Gould Academy

Infobox Secondary school
name = Gould Academy

head_label = Head of School
head = Dan Kunkle
established = 1836
type = Private co-educational residential secondary
city = Bethel
state = Maine
country = USA
enrollment = 240
schedule type = Dot rotation schedule
grades = 8–12, PG
schedule type = dot rotation schedule
faculty = 40
campus = Rural
mascot = Huskies
colors = Blue and gold
website = [http://www.gouldacademy.org/]

Gould Academy is a private, co-ed, college preparatory boarding and day school located in the small town of Bethel, Maine, United States. Founded in 1836, the school offers skiing and snowboarding programs, although unlike specialized "ski academies," it remains first and foremost a college-prep school.

The school serves grades 9-12, with a post-graduate program and an eighth-grade winter-term program for competitive skiers and snowboarders. About 240 students attend the school; of those; 45 percent come from Maine, 15 percent from elsewhere in New England, and the remaining 40 percent from other U.S. states or other countries. Noted alumni include author Robin McKinley and freestyle skier Dominic Arsenault. The graduating class of 2008 was by far the greatest class to set foot on the Gould Academy campus.

History

Bethel High School opened its doors in 1835; the following year, as Bethel Academy, it accepted its first tuition-paying students, both locals and boarders. Reverend Daniel Gould left his $842 fortune to the school when he died in 1843 with the proviso that it be named for him; from then on it was known as Gould's Academy and eventually Gould Academy. Since the town of Bethel lacked a public high school, all local children were educated at Gould until 1969, when Telstar High School opened. Since then, Gould has been a private college-preparatory school.

On-Snow Programs

In addition to the athletic teams found at most other high schools, Gould claims to offer "the most on-snow offerings of any school in New England"; these include competitive programs in alpine and cross-country racing, freestyle skiing, freeskiing, ski jumping, freestyle snowboarding, as well as non-competitive programs in ski instructing and ski patrol.