Tabor Academy (Massachusetts)

Mrs. Taber's Vision
Tabor Academy was founded in 1876 as a school for children from Marion, Massachusetts, by a bequest in the will of Elizabeth Sprague (Pitcher) Taber,[2] a wealthy widow and benefactress of the town. Article 27 of her will stated, "I have lately caused to be erected on a lot owned by me in Marion Lower Village, a building ... to be known as 'The Tabor Academy'."[3] She named the school after Mount Tabor, a mountain of biblical importance near the Sea of Galilee.¹ She stated that "the character of the school should be gradually elevated and its scope enlarged [to serve] youth of all portions of the country".[4] From its creation, the academy was co-educational just as Mrs. Taber had intended, established "to provide better and more complete facilities than had heretofore existed or were likely to exist for thorough education in the higher branches of English knowledge".[5]

The first headmaster was Clark Phelps Howland of Yale University, who reported in 1884 that "It is the aim of the school to give thorough instruction, and to encourage in its pupils a desire for the real rather than the showy, and to develop the moral as well as the intellectual element." The initial tuition fee for the Academy was $24, or $300 for students who wished to board in the headmaster's home. While Elizabeth Taber did not stipulate any particular religious affiliation for the academy, Howland stated that Tabor "will probably always be under the management of those who sympathize with the Congregational faith." Howland was succeeded by Dana Marsh Dustan, Dartmouth B.A. 1880, A.M. 1883 (1893–1901), Nathan Chipman Hamblin, Harvard B.A. 1892 (1901–1910) and Charles Edward Pethybridge, Amherst B.A. 1906 (1910–1916).

The Lillard Years

The schoolboys and headmasters of the International Schoolboy Fellowship outside the École du Montcel in summer 1928. Walter H. Lillard is pictured center

Tabor was reorganized in 1916 as an independent secondary school for boys under the tenure of headmaster Walter Huston Lillard, who came to Tabor from Phillips Academy and was educated himself at Dartmouth College and Oxford University, is responsible for creating the first long-range vision for the future of the Academy.

Lillard turned Tabor into an all-boys' school and cancelled plans to make the Academy the town of Marion's school and vowed to keep it a privately endowed and operated institution.[6] In the 1930s, Lillard orchestrated a trade with the town of Marion. The original Academy buildings were deeded to the town (now the Elizabeth Taber Library and Marion Town Hall) and were traded for the current waterfront location in order to allow the academy to expand and grow. He acquired the surrounding cottages and plots of land in order to secure the academy's future expansion' the area had increased ten-fold by the end of his tenure in 1942.[7] Among other contributions to the school was his design of the current seal of the school, which shows a full-rigged ship and the motto "All-a-taut-o". He selected the seal as an image to students to "sail towards broader horizons" and the motto because of its nautical meaning as the state of a vessel when everything is shipshape and accounted for.[6]

Lillard was responsible for the creation of the International Schoolboy Fellowship in 1927, the first established international student exchange program for American schoolboys.[8] He was chairman of the program which he formed in conjunction with headmasters from schools in England, France and Germany and eventually invited fifteen other New England prep schools to join as well. He took all boys who "made good" during the academic year on the annual cruise to France to partake in the exchange and brought English schoolboys to study at the Academy during the year. Lillard believed that "One American boy in a French community for a summer brings home a new understanding of French tradition and ideals, which he communicates to his schoolfellows. Friendship and tolerance are bred by intimacy, we cannot begin too young."[8] After his years at Tabor, Walter "Cappy" Lillard went on to work for the United Nations in Vienna as the Chief of the Resettlement Division of the International Refugee Organization.[9]

Tabor today
The school was, until the late 1940s, a maritime school where uniformed boys performed morning and evening drill as well as pursuing a classical academic curriculum. When it returned to its original ideals as a rigorous, college preparatory boarding and day school, it still retained its status as a Naval Honor School. It was designated a Naval Honor School in 1941 by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and remains only one of two secondary schools which still hold the distinction.[10]

The headmasters who followed Lillard and continued his vision of expansion and growth were James W. Wickenden (1942–1976), Peter M. Webster B.A. Texas M.A.T. Yale (1976–1989) and Jay S. Stroud B.A. Carleton College, M.A. Dartmouth College, Ed.M Columbia University (1989–2012). In 2002, Stroud commented on the experience of living and learning at Tabor, "Our unparalleled location on the edge of the sea creates our metaphor for education. While some of our students literally study marine biology or celestial navigation, sail boats both large and small, row crew shells or swim off Tabor's docks, all our students undertake voyages of the mind and spirit. Tabor reminds us all that daily life is about the largest visions possible. It is about widening the horizon, redefining the possible, developing the courage to undertake great voyages. All of us who live here are fortunate to have both the joy and the possibility of adventure in the tides that rise at our front door every morning. It is the right place for a school."[11] Stroud retired after the class of 2012. John Quirk was selected by the Board of Trustees to be the headmaster following Stroud's retirement.

