Countdown centennial
2013-2014
Volume 2 | October 2012
Founder’s Day
A Celebration Honoring Westridge Founder, Mary Lowther Ranney On October 6, 2013 Westridge will begin a yearlong Centennial Celebration with a Founder’s Day picnic! On that day, Westridge will officially turn 100! The theme of the Centennial year is: “Our Chosen Path: Founding Values for a New Century.” The phrase “chosen path” refers to a citation honoring the school’s founder, Mary Lowther Ranney. It speaks to the deepest purpose of Westridge as a school for girls — to encourage and empower them to choose and to follow their own paths. Born in 1871, to a prominent Chicago family, Mary Lowther Ranney was an extraordinary woman of her day. She attended the University of Chicago and taught in an all-girls’ school. In 1904, she moved with her parents to Pasadena where she worked as an architect in the office of Greene and Greene, the noted architects. The path she chose for herself was a life as a single, professional woman, a progressive educator, and an advocate for women’s rights. Her educational philosophy, her aesthetic sense and her personal values remain in the school culture and the campus
itself almost a century later. She has inspired the themes we will highlight as we celebrate Westridge at 100: courage, creativity, and imagination. The Centennial is a singular moment from which to look back at our founding values from a 21st century perspective. Out of Mary Lowther Ranney’s commitment to education came the idea for a school for girls. That idea became her vision. Her vision became the remarkable institution located on the very site she chose for its beginnings. As we celebrate our founding, we also look forward with courage, confidence, and commitment to the next century of educating girls and young women. Throughout the Centennial Year there will engaging, exciting events, programs, activities and opportunities. Plan to be part of this unique celebration for an extraordinary school: its history, its values, and its promise.
Fran Norris Scoble former head of Westridge School Chair, Centennial Steering Committee
westridge beginnings
•
•
1913 | At the request of Mrs. William Brackenridge and other neighborhood parents, Miss Mary Lowther Ranney opens Westridge, a school for girls, on October 1. The two-story, brown-shingled house at 324 Madeline Drive welcomes the 21 students whose parents, like Mrs. Brackenridge, “longed for a school with a standard of education which would compare favorably with the most advanced schools of the East.” The school motto, Surgere Tentamus, is chosen by the first Latin class, and the school colors are pink and green — to be carried out in the Cecil Brunner rose and the ivy leaf.
•
1914 | A tradition of community and international service is established. Christmas dinners and presents are provided for local needy families. 1915 | In its third year, Westridge enrolls 60 students. The school adopts five war orphans after a Miss Pell, visiting from Europe, talks to pupils about “the unfortunate French children.”
•
1917 | Miss Amie C. Rumney becomes coprincipal. Westridge holds its first pet show. The Westridge Council forms “to provide pupils an opportunity to take part in the shaping of school policy and to help the school become known throughout the community for its ideals of character and scholarship.” Mrs. Bradshaw Trotter merges her Montessori pre-school and kindergarten with Westridge, bringing with her 11 little boys.