Sidwell Friends School

Infobox_School | name = Sidwell Friends School
motto="Eluceat Omnibus Lux"
established=1883
type=Private school
head of school=Bruce B. Stewart
faculty = 250
enrollment = 1,091
free_label = Publications
free_text = Horizon
The Oat
Quarterly
location = Washington, D.C., United States
information = [phone]
website = http://www.sidwell.edu

Sidwell Friends School is a PK-12 Quaker private school located in Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, Maryland in the United States.

Sidwell was founded in 1883 by Thomas Sidwell. Its motto is "Eluceat Omnibus Lux" ("Let the light shine out from all"; it can also be translated as "by all," an allusion to the Quaker concept of inner light). All Sidwell Friends students attend Quaker meetings for worship weekly.

Before moving to Wisconsin Avenue, Sidwell's campus was on I Street in downtown Washington. The Wisconsin Avenue property was first used for athletic fields while the campus was still downtown, with students shuttling between the two sites by streetcar.

For many years, Sidwell was the only co-educational school in its athletic league, the Interstate Athletic Conference (IAC). Today, Sidwell's male sports teams compete in the MAC, while the female teams compete in the ISL.

Sidwell dropped its dress code in the 1970s.

The Wisconsin Avenue campus recently saw the completion of a new parking deck and sports field, and the construction on the Middle School has been completed. The Middle school building obtained a LEED Platinum certification from the United States Green Building Council. [http://www.usgbc.org/News/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=3018] The environmentally sound Middle School building spearheads Sidwell's effort to instill environmental stewardship among its students. The Sidwell community also cherishes Quaker values, diversity, and academic excellence.

The Sidwell Friends Upper School has a particularly strong English Department. In 2005, Sidwell's AP English Exam scores were the highest of all "Medium-sized" schools (300–799 students in grades 10–12)offering the AP English exam. [http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/ap/2006/2006_ap-report-nation.pdf] Sidwell does not offer an AP English course.

All students must acquire at least 19 credits before graduating. Students are required to take four years of English, three years of Math, three years of History, two years of one language, two years of Science, and one year of art. In addition to this, all freshmen must take the semester long "Freshman Studies" course. [http://sidwell.edu/upper_school/graduationrequirements.asp]

Sidwell has one of the region's strongest Chinese studies programs, with classes in Mandarin beginning in Middle School and extensive Chinese history courses offered in the Upper School. Every year the Sidwell Friends Upper School is host to two Chinese exchange students. Sidwell is also a member school of School Year Abroad.

The school's admissions process is merit-based. As documented on the school's website, it gives preference in admissions decisions to members of the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers"), but otherwise does not discriminate on the basis of religion.

Athletics

Sidwell's sports team are known as the Quakers; their colors are gray and maroon. The Quakers compete in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference for boys' sports (after previously competing in the Interstate Athletic Conference (IAC) until 1999) and the Independent School League (ISL) for girls' sports. Sidwell offers teams in Volleyball, Golf, Cross Country, Football, Field Hockey, Girls and Boys Soccer, Boys and Girls Basketball, Swimming, Wrestling, Boys and Girls Tennis, Baseball, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Boys and Girls Track, Softball, and Girls Crew.

Sidwell's athletic program has strengthened over the years, with many teams winning city, regional and national accolades. Sidwell has also won the MAC Director's Cup (for overall excellence in Boys sports) for the past 7 years.

Boys' Soccer

In fall, 2006, the boys' varsity soccer team compiled a 19-2 record and was recognized as #9 in the Washington Post Top Ten soccer schools in the metropolitan area. The 2007 Boys Varsity Soccer team again won the MAC Boys' Soccer championship and achieved a second consecutive Washington Post Top Ten ranking, reaching #3 in the final poll with a 20-2 record.

Wrestling

The wrestling program at Sidwell has also been a success, taking 10th place in the national prep tournament in 2003, and winning the DC Classic, a competition among all DC private schools that compete in Wrestling, in 2007 and 2008. In February 2008, the Boys Varsity Wrestling Team claimed their 7th banner in 9 years of participating in the MAC. It was also their 4th straight banner. They established clear dominance, winning the tournament by over 100 points, and boasted 8 MAC champions and one additional All-MAC selection.

Boys' Basketball

The 2006-2007 Varsity Boys' Basketball team also enjoyed measurable success, winning the school's first ever outright conference championship in Boys' Basketball, as well as completing the most successful conference season in MAC Boys' Basketball history with a 14-0 conference record under coach Duane Simpkins (who left for St. Albans the next year).

