The Cambridge School of Weston
Encyclopedia
The Cambridge School of Weston, also known as CSW, is a private, coeducation
al high school
in Weston
, Massachusetts
. Currently the school has approximately 330 students, 25% of whom are boarding. The Head of School is Jane Moulding. The school's motto is "Truthe and Gentil Deedes" (from Chaucer, "Truthe and Gentil Dedes".) Its mascot is the Gryphon
.
, Massachusetts by Arthur and Stella Gilman, who had previously helped found Radcliffe College
, as a preparatory school for Radcliffe. In 1918 The Cambridge School for Girls merged with the Boston-based Haskell School, and was renamed The Cambridge-Haskell School. Lebanese
-born poet Kahlil Gibran, an intimate friend of headmistress Mary Haskell, designed a ring for her students depicting a flower growing in an open hand.
In 1931 the school was moved 20 miles (32.2 km) to its present campus in Weston under the direction of then-head of school John French, became coeducational, and was renamed a final time as The Cambridge School of Weston. A follower of educational reformer John Dewey
, French put in place many of the progressive educational underpinnings that still guide the school today, such as a focus on the whole student, experiential learning
, community involvement, and a low student-to-faculty ratio.
In 1939 the school implemented a form of community self-governance modeled after the traditional New England
town meeting
. Following Robert's Rules of Order
, the entire school community, including students, meet to propose and debate school rules and policies, elect representatives to school committees, and decide on other relevant topics to the community. The Cambridge School Town Meeting continues to be an a central part of the school's community governance to the present day.
A form of block scheduling
, the goal of the Module, or "Mod" System is to provide a framework to allow students to focus on fewer subjects more intensively during a given term. The academic year is divided into seven terms (known as Modules) of five weeks apiece. A school day consists of four class blocks of either 75 or 90 minutes each, with some classes spanning several consecutive blocks. Students take up to three academic and one extracurricular class per mod. Some classes, such as those in mathematics or a foreign language, continue for multiple mods.
Additional fitness courses offered are: Yoga, Rock Climbing, Fencing, Cycling, Weight Training, Golf, Table Tennis, Dance, and Martial Arts.
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in Weston
Weston, Massachusetts
Weston is a suburb of Boston located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Boston metro area. The population of Weston, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, is 11,261....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Currently the school has approximately 330 students, 25% of whom are boarding. The Head of School is Jane Moulding. The school's motto is "Truthe and Gentil Deedes" (from Chaucer, "Truthe and Gentil Dedes".) Its mascot is the Gryphon
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
.
History
The school was founded in 1886 as The Cambridge School for Girls in at 20 Mason Street in CambridgeCambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts by Arthur and Stella Gilman, who had previously helped found Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
, as a preparatory school for Radcliffe. In 1918 The Cambridge School for Girls merged with the Boston-based Haskell School, and was renamed The Cambridge-Haskell School. Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
-born poet Kahlil Gibran, an intimate friend of headmistress Mary Haskell, designed a ring for her students depicting a flower growing in an open hand.
In 1931 the school was moved 20 miles (32.2 km) to its present campus in Weston under the direction of then-head of school John French, became coeducational, and was renamed a final time as The Cambridge School of Weston. A follower of educational reformer John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, French put in place many of the progressive educational underpinnings that still guide the school today, such as a focus on the whole student, experiential learning
Experiential learning
Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, Experiential Learning is learning from experience. The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." David A...
, community involvement, and a low student-to-faculty ratio.
In 1939 the school implemented a form of community self-governance modeled after the traditional New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
town meeting
Town meeting
A town meeting is a form of direct democratic rule, used primarily in portions of the United States since the 17th century, in which most or all the members of a community come together to legislate policy and budgets for local government....
. Following Robert's Rules of Order
Robert's Rules of Order
Robert's Rules of Order is the short title of a book containing rules of order intended to be adopted as a parliamentary authority for use by a deliberative assembly written by Brig. Gen...
, the entire school community, including students, meet to propose and debate school rules and policies, elect representatives to school committees, and decide on other relevant topics to the community. The Cambridge School Town Meeting continues to be an a central part of the school's community governance to the present day.
Academics
The school has gained recognition as a pioneer of the Module System, implemented in 1973 by then Head of School Bob Sandoe.A form of block scheduling
Block scheduling
Block scheduling is a type of academic scheduling in which each student has fewer classes per day but each class is scheduled for a longer period of time . A student might be taking 7 different classes, but only 4 per day, and the specific daily classes would rotate through a changing daily cycle...
, the goal of the Module, or "Mod" System is to provide a framework to allow students to focus on fewer subjects more intensively during a given term. The academic year is divided into seven terms (known as Modules) of five weeks apiece. A school day consists of four class blocks of either 75 or 90 minutes each, with some classes spanning several consecutive blocks. Students take up to three academic and one extracurricular class per mod. Some classes, such as those in mathematics or a foreign language, continue for multiple mods.
