Collegiate School (New York City)

Collegiate School is an independent school for boys in New York City. It claims to be the oldest school in the United States.[1][2] It is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is a member of both the New York Interschool and the Ivy Preparatory School League. It is ranked as one of the best private schools in the United States.[3]

This article is about the New York City school founded in 1628. For other uses, see Collegiate School (disambiguation).

Collegiate School
Address
301 Freedom Place South

New York
,
NY
10069

USA
Information
TypePrivate, day, college prep
MottoLatin: Nisi Dominus Frustra
("Unless God, then in vain")
Dutch: Eendracht maakt macht
("In unity there is strength")
Established1628 (1628)
FounderThe Rev. Jonas Michaelius and the Dutch West India Company
ChairmanJonathan Youngwood ’85
HeadmasterDavid S. Lourie
Faculty108
GradesK-12
GenderBoys
Number of students661
CampusUrban
Color(s)Orange and blue   
NicknameDutchmen
NewspaperThe Journal
YearbookThe Dutchman
AffiliationsIvy Prep School League
New York Interschool
Websitewww.collegiateschool.org

History

Collegiate was chartered as part of the Reformed Dutch Protestant Church in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1628 by the Dutch West India Company and the Classis of Amsterdam.[4] Its initial incarnation was a co-ed school located south of Canal Street. The institution's location has changed 16 times over the last four centuries.

Founding date controversy

In 1984, Massimo Maglione, a historian and Upper School teacher at Collegiate, discovered a letter that Collegiate's founder—the Reverend Jonas Michaëlius, the first minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in America—had written in 1628 about his efforts to teach the catechism to Indian children. Based on this letter, the school controversially moved up the year of its establishment to 1628.[5][2] While Reverend Jonas Michaëlius did arrive in New Amsterdam in 1628 and may have worked as an educator at that time, Collegiate School was not chartered until 1638,[4] placing its founding two years after the founding of Harvard University and three years after the founding of Boston Latin School.[6][7]

Location

On February 5, 2013, the Collegiate School board announced relocation plans for the institution. The school acquired land for a new facility, situated between West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard and between West 61st and 62nd Streets in New York's Riverside South neighborhood. Board Chairman George R. Bason, Jr. '72 said the new 178,000-square-foot school would provide 30% more indoor space and over 600% more outdoor space (16,268 square feet) for its 648 students from kindergarten through 12th grade than the existing lodgings provided. He estimated the new school's construction cost at $125–$135 million.[8] On January 12, 2018, Collegiate officially opened its new location at 301 Freedom Place South.[9]

School seal and mottos

Collegiate's official seal is an adaptation of the coat of arms of William of Orange, who was the founder of the Dutch Republic and of the Reformed Church in that country and led the cause of independence and of freedom for the Reformed Church against Philip II of Spain. Included in the school's seal are two mottos: Eendracht Maakt Macht, Dutch for "In unity there is strength", and Nisi Dominus Frustra, Latin for "unless God, then in vain." The History and Symbols Task Force recommended in its June 2020 report that the latter be replaced, owing to its explicit religious nature, and Collegiate's status as a secular institution.[10]

Mascot

The school's mascot, generally interpreted as a cariacature of Peter Stuyvesant, and often called "Peg Leg Pete" by students, has been the subject of recent controversy because of Stuyvesant's pronounced lack of religious tolerance, his vision for New Amsterdam as a slave depot, and his anti-Semitism.[11][12] The school's History and Symbols Task Force, which completed its work in June 2020, concluded in its final report that the mascot be removed and a committee convened to solicit candidates for a replacement.[13] The school's Board of Trustees voted to adopt the task force's recommendation, among the others in the report.[14]

Organization
Current campus at 301 Freedom Place
Old Collegiate School campus

Campus

From 1892 to 2017, Collegiate resided at several buildings on 77th and 78th Streets on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The former schoolhouse on West 77th Street is, together with the adjoining West End Collegiate Church, an historic landmark in the City of New York.

In 2013, the school announced that it would be moving to a new location and in January 2018, Collegiate moved into a new facility at 301 Freedom Place South. It consists of an 11-story building (nine stories above ground and two below ground), with 180,000 square feet (17,000 m2) of classroom, athletics, theater, music, art, library, dining, and administrative space. The school features common areas dedicated to each division that provide space for independent study, social interactions, and divisional activities.

The Lower School is located on floors 2 and 3. The Middle School occupies floors 8 and 9. It has its own Maker Space, along with flexible classrooms, a Middle School Center and large, modern group study spaces. The Upper School is housed on floors 5 and 6. It is significantly larger than the division's previous space and is adjacent to the library. It features flexible classrooms and common areas that promote interaction among students and faculty.

Sciences for all three divisions are consolidated onto floor 7. Visual arts and music occupy floor 4, complete with music practice spaces, art studios, and a digital photo lab. Additionally, on the Lower Level, performing arts benefit from a 307-seat auditorium and a black-box theater, both of which support Collegiate's drama program. Collegiate's athletics are housed in the Lower Level and include a high school regulation-size gym that supports the basketball teams. The gym can be partitioned to provide PE classes and practice space simultaneously. An additional gym, the Alumni Gym, can accommodate regulation wrestling competitions and half-court basketball and features a retractable batting cage.

Outdoor space consists of a large roof deck on floor 9 with a large recreation area and a ground-level, 5,000-square-foot courtyard that allows for handball and basketball.[15]

Structure

Each grade has around 50 boys, who attend Collegiate for the full course of study, thirteen years (these students are nicknamed "Survivors"). The school is divided into Lower School (Kindergarten-Grade 4), Middle School (Grades 5-8), and Upper School (Grades 9-12). More than a quarter of Collegiate teachers hold a Ph.D.

