The Masters School (aka Masters), is a private, coeducational boarding school and day college preparatory school located in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Its 96-acre (390,000Â m2) campus is located north of New York City on the Hudson Valley in Westchester County. It was founded as an all-girls private school in 1877 by Eliza Bailey Masters, and first admitted boys in 1996.
History
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Early history
The school was founded in 1877 by Eliza Bailey Masters as the ″Misses Masters' Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies and Children.″ Eliza Masters had been born in 1845 to a devout Methodist family. Never married, she was inspired by the loss of her brother, the teacher Jeremiah Wilbur Masters, to typhoid fever to start the school. Following her father's death in 1874, Eliza Masters founded the school at Wilde House, also called Kirk Knoll, near the school's present-day location. James Jennings McComb, a cotton magnate and philanthropist, moved to Dobbs Ferry in the 1880s to be closer to his children. He purchased a 23-acre parcel close to Wilde House from one Dr. Ryder, and commissioned a mansion, called Estherwood in honor of his second wife, Esther Wood, on it. (The mansion was completed in 1891.) At the time, the school, which had a burgeoning student body, was considering move to Irvington to the estate of Cyrus West Field. McComb convinced Eliza Masters to stay in Dobbs Ferry by purchasing 11 acres south of Estherwood, building First and Second Houses on them in 1883, and leasing them to the school for a nominal rent. The school's faculty and 75 students moved to McComb's estate in the fall of 1883. In 1888, McComb built a Third House as a school building with an assembly hall, classrooms, a gym, a studio, and a laboratory. A Fourth House, devoted to the study of domestic science, was constructed in 1891. After McComb's death in 1901, Eliza Masters purchased his estate for the equivalent of $12 to $13 million.
After Eliza Master's death in 1921, her sister, Sarah Wilbur Masters, succeeded her as headmistress, serving alongside Mary Comstock Strong. The School was incorporated in 1911 and Masters Hall, designed by Ralph Adams Cram, was completed in 1921. Many of the school's clubs, including the Missionary Society (today known as MISH), the Dobbs Athletic Association, Glee Club, and Phoenix (the school's acting society), came about during the early 20th century.
The school taught English, French, Latin, music, art, the Bible, moral philosophy, astronomy, botany, mathematics, domestic science, and etiquette. While it was secular, Masters had a religious tone; it catered exclusively to female students.
Later years
In 1996, due to under-enrollment, the school became co-educational, opening itself to male students for the first time.
Student body
The Masters School has over 670 students in grades 5-12. The school is co-educational with the exception of grades 6-8 in which most classes are separated by gender. As of February 2018, Masters students come from 15 states and 35 countries. In the Upper School, 17% of students are international.
Faculty
Over 70% of the faculty have advanced degrees. The average class size is 14 students.
Campus
The school's wooded 96-acre campus is on a hilltop in Dobbs Ferry, a historic village with a sloping geography and waterfront on the Hudson River. A five-minute walk from the campus lookout over the Hudson brings students down to the heart of town, and a 40-minute train ride from there brings faculty and students to New York City.
The Dobbs Ferry Metro-North Railroad station is a 12 minute downhill walk from the school's campus. Coming from the station, the walk to the campus is a 16 minute walk due to the series of very steep hills.
Located in the center of campus, two dormitories for boys and three dormitories for girls accommodate more than 150 upper school American and international students. The boys' dorms are named Thompson and Strong; the girls' dorms are named Ford, McCormack, and Cole.. Separated by a short hill, both sets of dorms have outdoor space with bbq grills for use in the warmer months.
The campus includes Estherwood, a late 19th-century mansion that is the only châteauesque building in Westchester County. It and its carriage house are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It houses faculty in apartments on the upper floors, and the first floor and grounds offer a unique setting for school parties and programs. Student chamber ensembles perform in Estherwood and, each year, drama students present one-act plays in one of the mansion’s rooms.
Facilities
- Masters Hall, which dates back to 1921, is the academic hub of the School. Renovated in 1972 following a devastating fire and again in 2005, it is a state-of-the-art facility for the twenty-first century. The building features the completely refurbished 30,000-volume Pittsburgh Library and McKnight Reading Room; Upper School academic classrooms with Harkness tables and ceiling-mounted LCD projectors; a digital media lab, language lab, lecture hall, computer lab, and administration and faculty offices.
- Morris Hall is the science and technology center. The building houses classrooms with Harkness tables and fully equipped science laboratories for teaching biology, physics, environmental science, chemistry, and one semester seminar style courses such as forensics; faculty offices; two computer studies rooms; a special lab for independent research; and two dedicated classrooms for the middle school.
- The Middle School building opened in January 2005. It houses fifteen spacious classrooms; the Great Hall, which accommodates the entire Middle School and occasionally the upper school for morning meeting, assemblies, and special events for the entire school; common areas on each floor for informal meetings and socializing; an art classroom and kiln; and a music room with keyboards.
- Cameron A. Mann Dining Hall is the school's rapidly ageing dining hall. The Dining Hall serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily for boarding and day students and is the site of many student and faculty hosted dinners and community events. The dining hall also houses the school's new Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center.
- Claudia Boettcher Theater is a 450-seat theater in which actors, musicians, singers, and dancers perform. It is also the school’s gathering place where the entire Upper School assembles most mornings to begin the academic day with morning meeting. It is connected to Masters Hall.
- Strayer Hall houses one of the school's Gymnasium, weight room, Music Center, and Dance Studio.
- Art Studio is a two-story art studio adjacent to the theater. A digital media lab and darkroom are located on the other side of the building. It is connected to Masters Hall.
