North Yarmouth Academy
Encyclopedia
North Yarmouth Academy is an independent, co-ed, college preparatory day school serving students in grades 5-12 located in Yarmouth
, Maine
. The school offers a structured program that sets clear standards and high expectations in an environment that emphasizes values of mutual respect, trust and community. North Yarmouth Academy is dedicated to fostering integrity, character and intellect in young adults. The current Head of School is Brad Choyt, with Richard Abbondanza heading the Board of Trustees. NYA has 265 enrolled students with an average class size of 14 students. NYA offers 16 interscholastic sports for both Boys and Girls at the Varsity and Junior Varsity Level.
NYA students carry five academic courses plus electives each year and are required to participate in athletics or theatre each trimester. In 2011, 85 students took 146 Advanced Placement Exams in 15 subjects. Eighty-two percent scored a 3 or higher, 56% scored a 4 or 5. In 2011, NYA had 27 Advanced Placement Scholars: 10 Advanced Placement Scholars, 6 Advanced Placement Scholars with Honor, 11 Advanced Placement Scholars with Distinction, and 1 Advanced Placement Scholar. NYA offers 16 Advanced Placement courses.
NYA student athletes participate on a variety of varsity athletic teams, and since 2000, NYA teams have won 38 state championships. NYA believes that valuable life lessons are learned through team sports. All NYA students in grades 6-12 participate in team sports or approved alternatives 3 seasons per year. More than 40% of graduates continue to play intercollegiate sports. NYA students also are accomplished musicians and actors. One hundred percent of Middle School students and 73% of Upper School students participate in a musical ensemble. There are currently 12 musical ensembles offered at NYA.
NYA develops each student's sense of accountability, responsibility, and citizenship through ongoing campus jobs and community service. During the 2010-2011 school year, NYA students gave more than 4,500 hours to community service, assisting more than 55 community and civic organizations in the Greater Portland, Maine area
.
Virtually 100 percent of NYA graduates go immediately on to a four-year college or university. In recent years, NYA students have been accepted and have attended: American University
, Amherst College
, Bates College
, Bowdoin College
, Brown University
, Carnegie Mellon
, Colby College
, Columbia University
, Cornell University
, Dartmouth College
, Davidson College
, Duke University
, Harvard University
, University of Chicago
, University of Pennsylvania
, Princeton University
, Williams College
, Middlebury College
, Northeastern University, Northwestern University
, Boston College
, University of Virginia
, Wake Forest University
, Johns Hopkins University
, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
, MIT, and Yale University
as well as many others.
In the past ten years, NYA has built a $3M state of the art science center (the Peter W. Mertz Science Center, 2006), has renovated the oldest building on campus (Russell Hall, 2009) into a technologically advanced foreign language center, has added an all-weather athletic (turf) field, has built a modern, efficient Middle School (The Priscilla Savage Middle School, 2003) and increased endowment for faculty enrichment and student diversity. These projects were completed through successful capital campaigns that included all members of the greater NYA community and incurred no additional debt for the Academy.
and Junior Varsity
level.
. NYA currently has two athletic fields, one turf and one grass (Denney Field). Since its completion, Varsity and Junior Varsity Lacrosse, Soccer, and Field Hockey play all their home games on Lewis. NYA uses Knight Field for its Baseball and Softball programs.
. It contains a fitness room, heated viewing area, locker rooms, and a pro shop. It is home to the NYA Boys and Girls Ice Hockey teams as well as the Yarmouth High School
ice hockey teams. The facility is also used by Casco Bay Hockey for its ice hockey programs.
, most notably in men and women's lacrosse and hockey, among other sports. As well, NYA has a rivalry with other local private school Waynflete School
, particularly in women's lacrosse and men's and women's soccer.
Yarmouth, Maine
Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, located approximately ten to fifteen miles north of Portland. Its population was 8,349 at the 2010 census....
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. The school offers a structured program that sets clear standards and high expectations in an environment that emphasizes values of mutual respect, trust and community. North Yarmouth Academy is dedicated to fostering integrity, character and intellect in young adults. The current Head of School is Brad Choyt, with Richard Abbondanza heading the Board of Trustees. NYA has 265 enrolled students with an average class size of 14 students. NYA offers 16 interscholastic sports for both Boys and Girls at the Varsity and Junior Varsity Level.
