Taft School

Infobox Private School
name = Taft School


motto = "Non ut sibi ministretur sed ut ministret"

Not to be served but to serve
established = 1890
type = Co-ed, Private, Boarding
religion = None
head_name = Headmaster
head = William R. MacMullen '78
city = Watertown
state = Connecticut
country = USA
campus = 220 acres (.89 km²)
enrollment = 570

Boarding: 464

Day: 106
faculty = 117
class = 11
ratio = 5:1
year = 2007
SAT = Verbal: 634
Math: 655

athletics = 27 Interscholastic
[http://www.taftsports.com taftsports.com]
colors = Maroon, Navy Blue
mascot = Rhino
homepage = [http://www.taftschool.org taftschool.org] The Taft School is a private, coeducational prep school located in Watertown, Connecticut, USA. The school was founded by Horace Dutton Taft in 1890. It has 570 students, about 470 of whom live on the convert|220|acre|km2|sing=on campus. Taft is a member of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.

History

The Taft Family

William Howard Taft, was elected President of the United States in 1908 and later appointed as the Tenth Chief Justice of the United States in 1921; Horace Taft was his brother.

Campus and facilities

The campus is located in Watertown, Connecticut, and is approximately convert|220|acre|km2 in size. It includes an 18-hole golf course, 12 tennis courts, 8 squash courts, 2 fieldhouses, 2 ice hockey rinks, (1 Olympic sized and 1 NHL sized), and more than 10 fields all situated around Potters Pond. [ [http://www.taftschool.org/about/ About The Taft School ] ]

Dorms

There are eight dorms on the Taft Campus. There are 3 boys' dorms including Charles Phelps Taft (CPT), Horace Dutton Taft (HDT), and ISP. There are 5 girls' dorms including Mac, Centennial, Congdon, Vogelstein (Vogue), and Upper School Girls' Dormitory (USGD/The Rock).

Students

In 2008, Taft has 577 students from 33 states and 21 foreign countries. [http://www.taftschool.org/about/taftfacts/ Taft Facts ] ] The school hosts students in 9th through 12th grades as well as post-graduate (PG) students. Students are referred to by their grade's common name such as Lower Mids, Mids, Upper Mids, and Seniors. A dress code (pithily summarized by the "collared shirt, no denim" dictum) is required for all students. Semi-formal attire is required for sit down dinners. There are currently 470 boarders and 100 day students. .

Faculty

The faculty at the Taft School includes 69 men and 48 women, a total of 117 teachers. Consequently, there is a 5:1 student to teacher ratio. The majority of the Taft faculty live on campus, in both private houses scattered across the grounds, or in apartments in the dorms. Each floor of each dorm has at least one faculty apartment.

Academics

There are more than 207 academic courses offered at the Taft School. The average class consists of 11 students. Advanced Placement Program courses are offered in 27 disciplines, including Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Spanish Literature, Spanish Language, French Literature, French Language, Latin, European History, American History, American Government, AB and BC Calculus, Statistics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics B and C, and Environmental Science, Studio Art, Music Theory, Music History, English Literature, Economics, and Computer Science AB.

Class of 2007

* Average SAT Reasoning Test CR: 690
* Average SAT Reasoning Test Math: 670
* From the middle 50% of the class, combined SAT scores ranged from 1200–1450

College acceptance

From 1997 to 2007, Taft Seniors (165 per year on average) have matriculated in greatest numbers at the following colleges and universities: Georgetown (65); Boston College (55); Middlebury (56); Cornell (49); Brown (47); Harvard (40); Trinity College (39); Colgate (38); Hamilton (36); Colby (34); NYU (34);Yale (32); Columbia (31); Boston University (29); UVM (28); Vanderbilt (28); University of Pennsylvania (27); Bates (26); Princeton (26); University of Virginia (25); Bowdoin (23); Bucknell (23); Colorado College (22); Davidson (22); Williams (21); Tulane (21); Dartmouth (19);Carnegie-Mellon (18); Wesleyan (18); St. Lawrence (17); Tufts (17); University of Colorado (16); University of Richmond (16); Skidmore (15); Johns Hopkins (14); Amherst (14); Syracuse (14); Babson (14); Connecticut College (14); University of Chicago (14); Hobart and William Smith (13); Duke University (12); University of Michigan (12); University of North Carolina (12); George Washington University (12).

