The Field School
Encyclopedia
The Field School is an elite and selective preparatory school
in Washington, D.C.
, located in the old Cafritz mansion on Foxhall Rd. The school teaches 7th-12th grade, with about 310 students attending.
's Dupont Circle
neighborhood, the school had 44 students. Two years later, in 1974, the school's student population had more than doubled to 97, which the school's small location could not accommodate. Field found a new home, an old house nearby, but movers were not in the budget. That spring, students, faculty, and parents carried the school's belongings, including the furniture, up the street to the new location.
Field continued to grow at its new location. Field bought another house across the street, and the two houses were used for the now 220 of Field's students. In 1993, Field was accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
. This accreditation came with publicity and credibility for the school, but also the requirement of a new campus, according to the Association. The school began frantically raising money, and in 1998, discovered the Cafritz mansion and the 10.5 acres (42,492 m²) of land that accompanied it.
Field began construction on the new campus and began using it in 2002. The new campus included a gymnasium and playing field, firsts for Field, as well as new science labs and dedicated studio spaces for art, photography, ceramics, and, later, music. In 2004, Dale Johnson was appointed to the position of Head of School, and in 2006 Elizabeth Ely retired. In 2007, a three-year strategic plan was created by school leadership with assistance from the community as a whole.
In late 2007, the school's new logo was released. The logo depicts the facade of a part of the original Cafritz mansion.
At the end of the 2009-2010 school year, the Field School renovated large portions of the Cafritz mansion.
In 2011, it was announced that the Field School will be adding a sixth grade to its middle school in 2012.
, Bard College
, Barnard College
, Boston College
, Boston University
, Brandeis University
, Bryn Mawr College
, Carnegie Mellon University
, Case Western Reserve University
, The University of Chicago, Colby College
, College of William and Mary
, Columbia University
, Cornell University
, Dartmouth College
, Emory University
, Georgetown University
, George Washington University
, Hamilton College, Harvey Mudd College
, Johns Hopkins University
, Kenyon College
, New York University
, Oberlin College
, Occidental College
, University of Pennsylvania
, Pitzer College
, Reed College
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
, St. Johns College, Swarthmore College
, University of Texas at Austin
, Trinity College, Tufts University
, University of Michigan
, Vassar College
, Washington University in St. Louis
, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University
, and Yale University
.
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 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....
, located in the old Cafritz mansion on Foxhall Rd. The school teaches 7th-12th grade, with about 310 students attending.
History
The Field School was founded in 1972 by Elizabeth Ely (1924–2009). Originally housed above Regina Cleaners in the 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....
's 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...
neighborhood, the school had 44 students. Two years later, in 1974, the school's student population had more than doubled to 97, which the school's small location could not accommodate. Field found a new home, an old house nearby, but movers were not in the budget. That spring, students, faculty, and parents carried the school's belongings, including the furniture, up the street to the new location.
Field continued to grow at its new location. Field bought another house across the street, and the two houses were used for the now 220 of Field's students. In 1993, Field was accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation...
. This accreditation came with publicity and credibility for the school, but also the requirement of a new campus, according to the Association. The school began frantically raising money, and in 1998, discovered the Cafritz mansion and the 10.5 acres (42,492 m²) of land that accompanied it.
Field began construction on the new campus and began using it in 2002. The new campus included a gymnasium and playing field, firsts for Field, as well as new science labs and dedicated studio spaces for art, photography, ceramics, and, later, music. In 2004, Dale Johnson was appointed to the position of Head of School, and in 2006 Elizabeth Ely retired. In 2007, a three-year strategic plan was created by school leadership with assistance from the community as a whole.
In late 2007, the school's new logo was released. The logo depicts the facade of a part of the original Cafritz mansion.
At the end of the 2009-2010 school year, the Field School renovated large portions of the Cafritz mansion.
In 2011, it was announced that the Field School will be adding a sixth grade to its middle school in 2012.
Campus
The Field School is located on the grounds of the Cafritz mansion. The campus has four buildings:- The Aude building, named for the first word of the school's motto, which contains the main office and other administrative offices as well as faculty offices, classrooms, an art room, and a publications lab.
- The Cafritz building, the original mansion of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz. This building contains administrative and faculty offices, classrooms, the school's library and media center, and gathering spaces, including the original Cafritz living room and the middle school lounge. The signed Steinway piano is kept tuned in the living room.
