This is Thacher (Fair Piece)

This is Thacher.

Thacher is a place of achievement and rigor with none of the usual trade-offs on student happiness and positive culture. We are a place of well-traveled, beloved trails, yet we are constantly moving toward the next peak and a new, hard-won vista. It’s what we ask of our students and teachers. It’s what we expect of our graduates.

The Thacher School was founded in 1889 to prepare students for Yale. We still do that, but we’ve become so much more. Open-eyed wonder and ambition, positive risk taking, perseverance, guts and grit in keeping with the spirit of the West—this is Thacher.

Deep learning If a challenge is too hard, it’s tempting to give up. But if it’s too easy, success is meaningless. Research shows students learn best when they work at that edge where achievement feels just beyond their reach—when they’re in that place where they’ve moved beyond their comfort zone but don’t feel overwhelmed. At Thacher, we’re constantly seeking that place: It’s where we live, it’s where we work, and it’s where we find our best selves.

THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM Core curriculum English, mathematics, language, science, history, fine arts Advanced Placement 23 courses across all disciplines

Average class size 11 Beyond Thacher opportunities School Year Abroad, Maine Coast Semester, Faculty-led Study Trips

Culminating Research Project Senior Exhibition on a topic of personal interest in the humanities, arts, or sciences

Our faculty

79%

teachers with advanced degrees

20

years of median teaching experience

6:1

student–to– faculty ratio

CLASS OF 2018 SAT 1 RESULTS FOR MIDDLE 50% Critical reading

640–740

Math

620–770

Composite

1260–1510

Peer pressure at its best Peer pressure is not always bad. What matters most is who your peers are—the standards they set, the culture they create, and the actions they encourage. Thacher is regularly cited as having one of the healthiest cultures of any high school in the nation.

“Most schools only pay lip service to an ancient school motto nailed to a wall, whereas ‘honor, fairness, kindness, and truth’ is put into practice and leads the Thacher community every day.

This motto is baked into the highly selective admission process that allows Thacher to choose kind, high-integrity men and women who help challenge and support their peers.”

Ron and Sheila Marcelo Weston, Massachusetts Current Parents

A+

In a recent survey, students at 23 boarding schools were asked to rate the level of respect at their school. The survey asked students to think specifically about attitudes toward race, sexual orientation, and gender. The responses from Thacher’s ninth-grade students were so positive they received the highest rating.

COMMUNITY COMPOSITION Boarding students 223 Day students (non-faculty) 14

22 States / 9 Countries International Students 12% Students of Color 44%

Thacher grit Teens are hardwired to take risks. To develop the resilience and determination required for growth, they need to take chances. The key is to focus students on positive risk taking.

That’s why classes here are challenging, why we have horse and outdoor programs, and why athletics and arts are required.

We build positive risk taking into everything we do. The result: Thacher graduates carry into the world a solid, lasting self-esteem—the kind that comes from real challenges with real consequences.

Active afternoons:

Sports, Riding, and Rock Climbing

Our academic day includes required afternoon participation in team sports, dance, yoga, rock climbing, or the Horse Program. Thirteen varsity teams compete annually for both league and CIF championships.

THE ARTS Introductory, advanced, and specialized classes explore different branches of the arts, both theory and practice.

Through classes and co-curricular opportunities (drama productions, performing ensembles, cultural trips to museums and galleries) students pursue and fulfill their own artistic potential and talent at every level.

NEW STUDENTS FOR FALL 2018 Applications

690

Percentage admitted

12%

Percentage accepted who enrolled (yield rate)

79%

Median SSAT (total percentile)

86%

“If I had to come up with just one reason why Thacher has had, for the past five years, the highest yield rate of any boarding school— a rate surpassing Harvard’s— it would be that Thacher uniquely combines high-achieving academics and character-building challenges within what we believe is the most authentic, positive, and healthy peer culture of any school in the country. Every year, families tell us they have not found this combination of attributes at any other school.”

Bill McMahon Director of Admission

Learn more and visit We invite you to make a leap into an education where academic and personal standards are among the highest in the nation, and where the community is one of the most uplifting you could ever join.

For more information about The Thacher School please visit our website: www.thacher.org.

Campus visits take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. To schedule yours, please call our Admission Office 805-640-3210.

Notable Facilities Vanguard performing arts center, observatory, robotics lab, athletic fields and courts, scholar-in-residence house, outdoor amphitheater, extensive Western and English riding fields and arenas, new student center; new dining facility and farm-to-table kitchen coming soon.

A place like no other Our founder, Sherman Day Thacher, famously said, “Let these books and these hills and these horses be your teachers.” Thacher’s 427 acres sit at the foot of California’s Los Padres National Forest, occupying ranch and orange grove country just minutes from greater Los Angeles. The campus has blended the traditional architecture of the West with state-of-the-art facilities that take advantage of the beautiful landscape. Transformative for many who visit and live here, the Thacher campus is an unparalleled teacher, classroom, and home.

Greatest good leadership Teaching young people “to do the best work till the best is all done” is the goal of a Thacher education. We deliver to the world young leaders who have moved from a focus on self to a focus on others, from an attitude of “What’s in it for me?” to one of “What can I do for those around me?” They leave here with an expanded sense of self and a unique set of skills for learning and living beyond Thacher.

COLLEGE MATRICULATION From 2014 to 2018, five or more students have enrolled at the following schools: CARLETON COLLEGE CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE COLORADO COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DARTMOUTH COLLEGE DUKE UNIVERSITY H A R VA R D U N I V E R S I T Y NEW YORK UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY O C C I D E N TA L C O L L E G E POMONA COLLEGE S TA N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y TUFTS UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA W E S L E YA N U N I V E R S I T Y WILLIAMS COLLEGE YA L E U N I V E R S I T Y

Thacher alumni/ae are successful in every profession imaginable.

Among their ranks are one of America’s most iconic playwrights, an Olympian, two Grammy-winning musicians, a former NBA team CEO, and a happiness expert; breakthrough scientists, actors and directors, and presidential advisors. They are often leaders and innovators who work for a common good.

“While I went on to the University of Chicago and to Stanford University and then Columbia University, I can honestly say that none of these equaled Thacher’s influence on my life. Two features particularly stand out. One was the unbridled joy and sensory empowerment provided by the natural world that surrounded me here. The other element of my Thacher education that profoundly shaped my life was the group of extraordinary teachers who taught and mentored me.”

Lucas Black CdeP 1990, Associate Country Director, Millennium Challenge Corporation