COME NORTH AND FLOURISH. Welcome to a vibrant academic program that fully engages young learners, preparing them for success at secondary school, college, and beyond.
Welcome
Welcome to art every day, where students can paint a landscape, play a guitar, and perform Shakespeare, all in a single a ernoon. Welcome to an outdoor program that keeps children active and encourages them to become rugged, resourceful, and resilient. As you read these pages, you will quickly discover why students thrive at North Country School. Unlike any other junior boarding school, we use progressive teaching methods and emphasize an interdisciplinary, hands-on approach. We believe that the middle school years are a critical time to ask questions and pursue projects with passion. Since 1938, we have taught children in such a way that they thrive not only here, but also in a constantly changing world. We look forward to welcoming you and your family and sharing the ways in which your child will be valued, supported, nurtured, and challenged at North Country School.
David “Hock” Hochschartner Head of School
Watch Hock’s video PROMISE, at www.northcountryschool.org/about-us/ video-gallery
WHERE MOST CLASSROOMS END, OURS BEGIN. At North Country School, exceptional teaching and a nurturing environment help children learn enduring lessons about themselves and the world around them. Since 1938, we’ve been guided by an important idea: that two of the greatest gifts we At North Country School, students benefit from a robust and vibrant academic program. But beyond the classroom, students here find their footing in the world. Our students build intellectual skills in a place-based and project-driven curriculum. Children tap their creativity by engaging in daily art classes, and they form a lifelong bond with nature while living alongside farm fields, lakes, mountain ranges, and maple forests. “Experiential learning” is a concept that many schools are slowly working into their academic programs. At North Country School, it’s been an integral part of everything we’ve done for
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nearly 80 years.
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Philosophy
can give middle schoolers are confidence and resourcefulness.
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n o i s How important is hands-on learning to us? Once a year, students take a break from regular classes and
participate in experiential workshops designed to inspire new passions and stretch imaginations. The emphasis is on doing. Students choose from among dozens of courses, including backcountry skiing, international cooking, metalsmithing, web design, robotics, and stagecraft.
SMALL CLASSES INSPIRED TEACHING ENGAGED KIDS When you ask children about learning at North Country School, they’ll tell you about launching rockets, simulating avalanches, and reassembling chicken skeletons in science classes. They’ll describe their elaborate journals for the
Academics
Title Trek reading program that challenges them to become “Literary 46ers” and gives them the opportunity to host visiting authors including Newbury Medal winners and National Book Award finalists. Ours is a personalized education. Faculty and staff have open, respectful dialogues with their students. As they gain an awareness of their own talents and strengths, children come to understand that everyone learns differently. Finding joy in learning leads to avid pursuit of school success and acceptance to top-choice secondary schools. We emphasize teaching skills that empower students to tackle project-based and interdisciplinary assignments. In our small classes, we encourage students to analyze, problem solve, and communicate. We routinely differentiate our instruction,
English as a Second Language (ESL) information can be found at www.northcountryschool.org/academics/esl
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allowing students to grow and learn at their own pace.
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.. What we have: A fully-equipped iMac media center, 1:1
Google Chromebooks, campus-wide Wi-Fi, digital projectors, SMART Boards, and instruction in photo editing and music recording. What we don’t have: the distractions of cell phones, video games, and social media. While we think it’s important to be connected, we know it’s just as important to unplug.
ART EVERY DAY WORDS WE’VE LIVED BY SINCE Those who truly understand why we value “art every day” have attended one of our annual spring performances. Under the guidance of our hand in everything from set building to adapting a script to lighting the stage. Some children act, dance, or sing. Others design costumes or stage sets. Several choose to join the stage crew. Everyone who wants to participate finds a role. In our performing arts curriculum (introductory dance, theatre, and music classes for the younger grades and advanced electives for the older grades) children discover and refine numerous talents. Students also develop key strengths through the performing arts. Writing a monologue or practicing an instrument requires determination, and
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performing in front of one’s peers builds confidence.
