Peddie School is a college preparatory school in Hightstown, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is a non-denominational, coeducational boarding school located on a 280-acre (110 ha) campus, and serves students in the ninth through twelfth grades, plus a small post-graduate class. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1928.
In its 2015 rankings, Business Insider ranked the school's tuition as the 18th most expensive private high school tuition in the United States, with tuition and fees of $44,800. The site ranked Peddie 13th on its 2015 list of the Most Elite Boarding Schools In The US, with rankings based on the size of each school's endowment, average SAT scores and selectivity.
As of the 2015-16 school year, the school had an enrollment of 544 students and 79.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 6.9:1. The school's student body was 59.2% White, 16.0% Asian, 12.9% Black, 6.1% Hispanic and 5.9% two or more races. Peddie had 62% of students in residence. The student body represented 26 states as well as 29 foreign countries. Peddie had an average class size of 12. The senior class of 2015 was composed of 141 seniors, including 13 post-graduate students.
Peter Quinn succeeded John Green as head of school in 2013.
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History
What is now the Peddie School was founded as an American Baptist school, The Hightstown Female Seminary, in 1864. Later that year, boys were admitted and it changed its name for the first time, to New Jersey Classical and Scientific Institute. In 1872, it became the Peddie Institute in honor of philanthropist and politician Thomas B. Peddie, who gave the school $25,000 ($500,000 in 2015 dollars). In 1923 the school was formally renamed The Peddie School, which is as it remained until 2005 when the school was renamed Peddie School and the present logo was created.
Peddie remained coeducational until 1908, when, for social and economic reasons, it decided to admit boys only. This was reversed in the early 1970s, and girls were readmitted. Today, the school is coeducational and non-denominational.
In 1993, former Ambassador Walter Annenberg (Class of 1927) gave $100 million to Peddie, the largest donation ever made to a U.S. secondary school at the time.
While previous generous gifts by Annenberg helped the school build a library, dormitories, an athletic center, and a science center, the legendary gift of $100 million was made to see Peddie become accessible to all. This endowment was not earmarked for new buildings, but for financial aid. The endowment has enabled students from all backgrounds to pursue a course of study that would have been unattainable otherwise. In 2014-15, annual tuition for day students is $43,500 and for boarding students is $52,600. Each year, about 40% of Peddie students receive financial aid.
As of June 30, 2014, the school's endowment stood at $325.7 million.
Maps Peddie School
Academics
The academic year is divided into three terms.The school offers Advanced Placement (AP) courses in AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C, AP Environmental Science, AP European History, AP United States History, United States Government, AP French Language, AP Spanish Language, AP Latin Literature, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Computer Science, AP Art History, AP Music Theory, AP Studio Art and AP Chinese Language and Culture. An independent study program provides students with the opportunity to study a specialized subject in depth.
The Signature Experience program allows Peddie juniors and seniors to pursue in-depth academic and co-curricular passions that promote their intellectual, social, and moral growth, through intensive summer programs or study over a longer period of time, or through in-depth courses of study housed within or between academic departments.
Athletics
All students must participate in theater, be on an interscholastic team, or be in one of the elective physical-education classes after school.
The Ian H. Graham Athletic Center houses a swimming pool; three basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts (surrounded by an indoor Tartan track); a wrestling room; an indoor soccer and lacrosse facility with Astroturf, a 2,000-square-foot (190- m²) fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment; a room housing eight ergometers; and a fully equipped 6-bed training room and sports-medicine center. Outdoor facilities include fourteen tennis courts, eight multipurpose fields, a specially equipped varsity football and lacrosse training field, a softball field, an Olympic-caliber ¼-mile all-weather track, a varsity football and lacrosse field, three baseball fields. The Hovnanian Fields added another six fields, dedicated seasonally to the freshmen and junior varsity soccer and lacrosse teams.
The Athletic Center holds the Heisman Trophy donated to the school by Yale University lineman Larry Kelley (Peddie class of 1933), who won it in 1936, the second year in which it was given.
Peddie has its own 18-hole golf course, where the boys' and girls' golf teams compete. The course is a private facility of the Peddie Golf Club, but students and faculty have free access to the greens.
The school competes in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League, a sports league with participating institutions from preparatory schools in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area.
