The Benjamin School 50-Year Anniversary Book

50-Year Anniversary

50-Year Anniversary

by Kathleen H. Aiello, Ed. D.

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The Benjamin School Mission Statement The mission of The Benjamin School is to provide a challenging college preparatory education to a diverse student body in a structured and nurturing community environment. The School motivates students to master the skills of learning, communicating and evaluating choices, and encourages them to grow intellectually, socially, morally, aesthetically and physically to their fullest individual potential.

Benjamin inspires its students to develop a coherent set of values that includes love of learning, personal responsibility, self-motivation, concern for others and a commitment to serve society.

The Benjamin School seal, drafted at their kitchen table by school co-founders Marshall and Nancy Benjamin, includes the motto Nulli secundus (Latin for Second to none) with images to signify the following: tree and sunrise (state of Florida); lyre (music and art); and books (academics and learning).

Foreword

Fifty years have passed since Nancy and Marshall Benjamin traveled by car from Michigan to North Palm Beach, Florida – two educational pioneers looking to serve students in the then-unpopulated north end of Palm Beach County. With respect to independent school education, this part of Florida was indeed the frontier. After purchasing a small tract of land off of U.S. 1, Nancy and Marshall founded the North Palm Beach Private School, a first stop for young children just beginning their formal education. The Benjamins brought forward the wisdom they collected from their years as young educators back home, and taught youngsters to read, write, sing, appreciate the arts, explore athletics, and become caring and careful young citizens.

Robert S. Goldberg Head of School

Fast-forward to 2010 and The Benjamin School has grown from a handful of students to a population of 3-year-olds through high school seniors, numbering approximately 1,200. From a tiny proprietary setting, TBS is now a shining example of an NAIS, notfor-profit, coeducational, college preparatory independent school. On two stunning campuses, 10 acres in North Palm Beach and 50 acres in Palm Beach Gardens, children from 3 years old to 18 learn, grow, experience and mature. Our school has come to be considered the best in the area, and tough competition for independent schools across the state of Florida.

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Respected throughout the country by the finest colleges and universities, Benjamin sends its students off to higher education with a remarkable set of tools for success. Fifteen years of study in a modern language, including Mandarin Chinese, is now possible for children entering at our youngest grade level. The ability to choose among 20 Advanced Placement courses in the Upper School is emblematic of the breadth and depth of our offerings.

Dance, band, early orchestral instruction, visual and performing arts, clubs, organizations, honor societies – all are landmarks of any student’s day as he or she travels through the Benjamin experience. Character education at all grade levels refines each of our students in ways that are clearly seen and identified by others.

Middle School and Upper School athletics bring a resounding spirit to TBS. Teams representing all sports reach district, regional and state competition on a regular basis. The athletic facilities, especially the fields on the Upper School campus, are unparalleled in quantity and quality in the state of Florida. Boys’ Varsity Golf

and Lacrosse won the state title in 2009-2010. Boys’ and girls’ teams in all sports bring home the banners to our campus gymnasiums. The Benjamin School rides on a reputation of tremendous success from athletics to academics, music, dance, visual arts, debate, college admissions and, most importantly, notable personal refinement and character demonstrated by each of our many students.

All of this started with a motor trip made by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin from Michigan to Florida in 1960. Without a doubt, they have arrived! Thank you for helping us celebrate a yearlong tribute to 50 years of excellence in serving children in Northern and Central Palm Beach County, Florida.

Robert S. Goldberg Head of School

The site of North Palm Beach Private School in 1960

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Benjamin Beginnings

School Founder Marshall Benjamin opens North Palm Beach Private School in 1960 with two classes of kindergarteners.

School Founders Marshall and Nancy Benjamin

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Benjamin Beginnings At first, all they ever wanted to do was teach young children to read – one child at a time. Marshall and Nancy Benjamin opened North Palm Beach Private School in 1960 with a single goal in mind. Teach children the skills they need to learn and they will educate themselves.

An older house converted into a classroom on a small tract of land in North Palm Beach is the site of the beginning Lower School.

With two older houses converted into classrooms, the school’s founding educators taught their first class of 24 kindergarteners in their quaint, little school nestled among the tropical greenery in the northern end of Palm Beach County. Give them one small child eager to learn, and the Benjamins promised to provide an education “Second to None.”

The original fishpond situated on today’s campus depicts the charm of the early school.

