Dwight School Admissions Viewbook 2013

Global Vision

We want to ignite every student’s “spark of genius.”

Founded in 1872, Dwight School is dedicated to igniting a “spark of genius” in every child.

A Dwight education is unique. No other school cultivates the development of the whole child in quite the same way. We fit the learning experience to the individual strengths, interests, and passions of every student. Simultaneously, every student benefits from our School’s three pillars: personalized learning, community, and global vision.

A pioneer in global education, Dwight was the first school in the U.S. to offer the comprehensive, rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum for students from ages three to eighteen. The IB is widely known as the most challenging and respected pre-university course of study in the world. Dwight’s longstanding commitment to the principles of the IB and track record of success set the School apart.

Our esteemed faculty embodies the dynamic mission of the IB: to create knowledgeable, caring, principled, and open-minded risk-takers equipped with global wisdom to make the world a better place.

Welcome to Dwight

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Leadership Team

Our team of internationally renowned senior leaders is dedicated to stewarding your child’s personalized education from preschool through grade twelve. The team includes Chancellor Stephen Spahn, the longest-serving school leader in New York City; and Head of School Dianne Drew, whose IB teaching and curriculum development experience spans three continents.

Dwight’s Leadership Team

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Innovation

Using an iPad to render 3-D images, students examine the fine details of one of fifteen Tibetan thangkas in Dwight’s museumquality permanent collection.

These are just a few of hundreds of pieces of original artwork, ranging from Goya etchings to Oceanic masks, which line our hallways and serve as inspiration for innovative curriculum developments.

Dwight’s Tradition Is Innovation

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Innovation

Starting at a young age, Dwight students have a multitude of opportunities through which their natural curiosity can grow and flourish. They are challenged to exchange new ideas and apply what they learn in the classroom to the real world.

Dwight students are also encouraged to share their knowledge with their peers around the world to promote intercultural understanding and develop practical solutions to complex problems.

They do so at venues such as the annual Global Issues Network Conference in Luxembourg, where Dwight students took first prize for their innovative video.

Dwight’s Tradition Is Innovation

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Faculty

No two students are alike, and our world-class faculty is dedicated to finding what makes every child special and unique. Our student-centered focus enables us to always put the student first.

We support each child’s development and individual interests from the very start of a Dwight education, which begins in our Early Childhood Division.

Dwight’s World-class Faculty Ignites a Student’s Unique “Spark of Genius”

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Faculty

Each year, the Dwight faculty designs trips that enhance the curriculum and enrich the personalized learning experience beyond the classroom. Recent examples include taking students to British Columbia to record lichen growth on a glacier and to Turkey for an IB World School volleyball tournament.

Our faculty members, who come from all over the globe, include numerous esteemed leaders in the International Baccalaureate curriculum. Within the dynamic IB program, they work one-on-one with students and go out of their way to discover and foster their unique “spark of genius.”

Dwight’s World-class Faculty Ignites a Student’s Unique “Spark of Genius”

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Facilities

Dwight’s 40,000-square-foot Athletic Center features stateof-the-art facilities, including a 25-yard indoor pool with six lanes, a fitness and weight room, a dance studio, locker facilities, and a regulation-size gymnasium with bleachers to accommodate two hundred spectators. Created through a groundbreaking East Harlem community partnership, the Dwight School Athletic Center, overlooking the East River with two rooftop tennis courts, is the ideal training ground for students whose “spark of genius” is in athletics.

This facility serves as the new home to the Dwight Lions for our entire community

Dwight Facilities Support the Pursuit of Passions and Growth for All

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Facilities In our Early Childhood Division, young Dwight students engage in a wide variety of physical activities and games in two gyms, and just beyond the front door, at a playground on Riverside Boulevard. As children grow and continue to develop from the beginning of preschool through kindergarten, so do their balance and motor skills, as well as their self-confidence — through Dwight’s holistic approach to education.

Dwight’s Great Hall is designed to serve as a multipurpose space for a range of activities that include; daily recess for lower school students, yoga, and meditation, as well as dance and gymnastics classes. Climbing features add to the physically challenging opportunities that are provided in this beautiful, open space that is filled with natural light.

Dwight Facilities Support the Pursuit of Passions and Growth for All

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Personalized Learning

Thanks to Dwight’s flexible, personalized learning approach, a student was able to follow his own path to compete in the fencing world championships — all while meeting the rigorous challenges of the IB. The IB is the only curriculum in which students are measured according to the same high universal benchmarks, regardless of where they call home. With this topquality academic preparation, Dwight graduates attend many of the best colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and Oxford.