The school is private, and it functions under a New York City non-profit statute enacted in the 1940s. Collegiate is controlled by a Board of Trustees, and the school is administered by a Head of School.[16]

Leadership

Collegiate School was headed by Lee M. Levison from July 1, 2006 until June 30, 2020. He was preceded by W. Lee Pierson, the interim Head of School following the departure of Kerry P. Brennan in 2004.[17] Levison announced his intention to retire in December 2018, causing The Board of Trustees to immediately commence a search for his replacement.[18]

On May 31, 2019, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to appoint David S. Lourie, Head of the St. Anne's-Belfield School since 2009, as Collegiate's 29th Head of School.[19][18] He began his tenure upon Levison's retirement on July 1, 2020.

Rankings

In 2007, The Wall Street Journal ranked Collegiate number one in the world in terms of percent of the senior class matriculating to eight selective American colleges.[20] A 2019-20 survey concluded that Collegiate was the 3rd best boys school in the country, the 4th best K-12 school in the country, and the 13th best private high school in the country.[21]

Sports and co-curricular activities

The school's athletic success has mainly been with the varsity basketball, baseball, track and field, soccer, and cross country teams. The Collegiate soccer team won the NYSAIS state championship in 2010, 2011, and 2012.[22]| The Collegiate varsity basketball team won five straight state championships in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.[22] The Collegiate cross country team won 25 Ivy League Championships in a row from 1990 to 2014.[22] Collegiate also has wrestling and tennis teams. Students not participating in a sport take physical education. Yearly fitness tests are administered in the lower and middle schools.

The school has a number of clubs, especially in the Upper School, including The Collegiate Journal. its newspaper operating since 1932; The Dutchman, the yearbook published every year since 1906; and Prufrock. its literary magazine, first published in 1973.[23]

Notable alumni

Affiliated organizations

Notes

1. ^ The History and Symbols Task Force has recommended that this motto be removed, owing to its explicit religious nature.

References
  1. "Colligiate's Arithmetic Makes it the Oldest School". The New York Times. May 5, 1985. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  2. "Gifted Parents Help Collegiate School". The New York Times. May 24, 1988. Retrieved November 29, 2016. The concert celebrated what Collegiate calls its 360th anniversary. Which year the school was actually founded - 1628, 1633 or 1638 - has created disputes among the nation's oldest schools that seem as enduring as the schools. In 1984, Collegiate moved its date from 1633 to 1628, because officials discovered a letter written in 1628 by the Rev. Jonas Michealius of the Dutch Reformed Church describing his efforts to teach catechism to Indian children. To Collegiate officials, that sounded as much like a preparatory school as anything operating in early 17th-century America. The change puts Collegiate in the position of marking its 360th anniversary 55 years after it celebrated its 300th anniversary, in 1933. "It was all thrashed out around 1910," the headmaster, Cornelius B. Boocock, told The New York Times in 1933. "The case is now settled."...
  3. Nolan, Caroline (March 1, 2016). "The top 25 private high schools in the U.S." TheStreet. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  4. "Collegiate School in NY | The Oldest Independent School in the US". www.collegiateschool.org. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  5. "Colligiate's Arithmetic Makes It Oldest School". The New York Times. May 5, 1985. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  6. "History". Harvard University. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  7. "Boston Latin School | American secondary school". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  8. Anderson, Jenny (February 5, 2013). "Collegiate School, New York's Oldest Private School, Plans 17th Move". The New York Times.
  9. "Collegiate School - Private Boys K-12 Day School in NYC". www.collegiateschool.org. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  10. "The Report of the History and Symbols Task Force" (PDF). collegiateschool.org. pp. 56–57. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  11. Otto, Paul, "Peter Stuyvesant." in American National Biography, volume 21, 99–100. New York: Oxford University Press. 1999.
  12. "The Report of the History and Symbols Task Force" (PDF). collegiateschool.org. p. 35. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  13. "The Report of the History and Symbols Task Force" (PDF). collegiateschool.org. pp. 39–40. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
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  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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  25. Jason Beghe's Life After Scientology: 'I Was in a Cult', Marlow Stern, "He attended the Collegiate School, an elite private prep school for blue-blooded New York City boys, where his two best pals were John F. Kennedy, Jr. and David Duchovny."
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  40. https://oxingalerecords.com/matt-haimovitz/ "Haimovitz studied at the Collegiate School in New York and at the Juilliard School, in the final class of Leonard Rose, after which he continued his cello studies with Ronald Leonard and Yo-Yo Ma."
  41. Collegiate Book Fair Festival a Success: https://www.collegiateschool.org/page/news-detail?pk=519524
  42. Odd Man Rush (2016), Bill Keenan
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  47. Kickin' Out Old School: Puffed Up Prepsters, Wolf: "Alumni have paid homage to the campus in films including House of D by David Duchovny (class of '77) and The Talent Given Us by Andrew Wagner ('81), as well as the novel Heavy Metal and You by Chris Krovatin ('03)."
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  52. Winter Convocation Hears Jeffrey L. Orridge '78, https://www.collegiateschool.org/page/news-detail?pk=528484
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  72. Spring Convocation Features Luis Ubinas '81: https://www.collegiateschool.org/page/news-detail?pk=601114
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  76. Rhodes, Gary D. (2001). White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-7864-2762-8. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
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