Scattergood Friends School in

Cedar County, Iowa Cedar County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,505. Its county seat is Tipton. The county is named for the Cedar River, which runs through the county. Cedar County is located between t ...

, is a rural, private

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

educating students in grades nine through twelve and, since 2020, middle school educating students in grades six through eight. Founded in 1890 by Iowa Wilburite

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

to provide a "guarded education" for their children, it is owned and operated by Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

). The school closed for a period during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Alarmed at the increasing anti-Semitism and political suppression by the Nazi Party of Germany at the time of

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

, Quakers of Iowa proposed in 1939 to receive refugees from Germany and house them at the Scattergood School. From 1939 through 1943, they operated what they called the 'Scattergood Hostel,' accepting a total of 185 refugees and helping them to resettle in the United States.Joe Peters, "Traces will close strapped St. Paul WWII museum, will keep Web site, bus exhibit"
9 November 2008, accessed 17 September 2015 After 1943 refugees were unable to leave Germany. After the end of the war, the school was reopened for educational operations. Since the late 20th century, about one third of students and staff have been Quakers, with the rest coming from different faith backgrounds.

Background

Scattergood School, founded in 1890, is located in

, two miles (3 km) east and one half mile south of the town of

West Branch West Branch may refer to: Communities * West Branch, Iowa, city in Cedar and Johnson counties * West Branch, Michigan, city in Ogemaw County * West Branch, New Brunswick, in the Local Service District of Weldford Parish * West Branch River John, i ...

. It offers a college preparatory curriculum for grades nine through twelve. Owned and operated by Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (

), the school is accredited by the

Iowa Department of Education The Iowa Department of Education sets the standards for all public institutions of education in Iowa and accredits private as well as public schools. It is headquartered in Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city i ...

and by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS). In addition to academic achievement, the Scattergood program emphasizes community life, responsible world citizenship, and communal work. Although there are several day students each year, nearly all students reside in dormitories (housing 42 students) on campus. Likewise, most of the 25 faculty and staff live in on-campus apartments. The school is based on small class sizes and a family atmosphere. Teaching and learning at Scattergood take place in many settings beyond the classroom. The campus includes a pond/marsh, a

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

, and a farm with a variety of livestock and of organic vegetable production. Everyone at Scattergood participates in a communal work program, called the crew system. This includes everything from working on the farm to making daily breakfast for members of the school. Similarly, all cleaning on campus is done by jointly by students and staff. Work assignments rotate monthly. Roughly a quarter of Scattergood students come from outside the United States. Former Bolivian president

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante (born 1 July 1930), often referred to as Goni, is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as the 61st president of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. A member of the Revolut ...

, is a Scattergood graduate.Julie Deardorff
"Bolivian President More Comfortable Playing Soccer Than Watching"
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

,'' 16 June 1994

Courses

In addition to regular offerings in math and science, the school has some Humanities courses: *History of the

English Language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

*Utopian Societies *Messianic Archetypes in Film and Literature *Art of Tibetan Religion and Culture * Quakerism *Taoism *Creative Writing Foreign languages include

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, and French. Sports offered in physical education include

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 ...

Fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

, Roller Hockey, Bicycle Training,

Ultimate Frisbee Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, Basketball, and Aikido. The term "Projects" is used to cover a variety of skills, arts and crafts:

Ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

Glassblowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a Blowpipe (tool), blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer'' ...

, Bow Making,

Juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

Stained Glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

, Elizabethan

Rapier A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Impor ...

Electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

Food preservation Food preservation includes processes that make food more resistant to microorganism growth and slow the oxidation of fats. This slows down the decomposition and rancidification process. Food preservation may also include processes that inhibit ...

, Drama, Painting, Poultry Project and Farm Project. May Term Trips During May Term, all juniors and seniors have the option to leave campus for a month-long trip. The trips usually involve community service or physical challenge. The option to take a student-planned "independent trip" is also available. Past May Term trips have included: *Bike trip along the Mississippi River (from

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

to Scattergood) *Hiking 250 miles of the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...

*Latin America *East Coast *Gulf Coast May Term Classes During May Term, when juniors and seniors leave campus, underclassmen have the opportunity to experience Project Based Learning curriculum. Examples of these classes have included: *The Physics of Flight *Apiculture and Agriculture *Animal Behavior During Mating and Parenting *Animal Psychology *Restaurant Management *The Art of Taking Tea *Boat Building *Monarch Conservation

Scattergood Hostel

Because of the financial difficulties faced by families during the Great Depression, the school suspended its operations in 1931. Alarmed at the increasing persecution of Jews and political dissidents in Nazi Germany, Quakers in Iowa proposed to use the school as a center to house refugees and help them resettle in the United States. Before the United States entered World War II, Quakers (mostly farmers) collaborated to create a place for the European refugees, supporting them through a web of volunteers. Both refugees and volunteers worked communally together to operate the facility, including its farm. A total of 185 refugees were housed here from 1939 to 1943. After that it became nearly impossible for them to escape from Europe. "In addition to therapeutic social activities, the Scattergood staff provided health care, language classes, and job training, hoping to give refugees, or guests as they were called, a foundation on which to rebuild their lives.""Out of Hitler's Reach"
episode of ''Living in Iowa'', Iowa Public TV, 2007, accessed 17 September 2015 Stays at the hostel averaged four months, a time of respite.

Legacy

* The Scattergood Hostel was explored in an exhibit at Traces Museum, which operated in St. Paul, Minnesota from 2005 through 2008, as well as a traveling exhibit viewed by tens of thousands throughout the Midwest. When the museum closed, the

United States Holocaust Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hist ...

of Washington, DC agreed to take the permanent exhibit materials. * In 2007, Iowa Public TV produced an episode on the Scattergood Hostel for its ''Living in Iowa'' series, titled "Out of Hitler's Reach" and based on the book of the same name by

Michael Luick-Thrams Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, founder and director of the Traces Museum.

References

External links

*
Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS)"Out of Hitler's Reach"
episode of ''Living in Iowa'', Iowa Public TV, 2007 - about the Scattergood Hostel during World War II {{authority control Quaker schools in Iowa Private high schools in Iowa Schools in Cedar County, Iowa Preparatory schools in Iowa 1880 establishments in Iowa