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Performing Arts
experienced theatre faculty, students have a big
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anc D e
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May I have this dance? Students in the
younger grades get to sample many kinds of dance, and students in the older grades can choose from electives like Latin, Stomp, beginning ballet, hip hop, Zumba, and ballroom. Experienced dancers o en choreograph and perform in the November showcase and the spring production.
WE ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO PAINT OUTSIDE THE LINES Whether glazing a vase or designing a landscape mosaic, our students enjoy art every day. Our expansive studio art offerings include ceramics, painting, photography,
Studio Arts
woodworking, weaving, and clothing design. Our studios are packed with paint, kilns, and looms, and here children practice giving form to what they see and what they imagine. Most importantly, students make great creative leaps in our art rooms and grow in resourcefulness. To progress in studio art, students learn how to follow complicated instructions, trust their creativity, and ask for help when they need it. Often they create drafts and models before undertaking final pieces. Many studio arts lessons become ingrained, equipping students with successful
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approaches for other areas of school life.
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ip h s Students who enjoy using their hands and
imaginations often choose a woodworking elective. There’s much more to our woodworking classes than simple hammering and sanding. With
good technique and close supervision, our students learn to make their own instruments, design furniture, and even build boats.
THERE IS JOY IN MEANINGFUL WORK The farm and garden inform much of what we do. Ours is a working farm. The turkeys we raise are served at Thanksgiving. The wool from our sheep is used in art class. The potatoes and greens we harvest are prepared in our kitchen. Edible Schoolyard classes
Farm and Garden
create a framework that integrates learning opportunities in the garden, classroom, kitchen, and dining room. Farm and garden work connects our students to natural cycles and provides hands-on experiences that teach real-world problem solving. This work has tangible outcomes, and students gain resourcefulness and confidence from succeeding at things that were once unfamiliar and even intimidating. The meaningful lessons of life on our farm instill in students confidence and determination
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for other areas of school life.
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The potatoes that grow in our fields don’t plant and harvest themselves. At the beginning and end of each school year, the whole community helps prepare the soil,
plant, and harvest 5,000 pounds of potatoes. Students with the best work ethic during the two-hour harvest win the coveted Golden Potato awards.
HERE CHILDREN FIND THEMSELVES OUTSIDE Many of our teachers are experienced hikers and wilderness guides who enjoy sharing their love of the outdoors with their students. During out-time and on weekends, we take full advantage of our location in the and camp, snowshoe and skate, and rock and ice climb. Our outdoor program helps children become rugged, resourceful, and resilient. By learning to help clear a trail, cook a supper, and fasten safety gear to ascend a rock face, students develop determination and an appreciation for the natural world at a key time in their lives. And, through trying new outdoor activities, they become receptive to new experiences. Offerings Back country skiing Canoeing Hiking Horseback riding Ice skating Mountain biking Overnight camping
Snowshoeing
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Sledding
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Rock and ice climbing
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Outdoors
High Peaks range of the Adirondack Mountains to hike
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Sometimes, nature is best enjoyed at a leisurely pace. If you want to earn a Mountain Cake though, you’d be er get moving. Every year, we tally up how many miles each student hikes, canoes, and cross-country skis. The top 12 students are called the Dirty Dozen, and each gets a commemorative t-shirt and an elaborately decorated Mountain Cake.
OFFERINGS
On most afternoons students choose from among twelve offerings for out-time, the hour and a half devoted to wilderness recreation and sports. On offer are individual and team sports, all of which welcome students with varying skill levels. We encourage children to develop new passions by trying new sports – something they do naturally in a non-competitive environment like ours. Our more experienced athletes benefit from excellent coaching to refine skills and improve strength and endurance.
