Shady Side Academy
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} Shady Side Academy is an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
preparatory school located in the Borough of
Fox Chapel Fox Chapel is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, and is an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh located northeast of downtown. The borough continually garners national prominence and is home to many of the wealthiest and most powerful ...
(suburban Pittsburgh), and in the Point Breeze neighborhood of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. Founded in 1883 as an all-male night school in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, the academy now offers a secular
coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
PK–12 program on four campuses in the city and its suburbs, including a boarding program in the Croft and Morewood Houses of its Senior School Campus. Formed to provide for the education of the sons of newly moneyed industrialists of Pittsburgh's East End, the academy counts the Frick and Mellon families among its early patrons. In 1922 the academy expanded to its sprawling Georgian Senior School campus in the then-countryside of Fox Chapel under the influence of the
Country Day School movement The Country Day School movement is a movement in progressive education that originated in the United States during the late 19th century. Country Day Schools sought to recreate the educational rigor, atmosphere, camaraderie and character-building ...
. The academy merged with the Arnold School in 1940 to form its Junior School campus and added its stone Tudor manor-style Middle School campus in 1958, emerging in its current three-school system. The academy admitted its first female students in 1973. The school has in recent years demonstrated a vigorous commitment to diversity and financial accessibility. Shady Side Academy enrolls approximately one thousand students annually and is a member of the
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, boa ...
and the Association of Boarding Schools. The school is a member of the Chewonki Foundation's Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki in Wiscasset, Maine, CITYterm at the Masters' School, and the High Mountain Institute's HMI Semester in
Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,602 at the 2010 census and an estimated ...
, and sends a significant number of students to both programs annually. The academy competes locally with Oakland Catholic High School, the Ellis School, the Winchester Thurston School, and Central Catholic High School, as well as regionally with schools such as The Kiski School and
Sewickley Academy Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, coeducation, college-preparatory academy located in Sewickley, Pennsylvania in the United States. The Academy educates 594 students, from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. It is a member of the Nationa ...
, and its lower schools are compared to local
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s
St. Edmund's Academy St. Edmund's Academy is an independent nonsectarian coeducational primary and middle day school located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Established in 1947, St. Edmund's offers programs from preschool through eigh ...
and the Falk Laboratory School. Historic rivals from the former Independent School Preparatory League (IPSL) include
Western Reserve Academy , motto_translation = Light and Truth , address = 115 College Street , city = Hudson , state = Ohio , zipcode = 44236-2999 , country = Unite ...
, University School, Linsly School, Nichols School,
Cranbrook Schools Cranbrook Schools is a private, PK–12 preparatory school located on a campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The schools comprise a co-educational elementary school, a middle school with separate schools for boys and girls, and a co-educatio ...
, and The Kiski School. The school's colors are navy blue and old gold. Niche.com consistently ranks Shady Side Academy as the #1 Private K-12 School in the Pittsburgh Area. Shady Side Academy's mission is to "challenge students to think expansively, act ethically and lead responsibly."