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Benjamin Beginnings Their goal was simple. Get students geared for school by equipping them with essential readiness skills – like holding a pencil, taking turns, following directions and, most importantly, reading properly. It was a no-nonsense education – one launched from a basic love and respect for the mind of a child, with an individualism that dared to point to new directions in early childhood education.

The Benjamins’ fondness for nature transcended the enchantment of the new school. With a belief that the school’s physical environment contributed to a child’s total educational experience, the couple made certain to preserve the trees on their small parcel as they cleared land, laid walkways, and built the school’s first classroom and those that followed to accommodate each new school year’s incoming class.

Today, the massive and maturing trees stand steadfast, adorning the campus with the reminiscent charm of the little school.

With the seeds firmly implanted, the Benjamins set forth to cultivate a budding Lower School, branching out – one child at a time.

The original school bell is transported from an Indiana farm in 1965 by the school founders.

Marshall and Nancy Benjamin extend their love and respect for the mind of a child in the school’s early childhood program.

5 0 - YEAR A N N I V ER S ARY The Benjamins’ fondness for nature characterizes the campus grounds.

Benjamin Beginnings

Emerging Milestones

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Intramural sports, holiday choral performances, and the annual swim meet at North Palm Beach Country Club foster the school’s maturing athletic and arts programs.

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Emerging Milestones Marshall and Nancy Benjamin’s joint vision to teach children about life, and especially about themselves, emerged with the expansion of North Palm Beach Private School through the sixth grade. Students learned respect for themselves and each other. They learned about responsibility. They learned to be good citizens. They learned the importance of doing their part to help make a better, wiser, and kinder world. And they learned how to respond to a core team of enthusiastic teachers pioneering a challenging and evolving curriculum.

Students were taught how to play a musical instrument and they learned to speak French. Classes in music, art, and drama were also part of the school day. Holiday choral productions, spelling bees, puppet shows, and the spring art exhibit became annual celebrations within the school community.

Students learn how to play a musical instrument – a vital component in the early curriculum.

Mr. Benjamin, nicknamed “Mr. B,” coaches the school’s first athletic teams.

The Benjamin Buccaneer stands as The Benjamin School mascot.

Mr. Benjamin joins students at the FEC Railway station in downtown West Palm Beach as the group prepares to board the train for their field trip to Washington, D.C.

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Emerging Milestones Athletics, too, became a vital component of the school. Mr. Benjamin coached football, and Mrs. Benjamin organized the school’s annual track and field event and swim meet. Recess and intramural sports encouraged cooperative learning through team play. Athletic participation became a time to foster appreciation for the sport and an opportunity to motivate a concern for decency, fairness, and social justice.

The sixth-grade class arrives at the steps of the United States Capitol.

Endowed with these newly acquired life lessons, the sixth-grade graduating class of 1968 readied itself for the awakening of a new school year. With academic exploration, personal growth, and self-discovery on the horizon, the Benjamins leaped forward and eventually opened additional classroom doors for the campus’ rising grade levels, marking another founding milestone for their broadening school.

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Emerging Milestones Mrs. Benjamin teaches students to read beneath one of the mammoth trees preserved since its planting on campus 50 years ago.

North Palm Beach Private School awards diplomas to the first sixth-grade class in 1968.

Upward Expansion

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Seventh and eighth-grade classes of The Benjamin School are added on the North Palm Beach Private School campus in 1974.

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Upward Expansion The mounting desire to further a child’s education beyond the sixth grade at the modest, yet distinguishing school in North Palm Beach brought additional grade levels to the campus. Seventh and eighthgrade classes were added, and with them came a new name. In 1974, The Benjamin School joined North Palm Beach Private School on the 10-acre tract of the growing campus.* The campus gymnasium, spearheaded by Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, opens in 1976.

Two years later, the campus reveled in the opening excitement and athletic opportunity the newly constructed gymnasium generated for the school. Over the next four years, the Upper School extended its gradelevel expansion until it reached its pinnacle with a 12th-grade class.

Extra classrooms were built, more teachers were hired, and additional academic subjects united with the college preparatory curriculum.

In due course, nearly 20 years after the birth of the campus, The Benjamin School celebrated its first upper school commencement with the 23 members of the graduating senior class of 1979. * [In 1989, North Palm Beach Private School (grades Pre-K-8) and The Benjamin School (grades 7-12) officially merged. The Pre-K-12 school was renamed The Benjamin School.]

