Dwight School
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The Dwight School is a selective, combined elementary and secondary private school on the Upper West Side in New York, NY.
The school was founded in 1880 by Julius Sachs, founder of The College Board and member of the Goldman Sachs banking family. Throughout the early decades of the school, it catered to the Upper East Side's "German Jewish aristocracy," in the words of Stephen Birmingham in his book, "Our Crowd": The Great Jewish Families of New York (see famous alumni below). In the 1890s, Timothy Dwight became involved in the affairs of the school and it became a feeder school for Yale University. The school's campus was originally located on Central Park South, adjacent to the Plaza Hotel, but later moved to a more economically viable location on East 67th Street between First and York Avenues as a result of the Great Depression. In 1993, Dwight merged with the Anglo-American International School (formerly known as the Franklin School, founded 1872) and moved its campus to Anglo-American's location on Central Park West and 89th Street. In addition to the original building on 89th street, the school expanded, occupying several floors of a building across the street at 291 Central Park West.
Children who are enrolled in Dwight's selective lower school are placed in an immersion program where they are expected to become fluent in a foreign language. Dwight has traditionally expected their lower school students to become proficient in French, but has recently switched to Spanish in an effort to update their curriculum. In the 1980s, Dwight became the first school in the United States to offer the three International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, grades K-12.
Despite Dwight's small size of about 400 students, 37 countries are represented due to the large diplomatic contingent that elect to send their children to the school. The school's expatriot student body represents at least a quarter of the students in most classes. Many of Dwight's parents are ambassadors, consuls general, or employees of the United Nations Secretariat.
Dwight's faculty is considered among some of the most accomplished in New York City. The majority of faculty hold a degree from an Ivy League University. Two current teachers are Dr. Scott Hoerle, formerly a humanities professor at Harvard, and Radomir Kovacevich a three-time Olympic champion. The former coach of Dwight's state champion basketball team Pee Wee Kirkland is a New York City streetball legend and Chicago Bulls draft pick who was featured in a major article in Sports Illustrated. Dwight is also a powerhouse in fencing and tennis, in which it has won national championships.
Dwight is infamous for the acronym: Dumb White Idiots Getting High Together. After pressure from an article released by W magazine, the school administration created a highly applauded drug abuse prevention program to combat the wide use of high-end narcotics within the school.
Dwight is considered one of the top private schools in Manhattan. Dwight's mascot is the "Dwight Tiger," a visible symbol around the school. Their school colors are Blue and White, and an annual "Blue and White" competition between students is held annually. The school motto is: "Use your spark of genius to build a better world."
Notable alumni
Notable alumni of Dwight School include. This may include graduates, current students, those who transferred to other schools, and those who dropped out of high school altogether (Primary source: [Dwight School]):
- Henry Morgenthau Secretary of the Treasury to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt [link]
- Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City [link]
- Herbert Lehman Governor of New York, Senator, and Investment banker (co-founder of Lehman Brothers) [link]
- Walter Lippmann Advisor to President Harry Truman, political columnist and arguably intellectual forerunner to the neo-conservatives. [link]
- Vin Diesel Actor
- Truman Capote Famous author
- Julian Casablancas, [link] of The Strokes
- Nick Valensi of The Strokes
- Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes
- Hal Prince, Director [link]
- Roy Lichtenstein, Artist [link]
- Jonah Goldberg Conservative Commentator [link]
- Lizzie Grubman, High profile agent [link]
- Paris Hilton, Celebutante, Hilton Hotel heiress, Did not graduate.
- Damon Dash, Hip hop and urban fashion impresario
External links
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