History

Shady Side Academy was founded as an all-male day school in 1883, on Aiken Avenue in the East End neighborhood of Shadyside, Pittsburgh. In 1922, the Senior School was established on its current suburban campus in
Fox Chapel Fox Chapel is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, and is an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh located northeast of downtown. The borough continually garners national prominence and is home to many of the wealthiest and most powerful ...
. This move also resulted in Shady Side becoming 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 exte ...
, first with a traditional seven-day program and, later, with the school's weekday program. A later merger in the early 1940s with another local boys' private school, The Arnold School, resulted in the creation of another new campus: a Junior School, located in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze and serving
Pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
through
fifth grade Fifth grade (called Grade 5 in some regions) is a year of education in many nations, and some other regions call it Year 5. In the United States, the fifth grade is the fifth and last year of elementary school in most schools. In other schools, it ...
students. In the 1950s, the academy purchased an estate less than a mile from the Senior School campus, creating a middle school for grades six through eight. In 1973, the Senior School embraced the concept of
co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
. It began admitting female students (popularly referred to, particularly in newspapers, as "The Shady Ladies") for the first time. The Junior and Middle Schools followed suit in the 1990s, with the first K-12 "Lifer" female students graduating in 2007. The last all-male class at the academy was the Middle School Form II (eighth grade) class of 1998, which became co-educated upon entering the Senior School in 1999. It was also the last class at the Middle School to follow a tie and jacket dress code. Opening in the fall of 2007, Shady Side added a pre-kindergarten located on the Junior School campus. The total enrollment across all grades fluctuates but is generally about 1000 students, with about 500 of them enrolled in the Senior School (grades 9-12 or "Forms" III-VI). In recent years, the school has worked to implement "green," or
environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that cl ...
, changes to its campuses. The 2006 renovation of Rowe Hall, the main academic building, uses several "green" concepts. The $6.8 million renovation of this primary Senior School facility emphasized environmentally friendly approaches, from glass that allows more light into classrooms (allowing the building to maintain lower electricity usage levels) to rainwater collected in an underground cistern, then used to flush toilets and urinals. In the fall of 2007, the Rowe Hall Complex earned Gold LEED (
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...
) Certification, becoming the only high school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to have done so. The McIlroy Center for Science and Innovation opened in 2018 as the new home of the Senior School Science Department. The building's construction was made possible by the fundraising efforts of The Campaign for Shady Side. The Mcllroy Center is a Gold LEED-certified "green" building with sustainable features that reduce environmental impact while creating teaching opportunities, such as a rooftop solar array and monitoring system and a
rain garden Rain gardens, also called bioretention facilities, are one of a variety of practices designed to increase rain runoff reabsorption by the soil. They can also be used to treat polluted stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are designed landscape sites ...
to collect storm runoff. The Glimcher Tech & Design Hub, a dynamic facility dedicated to innovation, creativity, technology, and design, opened at the Senior School in September 2019. The 12,000-square-foot space includes three primary areas: a Fabrication and Robotics Wing, a Computer Science Wing, and a café. The facility is on the lower levels of Rowe and Memorial Halls, in the space formerly occupied by the Science Department, before moving to the new McIlroy Center for Science & Innovation in 2018.


Admissions


Demographics


Financial aid

In 2013, over $2.8 million in need-based financial aid was distributed to 159 students. In 2019, Shady Side received the second-largest gift in its 136-year history, a $5.2 million gift to the financial aid endowment.


Curriculum

Academic life at Shady Side Academy operates on a trimester system, dividing the year into three thirteen to fourteen-week terms. Classes begin each year before Labor Day with Convocation in late August and finish with Commencement exercises in early June. The Second Term begins in late November, and Third Term begins in early April. At the Senior School, regular classes begin each day at 8:15 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m., punctuated by a late-morning assembly period. All-school assemblies occur every Monday and Friday in the Hillman Center's Rauh Theater. Every Wednesday, students meet with their advisory groups. The academic day is divided into six periods filled with at least five classes, a lunch period, and intermittent free periods. Athletic practices follow the school day from 3:45 p.m. to late afternoon. An eight-day rotating schedule determines class periods. Each term, students enroll in a minimum of five classes, both year-long courses and one-term electives, taught by seven academic departments—Arts, Computer Science, English, History, Mathematics, Science, and World Languages. Many departments, particularly the English and History Departments, make extensive use of the Harkness table, as most rooms in Rowe have large, oval tables. This teaching style is similar to the Socratic method. Students receive midterm grade reports during the year's first term and subsequently after each term, followed by a cumulative grade report at the end of the year. The grade for each class has three parts—a letter grade, an effort grade, and a paragraph of written remarks. The quality grade, assigned on the A+ (4.3333) to F (0.0) scale, is used to calculate the student's GPA. Effort grades for each class consist of a number from 5, indicating "exemplary effort," to 1, indicating "unacceptable effort." Effort grades of 2—"inconsistent effort"— or below result in a student's placement on Academic Warning and likely an interim report to the student's parents. The academy uses the student's GPA and effort grades each term and at the end of the year to award academic Year and Term Honors, ranging from "Honors" (B+ average) to "Highest Honors" (A average), as well as other school and departmental prizes. Established in 1929, Shady Side Academy's chapter of the
Cum Laude Society The Cum Laude Society is an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. It was founded at The Tome School in 190 ...
elects members from the top fifth of the graduating class based on academic performance in the junior year and the first two terms of the senior year.