Tuition
The Cambridge School of Weston's tution for the 2007-2008 school year is $32,500 for day (commuting) students and $43,250 for boarding students. About 25% of students receive financial aid.Initiatives
The Cambridge School of Weston finished building a "Green" building called the Garthwaite Center for Science and Art, with a dedication ceremony and day of environmental education events on October 20, 2007. The building represents a large portion of the Changing Lives Capital Campaign completed at the end of 2009.Athletics
The Cambridge School of Weston offers the following interscholastic sports:- Soccer
- Cross Country
- Field Hockey
- Basketball
- Baseball
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Tennis
- Girl's Lacrosse
Additional fitness courses offered are: Yoga, Rock Climbing, Fencing, Cycling, Weight Training, Golf, Table Tennis, Dance, and Martial Arts.
Notable alumni
- Miguel ArtetaMiguel ArtetaMiguel Arteta is a Puerto Rican director of film and television, known for his independent film Chuck & Buck , for which he received the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award.-Early life:...
- Jonathan BertmanJonathan BertmanJonathan Bertman is a family physician in Rhode Island and the founder of Amazing Charts, AfraidToAsk.com, and HealthAccessRI...
- Louisa BertmanLouisa BertmanLouisa Bertman is an American illustrator living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is known for her "untraditional portraitures of celebrities and personalities".- Personal life :...
- Lyudmila Bouzinova
- Josh Clayton-FeltJosh Clayton-FeltJosh Clayton-Felt was an American singer-songwriter. He grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and attended high school at the Cambridge School of Weston. He later enrolled at Brown University, but discontinued studies soon after to found the band School of Fish.He worked for acclaimed comedy...
- Ian FalconerIan FalconerIan Woodwark Falconer is an American illustrator, children's book author, and costume and set designer for the theater. He has created 30 covers for The New Yorker as well as other publications...
- Paul Michael GlaserPaul Michael GlaserPaul Michael Glaser is an American actor and director, perhaps best known for his role as Detective David Starsky on the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch; he also appeared as Captain Jack Steeper on the 1999 to 2005 NBC series Third Watch.-Early life:Glaser, the youngest of three...
- Erin HamiltonErin HamiltonErin Hamilton is an American electronic dance music singer. The daughter of actress Carol Burnett and TV Producer Joe Hamilton, she has scored several hits on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart...
- Helen KellerHelen KellerHelen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
- Susanna KaysenSusanna Kaysen-Life:Susanna Kaysen was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of economist Carl Kaysen, a professor at MIT and former advisor to President John F. Kennedy, and his wife Annette Neutra Kaysen. Kaysen has one sister and is divorced...
- Stephin MerrittStephin MerrittStephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles , best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields...
- David Mugar
- Douglas PrestonDouglas PrestonDouglas Preston is an American author who has written seventeen popular techno-thriller and horror novels, four alone and the rest with Lincoln Child...
- Margaret Salinger
- Andrew StromingerAndrew StromingerAndrew Eben Strominger is an American theoretical physicist who works on string theory and son of Jack L. Strominger. He is currently a professor at Harvard University and a senior fellow at the Society of Fellows...
- Joe SumnerJoe SumnerJoseph Sumner is the son of actress Frances Tomelty and singer/actor/activist Gordon Sumner . He is the lead singer and bass player in the UK band Fiction Plane....
- Nick ZinnerNick ZinnerNicholas Joseph Zinner is the guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He is known for his "unmistakable" wild hair, skinny physique, and pale appearance...
- Steve MumfordSteve MumfordSteve Mumford is a contemporary American painter. His practice has lately included the depiction of scenes from the ongoing American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...
- Jennifer CoolidgeJennifer CoolidgeJennifer Coolidge is an American actress best known for playing "Stifler's mom," the older woman in the film American Pie ; Hilary Duff's stepmother in A Cinderella Story ; Paulette, the manicurist in Legally Blonde and its sequel; the voice of Aunt Fanny in the animated feature Robots ; for her...
- Eric Von HippelEric von HippelEric von Hippel is an economist and a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, specializing in the nature and economics of distributed and open innovation. He is best known for his work developing the concept of user innovation – that end-users, rather than manufacturers, are...
External links
- The Cambridge School of Weston website
- The Cambridge School of Weston ALUMNI website
- Picture of award winning Mugar Center for Performing Arts
- de Lone, Richard H. and Susan T., John Dewey is Alive and Well in New England, Saturday Review, November 21, 1970, pages 69–71. Included in: The New World of Educational Thought, Frank A. Stone, editor (Ardent Media, 1973. ISBN 084220282X, ISBN 9780842202824), pages 182-189.