NYA students carry five academic courses plus electives each year and are required to participate in athletics or theatre each trimester. In 2011, 85 students took 146 Advanced Placement Exams in 15 subjects. Eighty-two percent scored a 3 or higher, 56% scored a 4 or 5. In 2011, NYA had 27 Advanced Placement Scholars: 10 Advanced Placement Scholars, 6 Advanced Placement Scholars with Honor, 11 Advanced Placement Scholars with Distinction, and 1 Advanced Placement Scholar. NYA offers 16 Advanced Placement courses.
NYA student athletes participate on a variety of varsity athletic teams, and since 2000, NYA teams have won 38 state championships. NYA believes that valuable life lessons are learned through team sports. All NYA students in grades 6-12 participate in team sports or approved alternatives 3 seasons per year. More than 40% of graduates continue to play intercollegiate sports. NYA students also are accomplished musicians and actors. One hundred percent of Middle School students and 73% of Upper School students participate in a musical ensemble. There are currently 12 musical ensembles offered at NYA.
NYA develops each student's sense of accountability, responsibility, and citizenship through ongoing campus jobs and community service. During the 2010-2011 school year, NYA students gave more than 4,500 hours to community service, assisting more than 55 community and civic organizations in the Greater Portland, Maine area
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
.
Virtually 100 percent of NYA graduates go immediately on to a four-year college or university. In recent years, NYA students have been accepted and have attended: American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
, 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...
, Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
, Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, 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 ,...
, Carnegie Mellon
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
, 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...
, 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...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
, 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...
, 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...
, University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, 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....
, Williams College
Williams 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...
, 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,...
, Northeastern University, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, 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...
, University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...
, MIT, and 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...
as well as many others.
In the past ten years, NYA has built a $3M state of the art science center (the Peter W. Mertz Science Center, 2006), has renovated the oldest building on campus (Russell Hall, 2009) into a technologically advanced foreign language center, has added an all-weather athletic (turf) field, has built a modern, efficient Middle School (The Priscilla Savage Middle School, 2003) and increased endowment for faculty enrichment and student diversity. These projects were completed through successful capital campaigns that included all members of the greater NYA community and incurred no additional debt for the Academy.
Facilities
The NYA campus consists of 10 Academic/Art buildings and 2 Athletic Buildings. The campus also has 2 athletic fields, 3 tennis courts, and a baseball/softball field.- Priscilla Savage Middle School - Grades 5-8, nurse's office
- Peter W. Mertz Science Building - Science, and some math, classes for both the Middle and Upper Schools
- Higgins Hall - The choral and instrumental music building, also includes functionality for a black box theaterBlack box theaterThe black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
- Russell Hall - Current foreign language center, Edgar F. White '38 Athletic Hall of Fame, and former science building
- Academy Hall - Former 7th and 8th grade building, currently empty
- Bates House - Admission office, as well as Middle School art and Upper School photography
- Weld House - Office building, including web master, information technology, archival office
- Dole House - Office building, including alumni relations, development, communications, and business offices
- Curtis Building - Main building for Upper School students, includes library, student lounge, gymnasium, and Safford Center (cafeteria and stage)
- Storer House - Auction volunteer office, Former 6th grade building
Athletics
North Yarmouth Academy has an athletic requirement that each student to participate in an athletic program every season throughout the school year. Exceptions to this policy include the ability to participate in the arts once a year.Sports
NYA offers 16 interscholastic sports for both Boys and Girls, each at the VarsityVarsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
and Junior Varsity
Junior varsity
Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...
level.
Fall
- Golf
- Field Hockey (women's only)
- Soccer
- Cross Country
- Volleyball (women's only)
- Sailing
Spring
- Baseball (men's only)
- Lacrosse
- Softball (women's only)
- Tennis
- Outdoor Track and Field
Gymnasium
NYA's gymnasium is located behind, and attached to, Curtis Hall. The gym includes the athletic director's office, two locker rooms, and the Hall of Awards. The gym is used for men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and for large assemblies, including all school gatherings, and senior speeches.Fields
In 2006, NYA completed transforming Lewis Field from grass to turfSod
Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of thin material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
. NYA currently has two athletic fields, one turf and one grass (Denney Field). Since its completion, Varsity and Junior Varsity Lacrosse, Soccer, and Field Hockey play all their home games on Lewis. NYA uses Knight Field for its Baseball and Softball programs.