Academic and personal counseling

The Senior School campus offers college, academic, and personal counseling through a variety of resources. Every upper-form student is assigned a personal college counselor to navigate the college applications process. College counselors help students write applications and choose between offers of admission through regular meetings in the Kassling College Counseling Center in Rowe Hall. Every student graduating from Shady Side proceeds to study at a four-year college or university. The academy's advisory program also provides every student with a year-long academic advisor. Students are assigned a new advisor specific to their form for each academic year. Each advisor supervises an advisory group of approximately 5 to 6 students. Advisory groups meet as a homeroom once each week, usually to share a midday snack and read the week's announcements, and sit together at least twice a week in all-school assemblies. Each student also meets individually with their advisor during a free period to discuss their academic life and any academic difficulties they may be having. Advisors meet with their advisees' parents twice every year and write reports summarizing their advisees' academic and personal progress—which form one part of each student's grade report—at the end of each term. An on-campus personal counselor is also available. Academic and personal counseling is offered at the Middle School. Students are assigned an advisor and meet in homerooms regularly, as well as in weekly all-school assemblies. Each term, a conference with the student, parent(s), and advisor is held to discuss the student's progress, achievements and challenges. The Junior School provides personal counseling and academic counseling in reading, math, and overall learning support. All-school assemblies are held weekly. Each student has at least one opportunity per academic year to speak in front of the school assemblies starting in Pre-Kindergarten. This provides early experience in public speaking and helps students, at a young age, to overcome the fear associated with speaking in front of a large group of people in a supportive, non-judgmental environment. In preparation for the Middle School, fifth-grade students serve as leaders in the school, giving tours to prospective families, assisting students in getting on and off the bus in the morning and afternoon, and leading assemblies. These additional responsibilities help prepare them for the transition to Middle School.


Boarding program and residential life

Boarding at Shady Side Academy dates back to the school's relocation from the Shadyside neighborhood in the 1920s. The number of boarding students living on campus and the number of buildings serving as dormitories has fluctuated over the academy's history. Four buildings on the Senior School campus—Bayard House (1924), Croft House (1931), Ellsworth House (1922) (now Hunt Hall), and Morewood House (1922)—all served as residence halls at one point in the school's history. The names of Bayard, Morewood, and Ellsworth Houses reference three out of the four streets encircling the site of the academy's original campus, now the site of the Winchester Thurston School. At one time, nearly 200 students, both Senior and Middle School students, boarded full-time in a seven-day boarding program. In the 1960s, the academy transitioned to housing Senior School students in a five-day boarding program, one of six schools nationwide to offer such a program to its students. Because students spend weekends at home, boarders almost always came from the three-state area of eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia. In the fall of 2014, the academy announced it would start offering a seven-day boarding option beginning in 2015, in addition to its current five-day boarding program. Shady Side's boarding program now hosts approximately fifty students every year in two residence halls—Croft House, the boys' dormitory, and Morewood House, the girls' dormitory. The academy also houses residential faculty representing almost every academic department, both in apartments in the dormitories and homes on the Senior and Middle School campuses.


Extracurricular activities

Student-run clubs at Shady Side exist as collaborations between students and a sponsoring faculty member. Numerous language clubs exist in collaboration with language programs offered by the World Languages Department, such as the German, Spanish, and French clubs, and for languages not taught at Shady Side, such as the Italian Club. Nationality clubs, such as the Jewish Student Union and Black Student Union, celebrate various global cultures and often present performances during the academy's annual GlobalFest week. There are also many established service and philanthropic clubs, such as Service Learning and Meals on Wheels. There are also religious clubs, activist clubs, academic competition teams, student government organizations, performance groups, departmental programs such as the peer-tutoring Scribe Office for writing, and publications.


