Thacher School Viewbook

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“Come west.

Breathe deep.

Let these books and these hills and these horses be your teachers.� sherman day thacher, found e r the thacher school

TH E T H A C H E R S C H O O L 5025 Thacher R oad Oja i, C alifornia 93023 805-640 -3210 fax 805-640 -9377

www.thacher.org

CONTENTS

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An Invitation to Explore Thacher

4

An Inspiring Learning Environment

10

An Authentic Community

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The Power of Place

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Personal Growth Through Carefully Calibrated Challenges

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The Stamp of the School

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Admission and Financial Aid

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Visiting Thacher

The Thacher School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and holds memberships in the National Association of Independent Schools, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Secondary School Admission Test Board, the School Year Abroad program, the English-Speaking Union, Maine Coast Semester, and the School and Student Service for Financial Aid. The Thacher School admits students of any race, religion, nationality, and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School.

It does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, nationality, or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies and School-administered programs.

EDITORS:

Bill McMahon, Christopher Land, Kim Bastian, J.B. White

WRITER:

Joy Sawyer-Mulligan

DESIGN:

Plainspoke, Portsmouth NH

Benny Chan, Phil Channing, Theana Hancock, Christopher Land, Robert Leiter, Joy Sawyer Mulligan, David Oxley CdeP 1979, Brian Pidduck CdeP 1992, StudioBlank.net, Anna Teague CdeP 2007, Timothy Teague, John Unland PHOTOGRAPHY:

ILLUSTRATIONS:

www.thacher.org

David Danz

“ It is simply impossible to step into Thacher without being struck with the brilliance of the school and the campus — its magnificent setting, its distinctive Western tradition and pioneering spirit, its glorious blue sky in which lives the spirit of Pegasus.”

J a m e s M o nt o y a, V i c e P r e s i dent of the C ollege Board, F o r m e r D e an o f Ad mi s s i o n, Sta nford Uni ver sity

“ In Thacher, our children found a school whose faculty and student body unapologetically respect, welcome, and embrace everyone on campus for their strengths, weaknesses, and unique individuality.

Thacher had no real competitors in this respect, coast to coast.

Of equal value is this: Thacher has given our children the freedom to learn as much as they can — as fast as they can — from teachers who innately care about them as individuals. Our eldest, now at Yale, counts four or five Thacher teachers among his closest relationships — as do we.” m a r y a nd b r a d k r e y , L a ke F o r est, Ill inois, Parents of Ale xander CdeP 2007, Yal e Uni ver sit y; M o r g a n CdeP 2 0 1 0 , M a ss ach u se tts Ins tit ute of Tec hnology; and Kat herine CdeP 2012, Cl are mont McKen na C o l l e g e

“The people at Thacher are some of the best in the world, and my time spent at Thacher has been the best of my life. I will always be grateful for the friends and lessons I take from my years in this beautiful valley. It has shaped the person I am today and made me love life more than I ever thought possible.”

C o o p e r P e nn e r CdeP 2 0 1 4 , Lo s A ng eles, Cal ifornia, Brown Univer sity

1

An Invitation to Explore Thacher

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h e ranch tha t be came a school was named “Casa de Piedra” (CdeP) — House of Stone — and there’s a reason it’s still rock-solid in its second century. Ours is a community that has carefully, intentionally maintained Mr. Thacher’s original cornerstone values of hard work — both intellectual and physical — and of honesty, selflessness, and concern for others.

The goal of a Thacher education is clear: to deliver to the world young leaders who have moved from a focus on self to a focus on others, from an attitude of “What’s in it for me?” to one of “What can I do for those around me?” The path to this end is unusual, especially in a world where your shelves can sag with trophies handed out just for showing up. We believe in something different: that self-esteem — the solid, lasting kind — comes from real challenges with real consequences. Those who choose Thacher come to know that demands in classrooms and labs and studios, combined with those of mountains and horses, of sports and the arts, and of service to others, create independent minds, strong bodies, powerful character, and ultimately an expanded sense of self — a unique set of skills for learning and living beyond Thacher.

Living, working, studying here — it’s not always easy. Academic and personal standards are high.

But all along the way, you are encouraged and supported by caring faculty members and peers from a whole spectrum of backgrounds and cultures, schoolmates who share a sense of what education can be, maybe what you already know intuitively: that failure is as important to your growth as success, that your self-confidence increases only when you own the challenge.

In opening this book, you’re stepping towards the most important decision of your educational life. In these years, you’ll grow and change more than in any since childhood — dramatic and exciting changes, and physical, cognitive, emotional, spiritual growth.

The question is, then, where do you want to invest your time, your talents?

It takes a special student and family to understand what distinguishes Thacher from other schools — even other boarding schools — and we mean beyond the obvious differences of the orange and avocado groves that welcome you to campus, the mountains that rise to the north and east, the easy naturalness of the place and the people.

Come spend some time with us. We’ll help you discover that difference.