Lillard Hall dormitory

The campus and location of the Academy is one of the most recognizable and famous features of Tabor. Its open and ungated campus is divided into three sections by Front Street and Spring Street. The dormitory of Lillard Hall, the Johnson Dining Room, the Fireman Performing Arts Center, Hoyt Hall, the Marine Science Center, the Martin Fields and two underclassmen dormitories form the waterfront portion of the campus. Across Front Street is the academic and athletic core of the campus consisting of the Academic Center, the Hayden Library, the Math and Science Center, the Fish Center for Athletics, the Health Center, the Braitmayer Art Center, the Hoyt Fields, the Admissions House and some dormitories. "Upper Campus" is the area across Spring Street and consists of the Wickenden Chapel, a chemistry lab, the Hutchinson tennis courts, the James D. Gowing track, the Chapel fields and dormitories which appear to be cottages or private homes from the outside. The lack of gates and fences creates a blending of the campus with the surrounding village.

The dormitories at Tabor Academy range from small houses with as few as five students, to larger dormitories with as many as 40 students, each mixed with freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Each dormitory has three faculty "dorm parents", at least one of whom lives in the dormitory with their family alongside the students. Both single and double rooms are available for students to choose in the housing lottery. Additionally, selective underclassmen serve as proctors who live in the dormitories to assist the younger students with the adjustment to boarding life and to serve as a medium between the students and the faculty.[12]

Tabor offers a program useful at competitive colleges. For a school of its size, the curriculum contains an especially broad spectrum of courses, from introductory levels to honors and 22 AP courses to highly sophisticated opportunities for independent work.

Tabor offers classes in the traditional liberal arts fields such as the humanities, math and the sciences but also Greek, ichthyology, Mandarin Chinese, lighting design and numerous nautical and marine science courses. In addition to a classical curriculum, Tabor offers elective courses about everything from blogging to Greek philosophy. If a student exhausts the levels of a course available, the independent study program allows students to pursue a strength to the level they desire. A student will work one on one with a faculty member and create a custom curriculum and syllabus to satisfy their interest.

Among the many scholarships and accolades available for exceptional Tabor students is the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. It is the secondary school equivalent of the Rhodes Scholarship and is a full four-year scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill awarded to one graduating senior every year. There is an Outward Bound program in which a nominated sophomore takes part each summer. Tabor has a drama exchange program with Ellesmere College in England. A participant in the exchange program was Chris Hawkins.

The Marine Science Center

Tabor Academy fields 55 different teams in 23 interscholastic sports and another 15 instructional programs. The school has the Fish health and athletic center, which includes an indoor hockey rink, fitness center, weight room, wrestling room, eight squash courts, field house, basketball gymnasium, football field, four basketball courts, student lounge and grill, athletic offices, a resident athletic trainer, locker rooms, team rooms and an attached health center and infirmary. Tabor also has the waterfront on Sippican Harbor in Marion for swimming in the spring and summer months, and is used for the training of the sailing and rowing teams.

The 1939 Tabor Academy crew prepare to board the Queen Mary to travel to England to win their third championship in the Henley Royal Regatta in the span of four years

Rowing

In 1919, Tabor was one of the first American prep schools to formally establish a rowing program. The strong rowing history at Tabor dates back almost a century. Both the men's and the women's teams have been active participants in the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, UK. The men won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 1965, the Thames Challenge Cup in 1936, 1937 and 1939 and have made it to the finals in both numerous times. In 1939, the New York Times reported on Tabor's dominance on the international level, stating that "It is almost a maxim nowadays that either Tabor Academy or Kent School will win the Thames Challenge Cup race for eight-oared crews."[13] In August 1938, Tabor's status as an international power in schoolboy rowing was confirmed by its participation in one of the first recorded international schoolboy competitions on American waters when a crew of Radley College oarsmen traveled across the Atlantic via the Cunard Line RMS Aquitania to race the Tabor Academy crew on Sippican Harbor in Marion.[14]

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Tabor competed regionally against rival prep schools, with its strongest rival being Kent School, faced in numerous Henley finals and American championship regattas. During this period, in order to seek out a higher level of competition, Tabor raced against crews from Harvard University, Yale University and M.I.T. The relationship between Tabor and Harvard can be traced back to 1931 when Tabor traveled to England with the Harvard crew to race at Henley and used one of the Crimson's shells in competition.[15]

A crew of four Tabor boys rows on Sippican Harbor in 1918.