Academic

Shady Side participates in Model United Nations conferences, National Academic Quiz Tournaments and other quiz bowl competitions, the Western Pennsylvania Math League,
Science Olympiad Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...
, North American Computational Linguistics Open competition,
National Science Bowl The National Science Bowl (NSB) is a high school and middle school science knowledge competition, using a quiz bowl format, held in the United States. A buzzer system similar to those seen on popular television game shows is used to signal an an ...
, and
forensics Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimin ...
competitions, principally in the National Forensics League. The academy has sent a team annually to the Pittsburgh Regional event of the FIRST Robotics Competition since 2008. In 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007, Shady Side was the season champion of Pittsburgh-based
game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
Hometown High-Q. The team finished fifth overall at the 2006
NAQT National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC is a question-writing and quiz bowl tournament-organizing company founded by former players in 1996. It is unique among U.S. quiz organizations for supplying questions and hosting championships at the midd ...
Nationals. Shady Side Academy's Speech and Debate team competes principally in the National Forensics League and regularly sends students to the National Catholic Forensics League and the Pennsylvania High School Speech League. The Shady Side Academy Speech and Debate team is coached by Mary Krauland, who has won multiple coaching awards, and Jacki Weaver assists with speech competitors and running the club. In 2004, Shady Side Middle School placed third in the nation at the National Science Olympiad Tournament at Juniata College, a tournament with over fifty schools from all around the nation. After placing first at both the Regional and State Science Olympiad Tournament, they earned a position in the National tournament. In 2005, the team also placed first in the Regional and State Science Olympiad Tournaments, which got them into the National Tournament again, held in the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...
. The team placed ninth at the national tournament. In the 2007 State Tournament, Shady Side's team placed second as runners up to
Sewickley Academy Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, coeducation, college-preparatory academy located in Sewickley, Pennsylvania in the United States. The Academy educates 594 students, from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. It is a member of the Nationa ...
, once again securing a place in the 2007 National Science Olympiad Tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Also, in 2009 the Middle School team placed second in the state tournament at Juniata College. They later placed 20th in the nation at
Augusta State University Augusta State University was a public university in Augusta, Georgia. It merged with Georgia Health Sciences University in 2012 to form Georgia Regents University, later known as Augusta University. History Augusta State University was founde ...
in Georgia, in which 60 teams participated. In 2011 the Middle School team returned to Nationals at
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...
, placing 18th in the nation. In 2012, the team placed 26th at the national competition held at the
University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State Universi ...
in
Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
. In 2013, the Middle School team won the Pennsylvania State Tournament for the second year in a row. They placed 11th, missing tenth place by just one point, at Nationals at Wright State University. They won for the third consecutive year in 2014, placing 14th at Nationals. The Pittsburgh Japanese School (ピッツバーグ日本語補習授業校 ''Pittsubāgu Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō''), a weekend supplementary Japanese school, uses the middle school facilities of Shady Side Academy. The school, established in 1993, originated from a group of parents starting a Japanese class system in 1977.


Arts, theater, and music

Since 2003, Shady Side has sponsored a benefit concert called "Untucked"—an homage to the school dress code, which, before 2004, required all shirts to be tucked in. Members of the Untucked Committee include students selected annually from a competitive applicant pool and a faculty member. Recent bands to appear at Untucked include Rusted Root, The Clarks, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Better than Ezra and Sister Hazel. Untucked is usually held at the end of the year in the Roy McKnight Hockey Center and includes food and carnival games. Shady Side Academy's main theater, the 650-seat Richard E. Rauh Theater, is named after the local teacher, actor, and arts patron Richard Rauh. It resides in the newly constructed Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the Senior School campus. There is also a blackbox theater (The Kountz Theater), which holds many smaller productions, such as the annual Fall Play and the Spring Original Works Theatre Festival. Recent theater performances include: '' Grease'', ''
An Enemy of the People ''An Enemy of the People'' (original Norwegian title: ''En folkefiende''), an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, followed his previous play, '' Ghosts'', which criticized the hypocrisy of his society's moral code. That response in ...
'', ''
West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
'', ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...
'', ''
The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments ...
'', '' Romeo and Juliet'', '' Kiss Me, Kate'', and ''
The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
.'' The debut musical in the Hillman Center for the Performing Arts was Oliver!, which took place in the spring of 2005, starring Danielle Papincak (Nancy, Class of '05) and Bernard Balbot (Fagin, Class of '05). In 2006, the academy launched the Hillman Performing Arts Series with the Golden Dragon Acrobats, River City Brass Band, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.


