Menlo School, also referred to as Menlo, is a private
college preparatory
A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...
school in
Atherton,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, United States, across the street from
Menlo Park. Menlo comprises a middle school, grades 6–8, with approximately 230 students, and a high school, grades 9–12, with about 570 students. The two schools share a campus but operate as semi-autonomous units with select overlapping administration, such as the Head of School. Menlo was established in 1915, and in 1927 added a junior college that became
Menlo College
Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and is located in Atherton, California.
Campus
Menlo College is situated on 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco and 20 miles nort ...
. The college was formally separated from Menlo School in 1994, but they continued to share a single dining hall until 2017, when Menlo built a cafeteria.
Menlo School is accredited by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...
and is a member of the National and California Associations of Independent Schools.
History
Menlo School was founded in 1915 as the William Warren School, an all-male military school with an inaugural enrollment of 13 boys. Warren, the founder and headmaster, sold the school in 1924 to a group of parents, who dropped the military focus and formed a new corporation under the name Menlo School for Boys.
In 1927, Menlo became a non-profit governed by a newly created board of trustees. A two-year junior college,
Menlo College
Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and is located in Atherton, California.
Campus
Menlo College is situated on 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco and 20 miles nort ...
, was created that year as an expansion of the school. During the college's early years, Menlo offered a hybrid
prep school and
junior college
A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...
education. Students would attend the school for the latter two years of high school, then the college for two years, and then transferred directly into four-year universities as upper-division students.
In the fall of 1979, Menlo School began transitioning from a boys-only school with a small boarding program to a coeducational day school. In the 1993–1994 academic year, Menlo further moved to increase the upper school's enrollment, added grade 6 to the middle school, and further expanded its female enrollment.
The college and school were split on June 30, 1994, with further, more specific separations following. Menlo School and Menlo College became formally independent entities with separate boards, administrations, and faculties. In 2008, they further agreed to the formal legal subdivision of their hitherto shared land into two separate parcels. The only area of the campus that continues to be jointly owned and managed is the Menlo Athletic Quad, consisting of the athletic fields and track.
Following a fundraising effort that began in the late 1990s, both the middle and upper school campuses have been mostly rebuilt. The projects were completed in 1999 and 2004, respectively.
Student life
Menlo offers more than 50 student clubs in the upper school and 25 in middle school. These include a chapter of
FBLA
The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...
(Future Business Leaders of America),
Model United Nations
Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...
organization,
Junior Classical League
The National Junior Classical League (National JCL or NJCL) is a youth organization of secondary school students sponsored by the American Classical League (ACL). Founded in 1936, the NJCL comprises more than 1,000 Latin, Greek and Classical ...
, Mock Trial, beekeeping club, chess club, and environmental club. Both the upper and middle schools have active student councils.
Student publications
The Upper School's student-run newspaper, ''The Coat of Arms'', has won awards, including Top Honors – First Place with Special Merit from the American Scholastic Press Association. ''The Coat of Arms'' releases roughly six issues a year. It produces content for its online site and
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
every few days.
''The Menlo Bard'' is a student-produced digital news magazine about arts and lifestyles. It has been published about five times a year since 2012.
Mock Trial
, Menlo's Mock Trial team has won
San Mateo County
San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...
competitions in 14 out of the past 15 years and has been in the top 8 at the California State Championships in 9 of the last 11 years. From 2011 to 2018, it had a perfect 80-0 record in the county.
The team won the California State Championship in 2014, defeating the three-time defending champion
La Reina High School
La Reina High School is a Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest internat ...
of Ventura County. In 2019, they won against
Shasta High School
Shasta High School is an American public high school located in Redding, California. With an enrollment of over 1600 students, it is the largest high school in Shasta County, California. It has been recognized as a California Distinguished Schoo ...
of
Shasta County
Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding.
Shasta ...
.
[ Outside California, the team won the Providence Cup, a pre-season national mock trial tournament held in Denver, Colorado, in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2021.][ Menlo won the American Championship Invitational, a tournament for states' second and third place squads, in 2009. Team members Andy Parker and Tiffany Tam won the Gladiator Individual World Championships in 2016 and 2018, respectively.][
With Stanford Mock Trial, Menlo also hosts the annual NorCal Mock Trial Invitational, the first tournament in California outside the normal CRF competition to be scored; they have won the tournament in 7 of the past 11 years.
]
Other activities
The school puts on musicals and plays. Artistic groups include the Knight Dancers, who produce an annual dance show, a chamber orchestra, and three choruses.
