Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School
Encyclopedia
Rowland Hall is a college preparatory school with approximately 1,000 students on two campuses in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

.

General information

Rowland Hall traces its roots to St. Mark's School, which was founded in Salt Lake City by Episcopal
Episcopal Diocese of Utah
The Episcopal Diocese of Utah is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States, encompassing the state of Utah, less that part of the Four Corners region which is in the Navajoland Area Mission. It includes a small part of northern Arizona. In 1867, the Episcopal Church was the first...

 Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle in 1867. In support of newly established public schools in the Utah Territory
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

, St. Mark's School was closed in the early 1890s. However its sister school, Rowland Hall, remained open.

Rowland Hall was founded by Bishop Tuttle in 1880 as a boarding school for girls from ranches in neighboring states; the school opened on the First Avenue campus in Salt Lake City. Rowland Hall is the oldest school in continuous operation in Utah, predating the establishment of public schools in the Utah territory. During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 of the 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...

, when the Episcopal Diocese of Utah
Episcopal Diocese of Utah
The Episcopal Diocese of Utah is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States, encompassing the state of Utah, less that part of the Four Corners region which is in the Navajoland Area Mission. It includes a small part of northern Arizona. In 1867, the Episcopal Church was the first...

 could no longer afford to support the school, graduates and parents assumed financial responsibility and reorganized Rowland Hall as an independent school.

In 1956, St. Mark's re-opened as an independent day school for boys in two historic houses and a so-called tin shed that were located next door to Rowland Hall, sharing the same city block. St. Mark's merged with Rowland Hall in 1964 to become Rowland Hall-St. Mark's, an independent coeducational school.

The Middle and Upper Schools moved to the Lincoln Street Campus in 1984. The Lower and Beginning Schools moved to the McCarthey Campus on Guardsman Way in 2002. The historic campus on First Avenue was sold to the Madeleine Choir School.

Currently over 900 students attend Rowland Hall, which provides a challenging education for students with a focus on preparation for college and stern behavior and discipline. It encourages its students to develop lifetime interests in skiing, tennis, debate, performing arts and fine arts. The current headmaster is Allan Sparrow. This school has 100 teachers, with around 32 high school teachers.

Academics

Rowland Hall's rigorous academic program has traditionally prepared its students for college. Universities and colleges attended by Rowland Hall graduates include Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 schools such as Harvard
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...

, 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...

, and Princeton
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....

, and smaller private colleges across the U.S., including Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...

, Lewis and Clark, Reed
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...

, Whitman
Whitman College
Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...

, Williams
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...

, Amherst
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...

, Wesleyan and Westminster and state universities, including the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

. Award-winning teachers include Joel Long, who won the Mayor's Artist Award, and Mike Roberts who won a Hoey Award.

Sports

The Rowmark Ski Academy was founded in 1982 by Olle Larsson and Dr. Carl Kjeldsberg as part of Rowland Hall's upper school. It offers a combination of academics and complete year-round competitive ski racing program for its student-athletes, who train at Park City Mountain Resort
Park City Mountain Resort
Park City Mountain Resort is a ski resort in Park City, Utah, located east of Salt Lake City. The resort has been a major tourist attraction for skiers from all over the United States, as well as a main employer for many of Park City's citizens. Park City, as the resort is often called by locals,...

’s 2002 Olympic Race Arena. Nine Rowmark athletes have been named to the U.S. Ski Team
United States Ski Team
The United States Ski Team, operated under the auspices of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association , develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, adaptive alpine, freestyle skiing, cross country, adaptive cross country, ski jumping, and nordic combined....

 including Erik Fisher
Erik Fisher
Erik Fisher is an alpine ski racer with the U.S. Ski Team, from Middleton, Idaho.Fisher learned to ski and race at Bogus Basin near Boise, Idaho, beginning at age 3. While growing up, his family moved to different locations in the western U.S.; he also raced in northern Arizona and Utah before...

, Nick Baker, Roger Brown, Keely Kelleher, Courtney Hammond, Kiley Staples, Jennifer VanWagner, Tague Thorson, Alice McKennis. Other notable alumni include Hilary Lindh
Hilary Lindh
Hilary Lindh is a former alpine ski racer.Born in Juneau, Alaska, Lindh was just 14 when she was named to the U.S. Ski Team. By 16, she had become the first American to win a World Junior Championships downhill title. All this was done while with Kathy Miklossy and Alex Mitkus in Utah, away from...

, Picabo Street
Picabo Street
Picabo Street is a retired American alpine ski racer. She won gold medals in super G at the 1998 Winter Olympics and in downhill at 1996 World Championships, along with three other Olympic and World Championship medals. She also won World Cup downhill season titles in 1995 and 1996, the first...

, Kristi Terzian, Ovidio Garcia, Spencer Eccles, Jeremiah Thompson, Alexandra Shaffer, Amber Guaraglia, Rob Saunders, Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer is an American professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team . His major results are winning the 2007–2009 editions of the Tour of California, the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré and the 2005 Deutschland Tour, coming in second in the 2008 Vuelta a España, third in the 2001 Vuelta a...

, Adam Cole, and Charles Christianson.

The men's tennis team won 4 consecutive state championships from 2000–2004, also beating many of the larger schools in Utah who often went on to win state championships in the 3A, 4A, and 5A divisions during those years. After a 3 year drought, RHSM tennis rebounded, as the men won 5 consecutive 1A/2A state titles in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011; the first such streak ever for the RHSM boys.

The women's tennis team also enjoys multitudes of success, being successfully coached by Head tennis Coach Timothy Sleeper and Assistant Coach Susan Daynes to 4 consecutive state titles, from 2004 to 2008.

The middle School program is also very advanced. For example, The 2010 A-team girls soccer got first place in the WAC league championship as well as having an undefeated season.

Debate

The Winged Lions policy debate
Policy debate
Policy debate is a form of speech competition in which teams of two advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government or security discourse...

 team enjoys a good deal of success on the extremely competitive national policy circuit. With a total of 7 bids to the 2008 Tournament of Champions
Tournament of Champions (debate)
The Tournament of Champions is a high school debate tournament held annually at the University of Kentucky on the first weekend of May. It is the most prestigious tournament on the "national circuit," representing some of the most competitively successful debaters from the nation's most prestigious...

, and 6 bids to the 2007 TOC
Tournament of Champions (debate)
The Tournament of Champions is a high school debate tournament held annually at the University of Kentucky on the first weekend of May. It is the most prestigious tournament on the "national circuit," representing some of the most competitively successful debaters from the nation's most prestigious...

, the school has established itself as a major player nationally. The RHSM top team reached quarterfinals of the 2008 TOC as well as taking second speaker, the best finish for any Utah team in the state's history. Additionally, the team recorded the best finish ever for a Utah school at NFL Nationals, taking 3rd place in June 2009. Two debaters from the school (Andrew Arsht and Mario Feola), lost in the final round of NFL Nationals, taking second place. The team also features numerous rising prospects, such as Chris Sundquist, Ethan Arsht, Austen Van Burns, Cameron Ballard, and freshman Harry Stone.
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