Publications

The academy's campus newspaper, the ''Shady Side News,'' is written and produced by an editorial staff of Senior School students and releases five issues each academic year. It contains campus news, commentary, political opinion, and photographs. The ''Academian'', the Shady Side Academy yearbook, has been published annually since the school's founding by a committee of student editors. The ''Egerian'', the school's literary magazine, publishes student-written prose and poetry at the end of each academic year. Established in 1928, it is released exclusively online by a committee of student editors. It is available at ''Angles'', the school's other literary magazine, collects the best of student-written nonfiction and also publishes—in print—at the end of every year. A science magazine, ''SSA Frontiers of Science'', helps relay significant scientific advances to the community; it is produced once per term under the leadership of a student committee. The ''Forum'', a collaboration between the Senior School History Department and a committee of student editors, contains political commentary and policy analysis.


Athletics

The academy's athletic department mandates athletic participation for every student each term as a graduation requirement. Underform students participate in two terms of team sports and academic health classes, and upper form students participate in either a team sport or a physical education elective each term. Owing to the academy's extensive athletic facilities, the Athletic Department offers various options each term. The Senior School's facilities contain two gymnasiums, the McKnight Ice Hockey Center, baseball, soccer, and football fields, a cross-country course, two fitness facilities, squash and tennis courts, and an outdoor track. The Middle and Junior School campuses also both contain gymnasiums and playing fields.


Mascot

Shady Side Academy's athletic teams formerly competed as the Indians. Once known simply as the Blue & Gold, the Indians name replaced the original in the 1940s. Attempts to change the mascot due to conflict over the propriety of Native American images as athletic mascots, were long thwarted by various alumni, who argued for the academy's unique claim to its use, owing to Chief Guyasuta's historical encampment on the land now occupied by the Senior School. As of July 1, 2020, the board of trustees voted unanimously to retire the mascot and cease using Indians as a team name. Later that year, the board announced that the Bulldogs would be the new team name and mascot.


History

Athletic activity and physical education at the academy originate in the school's 1885 relocation within Shadyside from its original one-room schoolhouse on Aiken Avenue to a more spacious physical plant on Ellsworth Avenue, which included the addition of athletic playing fields and a gymnasium. The academy's early athletic program was organized to promote the ideals of its day, particularly
amateurism in sport Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time they spend competing ...
and the spirit of Muscular Christianity. Team sports, initially informal organizations of students and occasionally faculty, became increasingly structured as the academy developed athletic links and interscholastic competitions with nearby public and private secondary schools and, occasionally, colleges such as
Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...
and what is now Duquesne University. To further formalize interscholastic competition, in 1907, the academy collaborated with Fifth Avenue High School, Allegheny Prep, and Pittsburgh Central High School to found the
Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) is an interscholastic athletic association in Western Pennsylvania. It is District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. History The Western Pennsylvania Inte ...
(WPIAL), which served to establish "a set of eligibility rules and regulations to ensure a level playing field for interscholastic athletic competition among the schools in western Pennsylvania." Long-standing Academy headmaster William R. Crabbe played a central role in the WPIAL's foundation and served as its first president. The academy maintained its WPIAL association until 1924, when it withdrew its membership and collaborated with the University School of
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...
and Nichols School of
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
to found the Tri-State Preparatory League. This league later added the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,
Western Reserve Academy , motto_translation = Light and Truth , address = 115 College Street , city = Hudson , state = Ohio , zipcode = 44236-2999 , country = Unite ...
in
Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan statistical area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, ...
, The Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, and the Linsly School in Wheeling, West Virginia, and in the mid-1930s began calling itself the Inter-State Preparatory League (IPSL). After seventy years of competition for the annual "Championship Cup," Shady Side Academy withdrew from the "crumbling" IPSL in 1993.


