Walnut Hill School

Infobox Private School
name = Walnut Hill School
motto = "Non Nobis Solum"
Not for ourselves alone
established = 1893
type = Private, boarding, arts
head_name = Head of School
head = Dr. Eileen Soskin
city = Natick
state = MA
country = USA
campus = 45 acres
enrollment = 300
tuition = (boarding) $42,000, (day) $38,200
colors = Historic: Gold and White Modern: Crimson and Chartreuse
homepage = http://walnuthillarts.org/| walnuthillarts.org

Walnut Hill School is a private boarding school for the arts located in Natick, Massachusetts.

History and Programs

Boarding School

Walnut Hill was founded in 1893 as a college preparatory school for women and a feeder school to Wellesley College. It became coeducational and arts-focused in the late 1970s. Students at Walnut Hill major in one of five arts disciplines: ballet, music, theatre, visual art, and creative writing. With the exception of voice students, music students at Walnut Hill take their weekly private lessons at New England Conservatory in Boston. Admission to Walnut Hill is by academic application and artistic audition.

ummer and Academy Programs

Walnut Hill has an extensive summer program. National and international students come for between two and five weeks for intensive study in their arts discipline. Programs are offered in dance, theatre, opera, chamber music, creative writing and visual arts. Additional programs include the Summer Youth Dance, for pre-high school dancers, the Sphinx Performance Academy (a two-week chamber music program for Black and Latino string players) and the Chinese Performing Arts Academy.

The dance and theatre programs consist of a full five weeks in residence. The other programs spend a shorter amount of time at the Natick campus before traveling with their faculty to Europe, where they continue taking classes and tour areas historically associated with their arts area. As of summer 2007, the chamber music students travel to France, creative writers to Scotland, and opera singers and visual artists to Italy.

Walnut Hill also features the Academy program, a non-boarding afterschool arts program for students residing in the vicinity.

Notable alumni

*Elizabeth Bishop, Poet Laureate of the United States, 1949-1950.
*Christian Finnegan
*Van Hansis [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2082499/bio]
*Paige Turco
*Sasha Sokol
*Jack McCollough, co-founder of Proenza Schouler

Campus

The Walnut Hill campus has thirteen buildings. Stowe, Eliot, Highland, Clark, New Cottage, Westerly, North House and Elizabeth Bishop Hall are the school's dorms. The campus also holds the Academic and Technology Center, the Dance Barn, the Keiter Performing Arts Center, the Office of Admission and Placement, and the Head's House.

Eliot is the largest building on campus; its second and third floors serve as a dormitory. It contains Boswell Hall, the Keefe Library, the dining hall, the student campus center and the school bookstore. The offices of the Dean of Students, the Director of Residential Life, and the Assistant Dean of Students are also housed in Eliot. Highland contains the offices of the Music Department and practice rooms (both regular and soundproof), the Visual Art studios, Pooke Gallery, Amelia Hall and Highland Dormitory. Stowe, in addition to being a dormitory, is the location of the switchboard and many administrative offices, including the Head of School's office, external relations and facilities.

Elizabeth Bishop Hall is the most recent addition to the campus. It began construction in the 2006-2007 school year and was completed in November of the 2007-2008 school year. This structure includes a dormitory as well as faculty apartments.

External links

* [http://www.walnuthillarts.org/ Official Walnut Hill School website]

References

* [http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/155/ Overview of Walnut Hill from boardingschoolsreview.com]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/10/walnut_hill_school_looks_to_the_future/ Boston Globe article on the school]