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THE THACHER SCHOOL

MICHAEL K. MU LLIGAN

Head of School

“ Thacher gives all its students the most precious of gifts: the opportunity to discover not only who they are, but, more importantly, what they can become as they move from challenge to achievement to personal fulfillment. They are surrounded by a motivated peer group and adults who know them and care deeply for them; they are held to high standards out of this concern for their growth.� nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

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An Inspiring Learning Environment

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Y NAMIC, AMBITIOU S , C UR I O U S , M OT I V A T E D describe Thacher faculty and students, and both come here seeking something more of their life work and high school years than is the norm elsewhere. In courses designed for intellectual and creative expansion, they meet in seminar circles and studios, library and laboratories, small theater spaces and larger ones, indoors and outdoors, to create together a learning environment that is vigorous and supportive, galvanizing and nurturing. On the daily menu in classes averaging 11 in size: lively discussion and dissection (with words and with scalpels), probing investigation, provocative questions whose answers are doors opening to unexpected rooms with doors on the far side leading to still more rooms.

Just how much can you learn when the people surrounding you (seasoned, vibrant teachers, enthusiastic classmates) demand more than you thought you had — and routinely offer a hand up to the next level? The big, blue western sky’s the limit.

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keep you energized, moving ahead. In the classroom and out of it, they help you form healthy habits of thought and study. They applaud your curiosity. They respect your intelligence. They are genuinely interested in how you learn and what you think. And because of all this, they won’t settle — and won’t let you settle — for easy answers.

Y O U R RELATIONSHIPS WITH GREAT TEACHERS HERE

Thacher faculty members have come here to work and live because they know that their own passions of the mind will find their reflection in those that you bring with you. They get up every morning eager for that connection. They also embrace the expansiveness of the “classroom,” that there are no boundaries of time or place when it comes to learning. You’re as likely to discuss Toni Morrison or William Faulkner with Mr. Manson on the stairs of the Lower School courtyard as in Room E around the seminar circle.

Many decades ago, Mr. Thacher called this “genius best fitted for its work.” You will call it “Sra. Ortiz.” Or “Mr. Meyer.” Or “Dr. DelVecchio.”

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AN INSPIRING LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

T H E A N A C A PA F E L L O W S H I P F O R V ISI T I N G S CHO L A R S A N D A R T I S T S The Anacapa Fellowship program brings to campus luminaries in a variety of fields: college professors on sabbatical and other scholars of established reputation; writers who also teach; painters, sculptors, musicians, and others. The Anacapa House provides the Fellow with comfortable living and indoor and outdoor space for informal gatherings with students and faculty.

R EC ENT ANAC A P A S C H O L A R S Dr. Edward Ayers— Historian, President of the University of Richmond Rochelle Small Clifford — Operatic Soprano Jim Culver — Trainer, National Outdoor Leadership School Silvia Grijalba— Author, Journalist, Music Historian Jeff Mason CdeP 1963 — Professor of Philosophy Rikki Ott — Environmentalist, Activist, Author Mary Louise Porter — Plein Air Artist Kat Tudor — Artist

“ In most high schools, teachers are guides in the classroom; at Thacher, they’re much more than that: track coaches, rides to Ventura, confidants. Where else would my teachers be my companions through six days in the wilderness, or my friends who play Rock Band with me in their homes on a Saturday night? The sense of community at Thacher is truly unlike that of any other school, and we students owe that to the caring, committed Thacher faculty.”

F E L I C I A J I A N G CdeP 2 0 1 4 , TAI PEI, TAIWAN, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

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“ When I was a little girl, I was captivated by the colorful billboards I saw in New York ‘ for Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins, and Les Miserables . I knew early on that theater was something

I wanted to pursue, but I was also committed to tennis and the competitive tournament world.

In choosing a high school, it was important to me that I continue both my artistic and athletic interests. By coming to Thacher I’ve been able to to go deeper into what I love most. Not only have I played my dream role, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, but I’ve been a member of the Chamber Singers and part the select dance ensemble. The dance group even had the chance to perform in front of thousands of people at a festival in China. And on top of all this, I was lucky enough to be selected as team captain of the Varsity Girls Tennis team! At Thacher, I have not only become a better writer, mathematician, and critical thinker, but I have also had the chance to develop all my passions at a very high level. ”

GRACE BINGHAM ‘15, PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

Head Tour Guide, Hill Prefect, Girls’ Varsity Tennis Captain EDT Trip Captain, Head Waiter, Dance Ensemble, Chamber Singers

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S E N IOR EXHIBITIONS The academic program culminates with Senior Exhibition projects that have both research and presentation components. Throughout the year, each senior works one-on-one with a faculty advisor and an “exhibition coach,” exploring an academic subject of personal interest. In the spring, the students become the teachers, demonstrating mastery of their topics to the School community through formal presentations.

R E PRESE N T A T I V E S E N I O R E X H I B I T I O N T O P I C S , S P R I N G 2 0 1 4

“The Senior Exhibition process allowed me to delve deeply into a subject I am extremely passionate about but falls outside the standard curriculum. It was a deeply rewarding experience.”

