Winchester Thurston School Viewbook

Winchester Thurston School

Smart starts here.

smart

isn’t just a word, it’s our way of life.

Smart is creating a community of interested, interesting learners.

It’s achievement at the highest levels.

And it’s the joy of being challenged.

Smart is engaging others with empathy and integrity, inspiring creative and critical thinkers, and shining on the national stage.

Smart is making the world your classroom.

Smart is being eager to learn, every day, at every age.

If smart is what you want, the conversation starts here.

You’ll find bright students and talented faculty at many schools — including WT. But what makes WT so remarkable is what you won’t find anywhere else. It’s what school was meant to be.

Visit us and see for yourself.

a smar ter approach to education

At WT, we expect students to pursue their intellectual curiosity at the highest level and strive to make meaning from knowledge.

“Not only are they receiving guidance from college-level professors, but they are helping to make an impact on Allegheny County and their peers, which is a rare opportunity.”

—AP Computer Science Teacher on his students’ award-winning “Smart Voter” software

“I never thought I could do that before.”

—WT sixth grader

“When you know a student and you build a relationship with that student, you can understand how he or she learns; it’s then, and only then, that you can truly challenge a student fully. At WT, the student-teacher relationships are cherished and the students are known and challenged.”

—WT teacher

Smart Fact WT is the only school in the nation that has received both the prestigious Edward E. Ford Foundation Leadership Grant rewarding educational innovation and a $2 million Malone Scholars Grant for our work with gifted and talented students.

“WT’s best asset is that it does so many things well.

The obvious factor is academics, but beyond that, WT delves deeper into the process of learning itself, its enjoyment and its value. WT fosters leadership skills, moral thought, and arts appreciation. Many schools make these claims, WT actually fulfills them.”

—WT parent

“My confidence, my abilities, my love of learning; all these things – and more – I have because of WT.” —Young alum

smar t students Working with Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, and the Architecture Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art, first graders study architecture through multiple disciplines – mathematics, social studies,

“We play field hockey and lacrosse together.

And we like to hang out on weekends. But it wasn’t until we were lab partners in biology that I realized just how much we can push each other to be our best.

We reworked our hypothesis and challenged each other on our conclusions. Yes, we got an ‘A’ on that lab. But we also got much, much more.”

—WT senior

visual art, and even dance.

Third graders collect water samples from our pond, learning how scientists analyze and compare water quality.

Seventh graders collaboratively form their own colonies and grapple with economic, social, and governmental decision-making as they learn American history.

A rite of passage at WT, the junior research essay is a rigorously researched paper in which students analyze primary sources, putting their critical thinking and writing skills to the test.

Smart Fact WT students routinely outperform their peers nationally on AP exams, as seen in recent results.

100% scored a 4 or 5 on the AP U.S. History exam

Here, our coursework doesn’t

(Nationally, 31% scored a 4 or 5)

just challenge students, it

100% scored a 4 or 5 on the AP Computer Science exam

motivates them to work hard and apply their knowledge with discipline well beyond their years.

Our students take intellectual risks and find meaningful rewards not just in success, but in the struggles that push them there.

(Nationally, 49% scored a 4 or 5)

100% scored a 4 or 5 on the AP Chemistry exam (Nationally, 35% scored a 4 or 5)

100% scored a 3 or higher on the AP English Language and Literature exams (Nationally, 29% scored a 3 or higher) At WT, every student who enrolls in an AP course is required to sit for the exam.

smar t teaching Our faculty expects students to master facts, think critically, and work with diligence and discipline.

With their teachers’ support, WT students learn to take intellectual risks, apply knowledge, reason an argument, defend a point of view, and educate and persuade an audience. The result? A love of learning, powerful work ethic, and the confidence that arises from authentic achievement.

“The best thing about WT is the relationships the students develop with their teachers.

These relationships go beyond the classroom.

Students are encouraged to become leaders, think for themselves, and try new activities.”

—WT Parent

Smart Fact At WT, students work with faculty who have: s s

s

s

s

Been recognized as Fulbright scholars Traveled as invited guests to study and research in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East Served on national boards, as AP readers, and as regional leaders in learning Forged relationships with local institutions to create City as Our Campus courses, units, and programs no other school offers Taken students on in-depth study trips to France, the Galapagos, and Poland

For Ari and Rogan, collaborating on projects has been part of their learning process since the sixth grade. A shared interest in neuroscience, coupled with awareness of the growing rates of addiction in Pittsburgh, spurred their most impressive collaboration to date, culminating in a documentary film, A Return to Normalcy: Addiction, Rehabilitation and Reintegration in Pittsburgh, along with their recommendations about models for treatment.

Ari Schuman ’11 Columbia University

For Kat, an interview with the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, inspired an abundance of research on urban renewal and the pitfalls of gentrification. Her project discusses the “creative class” and its usefulness in fueling economic renewal in this distressed town south of Pittsburgh.

Kat Bovbjerg ’11 University of Chicago

Rogan Grant ’11 Haverford College

Moved by murals throughout the city, Blake investigated the process of engaging a community in the creation of public art. She turned that lesson on herself by creating a mural that would both reflect a sense of identity and the values of her community while illustrating that “creative thought does matter.”

