Luke, and Matthew. The last lesson, the first fourteen verses of the first chapter of the Gospel of John is always read by the Headmaster. This reading is used again as in the last of three readings for the Festival of Light on the first Sunday after Epiphany, where it is again read by the Headmaster.

Another tradition is being overly preppy and popping their collars.

Abuse Allegation

In 1999, Massachusetts State Police began investigating the claims from former students that they had been sexually abused by other students in dormitories over a period stretching between 1996 and 1997. Another student later came forward to say that he'd also been abused by fellow students. Then, six years later, on April 25, 2005, Groton School pleaded guilty to failing to report students' sexual abuse complaints to the state. In the fall of 2006 Groton School issued a full apology to the victims.

Sports

  • Fall
    • Boys: Soccer, football, and cross country, soccer, and football
    • Girls: soccer, cross country, and field hockey
  • Winter
    • Boys: Squash, basketball, and ice hockey
    • Girls: Squash, basketball, and ice hockey
  • Spring
    • Boys: Crew, track, tennis, lacrosse, and baseball
    • Girls: Crew, track, tennis, and lacrosse

Groton School is one of the thirteen original founders of the Independent School League, but it also competes with schools outside of the league.

Groton's traditional athletic rival is St. Mark's School. The day the twain meet in atheletic competition every term is called St. Mark's Day, where Groton always loses. As a side note, Middlesex's official school rival is St. Paul's School; however, Middlesex also has a Groton Day - Groton does not have a Middlesex Day.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Groton School include:

Sources

  • Ashburn, Frank D., Peabody of Groton, Coward McCann, Inc., New York, 1944.
  • Hoyt, Edwin P., The Peabody Influence, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1968.
  • Fenton, John H., "Groton Headmaster Ends 25-Year Tenure," New York Times, June 13, 1965, p. 80.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Groton_School&oldid=102336986"