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Wakefield Country Day School

Coordinates: 38°47′34″N 78°6′18.7″W / 38.79278°N 78.105194°W / 38.79278; -78.105194
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Wakefield Country Day School (WCDS)
Main Building from Entrance
Address
Map
1059 Zachary Taylor Highway

Flint Hill
,
Virginia

United States
Coordinates38°47′34″N 78°6′18.7″W / 38.79278°N 78.105194°W / 38.79278; -78.105194
Information
TypeIndependent, Private
MottoVirtus et Sapientia (Virtue and Wisdom)[1]
Established1972
FounderWilliam & Pamela Lynn
StatusCurrent, Operational
CategoryIndependent School
ChairmanGreg Eck
PrincipalPaul F. Larner
GradesPre-school(age 3) to grade 12
GenderCo-educational
Enrollment200
HousesTrinity Manor
Color(s)White and Red    
AthleticsSoccer, Volleyball, Cross Country, Basketball, Equestrian, Lacrosse
MascotOwl
NicknameWCDS
AccreditationVISA
AffiliationVISA Virginia Independent School Association
Websitewww.wcdsva.org

Wakefield Country Day School is a co-educational, independent, non-sectarian[2] elementary, middle, and high school situated in Rappahannock County, United States and serving grades preschool (age 3) through grade 12. The school's 12-acre (49,000 m2) campus is located near the town of Flint Hill, about 90 minutes from Washington, DC. Founded and in continuous operation since 1972, the school is accredited with the Virginia Independent School Association and is part of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. The second largest private employer in Rappahannock,[3] the school as of September 2023 had an enrollment of just under 200 students from Rappahannock county and nearby counties — Culpeper, Fauquier, Frederick, Madison, Page, Prince William, Shenandoah and Warren.[4][5]

The school's educational philosophy places a focus on the study of humanities, especially English language and composition, History, Foreign Languages, and Classical Languages. The average class size is fewer than 15 students.[6]

History

In the early 1970s, newlywed teachers William and Pamela Lynn decided to established a school—the school that would become Wakefield Country Day School— because they wished to create a British-style private school that was affordable for the middle class. Using land owned by William Lynn's mother, they constructed a school building and opened enrollment for students in 1972. Philippe Cugnon, a Frenchman and college professor, was brought on to serve as the first headmaster. After a year, William took over. Both founders taught full-time at the school from its founding. William Lynn also wrote the first Word of the Day and Great 100 books and established traditions such as the annual competition between "Spartan" and "Athenian" athletic teams. William Lynn served as headmaster until his sudden death in 1988.

In 1991, while the school was under Allen Sounders's leadership, a significant portion of the school's administration, faculty, and students split away to reestablish the school as Wakefield School in Marshall, Virginia.[7] Throughout this process, Wakefield Country Day School, at its original campus and under the leadership of founder Pamela Lynn, continued to operate. In the immediate aftermath of the split, WCDS saw a steep enrollment drop but the numbers grew substantially thereafter.[8] In the decades since, both schools have continued to operate as separate entities. Wakefield School has tended to have more students,[9] while the enrollment of WCDS has been lower, hovering around or below 200 students.[10]

Serving a sparsely populated rural area, Wakefield Country Day School has never been a large school. Because of low enrollment, it has experienced funding crises that threatened to force its closure, but it has always survived thanks to donations and long-term loans from the alumni and community at large.[4]

The most recent such crisis happened in May 2019 and received significant coverage in local news media, especially the Rappahannock News.[11][12] The school's entire board of directors resigned during the crisis, and a new board, with chairman Paul F. Larner, was installed. In 2020 Paul F. Larner became Head of School and has been instrumental in returning the school to its current state of financial viability and sustainability.

School governance

The school is organized as a nonprofit corporation, with an elected board of directors.

Academics

Core prep school curriculum

The Upper School, or core prep school, is a program of 28 credits molded in the classical tradition. The curriculum includes an emphasis on English, mathematics, history, and classical and modern foreign languages. An advanced classical diploma is available with 32 credits, including four additional credits in mathematics, science, and foreign languages. Some of the school's special graduation requirements include a senior course on finance, two years' study in both ancient and modern languages, and the research, writing, presentation and defense of a senior thesis.[13] Students also have completed internships with local professionals as part of their graduation requirements.

Through the 10th grade students spend two class periods per day studying English literature, composition, vocabulary, and grammar.