In 1951, Tabor was one of the original founding members of the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association along with Belmont Hill, Choate, the Gunnery, Salisbury, St. George's, Browne & Nichols, Phillips Exeter Academy, Pomfret, South Kent, St. Mark's, Kent, the Halcyon and Shattuck clubs from St. Paul's, and Shrewsbury.

In 1967, the Tabor oarsmen were poised to win their second Henley victory in three years. Rowing hard races until the finals they faced a well-rested Eton College crew and lost by ¾ of one boatlength. Another famous race was the 1947 Thames Challenge Cup final at Henley. Coming after the destruction of World War II, many of the British crews did not have sufficient food after war rationing. Tabor thought the honorable decision was to train under the same calorific restrictions as the British crews. They still managed to reach the finals where they lost to traditional rival Kent School, who brought along their own provisions from the US, but won wide support from the British fans and press for their sportsmanship.[16]

Tabor is one of eleven schools to have a guest room at the famed Leander Club, in Henley-on-Thames. Each room is named after, designed in the colors of and features various memorabilia from a major rowing school or university. Among the other schools with rooms at Leander are Harvard, Yale, Brown, Oxford, Cambridge and Kent. In recent years, Tabor has continued to win NEIRA championships, win invitations to the USRowing Youth National Championships and travel to England to race at the Henley Royal Regatta on a regular basis.[17]

Ice hockey

Tabor's men's ice hockey team, three time New England Champions, has produced over 24 NCAA Division 1 and NHL caliber players over the years. The men's and women's team practice and compete in the Travis Roy arena on campus. On August 1, 2012, Tabor alumnus Jayson Megna signed a 2-way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.[18] Colleen Coyne, 1998 Olympic Gold Medalist in women's ice hockey, is a Tabor graduate.

Fish Center for Health & Athletics

Fall Athletics Pep Rally

"Youth of all portions" Tabor is primarily a boarding school. Every year a new freshman class enrolls, as well as a large number of new sophomores and to a lesser extent, new juniors and seniors. About 75 percent of those students live in dormitories on campus while the remaining 25 percent are day students who live at home and commute to the school. A large part of the community at Tabor is the international students who come from around the world to learn at the Academy. There are students and faculty who live in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

The S.S.V. Tabor Boy

The academy utilizes its extensive waterfront facilities to house Tabor's 92' schooner 'S.S.V. Tabor Boy'. The Tabor Boy is one of the most famous and recognizable features of the school. The roots of the program were founded in 1917 when then headmaster W.H. Lillard loaned two 31-foot (9.4 m) cutters from the U.S. Navy to develop the academy's nautical programs. In 1925, "The Tabor Boy Trust" was formed to raise funds to purchase an 88' schooner for the school's use. In 1933, Headmaster Lillard, Captain Lewis and 18 students sailed the Tabor Boy up the Hudson River, through the New York State Canal System and down the Great Lakes to show the Tabor Boy off in an eight-week exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago.[20]

Beyond the Classroom

There are many activities for students to participate in on the weekends as well as some weeknights. On the weekends there are usually school-sponsored trips to either Providence or Boston, which are both less than an hour from campus by bus. Also, there are activities such as vans to the local cinema, trips to the mall or local restaurants. On campus, there are usually a combination of dances, dorm activities, film screenings, hypnotists, visiting bands, intramural sports competitions and other various events. Every night the Beebe Grill is open in the Fish Center for students to get something to eat after study hall, or a place where there are musical performances and dances on the weekends. In the spring, the waterfront is opened used by students to take out boats for the afternoon or to go swimming off the docks and in the winter students can use the Travis Roy Rink for skating on weekend nights.[21]

In addition, Tabor Academy is located walking distance from Silvershell Beach, where students can have a picnic on the beach, take a quick jog, and pick up ice cream from the Marion General Store on the way.

The alumni of Tabor have a farreaching influence in a number of different fields. Those who have passed through Tabor have gone on to become candidates for the Presidency of the United States, billionaires and tycoons of business, Pulitzer Prize winning authors, Olympians and other influential people in the areas of business, government, culture and sport. A 2009 report by the Boston Business Journal showed that two of the top six largest companies (in terms of annual revenue) in Massachusetts had a Tabor graduate as CEO.

• ^1 Mount Tabor is a hill in Israel, near Nazareth, believed by many to be the site of the Transfiguration of Christ.

• Tabor Academy home page
• The Association of Boarding Schools profile
• Boarding School Review
• Wall Street Journal Online
• "The Right Private School for Your Kid", Boston Magazine
• Tabor Sailing Page
• "Tabor Dedicates Green Building", South Coast Today