A L E X A N D E R Z AL D A S T A N I CdeP 2 0 1 4 SAN F R A N C I S C O , C A L IF ORN IA , D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

The Art of French New Wave Cinema

Sustainable Cities

True Cost of Olympic Gold Is Your Smartphone Killing You?

Finding Graceland: Paul Simon’s Graceland Album and the Power of Music

America’s Need to Raise the Minimum Wage

Jewish Influence in Los Angeles

The Children’s War: Conflict in Sierra Leone

Alternatives to Alternative Energy

Political Pop: Feminism, Race, and Gay Rights in Music

Corporate Social Responsibility and Creating Shared Value

The Portrayal of the American Family Through Film

Foodie Culture in America

Looking to the Deep: Underwater Technology and Its Impacts

Former People: The Fate of the Russian Aristocracy

Body Image Wars: Generation Y vs. The Media

Memory: Encoding, Retrieval, and Corruption

Islamophobia

Electronic Dance Music

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Solitude and the Art of Edward Hopper

AN INSPIRING LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

T H E W I L L IA M H . O R R I C K L E C T U R E SERIES and T H E L E CT UR E S A N D C O N C E R T S PROGRAM

RECENT ON-CAMPUS SPEAKERS

A longstanding and unusually loyal devotee and supporter of The Thacher School, former U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick, Jr. C P 1932, had a fond wish for his alma mater: that students could somehow learn more about the U.S. legal system, jurisprudence, and the public service done by attorneys and judges.

Before he died, he and his wife, Suzanne donated money to support a lecture series that each year would be based on a particular theme. Each Orrick evening concludes with Eskimo Pies all around—the judge’s favorite dessert!

Brian Bennett CdeP 1994 — War Correspondent Keith Boykin — Founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, Author Yvon Choinard — Environmentalist, Adventurer, Founder/CEO of Patagonia Niall De Burca — Irish Storyteller Thomas L. Friedman—Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Dr. Wayne Glass — Lecturer, the USC School of International Relation Dan Malloy— Documentary Filmmaker Chris McDougall — Author of Born to Run Dennis Miller — Comedian and Political Commentator

Additionally, throughout the year, professionals from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds speak at the School.

Matthew Polly — Author of American Shaolin Rick Ridgeway — Mountaineer, Photographer, Writer, Environmentalist Tom Scott—Composer, Saxophonist Dr. Kimmie L. Weeks— Human Rights Activist Dr. Karl Wilhelmsen—Research Scientist, Lawrence Livermore Lab

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ASSEMBLY Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before lunch, the School community gathers outdoors for twenty-five minutes of announcements, acknowledgements, skits, and presentations. Some of it is scripted; most is not. The spontaneous spirit of Assembly usually becomes fodder for discussion later in the day. Assembly is Thacher in both repose (a catch-breath in the middle of a busy day) and action, another expression of a continually evolving community of young and older.

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C U LT U R A L W EE K E N D

ACADEMIC EXCHANGE PR OGRAMS

Frequently, faculty members lead groups of students on field trips to take advantage of Southern California’s rich cultural opportunities. It’s another way of learning; a chance to experience and discuss world-class performances and art in an informal, non-graded context. And it’s a ton of fun.

The School Year Abroad (SYA) Program, conducted under the aegis of Phillips Academy (Andover), allows students to live and study abroad for a year in France, China,or Spain. Additionally, Thacher is a founding school for the Maine Coast Semester (MCS) at Chewonki, in Wiscasset, Maine, a half-year program that emphasizes the study of ecology and environmental science in conjunction with other disciplines.

R EC E NT CULTURA L W E E K E N D A C T I V I T I E S The California Science Center: “Goose Bumps: The Science of Fear” The Getty Center and The Getty Villa Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues, Hollywood Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens La Bohème at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival Ronald Reagan Museum and Library Wicked and Dinner in Hollywood

“ I’m most inspired when I realize I can step back and watch the young people in my class wrestle with ideas and challenge each other in a respectful, sensitive way. Learning is more substantial when students become teachers, responsible for their own education and for the education of their peers.”

B O M A N S O N , FACULTY, ENGLI SH DEPARTMENT

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An Authentic Community

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N SOME WA YS, WH AT YOU S EE A T T H A C H E R really is what you get: an open door (and most are open) means you’re welcome inside. A calculator left undisturbed on top of a pile of books means that people respect each other’s property. “What do you think?”— asked by a teacher, a friend or an older student — indicates a genuine interest in your opinion, your idea, your take on things.

And what you get here comes from the values that are the spine of our Honor Code — honor, kindness, fairness, and truth. Big words, but they come to life every day in personal and concrete ways for everyone who has intentionally chosen Thacher. The Honor Code doesn’t so much regulate us as give us a standard to aim for, an awareness that the well-being of our community is in our hands in the many small decisions each of us makes daily.

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includes pauses for communal gatherings.

