Emerson Preparatory School
Encyclopedia
Emerson Preparatory School (also known as Emerson) is a small private
high school
in Northwest Washington, D.C.
, founded in 1852 as the Emerson Institute. It is Washington's oldest co-ed college
preparatory school
. A student can typically complete an entire four-year high school education within three school years at Emerson.
Following World War II, in 1946, Emerson adopted its current academic program providing classes on a term system in which classes are completed in full during each four and one half month term, allowing students to complete the required number of credits for graduation within three school years. Following graduation, 95% of graduates attend a four year college and 5% attend a two year college or take a gap year before attending college. Emerson offers an intellectually stimulating array of courses in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. The school serves high school students from Maryland
, DC, and Virginia
.
The school is located at 1324 18th Street NW, near Dupont Circle
and Embassy Row
. Most students ride the Metro to and from school. Emerson has occupied its present location since 1937.
, a noted New England
educator, author, and Harvard graduate (1817). After the Civil War
the school's graduates began to attend other colleges and universities, and, in 1920, became Washington's first coeducational preparatory school.
It is thought by some who know the school that John Wilkes Booth
may have attended Emerson.
Notable Emerson graduates include Kate Grinold (2003), who was crowned Miss District of Columbia in June 2008 and who represented the District in 2009's Miss America Pageant, movie actor, and vocalist of the alternative rock band 30 Seconds To Mars Jared Leto
(class of 1989), science fiction author William F. Gibson (1970), and musician Brian Baker
(1983). Judge John "Maximum John" Sirica
of Watergate fame attended Emerson circa 1920. Buck and Jesse Root Grant
, the sons of President Ulysses S. Grant
, attended Emerson Institute during his White House years, 1869-1877. James Madison Cutts, Jr., the sole recipient of the Triple Medal of Honor, graduated from Emerson Institute around 1854. He went on to graduate from Brown University and Harvard Law School.
Emerson's school seal features an image of the U.S. Capitol dome and the date 1852. The school mascot is the owl, symbolizing wisdom.
The school's academic year is modeled after the British System and has two terms per year rather than two semesters. Courses are completed in full during each four-and-a-half month term. An optional summer session is offered from late June through early August (six weeks). Each term's schedule of classes includes four ninety-minute class periods per day, five days per week. There is a one hour lunch period, from 11:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Emerson students have the privilege of off campus lunch. The students are allowed to leave the school grounds in order to purchase their lunch from the many restaurants and carry outs located in the Dupont Circle area.
Emerson has approximately ten to fifteen teachers. A typical classload for an instructor is two to three 90-minute classes per day. Apart from the traditional curriculum, private tutorials can be arranged for advanced level courses.
These administrative policies contribute to the excellent character and quality of the teachers, who form the backbone of the faculty. Any given school year has a core group of teachers who have been with the school for at least five years.
Emerson draws many of its teachers from among the disciplines in which they actually work: it is not unusual for scientists, writers, economists, language scholars, lawyers, and historians to work as teachers. Some Emerson teachers are mid-career in their fields, others are retired, while others are early-career, or in the final stages of their masters' or doctorate degree programs.
Teachers are drawn to Emerson because it gives them the freedom to structure creative curricula, design unique and advanced level courses, and set their own classroom rules. Some Emerson classes are run strictly while others are more relaxed. One instructor currently incorporates periods of relaxation and meditation techniques into ongoing lessons, while another has been known to assign as many as sixteen books in a single term, teaching at a level of rigor comparable to advanced undergraduate work. The students can select many of their classes and can request certain teachers.
Emerson course offerings have included:
Many of these classes were requested by students, or designed by teachers on the basis of discussions and interests revealed by faculty and students in a previous term. Students often participate in the planning of a class, although final course selections are determined by the school director in accordance with the overall needs of the student body during a given term.
Classes for the spring term of 2008 included one on military history entitled War and Peace-20th Century Foreign Policy, Economics, and Japanese Language. The core academic courses such as Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, English Composition, Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, U.S. History, American Government, and Foreign Languages are offered each term.
Emerson's daily ninety-minute class periods provide teachers with time to structure their classes to include more discussion, in-depth individual or team work, and extended lessons in a single day. Many teachers use the extra time for multimedia presentations like movies or music relevant to the course.
Field trips are an integral part of the Emerson program. Classes take numerous field trips throughout the city each term.