College counseling

Students begin their college counseling process in their freshman year. Over the next four years, they meet with their advisor to discuss college choices, take the PSAT and ACT Aspire and any advanced placement tests that are appropriate, complete questionnaires, resumes, and self-assessments, write mock college essays, participate in mock interviews, and meet with college admission representatives who visit the campus. They are also encouraged to take part in extracurricular activities.

All students apply to at least two colleges or universities. 90 percent of them are accepted into the colleges and universities of their first choice. WCDS graduates as a group receive between one and two million dollars annually in merit scholarships.

Adjunct faculty

In the fall of 2019, Wakefield Country Day School announced the first adjunct faculty in the history of the school. This group includes several prominent local residents, including: investor, financier and businessman Charles T. Akre; former conductor of the United States Marine Band John R. Bourgeois; actress Louise Caire Clark; former U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jon Purnell; investigative reporter and editor of the Rushford Report[14] Greg Rushford; attorney, law professor, and Senior Vice President at the Campaign Legal Center Paul M. Smith; and former Clerk of the United States House of Representatives Jeff Trandahl.[15] These adjunct faculty members share their knowledge with the students through talks and seminars, as members of senior thesis panels, and through internships. They also speak at the WCDS Forum, which is an opportunity for the public to hear adjunct faculty discuss topics and engage one another in expert dialog.[16]

Funding and tuition

From May to November 2019, benefactors donated more than $2 million to the school for tuition assistance and to support ongoing operations.[17] This included $1.2 million in scholarships to fund 25 students for three years.[18]

From 2020 to 2024 the school received major gifts from two anonymous donors, and one from Tobias Dengel, WCDS 1989, President of WillowTree, and his wife, Lynn. These gits were given to support scholarships and teacher development.

According to the school, every family with demonstrated financial need is offered assistance via scholarships or financial aid, with most of them ultimately accepting it and enrolling their children, deeming the help sufficient to meet their needs. As of September 2022, 70 percent of WCDS students were receiving some form of financial assistance. However, the school notes, "no family at WCDS receives full tuition assistance. All families are expected to pay something toward their children's education".[19]

Traditions

Facing the highway, this is the central facade of the historic building. It was constructed in 1972 from prefabricated A-Frames, chosen by the founders to give the school an architecture distinctly different from the public schools of the time.

WCDS traditions include the weekly assembly in which the Head of School makes announcements to the school body,[20] the annual Spartans vs. Athenians competition, Certamen, the Latin convention,[21] the Medieval Banquet, and National Parks Day. All 7th and 8th graders travel to England as an extension of their study of British history.[20] High schoolers take a trip to Italy (for upper school classics), France, Spain, or Argentina (for upper school language immersion).[22]

Academic traditions include the Word of the Day in which students memorize vocabulary, and the Great 100, in which students memorize the biographies of 100 important historical figures. The school's colors are red and white; in the Spartans vs. Athenians competition, which is inspired by the Ancient Olympic Games and serves essentially as a field day, the students are divided into two teams, with the Spartans wearing red and the Athenians wearing white. First, each team assembles into a formation of parallel rows for inspection by the faculty for proper discipline and deportment. Then they participate in a series of competitions, such as Capture the Flag.

British traditions such as the use of demerits and elected prefects to enforce discipline are practiced.[23] Prefects may be put in charge of overseeing their classes in the absence of the teacher, and together the prefects form a court to question students suspected of violating the academic honor code. Older students also mentor younger students through the Language Ambassador, Reading Buddy and Bus Buddy programs.

Students wear uniforms, including a dress uniform on Wednesdays, the day of the weekly assembly.

Notable students

Notable students have included, for example, Leonard M. Cowherd III, who graduated from West Point, graduated third in his United States Army Armor School class at Fort Knox, and was commissioned as a U.S. Army second lieutenant.[24] While stationed overseas in the Iraq War, he wrote a series of guest columns to the Culpeper Star-Exponent about his experiences and observations as a tank platoon leader.[25][26] After exiting his tank[27] to secure a building near Karbala's Mukhayam mosque, which had been the scene of intense fighting during a recent raid to oust the Mehdi Army insurgents who had been using the mosque as a base of operations,[28][29] he received enemy sniper and rocket-propelled grenade fire and was killed. Subsequently, his story and correspondence were featured in the Bill Couturié documentary Last Letters Home.[30] A scholarship was established in Cowherd's memory.[31]

Another notable student was Jacob G. Foster, who placed number one in the world on advanced placement tests in French literature, calculus, modern European history, biology, Latin, physics, and other subjects; scored a perfect 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test;[32] and became a Rhodes scholar and later a mathematical physicist and sociologist.[33][34][35]

Tobias Dengel, WCDS 1989, holds a BSE in Finance (Wharton) and a BSE in Systems Engineering, both from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife Lynn are major benefactors of the school. He founded WillowTree, Inc.,[36] which merged with a Canadian public company named TELUS International in 2023.[37][38] He also serves as the Chair of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Board, which manages Monticello in Charlottesville, as well as on the Board of WillowTree.

