Whitfield School

Infobox School
name = Whitfield School
type = Private
established = 1952
streetaddress = 175 South Mason Road
city = Creve Coeur | state = MO | zipcode = 63141
enrollment = 470
free_label = Colors
Mascot
free_text = Green and White
Warrior
president = Mark Anderson
principal = Ruth Greathouse
faculty = 62
website = http://www.whitfieldschool.org/

Whitfield School is one of St. Louis' more aptly-named college preparatory schools. The school was founded in 1952 by John Barnes and Allen Cole who had the vision of creating a place that would make learning enjoyable for its students. The school has grown immensely since 1952 under the reign of headmistress, Dr. Mary Leyhe Burke, who is now succeeded by Mr. Mark Anderson. The school's academic mission is to foster excellent habits of mind, productive social skills, and personal integrity in an innovative, student-centered environment.

School History

In 1952, John Barnes and Allen Cole purchased the Dunford School located on Bartmer Avenue, thereafter continuing operations as Whitfield School. The school moved to its current location during spring break of 1957, at which point was a residential house that was converted into classrooms and also served as the home for Barnes and Cole. The house now serves as administrative offices as well as a meeting and congregating facility, and has come to be named the "Barnes and Cole Alumni House." This house doubled as the residence of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Cole. The environment that they tried to create was one where learning was challenging, yet fun and a place where students had every opportunity to succeed. The school experienced major growth and changes, under the second headmistress, Dr. Mary Burke, the successor of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Cole. Dr. Burke raised money to build a new building on the land which was directly adjacent to the house. The original building was completed in the early 1990s. The building then received major additions, as well as several renovations in the early 2000s. Two new gymnasiums were added, locker rooms, a state-of-the-art weight room with coaches' offices, a new dance studio and a new music studio compete with recording technology, as well as an atrium which would serve as an entrance to the Woods Performing Arts Center, which was instead called Woods Hall. Other renovations the school received was new equipment for the theatre department, new computer commons areas added, as well as a cyber-cafe which occupies the space of one of the old gyms. A new phase of construction began in 2008 where a lower parking lot will be added, the baseball field will be repositioned, and a new building will be built to house a concession stand and restrooms.

Academics

Whitfield School is based on a strong liberal arts core which requires students to take four years of high school english, history, science, math, and an art prior to graduation. The art requirement may be fulfilled through theater, drawing, ceramics, or photography. All students take the same english and history courses, the content of which are different for each grade level. Students generally follow a standard mathematics track which culminates in Intro. to Calculus the student's senior year. Students may follow the advanced track if they test into it at the time of admission or by taking the course privately over the summer. This advanced track generally culminates in AB Calculus, but opportunities exist for students to take higher level math courses independently through the school. Their sophomore year, students have the choice of taking, regular, advanced, or AP Calculus and must also take Biology. Junior year students must either continue on the Chemistry track they chose their Junior year or switch to another track; in addition, students must take either regular or advanced Physics. Senior year students have the option of taking Advanced Biology; physics is still required along with chemistry for those on the AP track.

Arts

The Whitfield School Performing Arts department is headed by chair, Amy Allen-Cano. The department also has two other teachers, Mary Schnitzler and Keith Borzillo. Whitfield Performing Arts takes an experimental approach to the way that the mainstage shows are done. An abstract space allows for the variation of the stage position, audience seating and hanging of lights and speakers. Whitfield School is part of the International Thespian Society and is chapter #5436. The school often employs outside professionals to work on their shows, such as costumers and lighting, sound and scenic designers. The school puts an emphasis on the performing arts and encourages students to either appear in shows or work backstage as a way to try and produce a well rounded student.

Whitfield Theatre was nationally recognized by USA Today for their production of "The Wizard of Oz" in May of 2008. Whitfield's production was selected as the 2008 national runner-up from Missouri for USA Today Weekend's annual Show Stopper award, which judges the best high school musical in the country.

Athletics

Unlike other schools, Whitfield doesn't require its students to fulfil any sort of athletic requirement. However, the majority of the school's student body chooses to participate in athletics in some capacity. If students don't choose to partake in the sport itself, they may be coach's assistants, team managers, videographers or assist in running the booster club.