- The Sapere building, named for the second word of the school's motto. This building contains faculty offices, classrooms, and science labs, as well as a 400-seat blackbox theater, gym, and batting cage.
- The Wonder building, named after the school's original campus. It is home to science labs, locker rooms, a photography lab and darkroom, a music room and recording studio, a ceramics studio, and the school psychologist's office.
Winter Internship
Every February all students at field take two weeks off to pursue an internship in any field they so choose. Some Field students take trips to Peru, Spain, London and other countries sponsored by the school. Some of the organizations Field students have worked for include: Bethesda Cares, D.C. Superior Court, Embassy of Sweden, Fleet Feet, Food and Friends, National Geographic, National Museum of Natural History, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sibley Memorial Hospital, The Washington Post, WAMU Radio, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S Senate.Honors Seminar
Offered during the after-lunch activity period, these extra-small seminar classes meet once each week. They provide students (either those with a B+ GPA or higher or those who petition into the program) with the chance to study a subject beyond the traditional Field curriculum. Teachers (and sometimes teachers with students) choose a subject of particular interest to them or a subject with which they have particular expertise, then design a class for particular grade levels that emphasizes discussion. Previous Honors courses include: The History of Hip-Hop, LOST & Philosophy, Urban Planning, A Study Of The Kennedy Assassination, and The History of Pirates.Honor Board
The Field School employs a unique system for handling matters of academic dishonesty that differ from other area private schools. When a student plagiarizes, cheats, or in any ways infringes on the honor code, an Honor Council is held. There are eight student members of the Honor Council, each applicant to the Council must be approved by their class dean and the Dean of Students. The school president is automatically given a seat. Each students takes a strict oath of confidentiality concerning any information they might learn while sitting on an Honor Council. These selected students, along with the Dean of Students and the accused's class dean, comprise the Honor Council. These members of the Honor Council help determine the actions that need to be taken in each case of academic dishonesty.College Acceptance
Nearly every Field student is accepted to and attends a college or university after graduating. 80% of the Class of 2007 was accepted into colleges of their first choice. Field alumni attend a wide variety of colleges, from Ivy League schools to small liberal arts colleges. Recent matriculations include: Bates CollegeBates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
, Bard College
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
, Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
, Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
, Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
, The University of Chicago, Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
, College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, 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...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, 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...
, George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, Hamilton College, Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds....
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Kenyon College
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
, 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...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
, University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Pitzer College
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private residential liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, a college town approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. Pitzer College is one of the Claremont Colleges....
, Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
, St. Johns College, Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, Trinity College, Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Notable alumni
- Craig WedrenCraig WedrenCraig Wedren is the former lead singer of Shudder to Think and now the lead for the newer pop-mash project, "BABY".Wedren has also contributed vocals to the musical act Tweaker with Chris Vrenna, formerly of Nine Inch Nails, The Verve Pipe's self-titled album, the musical act Cex, The Dead...
- Nathan LarsonNathan LarsonNathan Larson is an American film composer, musician, and author. Larson's debut novel The Dewey Decimal System was released by Akashic Books in April 2011....
- Justin Theroux
- Jennifer HerremaJennifer HerremaJennifer Herrema is an American rock music singer, song writer, record producer, artist, and model best known for her work as one half of the influential rock band Royal Trux.-Biography:...
- Jace AlexanderJace AlexanderJace Alexander is an American television director and former actor.-Biography:Alexander was born Jason Alexander in New York City, the only son of actress Jane Alexander and her first husband Robert, founder and former director of The Living Stage...
1981 - Courtney HuntCourtney HuntCourtney Hunt is an American screenwriter and film director. She has received much critical acclaim for her debut film, Frozen River, for which she has gained an Oscar nomination, two Independent Spirit nominations, and a Satellite Award nod for the film...
1982 - Spike JonzeSpike JonzeSpike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
- Rachel GradyRachel GradyRachel Grady is a film director involved in producing the documentary films Jesus Camp, The Boys of Baraka, and 12th and Delaware. She is the daughter of James Grady.- Jesus Camp :...
1990 - Zach CreggerZach CreggerZachary Michael "Zach" Cregger is an American comedian, actor, satirist, writer, and director. He is known mostly for his current project, the New York City-based comedy troupe Whitest Kids U' Know, and also starred in the film Miss March, which he directed and wrote with Trevor Moore.Cregger...
1998