Fall Soccer Cross country Horseback riding
With a ski hill on our campus and an Olympic mountain and nordic facility nearby, all North Country School students learn to ski or snowboard. Competitive snow sports athletes can take advantage of trips to off-site training centers and programs offered by the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF). Sports at North Country School are carefully structured to help students improve athletic skills and build confidence. Our expectations of students in sports are the same as in other areas of school life; to learn to set goals for a personal best, face challenges along the way, and lend a hand to others when it’s needed.
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Beginning and experienced skiers and snowboarders enjoy our campus ski hill, miles of trails, and training opportunities at nearby Olympic venues. At our Skimeister competition, students go bootto-boot in a range of skiing events, hoping to win chocolate chip cookie medals.
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Sports
WE’RE WINNERS WHEN EVERYONE PLAYS
Winter Alpine, Nordic, Telemark and freestyle skiing Basketball Snowboarding
Spring Drill Team Track Ultimate Frisbee
SUPPORTING EACH ONE BY AFFIRMING THE ALL Barn chores and other work-jobs start our days. There are four periods of academic instruction after breakfast and another two classroom periods after lunch. Out-time fills many afternoons. Adventures unfold on weekends, when there are always opportunities to curl up in the library with a good book, invite friends for a sleepover, or play frisbee on the upper field. As busy as we are, we recognize that some downtime is necessary on school days and on weekends. Most meals are enjoyed with the full school community in our welcoming dining room. Meals include as many locally grown and raised ingredients as possible – often from our own farm and garden. Everyone has a chance to serve as a waiter and bring food to the table and clear dishes. Teachers or 9th graders head tables, and council follows lunchtime, when
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announcements are made and good news is shared.
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Student Life
students have their choice of on- and off-campus trips. Yet
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. cohort: noun co-hort \’kō-hort\ : a friend or companion : a group of people who have something in common Synonyms: companion, mate, fellow
When not in academic classes, our students are together in small, multi-aged, mixed-gender groups. Whether eating in the dining room, caring for the animals in the barn, or playing on the upper field, children of all ages learn to live and work together and support one another.
EVER ONWARD EVER UPWARD
In the fall of senior year, placement advisors schedule appropriate testing, host visiting schools, and help students prepare for interviews and school visits. Parents can expect ongoing communication from their child’s placement advisor as their son or daughter identifies, applies to, and gains acceptance at schools that match their talents and interests.
Berkshire School Blair Academy Canterbury School Concord Academy Dublin School The Ethel Walker School George School Gould Academy Grier School Kimball Union Academy Loomis Chaffee School
Milton Academy Northfield Mount Hermon Northwood School Pomfret School Portsmouth Abbey School Proctor Academy Putney School St. Paul’s School Trinity-Pawling School Westtown School Wyoming Seminary
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Recent secondary school acceptances include:
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Secondary School
Our secondary school placement advisors work closely with students and their families to ensure excellent school placements for graduating 9th graders. Secondary schools are distinct in their offerings, pedagogy, and academic rigor. The critical first step is identifying the desirable characteristics of a student’s next school and determining schools that are appropriately competitive.
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North Country School graduates are known by secondary school admissions officers for their strong work ethic and intellectual engagement, their desire to partake in all aspects of boarding school life, and their willingness to contribute to diverse learning communities.
WE LIVE IN HOUSES NOT DORMS The talented teachers in our classrooms are also houseparents who share their afternoons and evenings with students. Houseparent teams create warm and inviting environments in our seven onstudents. From 3:00 or 4:30 p.m. (depending on the day) until bedtime, life revolves around the house. There are chores, invitations to other houses to play, outside games, and quiet time for reading. On most nights, younger children study in the living room before houseparents help them get ready for bed and the next day. Older students study together in the Main Building and enjoy a slightly later bedtime. On Wednesdays, students and their houseparents sort laundry, put away fresh clothes, set tables, and play board games. Together they prepare homenight dinner and plan that night’s activity. Our houses are multi-age and mixed gender, so children and adults enjoy house
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life much in the way members of a family do.