A student must earn a minimum of 22 units of credit to graduate from Emerson Preparatory School. Emerson is a tuition based school. The current tuition is $20,000 per school year. Students graduate within three years and over 95% of them go straight on to college. Other graduates take a gap year following graduation in order to pursue other interests before enrolling in college. Emerson has a limited number of formal scholarships available each year. Emerson admits students from a wide variety of racial, ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds.
During its early history, Emerson had sports and drama, teams when it was first founded and later under the direction of Dean John J. Humphrey, the school's headmaster from 1939–1999, but since 1946 Emerson's main focus and strength has been on academics and preparing students for college level work. Emerson encourages its students to form clubs. At the moment there is an Ultimate Frisbee Club which meets a few times per week.
Emerson occupies an historic building in the Dupont Circle area of downtown DC. The building has 9 classrooms, a science laboratory, a reading room, a conference room, and a library/computer room where students can study or use the computers to do research on the internet. The school also has wireless internet, which is great for students who prefer to bring their own laptops to school. There is an attractive and private courtyard behind the school building. During the Spring, Summer and early Fall, some teachers will hold an occasional class in the courtyard. During the Spring of 2008, the courtyard underwent a major renovation. The new courtyard was re-opened to students and teachers on June 24, 2008.
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...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in Northwest Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, founded in 1852 as the Emerson Institute. It is Washington's oldest co-ed college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
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...
. A student can typically complete an entire four-year high school education within three school years at Emerson.
Following World War II, in 1946, Emerson adopted its current academic program providing classes on a term system in which classes are completed in full during each four and one half month term, allowing students to complete the required number of credits for graduation within three school years. Following graduation, 95% of graduates attend a four year college and 5% attend a two year college or take a gap year before attending college. Emerson offers an intellectually stimulating array of courses in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. The school serves high school students from Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, DC, and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
The school is located at 1324 18th Street NW, near Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW...
and Embassy Row
Embassy Row
Embassy Row is the informal name for a street or area of a city in which embassies or other diplomatic installations are concentrated. Washington, D.C.'s Embassy Row lies along Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., and its cross streets between Thomas Circle and Ward Circle, although the vast majority of...
. Most students ride the Metro to and from school. Emerson has occupied its present location since 1937.
History
Emerson was founded in the District of Columbia in 1852 by Charles Bedford Young, Ph.D., as a school to prepare Washington area boys for entrance to Harvard. It was named for George Barrell EmersonGeorge Barrell Emerson
George Barrell Emerson was an American educator and pioneer of women's education.-Biography:He was born in Kennebunk, Maine. He graduated from Harvard College in 1817, and soon after took charge of an academy in Lancaster, Massachusetts...
, a noted New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
educator, author, and Harvard graduate (1817). After the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
the school's graduates began to attend other colleges and universities, and, in 1920, became Washington's first coeducational preparatory school.
It is thought by some who know the school that John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
may have attended Emerson.
Notable Emerson graduates include Kate Grinold (2003), who was crowned Miss District of Columbia in June 2008 and who represented the District in 2009's Miss America Pageant, movie actor, and vocalist of the alternative rock band 30 Seconds To Mars Jared Leto
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto is an American actor, director, producer, occasional model and musician. Leto has appeared in both big budget Hollywood films and smaller projects from independent producers and art houses. He rose to prominence for playing Jordan Catalano in the teenage drama My So-Called Life...
(class of 1989), science fiction author William F. Gibson (1970), and musician Brian Baker
Brian Baker (musician)
Brian Baker is an American punk rock musician. He is best known as one of the founding members of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat, and as a guitarist in Bad Religion since 1994 alongside Greg Hetson...
(1983). Judge John "Maximum John" Sirica
John Sirica
John Joseph Sirica was the Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he became famous for his role in the Watergate scandal...
of Watergate fame attended Emerson circa 1920. Buck and Jesse Root Grant
Jesse Root Grant
Jesse Root Grant was the youngest son of President Ulysses S. Grant. He joined the Democratic Party and sought the party nomination for president, running against William Jennings Bryan in 1908.In 1925, he wrote a biography of his father.-Biography:Jesse Root Grant was born near St. Louis,...
, the sons of President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, attended Emerson Institute during his White House years, 1869-1877. James Madison Cutts, Jr., the sole recipient of the Triple Medal of Honor, graduated from Emerson Institute around 1854. He went on to graduate from Brown University and Harvard Law School.
Emerson's school seal features an image of the U.S. Capitol dome and the date 1852. The school mascot is the owl, symbolizing wisdom.