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Upward Expansion

In 1997, the original Benjamin House is renovated and relocated on campus.

The inaugural senior class of 1979 celebrates the first upper school commencement.

Landmark Growth 5 0 - YEAR A N N I V ER S ARY

The Fine Arts Classroom Building, formerly a furniture store, opens on campus in 1996.

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Landmark Growth

A ceremonial campus groundbreaking signals renovation for the Fine Arts Classroom Building.

Multiplying enrollment, expansive course offerings, and emerging arts and athletic programs for The Benjamin School’s Pre-K through 12th graders called for new and renovated facilities.

A 15-year span of numerous campus improvements commenced in 1985 with the opening of the remodeled Music Center. The Fine Arts Classroom Building renovated in 1996, also served to enhance the school’s vocal, instrumental, dance, and drama programs.

In 1997 and 2000, two new classroom buildings opened on campus to accommodate additional class sections of lower school students. The original Benjamin House where “Mr. B” taught kindergarteners to read, received extensive renovation in 1997 and was relocated on campus to house the Office of the Head of School.

In 1997, the original Benjamin House is renovated and relocated on campus to serve as the Office of the Head of School.

A 50-acre land parcel in Palm Beach Gardens is purchased in 1999 for construction of the Upper School Campus.

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Landmark Growth The newly constructed Middle School building greeted the school’s sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in the fall of 1993. The two-story classroom facility not only granted a distinct identity to the campus’ “in-between” student body, but helped to further the school’s advancement in middle school pedagogy.

A thriving campus with brimming enrollment paved a groundbreaking course in the school’s expansion.

The purchase of a 50-acre tract of land in Palm Beach Gardens by the Board of Trustees in 1999, set in motion landmark plans for future school construction and dual campus facilities for The Benjamin School.

The Claudia and Nelson Peltz Middle School Building is constructed in 1993.

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Spreading Wings

The Upper School Campus in Palm Beach Gardens opens for classes in the fall of 2004.

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Spreading Wings The dawn of the 21st century unleashed a rousing era of campus transformation for The Benjamin School. Less than six miles north of the tranquil setting where Marshall and Nancy Benjamin built their humble little school 43 years earlier between Ellison Wilson Road and U.S. 1, the school broke ground on its new land parcel situated along Central Boulevard and Donald Ross Road in Palm Beach Gardens.

The April 25, 2003, groundbreaking ceremony signaled imminent construction of a sprawling Upper School campus for the school’s ninth through 12th graders. Sixteen months afterward – on the opening day of school – faculty and administrators welcomed nearly 400 students to their picturesque, new campus home on Grandiflora Road.

Healey Family Athletic Complex

Journeys, crafted by sculptor John Raimondi in the spring of 2005, graces the campus entrance.

Students and faculty enjoy the campus’ beautiful pond and fountain.

A South Florida reef, created in ceramic by visual arts students in the summer of 2009, is captured in the mosaic mural facing the entranceway to the library/media center.

The Lyndsay Morehouse Tennis Complex is dedicated on January 5, 2005.

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Spreading Wings

Graced with the beauty of South Florida foliage and a natural conservation pond, the contemporary campus offered novel opportunity for expanded learning experiences in the school’s academic, arts, and athletic programs.

The state-of-the-art facilities unveiled a wireless infrastructure campus with four classroom buildings, science, art, and language laboratories, a dance studio, visual arts and instrumental classrooms, and an expansive library/media center and administrative complex. The campus also boasts a new sports facility with a multiuse gymnasium, in addition to a lighted athletic field, a tennis complex, an athletic track, and additional practice and playing fields for the school’s increasing number of sports teams and physical education classes.

The Buccaneer varsity football team plays “Under the Lights” on Theofilos Field in the fall of 2005.

The Barker Performing Arts Center on the Lower/Middle School Campus opens with The Crucible in the fall of 2006.

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Spreading Wings With the addition of the new Upper School campus, Pre-K through eighth graders spread their wings on the newly vacated grounds at the Lower/Middle School. More classroom space and exclusive use of the facilities served to augment the campus’ academic curriculum, broaden its arts and athletic programs, and expand the school’s afterschool learning activities.

Two campuses, one school, and a common mission characterized the dual campus expansion. As the new decade neared completion, The Benjamin School was embarking upon its most recent chapter in educational innovation.