References

  1. ^ "Virginia Private School -Wakefield Country Day School- Serving 8 Counties". WCDS - Wakefield Country Day School.
  2. ^ "Wakefield CDS General Information". February 5, 2001. Archived from the original on 2001-02-05.
  3. ^ McCaslin, John. "Wakefield Country Day's future remains uncertain, school board director now says". Rappahannock News.
  4. ^ a b "News Release: 5/7/2019".
  5. ^ "Coronavirus updates: The local impact". Rappahannock News. 4 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Wakefield Country Day School Profile (2019-20) | Flint Hill, VA". Private School Review.
  7. ^ "WCDS | Back to our Roots". WCDS.
  8. ^ Rodriguez, Freya (October 18, 2012). "Past Principals".
  9. ^ "Washingtonian Guide to Private Schools: Coed Schools | Washingtonian (DC)". Washingtonian. October 26, 2014.
  10. ^ McCaslin, John. "Wakefield Country Day will live to educate another academic year". Rappahannock News.
  11. ^ "Wakefield Country Day School Board Schedules Informational Meeting Amid Apparent Disinformation from "Fake News" report". Blue Ridge Independent. 28 April 2019.
  12. ^ Jackson, Chuck (4 May 2019). "Larner takes leadership of WCDS Board". Blue Ridge Independent.
  13. ^ "WCDS Academics | Classical Education & Advanced, Balanced Curriculum".
  14. ^ "The Rushford Report".
  15. ^ "School news for Dec. 5". Rappahannock News. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  16. ^ "School news for Dec. 5". Rappahannock News. 5 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Wakefield Country Day School receives additional $1.1 million for tuition assistance". INSIDENOVA.COM. 19 November 2019.
  18. ^ Daily, Melissa Topey The Northern Virginia. "Wakefield Country Day School now offering tuition assistance". The Northern Virginia Daily.
  19. ^ "Admissions". WCDS.
  20. ^ a b "WCDS | Middle School".
  21. ^ Comer, Tina. "Wakefield students take home awards". The Northern Virginia Daily.
  22. ^ "WCDS | Upper School".
  23. ^ "WCDS | A Focus on Honor". October 11, 2018.
  24. ^ "Senate Joint Resolution No. 327". Legislative Information System. 12 January 2005.
  25. ^ Champion, Allison Brophy (30 May 2011). "Cowherd's name lives forever". Culpeper Star-Exponent.
  26. ^ Wiel, Martin (18 May 2004). "Culpeper Officer Killed in Iraq". Washington Post.
  27. ^ Heinatz, Stephanie (3 July 2004). "War in Iraq: Iraqi Postcard Gives Local Widow Hope". Daily Press.
  28. ^ "18 Killed in Heavy Fighting in Karbala". China Daily.
  29. ^ BBC (12 May 2004). "US troops battle Karbala militia".
  30. ^ Heinatz, Stephanie (7 November 2004). "A sacrifice remembered: Soldier's last thoughts shared". Daily Press.
  31. ^ "Leonard Cowherd III Scholarship Recipients". WCDS.
  32. ^ "Senate Joint Resolution No. 299". Virginia Legislature. 1999.
  33. ^ "Jacob Foster". UCLA Sociology.
  34. ^ "Jacob Foster. Made to Know: Science as the Social Production of Collective Intelligence". Berkeley Sociology.
  35. ^ "Duke Alum Works at the Intersection of Physics and Sociology". Duke Department of Physics. 15 August 2011.
  36. ^ "WillowTree, Inc". Cvillepedia.
  37. ^ "TELUS International announces agreement to acquire WillowTree, a full-service digital product provider". TELUS. 27 October 2022.
  38. ^ "A Letter from WillowTree President, Tobias Dengel". WillowTree. 24 January 2023.
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