Durham Academy is an independent

Independent school

An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...

, coeducational, day school

Day school

A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...

 in Durham

Durham, North Carolina

Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. Character education is emphasized school-wide, and community service opportunities abound from preschool through upper school. An experiential education program begins in fifth grade and includes a trip to Washington, D.C. for seventh graders, a Civil Rights trip for eleventh graders and a wilderness adventure for twelfth graders. The school has an extensive financial aid program, providing over $1.5 million annually to promote socioeconomic diversity

Socioeconomics

Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...

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History

Durham Academy was founded in 1933 as Calvert Method School. In 1959, the school changed its name to Durham Academy and began an expansion which led to the first high school graduating class in 1975. Today, it offers classes from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade and serves over 1,100 students. A new preschool and lower school building opened in 2002 and has been recognized by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design for its unique style.

Organizational structure

Durham Academy is organized into four divisions, each with its own director. The Preschool includes Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

, the Lower School grades one through four, the Middle School grades five through eight and the Upper School grades nine through twelve. Tuition for 2011-12 ranges from $12,440 for Preschool to $19,980 for Upper School.

Academics

Durham Academy's academic standards are highly-regarded. The school offers a rigorous and challenging college preparatory curriculum, including 25 AP courses. The Class of 2009 matriculated to 54 different colleges and universities in 19 states and the District of Columbia, and had average best SAT scores of 659 on critical reading, 662 on math and 656 on writing, for a combined best of 1977 on a 2400 scale. Recent graduates have been awarded Morehead Scholarships to UNC-Chapel Hill, Angier B. Duke and B.N. Duke Scholarships to Duke University and Park Scholarships to N.C. State University, as well as merit scholarships to Brown, Princeton, Santa Clara, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Davidson, Dickinson, Mount Holyoke, Furman, Elon, Guilford and Harvard. Students at Durham Academy have won national titles in chess and debate, and a member of the Class of 2007 was awarded second place in the Intel Science Talent Search. Over the last five years, Durham Academy has had 37 National Merit finalists.

Athletics

Durham Academy's athletic offerings include field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, cross-country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, soccer, swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

, softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, track and field, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 and golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

. Eighty-two percent of the students in grades seven through twelve participate in athletics. The school has won 14 varsity state championships since 2000 and several teams have won multiple state championships. In addition, several Durham Academy athletes have gone on to Division I programs, including Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

, University of Vermont

University of Vermont

The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...

, U.S. Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

, Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...

, and the University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

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