Middlesex School is a coeducational, non-sectarian, day and boarding independent secondary school for grades 9–12 located in Concord, Massachusetts. It was founded as an all-boys school in 1901 by a Roxbury Latin School alumnus, Frederick Winsor, who headed the school until 1937. Middlesex began admitting girls in 1974. The school is a member of the Independent School League and is one of five schools collectively known as St. Grottlesex.
The school was named for the county Middlesex in which it stands. The campus was designed by the Olmsted Brothers architectural firm, and the firm Peabody and Stearns designed most of the main buildings. A recent addition is the Clay Centennial Center, completed in 2003, which hosts science and math classes as well as an observatory.
The school is 70% boarding students and 30% day students. In 2019–20, boarding students came from 24 states and 20 countries. Middlesex accepted only 14% of students who applied to enter in 2022–23.
Campus and facilities
Clay Centennial Center
The Middlesex School campus is located in Concord, Massachusetts, about 20 miles outside of Boston.[2] Most of the campus buildings are located around The Circle, a grassy field at the center of the school. There are four dorms for boys (Clay, Landry, Robert Winsor, and Atkins) and five dorms for girls (Bryant-Payne, Higginson, Hallowell, LeBaron Briggs, and Kravis). There are three academic buildings: the Clay Centennial Center, constructed in 2003, Eliot Hall, which also houses several administrative offices, and the Rachel Carson Music and Campus Center, which houses the music, drama, and Spanish classes. In January 2019, the School opened the new Bass Arts Pavilon, a complex that contains two theaters, a gallery, and enhanced studio space for visual arts. The Warburg Library, besides housing Middlesex's collection of books and magazines, also contains classrooms and the Middlesex Archives. The dining hall is located in Ware Hall, as well as more administrative offices and the student center. Many members of the faculty live on campus, either in dorms or in several faculty houses.[citation needed]
At Middlesex, there are two turf fields for field hockey and lacrosse, five grass fields (for soccer, lacrosse, and football), a wrestling room, a dance studio, a baseball diamond, eight outdoor tennis courts, eight squash courts, two basketball courts, an ice rink, a boathouse and large pond (Bateman's Pond) for crew, and a fitness center (the James Oates '65 Center).[citation needed]
Students
Middlesex has 405 students from 21 countries and 24 states.[3] 12% of students are international students (based upon citizenship) and 32% are racially non-white. 70% of the school are boarders and 30% are day students.[4] All students are in grades 9–12.
As of 2022–2023 tuition is $69,280 for boarders and $55,970 for day students. Need-based financial aid supports 35% of the student body, with an average aid grant of $54,603 and a total of over $7.2 million.[5]
Academics
The average class size at Middlesex is 12.[6] Middlesex offers 23 AP (Advanced Placement) classes with at least one in every department: English, Math, Sciences, Computer Sciences, Social Science (including History), Modern Languages, Classics, and Arts.
For the class of 2018, the mean Middlesex SAT score was 1410.[4] 77% of the AP tests taken by Middlesex students in 2018 had scores of 4 or 5 and 96% of AP tests taken had scores of 3, 4, or 5.[3]
Arts
Middlesex offers several art courses and extracurriculars.[7]
Athletics
Middlesex fields teams in 17 different sports and competes in the Independent School League.[8] The fall sports are football, cross country, volleyball, soccer, and field hockey; the winter sports are wrestling, dance, squash, ice hockey, alpine skiing, and basketball; the spring sports are crew, lacrosse, baseball, tennis, track, and golf.[9]
Middlesex offers several community service programs.[11] Students may help clean up a soup kitchen at Open Table (weekly), serve food and clean at a food pantry at Cor Unum (on long weekends), talk to people at a home for the elderly at Walden House (weekly), visit the elderly at Sunday Visits (special schedule), and help small children learn to skate at Gazebo (special schedule). Every fall, all students participate in a Community Service Day instead of going to classes. Several student Community Service Officers, all seniors, help manage the program.
Juniors may participate in the Youth in Philanthropy Program, which focuses on teaching students the techniques behind philanthropy and provides $10,000 for the students to distribute to worthy causes annually.
Every summer, the school sponsors a community service trip to the Linawo Children's Home in South Africa, where students tour the surrounding area, learn about South African culture and history, and assist in the operation of the shelter.
Notable alumni
Conrad Aiken – Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet
Cass Sunstein – former head of President Obama's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, columnist at Bloomberg Opinion
^1925 Senior Album Committee (1925). Harvard Class Album. Vol. XXXVI. Andover, MA: Andover Press. p. 220 – via Google Books.((cite book)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
