Enrollment:
Boarding 420

2008-2009 Costs:
Tuition:
Boarding: $39,200

Episcopal High School
Alexandria, Virginia 22302

Overview

Episcopal High School (EHS) opened in 1839 and, as the first high school in Virginia, became known throughout the South as "The High School," a name by which it is still known today. The School grew from 35 boys to more than 100 boys until May 1861, when the Civil War forced its closing. For the next five years, the School served as part of a large hospital for federal troops. It reopened in 1866 and has been in continuous operation since.

Episcopal is dedicated to educating students who, as responsible citizens of the world, are prepared to lead lives of honor, courage, and compassion. The School emphasizes the spiritual, intellectual, physical, and moral development of every student through rigorous academics, daily athletics and activities, regularly scheduled chapel services, and extensive activities and community service programs. One of the School's most enduring traditions is its Honor Code, the oldest among secondary schools in the nation and a tradition that remains a central part of community life.

Episcopal's 130-acre campus in Alexandria, Virginia, is just 10 minutes from the vast educational, cultural, and governmental resources of Washington, D.C., and teachers use the nation's capital as a second campus. Alexandria, situated on the Potomac River in northern Virginia, offers a spectrum of cultural, social, historical, and educational events.

Episcopal is a nonprofit corporation governed by a 30-member Board of Trustees, most of whom are alumni. The School's endowment is $95 million, and the plant is valued at $100 million. Contributions to the annual giving program totaled $2.3 million, and total gifts exceeded $10 million. The 4,600 living alumni, the alumni organization, the alumni Executive Council, and the Parents' Council all lend their support to the School's mission.

Episcopal High School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Virginia Association of Independent Schools. It holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, the National Association of Episcopal Schools, the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, and the Cum Laude Society.

Academic Life/Programs of Study

EHS is committed to providing a liberal arts education in which students learn to think independently, analyze, and reason. The college-preparatory curriculum offers more than 100 courses, including thirty-five honors and Advanced Placement courses. A minimum of 19 credits is required for graduation, including English (4), mathematics (3 or 3½), foreign language (2 or 3), social studies (3), laboratory sciences and physical education (2 each), theology and fine arts (1 each). The passing grade is 65; a grade of 90 or better constitutes honors-level work.

In classes, students are grouped into honors and regular sections of about 12 students each according to their ability and familiarity with the subject matter. Tutorial sessions are available six periods each week, and evening study hours ensure a quiet study environment. Parents receive grades quarterly, which are accompanied by teachers' and advisers' comments.

Many classes are enhanced by trips to museums, galleries, plays, concerts, and government agencies in Washington, D.C., as well as to events of national and international interest, such as presidential inaugurations. Qualified seniors take part in a one-month internship in which they work in such places as Capitol Hill, banks, hospitals, social service organizations, government agencies, media companies, and law firms.

As part of the foreign language program, students may take part in summer study trips to France, Spain, Austria, and Italy. Students also have the option of studying in France, Spain, Italy, or China as part of the School Year Abroad program, and qualified seniors may take a postgraduate year in Great Britain as part of the English-Speaking Union program. In addition, Episcopal offers a semester-long cultural exchange with St. Leonard's School in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Campus Life and Activities

Approximately 110 new students enroll each year. The student body represents thirty states, the District of Columbia, and fifteen other countries.

Episcopal's Honor Code, the oldest of its kind in the country, is an essential part of community life and is strongly supported by the faculty and students. The Honor Code is overseen by an Honor Committee of 8 students and 4 faculty members. The code asserts that students will not lie, cheat, or steal. Out of genuine concern for and responsibility to those who do, students are asked to report violators to the Honor Committee. Students whose values and conduct prove to be irreconcilable with the Honor Code will be asked to leave.

The student body is led by student monitors who are nominated to the Headmaster by the faculty members and students. Monitors are responsible for discipline and orderliness in the day-to-day life of the School. A student-elected Dorm Council offers additional leadership opportunities.