Affiliations

Since 1994 the academy has been a member of the WPIAL, which contains hundreds of other public and private secondary schools in western Pennsylvania and serves as District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), a state-level athletic governing body. Although most teams now compete at the varsity level in the WPIAL and PIAA, a minority of programs maintain prep-level affiliations in smaller sport-specific Prep Leagues consisting of other regional independent schools. The boys' prep hockey team served in 1990 as a founding member of the
Midwest Prep Hockey League The Midwest Prep Hockey League (abbreviated MPHL) is a highly elite prep school ice hockey league in North America. The Midwest Prep League was founded in 2000; the original six league members were Culver Academies (IN), Gilmour Academy (OH), Lak ...
, in which it competes at the Division I level. It also occasionally plays semi-professional hockey clubs in Germany and Italy, including ESV Kaufbeuren,
SV Kaltern SV Kaltern is an ice hockey team in Kaltern, Italy. They play in the Serie A, the first level of ice hockey in Italy. The club was founded in 1962. Currently the team holds tryouts for any hopefuls from the 28 of May to June 7 each year, in Fl ...
, and EV Landsberg. The girls hockey team also competes at the prep level in the Women's Interscholastic Hockey League of the Mid-Atlantic. The boys and girls squash teams, members of the Pittsburgh Squash Racquet Association, are also prep-level teams composed of top-rated junior players. The boys
lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
team participates in WPIAL and the Midwest Scholastic Lacrosse Association. Shady Side Academy teams also often compete on an informal basis with other local schools, including
Sewickley Academy Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, coeducation, college-preparatory academy located in Sewickley, Pennsylvania in the United States. The Academy educates 594 students, from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. It is a member of the Nationa ...
,
Fox Chapel Area High School Fox Chapel Area High School (Established in 1961) is a public school located in the Pittsburgh suburb of O'Hara Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was recognized and honored as a National Blue Ribbon School twice. The ...
, Winchester Thurston School, and The Ellis School.


WPIAL and PIAA championships

Since joining the PIAA, the academy has won 12 state championships—two in boys' basketball (1995 and 2000), two in girls' golf (2008 and 2011), two in boys' swimming (2000 and 2011), two in girls' tennis (2007 and 2010), and two in boys' tennis (2003 and 2014)—along with numerous regional WPIAL championships in baseball, soccer, field hockey, tennis, swimming, football, and golf. The girls' tennis and field hockey teams won the WPIAL Championship titles in 2005, 2006, and 2007 for AAA and AA, respectively. The girls' tennis team went on to place second in the 2007 PIAA Championships and first in the 2008 PIAA Championships. Shady Side's Lauren Greco also won the PIAA and WPIAL AAA girls' tennis singles championships. The girls' tennis team won the WPIAL and state championships in 2010, while Sara Perelman placed second individually. In 2010, the boys' swim team won the WPIAL championship for the ninth consecutive year (10th in 11 years). In addition, the wrestling team went on to place first in the PIAA Individual Championships of the 2007–2008 season, with both Dane Johnson placing first (his second time) and Roman San Doval placing first in the PIAA. They defended their state championship in wrestling with another championship in the 2008–2009 season. Johnson won his third PIAA Championship, and Matt Cunningham placed second in his weight class. Shady Side Academy wrestling is the first AA team in the WPIAL to have won the PIAA State Championship. The boys' tennis team won the WPIALs in 2010 and also placed second in states. Chris Mengel won the individual state championships as well in 2010. WPIAL Team Championships (62 titles, 15 sports) *Boys Baseball: 2009 *Boys Basketball: 1999, 2022 *Boys Cross Country: 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 *Girls Cross Country: 2008 *Girls Field Hockey: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 *Boys Football: 1998 *Girls Golf: 2008, 2009, 2011 *Girls Lacrosse: 2019, 2021 *Boys Soccer: 2017, 2018 *Girls Soccer: 2010, 2013, 2019 *Boys Swimming: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 *Boys Tennis: 1999, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 *Girls Tennis: 1993, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 *Boys Track & Field: 1998, 1999 *Boys Wrestling: 2001 PIAA Team Championships (13 titles, 7 sports) *Boys Basketball: 1995, 2000 *Girls Golf: 2008, 2011 *Boys Swimming: 2000, 2011 *Boys Tennis: 2003, 2014 *Girls Tennis: 2007, 2010 *Boys Wrestling: 2008, 2009 *Girls Soccer: 2017


