
On July 1, 1867, St. Mark’s School opened with 16 students, who met in an abandoned bowling alley. Reverend Thomas Haskins was the first Headmaster.
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On July 1, 1867, St. Mark’s School opened with 16 students, who met in an abandoned bowling alley. Reverend Thomas Haskins was the first Headmaster.
In 1882, Rowland Hall graduated its first students, Daisy Senter and Lucy Cook. By 1896, the graduating class had nine students (pictured). The largest class ever to graduate from Rowland Hall was 90 students, in June 2017.
The Baccalaureate service dates back to the late nineteenth century, and is currently held on the Thursday prior to twelfth-grade graduation.
In 1891, Rowland Hall’s early childhood education program began with kindergarten classes. PreK—then called nursery school—was added around 1932. Today our Beginning School enrolls approximately 150 students in 2PreK through kindergarten, and is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Our youngest students are given regular opportunities for extended exploration, organized play, and outdoor learning.
Students celebrated the onset of spring with outdoor festivities, including a maypole dance. Music Teacher Cindy Hall recently revived this tradition.
Basketball was the first team sport and most popular game through the early twentieth century. Prior to the 1890s, students played tennis and exercised with weighted clubs.
The first official Candle and Carol service was in 1917. One of the school’s most honored traditions, the holiday program includes hymns, scripture readings, and pageants.
A Rowland Hall tradition beginning in 1925 and continuing for nearly 60 years, the annual bazaar was a student fundraiser with an international theme.
Rowland Hall has been nurturing the creative spirits of students for decades. The first literary magazine featuring the work of Winged Lions was Flashlight, dating back to 1947. Over the years, poems, stories, and art have also appeared in volumes entitled Mosaic, Echoes, The Ember, and Medallions. Tessarae, the current upper school literary magazine, is a multiple gold-medal winner from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and has also earned distinctions from the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Scholastic Press Association.
Competitive debate at Rowland Hall can be traced back to 1951, when a small team participated in local and regional tournaments.
Following nationwide trends, Rowland Hall students formed the first United Nations Club - and attended Model UNs - in the early 1960s.
The winter sports program began in 1965 as an auxiliary program for all grades. In its current form, five Friday afternoons in January and February are reserved for Lower and Middle School students to learn new skills while having fun with friends and teachers. Some of the most popular activities include skiing, tennis, ice skating, and rock climbing.
The school’s experiential learning program predates Interim, but this tradition of weeklong excursions and hands-on learning for high schoolers began in 1975
After Dr. Karl Kjeldsberg pitched the idea to Tom Jackson, Rowmark Ski Academy was established in 1982. Coach Olle Larsson’s leadership was instrumental to its success.
Physical Education Teacher Pat Ammon’s vision for Color Day was first realized in 1983, and has been a favorite memory for students for almost 35 years. On the day before school gets out in June, Lower and Beginning School students participate in an array of fun outdoor activities, including a sponge throw and parachute lift. Each grade level wears a different color shirt, and before they rotate between activity stations, the entire Lower School performs the annual color day dance.
English Teacher Tony Larimer’s annual reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas was a favorite of students in the 1980s and ’90s, and has been rekindled by faculty today.
This research project started in 1986 and has been part of the Lower School curriculum for over 30 years. Each spring, third graders don costumes and head to the chapel to present first-person accounts of the lives and achievements of significant figures throughout history (including some modern-day celebrities). Recent biography subjects have included Sally Ride, Ghandi, Bill Gates, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The Winged Lion Awards, (formerly called Goode Knight Awards) a Middle School tradition for well over 30 years, is given to a student in each grade level (6th, 7th and 8th) each month. The distinction honors students' positive impact on their peers and on the community.
In 1991, Middle School students began interviewing members of the senior class and writing engaging accounts of their lives as Winged Lions.
Beloved Science Teacher Peter Hayes inaugurated the trip to Coral Pink Sand Dunes in 1995 and led it for 18 years. Current freshmen travel to Camp Roger.
Since the fall of 1995, Middle School grades have embarked on weeklong trips for in-depth study and relationship-building with peers and teachers.
Rowland Hall volunteers initiated a partnership with Crossroads Urban Center in 1995 to provide holiday dinners for hundreds of local families in need.
In 2003, Rowland Hall began a half-day program of local volunteer work for all Upper School students. It takes place in October, after the morning PSAT.
This month-long drive benefiting Crossroads Urban Center's Emergency Food Pantry culminates in Cannapalooza, a concert featuring upper school students and teachers.
The annual fall gathering of the entire school began in 2009. On the first Friday morning after school starts, students, faculty, and parents come to the Steiner Fields to enjoy welcome-back speeches and musical performances. It’s a wonderful opportunity to kick off the year with shared hopes and high fives.
This mission-driven learning program began in 2011. Sophomores participate in collaborative projects, such as the go-carts they constructed in 2012.