Athletics

The athletics program promotes physical fitness and good sportsmanship while instilling a healthy respect for regular exercise and competition. The School offers fifty-one athletic options per year, including forty-seven teams in fourteen sports. These include junior, junior varsity, and varsity teams in many sports. All ninth- and tenth-grade students participate in three sports—one each season—and juniors and seniors take part in at least one sport each year. Episcopal offers baseball, basketball, crew, cross-country, dance, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, squash, tennis, track, volleyball, and wrestling as well as aerobics, weight training, and cross training during some seasons. Boys' teams participate in the Interstate Athletic Conference, and girls' teams take part in the Independent School League. Episcopal's teams play a full sports schedule with other independent schools in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Episcopal's outstanding athletics facilities include Hummel Bowl, a 2,800-seat stadium; Flippin Field House, with three tennis courts, three basketball courts, a 200-yard track, and a batting cage; Centennial Gymnasium, which has a basketball court and fitness center; seven playing fields; Goodman Squash Center and Bryant Squash Courts, which together house six squash courts; Cooper Dawson Baseball Diamond; a wrestling cage; twelve all-weather tennis courts; an outdoor swimming pool; and Hoxton Track, a six-lane, 400-meter outdoor track.

Facilities and Services

Academic facilities include six buildings with forty-four classrooms. The David H. March Library houses more than 30,000 books, videos and CDs, 125 periodicals, twelve newspapers, microforms and CD-ROMs, and access to five online commercial databases and a national interlibrary loan network via OCLC. EHS requires all students to own a laptop specified by the Technology Department. In addition, student desks in all classrooms are wired with both power outlets and data drops, allowing any classroom to be used as a computer lab. This affords faculty members the opportunity to use technology anytime and anywhere they choose. Each classroom has a monitor for the display of both video and data. The Episcopal Computer Center (TECC) houses a state-of-the-art training center that makes use of the latest in technology and a network operations center houses twenty servers that support applications, file storage, printing, e-mail, the EHSIntranet, and the EHS Web site. Printers, including one in each dormitory, are distributed throughout the campus for student and staff use. Other facilities include four science labs, each with at least two Apple computers; an art studio; Stewart Gymnasium Dance Studio; a performing arts center and auditorium; a bookstore; Bryan Library Reception Center; and meeting rooms and offices.

Residential facilities include seven dormitories. Most have double rooms, although there are a few singles and triples, and all feature common rooms and laundry facilities. A faculty member, often with a family, lives in an apartment or town house attached to each dormitory. Together with the senior monitors who also live on each dormitory floor, they help foster a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere. Students attend services in Patrick Henry Callaway Chapel. Health services are provided at McAllister Infirmary, a fifteen-bed facility that is staffed by a registered nurse 24 hours a day and visited twice a day by a physician. Alexandria Hospital, just two blocks away, offers outstanding emergency treatment.

Other residential facilities include Laird Dining Room, where buffet- and family-style meals are served; Blackford Hall, the main coed student lounge with a snack bar, vending area, student post office and mailboxes, a big screen projection unit for Friday night movies, and a jukebox; two other coed lounges, each equipped differently; and fifty-nine faculty residences.

Faculty, Advisors and College Placement

Nearly 90 percent of the full-time faculty of 70 men and women live on campus with their families and are available to teach and guide students while promoting community.

Rob Hershey, who was appointed Headmaster in 1998, succeeded L. Sanford Ainslie, School head from 1981 to 1998. Mr. Hershey was previously Headmaster at his alma mater, the Collegiate School in Richmond, and at Durham Academy. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.Ed. from the University of Virginia.

Faculty members are chosen for their interest in and dedication to young people and for their proficiency in teaching their subject area. As teachers, coaches, dorm parents, counselors, and good friends, they support and direct students' growth. Nearly all serve as advisers. Each is responsible for the academic and social progress of 6 8 advisees, and each maintains close contact with parents.

