The Winsor School Totally Explained

Everything about The Winsor School totally explained

Founded in 1886, The Winsor School is a girls' college prep school for day students in grades 5-12. The school is located in Boston, Massachusetts and has approximately 432 students representing 57 communities in Massachusetts. The endowment as of July 1st, 2007 was $50,516,000 which is $116,400 per student.

Mission

The Winsor School is dedicated to developing the individual talents of academically promising and motivated girls in grades five through twelve. It has a rigorous academic curriculum that's complemented by strong offerings in the arts and physical education. The school helps students build a foundation of skills and knowledge to serve as a lifelong base for independent thinking, problem solving, creativity, and wise decision-making.
   Winsor students are expected to pursue academic and personal excellence and to show concern and respect for others, for the community of the school, and for the world in which they live. They are encouraged by a dedicated and caring faculty to develop confidence in all areas of study, to express themselves effectively, to become leaders, and to face challenges with courage and integrity.
   Committed to diversity in its student body and faculty and to an inclusive curriculum, the school fosters an appreciation of individual and cultural differences along with a recognition of the fundamental interdependence of all people.
   More than a century after Winsor's founding, its original goal -- to develop "competent, responsible, generous-minded women" -- remains fresh, valid, and challenging. Winsor has a sister school relationship with both Belmont Hill and Roxbury Latin schools.

History

In 1886 Miss Mary Pickard Winsor started a six-month school in Boston for her aunt's daughter and friends. Miss Winsor, who had been teaching at her mother's school in Winchester, began with eight little girls in a private home on Beacon Hill. She quickly established a viable and growing school for girls, which bore her name, and began sending its graduates to college in 1895. She established the present structure of eight classes, grades 5-12, offering a ninth, graduate, year (which was discontinued many years ago).
   Miss Winsor's School occupied a number of different locations on the Hill until a group of parents asked her to be the director of the school they intended to build. They hoped to secure for children in private schools "at least equivalent advantages given to those in the Public Schools, as to fire-proof construction, light, ventilation, and other sanitary arrangements." They formed a corporation in 1907, bought land on the Fenway, and hired the Boston architect R. Clipston Sturgis to build "the most perfect schoolhouse." It included a library, science laboratories, art studios, and a gymnasium and swimming tank. The students and alumnae insisted that the new school be named for Miss Winsor. President Eliot of Harvard, who was very supportive of the project, suggested the motto "A sound mind in a sound body."
   In 1910 The Winsor School opened with 225 students. The lamp, which had been presented by the last class to graduate from Miss Winsor's School at 95-96 Beacon Street, came with them and still burns on opening day and at graduation. Miss Winsor continued as head of the school until 1922. She wanted to prepare women to be self-sufficient, indeed, self-supporting, and hoped they'd be competent, responsible, and generous-minded. She left a very strong imprint on her school and showed continued interest in it until her death in 1950.
   The school has expanded its facilities over the years, adding a full gymnasium in the 1920s, a science wing in the 1980s, expanding the library more than once, adding classrooms in the 1990s, and, most recently, a new dining hall, classrooms, laboratories, and faculty work space in 2004. There are now 420 students. Seven directors have led the school in its 118-year history, all women, all active and influential in the world of education.

Notable Alumnae

Katherine Sergeant Angell White (1910), editor at The New Yorker and wife of E.B. White, author of "Charlotte's Web" (External Link)
Barbara Cushing Mortimer Paley (1934), debutante, Vogue editor, wife of William Paley, one of Truman Capote's "swans"
Tenley Albright (1953), Olympic gold medalist (figure skating) and surgeon

College Placement

In the last five years, Winsor graduates have most often entered the following colleges and universities:

Harvard College – 21

Brown University – 16

(tie) Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 11, University of Pennsylvania – 11

(tie) Boston College – 10, Dartmouth College – 10

(tie) Columbia University – 9, Princeton University – 9, Yale University – 9

Colby College – 7

(tie) Amherst College – 6, Duke University – 6, Hamilton College – 6, New York University – 6, Tufts University – 6

(tie) Middlebury College – 5, Stanford University – 5, Trinity College – 5, University of Chicago – 5, Washington University in St. Louis - 5 Winsor graduates have also entered many other leading schools, including:
4 each to: Colgate University, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Washington & Lee University, Williams College
   3 each to: Davidson College, Northwestern University, Occidental College, Swarthmore College, University of Michigan, Wellesley College
   2 each to: Bard College, Barnard College, Boston University, Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Carleton College, Connecticut College, Earlham College, Emory University, Oberlin College, Reed College, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin, University of Southern California
   1 each to: Babson College, Bates College, Beloit College, Bennington College, Bryn Mawr College, Case Western Reserve University, Claremont McKenna College, College of the Holy Cross, College of William and Mary, Eugene Lang College/New School University, The George Washington University, Hampshire College, Johns Hopkins University, The Juilliard School, Kenyon College, The Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, Macalester College, New College of Florida, Northeastern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Parsons School of Design, Pomona College, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, Rice University, Roanoke College, Skidmore College, Slade School of Fine Art, University of St. Andrews (Scotland), St. Lawrence University, Trinity College Dublin, Tulane University, Union College, University of Delaware, University of Redlands

Traditions

Students enjoy many enduring traditions at Winsor, some of which date to the earliest days of the school.
   The school's "lamp of learning" is one of many. Each year begins with the lamp carried into the opening assembly by the senior class president. At commencement exercises in June, she again leads the student body into the tent, and during the ceremony she transfers the lamp to the president of the rising senior class.
   Many events have a time-honored place in the school year, including the Class IV Shakespeare Play, performed by eighth-graders at Winsor since 1931. For decades, each sophomore class has honored the senior class with a "banner," now unveiled at a special ceremony during the closing week of school.
   Music also plays a key role in many ceremonies, including the singing of "Jerusalem" and "The Lamp of Learning," written by a graduate of the Class of 1902.
   Newer traditions such as "Under the Lights," a fall celebration of sports and community, have also emerged, enhancing the life of Winsor.
   Another is "cookie day," when chocolate chip cookies are served at recess every Wednesday.

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