The Thacher School
| The Thacher School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
| , United States | |
| Coordinates | 34°27′54″N 119°10′57″W / 34.46500°N 119.18250°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Private, independent, boarding |
| Established | 1889 |
| Head of school | Jeff Hooper |
| Faculty | 60 |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 260 |
| Average class size | 11 students |
| Student to teacher ratio | 6:1 |
| Campus | 540 acres (2.2 km2) |
| Color(s) | Green and orange |
| Athletics | 28 teams |
| Mascot | Toad |
| Nickname | Casa de Piedra |
| Endowment | $206 million (2024) |
| Website | www |
The Thacher School is a private co-educational day and boarding school in Ojai, California. Founded in 1889 as a boys' school, it began admitting girls in 1977 and is California's oldest co-educational boarding school. The school educates approximately 250 students, who come from 21 states and 12 countries.
Originally a ranch, Thacher's 540-acre campus supports formal horse and outdoors programs. School founder Sherman Day Thacher believed in the power of the outdoors to help shape students: “Come West, breathe deep, let these hills be your teachers.”[1][dead link] In 2019, the school's older buildings were listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
History and overview
[edit]Origins
[edit]In 1887, Sherman Day Thacher moved to the Casa de Piedra ("CdeP") orange ranch in Ojai, California with his brother, who was seeking a "fresh air" cure for his tuberculosis.[2] Thacher's father Thomas was a professor at Yale, and in 1889, Thacher's friend Henry W. Farnam (another Yale professor) asked Thacher to tutor his son for Yale's entrance exams.[3] Thacher agreed to do so, provided that the son move to California for his lessons.[4] At CdeP, Thacher tutored the younger Farnam in both academics and maturity, blending classroom studies with outdoor living and horsemanship.[citation needed] Soon other friends were sending their sons out to California to receive Thacher's instruction, and a school was born.
Due to the school's popularity, the admissions office was oversubscribed. As a result, Sherman Thacher encouraged Thompson Webb to move from Tennessee to Claremont, California and establish The Webb School of California, which opened in 1922.[5] In addition, Sherman Thacher's Yale classmate Horace Dutton Taft visited CdeP in 1889; his experience helped crystallize his decision to found Connecticut's Taft School the following year.[6]
Horse and outdoor programs
[edit]The Horse Program requires students to ride and care for a horse during all athletic seasons their freshman year at Thacher, while students who join at later grades complete the requirement during one athletic season.[7] An annual gymkhana event provides students the opportunity to demonstrate horsemanship in competition. Though Western-style riding is required, the Equestrian Program offers an English riding elective in grades 10-12.
As part of the Outdoors Program, students are encouraged to take weekend camping trips into the local mountains, in addition to week-long trips each fall and spring that include backpacking, rock climbing, cycling, sailing, horse camping, canyoneering, backcountry skiing and kayaking.[citation needed]
Recent developments
[edit]From 1999 to 2008, Thacher conducted a $82 million fundraising campaign that both increased endowments for faculty salaries and student financial aid, and funded new buildings on campus (including a performing arts center, student commons, and dormitories).[8][3]
The school launched a $160 million fundraising campaign in 2017.[3] In 2018, Thacher reported that the campaign had helped grow the school endowment from $125 to $171 million.[9] In 2020, Thacher further reported that its financial aid budget increased by 50.7% and the percentage of students on financial aid had increased by 5%. The campaign also funded a new academic building and dining hall, improved faculty housing, and a solar power facility that contributes more than 90% of the school's energy needs.[10]
Admissions and student body
[edit]In 2024, the school's admission rate was 16%. 79% of admitted students chose to enroll at Thacher.[11] In 2016, Business Insider ranked Thacher as the most selective boarding school in the United States.[12]
In the 2024-25 school year, Thacher educated 225 boarders and 20 non-faculty day students. 45% of boarding students came from outside California, and 14% of students came from abroad. 31% of Thacher students received financial aid. The average award was $64,993, equivalent to 83% of boarding tuition.[11]
Academics
[edit]Curriculum
[edit]Thacher students engage in a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum and are required to complete four years of Mathematics and English with three years of Science, History, and a foreign language of choice, plus two years of Art. Students must take five solid courses (defined as classes with substantial written homework) each term. Students are placed in and choose from more than 80 courses, ranging from English I to Advanced Music Theory. Classes such as Latin, Global Crises and Solutions, Astronomy Research, Modern Middle East, Advanced Actors Studio, Multivariable Calculus, Perspectives on Nature, Field Biology and Conservation are on offer.
Thacher uses the Harkness method[13] in its classrooms. "Daily preparation, thoughtful participation, analytical thinking and intellectual rigor" are part of life in the Thacher classroom.[14]
All seniors exhibit mastery on a topic by designing and researching a topic of choice. This Senior Exhibition must have an oral and written component and be presented to the Thacher community.
