Cascadilla School is a preparatory school

University-preparatory school

A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...

 in Ithaca

Ithaca, New York

The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. It was founded in 1876 as a boys' preparatory school for Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

. At this time Universities typically required students to be proficient in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

. However, students from rural areas often did not have access to instruction in these subjects. Some early members of the Cornell faculty became concerned about the quality of education available to such students and founded Cascadilla School to address this inequity. However, students also pursued athletic activities such as football and crew and created yearbooks to record their activities.

Shortly after the First World War, the school fell on hard financial times. They were forced to sell several buildings and parcels of land including the Cascadilla School Boathouse

Cascadilla School Boathouse

Cascadilla School Boathouse is a historic boathouse located on Cayuga Lake at Ithaca in Tompkins County, New York. It was built in 1894-1896 in the Shingle style. It was built by the Cascadilla School as a structure to store rowboats....

 which still stands and is the center piece of Stewart Park

Stewart Park

Stewart Park is in Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is located on the southern tip of Cayuga Lake, the largest Finger Lake, and Stewart sits directly on that tip. The park is a popular place for barbecues, frisbee, tennis, baseball, and softball, as well as fishing and swimming on the lake. The park has a...

. The building immediately south of the main classroom building once housed the dormitory, a dining hall, and a gymnasium, but now has been remodeled to serve as an apartment building and is privately owned and operated.
In the later part of the 20th century, Headmaster Maxwell Kendall began to accept female students, created a board of trustees for the school, made Cascadilla independent of (although still affiliated with) Cornell University, obtained accreditation from the New York State Board of Regents, obtained not-for-profit status, and marketed the school to international students with great success.
His son, John Kendall, former History and Math teacher at the school later took over as Headmaster and successfully opened the school up to students who were looking for an accelerated approach to their education. The accelerated program allows students to earn one unit of credit in one semester. In 1999 John Kendall's wife, Patricia Kendall, officially became the Dean of Students and in 2001 she took over as Headmistress, a position in which she serves to this day.

Between 40 and 60 students from ten different countries are guided by a faculty of twelve teachers, many of whom hold advanced degrees. Typically, Cascadilla School students go on to four year colleges such as Binghamton University

Binghamton University

Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...

, Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, and New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

.

Notable alumni

• Harry Rogers Gilson (b.1903-d.1995) - During World War II, Mr. Gilson helped organize and volunteered in the Civil Air Patrol in northeast Philadelphia.
• Lazaro Penagos
• Charles King, first person in Detroit to design, build and drive a self-propelled automobile, 3 months before Henry Ford built his automobile. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Brady_King

External links

• Cascadilla School