Current profile

* 2004-2005 school year: 1,091 students (563 boys and 528 girls) are enrolled
* 38% of the student body belong to ethnic minorities
* 21% of the student body receives some form of financial assistance
* The School employs 145 teachers and 98 administrative and support staff.
* Tuitions for the 2007-2008 school year are $26,790 (prekindergarten-grade 4) and $27,790 (grades 5-12).cite web
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* The school never releases its SAT average scores or college admission list. However, the school releases to the most recent alumni class a list of which institutions each recently graduated student is attending.
* The school does not rank its students, as this conflicts with the Quaker Testimony of Equality.

Campuses

The Middle and Upper School campus is located at 3825 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20016-2907
* 15 acre (61,000 m²) Wisconsin Avenue campus in the Tenleytown section of Northwest Washington
* Earl G. Harrison Jr. Upper School Building
* A new environmentally-friendly Middle School building with LEED platinum status
* Kogod Center for the Arts
* Richard Walter Goldman Memorial Library
* Zartman House (administration building)
* Sensner Building (maintenance services and school store)
* Wannan and Kenworthy Gymnasiums
* Three athletic fields, five tennis courts, and a six-lane track.
* Parking facility with ample faculty, student, guest and alumni parking (200+ parking spaces), as well as buildings for security, IT and maintenance
* Head of school: Bruce T. Stewart

The Lower School campus can be found at 5100 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, Maryland, 20814-2306
* 5 acre (20,000 m²) Edgemoor Lane campus in Bethesda (formerly Longfellow School for Boys; opened for the 1963–64 school year)
* Manor House (classrooms, administration, and Clark Library)
* Groome Building (classrooms and multi-purpose room)
* Science, Art, and Music (SAM) Building
* The Bethesda Friends Meeting House
* Athletic fields and play areas

Both campuses underwent major renovations throughout the 2005-2006 school year.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Sidwell Friends include:
*Anne Applebaum ('82), journalist and author
*Jon Bernthal ('95), actor
*Ann Brashares ('85), author of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series of books
*Oteil Burbridge ('82), bassist for the Allman Brothers Band
*Setsuko Chichibu ('28), Princess of Japan
*Chelsea Clinton ('97), daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton
*Tricia Nixon Cox ('64) and Julie Nixon ('66, left in 1961), daughters of Richard Nixon [ [http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/education/767.html Prep Schools of the Power Brokers - Education (washingtonian.com) ] ]
*John Dickerson ('87), journalist, political commentator, and writer.
*John Deutch ('56), CIA Director, MIT professor
*Margaret Edson ('79), Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Wit
*Dan Froomkin ('81), journalist and Washington Post columnist
*Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. ('69), Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman
*Ana Gasteyer ('85), actress
*Doug Gansler ('81), State's Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland (1999—2007), Attorney General of the State of Maryland, (2007- )
*Charlie Gibson, ABC World News Tonight anchor, former host of ABC's Good Morning America.
*Walter Gilbert ('49), Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
*Paul Goldstein ('94), professional tennis player, 4-time NCAA Champion and All-American at Stanford, 2-time USTA 18 & Under national champion.
*James K Glassman ('65), editorialist, syndicated columnist, and author
*Hanna Holborn Gray ('47 or '48), historian and Provost of Yale University and later the President of University of Chicago
*William Henry Harrison ('14 or '15), Republican Representative from Wyoming (note: this was President William Henry Harrison's great-great-grandson)
*Clara Jeffery ('85), Editor of Mother Jones magazine
*John Katzenbach ('68), author
*Philip S. Khoury ('67), Ford International Professor of History & Associate Provost, MIT
*Campbell McGrath ('80), poet and winner of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award"
*Daniel Mudd ('76), CEO of Fannie Mae
*Bill Nye ('73), television personality and scientist
*Archibald Roosevelt ('12?), son of Theodore Roosevelt
*Susan Shreve, professor, author and novelist
*Andrew Szanton ('81), author, memoir collaborator
*Oleg Alexandrovich Troyanovsky, Soviet ambassador to the United Nations
*Robin Weigert ('87), actress

The following notable people attended Sidwell but graduated somewhere else:
*George A. Akerlof, Nobel Prize winner for Economics & current Faculty member at University of California, Berkeley
*Kara Lawson ('99, left in 1996) WNBA player and star at the University of Tennessee, 5th pick of the 2003 WNBA Draft.
*Charles Lindbergh, (attended 1913-1915)
*Roger Mason ('99, left in 1996) NBA player for the Washington Wizards and star at the University of Virginia, 31st pick of the 2002 NBA Draft.
*John Dos Passos, (attended 1902-1903)
*Root Boy Slim
*Nancy Reagan, former First Lady (attended the elementary school 1925-1928)
*Gore Vidal ('43, left in 1936)

Notes

[http://www.fmlink.com/Home/News/news.cgi?catid=111&display=article&id=22470 Facility Management News]

References

External links

* [http://www.sidwell.edu Sidwell website]

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Members
Flint Hill School • Georgetown Day School • Maret School • The Potomac School • Sidwell Friends School • St. Andrew's Episcopal School • St. James School