RPCS Look Book 2022

Empower a girl.

Change the world.

Nearly 87 percent of students at girls’ schools said their opinions are respected, compared to 58 percent of girls at co-ed schools.i

There’s no hurdle too high for a Roland Park Country School girl because she has the collective support of her community lifting her toward her goals.

While this spirit certainly sets us apart from other schools, it’s the effect on our graduates that’s so remarkable: Roland Park Country School students develop a profound understanding of who they are and how to lead together to impact the world.

Why choose an all-girls education?

Research shows that girls as young as 5 start internalizing gendered stereotypes, such as associating “brilliance” and “leadership” more as male traits than female traits. Between ages 5 and 10, there is a significant shift in girls’ attitudes about their aptitude in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and their leadership abilities, which influences their learning interests throughout childhood, high school and college. However, when girls are surrounded by same-sex peers and near peer mentors in school, their classmates have a major impact on diluting those stereotypes and normalizing the effort it takes to become proficient in STEM fields and in leadership.

At Roland Park Country School, when our youngest girls look up to our older girls, what do they see? They see young women occupying every single position of leadership. From an early age, our students learn from their female role models and peer mentors the limitless potential of women. And gendered stereotypes aren’t reinforced because everyone is an individual.

The result is that our graduates report feeling smarter, more confident, and more engaged on their college campuses than female peers who graduated from co-ed schools. Our girls are educators, doctors, artists, philanthropists, parents, civic leaders, CEOs, and everything in between. Our world needs every single one of them.

The all-girls advantage Our all-girls culture—rooted in the notion that female empowerment begins with girls empowering each other—benefits girls by enabling them to build courage and confidence in an environment where female leadership across all areas of study is the norm, not the exception. While gender equality is absolutely possible at co-ed schools, it is more effortlessly achieved in an allgirls environment.

At RPCS, girls occupy every single position of leadership. It’s always about the extraordinary presence of girls, and never about the absence of boys.

“ I can count on my classmates. They make me feel competent, and I fit More thanwelcome 80 percentand of students at all-girls right in.

This school doesn’t put limits on schools consider their academic performance what a student can accomplish. Everyone at to be highly successful, compared to 75 Roland Park Country School—my teachers, percent of their co-ed peers. Girls who attend coaches, and classmates—just want what is same-sex schools also tend to outscore their best for me. We get to be whoever we want co-ed peers on the SAT. i to be.” — Garrison Morrill, Class of 2022

C O R E VA LU E

Build each other up We want to see our peers succeed.

We are each other’s most reliable collaborators and loudest cheerleaders.

We know that we’re stronger when we work together.

Graduates from all-girls high schools are more likely than their co-ed peers to take risks because they feel they have more to gain and take on challenges that scare them. iI

C O R E VA LU E

Lead for the greater good By encouraging girls to understand and celebrate their strengths and by creating an environment where girls empower each other, they are more likely to step into leadership roles, not just for personal gain, but for the greater good.

Graduates from all-girls high schools are more likely to have a sense of social agency and civic engagement than their peers from co-ed schools. They are also more likely to have performed volunteer work in the past year and have goals related to community service and justice.ii

C O R E VA LU E

Seek and embrace diversity We know that diversity results in better educational outcomes, and it leads to equality and makes our communities stronger. As an institution educating tomorrow’s leaders, pursuing diversity is our responsibility.

Alumnae of all-girls schools report higher levels of cultural competency over their co-ed peers when asked about their ability to work and live in a diverse society. They are also more likely to help promote racial understanding and rate themselves as more tolerant of others with different beliefs.iii

C O R E VA LU E

Live healthy and be well We want our students to live healthy, balanced lives, and that starts with an academic program that demands of them reasonably. They are deeply challenged and engaged in their education because they are allowed to be children and teenagers.

Outdoor Education and Gardening Roland Park Country School believes that nature and the outdoor classroom provides valuable learning experiences for our girls.

Lessons in environmental sustainability, wellness, food systems, earth science, and social justice are woven into this year-round program. The outdoor learning classrooms, gardens and backwoods give students authentic ways to build on classroom lessons in a realworld context. With Roland Park Country School’s mission of instilling in the girls a sense of leading for the greater good and putting health and wellness front and center, the garden program allows the girls to see environmental stewardship in action and teaches important lessons about food’s impact on the body and the world.