Dwight Students Carve Their Own Paths

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Personalized Learning Encouraged at Dwight to marry his passion for dance with a purpose through the IB’s Community, Action, and Service Project, a senior developed the requisite leadership skills to launch Dance for Orphans, an educational non-profit for children in Indonesia. Dwight’s emphasis on personalized learning enables students to find and develop a commitment to social causes that often remains with them well beyond school.

Tapping into his artistic vision and talent, a Dwight student created a surreal and symbolic sculpture of his family tree for his IB Tenth Grade Personal Project. Through this project, students have the opportunity to express themselves and who they are becoming as both critical and reflective thinkers.

Dwight Students Carve Their Own Paths

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Community

Dwight is dedicated to creating a diverse community in which every student can flourish and become empowered to make a difference. In our rooftop greenhouse, for example, students learn how to compost, grow food, and give back to the local community by donating fresh produce to a nearby food bank. This early experience lays a strong foundation for children to become community-minded leaders and agents of change.

Dwight Students Serve Their Local and Global Communities

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Community

Upper school students develop year-long personal projects that are thought-provoking and designed to make the world a better place. Those who wish to go farther can apply to the Dwight Global Leaders Academy, located on our Canada campus, empowering them to become effective public speakers and social entrepreneurs.

Through the lower school reading buddy project, older students mentor younger members of the close-knit Dwight community.

Programs that link students of different ages through learning and sharing reinforce the caring and supportive culture at Dwight.

Dwight Students Serve Their Local and Global Communities

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Global Vision

Dwight’s long-standing commitment to serving others in a global capacity affords students with multiple opportunities to travel and to make meaningful contributions around the world.

The progression from passion to purpose takes many forms each year, but one student-driven initiative that has continued to grow is our collaboration with a school in Kenya. Dwight students have helped to raise funds, create a library, and bring new learning opportunities where they did not exist before.

Dwight Students Are Citizens of the World

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Global Vision

For many years, Dwight fifth graders in New York and London have participated in a reciprocal home-stay program, enabling them to form friendships and long-lasting bonds with their peers abroad. Students at all grade levels benefit from international exchanges and IB curricular collaborations with those at other Dwight programs and campuses in Seoul, Beijing, and on Vancouver Island.

Dwight students represent over forty countries and are part of a family of Dwight Schools that includes more than 2,000 students worldwide.

Dwight Students Are Citizens of the World

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I love Dwight because the teachers and students made me feel so comfortable when I first came here.

— Ayana, grade 9

I love Dwight because of its flexibility in catering to my personal needs. In addition to playing baseball for Dwight, I play on another team outside. The School enables me to take time out from school to accommodate my schedule.

— Faiez, grade 11

I love Dwight because it’s very modern, has lots of computers, and is an international school.

— Zach, grade 7

I love school because I can play with my friends and do art.

— Will, Early Childhood Division (preschool)

I love Dwight because my teachers make learning fun. I learn new things every day and practice being a risk-taker.

— Finn, grade 1

I love Dwight because ... I love so many things about Dwight!

— Jasmine, grade 5

I love Dwight because of its individual teaching style ...

I retain so much more.

— Olivia, grade 12

I love Dwight because it goes beyond just textbooks; I’m making an ibook program for my science class and it really engages me.

— Finn, grade 7

I love Dwight because of its personalized learning, small class size, and the great relationships I have with my teachers.

— James, grade 11

I love Dwight because I love my teachers and solving math problems.

— Marley, Early Childhood Division (kindergarten)

I love Dwight because...!

Early Childhood Division

Dwight preschoolers continually explore inside and outside the classroom. As they’re introduced to the International Baccalaureate’s dynamic Primary Years Program, they learn through play, discovery, and inquiry. Tapping into their growing curiosity, our faculty members take a holistic approach that nurtures the cognitive, physical, and emotional well-being of each child.

Life at Dwight: Early Childhood Division

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Early Childhood Division

We welcome parent participation in events throughout the year, including our annual backto-school family picnic, as well as receptions sponsored by the dedicated Parents Association.

We offer a wide range of afterschool programs to engage young minds and bodies, including art, yoga, jewelry design, music, drama, soccer, cooking, ballet, Mandarin, and so much more.

Life at Dwight: Early Childhood Division

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Lower School

Focusing on the development of the whole child, Dwight faculty strive to awaken a sense of wonder that makes academic learning both significant and a lifelong endeavor. Through the IB Primary Years Program units of inquiry, students learn more about themselves and the world around them, while building allimportant self-confidence and self-esteem.

Life at Dwight: Lower School

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Lower School

Dwight is committed to providing a wide range of experiential learning opportunities outside the classroom that enhance our academic program. An annual favorite is Field Day, when children leave studies behind and enjoy activities in Central Park.

Our Passport after-school program enables students to investigate a wide range of interests and develop their own passions.