Some — like Assembly and formal dinner — are for the whole School community: students, faculty, visiting parents, sometimes even a faculty kid. Some are for smaller groups: advisor-advisee dinners or outings, Community Service projects, prefect section gatherings, riding and sports, camping, Human Relationships & Sexuality meetings.

What’s important to us is that we regularly step off our individual paths to bring others into our circles, to get fresh eyes, to be together. It’s the opposite of most high schools: inclusive rather than tribal, welcoming rather than cliquey. We listen to each other with an attention that springs from genuine caring; we laugh with each other from a place of mutual respect. We can be our best selves, mainstream or eclectic, because others support us in that individuality.

T H E RHYTHM OF OUR DAYS AND WEEKS

This is what we mean when we say that Thacher is a “family school” and why students think of it as a second home: a group of adults and students of many ages, origins, and personalities happily bound by a common purpose and a shared belief that we have greater strength together than we have individually.

The sum is greater than the parts.

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“ Thacher has an unrivaled support system, and it begins with its faculty.

During my first year at the School, I was initially shy, but the teachers warmly welcomed me and made an obvious and sincere effort to get to know me. They insured that my transition into Thacher went as smoothly as possible. This is a school where teachers invite students to their houses for breakfast and soccer games or to watch movies on a Friday night.”

K Y R I E N E D W A R D S CdeP 2 0 1 3, N E W Y O R K , NEW Y ORK, W I L L I A M S COL L E G E

Varsity Basketball Varsity Football Varsity Lacrosse

SE N I O R L E A D E R S H I P

ADVISORS

Thacher does not simply teach young men and women how to be leaders in the future; we ask them to lead now, as every student is expected to do meaningful work in our community.

By the time students are seniors, they work with faculty to run our dormitories, teams, clubs, horse program, community service program, and much more. Thacher enlists the influence and example of upperclassmen and makes it a powerful force in the effort to ensure that all students possess the values required of strong leaders. Here, this force drives a virtuous cycle in which underclassmen learn from their older peers and then model their behavior when it becomes their turns to be prefects, captains, and heads--all to the benefit of individuals, the community at large, and eventually the greater world.

All faculty members advise approximately five students each, offering both academic and personal counsel. Advisors are in regular communication with their advisees’ teachers and prefects, ready to help with a difficult class or celebrate a birthday. Perhaps most importantly, they keep parents informed about their students’ growth at Thacher, serving as a link between families and the Thacher community.

THE HONOR CO DE Cherished by both students and faculty, as central to academics as it is to all areas of life at Thacher. The School helps ninthgraders and sophomores to understand issues of cheating and plagiarism and allows juniors and seniors to take exams unproctored. Honor, fairness, kindness, and truth: our Honor Code isn’t just words. It’s a way of living.

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AN AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY

THE COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAM The Community Service Program serves two distinct functions: a very real need in the local community for bright and able volunteers to fulfill a wide variety of jobs; and an opportunity to provide service in a way that is meaningful, necessary, and appreciated. While the School has no community service requirement, it believes that, if there are enough programs, nearly every student will want to help in one way or another. As a result, about 75 percent of our students perform volunteer work at some point during their tenure at Thacher.

S OM E PROGRAM S A N D I N S T I T U T I O N S WHER E STUDEN T S S E R V E Habitat for Humanity Head Start

Oak Tree House (HELP of Ojai Senior Center)

FOOD Share

Ojai Creek Restoration

Local Retirement Homes

Smart Start

Local Schools (including A Place to Grow, for toddlers and pre-schoolers with special needs)

Special Olympics

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

The Ojai Museum

The Humane Society The Ojai Homeless Shelter Ventura County Humane Society

SOMETIMES COMMUNITY SERVICE HAPPENS RIGHT ON CAMPUS

At 3:30 pm on a mid-winter Monday, a subtle but significant transformation takes place in some of the classrooms around the Humanities Building. The surroundings remain the same (posters on the walls, reference books in the shelves), but the person behind the podium or up at the SmartBoard is decidedly different. The teacher: a Thacher senior. The students: local Ojai residents aging from 8 to 50 years old. The material: English.

The seniors involved in this program teach classes to beginning through advanced English learners three days a week and dedicate the remainder of the week to lesson preparation. Through the process, the student teachers gain an appreciation for the art of teaching (and the amount of work that it requires!) and insight into the complexity of their native tongue (there? their? or they’re?). But, perhaps the most significant discovery is their ability to connect with members of the Ojai community in a real and meaningful way. They delight in their students’ progress and feel a true sense of accomplishment when they recognize that their efforts have paid off.

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AN AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY

T H A C H E R TR A D I T I O N S From the moment Sherman Day Thacher started his school, he and his students formed traditions to add meaning and fun to life at Casa de Piedra. Today, Thacher traditions are a blend of old and new. Some we follow because they affirm longstanding and ever relevant values. Others because they never fail to make us smile.