Campuses

Shady Side Academy has four campuses in Pittsburgh with almost , predominantly in heavily wooded Fox Chapel. Shady Side Academy operates twenty-six campus buildings with a total estimated facilities value of $56.2 million. * Senior School: (Grades 9–12) 423 Fox Chapel Road, Pittsburgh * Middle School: (Grades 6–8) 100 Benedum Lane, Pittsburgh * Junior School: (Grades Pre-K to 5) 400 S. Braddock Avenue, Pittsburgh * Country Day School: (Grades Pre-K to 5) 400 Christ Church Lane, Pittsburgh


Notable alumni

* Tunde Adebimpe (1993), actor, director, and lead singer of the alternative rock band TV on the Radio *
Peter Ackerman Peter Ackerman (November 6, 1946 – April 26, 2022) was an American businessman, the founder and former chairman of Americans Elect, and the founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. Ackerman was the managing director ...
(1988), Hollywood screenwriter on the animated film ''
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
'' and voice actor on Ice Age and Ice Age: The Meltdown. *
Hervey Allen William Hervey Allen Jr. (December 8, 1889 – December 28, 1949) was an American educator, poet, and writer. He is best known for his work ''Anthony Adverse'' (made into a 1936 movie of the same name), regarded by many critics "as the model and ...
(1909), author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including most famously the 1933 novel ''
Anthony Adverse ''Anthony Adverse'' is a 1936 American epic historical drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland. The screenplay by Sheridan Gibney draws elements of its plot from eight of the nine books in Herve ...
'' * Jerome "Jay" Apt (1967), astronaut on the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' * Eugene Baker (1994), former NFL wide receiver *
Jon Beckerman Jon Beckerman is a producer, director and writer best known for his projects with Rob Burnett. He was born in 1969. He graduated from Shady Side Academy in 1987 and Harvard University in 1991. Career Jon's biggest success has been working with ...
(1987), producer and creator of NBC comedy-drama '' Ed'' and ABC comedy '' The Knights of Prosperity'' * Christian Borle (1991),
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
winner for featured actor in a play ("Peter and the Starcatcher", 2012) and
Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...
-nominated Broadway actor. Starred in the NBC drama '' Smash''. * Richard G. Colbert (1933), U.S. Navy four-star admiral * Charlie Cheever (1999), co-founder of Quora * Dave Dameshek (1988), American television writer and radio personality * Tim DeChristopher (2000), environmental activist and founder of environmental group Peaceful Uprising. *
Thomas Mellon Evans Thomas Mellon Evans (September 8, 1910 – July 17, 1997) was an American financier who was one of the country's early corporate raiders, as well as a philanthropist and Thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder who won the 1981 Kentucky Derby a ...
(1927), financier and one of the early corporate raiders * Chris Frantz (1970), drummer for
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
* Childs Frick (1901), invertebrate paleontologist and son of Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick * Carmen Gentile (1992), journalist, author, and public speaker *
Bartley P. Griffith Bartley P. Griffith (born 1949) is an American heart surgeon. Griffith is currently The Thomas E and Alice Marie Hales Distinguished Professor in Transplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has been continuously funded ...
(1966), internationally renowned surgeon; performed first heart transplant from a genetically modified pig to a human patient; invented first "out of hospital" artificial lung * Kerry Hannon (1978), writer for '' U.S. News & World Report'' and ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' *
Henry Hillman Henry Lea Hillman (December 25, 1918 – April 14, 2017) was an American billionaire businessman, investor, civic leader, and philanthropist. He was chairman of The Hillman Company, a family office and investment company headquartered in Pi ...
(1937), American billionaire businessman, investor, civic leader, and philanthropist * Philip Hench (1912), winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1950 *
Edgar J. Kaufmann Edgar Jonas Kaufmann (November 1, 1885 – April 15, 1955) was an American businessman and philanthropist who owned and directed Kaufmann's Department Store, in Pittsburgh. He is also known for commissioning two modern architectural masterpiece ...
(1903), businessman and philanthropist, owner of Kaufmann's Department Store, and commissioner of Frank Lloyd Wright's
Fallingwater Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States. It is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill ...
in the Laurel Highlands * Zachary D. Kaufman (1996), law professor, political scientist, and social entrepreneur *
Thornton Oakley Thornton Oakley (March 27, 1881 – April 4, 1953) was an American artist and illustrator. Biography Thornton Oakley was born on Sunday, March 27, 1881, in Pittsburgh. He was the son of John Milton Oakley and Imogen Brashear Oakley. He gradua ...