Test scores
[edit]For the Class of 2023, Thacher reported a middle-50% SAT score range of 1300-1520 and an average ACT score of 30.[11]
Observatory program
[edit]Thacher has an astronomical research program, where students participate in astrophysics research in collaboration with teams at Harvard University, Boston University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the Las Cumbres Observatory.[15][better source needed]
The observatory was brought to campus in 1965 by Caltech and UCLA as part of the Summer Science Program. It was renovated in 2016 into a state-of-the-art, research-grade facility and now houses a PlaneWave CDK-700 telescope with a 0.7m aperture and a fully robotic dome. The observatory uses a flexible dispatch schedule for full automation.[16][better source needed]
Campus and facilities
[edit]The campus, located in the foothills in the northeast corner of the Ojai Valley, about 85 miles north of Los Angeles, was originally the Casa de Piedra ranch.[17] Buildings reflect a variety of architectural styles, including California Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival.
In addition to the normal boarding school mix of athletic facilities like a gymnasium, tennis courts, track, three fields, fitness center, and pool (although the pool is not used for athletic events), the campus has barns, pastures, arenas, and fields for equestrian use, including a network of trails that links the campus to the adjacent Los Padres National Forest. The school maintains base camps in the Sespe Wilderness and the Eastern Sierra's Golden Trout Wilderness,[18] which it uses for backcountry trips, educational programs and alumni retreats.[19] The school also hosts a game room, sand volleyball courts and two wellness centers.
Mascot and traditions
[edit]While The Thacher School's symbol has always been the pegasus, its mascot is the toad, chosen, according to the founder's grandson, Nick Thacher, for its quiet humility and persistence.[20]
Sexual misconduct investigation
[edit]In a report[21] posted on the Thacher website on June 16, 2021 the school publicly acknowledged decades of student sexual misconduct, harassment and “boundary crossing” (including violent rapes) by faculty members.[22] The 91-page report compiled by attorneys hired by Thacher "laid out episodes of alleged rape, groping, unwanted touching and inappropriate comments dating back 40 years in a level of detail surprising for a private institution,"[23] according to the Los Angeles Times. The document identified six alleged perpetrators by name, recounted accusations of misconduct and alleged efforts by former school administrators to cover up complaints and blame teenage victims. Thacher's board of trustees concluded, among other findings, that many students "suffered lasting harm not just from the sexual misconduct itself but also from the School’s handling of the misconduct." The board also concluded that the school "tolerated and at times fostered a culture that valued the experiences and voices of boys and men over those of girls and women and that allowed sexual misconduct to be minimized, ignored, and dismissed."[24]
The allegations, per further reporting in the Times, "sparked a broad criminal inquiry" by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. "Investigators were examining potential sex crimes as well as whether Thacher administrators committed crimes by not alerting police to suspected child abuse, according to the Sheriff’s Office."[25]
On July 28, 2021 the Thacher Board of Trustees unanimously voted to remove the name of its former head of school from the campus dining hall and athletic field.[26] In a letter to the school community, board chair Dan Yih wrote that “the high honor associated with a name on a building is fundamentally inconsistent with the gravity and serious consequences of Michael Mulligan’s failure to protect Thacher students from harm.” The trustees also voted to remove former headmaster Bill Wyman’s name from a hiking trail named for him. Wyman, who served as headmaster at the school from 1975 to 1992 and died in 2014, had engaged in “a pattern of offensive verbal conduct and improper touching” toward female students and staff.[27] Wyman resigned after the discovery.
In March of 2022, Head of School Blossom Pidduck announced that she would be taking a leave of absence through the summer. In a letter addressed to the Thacher community,[28] the administrator wrote that she had not been prepared for the personal ramifications that would come with Thacher's investigation of historic sexual misconduct. Pidduck stated that she wanted to spend time healing from sexual trauma she experienced in her own time as a Thacher student in the early 1990s.[29] Jeff Hooper succeeded her as acting/interim Head of School in 2021 and as permanent Head of School in 2023.[30]
Notable alumni
[edit] | This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. (July 2023) |
- Phil Angelides, 31st California State Treasurer
- Max Barbakow, screenwriter and director (Palm Springs)
- Riley P. Bechtel, Bechtel CEO
- Laurel Braitman, science historian, New York Times bestselling author, and TED Fellow
- Rukmini Maria Callimachi, journalist and poet
- Donald Cooksey, physicist
- Jennifer Crittenden, television writer (The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld)
- Paul B. Fay, Jr., businessman and adviser to President John F. Kennedy
- Sidney D. Gamble, renowned photographer and sociologist of early 20th century China
- Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil, Sunnyside, and I Will Be Complete: A Memoir.
