Wildwood School (Schenectady, New York)

Wildwood School is an independent progressive K–12 school located in Los Angeles. Wildwood was founded as an elementary school in 1971, by a group of parents led by a young lawyer named Belle Mason. The secondary campus (middle and high school) opened in 2000. The elementary campus is located in Los Angeles and the middle and upper school campus is located in West Los Angeles. There are approximately 300 students in grades K-5, the elementary campus, and 400 in grades 6–12 at the middle and upper school campus.

History

In the 1970s and 1980s, the school was housed in one building on Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica, where the current campus for New Roads School is located. The first graduating elementary class had only ten students. In 1991 Hope Boyd, previously the Middle School Head of Westlake School for Girls, became the head of Wildwood, and the following year the elementary campus relocated to its current Culver City location.
During Boyd's time in post the number of students doubled. In 1999, the board of trustees decided to create a middle and upper school. The school was to be based on the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools and teach project-based equitable learning. The middle and upper school opened in 2000 on Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles, in a small and limiting former warehouse, with no windows (which has become a subject of humor amongst Wildwood students), mercurial temperature controls, and only 100 students. George Wood, a respected national educator and principal of Federal Hocking High School in Ohio, was the founding director of the secondary school. The full remodeling of the middle and upper school building was finished in 2002.

Community involvement and internship

Part of the curriculum of Wildwood includes working with local social service agencies, including St. Joseph Center and the Westside Children's Center. Middle and upper school students are required to participate in these activities during school hours for 3 hours a week. Juniors and seniors must participate in the internship program for four hours a week.

Upper school students also have an opportunity to go on International Community Involvement trips during spring break. Destinations have included Nepal, Uruguay, Guatemala, and Bulgaria.

Outreach Center

In 2001, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation granted Wildwood the funds to create an Outreach Center. The mission of the Outreach Center is to support the creation, development, and enhancement of small, personalized, learner-centered schools in Southern California and throughout the nation. The center was given a huge boost in 2004, when the Los Angeles Unified School District gave its public schools two years to break down into smaller schools. As a result, Wildwood's Outreach Center has held numerous professional development workshops educating public school teachers and administrators on the elements of successful small schools including, Advisory Programs, Project-Based Learning, Habits of Mind and Heart and Portfolios and Exhibitions. In addition, Wildwood School was named a Coalition of Essential Schools mentor school in 2004 - a recognition of Wildwood's work with other schools. In 2005, Wildwood received a National Association of Independent Schools Leading Edge award for the outreach work it has done with public and charter schools nationwide.

Athletics

The Wildwood Wolves have middle school and high school varsity teams including: Cross Country, Girls Volleyball, Boys/Girls Basketball, Boys/Girls Soccer, Baseball, Swim, and Track and Field. The school offers other sports such as Boys/Girls Tennis, and flag football. A number of Wildwood Varsity High School teams have gone on to CIF playoffs and league championships including Boys Baseball, Boys Basketball, Girls Volleyball, and Boys Soccer. Middle school sports teams have a "no cut" policy and all students are allowed to play. The one exception is the middle school tennis team, with a twelve-people cap. In the elementary school 4th and 5th grade sports are offered. The teams all follow the "no cut" policy.

Arts

Performing Arts

Wildwood students have performed in a number of plays and musicals since it opened. Students of all ages have had opportunities to act, assistant direct, stage manage, and work on technical elements such as lighting and sound design.

In addition, every spring Wildwood has a repertoire of student-directed plays, in which seniors apply to direct a one-act play of their choice. The performing arts teachers pick four of the applicants to create the repertoire. Students have also written plays in the past.

Music

Wildwood's music program allows students to experiment with different instruments and to compose their own work. Every year, there is a Wildwood Cabaret, in which students perform music. Additional performances are held by grade level. There is also a music production class for high-school students which allows the students to learn how to use software to produce, mix, and edit music.

Visual Arts

At the middle and upper school campus, there is a gallery space, in which students have an opportunity to curate shows of their artwork for anyone who walks in to see.

Electives

In addition to the Arts, there are many other electives that high school students can take. These include Technical Theater, filmmaking, Creative Writing, Government and Politics, and Advanced Topics in Math and Science. Wildwood offers a class that mixes Math and Science that is called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). WIE (Wildwood Institute for Entrepreneurship). WISL (Wildwood Institute for Social Leadership). WISRD (Wildwood Institute for STEM Research and Development).

Notable alumni

* Ella Emhoff Model/designer; stepdaughter of Kamala Harris, former US Vice President
* Zoe Kazan American actress
* Lewis Pullman American actor
* Amandla Stenberg American actress
* Rumer Willis American actress

References

External links

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Coalition of Essential Schools
Educational institutions established in 1971
Private elementary schools in California
High schools in Los Angeles
Private middle schools in California
Private high schools in California
1971 establishments in California