Pingry School
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Infobox Private School
The Pingry School is a private college preparatory day school for K-12 education with two campuses in New Jersey. The Short Hills campus is for students in kindergarten through the 6th grade, and the Martinsville campus is for grades 7 to 12.
Dr. John F. Pingry founded the school in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1861 as a boys school. He was the headmaster until 1892. The school moved to nearby Hillside, New Jersey in 1953. In 1975 Pingry merged with the former Short Hills Country Day School and became co-educational, keeping the Short Hills campus for the lower grades. In 1983, the middle and upper grades were moved to a new building in Martinsville, New Jersey, and the old building in Hillside became part of the Kean University campus. Since Dr. Pingry's day, there have been 15 headmasters including Nathaniel "Nat" Conard, whose appointment became effective July 1, 2005. The previous headmaster, John L. Neiswender, had begun his term on July 1, 2000.
Pingry requires all students to agree to an honor code. The Honor Code requires students to behave at all times with decency and integrity and to further the best interests of the school.
Pingry's motto is "Maxima reverentia pueris debetur," a Latin phrase literally meaning "the greatest respect is owed to the boys." Since becoming co-educational, the school has altered the motto's translation to "the greatest respect is due to the students."
Requirements for graduation are four years of English, three years of math, three consecutive years of the same language, one year of art, music, or drama, three years of history, three years of science, and one trimester of health in 9th and 10th grades. Students also must take physical education, dance, play on a school team, or play at least ten hours a week of an out-of-school sport.
Pingry is currently in the progress of adding a new middle school into the Martinsville Campus. It is slated for beginning of operation in the middle of 2006. This building will house grades 6, 7, and 8. The most notable feature is its specially designed large common area, which is planned to be used for gatherings of the middle school. This wing, however, still shares the cafeteria with the main building.
Notable alumni
- Chris Bender, producer of the American Pie series of movies.
- Miller Bugliari, winningest coach of high school boys' soccer in the U.S.
- Michael Chertoff, Secretary of United States Department of Homeland Security (2005– )
- Mark Donohue, race car driver, winner of the 1972 Indianapolis 500.
- Steven Elmendorf, deputy campaign manager for Presidential candidate John Kerry, and longtime campaign aide to Richard Gephardt.
- Adam Gardner, guitarist for the rock band Guster.
- Howard Georgi, emeritus professor of physics at Harvard University.
- William Halsey, Fleet Admiral in the United States Navy
- Andrew Horowitz, songwriter and keyboardist in the band Tally Hall.
- Amos Hostetter, Jr., former CEO of MediaOne, billionaire on Forbes Magazine list
- Jamie Johnson, documentary film maker, with film Born Rich appearing on HBO.
- Steven Johnson, senior analyst at Microsoft and leading developer of Internet Explorer 5.
- Adam Kalkin, innovative architect.
- Thomas Kean, Jr., New Jersey State Senator and 2006 US Senate hopeful.
- James C. Kellogg III, former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Daniel Kellner, USA top foil fencer, 2004 Greece Olympian.
- Earl Levine, notable Silicon Valley engineer and inventor.
- Douglas Macrae, writer of Ms. Pac-man and the interactive TV listings menu that originated on satellite TV.
- N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
- Dean Mathey, investor who made millions for Princeton University.
- Thomas N. McCarter, CEO of Public Service Corporation, developer of Penn Station in Newark, and original benefactor of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey
- Andrew McCarthy, actor
- Stephan Newhouse, former president of Morgan Stanley
- Jon Sarkin, artist and stroke survivor, whose life story is to be portrayed in a movie by Tom Cruise
- Dani Shapiro, novelist
- C. Lee Shelley, USA top épée fencer, 2-time Olympian in 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul.
- Fred Small, musician, songwriter
- Todd Solondz, filmmaker
- Richard Tregaskis, journalist, author of Guadalcanal Diary
- Jen Trynin, musician
- Bruce Tunkel, singer, songwriter, and former lead of the group The Red House.
- Carl Van Duyne, Ph.D., junior member of the Council of Economic Advisors, commissioned naval officer, economics professor at US Naval Academy, 1968 Olympian in sailing.
- Edward A. Weeks, Jr., former editor of The Atlantic Monthly magazine.
- Lyric Wallwork Winik, Parade Magazine columnist