Wooster School is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory school (grades 5 through 12) in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

.Wooster School Wooster School official website
/ref> It is a member of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools.

Overview

The Wooster School motto is ''Ex Quoque Potestate, Cuique Pro Necessitate'', roughly, " From each according to ability, to each according to need". Founded in 1926 as a boys' school of 10 students by Episcopal priest Dr. Aaron Coburn, it is named for General

David Wooster David Wooster ( – May 2, 1777) was an American general who served in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolutionary War. He died of wounds sustained during the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Several cities, schools, and public ...

, who fought at the

Battle of Ridgefield The Battle of Ridgefield was a battle and a series of skirmishes between American and British forces during the American Revolutionary War. The main battle was fought in the village of Ridgefield, Connecticut, on April 27, 1777. More skirmishin ...

with the

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

s in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. The school continues the legacy of the jobs program, led by 12th-grade prefects, in which the entire student body engages in a daily period dedicated to cleaning and physically maintaining the campus. Girls were first admitted to the school in the fall of 1970. In 1990, Wooster School transitioned from being a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

, as it had been since its inception, to being a

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

. In 1991, a Lower School was established in addition to Wooster's Middle and Upper Schools, which now included grades 1 and 2, plus grades 3, 4, and 5 the following year.

21st-century changes

Since 2000, one of the

National Association of Episcopal Schools The National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES) is a membership organization of approximately 1200 pre-collegiate schools and early childhood education programs in the United States. Membership is restricted to schools owned, operated, or sp ...

' top two

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

awards is named for former Wooster School head John D. Verdery. From 2001 to 2004, Wooster School made some improvements to its physical plant, notably the addition of a new gymnasium and a distinct Middle School building. In 2014, the school's Verdery Library received a grant of over $6,000 from

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Chris Dodd Christopher John Dodd (born May 27, 1944) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut's history. H ...

's office to improve its

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

access through the

E-Rate E-Rate is the commonly used name for the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). ...

grants. In 2020, the school narrowed its range of grades from kindergarten through 12 to grades 4 through 12. In 2021, it narrowed to grades 5 through 12.

Notable alumni

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...

—folk singer and guitarist *

Andrew Stevovich Andrew Stevovich ( ; born 1948) is an American painter. He is best known for oil paintings and pastels that combine abstract formalities with a figurative narrative. He has also produced lithographs, etchings, and wood-block prints. Biography ...

—painter * Cyrus Mehri—trial attorney *

Zachary Cole Smith Zachary Cole Smith (born November 7, 1984) is an American musician, model and music video director, best known for being the founder, frontman, and principal songwriter of the indie rock band DIIV. He first began playing in bands like Soft Blac ...

—singer and frontman of DIIV *

Neil Rudenstine Neil Leon Rudenstine (born January 21, 1935) is an American scholar, educator, and administrator. He served as president of Harvard University from 1991 to 2001. Early life and education Rudenstine was born in Danbury, Connecticut, the son of M ...

—president of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

for a decade in the 1990sCatherine E. Shoichet, ''Rudenstine's Book Hits Shelves'', June 05, 2001, found a
''Harvard_Crimson
''_web_site.html" ;"title="Harvard Crimson">''Harvard Crimson
'' web site">Harvard Crimson">''Harvard Crimson
'' web site Accessed October 22, 2007. "In a 1998 speech given at the Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Mass., Rudenstine spoke of the root of his passion for reading—a meeting with a high school adviser during his first term as a scholarship student at the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut. “I don’t remember trying to articulate for myself, at the time, what this entire experience actually meant to me,” he says."

References

External links

* {{Authority control Private high schools in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Danbury, Connecticut Schools in Fairfield County, Connecticut Educational institutions established in 1926 Private middle schools in Connecticut Private elementary schools in Connecticut 1926 establishments in Connecticut Episcopal schools in the United States