Athletics teams include baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track, water polo, and volleyball. The Knights previously competed in the Peninsula Athletic League, and now compete in the West Bay Athletic League. During the 2009–2010 school year, every varsity team participated in postseason competition, and some went on to state competitions. The boys' tennis team claimed the national tennis title at the National High School All-American Foundation in 2010, placed second in 2011, and won again in 2012.
MTerm
MTerm is an end of year enrichment opportunity for the freshman
A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions.
Ara ...
, sophomore, and junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
classes; in the 2017-2018 school year it replaced Knight School, a one-week period substituting alternative intellectual explorations including volunteer trips to work with Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...
in , cooking classes, and video game design seminars for conventional classes.
MTerm is around two weeks long. Each grade focuses on a different topic in these two weeks. Freshmen
A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions.
Ara ...
learn about the environment and spend half of MTerm on campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...
and half on day trips. Sophomores will focus on social issues such as equity and justice. Juniors do a Junior Project where they take a deep dive into an issue they are interested in and present their findings to their grade. Seniors focus on life past high school and making connections to their class before they leave for college. Any student in grades 9-11 can choose to go on a travel program.
In 2022, since global travel is too complicated because of COVID, Menlo's MTerm travel program is the ''Borderlands'' program. This program features trips to Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
to teach students about the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...
, sustainability, and the US-Mexico border.
Buildings at Menlo
Menlo's athletic center contains two 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 ...
courts, one full-sized, with drop-down volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
nets. The gym
A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...
also has athletic training rooms, a dance room, conference rooms, offices, workout facilities, and locker rooms.
The Creative Arts and Design Center contains spaces for artists in the upper school, and has band and dance rooms. The upper floor includes drama, photography, journalism and computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
spaces.
Recently completed buildings include a new dining hall, student center and library that were added on to Stent Hall in 2017, and The Spieker Center for the Arts, which was finished and unveiled in 2021.
Stent Hall, once a mansion called Douglass Hall, was badly damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and was closed for several years. At first Menlo wanted to demolish it, but protests convinced the school to restore it. It was stabilized by the addition of a new library beside it and of steel supports.
Academic programs
In order to graduate, upper school students are required to complete 10 community engagement credits each year, which involve participating in community service
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...
events put on by Menlo or another organization. Peer leadership and advocacy programs give freshmen the opportunity to make connections with upperclassmen and faculty members as they begin their time at the school. Students stay with their advocacy group and advocate for all four years of high school. The faculty includes academic trainers who support students both academically and mentally.
Menlo has implemented programs designed to encourage lifelong learning.
Faculty
The majority of the faculty hold advanced degrees. The full-time faculty includes more than 60 holders of master's degrees, 10 Ph.Ds, and two J.D.s.
Than Healy has been the head of school since 2013. And since 1999, the Upper School Director has been John Schafer. La Vina Lowery joined Menlo in 2015 as the Middle School Director. The Director of Athletics is Earl Koberlein.
Traditions
Valpo Bowl
The Valpo Bowl is an annual football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
game between Menlo School and the neighboring Sacred Heart
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...
that raises money for a local educational charity. The first game was held in 2003. The Valpo Bowl name stems from both schools having a main entrance on Valparaiso Avenue, although the contest itself is usually held at a neutral venue.
The schools have won the following years:
* Sacred Heart: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
* Menlo: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2016,2021
Notable alumni
* Kevin Bass
Kevin Charles Bass (born May 12, 1959) is a former American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers (1982), Houston Astros (1982–1989, 1993–1994), San Francisco Giants (1990–1992) ...
- All-Star outfielder for the Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
who also played for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
, New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
and Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
* Bob Lurie
Robert Alfred Lurie (born 1929) is a real estate magnate, philanthropist, and former owner of the San Francisco Giants franchise of Major League Baseball from March 2, 1976, until January 12, 1993.
Early life
Lurie was born to a Jewish family - real estate magnate, philanthropist, and former San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
owner
* Jon Beekhuis
Jon Beekhuis (; born March 31, 1960) is an American former race car driver. Beekhuis was born in Zurich, Switzerland while his American father was studying at ETH Zurich, and grew up in California. The 1988 ARS (Indy Lights) champion, Beekhuis d ...
- former race car driver, television commentator
* Mike Bordin
Michael Andrew Bordin (born November 27, 1962) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Faith No More. He has amicably been known as "Puffy", "Puffster" or "The Puff", in reference to the afro hair style he wore in ...
- professional drummer for Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
and co-founder of Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...
