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There is a lovely framed print of Bowden Hall as seen from its southern flank that hangs in a few scattered locations throughout the campus. With every brick and architectural detail accounted for, along with an outpouring of lush vegetation that frames the scene, the picture creates an idealized setting in which the six students pictured will no doubt thrive and learn and grow to their fullest potential at Cheshire Academy. The originator of this lithographic print was Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), one of the great American artist/illustrators of the twentieth century. A genuine hard luck case and also the nephew of the school’s principal of the time, James Stoddard, Kent matriculated, along with his brother, in 1893 to what was the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut at the age of 11 years. Though at times he chafed under the military model by which the school was being run at the time, he did write these words in pencil on the inner cover of the book he donated to the school: “To my alma mater, the Cheshire Academy, with the warmest hope that all who study there may prosper and be happy in a world of lasting peace.” “Under pressure said the freshman at Cheshire Academy…” On the 2007 album Liberation, rap artist, social activist and impresario Talib Kweli Greene ’93 ponders the value of higher education in his song “Over the Counter.” Born and raised in Brooklyn, the son of New York academicians, Kweli was able to find a space for his creative impulses in the theater department and as a member of various clubs and leadership positions. “If Cheshire Academy did anything it helped me find myself,” he wrote in his yearbook. Upon graduation his contributions and achievements were recognized with the Senior Drama Prize and the Orville Prescott Award for Creative Excellence.
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the magazine of cheshire academy
