BRUNSWICK SCHOOL
DECEMBER 2013
MONTHLY MAILING From Where Cometh A Class There are many reasons why parents might be anxious these days. In a Pre K – Grade 12 school such as ours, one issue that can tend to fan the flames of anxiety is the admittance of new students at our various Lower, Middle and Upper School entry points. Parents of boys who have been at Brunswick since Pre or Lower School are often “on the watch” for newcomers whom might displace their son on the Honor Roll or as a contender for some production or team. Clearly, however, excellence is one of Brunswick School’s hallmarks and the addition of new students at our various Middle and Upper School entry points serves both our boys and our school well. Beginning with a Pre K class of 32 boys, over the course of the 14 years until those boys become seniors, each class will literally triple in size to over 90 graduates in senior year. This growth is by design and serves to add strength, diversity and variety to each class as it moves through Pre, Lower, Middle and ultimately Upper School. In a given year, in fact, only about 16% of a Brunswick School graduating class started in Pre K. Yet, no matter when a student enters Brunswick School, their contributions, efforts and talents contribute mightily to the whole. For example, looking at the High Honor Roll for year-end last year, the distribution for a few of our classes was as follows: •
Freshman Year-End High Honor Roll, 2012-2013: 43% entered in Pre School, 13% in Lower School, 19% in Middle School and 25% in Upper School.
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Senior Year-End High Honor Roll, 2012-2013: 23% entered in Pre School, 6% in Lower School, 25% in Middle School and 44% in Upper School.
And, if we look at athletics for a minute and consider some of the sports that, year after year, seem to cause the most anxiety in terms of team selection, it is worth noting how evenly spread each team’s make-up is in this area as well: • • • • •
Varsity Football, 2013: 23% entered in Pre School, 13% in Lower School, 25% in Middle School and 39% in Upper School Varsity Soccer, 2013: 13% in Pre School, 15% in Lower School, 57% in Middle School and 22% in Upper School. Varsity Basketball, 2013: 60% in Pre School, 7% in Lower School, 7% in Middle School and 27% in Upper School. Varsity Hockey, 2013: 13% in Pre School, 13% in Lower School, 22% in Middle School and 52% in Upper School. Varsity Lacrosse, 2013: 11% in Pre School, 8% in Lower School, 38% in Middle School and 43% in Upper School.
Even more interesting is the following: •
Taking two of the varsity teams that have the highest percentage of players as new students in the Upper School, it is impressive to see how well they perform both individually as well as collectively in the classroom. o o
Varsity Hockey cumulative year-end average: AVarsity Lacrosse cumulative year-end average: B+