Peddie School

Infobox School
background = #f0f6fa
border = #ccd2d9
name = The Peddie School


established = 1864
type = Private, Boarding
religion = None
headmaster = John Green
city = Hightstown
state = NJ
country = USA
campus = Suburban, 230 acres
enrollment = 514 total
63% boarding
37% day
faculty = 85
class = 12 students
ratio = 6:1
year = 2005
SAT = n/a
athletics = 20 sports
colors = Blue and Gold
mascot = Falcons
homepage = [http://www.peddie.org/ School website] |

Peddie School is a prep school in Hightstown, New Jersey, United States.

It is a highly selective, nondenominational, coeducational boarding school located on a 280‑acre (1.1 km²) campus, and serves students in the ninth through twelfth grades, plus post-graduate.

It was founded as a Baptist school, "The Hightstown Female Seminary," in 1864, but later that year, boys were admitted, and it changed its name for the first time. In 1872, it became "The Peddie School" in honor of philanthropist and politician Thomas B. Peddie (1808‑1889), who gave the school $25,000.

Peddie remained coed until 1908, when, for social and economic reasons, it decided to admit boys only. This was reversed in the early 1970s, and girls were readmitted. As of March 2007, 21 states, the District of Columbia, and 22 foreign countries were represented among the student body fact |date=March 2007.

In 1993, Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg (Class of 1927) gave $100 million to Peddie, the largest donation ever made to a secondary school at the time, and unsurpassed until 2007 (by a $128 million donation to the George School). [Dillon, Sam. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/education/19gift.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin "Alumna Gives $128 Million to High School"] , "The New York Times", September 19, 2007. Accessed September 18, 2007. "The second-largest single donation to a private secondary school Ms. Storch was able to document, she said, was a 1993 gift of $100 million to Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., by the publisher Walter Annenberg."] In 2006, an anonymous donor gave $20 million to Peddie, the second largest donation in the school's history. Today, the school has an endowment of over $390 million, one of the largest among preparatory schools in the nation. [ [http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/largest_endowments/sort/1 Largest Endowments] , "Boarding School Review", accessed April 19, 2007.]

Academics

The academic year is divided into three terms, the first two focusing on a rigorous core curriculum. During the third term, besides mathematics and certain required science courses, students may choose electives.

Advanced Placement courses are offered in AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C, AP European History, AP United States History, AP French Language, AP Spanish Language, AP Latin Literature, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Computer Science, AP Art History, AP Music Theory, AP Studio Art and AP Chinese Language and Culture. An Independent Study Program provides students with the opportunity to study a specialized subject in depthfact |date=March 2007.

Peddie also offers the opportunity for juniors to participate in a program called "Summer Signature Experiences", allowing a select group of students to spend three to six weeks (of the summer before their senior year) pursuing their passions and doing research on a particular subject of interest. When they return to school, each participant writes a formal paper and gives a 30-minute public presentation describing the experience [ [http://www.peddie.org/life/academics/summer.asp Summer Signature Experiences] , accessed May 23, 2006] .

Examples of previous research topics include: experiencing first-hand the Renaissance architectural philosophy in Rome and Florence, discovering underwater archaeology on the Greek island of Paros, interviewing African heads of state and tribal chiefs about democracy, and studying flamenco dancing in Seville, Spain.

Athletics

All students must participate in theater, on an interscholastic team, or in one of the elective physical education classes after school.

The Ian H. Graham Athletic Center houses a swimming pool and separate diving tank; three basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts (surrounded by an indoor Tartan track); a wrestling room; an indoor soccer and lacrosse facility with Astroturf, a 2,000 square foot (190 m²) fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment; a room housing eight ergometers; and a fully equipped 6-bed training room and sports medicine center. Outdoor facilities include fourteen tennis courts, eight multipurpose fields, a specially equipped varsity football and lacrosse training field, a softball field, an Olympic-caliber ¼-mile all-weather track, a varsity football and lacrosse field, three baseball diamonds, and an eighteen-hole golf course. A recent addition, the Hovnanian Fields, added another six fields, dedicated seasonally to the freshmen and junior varsity lacrosse and soccer teams.

The Athletic Center holds a replica of the Heisman Trophy donated to the school by Yale University lineman Larry Kelley (class of 1933), who won it in 1936, the second year in which it was given.

Peddie has its own 18-hole golf course, where the boys' and girls' golf teams compete. The course is a private facility of the Peddie Golf Club, but students and faculty have free access to the greens.