Peddie is a member of the New Jersey Independent School Athletic Association (NJISAA), competing in the "Prep 'A'" division with Lawrenceville School, Hun School of Princeton, Blair Academy, Saint Benedict's Preparatory School and other New Jersey preparatory schools depending on the sport. Peddie has graduates competing at the collegiate level in swimming, wrestling, basketball, track, crew, baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, golf, and tennis. The school mascot is the Falcon.
Football rivalry
Peddie's arch-rival is Blair Academy, and the two schools compete every year during the second week of November for the Potter-Kelley Cup. The day of the football competition, which alternates yearly between campuses, is known as Blair Day at Peddie (and Peddie Day at Blair). The game between the two schools is the oldest football rivalry in New Jersey and ranks among the oldest in the country., After Peddie won the Potter-Kelley cup in 2018 making a 4-year victory streak, although Blair has always been strong competition and will definitely make a comeback in 2019.
Crew
Peddie's crew team was first recognized on the national stage in 1993, when the men's midweight 4+ won a Youth National Championship title in Occaquan, VA. This feat was nearly repeated three years later, with Peddie coming in second in the same event by less than half a second. In 2006, the Peddie Girls' Varsity Four won the United States Youth National Championship, a regatta hosting the strongest club and scholastic teams in the nation. They won again in 2007, defending their U.S. Youth National Regatta title. In 2008, Peddie's Girls' Varsity Four placed third in their division at the Head of the Charles Regatta and returned to the Youth National in Ohio, placing second. The men's varsity four also traveled to Ohio, placing twelve in the Varsity Lightweight Four event. In 2009 the girls and boys returned to the National Championships. The girls regained their first place position, and the men placed sixth in the Petite Final of the Heavyweight Varsity Four. The women then continued on to the Henley Women's Regatta in England, setting a course record on their way to the final and eventually placing second.
Swimming
Peddie also boasts a nationally-acclaimed swimming program. Peddie School swimmers (students or alumni) have represented their nations in every Olympics since 1992. The team has won the Swimming World Mythical National Championships eight times, including the inaugural boys' and girls' independent-school titles in 1977 and 1982. The teams in the early 1990s were among the most-dominant high-school swimming programs in history, winning back-to-back boys' and girls' Mythical titles in 1990 and 1991. The 1994-95 team was the only team ever to lead the nation in all six relays. In 2007 both the girls' and boys' teams claimed first place at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships held at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the 2007 championships, Peddie broke three national independent-school records in the girls' relay events. In 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 the Peddie's boys swim team won the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships, continuing their success.
Basketball
In 2010, the Girls' Basketball team won the ESPN National High School Invitational, defeating Oak Hill Academy by a score of 60-44 in the tournament final and finishing the season with a 25-2 record. From 2000-2010 the girls' basketball program has been ranked one of the top 25 teams in the country seven times. During this same time period, three McDonald's All-Americans played for the Falcons including: Crystal Goring '05 (Richmond), Bridgette Mitchell '06 (Duke) and Haley Peters '10 (Duke).
Facilities
Annenberg Hall, formerly Memorial Hall, houses the English, mathematics, and foreign language departments.
In fall 2015, the Digital Fabrication Laboratory opened. The renovated boiler plant, a 4300-square-foot building, houses an engineering lab with advanced fabrication capabilities including a CNC mill, CNC laser, 3D printer and a robotics studio.
In 2005, The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Science Center opened. The 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m2), US$19-million facility features 11 laboratory classrooms, a fully equipped DNA and Special Projects laboratory, a dedicated advanced experimental physics facility, a psychology seminar room, and 10 "genius" Smart Boards. The "genius" SMART boards are normal whiteboard surface boards, unlike normal SMART Boards, though capable of capturing any drawing on the board using special barcoded markers. Ceiling-mounted mobile fume-hoods are located above each table in the Biology and Chemistry department laboratories.
The Annenberg Science Center replaced science classrooms at the previously modern Caspersen Science Building, originally built in the late 1960s. It was subsequently remodeled and renamed Caspersen History House in 2006; it houses the history and some English department facilities.
The Swig Arts Center facilitates the school's visual art, music and theater programs.
The William Mount-Burke Theatre in Geiger-Reeves Hall hosts both student performances and outside ones as well.
The Ayer Memorial Chapel has been host to a variety of speakers, including Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. President Gerald Ford, Colin Powell and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
The Peddie Golf Club is an 18-hole, par 72 golf course located on the Peddie School campus.