Academics and faculty
Students can complete their entire high school education at Emerson within three school years. Emerson achieves its accelerated graduation through very small class sizes, typically never larger than ten students, and the use of the term system. The school requires student applicants to submit three letters of recommendation, participate in a personal interview, and take two placement exams, one in English and one in mathematics.The school's academic year is modeled after the British System and has two terms per year rather than two semesters. Courses are completed in full during each four-and-a-half month term. An optional summer session is offered from late June through early August (six weeks). Each term's schedule of classes includes four ninety-minute class periods per day, five days per week. There is a one hour lunch period, from 11:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Emerson students have the privilege of off campus lunch. The students are allowed to leave the school grounds in order to purchase their lunch from the many restaurants and carry outs located in the Dupont Circle area.
Emerson has approximately ten to fifteen teachers. A typical classload for an instructor is two to three 90-minute classes per day. Apart from the traditional curriculum, private tutorials can be arranged for advanced level courses.
These administrative policies contribute to the excellent character and quality of the teachers, who form the backbone of the faculty. Any given school year has a core group of teachers who have been with the school for at least five years.
Emerson draws many of its teachers from among the disciplines in which they actually work: it is not unusual for scientists, writers, economists, language scholars, lawyers, and historians to work as teachers. Some Emerson teachers are mid-career in their fields, others are retired, while others are early-career, or in the final stages of their masters' or doctorate degree programs.
Teachers are drawn to Emerson because it gives them the freedom to structure creative curricula, design unique and advanced level courses, and set their own classroom rules. Some Emerson classes are run strictly while others are more relaxed. One instructor currently incorporates periods of relaxation and meditation techniques into ongoing lessons, while another has been known to assign as many as sixteen books in a single term, teaching at a level of rigor comparable to advanced undergraduate work. The students can select many of their classes and can request certain teachers.
Emerson course offerings have included:
- Post World War II American Novel
- East Asian Studies
- Japanese Language
- Advanced Topics in Science (or as it came to be known, "Advanced Spaceships")
- Biography: Sigmund FreudSigmund FreudSigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and Karl MarxKarl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement... - Primate Conservation
- Cultural Anthropology
- Twentieth Century American Cultural History (nicknamed "That Seventies Class" by students)
- Issues in Science II: ZoologyZoologyZoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
and OceanographyOceanographyOceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean... - Art History
- Vocabulary Skills: The Story of English
- Irish LiteratureIrish literatureFor a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...
- Theory of Knowledge/Intro to Philosophy
- Astronomy
- International Relations;
- Introduction to Law.
Many of these classes were requested by students, or designed by teachers on the basis of discussions and interests revealed by faculty and students in a previous term. Students often participate in the planning of a class, although final course selections are determined by the school director in accordance with the overall needs of the student body during a given term.
Classes for the spring term of 2008 included one on military history entitled War and Peace-20th Century Foreign Policy, Economics, and Japanese Language. The core academic courses such as Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, English Composition, Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, U.S. History, American Government, and Foreign Languages are offered each term.
Emerson's daily ninety-minute class periods provide teachers with time to structure their classes to include more discussion, in-depth individual or team work, and extended lessons in a single day. Many teachers use the extra time for multimedia presentations like movies or music relevant to the course.
Field trips are an integral part of the Emerson program. Classes take numerous field trips throughout the city each term.
Student body
Emerson has a diverse student population, with students as young as 10 and as old as 20 years old, as well as students from all parts of the world. The Emerson environment is casual and friendly. It is not uncommon for students to leave larger schools because of social or academic issues, come to Emerson, feel comfortable, and quickly find themselves able to manage what was too hard or overwhelming before. Emerson is welcoming and flexible. Each new student is hand-selected, so Emerson is able to select students based on more than just transcripts and reports. Emerson admits many teenagers who have struggled in other school settings, when the admissions team is confident that the student will be able to succeed in the very nurturing and manageable Emerson environment.A student must earn a minimum of 22 units of credit to graduate from Emerson Preparatory School. Emerson is a tuition based school. The current tuition is $20,000 per school year. Students graduate within three years and over 95% of them go straight on to college. Other graduates take a gap year following graduation in order to pursue other interests before enrolling in college. Emerson has a limited number of formal scholarships available each year. Emerson admits students from a wide variety of racial, ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds.
During its early history, Emerson had sports and drama, teams when it was first founded and later under the direction of Dean John J. Humphrey, the school's headmaster from 1939–1999, but since 1946 Emerson's main focus and strength has been on academics and preparing students for college level work. Emerson encourages its students to form clubs. At the moment there is an Ultimate Frisbee Club which meets a few times per week.
Facilities
External links
- Emerson Preparatory School official website