Closer Look: The Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss offers a diverse yet interwoven curriculum
By Aaron Arlyn
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1/1/2004
The Hotchkiss School is a coeducational college-preparatory boarding school located in the village of Lakeville in rural northwestern Connecticut. Founded in 1891, Hotchkiss has an enrollment of 544 students in grades 9 through 12, with an average class size of 13. All members of the class of 2002 are now attending college at fine institutions such as Brown, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. The Hotckiss School is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools. It holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Hotchkiss offers a diverse yet interwoven curriculum. Students can choose from more than 225 separate courses, some of them interdisciplinary and many offered as seminars. Four-year students must complete 17 courses in order to graduate, including 4 years of English, 3 years of mathematics, 3 years of one language, 1 year of American history, 1 year of art (e.g. art, dance, drama, music, photography), and 1 year of biology, chemistry, or physics. Advanced placement courses are available in many subject areas. Incoming students are given placement exams to determine the level at which they should begin their studies.
The Hotchkiss student body is as diverse as its curriculum. Enrollment for 2002-03 was 51% male and 49% female. Students come from 37 states, the District of Columbia, and 24 other countries. International students constitute 9 percent, and minority students account for 24 percent of the student body.
The Hotchkiss School borders two lakes amidst the hills and woodlands of Northwestern Connecticut. Its 525-acre campus contains fully modernized and centrally located academic facilities. At the center of student life is the Main Building, which has wings accommodating the student center, chapel, auditorium, and dining hall; two computer labs; the Cullman Art Center; the Tremaine Art Gallery, dance studio, and black-box theater; and the Edsel Ford Library, which holds a collection of more than 74,000 volumes.
All classes other than those in science are held in the Main Building. The recently renovated Griswold Science Building has a full range of laboratories and areas for independent study, extensive photographic facilities, a weather station, and a radio station with full broadcasting capabilities.
Hotckiss contains ten dormitories, which are divided into corridors that each house 15 to 20 students. Each corridor is fully supervised by faculty members and senior proctors. The school has one dining hall, a student center with a snack bar, a bookstore that carries a full line of supplies, and a number of areas for informal gatherings. The fully equipped, recently renovated Wieler Infirmary on campus is open 24 hours a day and the Sharon Hospital is 5 miles down the road.
To accommodate its strong athletics programs, Hotchkiss is also equipped with first-rate sports facilities. A new 212,000-square-foot athletic and fitness center opened in fall 2002, featuring a second indoor ice rink, a field house with three basketball/volleyball courts and an elevated track, an expanded wrestling/multipurpose room, eight international-style squash courts, and a new ten-lane swimming facility with a separate diving well. Other existing athletic facilities include a nine-hole golf course, a 400-meter all-weather track, a regulation baseball field, two football fields, four field hockey fields, five soccer/lacrosse fields, two paddle tennis courts, and twenty all-weather and three indoor tennis courts as well as a lakefront with a boathouse.
The Hotchkiss School is a nonprofit corporation governed by a 25-member Board of Trustees. The school's endowment is currently valued at more than $290 million. Its Annual Fund generates more than $3 million for the yearly operating budget. The Hotchkiss Alumni Association maintains contact with more than 8162 living alumni, many of whom provide substantial financial support and are active in student recruiting activities.
The Hotchkiss School was founded by Maria Bissell Hotchkiss in 1891 at the urging of President Timothy Dwight of Yale. The school was established to prepare young men in the basic skills of the classical curriculum then in vogue so that they might go on to attend Yale. This classical curriculum has evolved over the years into a more diverse learning opportunity. And like many other single-sex schools during the same era, Hotchkiss became coeducational school during the 1970s amid society’s changing attitudes toward gender equity and how children should be educated. Enrollment for 2002-03 consisted of 279 boys (51%) and 265 girls (49%).
For more information visit The Hotchkiss School web site web site, or contact the following:
Dean of Admission
The Hotchkiss School
Box 800
Lakeville, Connecticut 06039
Telephone: 860-435-3102
Fax: 860-435-0042
E-mail: admission@hotchkiss.org
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