Long Trail School
Encyclopedia
The Long Trail School is an independent college-preparatory coeducational day school serving students 6-12 located in Dorset, Vermont
, United States. Long Trail School was established on the founding principles that every student is unique, small group instruction responds to individual needs, high academic standards motivate students, and financial need should not deter qualified students from applying. Long Trail School is committed to providing financial aid to qualified students, and has a strong tradition of doing so. Many area students are eligible for some amount of tax-funded tuition assistance.
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classes, many independent study opportunities and student-demanded classes.
, a rock climbing and golf team among other athletic programs. Long Trail fields a Varsity Softball team as well, which grew out of a long-standing JV tradition prior to the switch to Division IV athletics.
by the end of each year in order to progress to the next grade level. Long Trail School has a few requirements that have to be met before any type of service can be counted towards the required eight hours:
If students do not meet the required eight hours by the end of May, they are required to clean the school under the supervision of the Director of Student Life and Athletics for at least sixteen hours; if they cannot meet this provision then they are not allowed to proceed to the next grade level.
. The paper is published whenever school grades are sent to students (this is normally every two months). Any student may send contributions to the paper, but it must be reviewed by student editors before being placed into the paper.
, Brown University
, Cornell University
, Columbia University
, Boston College
, Princeton University
, Yale University
, Georgetown University
, Middlebury College
, New York University
, Duke University
, Boston University
, Sarah Lawrence College
, Bennington College
, and Castleton State College
, among others.
, a non-profit committed to aiding mine victims in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan).
There are also two separate LTSummer programs that are more specialized. LTdrama is a program for children ages 10 to 14 that want to act and perform. The second one is named "Sports Camps", for ages 5 to 10, which is divided into two distinct programs, one for Soccer and another for Tennis. The LTSummer program focuses on students and children both inside and outside the school.
, with school administrators denouncing her actions. The denouncement raised an outcry among some of the school's alumni, stating that her disrobing symbolized the values that the school held.
Dorset, Vermont
Dorset is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,036 at the 2000 census. Dorset is famous for being home to America's oldest marble quarry and for being the birth place of Alcoholics Anonymnous co-founder Bill W...
, United States. Long Trail School was established on the founding principles that every student is unique, small group instruction responds to individual needs, high academic standards motivate students, and financial need should not deter qualified students from applying. Long Trail School is committed to providing financial aid to qualified students, and has a strong tradition of doing so. Many area students are eligible for some amount of tax-funded tuition assistance.
History
David Wilson and Rene Wilson founded the Long Trail School in 1975 with an original class of 14 students in the rented space of the Dorset Sportsman’s Club. The school, which serves grades 6-12, has consistently grown and currently has 177 students enrolled for the 2007-2008 academic year. Notable changes over the years have included the acquisition and construction the 60000 sq ft (5,574.2 m²) facility with winding hallways and small classrooms, two common rooms, offices and other facilities including a library, a 220 seat theater, art studios, presentation spaces, and a gymnasium. The Founders David Wilson and Rene Wilson played a strong role in the school, with David Wilson as the Headmaster and Rene Wilson handling course registration and college placement for the entire history of the school, until their retirement in June 2007. The current Head of School is John H. Suitor III, originally serving as a dean at the Foxcroft SchoolFoxcroft School
Foxcroft School, founded in 1914 by Ms. Charlotte Haxall Noland, is an independent boarding and day school for girls in grades 9–12, located near Middleburg, Virginia, United States....
.
About the school
Long Trail School has historically drawn students from over 38 towns in Vermont and neighboring New York state, and from 20 foreign countries, including South Korea, Japan, China, England, Iran, Iraq, Puerto Rico, Omen, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Germany, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Austria, Australia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Costa Rica and others. The International students or any foreign exchange students are not allowed to have a driver's license, and thus not allowed to drive under any kind of circumstances. As of Friday, May 14, 2010, Long Trail School is the first school in Vermont to be officially inducted as an International Baccalaureate school.Academics
Long Trail School was recently named the first International Baccalaureate (IB) World school in Vermont. Class sizes currently average 8-12 students, though classes with only a single student are not unheard of at Long Trail. Academic standards are high by comparison to other local schools, with test scores consistently above state and local averages. Even after offering IB courses, Long Trail continues to offer some Advanced PlacementAdvanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
classes, many independent study opportunities and student-demanded classes.
Summer Reading
Every summer, students are required to read two books of their choice from an approved list for the grade level they are entering for the upcoming year, and one book assigned for their grade level by the English Department. Most students are required to write two book reports, the senior class has to write one comparison essay on the required books. These reports are due July 1 and August 1, while the comparison essay for the senior class is due on the latter date. The reports have to follow a specific format, with increased detail and complexity increasing with each subsequent year. International students are also required to participate in the Summer Reading Program, they have to meet with the ESL teacher in order to plan their reading, books and format, tailored to their grasp of the English Language.Atmosphere
The atmosphere is notably informal and laid-back compared to a traditional school environment. This is most notably seen in strong relationships between students and teachers and the notion of many as the school as a second home. The building demonstrates many homey qualities such as two kitchens located in the common rooms and couches and makeshift areas of congregation spread throughout the building, with kids roaming the hallways. Students address faculty by their first names.The Arts
Long Trail offers a strong arts program, boasting a superb theater facility built in 2003. In 2008, Long Trail School attended the Fringe Festival in Scotland for the second time (2005 was the first) by invitation. Long Trail is one of the smallest schools nationwide to be invited to do so. Notable music and visual arts offerings include instrumental, vocal, and orchestral music, art classes on varying levels, acting classes, theater production classes, and other periodic offerings.Athletics
Long Trail’s sports program has seen many student-formed teams come and go but consistently has had high participation for its size. The most notable being the soccer, with the school fielding four teams, two boys and two girls each year. In 2004, Long Trail made the transition to Division IV varsity athletics. Baseball was created in 2005 based on student demand and a tennis team was created in 2005 after the construction of the Appelman Family Tennis Center, courtesy of magnanimous Appleman family. The school sports a ski and snowboard team that competes on Bromley MountainBromley Mountain
Bromley Mountain is a mountain in the Green Mountains of southern Vermont, United States. It is located in Bennington County, seven miles to the east of Manchester, Vermont and just west of Peru, Vermont...