- The Maureen Fonseca Center for Athletics and Arts, named for former Head of School Dr. Maureen Fonseca opened in the fall of 2015. It is a 75,000Â ft2 building featuring a fencing salon with seating for over 100 spectators, a six-lane FAA and NEPSAC compliant swimming pool, four squash courts, a three lane indoor track, a gymnasium with a regulation basketball court, two practice basketball courts and two volleyball courts, a cardio room, trainers room with whirlpool for conditioning and therapy, two sets of locker rooms, art gallery, experimental theater, two dance studios, photography and video studio, media arts lab, various rehearsal spaces for artists, and the Davis cafe, a popular place for students to hang out during free periods and after school that sells international snacks.
Athletics
The school offers the following sports each season:
Academics and curriculum
The minimum course load each year includes five major courses. Graduation requirements include four years of English, three years of a foreign language, three years of mathematics (through at least Trigonometry), two years of lab science, three years of history (including U.S. history), religion (a one-year minor), humanities minor in grade 9, visual or performing arts minor, public speaking, health, and four years of physical education or other athletic credit.
The school offers honors sections in the sciences, mathematics, and languages. Advanced Placement courses are offered in all of the academic departments.
Nearly all classes at Masters are designed around the Harkness method, a discussion-based teaching method designed to encourage active participation in education, and help students develop listening and speaking skills. To facilitate this method, nearly all classrooms are fitted with a large ovular Harkness table of varying sizes depending on the room. All of the tables have pull out boards built into the table for administrating exams.
Journalism
Tower is the student newspaper of The Masters School. It is published approximately seven times a year. In 2009, the newspaper was awarded a Gold Circle Award for student work from Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The publication was awarded a gold medal again in the 2013 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Medalist Critique. In the 2013-2014 school year, Tower won the National Scholastic Press Association Newspaper Pacemaker Award for the first time.
Arts and music
In the fields of theater, dance, music and the fine arts, many classes and opportunities are offered during and after the school day.
- Theatre
- The Drama Department stages three productions each yearâ€"a dramatic play in the fall, a musical in the winter, and student-directed one-act plays in the spring. Members of Phoenix, the school's honorary drama society, stage their own productions throughout the year, making student performances regular campus events. On Friday evenings, Phoenix Coffee House offers "open mic" opportunities for performers, poets, and musicians in the community.
- Music
- The music program offers classes and private lessons during the school day, one of the most popular being the school's chorus, known as Glee Club. Smaller A Capella groups are also popular. Students may participate in any of three groups: The Naturals, an all-male group; Dohters, all-female; and Dobbs 16, a coed group. Dobbs 16 has won competitions including the Northeast regional of the National Championship of High School A Capella 2005. The group toured China in the spring of 2008 and went on The Tyra Banks Show in fall 2009. The host of instrumental and vocal groups includes a community orchestra and a jazz ensemble, plus bands and combos that offer opportunities for musical expression.
- Dance
- The dance program offers classes during the day and three audition-only dance companies. Muse and Urban Connection perform modern/ballet and hip-hop, respectively. The Masters School Dance Company performs twice a year, and in it students have the opportunity both to choreograph their own pieces and to havs pieces set on them by professional choreographers.
- Visual arts
- The visual arts program offers classes during the day, which can fulfill the arts requirement. Studio art minor classes are offered for one semester, and the more intensive major classes are offered for the entire year. These classes focus on a variety of mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking.
- Digital arts
- Multiple classes are offered for students who are interested in 21st century digital arts. the prominent class is digital photography, where students learn professional methods for taking photographs and editing them with professional software such as Photoshop. In addition, the school offers several sections of digital media and game design, where students approach art from both the graphic and interface design aspect and more technical programming perspective.
Notable alumni and faculty
Alumni:
- Hazel Lavery â€" Artist. Second wife of Irish painter Sir John Lavery.
- Marin Alsop â€" conductor
- Michele Roberts â€" lawyer and President of National Basketball Players Association
- David Gelb â€" director
- Neltje Blanchan â€" scientific historian
- Kara DioGuardi â€" singer-songwriter
- Martha F. Gerry â€" heiress
- Alex Pall â€" member of The Chainsmokers
- Betsy Gotbaum â€" former New York City Public Advocate
- Mary Lea Johnson Richards â€" Johnson & Johnson heiress
- Nancy Kissinger - wife of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
- Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece â€" Crown Princess of Greece and Denmark
- Suzanne Paxton â€" 1996 Olympic foil fencer
- Susan Cheever â€" author
- Victoria Fuller â€" artist and sculptor
- Jill Krementz - photographer
- Marie Jenney Howe - suffragist and feminist
- Margaret Storrs Grierson â€" archivist and philosophy professor
- Helen Kirkpatrick â€" war correspondent during Second World War
- Alice Pearce â€" actress
- Ruth Rowland Nichols â€" aviator
- Edith Chapin - NPR National News Editor
- Elizabeth Post â€" etiquette writer
- Mary Jayne Gold - heiress and humanitarian
- Mary Scranton â€" former First Lady of Pennsylvania (1963â€"1967)
- Ruth Hanna McCormick â€" U.S. Representative from Illinois, 1929-1931
- Jay Washington â€" Filipino-American professional basketball player in Philippine Basketball Association
- Ilyasah Shabazz â€" motivational speaker and daughter of Malcolm X
- Elizabeth Walker â€" actress
- Flynn Berry â€" author
- Alex Pall - musician
- Rachel Rose (artist) - artist
Faculty:
- Grete Sultan â€" pianist (former)
- Gwendolyn Bradley â€" soprano
- Jessica Boevers - stage actress
References
External links
- Official website
- CITYterm at the Masters School