Passport offerings span fencing, chess, the visual and performing arts, science and language clubs, fashion design, skateboarding, team sports, rock climbing, and robot building, just to name a few.

Life at Dwight: Lower School

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Middle School

Dwight’s IB Middle Years Program provides a framework for academic rigor and encourages students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subjects and the real world. This inquiry-based curriculum deepens students’ abilities to develop and hone their problem-solving skills and to become independent thinkers.

Life at Dwight: Middle School

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Middle School

Middle school students are encouraged to explore who they are as individuals and who they are in relation to both their peers and to the larger community. In support of their self-discovery, they are often guided in morning meditation sessions.

Students extend the day by participating on interscholastic sports teams and in activities that emphasize teamwork, skill-building, and further refine their individual talents. These include soccer, yoga, jazz band, journalism, Science Olympiad, chamber music, a green technology team, and studio art, among many others.

Life at Dwight: Middle School

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Upper School

Upper school students delve even deeper into the academically rigorous and holistic IB program with challenging classes such as the distinguished Theory of Knowledge course. In this highly engaging IB diploma class, students examine the very nature of knowledge, learn how to question assumptions, and develop even higher-level critical thinking skills. With the guidance of expert IB faculty, a first-rate academic foundation, and a global perspective, Dwight students have a decided advantage in the college application process.

Life at Dwight: Upper School

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Upper School

Upper school students have the opportunity to become peer leaders for their fellow classmates, further enriching the supportive Dwight community.

Our students enjoy campus life and can tap into all of New York City’s rich resources, including Central Park, right outside our door.

Extracurricular activities for older students run the gamut from A to Z – from Amnesty International to Zumba fitness, including web and virtual game design, varsity sports, the Dwight Conservatory of Music, theater workshops, lacrosse – and engaging in whatever else supports their “spark of genius.”

Life at Dwight: Upper School

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Athletics

Dwight athletic teams compete against strong local rivals in New York City and have consistently captured many championships and conference titles. They also travel abroad to compete against athletes on other Dwight global campuses, as well as those at specialized facilities such as a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic. These experiences encourage learning that goes well beyond the playing field. Fostering self-confidence and a sense of sportsmanship, and underscoring the power of teamwork, Dwight’s athletic programs reinforce the School’s personalized learning approach with the objective to always do one’s personal best.

Extracurricular Athletics

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Athletics

Dwight’s exciting new Athletic Center offers an expansive training ground for our robust athletics program. It extends the space on our Main Campus and in beautiful Central Park, where Junior Varsity and Varsity teams practice and compete. Dwight inspires students from a young age to develop a love of sports, become confident achievers, and to collaborate as spirited members of a team.

Oftentimes, a student’s “spark of genius” can be found in the competitive arena. Dwight has dedicated curriculum time, both during the academic day and after school, to promoting physical fitness and the development of scholar-athletes.

Extracurricular Athletics

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Visual and Performing Arts

The arts are integral to a Dwight education. Opportunities abound for students to develop self-confidence and express themselves through music, theater, dance, and the visual arts. Each year, Dwight musicians and singers of all ages share their talents on such leading New York City performance stages as Carnegie Hall during our exciting annual line-up of productions.

Visual and Performing Arts

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Visual and Performing Arts

At Dwight, students gain a critical awareness of international trends in the fine arts, and a broad appreciation for dance and theater from a global perspective. A highlight for dancers is the annual showcase, where they perform both as soloists and as part of an ensemble.

Creativity and talent also flourish through a wide range of visual arts classes that include drawing, sculpture, printmaking, digital media, film, and photography throughout the academic year. Student artwork adorns our campus alongside the works of famous artists from around the globe, reinforcing a sense of accomplishment and inspiring others to see the world through their eyes.

Visual and Performing Arts

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Commencement

Dwight’s Commencement is held in the elegant Metropolitan Museum of Art. Once completing this important rite of passage, graduates, equipped with global wisdom and prepared to become the leaders of tomorrow, join a powerful network of over four thousand Dwight alumni around the world. The personal and professional connections they forge during their Dwight years will continue to serve them well for many years to come.

Commencement

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We invite you to visit to our School to learn more about our world-class academic, arts, and athletic programs.

You will have the opportunity to meet our students, faculty, and admissions team. We also hope that you’ll join us for an open house.

To learn more, call (212) 724-6360. For information about our Early Childhood Division, call (212) 362-2350. Please visit us at dwight.edu to begin the admissions process.

We look forward to getting to know your family.

Main Campus (Grades 1–12) 291 Central Park West New York, NY 10024 Early Childhood Division (preschool 2s, 3s, 4s & kindergarten) 144 Riverside Boulevard New York, NY 10069

Global Vision

What will your child’s “spark of genius” be?

Dwight is an IB World School