T OADS

HOLIDAY

Nick Thacher, CdeP 1963 and grandson of Sherman Thacher, explains, “I spearheaded the movement to name Thacher’s teams the Toads. Unlike the insecure schools whose machismo necessitates their adopting hopelessly arrogant nomenclature such as ’Tigers’ and ’Lions’ and ’Spartans,’ we felt no necessity to advertise arrogance or virility. Instead, ’Toads’ seemed appropriate because the nature of such beasts is one of humility and quiet persistence.”

The Head of School is empowered to call the occasional holiday. Tradition has it that if a student can make a snowball on the Pergola (the central courtyard of the campus), everyone is given a day off from classes. Holidays are also granted in celebration of the birth of a faculty baby. Or sometimes, just for the heck of it. Holiday or not, spirits run high here, and Thacher students look for chances to cheer each other on. The first ninth-grader to make an announcement at Assembly gets a round of applause. Game days—usually Wednesdays and Saturdays—often find people wearing their Green (for the olive trees) and Orange (for the fruit), ready to root for their fellow Toads.

C HAMBERED N A U T I L U S For over a hundred years, the Head of School has begun the year’s first assembly with a reading of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poem “The Chambered Nautilus.” The chambered nautilus is the spiral shell of a sea creature that symbolizes every student’s mission to grow intellectually and personally.

S I L V E R D O L L A R C LUB A culminating athletic challenge of a Thacher student’s first year is the chance to join the Silver Dollar Club at Big Gymkhana (a series of athletic events on horseback, the centerpiece of spring Family Weekend). You join the club if you can scoop a silver dollar off the ground from a loping horse.

S A T U R D A Y N IG H T O P EN HO USE Regardless of whatever else is happening on campus, Saturday night is always open house at the Mulligans’. Students drop by to play Ping-Pong or board games, brave the challenge of making cookies, gather around the TV to jeer or cheer the latest DVD of a Hollywood blockbuster, or just spend time with their friends.

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THE DORMITORIES

WEEKENDS

At Thacher, students live in one of eight grade-specific, single-sex dorms. Ninth-graders have single rooms; after the first year, most students have roommates. The dormitories are arranged in sections of approximately six students and one senior prefect who helps administer dorm rules and serves as a role model and informal advisor. Faculty heads run each dorm with help from other faculty advisors and prefects.

Trivia Bowl, dances, plays, coffee houses with student performers, campus-wide Capture the Flag, speakers, competitions: Thacher’s Indoor Committee, made up of student representatives and faculty members, balances the hard work of the week with fun and relaxing Friday and Saturday night activities. Also, dorms often host Open Houses, at which students and faculty of both genders are invited to socialize, and every Saturday night is open house at the home of the Head of School and his family.

Although most weekend activities take place on campus, there is the occasional trip to Ventura or Santa Barbara with friends or advisors, class trips to museums or cultural events, camping trips, and other spontaneous excursions.

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“As a freshman, I was impressed by the leadership skills of some amazing upperclassmen — in the dorm, on the cross-country team, in the riding program. As a senior, I have served as a prefect and a member of the Judicial Council. Whatever proficiency I bring to these tasks I owe to those excellent role models. As — gasp! — a role model myself now, I hope I too have a positive influence on the underclassmen I come into contact with, who, when their time comes, will assume their own leadership positions at the School. This cycle of ‘passing the mantle’ is one of the things that makes Thacher so special.”

W I L L I A M C A L L A N C DeP 2 0 1 1, S A N F R A N C I S C O, CALI FORNIA, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Captain – Cross-Country Captain – Varsity Soccer Cum Laude Society Head Prefect, Sophomore Boys Member, Thacher Judicial Council Thacher Masquers, including Roles in Les Misérables and The Real Inspector Hound

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“ Will is a New York City kid who who loves the outdoors. No place is the equal of Thacher in reconciling those divergent urges!

The School encourages individualism, letting students be themselves in a nurturing, connected environment. It is the perfect place to reinforce the importance of community in a competitive world, and make the lesson stick; the perfect place to find balance and, once found, keep it for life.”

D E R E K A N D L IS A K I R K L A N D, N E W Y O R K , N E W Y O RK P A R E N T S , E M IL Y Cd e P 2 0 0 9 , B R O W N U N I V E R SI TY , AND WILLIAM ‘12, LAURA ’15

The Power of Place

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Personal Growth Through Carefully Calibrated Challenges

that Thacher wouldn’t be the school it is if it were anywhere else in the world.

ost people agree

Steep mountains on the Valley’s northern rim. White striated bluffs to the east.

Patchwork of citrus and avocado orchards in the long spread of the Valley. Heartstopping sunsets to the west, beyond the glinting Lake Casitas.

And those are just the views.

From a rock-strewn plot of sagebrush to a fruit-bearing ranch to a one-on-one tutorial to a highly selective boarding school, Thacher’s evolution has been organic and sustained.