Notable alumni

Academics

*Stevan Dedijer '30, Founder of the Research Policy Institute, Croatian Intelligence
*Alfred G. Gilman '58, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine
*Mason Gross '29, President of Rutgers University
*Maynard Mack '27, Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University and expert on Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E4DB1E3DF932A15750C0A9679C8B63 Maynard Mack; English Professor, 90 - New York Times ] ] [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/sum06/sum06.pdf]
*Rollin Osterweis '25, Yale Professor, debate society (taught George W. Bush and John Kerry) Fact|date=November 2007

Arts & Entertainment

*Trey Anastasio '83, Phish Lead guitarist
*Jeff "Skunk" Baxter '67, Musician (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers)
*Henry Beard '63, cofounder, National Lampoon, co-author, "Bored of the Rings"
*Peter Berg '80, Actor/Director
*Tim Breen '60, Guggenheim fellow, author, professor
*Mary Chapin Carpenter '76, Five-time Grammy-award winner. [Schoemer, Karen. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE1D71238F932A3575BC0A965958260 "No Hair Spray, No Spangles"] , "The New York Times", August 1, 1993. Accessed December 3, 2007. "Born and reared in Princeton, N.J., one of four sisters whose father, Chapin Carpenter, worked for Life magazine, Carpenter is suburban to the core. What's more, she attended private schools, including the Taft School in Connecticut, and graduated from Brown University."]
*Spencer Treat Clark '05, Actor "Gladiator", "Mystic River", and "Unbreakable"
*Adam Duritz '82, lead singer Counting Crows
*Grant Goodeve actor, "Eight is Enough"
*Deane G. Keller '17, Painter and educator [ [http://mssa.library.yale.edu/findaids/stream.php?xmlfile=mssa.ms.1685.xml Guide to the Deane Keller Papers : Finding Aid ] ]
*Ralph Lee '53, Guggenheim fellow and Obie Award winner
*Steve Sandvoss '98, Actor
*Fred Small '70, Singer-songwriter
*Palmer West '92, [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0922279/ film producer] "Waking Life", "Requiem for a Dream" [http://www.benchmarkschool.org/PDF/BnchmrkNewsSummer2001.pdf]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002999/ Richard Wright] '78, film producer.

Business

*Henry P. Becton '33, Chaiman of the Board of Directors of Becton Dickinson [ [http://www.eng.yale.edu/sheff/Becton.html Henry P. Becton ] ] [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/citationmerit/ Citation of Merit ] ]
*Benjamin Moore Belcher '32, Chief executive of the Benjamin Moore Paint Company Fact|date=November 2007
*Bill Crutchfield '61, Founder and CEO, Crutchfield New Media Fact|date=November 2007
*Peter R. Fink '51, Former President and CEO of the [http://www.rpscherer.de/page.php?pageID=85 R. P. Scherer Corporation] . [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE1DD153BF932A25752C1A96E948260 Chief Resigns At Scherer - New York Times ] ]
*Henry Hillman '37, Industrialist, philanthropist [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/spr07/spr07.pdf]
*Donald F. McCullough '42, CEO of Collins & Aikman [ [http://www.obitcentral.com/obitsearch/obits/ma/ma-nantucket2.htm Miscellaneous Nantucket County, Massachusetts Obituaries ] ]
*John M. Schiff '21, Investment banker, philanthropist, honorary chairman of Lehman Brothers. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D8173FF933A25756C0A961948260 John Schiff, A Philanthropist And Investment Banker, Dies - New York Times ] ]
*John Vogelstein '53, Investor, Philanthropist [http://www.prepforprep.org/prepforprep/ Prep for Prep] [ [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/tafttalk/vogelstein/index.htm Vogelstein Dedication ] ]
*George Weyerhaeuser '44, Chairman and CEO, Weyerhaeuser Company [ [http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991128&slug=2997950 Obituaries | Dilettante Oliver Hills Whitney, Dies At 75 | Seattle Times Newspaper ] ]
*Wesley S. Williams, Jr. '59, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and a Director of Bear Stearns. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_June_16/ai_n6071654 Bear Stearns Elects Wesley S. Williams, Jr. to the Board of Directors of the Corporation; Appointment Increases Board Of Directors To 12 Members | Business Wire | Find Article... ] ]

Clergy

*Elmore McKee '14, first Yale University chaplain 1926-30, author The People Act [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/fall98/fall98.pdf]