- James Newton Howard, composer
- Ye Htoon, Burmese lawyer and political dissident
- Howard Hughes, aviator and industrialist. Thacher was the second prep school that he attended. He enrolled when he and his parents moved to California, and he was still at Thacher when his mother died.
- Roger Kent, Naval officer and political advisor
- Sherman Kent, intelligence analyst
- D. Andrew Kille, writer, teacher, and scholar of psychological biblical criticism
- Josh Klausner, screenwriter and director (Date Night, Shrek Forever After, Wanderland)
- Michael E. Knight, actor (All My Children)
- Sarah Konrad, Olympian: the first American woman to compete in two different disciplines at the same Winter Olympics (United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics).
- John Lenczowski, founder and president of The Institute of World Politics
- Norman Livermore, environmentalist, lumberman and official serving under Governor Ronald Reagan.
- J.P. Manoux, actor (Aaron Stone)
- John Wescott Myers, World War II test pilot
- Charles Nordhoff, co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty
- Wheeler J. North. marine biologist
- Leland Orser, actor (Taken)
- William Horsley Orrick Jr., United States federal judge
- Clay Pell
- Joely Richardson, actress (Nip/Tuck)
- Matt Shakman, director[31]
- Jonathan Tucker, actor (Justified)
- Charles L. Tutt, III, engineer and hotelier
- Thornton Wilder, one of Thacher's most notable alumni, playwright and author. He began writing plays while at Thacher.
- Barry Wood, College Football Hall of Fame inductee
- Noah Wyle,[32] television actor (ER)
- Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti,[33] diplomat and journalist
Notable faculty
[edit]- Stacy Margolin (born 1959), tennis player
References
[edit]- ^ "The Thacher School | Honor Code". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ Makepeace, LeRoy McKim, "Sherman Thacher and His School", Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1941, p. 2
- ^ a b c "A (Very) Abridged History of Capital Giving at Thacher". Thacher Magazine: 7. August 2017 – via Issuu.
- ^ "History and Heritage". The Thacher School. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ "From Many Acts of Generosity, One Remarkable Legacy". Webb Magazine: 21. Spring 2016 – via Issuu.
- ^ "Our History". Taft School. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ "Horse Program". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
- ^ Hayasaki, Erika (2004-11-08). "Campus Takes a New Tack". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ "On the Way to the Next Peak". The Thacher School. 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ "Take This Ride With Us". The Thacher School. Fall 2019. Retrieved 2024-09-15 – via Issuu.
- ^ a b c "Facts that Matter". The Thacher School. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ Martin, Emmie; Loudenback, Tanza (2016-02-19). "The 16 most selective boarding schools in America". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
- ^ "A Place at the (New) Table". The Thacher School. 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ "The Thacher School | It's Going to Be a Good Year". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ "The Thacher School | The Thacher Observatory". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ "Thacher Observatory for Research and Education". www.thacherobservatory.org. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ Historic Resources Group (July 2016). "Thacher School Survey and Assessment" (PDF). Retrieved July 4, 2023.
- ^ "Outdoor Adventures & Challenges". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
- ^ "The Thacher School | Golden Trout Wilderness School". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
- ^ www.thacher.org
- ^ "Special Committee Report". 16 June 2021.
- ^ Crump, James (June 17, 2021). "California's Elite Thacher School Reveals Sex Abuse Allegations Stretching Back 40 Years". Newsweek.
- ^ "Decades of sexual abuse, misconduct allegations roil exclusive Ojai boarding school". Los Angeles Times. June 16, 2021.
- ^ "CONCLUSIONS REACHED BY THE THACHER BOARD OF TRUSTEES FROM THE INVESTIGATION" (PDF).
- ^ "Behind elite boarding school's veneer of trust and family, sexual misconduct was 'ignored'". Los Angeles Times. June 22, 2021.
- ^ "Ojai boarding school strips former head's name from campus after sexual abuse report". The Los Angeles Times. July 29, 2021.
- ^ "Report to the Board of Trustees of The Thacher School" (PDF). June 2021.
- ^ "rpecultureatthacher". Instagram. March 17, 2022.
- ^ Murtaugh, Isaiah (April 4, 2022). "Head of Ojai's Thacher School goes on leave as another survivor of sexual misconduct". Ventura County Star.
- ^ "Jeff Hooper Becomes Thacher's Next Head of School". The Thacher School. 2023-07-24. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ "BA #069: Matt Shakman". Box Angeles podcast. 23 March 2015.
- ^ "Noah Wyle - C&I Magazine". Cowboys and Indians Magazine. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
- ^ "The Thacher School | Global Studies". www.thacher.org. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