, a rock climbing and golf team among other athletic programs. Long Trail fields a Varsity Softball team as well, which grew out of a long-standing JV tradition prior to the switch to Division IV athletics.
Community Service
Each year, every student has to complete at least eight hours of community serviceCommunity service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
by the end of each year in order to progress to the next grade level. Long Trail School has a few requirements that have to be met before any type of service can be counted towards the required eight hours:
- The student cannot be paid for their service.
- They cannot work with a family member (for example, a student cannot have hours counted if the organization or service entails working with their parents of immediate family).
- The student cannot have hours counted if they work directly with the school (examples include hosting school-wide dances)
- Exceptions are usually made to students that help in major school projects, like Empty BowlsEmpty bowls“Empty Bowls” is an international project to fight hunger, personalized by artists and art organizations on a community level.The promotion and growth of the project is managed by The Imagine/RENDER Group, a 5013 organization. However, each community’s events are self developed and independent...
, a yearly, non-profit event hosted at the school since 2007. - Students can have hours counted if they're working alongside a faculty member.
- Exceptions are usually made to students that help in major school projects, like Empty Bowls
If students do not meet the required eight hours by the end of May, they are required to clean the school under the supervision of the Director of Student Life and Athletics for at least sixteen hours; if they cannot meet this provision then they are not allowed to proceed to the next grade level.
E-Classes
Every Thursday and Friday academic classes end early so students may participate in activities run by faculty or instructors that offer their services. There are four Enrichment Class (E-Class) sessions every school year, in which students may choose their E-class on a form. Each E-class has limited space, and as such students are requested to select, in order of preference, up to five different activities in case certain activities are full of students. Students in the senior class are given the exception to this preference rule because they are given priority over their peers and are guaranteed placement in their chosen activity. Students must attend two Physical (sports, yoga, etc.) and two Enrichment (guitar lessons, art studio, etc.) to proceed to the next grade level.Trail Mix
The Trail Mix is a student-run, faculty-supervised newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. The paper is published whenever school grades are sent to students (this is normally every two months). Any student may send contributions to the paper, but it must be reviewed by student editors before being placed into the paper.
College Placement
Starting in 8th grade, Long Trail School commits to the path of placing students in the "right" college for the individual, taking into consideration family finances, geography, areas of interest and grades. In the past, Long Trail graduating classes (numbering between 10 and 18) have been offered significant merit aid for college. The Class of 2007, numbering 14 graduates, was offered $780,000 in merit scholarship over the next 4 years. Students have applied and been accepted to Williams CollegeWilliams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Columbia University
Columbia 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...
, Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Yale University
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...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
, Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
, and Castleton State College
Castleton State College
Castleton State College is a public liberal arts college located in Castleton in the U.S. state of Vermont. Castleton has an enrollment of 2000 students and offers more than 30 undergraduate programs as well as master’s degrees in education...
, among others.
Alumni
Long Trail School, despite its small size, has launched its graduates into a variety of fields. Among the alumni are white water rafting guides, financial planners, engineers, teachers, lawyers, curators, small business owners, fundraisers, and several careers in the non-profit/philanthropic sector (among them the Founder of Clear Path InternationalClear Path International
Clear Path International is a non-profit organization based in the United States. The organization assists civilian victims of war in post-conflict zones. This assistance takes the form of direct medical and social services to survivors and their families as well as equipment support to hospitals...
, a non-profit committed to aiding mine victims in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan).
LTSummer
LTSummer is a summer day camp held by Long Trail School every summer. The camp is divided into several programs for different age groups:- Busy Bees, for ages 3 & 4.
- Curious Crickets, for ages 5 to 7
- Trailblazers, for ages 8 to 12
- LTDrama, for ages 11 to 18
There are also two separate LTSummer programs that are more specialized. LTdrama is a program for children ages 10 to 14 that want to act and perform. The second one is named "Sports Camps", for ages 5 to 10, which is divided into two distinct programs, one for Soccer and another for Tennis. The LTSummer program focuses on students and children both inside and outside the school.
"Nude graduate"
Kate Logan, a student from the class of 1998, disrobed during her graduation speech. Her reason being, was that she wanted to express her feelings of community and comfort she had with the school. Her disrobing at the commencement ceremony drew attention from the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, with school administrators denouncing her actions. The denouncement raised an outcry among some of the school's alumni, stating that her disrobing symbolized the values that the school held.