Middlesex School is a coeducational, non-sectarian, day and boarding independent secondary school for grades 9-12 located in
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
. It was founded as an all-boys school in 1901 by a
Roxbury Latin School
The Roxbury Latin School is a private boys' day school that was founded in 1645 in the town of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts) by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. It bills ...
alumnus, Frederick Winsor, who headed the school until 1937. Middlesex began admitting girls in 1974. The school is a member of the prestigious
Independent School League Independent School League or ISL may refer to:
* Independent School League (Illinois), a group of nine Chicago-area preparatory schools
* Independent School League (New England), a group of 16 New England preparatory schools
* Independent School Le ...
and is one of five schools collectively known as
St. Grottlesex.
The school was named for the county
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
in which it stands. The campus was designed by the
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law ...
architectural firm, and the firm
Peabody and Stearns
Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns J ...
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
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
with an 18-inch research grade telescope.
The school is 70% boarding students and 30% day students. In 2019-20, boarding students came from 24 states and 20 countries. Middlesex School is highly selective, accepting only 14% of students who applied to enter in 2022-23.
Campus and facilities
The Middlesex School campus is located in
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
, about 20 miles outside of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
[About MX]
/ref> 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 (BP, 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.
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).
Students
Middlesex has 405 students from 21 countries and 24 states. 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. 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.
Faculty
Middlesex School has 95 members of the faculty. In 2018-19, 76 percent of the teaching faculty have an advanced degree.
Academics
The average class size at Middlesex is 12. 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
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schola ...
score was 1410. 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.
Arts
Middlesex offers several art courses and extracurriculars. AP Art History, AP Studio Art, and AP Music Theory are offered. The Chamber Ensemble and the Jazz Orchestra both require an audition as of 2020.
Athletics
Middlesex fields teams in 17 different sports and competes in the Independent School League Independent School League or ISL may refer to:
* Independent School League (Illinois), a group of nine Chicago-area preparatory schools
* Independent School League (New England), a group of 16 New England preparatory schools
* Independent School Le ...
. 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.
Middlesex's primary athletic rival is the St. George's School.
Extracurricular activities
Besides the arts and athletics programs, there are several dozen student-run clubs that receive funding from the school administration, including the student Senate, Young Democrats Club, Young Republicans Club, two book clubs, Short Story Society, Robotics Club, Math Club, Politically Incorrect Debate Club, Society of Latinos, GSA, French Club, Science Club, JSA (the Junior Statesmen of America), Common Sense (an environmental club), Middlesex Couture, Finance Club, Zebrettes (a club that sponsors activities that connect students with young faculty children), and more.
The Middlesex student newspaper is The Anvil, which releases several physical issues as well as online content through its website. An Anvil tradition is the annual Anvil Poll, which polls the student body on itself. The Middlesex literary publication is The Iris, which contains short stories, poetry, drawings, and photos sent in by students.
Community service
Middlesex offers several community service programs. 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.
Chapel program
The Middlesex community (the entire student body and faculty and staff) meets weekly in the school chapel for a speech given by a senior on the topic of the senior's choosing. Most speeches are given by one senior, though 'dual chapels' (chapel speeches given by two seniors) are permitted. Spots in the chapel program are allocated in the beginning of the school year.
Throughout the year, there are also several class chapels (gatherings involving one grade) and a few evening chapels, which are given by faculty members and outside speakers.
Notable alumni
* Conrad Aiken - Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet
* Paget Brewster - actress
* Steve Carell - actor and comedian
*Joseph S. Clark Jr.
Joseph Sill Clark Jr. (October 21, 1901January 12, 1990) was an American writer, lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 90th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1952 to 1956 and as a United States Senator from Pennsylvan ...
- former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and mayor of Philadelphia
*James L. Halperin
James L. Halperin (born October 31, 1952) is an American businessman and author, who is the co-founder and co-chairman of Heritage Auctions, now the largest American auction house with 2022 sales in excess of $1.45 billion. In 1985 Halperin author ...
- numismatist and author
* William Hurt - Academy Award-winning actor
*Joseph Kahn Joseph Kahn may refer to:
*Joseph Kahn (director) (born 1972), a film and music video director
*Joseph Kahn (journalist) (born 1964), American journalist
* Joseph Kahn (shipping executive) (1916–1979), American businessman
See also
*Joseph Hahn ...
- Managing editor, The New York Times
*Mark P. Lagon
Mark P. Lagon (born 1965) is an American political scientist and practitioner. His areas of expertise include human rights, global health, human trafficking, and global institutions and governance. Lagon is the Chief Policy Officer at Friends of ...
- American political scientist and human rights campaigner
* Mills Lane - Nevada Judge, D.A, TV personality, professional boxing referee
*Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...
- former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and 1960 Republican vice presidential nominee
*Robin Moore
Robert Lowell Moore Jr. (October 31, 1925 – February 21, 2008) was an American writer who wrote '' The Green Berets'', '' The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy'', and with Xaviera Hollander and ...
- writer
* Bill Richardson - former Governor of New Mexico and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
* Bret Stephens - Op-ed columnist, The New York Times
*Cass Sunstein
Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...
- former head of President Obama's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, columnist at Bloomberg Opinion
* Robert Egerton Swartwout - author
* Kevin Systrom - founder of 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 ...
* Shunsuke Tsurumi - Japanese philosopher
* Jessica Tuck - actress
* Chris Van Hollen - senator from Maryland.
* Edward Warburg (1908-1992), philanthropist, patron of the arts.
* Frederick M. Warburg - investment banker
*Paul F. Warburg
Paul Felix Warburg (October 6, 1904 – October 8, 1965) was a Jewish-American banker from New York. Life
Warburg was born on October 6, 1904 in New York City, New York City, New York, the son of banker Felix M. Warburg and philanthropist Frieda ...
- investment banker
*William Weld
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
- former Governor of Massachusetts, Vice Presidential candidate
References
External links
*
Profile on Boarding School Review.com
Middlesex Graduates for Estabrook Homepage
Two Middlesex Alumnae Protest Development of Estabrook
Middlesex School Summer Arts Website
Middlesex School on Instagram
Archived fro
the original
on ghostarchive.org
*
{{authority control
1901 establishments in Massachusetts
Boarding schools in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Concord, Massachusetts
Co-educational boarding schools
Cummings and Sears buildings
Educational institutions established in 1901
Independent School League
Peabody and Stearns buildings
Private high schools in Massachusetts
Private preparatory schools in Massachusetts
Schools in Middlesex County, Massachusetts