The Gilbert School is a privately endowed secondary school that serves as the public high school for the towns of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

and

Hartland, Connecticut Hartland is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,901 at the 2020 census. History Residents petitioned the General Court and the legislature incorporated the town in May 1761. Geography The town is bisected ...

and the public middle school for Winchester. The school was founded in 1895 as the result of the bequest of William L. Gilbert who, in his will, made provision for the “establishment and maintenance of an institution of learning to be known as The Gilbert School.”

History

The Gilbert School was founded in 1895 as the result of the bequest of William L. Gilbert who, in his will, made provision for the “establishment and maintenance of an institution of learning to be known as The Gilbert School.” He directed that the school should give instruction “for the improvement of mankind by affording such assistance and means of educating the young as will help them to become good citizens.” Gilbert named 16 trustees who were to establish the school. Seven trustees were chosen to govern the school, forming The Gilbert School Committee. This committee was to be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the new institution. Gilbert died in June 1890, leaving over half a million dollars for the school. The school was opened on September 10, 1895, with Dr. John E. Clark as its principal, a faculty of seven teachers, and a student body of 143 pupils. It was located on Park Place East, the current site of Northwestern Connecticut Community College. In September 1959, a new school was built on Williams Avenue on the site of the former W. L. Gilbert Home with funds from the Gilbert Trust at no cost to the town. PostcardWinstedCTGilbertSchool1908

Gilbert is known as an endowed New England town academy—a private school that accepts public school students, with the town paying an annual tuition for each pupil. There are two similar schools left in the state of Connecticut —

Norwich Free Academy The Norwich Free Academy (NFA), founded in 1854 and in operation since 1856, is a coeducational independent school for students between the 9th and 12th grade. Located in Norwich, Connecticut, the Academy serves as the primary high school for Norw ...

and

Woodstock Academy Woodstock Academy (WA), founded in 1801, is a high school located in Woodstock, Connecticut, United States. The Academy, which describes itself as an independent school, serves residents from the Connecticut towns of Brooklyn, Canterbury, Eastfo ...

— and several others in northern New England. For 52 years, from 1895 to 1947, the school operated tuition-free for the residents of the town of Winchester. However, since 1947 it has been necessary to charge tuition to each town that sends students to Gilbert. In 1991, Gilbert was restructured into two separate corporations: the W. L. Gilbert Trust Corporation and the W. L. Gilbert School Corporation. The School Corporation increased to three the public representatives on its board from Winchester and added one representative from Hartland. This change brought the school into a new era of school governance, whereby the State of Connecticut was able to provide direct funding for building and educational projects. In 2010, the town of Winchester reached an agreement with the school to send its 7th- and 8th-graders to Gilbert beginning in September 2011.

The Gilbert School today

Today, The Gilbert School is a six-year comprehensive middle and secondary school offering a variety of challenging academic programs designed to meet the needs of all its students. The head of school/superintendent is Greg Shugrue. There is a faculty and support staff of 70 and a student body of approximately 540 students. Gilbert continues to maintain a tradition of strong interscholastic athletics, as well as student extracurricular activities including music, drama, yearbook and newspaper. The program is geared to provide students with the essential knowledge and skills to be successful in postsecondary study and/or entry into the world as productive citizens. Gilbert is fully accredited by the

Connecticut State Department of Education The Connecticut State Department of Education is a branch of the state government of Connecticut in the United States. The agency is headquartered at 450 Columbus Boulevard in Hartford.New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The school has boarding facilities for international students.

Athletics

Gilbert supports a number of sports, but not as many as its main rival,

Northwestern Regional High School Northwestern Regional High School is a public regional high school located in Winsted, Connecticut, serving the towns of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, New Hartford and Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia ...

. However, Gilbert has won a large number of Berkshire League Championships. The Gilbert mascot is the Yellowjacket, and its colors are royal blue and gold. It is a member of the

Berkshire League The Berkshire League is a 9-team athletic conference of high schools, located in Litchfield County, Connecticut. The Berkshire League is a member of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC). Teams The Berkshire League is ...

. The school has the following sports:

Boys sports

Fall: * Football (League Champions, 1972) *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

* Cross country Winter: *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

(Bershire League Champions, 2008, 2012) *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

(Berkshire League Champions, 2009) Spring: *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

(1973, 1976, 1979, CIAC Class "M" and 1989 & 1993 Class "S" State Champions) *

Track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Girls sports

Fall: *

* Cross country Winter: *

Spring: *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

Notable alumni

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

'51, author, lawyer, political activist, and four-time presidential candidate. * Evelyn Weigold Crane '37, army nurse in

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, chief of foreign service nurses for

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

, 1955-1962

References

External links

* {{authority control Schools in Litchfield County, Connecticut Educational institutions established in 1895 Hartland, Connecticut Winchester, Connecticut Public high schools in Connecticut Public middle schools in Connecticut 1895 establishments in Connecticut Boarding schools in Connecticut Public boarding schools in the United States