The Barstow School

The Barstow School
Understanding through Knowledge
Address
11511 State Line Road Kansas City, Missouri,  United States
Coordinates	38°55′06″N 94°36′17″W / 38.9182°N 94.6048°W / 38.9182; -94.6048Coordinates: 38°55′06″N 94°36′17″W / 38.9182°N 94.6048°W / 38.9182; -94.6048
Information
Type	Independent
Religious affiliation(s)	Nonsectarian
Established	1884 (girls only), 1967 (coeducational)
Head of School	Shane A. Foster
Faculty	69 total
Enrollment	Approx. 650
Student to teacher ratio	9.5:1
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Green, White, and Black
Athletics	19 interscholastic, numerous club
Athletics conference	Crossroads Conference (XRC)
Average SAT scores	Verbal = 625; Math = 668  (2010)
Website	www.barstowschool.org

The Barstow School, founded in 1884^[1] by Mary Louise Barstow, is a nonsectarian, coeducational, independent preparatory school in southern Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

The Barstow School enrolls approximately 650 students from Preschool through Grade 12. The school has a strong academic tradition and matriculates all of its graduates to four-year colleges.^{[citation needed]}

Teaching children the importance of leadership and community service is a mainstay at Barstow. They grow the leader in each child by encouraging students to form and run their own organizations and seek out service learning experiences that match their interests. The class of 2010 included two Eagle Scouts and two Congressional Gold Medal winners. These service awards are among the most prestigious in the country.

The Barstow School values the visual and performing arts. All of their arts teachers are performing artists, and the students receive artistic accolades as well. Barstow’s theatre department was one of only 30 in the US to be selected for participation in the 2010 Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The athletic program is competitive while simultaneously balancing the importance of affording all athletes an opportunity to participate. Beginning in the sixth grade, they have 41 athletic teams across 12 different sports.

Tuition for the 2010-2011 school year, ranges from $11,605 for 5 whole day Preschool to $16,000+ for grades 9-12.

History

Mary Barstow and Ada Brann came to Kansas City in 1884, responding to the need to establish a local school comparable to the outstanding independent schools on the east coast. With the support of several notable families in the rapidly growing city, the two Wellesley College graduates founded The Barstow School at 12th Street and Broadway on Quality Hill in Downtown Kansas City.

As both the school and the city grew and prospered, the school moved several times: first to near Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, then to 15th Street and Westport Avenue, then to 4950 Cherry Street in the Brookside neighborhood, and finally to 115th Street and State Line Road in 1962, where it remains today. Although originally coeducational, in 1924 Barstow became an all-girls school except at the preschool level. The school resumed coeducation when it moved to its current location. The mission of the school, as originally stated by Mary Louise Barstow, remains "to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character."

In 1960, boys were admitted to the first grade, and Barstow became coeducational one grade and one year at a time, until its first coed graduating class in 1972. Although its class sizes often were under ten, Barstow had two very famous alumni during its early days: movie star Jean Harlow and future First Lady Bess Truman. Since Barstow moved to its current location, it has seen Kansas City expand southward. Today, it hopes to grow further: in 2003, Barstow built a new Lower School. Recently, the Barstow School has expanded even more.

Accreditation and memberships

Barstow holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the Educational Records Bureau, the National and Missouri Associations for College Admission Counseling, the College Board and the Cum Laude Society.

Athletics

The athletic teams are known as The Barstow Knights, and the school colors are green, black and white. Starting with the 2010-2011 school year, the head coach for the Knights basketball team is Billy Thomas, a well known former KU player.

In the fall, teams include girls' tennis, boys' soccer, girls' volleyball, girls' golf, and girls' and boys' cross-country and boys' swimming. The girls' golf team participated in the State Golf Tournament October 18–19, 2010 and the girls' tennis team will be represented at the State Tennis Tournament the end of October.

Winter sports at Barstow are girls' basketball, boys' basketball, girls' swimming, cheerleading, and the "Knight Starz" (sic) dance team. The Knights cheerleading squad has won the class 2 State Cheerleading Competition twice, in 2005 and 2007.^[2] The Knight Starz dance team took home a 3rd place finish at the 2009 state dance competition.

In the spring, teams include boys' tennis, boys' baseball, girls' soccer, boys' golf, girls' softball, and boys and girls track and field. The boys baseball team placed 2nd in state (with no prior appearances in such a large game) in the 2007-2008 season.

In the spring of 2010, Barstow's Academic Team won the Missouri Class 2 State Championship. All four team members earned All-District Honors and three members earned All-State honors.

Notable alumni

• Eldar Djangirov, jazz pianist
• Jean Harlow, film actress and top sex symbol of the 1930s, known as the Platinum Blonde^[3]
• Jamie Metzl, politician and national security expert.
• Margot Peet, artist.
• Bess Truman, the wife of Harry S Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953.^[4]

References

1. ^ The Barstow School at a Glance, accessed November 20, 2006
2. ^ "Barstow team tops in cheers", Kansas City Star, November 30, 2005. Accessed November 27, 2007.
3. ^ Jean Harlow Biographical Info, accessed November 20, 2006
4. ^ Bess Truman from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed November 20, 2006

External links

• The Barstow School
  • Profile from the school's website
• Barstow School at the National Center for Education Statistics