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Clark House is both an architectural marvel and a model of sustainable building practices. More importantly, it is a home-away-from-home for ten students and their houseparents. Together they establish the ground rules and create systems to make sure everyone enjoys living there. Did you know the Clark House chimney is also used as a climbing wall?
ar Cl
House Life
campus houses, each home to eight to twelve
SIX MILLION ACRES NO TWO ALIKE The Adirondacks are more than a scenic destination. These majestic mountains and our stunning 200-acre campus make us who we are. Living off the beaten path offers our students the opportunity to grow in self-reliance while
The Adirondacks
becoming valued members of a community. We’re unfazed by frigid walks to barn chores across snowy fields before sunrise. Once the animals have been fed and watered, the payoff is sitting down in the dining room to a piping hot plate of pancakes topped with our own maple syrup. We’re undaunted by mountain ascents on the weekends, because together we set up camp, make supper, and enjoy a bird’s eye view of our campus. Just ten minutes to the west of North Country School is the village of Lake Placid, a year-round resort destination. Twice host of the Winter Olympic Games, Lake Placid affords our students excellent cross country and downhill skiing venues, as well as a picturesque town to visit for afternoon
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walks and the occasional homenight dinner.
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In the late 1800’s, the Adirondacks became a vacation destination for New York’s rich and famous. Today, the Adirondacks draw tourists, outdoor enthusiasts, and students from around the world. About half of the six million acre Adirondack Park is “forever wild,” so it looks much like it did hundreds of years ago.
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10 horses for the riding program
122
pounds of wool produced by our sheep for ďŹ ber arts each year
17,688 pounds of food we harvest ourselves, including 4,817 pounds of potatoes 1,733 pounds of carrots
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library books checked out per student each year
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art and music studios
16
languages spoken on our campus Twi Afrikaans Spanish Thai French German Mandarin Italian Arabic Swedish Russian English Japanese Portuguese Guarani American Sign Language
15 mountains visible from campus
1:1 Google Chromebook : student ratio
200 gallons of maple syrup produced annually
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outdoor activities oered daily
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3,450 total miles hiked by the student body in a year (the distance between the Adirondacks and Alaska)
Whiteface ski days
32 climbing routes on campus
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students per house in 7 houses
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700
Olympic venues for recreation
pounds of clay used for ceramics each year
indoor slides next to stairwells
JOIN US A visit is the best way to experience North Country School.
Fast Facts Founded 1938
and teachers, visit our classrooms, eat lunch with us, and
Total enrollment 80 Boys Girls 55% 45%
walk through our houses. During a half-day visit, you will
International students
33%
learn a great deal about our remarkable school. Our goal is
Countries represented
8
to get to know you and your child.
(Canada, China, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Thailand)
When you come to campus, you will meet our head of school
Admissions
Admissions Overview • Applications accepted on a rolling basis
Day 15%
U.S. States represented Amount of financial aid awarded
Boarding 85%
12 $750,000
• No application deadlines or fees
Student : Teacher ratio
3:1
• Limited midyear enrollment when available
Average class size
10
• Financial aid and payment plans for eligible families
Campus size Art studios
Application Checklist • On-campus or Skype interview • Application form • School records • English and math teacher recommendations • Principal / counselor recommendation Starting the Admissions Process Most families start by inquiring over the phone. Others begin by spending time on our website, where you can request more information or complete an application online. We look forward to hearing from you!
David Damico, Director of Admissions ddamico@northcountryschool.org +1 (518) 523-9329, ext. 6000 Website: www.northcountryschool.org
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Farm House Horse Barn Small Animal Barn Greenhouses Admissions OďŹƒce Clark House Main Building Dining Room Development OďŹƒce Balcony House Woods House Mountain House Algonquin House Bramwell House Cascade House Riding Rings Tennis Court Soccer Field Waterfront
4382 Cascade Road | Lake Placid, NY 12946 | 518-523-9329 | www.northcountryschool.org