Wooster School
About Wooster
Wooster School is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory K-12 school in Danbury, Connecticut, in the U.S.. Wooster was founded in 1926 by Aaron Coburn and is named after General David Wooster, a Revolutionary War hero. Wooster's four cardinal principles are simplicity, religion, hard work, and intellectual excellence. An Episcopal school, Wooster emphasizes community service and helping others. The students clean the campus themselves (through an elaborate system of job areas, duties and privileges) and are regularly evaluated on their status as community members as well as students. Wooster states that its mission is to "maintain a school for the intellectual, spiritual, ethical, aesthetic, and physical development of boys and girls of diverse backgrounds. Since its founding it has been guided by four cardinal principles of Religion, Intellectual Excellence, Simplicity, and Hard Work. We believe that racial, social, economic, and cultural diversity in the student body, staff, and Board of Trustees is central to the school's educational mission and values."
Wooster's Philosophy
Wooster students are rigorously taught in a liberal arts tradition. The learning of basic skills and techniques -- reading, writing, computing -- leads to acquired knowledge and understanding in both science and the arts and eventually should lead to the exercising of a balanced judgment.
Because education takes place at all times, at work and at play, with teachers and with students, Wooster tries not to be an exclusive school but an inclusive school and to use diversity as a means of achieving a sense of genuine community.
Individual growth seldom takes place outside a social context, and so the school puts what it believes to be proper emphasis on the life of the community as well as of the individual student. For this reason, a Self-help system, an honor code, and student responsibility for many aspects of discipline have been a part of Wooster's traditions ever since its founding.
Wooster believes that education in the truest sense is moral as well as intellectual. Therefore, the school's diversity also reflects a deeply religious conviction that there is value and dignity in the individual because all of us are children of God. Such a belief can be narrow and parochial or boundless and liberating. Wooster believes that its faith is of the latter persuasion. We try to express this faith through our actions, seeing as the most important expression of our religious heritage our Self-help system, racial diversity, and our attempts when dealing with people to temper justice with mercy, to revere patience, and to put the individual ahead of the institution whenever possible.
Finally, but not incidentally, Wooster School seriously tries not to take itself too seriously, tries to remember that laughter is a uniquely human gift, and tries to teach young people to gain perspective by developing the ability to laugh at themselves.
Such has been and is now the essential philosophy of this school. [1]
Self-Help
Self-help has been one of the fundamental principles at Wooster since the School's founding in 1926. It is a philosophy that places total responsibility for the physical environment of the school on the students.
Students are not only responsible for cleaning and maintaining the campus, but also for the program's organization and management.
As students in the Lower School (grades K - 5) progress through the grades, they assume more responsibility for their classrooms and the Lower School building. Students in the Middle and Upper Schools (grades 6 - 12) are in charge at all times of the upkeep of the whole school.
In addition to self-help and volunteering, Upper School students meet the requirement of 100 hours of community service outside the Wooster community, which can be completed between the summer before freshman year and graduation.
Seniors in good standing academically may also participate in the Senior Independent Study (SIS) program the last six weeks of their senior year, at which time they may pursue a community service project or career interest as a job off campus. Upon completion of SIS, each student submits a written report and makes an oral presentation to the faculty and senior classmates about what he or she learned. [2]
General Information
Date Founded: 1926 – Rev. Aaron C. Coburn
Headmaster: George N. King, Jr.
Director of Admissions: Samuel L. Gaudet
Religious Affiliation: Episcopalian
Accreditation: New England Association of Schools and Colleges
Memberships:
• Connecticut Association of Independent Schools
• National Association of Independent Schools
• National Association of Episcopal Schools
• Cum Laude Society
Size of Campus: 127 acres
Number of School Buildings: 15
Enrollment Information
Enrollment: 407 boys and girls in grades K -12
•Lower: 138
•Middle: 122
•Upper: 147 % of Boys: (49%) % of Girls: (51%)
Ethnic Diversity: 22%
Number of CT towns represented: 18
Number of NY towns represented: 17
Number of countries: 12
Faculty Information
Number of full time faculty: 78
Number of full time faculty with advanced degrees: • Master’s Degrees: 37 • PhD’s: 2
Academic Information
Student : Teacher Ratio: • Lower: 14 :1 • Middle: 13:1 • Upper: 10:1
Typical Class Size: 14 - 16 students
Mean SAT scores for Classes of 2001–2005: • Verbal: 599 • Math: 588
Number of AP courses: 13
Number of Advanced/Honors courses: 12
Financial Information
Tuition: 2005-06 Academic Year • K: $15,300 • 1-5: $16,300 • 6-8: $20,600 • 9-12: $22,700 • Year Abroad: $25,380
College Guidance
College Guidance (2001-2005): 100% of students are accepted to four year colleges and universities.
Colleges Attended: American University, Barnard College, Bates College, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell University, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia University, Colgate University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Dickinson College, Elizabethtown College, Elon University, Emory University, Franklin & Marshall College, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Gettysburg College, Hamilton College, Hampshire College, Haverford College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Hofstra, College of the Holy Cross, Indiana University, Ithaca College, Lehigh University, Loyola College, McGill University, Monmouth University, Muhlenberg College, New York University, Portland State University, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, Providence College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RIT, Skidmore College, Smith College, Springfield College, Swarthmore College, Tufts, University of Connecticut, University of Hartford, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Rochester, University of St. Andrews, University of Vermont, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The Wooster School Prayer
Oh God, You have given us every good gift. We thank You for the bounty of your creation, your teachings through the ages, the love of family and friends, and the goodly heritage of this school. Bless us we pray, in our work and in our play. Make us gentle, generous, truthful, kind, and brave. Keep us in purity of heart, and let the life of our school go on from strength to strength, and have its place and meaning in your kingdom.
Amen.
Wooster Chapel Program
Though grounded in the Episcopal tradition, Wooster School enrolls and serves students of many faiths. Once a week, students gather in the James Marshall Chapel for reflection, readings, singing, and discussion. Though the Judeo-Christian tradition is our focus, we honor all faiths and welcome speakers from other backgrounds as well. Our Chapel program helps all students understand that life is a mystery, and that all people have value.
Service to Others
"Valuing other people means we must give our time and talent to make lives better. Every Wooster student is required to participate in community service to the extent of his or her abilities and with minimum requirements set at all grade levels. Beginning in Lower School, students hold bake sales to raise money for special causes, or help prepare care packages for the Midnight Run, an all-school project that delivers food, clothing, and health care bags to homeless people in New York City. Middle Schoolers work at food pantries, visit local nursing homes, and perform 15 hours of community service beyond school planned activities. Upper School students are required to complete 100 hours of community service working on events like the Thanksgiving Turkey Drive, the Midnight Run, or the Alternative Spring Break, which sends a small group of students on a mission project away from home. Students also participate in community-wide projects with groups like Habitat for Humanity, and at local women's shelters and food kitchens." [3]
Trivia
The Wooster School hymn is "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (based on Psalm 90).
Famous alumnae/i include Neil Rudenstine (former president of Harvard) and folk singer Tracy Chapman.
Wooster School's student newspaper, The General, can be accessed at the Wooster School website. New issues are uploaded as they are published.
Most Seniors spend the month of May doing a Senior Independent Study (S.I.S.). This is commonly an internship but can be almost any unpaid job or project.
Near the end of the school year, before the Seniors leave for S.I.S, the head master will declare a Don Quixote day. During this day classes are halted, and students are free to do mostly whatever they please. This tradition was started in the spring of 1978.