Whitfield School is known for its outstanding soccer team led by Coach Bill Daues. Since 2001 Whitfield's soccer team has won five state championships, that's five out of six state championships in Missouri Class 1 soccer.Whitfield's wrestling team, coached by Charlie Sherertz, won the state championships in February 2008. Whitfield school also won their first Wickenhieser Cup in Varsity Hockey in March 2008. Whitfield's dance team also took first place in the state dance competition for their class, and advanced to a national competition. Whitfield placed very highly at the national competition for schools in their class.

Publications

Whitfield has several publications, both traditional and innovative. All of the school's publications are extracurricular and student-run. The publications also have a theme of being named after Roman works of literature.

The school's yearbook, the Iliad, is published annually and is completely designed by students with the help of a faculty advisor who oversees all of the meetings. The books are distributed on field day, but the day is really spent more on signing yearbooks than it is on actual field day events.

The school's newspaper, the Odyssey, is published monthly and is completely student run and edited. This paper contains articles that aren't especially time sensitive and is quite similar to a public newspaper by featuring articles about large scale issues that impact society as a whole, movies and other forms of entertainment, and school-wide news and polls.

The school's online magazine, the Aeneid, is an experimental and innovative publication whose purpose has been re-defined several times. Right now, it is heading in the direction of more time-sensitive articles and more urgent issues than what the Odyssey might feature. The publication is entirely student edited and student run. It also has opportunities for people with technological interests because the magazine requires a staff of programmers to build and maintain the site.

The school's literary magazine, The Secret Voice (the only publication that isn't named for a Roman work of literature), is published once a year and contains works, both of art and literature, submitted throughout the course of the year by students and faculty. These anonymous submissions are reviewed by a selection committee who decides, based on several factors, what should be included in that year's edition and what shouldn't be included.

Traditions

Whitfield has a long standing belief that students shouldn't be forced into things. Therefore, Whitfield does not have any sort of sports or art requirement that must be fulfilled for graduation like other similar schools. Therefore, the school has adopted the motto "In Propria Persona," which means in one's own person. The school embraces this slogan by allowing the students the freedom to participate in the activities that interest them most, thus building a foundation for their passions and interests.

Whitfield is known for its relaxed environment in which most students opt not to use the lockers offered to all students. Instead students leave backpacks, gym bags, and even purses in the hallways.

Great pride is taken in Whitfield lunches prepared by a full, professional staff. Lunches have been known to include salmon, pecan pie, and steak.

Whitfield School is proud to be the only school in St. Louis with its own dog, a golden lab named Rascal. Rascal was purchased as a replacement after the sudden death of the beloved Murphy, a chocolate lab unofficially adopted by the school over a decade ago. Murphy belonged to a neighboring family, but ran away to play with Whitfield students so often that he became a staple and could constantly be seen roaming the halls searching for the grounds keeper Ricky Goodwin, of whom Murphy was quite fond.

Every field day, Whitfield has a tradition of tug-o-war. The two 6th grade classes face each other, 7th vs. 8th, Freshmen vs. Sophomores, and Juniors vs. Seniors. All tug-o-war teams (except for the 6th grade teams, which is the entire 6th grade class), is made up of 10 people who are determined by the grade's student council representatives in a joint effort with that grade's head adviser. The teams are not announced prior to the event, however the team members are notified hours in advance of the event.

Alumni

Ralph Silverman, MD, FACS, FASCRS, 1992: Surgeon, Board Certified in General Surgery and Board Certified in Colorectal Surgery, Contributing Editor of Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, and Committee Member for The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeon.

Technology

All Whitfield students are provided with a laptop. The school hosts a campus-wide wireless network and high-speed wired connections throughout the building. Each student and family is provided a network and e-mail account for school use.

Whitfield's laptop program faced scrutiny in October of 2007, when the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran an article titled "The Laptop Debate." The article contrasted the technology programs of several private schools in the Metro area, saying that "Whitfield ['s laptop program] offers more freedom.

Whitfield Is Failing Email

During the 2008 school year an email was sent out by an unknown person saying that Whitfield School is failing. The email was created for purposes unknown. It was sent during the school's spirit week in order to maybe lower the school's spirit. However the student body president Jordan Woodard sent out an emailing also saying that it is not the school that has failed, but the person. The original hate email did not divide the student body, but brought it closer and made it stronger.

External links

* [http://www.whitfieldschool.org Whitfield School]