Hopkins Academy
Encyclopedia
Hopkins Academy is the public middle (7th and 8th grade) and senior (9th-12th grade) high school for the town of Hadley, Massachusetts
Hadley, Massachusetts
Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Mall along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding...

.

Founding

The school was founded in 1664 with an endowment from a wealthy Connecticut merchant. Hopkins played a pivotal role in establishing and operating other prominent institutions within the United States, including Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. As a result, Hopkins Academy is "related" to many well-known schools, including Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, and the Hopkins School
Hopkins School
The Hopkins School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational day school, located in New Haven, Connecticut....

 of New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

. For many years, Hopkins Academy was a private school, however, it has been the only public high school in Hadley for many decades. In June 2009, Hopkins celebrated its 350th graduation.

Academics

Since the inception of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Hopkins Academy has consistently scored among the top schools in Massachusetts. In 2008, the Boston Globe ranked Hopkins' 10th graders (under the title "Hadley Public Schools") 2nd in mathematics and tied for 33rd in English in the state of Massachusetts. The school maintains a particular strength in mathematics, despite not having a specialized math program or an accelerated student population(such as the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI). In fact, Hopkins' 10th graders have scored near-perfect MCAS composite performance index (CPI) ratings for math in the past (99.4 in 2007).

This success is generally attributed to small learning communities which yield a low student to faculty ratio. Many Hopkins' graduates pursue 4-year degrees at prominent universities throughout the United States.

In January 2010, US News & World Report gave Hopkins a Bronze Medal on its list of the Top High Schools in America. 37 Massachusetts high schools made the list, but Hopkins was one of only two (along with Greenfield High School) located geographically west of Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

.

Athletics and extracurricular activities

The school offers soccer, basketball, cheerleading, baseball, softball, and golf. It is a member of the MIAA Division III Hampshire League. Hopkins maintains an intense rivalry with Smith Academy
Smith Academy
Smith Academy of International Languages is public K-8 magnet school in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States and part of the in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District. All tuition takes place in the medium of the second language...

 of Hatfield, Massachusetts
Hatfield, Massachusetts
Hatfield is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,249 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area....

. The two small schools and small towns are separated by the Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...

.

Hopkins has a successful music program, comprising a marching band, pep band, as well as award-winning concert and jazz bands.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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