A Good Person is Always Learning
Dear Future Highlander, Whether you are just beginning to explore boarding school, or you are nearing decision time for the coming years, I hope that this book helps you see why our students are such proud Highlanders, both in their time on campus and as alumni. The Frederick Gunn School is built on the belief that strength of character is the true goal of education, and that is learned as much through athletics and residential life as in our classrooms. We all — students and faculty — are learning every day, and we push one another to be at our best. The result is quite simple and unique for a high school:
Highlanders look out for one another.
Highlanders are always learning, and that is a virtue that resonates deeply with me as an educator. Our program is built so that every student learns about themselves and how they learn. Being a great learner is the very best resource we can give to our students as they face the changing landscape of information and work in the coming decades, and it is a value that has shaped our curriculum since Frederick and Abigail first started our school 174 years ago. This is also why we place so much value in our Advising Program and carve out time for these trusted adult relationships in our newly revised daily schedule.
Each Highlander is asked to reflect on what kind of impact they want to have in the world when they leave this beautiful campus, not just what profession to pursue, but what kind of citizen they want to be and what legacies of good they will leave along their way. This is embodied in our Citizenship and Just Democracy curriculum, but also permeates the ethos of their coaches, teachers, and house parents. As our students figure out how to be good citizens of this school, they learn what responsibility and impact will feel like throughout their lives.
All of this amounts to our students taking risks and innovating. It’s why our Entrepreneurship Program lives right at the heart of campus in our new Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship. Think of our campus, and the surrounding hills of Litchfield County, as a learning laboratory. We are so lucky to be in Washington, Connecticut, and right on the edge of the Steep Rock Nature Preserve, established in 1925 by alumnus Erick Rossiter. Whether through the tradition of School Walk, or just hiking down to the Shepaug River with your friends on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the outdoors help keep us grounded, well, and attuned to the world around us.
Highlanders work hard and compete fiercely, and our students go on to leading universities on their own terms, already having a sense of who they are, and who they want to be in the world, prepared for any challenge that may come their way. We also have a lot of fun. This is high school after all!
Our Admissions team is eager to answer your questions as you get to know the Gunn community, and they are best reached at admissions@frederickgunn.org.
Always learning, Emily Raudenbush
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Washington and the surrounding towns have long been home to writers, artists, and performers seeking inspiration, calm, and a bucolic lifestyle that includes a farm-to-table ethos and great espresso.
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(photo: George Home)
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Music Production: All Things Audio explores the technical skills and creative process involved in making professional-quality music. Students will learn from a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer and producer how to run a professional recording session, and how to set up and use audio interfaces, mixing boards, microphones, synthesizers, MIDI devices and more.
Design the School is a Citizenship and Just Democracy offering that allows students to use the Design Thinking process — one of the leading tools for innovation among entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs — to redesign high school. Students will consider what schools look like today compared to the past, and what makes our school unique. They will also recommend how they want to see our school change and evolve.
Frederick Gunn School Medical Immersion takes students from the classroom to real-world lessons in the beautiful country of Belize. Students will provide care for patients in communities with high incidence rates of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cancer. They will visit and work with the Garifuna, the Maya, the Creole, and the Mestizo, learning to welcome the diversity of race, ethnicity, traditions, socioeconomic status, physical abilities, and religious beliefs, and to treat the individual, not the disease.
And this is just a sample of our innovative Winterim curriculum ...
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CHOOSE FROM 20 WINTERIM COURSE OFFERINGS
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63 BARD COLLEGE • BABSON COLLEGE • BENTLEY UNIVERSITY • BOSTON COLLEGE • BOSTON UNIVERSI TY • BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY • BROWN UNVERSITY • BRYN MAWR COLLEGE • BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY • CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY • CLAREMONT MCKENNA COL LEGE • COLBY COLLEGE • COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS • COLLEGE OF WILLAM & MARY • COLORADO COL LEGE • COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY • CONNECTICUT COLLEGE • CORNELL UNIVERSITY • DARTMOUTH COLLEGE • DENISON UNIVERSITY • DICKINSON COLLEGE • DREXEL UNIVERSITY • ELON UNIVERSITY • EMERSON COL LEGE • EMORY UNIVERSITY • FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY • FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY • FORDHAM UNIVERSI TY • FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE • GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY • HAMILTON COLLEGE HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY • HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES • ITHACA COLLEGE • JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY • KENYON COLLEGE • LAFAYETTE COLLEGE • LEHIGH UNIVER SITY • LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO • MACALESTER COLLEGE • MANHATTANVILLE COLLEGE • MARIST COLLEGE • MIAMI UNIVERSITY OHIO • MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY • MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE • MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE • NEW YORK UNIVERSITY • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY • NORTHWESTERN UNIVER SITY • OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE • OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY • PENN STATE UNIVERSITY • PITZER COLLEGE • PROVIDENCE COLLEGE • PURDUE UNIVERSITY • RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE • ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY • RUTGERS UNIVERSITY • SKIDMORE COLLEGE • SMITH COLLEGE • SOUTH ERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY • ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY • SWARTHMORE COLLEGE • SYRACUSE UNI VERSITY • TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY • THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS • THE UNIVERSITY NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL • TRINITY COLLEGE • TUFTS UNIVERSITY• TULANE UNIVERSITY • UNION COLLEGE • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES • UNI VERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA • UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ • UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER • UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT UNIVERSITY OF DENVER • UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA • UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA • UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN • UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI • UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN • UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI • UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA • UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALI FORNIA • UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS • UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT • UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA • UNIVER SITY OF WASHINGTON • UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN • VASSAR COLLEGE • VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY • WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY • WILLIAMS COLLEGE • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS • YALE UNIVERSITY
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NO LIMITS. NO QUIT. NO EXCUSES.
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ATHLETICS
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Cam Donaldson ‘17, Cornell forward and All-Ivy Honorable Mention. (photo: Dave Burbank/Cornell Athletics)
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