(1897), artist, illustrator, and travel writer for ''
Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' and '' Scribner's Magazine'' *
David A. Reed David Aiken Reed (December 21, 1880February 10, 1953) was an American lawyer and Republican party politician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1922 to 1935. He was a co-author of the restr ...
(1896), Pennsylvania
United States 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 po ...
from 1922 to 1935 * Philip B. Heymann (1950), Harvard Law School professor, federal prosecutor, Associate Special Counsel in Watergate investigations, Deputy Attorney General *
Richard Isay Richard A. Isay (December 13, 1934 – June 28, 2012) was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author and gay activist. He was a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and a faculty member of the Columbia University Center ...
, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author, gay activist * Carl Kurlander (1978), Hollywood screenwriter of the film '' St. Elmo's Fire'' and NBC sitcom '' Saved by the Bell'' * Benjamin Lawsky (1988), New York State's first Superintendent of Financial Services, Chief of Staff to NY Governor Andrew Cuomo *
Aarti Mann Aarti Majumdar (born March 3, 1978), better known by her stage name Aarti Mann, is an American actress. She has starred in several television programs, including a part in the sci-fi drama ''Heroes'' following the show ''Never Have I Ever''. She ...
(1996), television actress on CBS sitcom ''
The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...
'' * Bill Marsh (1976), New Hampshire state representative for Carroll County's 8th district *
Paul Martha Paul Martha (born June 22, 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a former American football safety who played seven seasons in the National Football League. Early life Martha played high school athletics at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, where ...
(1960), NFL football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers and
Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
*
Lenny McAllister Leonard Francis McAllister Jr. (born January 13, 1972) is an American political commentator for a number of newspapers and websites, including RedState, AOL, and ''The Root''. He was the 2016 Republican Candidate for US Congress in after win ...
(1989), 2016 Republican nominee for US House of Representatives in Pittsburgh (PA 14th), political commentator, and activist * David McCullough (1951), two-time
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 ...
-winning author and historian * Skyy Moore (2019), NFL Receiver, Kansas City Chiefs * Candace Otto (1998), operatic soprano and Miss Pennsylvania 2003 * David Puth (1974), financial services executive * John B. Taylor (1964), Under Secretary of the Treasury for the George H. W. Bush administration *
David Wecht David Norman Wecht (born May 20, 1962) is an American attorney and jurist, who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania since 2016. Prior to his election in 2015, Wecht had served as a judge of the Superior Court of ...
(1980), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania * Christian K. Wedemeyer (1986), elected official of the
Illinois Green Party The Illinois Green Party is a statewide political party in Illinois. The party is state affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. Its stated mission and purpose are to advance the ''Ten Key Values of the Green Party'' in Illinois through ...
and professor of the history of religions at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
*
Bari Weiss Bari Weiss (born March 25, 1984) is an American journalist, writer, and editor. She was an op-ed and book review editor at ''The Wall Street Journal'' (2013–2017) and an op-ed staff editor and writer on culture and politics at ''The New Yor ...
(2002), ''New York Times'' opinion writer, and staff editor * Tom Vilsack (1968), current US Secretary of Agriculture, 40th
governor of Iowa A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
and 30th
Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...
*
Jonathan Zittrain Jonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1969) is an American professor of Internet law and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. He is also a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer scie ...
(1987), co-founder the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...
and Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation,
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...


References


External links


Official Site
{{authority control High schools in Pittsburgh Middle schools in Pittsburgh Private elementary schools in Pennsylvania Private middle schools in Pennsylvania Private high schools in Pennsylvania Preparatory schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1883 1883 establishments in Pennsylvania Boarding schools in Pennsylvania