But even with first-class facilities and award-winning buildings, the School and what happens daily in it are bound to the land itself: doors—without locks here—open to the outdoors rather than to interior hallways. A walk from calc class to Chinese IV includes a glance at Twin Peaks and deep, fresh-air breathing. A SmartBoard in the AP EnviSci classroom yields to something even wiser when you head to nearby Reeves Creek to see how microinvertabrates tolerate pollutants. A discussion on point of view in creative nonfiction spontaneously leads you and your classmates outside to an oak tree magically laced with roses—which you notice only when you move 50 yards uphill. Lessons beyond the curriculum and slightly farther out from the campus—on tennis court or soccer pitch, at practice or in competition, on hikes, short and long camping trips, horseback trails—take their plan from arena and field, mountain and meadow.

The western character that inevitably sets this school apart from Eastern boarding schools still defines our style and our substance: a freshness of perspective, an easy inquisitiveness, a ready resourcefulness, a flexibility of body and of mind.

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high school experience when it’s your third day of school and you’re on a High Sierra trail near Mt. Whitney with a backpack on, your new classmates/friends in front of you and behind. And a week later, in the morning you’re in a discussion circle of 11 plus your teacher, and in the afternoon you’re sitting tall on a horse, riding a trail that gives you a view to the ocean. ou know you’ve chosen a different sort of

Thacher hands you challenges every day, but they are calibrated with precision and intention — so you will stretch out farther to grab them and suddenly realize you’ve got new muscles in your arms — or you’ll feel your mind flex in a whole new way, or sense your creativity blooming.

The spirit starts with the land, and keeps on going.

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“ This valley is one of the most healthful and picturesque in Southern California. The ranch is on the foothills 600 feet above the valley, of which it commands a wide view. The air is particularly fine. The life is a healthful one, out-of-doors the year round.”

S h e r m a n D ay T h a c h e r

“I was captivated by Thacher’s natural beauty the moment I stepped onto campus. From the Lower Field to the top of Twin Peaks, our environment inspires an adventurous spirit. This place makes us want to be outside, and we’re lucky to be at a school that offers so many chances to do just that. From sports to the camping program to nights spent under the stars in the Lower School courtyard, we take advantage of every opportunity to soak it all in.”

Pascal Cévaër- Cor ey C dep 20 14, Las Vegas, Nev ada, Stanford Univer sity

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that you’d like to try?

There’s room for your inexperienced feet on the Third Soccer team and, after a season of growth and a summer of training, you come back and compete successfully for a spot on Varsity. Or you volunteer to write for the newspaper, and soon have a byline and a regular column. In class, you let fly a radical interpretation of Othello’s motivation; people listen. Some nod in agreement, or take notes on what you said. At Assembly, you make your first announcement, about the visit you and five others took to Puerta de Fe Orphanage in Mexico. Everyone cheers — partly for the service, partly for your standing up to share it.

I S T HERE SOMETHING YOU ’ VE NEVER DONE BEFORE

No one enrolls at Thacher being good at everything. But learning to take positive risks, to set your bar high, to go beyond the easy stopping places: it’s all part of becoming your best self, someone you didn’t know you were until you accepted the invitation this school offers (and expects you to accept) — to speak, climb, dance, race, ride, write, run, sing, present, perform, organize, lead.

You’ll also grow in your connectedness to things greater than individual accomplishment. Looking out for your schoolmates, caring for the place where you live, being responsive and responsible — these qualities begin in those early morning hours of feeding your horse and mucking his corral; they grow through your weekly trip to tutor middle schoolers in math; they blossom further when you go from listening to a debate to arguing in one to heading up the Sir Winston Churchill Debating Society.

It’s an ongoing self-revision, forged of increased confidence to try the new, the different — and a desire to provide others your helping hand. You become the example of limits broken through, growth through achievement.

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PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH CAREFULLY CALIBRATED CHALLENGES

MI N A H C H O I CdeP 2 0 1 4 , O L YM P I A , W A S H IN G T O N P O MO N A C O L L E G E SCHOOL CHAIR E Q U E S T R I A N T E A M CA P T A I N C A MP I N G A S S I S TA N T E N VI R O N M E N T AL A CT IO N C O M M I T T E E JA Z Z B A N D JU N I O R P R E F E C T

“Thacher’s unique community provides a sense of comfort and authenticity, which allowed me to find my niche during my time in this beautiful home away from home. In the classroom, the phenomenal teachers inspired me every day to think outside of the box and expand my intellectual boundaries. And the whole time I was surrounded by a driven and brilliant group of classmates who motivated me to produce my best work and meet the high standards we set for ourselves.”

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“ Thacher gives all its students the most precious of gifts: the opportunity to discover not only who they are, but, more importantly, what they can become, as they move from challenge to achievement to personal fulfillment. They are surrounded by a motivated peer group and adults who know them and care deeply for them; they are held to high standards out of this concern for their growth.”

MI C H A E L K . M U L L IG A N , H E A D O F S C H O O L

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A student’s day at Thacher doesn’t end when the last class is adjourned. Our afternoon programs embody a core belief of the School: that every moment should be an invitation and an opportunity to live a full and meaningful life.