Blake Uretsky ’11 Cornell University

Smart Fact As demanding as a college course, Urban Research and Design challenges seniors to explore and develop research-based solutions for an array of complex economic, environmental, and social issues. Through rigorous research in this year-long project, they develop an understanding of the complexities of creating change, as well as the intellectual skill and credible voice they’ll need to make their mark on the demanding world ahead.

city as our campus City as Our Campus has been recognized nationally as a model program of innovative teaching. We break down classroom walls, giving our students unparalleled access to the world class institutions in our own backyard, and opportunities for expanding knowledge and applying skills. For example, our students have: Mastered mobile application programming skills with area engineers in Upper School—and then taught those skills to students attending other area high schools Designed and hosted community forums on local and global issues, such as urban renewal and genocide, in Middle School and Upper School Learned recording technologies and interview techniques for a fifth grade oral history project on immigrants with the Saturday Light Brigade radio show Studied and documented city life in the style of photographer Teenie Harris in third grade.

“We were incredibly impressed with the WT students. They arrived with a good scholarly understanding of the issues.

We were able to offer the hands-on experience, and they dove right in with leadership and hard work you’d never expect of high school students.”

—Community organizer, on her experience with WT students

thoughtful community At WT, we’re smart with our minds and our hearts.

Here, students understand the importance of being a respected—and respectful—part of something larger.

Our school credo, “Think also of the comfort and the rights of others,” is a way of life. This is why, although we have outstanding academics by anyone’s standards, we’re equally focused on building character. Our students volunteer and they lead.

They take on community issues and develop solutions.

They care for our neighbors and for each other.

And they make the world a better, smarter place.

Think also of the comfort and the rights of others.

Similar to a green house, the hoop house at the North Hills Campus enables students and members of the WT community to grow produce for local food banks and, as WT’s faculty advisor explained, “create a WT without walls” so students better grasp the issues of poverty and hunger around them.

“The Responsive Classroom® is a proven, research-based approach we use to create a learning community in which all children thrive. As a result, the Lower School builds confident and curious learners and problem solvers who take pride in their hard work and their accomplishments, while learning to respect the contributions and talents of others.”

—Lower School Director

a smar t future starts here Lower School Pre-K-Grade 5 Throughout the Lower School, teaching strategies are differentiated based on students’ abilities and interests.

In Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5, at both of our campuses, teachers encourage inquiry, flexible thinking, and collaborative problem solving, but they also preserve the joys of childhood. As one parent said, “It’s the way school was meant to be.” And our Academic and Enrichment Challenge Program provides high-ability learners with an environment that enables them to accelerate learning.

Smart Fact WT provides Lower School students with engaging exploration of the cultures of the world, from East and South Asia to Africa, Europe, Latin America and beyond. Foreign language begins in Pre-K, with a choice of Mandarin or Spanish.

Students have the opportunity to learn Latin or French in later years.

Because of our excellence in Chinese studies, WT was recently named a Confucius Classroom by the Chinese Ministry of Education, making us part of a network of select schools around the world who are preparing students for a global society.

“The project has gone from a research paper to an experience of complete understanding.”

—WT eighth grader, on the Holocaust project

smar t in the middle middle School Grades 6-8 We understand the rapidly developing minds of middle school students, and have created a culture of thinking that fully engages them. Not only do we hold our students to high academic standards and support them in expanding intellectual boundaries, we also help them develop lifelong habits of mind. We foster in each student a sense of confidence, ethics, responsibility, and respect for difference. WT teachers expect each student to rise to every challenge with selfawareness, empathy, and adherence to our own code of conduct.

Through the Middle School Leadership Academy, students learn the impact of community service, philanthropy and, most importantly, their role in society.

Smart Fact “The project has gone from a research paper to an experience of complete understanding.”

—wt 8th grader, on the holocaust project

Inspired learning comes from academic choice. WT is the only school in the region to offer 20-25 electives to middle schoolers, including: Robotics

Ethics

Orchestra

MathCounts

Book Arts

Dance

Asian Studies

Mock Trial

What started as a modest publication of student poetry in the 1950s is now an award-winning showcase of student art, poetry, and prose. The student-driven literary magazine, Plaid — named as a tribute to WT’s Scottish founders — has received national awards for writing and design from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and American Scholastic Press Association.

Smart Fact WT offers Post-AP courses such as Research Science, Advanced Topics in Mathematics, and Urban Research and Design. These courses demand that students apply a deeper and broader understanding to solving real and complex problems.

Embracing challenge with determination, confidence, and discipline.

UPPER School Grades 9-12 Upper School students at WT love a challenge. Because they are invested in their own learning, they rise to the faculty’s high expectations, and set the bar still higher for themselves and each other.

Intense classroom discussions, analytical writing, and disciplined research all center around having credible answers to the commonly asked question, “So what?”

WT’s class of 2011 was accepted at some of the nation’s finest colleges and universities.

“Smart is preparing our students to inherit the unscripted world of tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you on campus soon.”

—Gary J. Niels, Head of School

Smar t star ts here today.

Winchester Thurston is a nationally recognized coeducational independent school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a Pre-K-5 campus in Allison Park and a Pre-K-12 campus in Shadyside, in Pittsburgh’s east end. We invite you to visit WT’s dynamic learning environment, where boys and girls in Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School achieve at the highest levels in academics, the arts, and athletics. WT has been named a national leader among college preparatory independent schools for innovative teaching, gifted and talented education, and distinctive campus settings.

City Campus 555 Morewood Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Fax 412 578 7504

North Hills Campus 4225 Middle Road Allison Park, PA 15101

To find out more, email us at admission@winchesterthurston.org, call 412-578-7518 or visit www.winchesterthurston.org.