6 gardens on campus 2 vegetative roofs 5 acres of backwoods

More than 80 percent of students at all-girls schools consider their academic performance to be highly successful, compared to 75 percent of their co-ed peers. Girls who attend same-sex schools also tend to outscore their co-ed peers on the SAT. i

C O R E VA LU E

Take your seat at the table What the world needs is for girls to lead the way, authentically and frequently.

We bring the best of our girls attributes— which are limitless in a single-sex environment—to the table to inform better decision-making.

More than 80 percent of students at all-girls schools consider their academic performance to be highly successful, compared to 75 percent of their co-ed peers. iv

Under one roof Roland Park Country School feels like home, in part because all of our students are under the same roof. As they pass each other in the halls every day, our youngest and oldest students contribute to the joyful, vibrant and welcoming school environment. Don’t be surprised to hear an Upper Schooler call a kindergartner by name and offer a high five or see a third-grader cheer on her favorite lacrosse player on the sidelines at practice. Opportunities for mentorship between students in different divisions happen constantly and organically. Our younger girls see their role models every day, and our oldest girls recognize the importance of this responsibility. “ We work hard and we’re ambitious. But we build each other up in the process. We appreciate each other when we achieve, and support each other when we fail. We face stress and difficult work, but we don’t lose focus on what’s most important at school: passion for learning, community, and education of the whole person.”

— Laura Rockefeller, Class of 2018

SHAPE YOUR OWN LEARNING

Signature Programs These advanced program opportunities are offered to Upper School students to complement the regular academic curriculum. Signature Programs allow our students to shape their own learning. The Middle and Lower School curricula set an intentional scaffolding that sets students up for success in these areas. To learn more about the academic curriculum for each division, please visit www.rpcs.org/academics.

Eighty percent of girls’ school graduates have held leadership positions after high school. iv

The Gore Leadership Institute Roland Park Country School believes that leadership is a process of engagement which moves people toward awareness, compassion, and action to ultimately impact the world for the better.

By helping each student to be their best self and positively influence others, the Gore Leadership Institute (GLI) equips our students with the tools to innovate and create positive change in the world of today—and tomorrow.

Through academic engagement, community outreach, and personal reflection, the Gore Leadership Institute emphasizes experiences that foster creative problem solving, ethical leadership, wellness, diversity, equity, and inclusion—all of which are integrated into our Upper School leadership curriculum.

Leadership Seminars: Ethics, Power Systems & Making Change In the ninth grade, all students take three required seminars to build foundational understandings in key areas: Power Systems, Ethics and Making Change.

These seminars, helmed by master teachers, are designed around deep-thinking, exploration, and creative problem solving. The ninth grade leadership seminars are connected to each other by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the ways each of us can “think globally and act locally” as engaged citizens driven by a common purpose.

Advanced Topics in Leadership: Finance, Food Systems, Improv & Installation Art In the 10th grade, all students work with the principles of leadership through multi-faceted seminars they choose to take. Students work in small groups to research and refine solutions that respond to a specific need they have identified in the world. Our aim is that every student will be involved in activities that foster resilience, promote healthy risk-taking, nourish passions, nurture curiosity and promote a sense of purpose.

Independent Study In the 11th grade, students have the option to pursue a leadership initiative that builds on a topic or goal that captivates them. Working independently and coached by a teacher and mentors, students investigate opportunities to invent, innovate or campaign for a community initiative. This semester-

long experience can prepare students for a capstone fellowship or internship opportunity in their chosen area for the following summer. The elective is meant to be a space that is structured around a student’s idea or a topic or goal that the student wants to pursue.

The learning journey is customized for each student who will then work toward their goal. Along the way, students discover what they need to learn, rethink some of their assumptions, and challenge themselves.

By structuring our independent study elective this way, students can pursue their passions that lend themselves to changing the community for the better.

Those may be things students do outside of school, they may be things students thought about or started in leadership seminars they have taken, or they may be new inspirations.

In 11th and 12th grades, students have the opportunity to apply for membership in certain GLI groups that impact the School and our greater community.

Signature Programs >> For more information, visit www.rpcs.org/signature-programs.