Peddie competes in the MAPL, the Mid-Atlantic Prep League, a sports league with participating institutions from prep schools in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area. Schools competing in the league include Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, The Hill School of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Hun School of Princeton from Princeton, New Jersey, Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Mercersburg Academy of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.

Peddie is a member of the New Jersey Independent School Athletic Association (NJISAA), competing in the Prep 'A' division with Lawrenceville, Hun, Blair, Saint Benedict's Preparatory School and other New Jersey prep schools depending on the sport. Peddie has graduates competing at the collegiate level in swimming, wrestling, basketball, track, crew, baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, golf, and tennis. Peddie's mascot is the Falcon.

Football rivalry

Peddie's arch-rival is Blair Academy, and the two schools compete every year during the second week of November for the Potter-Kelley Cup. The day of the competitions, which alternates yearly between campuses, is known as "Blair Day" at Peddie (and "Peddie Day" at Blair Academy). The football game between the two schools is the oldest football rivalry in New Jersey and ranks among the oldest in the country. Blair Day 2006 was held at Blair and ended in a victory for Peddie.

Crew

In 2006, the Peddie Girl's varsity four won the United States Youth National Regatta. In 2007, the crew defended their United States Youth National Regatta Championship in Cincinnati, Ohio.

wimming

Peddie also boasts nationally acclaimed swimming program. Both the Girls' and Boys' swim teams claimed first place at the Interscholastic Eastern Swimming and Diving Championships held at La Salle University. The Girls' Team placed first over runner-up Germantown Academy by 46 points and the Boys' Team claimed the championship over second place Germantown by 77 points. Moreover, numerous interscholastic national records were broken over the course of the 2006-2007 season by several members of the girls' team.

Facilities

Annenberg Hall, formerly Memorial Hall, houses the English, Mathematics, and Foreign Language departments. The different departments are distributed throughout the building's three floors.

In fall 2005, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Science Center opened. The 42,000 square-foot $19 million facility features 11 laboratory classrooms, a fully equipped DNA and Special Projects lab, a dedicated advanced experimental physics facility, a psychology seminar room, and 10 'genius' smart boards. The 'genius' smart boards are normal whiteboard surface boards, unlike normal smartboards, though capable of capturing any drawing on the board using special barcoded markers. Ceiling mounted mobile fume hoods are located above each table in the Biology and Chemistry department laboratories. This facility replaced science classrooms at the previously modern Caspersen Science building, originally built in the late 1960's. The Caspersen Science Building was subsequently remodeled and renamed the Caspersen History House in 2006 and houses history department facilities.

History classes are now taught in the newly renovated Caspersen History House while the Swig Arts Center on campus facilitates the school's visual art, music and theater programs.

The Geiger Reeves Theater, which hosts both student performances and outside ones as well.

The Peddie chapel was host to a variety of speakers, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Gerald Ford and Colin Powell.

Student life is centered around the Finn M. W. Caspersen Campus Center which houses the dining hall, underclassmen lockers, the bookstore, and the student grill.

