Lancaster Country Day School (LCDS) is a private, secular, coeducational college preparatory school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. It serves 625 students in preschool through twelfth grade. All grades are housed under one roof.
Video Lancaster Country Day School
History
Founding
The school was founded in 1908 as a girls' school known as The Shippen School for Girls, the result of a merger between Lancaster College and Miss Stahr's School. In 1943, with the closing of nearby Franklin and Marshall Academy for Boys, the Shippen School changed its charter to become coeducational and adopted its current name. In 1949, it moved to its present location on Hamilton Road.
Headmasters
- Eleanor Fitzpatrick, 1943-1945
- Rebecca Walton Griest, 1945-1946
- Robert Holt Iglehart, 1946-1949
- John L. Byerly, 1949-1962
- Carl Denlinger, 1962
- Nathaniel Saltonstall II, 1962-1965
- John Jarvis, 1965-1990
- Richard Johnson, 1991-1999
- Mike Mersky, 1999-2007.
- Daphna Ben-Chaim (interim), 2007-2008
- Steven D. Lisk, 2008-present
Maps Lancaster Country Day School
Academics
LCDS' class size averages 14 students. The LCDS lower school program (preschool through fifth grade) includes skill-based grouping for math and reading instruction, and emphasizes art, music and physical education in parallel with academics. Spanish language instruction begins in preschool. In the middle school (grades six to eight), French is offered, and students are encouraged to participate in the fine and performing arts programs. In the upper school, Advanced Placement courses are offered in 11 subjects, and the foreign languages taught are French, Latin, Chinese, and Spanish. The school reports a 100% acceptance rate to four-year colleges/universities by its graduating seniors.
The school provides iPads to students from eighth to twelfth grade. The school retains the ability to view all information on every iPad and to remotely disable certain features. Eighth graders receive iPads without access to the App Store and with limited Safari functionality.
Extracurricular activities
Since 1980, LCDS has regularly sent senior students to The Hague for International Model United Nations conferences. In 2009 it was one of just six U.S. schools invited to participate in this annual program.
Athletics
LCDS competes in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The school sponsors the following sports:
Fall
- (C) Golf
- (G) Field hockey
- (B, G) Soccer
- (G) Tennis
Winter
- (B, G) Basketball
- (B, G) Squash
Spring
- (B, G) Lacrosse
- (B) Tennis
The school has a cooperative agreement with the School District of Lancaster, through which LCDS students can participate in baseball, football, bowling, cross country, swimming, track and field, and wrestling for McCaskey. LCDS students can compete on Lancaster Catholic High School's girls' volleyball team, while students from Lancaster Catholic may join the LCDS boys' and girls' lacrosse teams.
The school mascot is a cougar, and the school colors are maroon and gray. Teams from the school have competed in the PIAA District III and PIAA State playoffs.
Campus
Layout
Lancaster Country Day School sits on 26 acres of land in the School Lane Hills neighborhood at 725 Hamilton Road. The property was bought by Lancaster Country Day School in 1949. The academic section of the school consists of three wings. One wing houses the Lower School, constructed in two phases in the 1950s and 1960s; another wing houses the Science Department, constructed in 1960; the third wing houses the Upper School and dining commons as well as several conference rooms, constructed in 2005. The school partners with a local tennis club to allow for the cooperative use of tennis courts on campus. Additionally, the school owns space enough for around five fields, whether it be soccer, field hockey, or lacrosse. A theater, constructed in 1971, sits between the Science Wing and the newer Upper School wing. The school has two gymnasiums, one built in 1975 and the other built in 1992.
Expansion plans
In January 2015, the school's plan to proceed with a construction project estimated to cost around $21 million received zoning approval. The expansion plan received attention from some neighbors, as the new main entrance and parking lots were considered to be possibly disruptive. Because the school's Board of Trustees sought a more financially feasible option, the governing board opted for a cheaper plan, with the potential to have several phases. The first approved phase, which began in summer 2016, included:
- A new parking lot north of the school, located on the southwestern-most lots on Shreiner Avenue.
- Lower School renovations, including a new, more welcoming entrance; upgraded systems: air conditioning, significant electrical upgrades, new roof, and energy efficient windows; refreshed interior: new floors and lockers, enhanced lighting and higher corridor ceiling
In the fall of 2016, the second phase of construction was scheduled to begin with a new Physical Education and Athletics Complex, including locker rooms, a sports medicine and trainer room, visitor restrooms, fitness center, concessions, and a multipurpose dance/yoga/early-childhood studio. A new front entrance from President Avenue via Clay Street with safer drop-off lane at the Lower School entrance will also be created, and the science wing and arts center will be air-conditioned.
In the winter of 2016, construction was scheduled to continue with the building of five regulation squash courts and seating for fans. Previous plans to construct a new theatre and rebuild the Lower School and Science Wing were postponed. On January 5, 2016, the school received approval from Manheim Township to renovate the theater during a later construction phase, the timing of which is still to be determined. The school administration invited neighbors and parents to attend multiple discussions regarding the new expansion.
Community outreach
- Beginning in the summer of 2015, Lancaster Country Day School began offering the national Horizons program to low-income elementary school students from the school district of Lancaster. Horizons partners with independent schools and colleges to help students keep pace with their peers by minimizing the amount of information they forget during summer vacation.
- Country Day's work with Lancaster Area Habitat for Humanity began in 2001 and continues to grow, with the school winning Habitat's 2013 Humanitarian of The Year Award, presented in a celebration dinner on World Habitat Day.
- In addition to time Upper Schoolers spend volunteering at the center, in 2014 the boys' lacrosse team raised more than $1,000 for the Schreiber Pediatric Center in Lancaster.
- The Bangla-Dash fundraiser and race benefiting the Carter Academy in Bangladesh was conceived and implemented by the class of '17.
Notable alumni
- Alice Rebecca Appenzeller 1915 -- first American born in Korea; President of Ewha College (1922-1939)
- Victoria Gardner Coates 1986 -- University of Pennsylvania art history professor and national security adviser for Senator Ted Cruz
- Michael Deibert 1992 -- journalist and author
- Mark Ibold 1980 -- rock musician (bass guitarist), formerly of Pavement and currently Sonic Youth
- Carla Kihlstedt 1989 -- musician (violinist, vocalist)
- Rya Kihlstedt 1987 -- actress: Nashville, Dexter
- Andrew J. Porter 1990 -- author
- Mike Still 1999 -- artistic director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Los Angeles
References
External links
- Official site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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