Davidov Family Power Lunch Piloted in Spring 2021, the Davidov Family Power Lunch engages students in a series of meetings with guest speakers and analyzation of the stock market.

At the end of the semester, five expert panelists hear investment pitches from five student teams, resulting in $5,000 of the School’s endowment being invested in the stock market and managed by the winning student team. Power Lunch members meet weekly to review their investment portfolio, hear from guest speakers, and discuss investment strategies. The goal of their investment pitches is impact investing with the goal of establishing long term investments to maximize their portfolio’s profitability. Students present their investment pitches to School leadership, members of the Davidov family and members of the RPCS Board of Trustees Finance Committee.

Smith Philanthropic Literacy Board The Smith Philanthropic Literacy Board (PLB) unites students’ growing understanding of the critical issues facing the Baltimore community with the opportunity to effect positive change. Each year, student board members define their mission statement, research local organizations and develop a request for proposals. In the spring, the students evaluate the incoming applications and choose which organization should be awarded a $5,000 grant. Organizations that have been awarded funds

Tri-school coordination Roland Park Country School partners with Gilman School and The Bryn Mawr School to offer our students the best of both worlds: single-sex education combined with co-education in the junior and senior years.

This tri-school coordination allows our Upper School students to enroll in a broad selection of courses across all three schools — more than 150 electives and Advanced Placement courses are offered each year.

in previous years are invited back to help the PLB members understand the impact of the grant money on the organization’s work.

Internships & Capstone Fellowships The RPCS Summer Internship & Capstone Fellowship Program empowers our students to pose questions about the world, embrace new challenges and search for their purpose as they step into real-world professions. The program connects rising seniors with professional internship experiences in a wide range of career fields to build upon previous and future classroom learning. This program speaks to our vision for an RPCS education that connects classrooms to communities and equips our students with the future directed skills that enable their success here at RPCS and beyond into their professional journeys. The Capstone Fellowships are application-based and allow students to dive deeper into their career interests by identifying driving questions and creating individualized research and experiential learning paths. Each fellowship program is personalized, dynamic and innovative and results in an original student project and presentation. Over the past five summers, this program has placed over 150 student interns in fields including medicine, law, computer science, social work, finance—and many more interesting and enlightening areas for real world learning.

Integrated Math Our rigorous integrated math program (inspired by the Harkness math curriculum established at Phillips Exeter Academy) develops confident mathematicians who can transfer their deep levels of reasoning and skills to solve new and complicated problems, rather than simply memorizing one way of solving equations.

Instead of teaching one math subject at a time, the integrated math curriculum throughout RPCS focuses on problem-solving, critical thinking, connecting and building upon different math concepts, and drawing from prior to encourage deeper learning.

Theknowledge core of the STEM Institute consists of independent research approaches By teaching creative and flexible andproblems, apprenticeships.

This gives to solving students gain a deeper students exposure to careers the understanding of these math in concepts and how they STEM fields.which also expands their future are intertwined, possibilities in STEM fields.

World Languages Certificate Program As our society becomes increasingly globalized, learning a second language is essential, but studying a third language gives our students an enhanced advantage. The World Languages Certificate Program recognizes students who concentrate their academic program in non-native languages and who go above and beyond the graduation requirement in this subject area. The purpose of this program is to encourage students to consider the benefits of studying two non-native languages simultaneously during Upper School. Additionally, students must complete an experience locally or internationally that extends the language study to other areas of the student’s life in order to demonstrate the relevance of language acquisition in today’s global society.

Graduates from all-girls schools are three times more likely to consider engineering careers than their female peers at co-ed schools.v

The Holliday Heine STEM Institute The Holliday Heine STEM Institute at Roland Park Country School strives to foster within girls the attitudes, cognitive skills, and academic foundations to investigate intellectually rigorous problems in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Our goal is to produce young women with the confidence, passion, persistence and curiosity to explore the empirical world and to develop innovative habits of mind. Engaging in a problembased curriculum, students in the Institute learn to plan research projects, work with others, synthesize new knowledge, generate novel solutions and communicate effectively about their results. Participants develop the necessary ethical, analytical and creative reasoning skills to pursue interests in and to prepare for careers in the STEM disciplines.