H.S. Reed Family Performing Arts Center Classroom Building

Soaring Onward 5 0 - YEAR A N N I V ER S ARY

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Soaring Onward A portrait of The Benjamin School in 2010 depicts towering progress since its founding in 1960. A devoted team of more than 200 teachers, administrators, and support staff dedicate their professional expertise to nearly 1,200 students in grades Pre-K3 through 12 on the school’s combined campuses.

A challenging college preparatory curriculum with a comprehensive honors and Advanced Placement program readies students for the rigors of college and beyond. A broad range of academic and support services cultivate personal development and individual achievement.

More than 50 middle and upper school sports teams offer students athletic participation in district, regional, and state competition. A distinctive arts program affords students varied educational opportunities in the visual and performing arts, and exploratory experiences in multimedia learning.

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Soaring Onward Wide-ranging cocurricular activities, too, encourage selfexpression, leadership, and community service participation to help foster students in the role as future caretakers of their local and international communities. A core set of values braced with universal character traits help guide each student with a moral compass directed toward integrity, compassion, respect, responsibility, and honor.

Clearly, the present-day face of The Benjamin School differs vastly from the formative years as it prepares students for their 21st century world. Collaborative learning experiences, expanded world languages, advancing technologies, enhanced communication, global studies, environmental preservation, and multicultural awareness encompass today’s diverse curriculum.

As the school ascends into a new decade and beyond, its founding character shaped 50 years ago by Marshall and Nancy Benjamin still permeates the heart of a sustaining mission: Given one small child eager to learn, The Benjamin School strives to provide an education “Second to None” – one child at a time.

THE BENJAMIN SCHOOL –

The Lower School Olympics, founded by former Head of School Peter Graham and Assistant Athletic Director Steve Hamel, commences on campus in 1990.

First 50 Years – 1960-2010 1960 N ancy and Marshall Benjamin open North Palm Beach Private School (NPBPS) 1968 First sxith-grade class graduates from NPBPS 1974 T he Benjamin School (TBS) opens with seventh and eighth grades 1976 Gymnasium opens at TBS 1979 TBS graduates first senior class 1985 First BASH Gala 1985 Music Center opens at TBS 1989 T BS and NPBPS merge grades Pre-K - 12 with the name The Benjamin School 1990 Inaugural Lower School Olympics 1993 Peltz Classroom Building opens for grades 6-8 1996 Fine Arts Classroom Building opens 1996 First BASH Variety Show 1997 Benjamin House renovated and relocated 1997 West Lower School Classroom Building opens 1998 Jay Selvig named Director of Upper School 1999 B oard of Trustees purchases 50-acre land tract in Palm Beach Gardens 2000 East Lower School Classroom Building opens 2003 Charles Hagy named Head of Middle School 2003 Robyn Quaid named Head of Lower School 2003 U pper School campus groundbreaking ceremony in Palm Beach Gardens 2004 North Palm Beach campus opens for grades Pre-K - 8 2004 Upper School Campus in Palm Beach Gardens opens for grades 9-12 2006 The Barker Performing Arts Center opens 2008 Robert S. Goldberg named Head of School 2009 W.O.W. (Worlds of Wonder) opens for 3-year-old students 2010 K endall P. Didsbury named Assistant Head of School for Academics 2010 School bus transportation begins 2010 The Benjamin School celebrates 50 years of excellence

The Benjamin School stands united following the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

The inaugural BASH (Building a Scholastic Heritage), chaired

by Babs Fischer and Barbara Nicklaus, kicks off in 1985 with an Auction Express theme.

The BASH Variety Show debuts in 1996 with its first annual performance.

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Alma Mater

by Mr. Mark Poncy ’89 When the sun breaks free of the sea And dawn comes again, My Alma Mater fends me – beloved Benjamin.

Like a ray of shining light, Welcomes me back home.

Keep us in sight throughout the night, Sweet Benjamin, her own.

Nestled ’neath the palms glorious and green Ever she’s victorious, our Alma Mater Queen.

Through laughter and tears we’ll stay ever true.

We’re Buccaneers through all the years.

We love you, orange and blue, We love you, orange and blue.

50-Year Anniversary

Lower/Middle School Campus 11000 Ellison Wilson Road North Palm Beach, Florida 33408 561.626.3747 Upper School Campus 4875 Grandiflora Road Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33418 561.472.5998 www.thebenjaminschool.org