Notable alumni

*Elmer H. Geran, 1895 - represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district from 1925-1927. [ [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000133 Elmer Hendrickson Geran biography] ,United States Congress. Accessed July 11, 2007.]
*Alan Shapley '22 - Lieutenant General in the United States Marine Corps and recipient of the Navy Cross. [ [http://www.usssanfrancisco.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=34&PHPSESSID=3541f6ad4856470a4977e7f24530527c LIEUTENANT GENERAL ALAN SHAPLEY, USMC (DECEASED)] , accessed April 15, 2007. "General Shapley was born 9 February 1903, in New York City. His early schooling was received at Vallejo, California, and he was graduated from the Peddie School at Highstown, New Jersey, in 1922."]
*Albert L. Vreeland, '22 - Was a United States Representative from New Jersey.
*Walter H. Annenberg '27 – Former ambassador to Britain and founder of TV Guide and Seventeen magazine.
*Howard W. Koch '33 – Film producer and director ("Airplane!", "The Odd Couple"). [ [http://www.oscars.org/mhl/sc/koch_89.html Howard W. Koch Collection] , Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, accessed April 15, 2007. "Howard W. Koch (1916-2001) was born in New York City. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in New York and Peddie Preparatory School in Hightstown, New Jersey."]
*Richard Tregaskis '33 – War correspondent and author of the award-winning "Guadalcanal Diary", the source for the 1943 film starring William Bendix, Richard Conte, and Anthony Quinn
*Larry Kelley '33 - 1936 Heisman Trophy winner. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882898-2,00.html "Heroes for Pay"] , "Time (magazine)", November 1, 1937, accessed April 15, 2007. "After being the most publicized Yale footballer since Albie Booth, Larry Kelley last summer turned down a fantastic offer from the Detroit Lions, supposedly because Yale alumni do not yet regard professional football as dignified. Instead, he went to The Peddie School at Hightstown, N. J., to teach history and coach Peddie's strictly amateur football team."]
*H. Richard Hornberger '41 – Author of the book, "M*A*S*H", which spawned the film and television series. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1116674357.html?categoryid=25&cs=1 Richard Hornberger (Obituary)] , "Variety (magazine)", November 20, 1997, accessed April 15, 2007. "But in an interview last year with the Peddie News, the student newspaper of his prep school in New Jersey, Hornberger said he couldn't understand why the Robert Altman-directed film and the TV series were assailed for anti-war themes during the Vietnam War."]
*Duane 'Dewey' Clarridge '49 - former CIA operative. Author of "A Spy for All Seasons"
*Seyyed Hossein Nasr '50 - renowned Iranian philosopher
*Tim Hurson ] '63 - speaker, writer, creativity theorist, author of "Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking"
*Neil J. Grasso '72 - CBS News Photojournalist
*Erik Hanson '83 - Pitcher, Major League Baseball. [Moylan, Kyle [http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/sports/1-9-99/hanson.html "Major leaguer steps to plate for Peddie School: Pitcher, alum Erik Hanson donates $365,000 for field house upgrade"] , "Princeton Packet", January 9, 1999, accessed April 15, 2007. "When Erik Hanson left the Peddie School in 1983, he left behind a legacy of pitching greatness."]
*Patricia Sabga '85 - NBC News correspondent
*Pia Clemente '89 - Received Academy Award Nomination for Best Live Action Short Film for her film, "Our Time is Up".
*B.J. Bedford '90 – Gold-medalist swimmer (4x100 medley relay team) in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. [Moylan, Kyle. [http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/sports/10-2-00/bj.html "Ex-Peddie swimmer struck gold: B.J. Bedford set world record-beating pace for team] , "Princeton Packet", October 2, 2000, accessed April 19, 2007. "As a member of a United States swimming relay team, it wasn't a surprise that Peddie graduate B.J. Bedford was able to win an Olympic medal."]
*Nelson Diebel '90 – Double gold-medalist swimmer at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976107,00.html "Star Swimmers"] , "Time (magazine)", July 27, 1992, accessed April 19, 2007. "Nelson Diebel, U.S. - He lied his way into the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., claiming swimming prowess he didn't have.]
*Rodger Colbert '97 - defenseman, Major League Lacrosse; currently of the Boston Cannons
*Colin Ferrell (born 1984), defensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts, who played collegiate football at Kent State University. [ [http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=bio&player_id=516 Colin Ferrell] , Indianapolis Colts. Accessed August 11, 2008.]
*Nat Sakdatorn '01 - Winner of Thailand's reality tv singing contest Academy Fantasia (Season 4). Now a singer-songwriter in the Thai music industry under label 'True Fantasia'.
*Heath Benedict '02 - Offensive tackle at Newberry College
*Chris Tomson '02 - Drummer of the band Vampire Weekend
*Chingo Bling - Mexican-American rapper and record executive. His sophomore album, They Can't Deport Us All was certified Gold by the RIAA. [http://www.asylumrecords.com/new/news_artist.php?rNews=23] [ [http://music.aol.com/artist/chingo-bling/biography/1728701 Chingo Bling Biography - AOL Music ] ]
*John D. M. Hughes, Jr. ’66, Award winning journalist and noted magazine editor
*Roy-Allan Burch '04 - Olympic athlete representing Bermuda in Beijing, All American
*Jenny Smatt - Olympic athlete representing Bermuda in Barcelona
*Mike Cummins- Brown University Mens Lacrosse Player- 2004-2008 awarded "Mr. Brown"

References

Mike Cummins-Brown University Lacrosse player 2005-2008 awarded "Mr. Brown"

External links

* [http://www.peddie.org/ School web site]
* [http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=00868746&ID=00868746 Data for the Peddie School] , National Center for Education Statistics
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/PeddieSchool School YouTube Video Network]