Travis Roy Ice Arena
The North Yarmouth Academy Ice Arena was built in 1975. In 1998 it was remodeled and re-named to the Travis Roy Ice Arena in honor of Travis RoyTravis Roy
Travis Roy is an American former college ice hockey player.Roy attended Yarmouth High School as a freshman, then transferred to nearby North Yarmouth Academy in order to pursue an athletic scholarship...
. It contains a fitness room, heated viewing area, locker rooms, and a pro shop. It is home to the NYA Boys and Girls Ice Hockey teams as well as the Yarmouth High School
Yarmouth High School (Maine)
Yarmouth High School is a four-year public high school in Yarmouth, Maine, as part of the Yarmouth Schools district.Yarmouth High School in a newly finished and renovated building consists of a 500-seat auditorium, a student union/cafeteria, and a new office area that has guidance counselors, the...
ice hockey teams. The facility is also used by Casco Bay Hockey for its ice hockey programs.
Rivalries
NYA maintains two local rivalries. The first is with hometown public school Yarmouth High SchoolYarmouth High School (Maine)
Yarmouth High School is a four-year public high school in Yarmouth, Maine, as part of the Yarmouth Schools district.Yarmouth High School in a newly finished and renovated building consists of a 500-seat auditorium, a student union/cafeteria, and a new office area that has guidance counselors, the...
, most notably in men and women's lacrosse and hockey, among other sports. As well, NYA has a rivalry with other local private school Waynflete School
Waynflete School
Waynflete School is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school for early childhood education to twelfth grade, in Portland, Maine. Established in 1898, it is one of three independent private schools in the greater Portland area....
, particularly in women's lacrosse and men's and women's soccer.
Notable alumni
- Leonard SwettLeonard SwettLeonard Swett was a civil and criminal lawyer who advised and assisted Abraham Lincoln throughout the president's political career.-Early life:...
, close friend of President Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, organizer for the 1860 Republican National Convention1860 Republican National ConventionThe 1860 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States, held in Chicago, Illinois at the Wigwam, nominated former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for President and U.S. Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice President...
in Chicago - John Albion AndrewJohn Albion AndrewJohn Albion Andrew was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts between 1861 and 1866 during the American Civil War. He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first U.S. Army units of black men—including the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry.-Early...
, Governor of Massachusetts 1861-1865 - Charles Addison Boutelle, 9-term U.S. congressman (1880-1901)
- Oliver O. HowardOliver O. HowardOliver Otis Howard was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War...
, Union general during the Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and founder of Howard UniversityHoward UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States... - John Henry Goodenow, U.S. Consul General, ConstantinopleConstantinopleConstantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(1864-65, 1874), Arbitrator Great Britain and Egypt (1872-73) - Seth Mellen Milliken, founder of what would become the largest family-owned textile business in the world in late 20th century
- Edward Cushing Mitchell, President of Baptist Tehological School in Paris, President of Roger Williams University in Tennessee, President of Leland University in Louisiana
- Edward Bowdoin Nealley, founder of Snow & Nealley Company, manufacturer of world's best axes and logging tools
- John Franklin Spaulding, Episcopal Bishop of Colorado and Wyoming
- Walter Wells, author of The Water-power of Maine
- Wendell Abraham Anderson, U.S. Consul General, Montreal, Canada
- George Frederick BarkerGeorge Frederick BarkerGeorge Frederick Barker was an American physician and scientist. He graduated at the Yale Scientific School in 1858. He was successively chemical assistant in Harvard Medical School in 1858-59 and 1860–61, professor of chemistry and geology in Wheaton College...
, physician and scientist - William Morse Berry, Superintendent of Parks, Chicago, Illinois (1867-1885) and Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1885-1907),1st superintendent of parks in Minneapolis
- Thomas Young Crowell, founder of publishing house Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.(1876-1976), later bought out by Harper & Row
- Ernie CoombsErnie CoombsErnest "Ernie" Arthur Coombs, CM was a children's entertainer that starred in the Canadian television series Mr. Dressup....
C.M.Order of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, children's television entertainer and Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
recipient - Eric WeinrichEric WeinrichEric John Weinrich is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League with the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks...
1985, former NHL defenceman - Travis RoyTravis RoyTravis Roy is an American former college ice hockey player.Roy attended Yarmouth High School as a freshman, then transferred to nearby North Yarmouth Academy in order to pursue an athletic scholarship...
, ice hockey player