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Fifty Years of Senior School
Are you in Cum Laude? Did you receive a graduation award? Who was your favorite teacher? This book includes more than 850 members of the SA community by name, quotation, or photo! You may just find yourself inside!
The First Fifty Years: A History of the Sewickley Academy Senior School
First opening its doors to students in 1963, the history of Sewickley Academy’s senior school has been carefully and beautifully chronicled in this book by Dr. Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour whose involvement with the Academy includes time as a student, administrator, staff member, and parent. The book was crafted with gratitude to all those who laid the foundation, formed the fabric, and continue to honor the mission of Sewickley Academy and its promises. Within its pages, readers will discover names, quotes, and photos for more than 650 faculty, staff, and alumni as well as an additional 200 members of the Cum Laude Society and graduation award winners. It’s a trip down memory lane that will fill the hearts of everyone who has an affiliation with Sewickley Academy.
ABOUT DR. SOUR
Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour came to Sewickley Academy in Grade 6 and immersed herself in every available opportunity through Grade 9 – as far as a student could go with SA at the time. Her enthusiastic nature encouraged then Headmaster Cliff Nichols to include her among seven students kept on for a special tenth grade year as he worked toward creating a complete high school for the Academy. She is one of eighteen family members across three generations to have attended Sewickley Academy, including three of her children.
Susan completed her high school career at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut, before enrolling in Vassar College where she majored in Latin and minored in French and Greek. She then earned master’s and doctoral degrees in counseling psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. After holding various administrative and teaching positions at five other high schools, she returned to Sewickley Academy in 2001, serving in several administrative positions over the following twenty+ years. Currently SA’s Alumni Relations Associate, Susan is affectionately recognized as the Academy’s historian, sharing her office with countless boxes of artifacts, photographs, and documents along with more than six decades of yearbooks. A complete biography of Dr. Sour is available in her book, The First Fifty Years: A History of Sewickley Academy Senior School. To purchase, scan the QR code above or contact ssour@sewickley.org or at 412-741-2230 ext. 3047.