Government Officials & Political Notables

*Nathaniel Neiman Craley, Jr., U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000866 CRALEY, Nathaniel Neiman, Jr. - Biographical Information ] ]
*Nick Egleson '62, president of Students for a Democratic Society 1966
*Charles C. Finucane '24, Under Secretary of the Army and Assistant Secretary of Defense [http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/listofholdingshtml/listofholdingsF/FINUCANECHARLESCPapers.pdf]
*Robert C. Hill '38, United States Ambassador to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Spain and Argentina
*Harold "Doc" Howe '36, U.S. Commissioner of Education (1965-68) [ [http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kgol0010.htm V.82 No.2 Pages 160-162 and 164/October 2000: Goldberg ] ]
*William S. Mailliard '35, U.S. congressman, California [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000070 MAILLIARD, William Somers - Biographical Information ] ]
*Slade Mead '80, former Arizona State Senator
*Joseph Irwin Miller '27, American industrialist, Cummins Engine Company
*Jacinto Peynado '59, Vice president Dominican Republic Fact|date=November 2007
*Robert Keyes Poole '50, Conservationist Fact|date=November 2007
*Manuel Rocha '69, United States Ambassador to Bolivia 2000-02
*Earl T. Smith '22, United States Ambassador to Cuba (1958-59)
*Michael Patrick William Stone '42, Secretary of the Army (1989-93)
*Robert Taft '06, U.S. Senator from Ohio 1939-53, majority leader
*Robert Taft, Jr. '35, Republican Congressman 1963-65, 1967-71, Senator 1971-76
*Bob Taft '59, Governor of Ohio
*William Howard Taft III '33, United States Ambassador to Ireland
*Robert F. Wagner, Jr. '29, Mayor of New York City
*John S. Wold '34, U.S. Congressman, Wyoming

Legal & Judiciary

*Harold L. Cushenberry, Jr. '68, Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Superior Court (Appointed by Ronald Reagan) [http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/docs/DCSC_Bio_Cushenberry.pdf]
*John A. Logan, Jr. '42, Senior Counsel at Davis Polk, started the firms Paris office. [ [http://www.dpw.com/lawyers/bio/spryor.htm Samuel F. Pryor, III of Davis Polk & Wardwell ] ] [ [http://www.womensenews.org/About_Board.cfm About Women's eNews ] ]
*Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. '61, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court [ [http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/justice4.html Justice Flemming L. Norcott, Jr ] ]
*Robert W. Sweet '40, Federal Judge who heard "New York Times v. Gonzales " concerning the Judith Miller controversy.
*Charles E. Yonkers '58, Executive Partner of [http://www.mckennacuneo.com/ McKenna Long & Aldridge] and Country Director for the Peace Corps in Benin. [ [http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=155977149 ZoomInfo Web Profile: Charles Yonkers ] ] [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/citationmerit/http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/citationmerit/]

Military

*Richard Ginman '66, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/win02/win02.pdf]
*David Kenyon Webster '40 (1922–1961), American soldier, journalist and author

ports

*Max Pacioretty '06, Montreal Canadien
*Darren Bragg '87, Professional Baseball Player
*James Driscoll '96, Professional Golfer [ [http://golfsdailyslice.com/2007/05/31/james-driscoll-finds-game/ Category ] ]
*Sarah "Pease" Herndon Glaser '79, Olympic silver medal, 2000, women's sailing, 470 [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/spr01/spr01.pdf]
*Patrick Kerney '95 Pro Bowl defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons, now Seattle Seahawks
*Allison Mleczko '93, Gold medalist in first women's ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano, Silver Medalist in 2002. [ [http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/12.10/skates.html Harvard University Gazette ] ]
*Barbara Potter '79, Hall of Fame professional tennis player
*James Stillman Rockefeller '20, Olympic gold medalist, 8-man rowing (Paris, France)
*Ryan Shannon '01, Vancouver Canucks, won Stanley Cup with Anaheim Ducks
*Tammy Shewchuk '96, Canadian Olympic gold medalist, 2002, women's ice hockey Fact|date=November 2007
*John Welchli '46, Olympic silver medalist, Melbourne, 1956

Writing, Journalism, & Publishing

*Will Dana '81, Managing editor, "Rolling Stone" [ [http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/fall05/index.htm Fall 2005 Bulletin ] ]
*Steven J. Erlanger ’70, Jerusalem bureau chief for "The New York Times"
*Varian Fry '26 Journalist and "the American Schindler"
*Philip K. Howard '66, founder of Common Good, author of "The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America" [ [http://commongood.org/learn-people-founder.html Common Good: Founder & Chair ] ]
*Thomas Kuhn '40, Author of "Structure of Scientific Revolutions", coined the phrase "paradigm shift"
*Thomas Losee '59, Publisher "Architectural Digest" [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E1D6133DF937A35751C0A9649C8B63 Paid Notice: Deaths LOSEE, THOMAS PENNY JR. - New York Times ] ]
*John Merrow ’59, Peabody Award-winning journalist and producer
*Sumner Chilton Powell '42, 1964 Pulitzer Prize in history for "Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town" Fact|date=November 2007
*Josh Quittner '75, Author, editor "Business 2.0"
*Ryan Sager '97, Editorial Board "New York Post", columnist and author of "The Elephant in the Room" [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471793329]

References

External links

* [http://www.taftschool.org/ The Taft School website]
* [http://www.taftschool.org/sports/ Taft Sports Homepage]
* [http://www.taftalumni.com/ Taft Alumni Homepage]
* [http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/14 Boarding School Review]