T H E H O R S E P R O G R AM A long-standing tradition and a central part of the Thacher experience. Though most new students have had little or no experience with horses, each ninth-grader spends the first year learning to care for and ride one of Thacher’s horses. New sophomores and juniors choose one athletic season to participate in the program. Many students opt to ride even after they have fulfilled their requirement, especially in the spring, when all riders have become skilled enough to participate in the annual Gymkhana and teams of riders compete in traditional events of speed, skill, and derring-do.

The program teaches students far more than the basics of riding. Taking care of a horse is, for the most part, the greatest responsibility an adolescent has ever shouldered.

Students develop problem-solving skills when they teach a fearful horse to cross a stream, they learn to keep their cool when the horse just won’t cross, and they are rewarded with heightened self-confidence when this seemingly impossible challenge is overcome.

By mastering their horses, Thacher students learn to master themselves.

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“Sports at Thacher contain the perfect mixture of competition, hard work, and respect. Thacher athletics are demanding and provide many physical and mental challenges, especially at the Varsity levels, but the coaches are here to help us reach beyond our comfort zones and develop our self confidence.”

E MMA N U E L A RU H O ‘1 5 , H O U S T O N , T E X A S

AT H L E T I C S

ATHLETICS AND FRESHMA N YEAR

Sports are not optional at Thacher. All students are required to play on at least one Third, JV, or Varsity team prior to graduation.

Thacher coaches emphasize participation, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Winning and losing are means for learning about commitment, friendship, cooperation, competition, limits, and stress.

Provided they have met all their Horse Department obligations, ninth-graders may practice and compete on teams three days a week. Thacher coaches are eager to work with freshman athletes to ensure their athletic interests are met — establishing practice regimens that allow students to do both riding and a team sport.

FALL

WINTER

SPRI N G

8-man Football

Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball

Baseball

Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer

Boys’ Tennis

Dance Ensemble (by audition)

Boys’ and Girls’ Track

Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country Dance Dance Ensemble (by audition) Girls’ Tennis Girls’ Volleyball

Boys’ and Girls’ Lacrosse

Horse Program

Dance Ensemble (by audition)

Yoga

Horse Program Rock Climbing

Horse Program Rock Climbing Yoga

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PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH CAREFULLY CALIBRATED CHALLENGES

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“ While Thacher teams have earned many league and even state championships, we guide our athletes to value other measures of success as well — those built upon the cornerstones of teamwork, sportsmanship, honest effort, and a commitment to excellence.”

PE T E R F A G A N, A T H L E T I C D I R E C T O R

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PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH CAREFULLY CALIBRATED CHALLENGES

“ Thacher’s multi-faceted extracurricular activities help us to grow as students, because of the opportunities we are given to put ourselves in environments where we may not be completely comfortable, be they on the stage, on the sports field, in the wilderness, or on the back of a horse.”

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PERFORMING ARTS Summoning the courage to entertain others in public is not for the faint of heart, which is why the performing arts at Thacher are not confined to natural born performers. Although the School offers coursework and programs for serious, committed performers, all students, regardless of prior experience, are invited to dance, act, and play music.

The afternoon dance program combines jazz, ballet, and modern.

Classes focus on improving strength, flexibility, and alignment, and on learning a variety of dance styles. Students may also audition for the Dance Ensemble, a repertory dance company that performs each term.

The Thacher Masquers is a theatrical ensemble that mounts a fall play, a winter musical, and a number of one-acts in the spring.

Auditions are open to all.

The Chorus, the Chamber Singers, and the Instrument Ensemble can be taken as half-credit elective courses. These musical groups give performances each term and often participate in the winter musical.

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T H E O U T D OO R P RO G R A M At the heart of Thacher’s dedication to the outdoors are the weeklong camping trips the entire community takes each fall and spring. In faculty-led groups of six or seven, students head off to such varied destinations as the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Yosemite, the Los Padres National Forest, the Lost Coast, and the Mojave Desert to climb, backpack, horse-camp, kayak, and canoe. All trips stress “minimum-impact” camping skills as well as self-sufficiency and cooperative teamwork. Camping encourages students to develop a relationship with nature while presenting them with both physical and emotional challenges. The outdoors provides fertile ground for faculty-student and peer friendships.

Regular weekend camping trips, known as Extra Day Trips, are also a mainstay of the program. Students and faculty go into the back country for two or three days to put into practice the skills they have acquired during the week.

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The Stamp of the School

HE FINAL SCHOOL BA N Q U E T of the year closes with a singing of The Banquet Song, written by Sherman Day Thacher, whose words remind us that a high school education ought not be an end in itself: May the stamp of the School be the stamp of our lives Whose honesty carries us on, To do the best work in the world that we can ’Til the best we can do is all done.

In that spirit, Thacher Commencement isn’t the typical diplomaand-a-handshake routine. Instead, each senior stands for a few minutes on the dais with the Head of School to hear a Senior Tribute. Everyone — friends still waiting for their name to be called, proud parents and family in the audience, faculty smiling up from their seats — everyone listens as the student’s distinctive qualities are named and applauded. Each accolade is a hint at the legacy left behind and the promise taken out into the world by each Thacher graduate.