* Allison Brennan
Allison Brennan (born September 29, 1969) is an American best-selling writer of romantic novel, romantic Thriller (genre), thriller novels. Her first book was published in 2005.
Biography
Brennan was born in San Carlos, California. In 1987, she ...
- ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' bestselling author of thrillers
* Nicholas Casey - Journalist, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
* Maria Fadiman - ethnobotanist; named a 2006 National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
Emerging Explorer
* Dave Finocchio, Bryan Goldberg
Bryan Goldberg (born June 29, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and the owner of Bustle Digital Group, which operates a number of media properties, including ''Bustle'', ''Nylon'', ''W Magazine'' and '' Gawker''. Previously, Goldberg founded Ble ...
and Dave Nemetz
Dave Nemetz is an American entrepreneur and business executive best known for co-founding Bleacher Report. He founded Inverse in 2015, and was CEO of the company for its first years; he sold it in 2020.
Career
Nemetz co-founded Bleacher Report, ...
- founders of Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London.
Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...
* Jon Fogarty
Jon Fogarty (born May 23, 1975 in Palo Alto, California) is an American racing driver, who competes in the United SportsCar Championship for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. He won the 2007 and 2009 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prot ...
- professional race car driver
*Daniel Goldstein
Daniel G. Goldstein (born 1969) is an American cognitive psychologist known for the specification and testing of heuristics and models of bounded rationality in the field of judgment and decision making. He is an honorary research fellow at L ...
- Musician, electronic music producer, and DJ better known by his stage name Lane 8.
* Andrew Grauer - internet entrepreneur, co-founder of Course Hero
Course Hero is an American education technology website company based in Redwood City, California, which operates an online learning platform for students to access course-specific study resources (homework, essays and tests).
The crowdsourced l ...
* Brad Greenspan
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place =
, death_cause =
, body_discovered =
, resting_place =
, resting_place_coordinates ...
- internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Myspace
* Scott Harris - President of Baseball Operations for the Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
* Gary Johnson
Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...
- baseball player, played five games with the Anaheim Angels
* Robby Krieger
Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and "L ...
- guitarist, member of The Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
* Glenn Layendecker
Glenn Layendecker (born May 9, 1961) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
His highest singles ranking was world No. 48 in 1990. Layendecker's highest doubles ranking was world No. 32. His career wins included wins over ...
- former professional tennis player
* John Matteson
John Matteson (born March 3, 1961) is an American professor of English and legal writing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his first book, '' Eden's Out ...
- biographer, 2008 Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winner for '' Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father''
* Ahna O'Reilly
Ahna O'Reilly is an American actress. She is best known for her role in the film ''The Help'' (2011).
Career
O'Reilly began her acting career in 2003 in the film, ''Bill the Intern''. She has appeared in several other movies like ''Dinocroc'', ' ...
- actress
* Chris Paine
Chris Paine is an American filmmaker and environmental activist. His notable works as director include the documentaries ''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' '' Revenge of the Electric Car'' and '' Do You Trust This Computer?'' Paine received a nomi ...
- filmmaker; writer and director of ''Who Killed the Electric Car?
''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Chris Paine that explores the creation, limited commercialization and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the G ...
''
* John Paye - former Stanford starting quarterback and basketball point guard; later drafted by the San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
* Quadeca
Benjamin Lasky (born October 2, 2000), better known by his stage name Quadeca (formerly QuadecaX8), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, YouTuber, and former video game commentator. He uploads rap songs, music videos, ...
- YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influent ...
, hip hop artist, producer, and former video game commentator
* Eric Reveno
Eric Wendell Reveno (born March 12, 1966) is an American assistant college basketball coach at Oregon State and the former head men's basketball coach at Portland Pilots men's basketball, Portland. He was named the West Coast Conference coach of th ...
- former Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
basketball player; current Head Basketball Coach of the University of Portland
, mottoeng = The truth will set you free
, established = 1901
, type = Private university
, religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross)
, endowment = $218 million
, president = Robert D. Kelly
, students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...
* Bob Weir
Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead ...
- founding member Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
. Attended 1962
* Nick Woodman
Nicholas D. Woodman (born June 24, 1975) is an American businessman, and the founder and CEO of GoPro.
Early life and education
Woodman is the son of Concepcion (née Socarras) and Dean Woodman.[GoPro
GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman La ...]
See also
* San Mateo County high schools
*National Association of Independent Schools
The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boar ...
References
External links
*
*
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1915
Private middle schools in California
Private high schools in California
High schools in San Mateo County, California
Private preparatory schools in California
1915 establishments in California