STEAM STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) is purposefully integrated into our school curriculum from grades K through 8 to expose our students to all of these concepts in a coordinated and meaningful way, while the focus shifts in Middle School to a more STEMcentric curriculum, allowing for a seamless transition to the Upper School STEM Institute.

The Holliday Heine K-8 STEAM Program strives to foster the attitudes, cognitive skills and academic foundations needed to investigate intellectually rigorous problems within these fields. From exposure to computational thinking through coding in kindergarten, to humancentered design and the engineering design process through the newly developed 8th grade curriculum, our girls are afforded unique learning experiences and access to new technology.

Athletics

The Roland Park Country School Athletics Department is so much more than sports.

While many of our teams compete at toptier levels and win championship titles, we never lose sight of the importance of creating a lifelong love of sports, health and wellness. Our student-athletes understand what it means to be part of a team and that we’re stronger when we work together. The Athletics Department at RPCS creates an environment where girls empower each other and celebrate the strengths and successes of their teammates.

Fall Cross Country / Field Hockey / Soccer Tennis / Volleyball

Winter Basketball / Indoor Soccer / Indoor Track Squash / Swimming

Spring Badminton / Crew / Golf / Lacrosse / Softball Tennis / Track & Field

15 varsity sports 44 REDS currently competing in college 30 All-Conference REDS in the last year 16 championships in the last 6 years in 9 different sports 90 coaching positions 77% participation in Upper School 88% participation in Middle School 58 individuals and 6 teams in the Athletic Hall of Fame

Arts

Through the visual and performing arts at RPCS, students deepen their connection to their own imaginations and the world around them. By strengthening their ability to articulate ideas and demonstrating vulnerability and honesty in sharing them, our visual and performing artists come to profoundly understand who they are and what they are capable of creating. They also learn lifelong skills to become engaged citizens, such as understanding the value of sustained effort over time and the ability to approach a problem from a variety of angles. Best of all, by sharing their talents and passions, our artists discover the joy in bringing our community together.

5 auditioned performing ensembles 420-seat theater 3 smaller-scaled theaters Over 15 performing arts mainstage performances each year 40 performing arts classes offered 2 dance studios (1 new in 2022) 1 choral room 3 music practice rooms 9 international performances in the past 12 years 1 performance in Disneyland 3 Carnegie Hall performances and numerous Camden Yard performances 1 White House performance Multiple workshops with Guest Artists every year Ceramic studio with 7 wheels and 3 kilns 5 art rooms 21 visual arts classes offered Traditional darkroom as well as a state-of-the-art digital photography lab AP courses in studio art, photography and ceramics

Founded in 1894 Enrolls 615 students 6 weeks – 12th grade all under one roof Located in the historic neighborhood of Roland Park

Faculty who are experts in their field, 70% hold advanced degrees 50 student clubs and organizations 2 innovation spaces

Average class size: 15

7 outdoor classrooms

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6:1

9 honor societies

Commitment to diversity, with 29% students of color

7 world languages

Commitment to access to education for qualifying students with 38% of students receiving scholarships or financial assistance

Accreditation: Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS)

Campus: 24 acres of land

Our Philosophy Roland Park Country School, a college preparatory school for girls, is dedicated to the intellectual and moral development of its students. We cultivate creativity, independence of thought, tenacity of purpose, self-discipline, and emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. We maintain high academic standards, uphold tradition, and promote innovation. We nurture a cooperative, resilient spirit within an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.

In a diverse, inclusive, and joyful community, Roland Park Country School strives to instill in its students a lifelong love of learning, as well as the responsibility to look within and beyond themselves to contribute to and serve as stewards and leaders of their communities.

References i

Richard A. Holmgren, Ph.D., Allegheny College. High School Survey of Student Engagement. Spring 2013.

ii

Tiffani Riggers-Piehl, Ph.D., University of Missouri, Kansas City. The Role of Single-sex Education for College-bound Women, Revisited. June 2018. iii

University of California Los Angeles, Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), December 2018.

iv

Linda J. Sax, Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles. Women Graduates of Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences in their Characteristics and the Transition to College. March 2009. v

Goodman Research Group, The Girls’ School Experience: A Survey of Young Alumnae of Single-Sex Schools.

Empowered girls power the world.

5204 Roland Avenue Baltimore, Maryland 21210 410.323.5500

info@rpcs.org

rpcs.org