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a Senior Exhibition delivered to 10 or a 110 peers, schoolmates, faculty, staff, and parents. An hour every morning checking stalls for cleanliness, or one at sunset driving hay to the horses out in Carpenters’ Orchard. A presentation of a Judicial Case in front of two dozen students, or a pitch for serving at the homeless shelter or for helping disabled kids learn to pat, then sit on, then actually ride a horse. A weekend or weeklong camping adventure — backpacking, horsepacking, climbing, skiing — planned and executed by a Trip Captain who started Thacher not knowing cinch from latigo, or piton from pitch. A service project you inaugurated and saw through its first season. Or behind the scenes, organizing every prop for Les Misérables so that the show runs smoothly, or warming up your fellow Chamber Singers, or stepping up to the sink to scrub Open House cookie sheets just before the party shuts down that Saturday night.

AFTER MONTHS OF RESEARCH, PREPARATION, AND PRACTICE,

By the time you are an upperclassman here, you are confidently taking over the reins, working alongside the faculty in all areas of school life, marking the community in your own way. You become part of the cycle of learner becoming teacher, of follower becoming leader. It is the foundation for a lifetime of learning and leadership.

Little wonder that Thacher alums, over and over again, credit this school with the habits of hard work, tenacity, resilience, and can-do that make their lives and careers successful and satisfying.

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THE STAMP OF THE SCHOOL

“ I am not interested in what you say; it is what you do that matters.”

S H E R M A N D A Y TH A CH E R

C O L L E G E P L A CE M E N T Making the match between student and college is an exciting process: it’s an opportunity for students to learn about themselves and the environments in which they will succeed, about how to present themselves, evaluate options, and make healthy transitions. With a thoughtful and student-driven approach to creating an application list, Thacher’s college counseling staff guides seniors and their parents on this journey. But long before that, the college office is preparing students to undertake the college process. It starts with a brief introduction in sophomore year, followed by a series of group and individual meetings for juniors and seniors. Workshops cover essay writing, scholastic testing, and financial aid. Additionally, intensive five-month courses in both SAT and ACT prep are available to all juniors.

This formula has yielded strong results. In the last five years, four or more Thacher students have enrolled at the following colleges and universities (listed by number of attendees): New York University

Georgetown University

Stanford University

Harvard College

Colorado College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

University of Southern California

Bowdoin College

Middlebury College

Johns Hopkins University

Tufts University

Northeastern University

Dartmouth College

Northwestern University

Duke University Occidental College

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Richmond

University of California, Los Angeles

Colby College

University of Michigan

Columbia University

University of Notre Dame

Boston University

Vanderbilt University

Claremont McKenna College

Wesleyan University

Carleton College

“ When I open an application from a Thacher student, I know I’m going to meet a student who has been encouraged to try new things, to seek out close, meaningful relationships with adults, and to identify and step into leadership opportunities. Thacher’s riding program, its prefect system, and its close-knit campus community make for a unique mix that encourages and develops these strengths. In our experience, Thacher students are comfortable with themselves because they have not only been challenged academically, but challenged to take risks and try new things. As a result, they are not afraid to speak up, to step up, or to take the lead....”

N I C H O L A S S T R O H L, A S S I S TANT DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS, YALE UNIVERSITY

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“ While I went on to the University of Chicago and to Stanford University and then Columbia University, I can honestly say that none of these equaled Thacher’s influence on my life. Two features particularly stand out. One was the unbridled joy and sensory empowerment provided by the natural world that surrounded me here. The other element of my Thacher education that profoundly shaped my life was the group of extraordinary teachers who taught and mentored me. Each embodied a special and even radical notion of education, one born of a deep concern for individuals and bound by a shared commitment that education was much more than the development of an enterprising curiosity. It was fundamentally a mission to cultivate a sense of empathy — the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, whether a literary character or a classmate in need of comfort or a political prisoner halfway around the globe.

The pursuit of knowledge should never overshadow a more immutable human trait; as Emerson reminds us, ‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.’”

L U C A S B L A C K CdeP 1 9 9 0 , A SSO CI ATE COUNTRY DIRECTOR, MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

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“ Thacher laid the groundwork for my success. It did not do this by drilling morality or by lecture; they taught through experience. The patience, the forethought, and the humility I had to call upon when dealing with my horse was no different than the resources needed when dealing with my Senior Exhibition, which was compounded by my normal workload.

Thacher teaches community as well as fostering it and is completely dedicated to the personal and intellectual growth of every one of its members. This is why the ‘lessons of life’ I learned there have stayed with me — be it at the boardroom table or at the white board designing the simplest, most elegant solutions. Patience, practicality, and humility. Life after Thacher has had its fair share of adventures. I attended Stanford University and took fascinating classes alongside some of the best and brightest. I worked at Google for two years, and now I am living the American dream, as I am a founding member of a technology company in California’s Silicon Valley.”

B E L S A S A R L E P E CdeP 2 0 0 5 , O X NARD, CALIFORNIA, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

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