Students are encouraged to start thinking about college as early as possible. Formal college counseling begins early in the junior year, when students meet with a college counselor to begin considering appropriate colleges and to become familiar with the application process. More than 100 colleges take part in Episcopal's annual College Fair, and representatives from about eighty-five schools conduct on-campus interviews. The 95 graduates of the class of 2006 are attending fifty-one colleges and universities, including Brown, Chicago, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Princeton, Vanderbilt, Washington and Lee, Yale, and the Universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Extracurricular Opportunities

The School makes maximum use of the opportunities of the Washington metropolitan area, and students are also encouraged to participate in and support on-campus activities with equal vigor. The School presents at least three plays each year, one of which is a musical. Three School publications—a yearbook, a newspaper, and a literary magazine—offer opportunities for students to display their creative literary skills. Other extracurricular opportunities include art, choir, community band, community service program, E-Club (the varsity athletic club), environmental club, Outdoor Club, Investment Club, Model Judiciary, Model UN, performing arts group, Pythonian Society (student tutors), Web publications, Peace Corps, Student Health Awareness Committee, student rock bands, student vestry, tour guides, and Youth in Philanthropy, plus a varied activities program that involves students in cultural, historic, athletic, outdoor, and social activities throughout the Washington area. The School regularly provides tickets for performances at the Kennedy Center and other major theaters and concert halls in and near Washington. Qualified students may audition for the Mount Vernon Youth Symphony, which rehearses weekly at Episcopal.

Daily Life

A buffet breakfast at 7:15 a.m. begins the day. Before the beginning of classes at 8, students put their rooms in order and participate in a work program that helps maintain the School. Four 45-minute periods precede required chapel on most days at 11:30. Chapel is followed by a seated lunch, three more class periods, and an afternoon athletics period. Students then attend dinner, which is followed by a 1-hour activities period in which students may relax or take part in extracurricular activities and clubs. The remainder of the evening is spent in study period until lights-out (10:15 p.m. for freshmen, 11 p.m. for sophomores and juniors, and 11:30 p.m. for seniors). During the evening study period, qualified students may study in their rooms, the library, or other approved study areas, while others report to supervised study hall.

All students attend chapel services three times a week and bimonthly Sunday services. Students who wish to participate more fully in the religious life of the School take part in the student vestry and a variety of community service programs. Students of other faiths are provided opportunities to attend services of their choosing in the Alexandria community.

Weekend Life

The School endeavors to make weekend life relaxing and productive. Activities include mixers or dances with many neighboring schools, on-campus concerts, trips to Old Town Alexandria, and sports events in Washington, D.C. Faculty members regularly take students skiing, camping, hiking, and biking. The School provides tickets for performances at the Kennedy Center and other major theaters and for professional sports events.

Admissions, Cost and Financial Aid

The comprehensive fee for the 2008-09 session was $39,200. Tuition is payable in one, two, or nine installments.

Financial aid is awarded annually to those families whose need has been demonstrated through the School and Student Service for Financial Aid in Princeton, New Jersey. For the year 2007- 08, scholarship funds of about $3 million were allocated to 30 percent of the student body. Several job opportunities enable students to supplement their personal spending money.

Episcopal enrolls students with proven academic ability, strong character, and an interest in contributing significantly to the EHS community.

Typically, 110 new students, selected from an applicant pool of nearly 500, enroll each year. The majority enroll in the ninth or tenth grade; a few enter in the eleventh. In special cases, a student may be admitted for his or her senior year.

The formal application includes a personal application, recommendations from current teachers, an official school record, and a personal interview. Applicants to grades 9 and 10 are required to take the SSAT.

Application Timetable

Students who complete their applications ($50 fee) by January 31 are notified on March 10. Late applicants are considered on a rolling basis.

A personal interview and a visit to the campus are part of the admission process. Interviews and campus tours should be scheduled for class days. Classroom visits can be arranged. If a campus visit is not possible, the Admissions Office will try to coordinate other arrangements.

Admissions Correspondence

Episcopal High School
1200 North Quaker Lane
Alexandria, Virginia 22302
Telephone: 703-933-4062
Fax: 703-933-3016
E-mail: admissions@episcopalhighschool.org
http://www.episcopalhighschool.org