Student life is centered around the Caspersen Campus Center which houses the dining hall, the bookstore, and the student grill.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni of the Peddie School include:
- Walter Annenberg (1908-2002; class of 1927), former Ambassador to the United Kingdom and founder of TV Guide and Seventeen magazines.
- Mike Maccagnan (class of 1985), General Manager of the New York Jets.
- B. J. Bedford (born 1972), Olympic gold-medalist swimmer (women's 4x100 metre medley relay team) in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
- Paul Benacerraf (born 1931), philosopher working in the field of the philosophy of mathematics.
- Chingo Bling (born 1979), Mexican-American rapper and record executive.
- Matt Brown (born 1989), professional football player.
- George Case (1915-1989), 11-year Major League Baseball outfielder.
- Finn M. W. Caspersen (1941-2009, class of 1959), financier, philanthropist, CEO of Beneficial Corporation and Knickerbocker Management.
- Duane 'Dewey' Clarridge (born 1932), former CIA operative and author of A Spy for All Seasons, his memoirs.
- Pia Clemente (class of 1989), received Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film for her film, Our Time is Up.
- Nelson Diebel (born 1970), double Olympic gold-medalist swimmer at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
- Phil Evans (1933-2011), journalist, editor of The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Times.
- Colin Ferrell (born 1984), defensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts, who played collegiate football at Kent State University.
- Elmer H. Geran (1875-1964; class of 1895), United States Representative from New Jersey's 3rd congressional district from 1925-1927.
- Erik Hanson (born 1965; class of 1983), pitcher who played for 11 years in Major League Baseball.
- Richard Hooker (1924-1997), author of M*A*S*H, which spawned the film of the same name and the subsequent M*A*S*H television series.
- Tim Hurson (born 1946; class of 1963), speaker, writer, creativity theorist, author of Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking.
- Larry Kelley (1915-2000), winner of the 1936 Heisman Trophy.
- Howard W. Koch (1916-2001), film producer and director whose movies include Airplane! and The Odd Couple.
- Reid Lamberty (born 1973; class of 1992), former television anchor for Fox 5 New York, now anchor at NBC affiliate WHDH, Channel 7, Boston.
- John J. McCloy (1895-1989), Assistant Secretary of War during World War II, president of the World Bank, and U.S. High Commissioner for Germany.
- George Murphy (1902-1992), Academy Award-winning actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild and U.S. Senator for California from 1964-71.
- Hossein Nasr (born 1933; class of 1950), Iranian philosopher.
- David Paddock, (1892-1962), All-American college football player for the Georgia Bulldogs.
- Fernando Perez (born 1983), Major League Baseball player for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago Cubs, and published poet in Poetry magazine.
- Myron Rolle (born 1986), Rhodes Scholar who played safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Richard Sachs (born 1953; class of 1971), custom bicycle frame maker.
- Nat Sakdatorn (born 1983), winner of Thailand's reality-television singing contest Academy Fantasia (Season 4) and now a singer-songwriter in the Thai music industry under the label "True Fantasia".
- Gerald Schnitzer (class of 1936), screenwriter, author, producer and TV director for Lassie and National Velvet.
- Billy Schuler (born 1990), soccer player for the Carolina RailHawks in the North American Soccer League.
- Alan Shapley (1903-1973), Lieutenant General in the United States Marine Corps and a recipient of the Navy Cross.
- Stanley Steingut (1920-1989), New York Assemblyman (1953-1978), Minority Leader of the Assembly (1969-1974), Speaker of the New York Assembly (1975-1978), and Chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Committee (1962-1969).
- Chris Tomson (born 1984), drummer of indie rock band, Vampire Weekend.
- Richard Tregaskis (1916-1973), war correspondent and author of Guadalcanal Diary, the source for the 1943 film of the same name starring William Bendix, Richard Conte, and Anthony Quinn.
- Hakeem Valles (born 1992; class of 2011), American football player
- Albert L. Vreeland (1901-1975; class of 1922), U.S. Representative from New Jersey.
References
External links
- Data for the Peddie School, National Center for Education Statistics
- youtube.com/user/peddieschool, Peddie's module (channel) on YouTube
- The Association of Boarding Schools profile
Source of article : Wikipedia
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