Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, coeducation, college-preparatory academy located in
Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 according to the 2010 census. The Sewickley Bridge crosses the Ohio R ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
twelfth grade
Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year Thirteen, Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between ...
. It 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, boar ...
.
History
Founded in 1838 as a boys' school by William Nevin and John Champ, Sewickley Academy is the oldest independent school in western
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
. It was first located in a house owned by Squire John Way, a brick building that still stands on Beaver Road in Sewickley. Boarding students came from several southern states, including
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
Pittsburgh
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 ...
area.
During its early history, the school went through several iterations, moving four times around the Sewickley area and even briefly closing three times (once during the Civil War, when southern students returned home and a number of the remaining older boys and teachers joined the war effort). In 1865 the school reopened as a day school. Two local girls' primary schools closed in the early 1900s. After integrating these girls into its academic program, the Academy became a co-educational day school when it settled onto its present campus in 1925.
Under the leadership of Headmaster Cliff Nichols (1951 – 1981), the Academy expanded slowly from a neighborhood school into a more regional institution. For much of its history, the Academy had only educated students through Grade 9. At that point, they then left to attend and complete their secondary education at other boarding and day schools in the Pittsburgh area. However, in 1963 Mr. Nichols hired James E. Cavalier. He delegated him to program and build a Senior School (one class year at a time). The first class graduated from this new Senior School in 1966.
Only four years later, on 10 January 1970, a fire destroyed the main building of the Middle School. Soon after this sad event, Mr. Nichols and the Board of Trustees initiated a capital campaign to fund the significant repair and expansion of the main building and add several new buildings. Later, the Academy commissioned a comprehensive Campus Master Plan (1998 - 2000) that further transformed its education facilities, adding an entirely new classroom building for the Middle School, a central library for the Middle and Senior Schools, reconfiguring and reintegrating many other buildings on campus.
In 2013, the school celebrated the 175th anniversary of its 1838 founding and the 50th anniversary of the inception of its Senior School.
In 2021, in response to parent complaints about
DEI
''Deus'' (, ) is the Latin word for " god" or "deity".
Latin ''deus'' and ''dīvus'' ("divine") are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European *'' deiwos'', "celestial" or "shining", from the same root as '' *Dyēus'', the reconstructed chief ...
initiatives, the school fired all of its black administrators and faculty, including its head of school, Kolia O'Connor. The school subsequently settled a federal racial discrimination lawsuit.
Admissions
Demographics
Extracurricular activities
Cum Laude Society
Sewickley Academy has been a member of the Cum Laude Society since 1966. Faculty members of the Sewickley Academy Cum Laude Society select students from the senior class as candidates for induction into the Sewickley Academy chapter of the Cum Laude Society. These selections are made based on the student's academic achievement record through the end of their junior year. When evaluating candidates for induction, the Cum Laude Society instructs its member chapters to ''not'' consider service, athletics, leadership, or other non-academic factors, because it argues that such qualities are recognized in many other contexts. Therefore, the Cum Laude Society recommendation focuses first and foremost on a student's record of ''academic achievement''.
Athletics
The Sewickley Academy Athletics Program fosters the development of personal and team excellence in student-athletes. Outstanding coaches work with individuals and teams to improve performance and promote character, leadership, and sportsmanship. More than 85 percent of the middle and senior schools' student body participates on at least one athletic team each year, and many students play multiple sports.
The Academy has a no-cut policy, allowing any student to play on any team of his or her choosing. The campus boasts four athletic fields, including a turf field for softball, five tennis courts, two gymnasiums, and a fully-equipped fitness center that supports a total of 22 varsity teams. In the Fall of 2016, the Academy celebrated the opening of the Events Center, which provided brand new locker rooms for Middle and Senior School students, a state-of-the-art training room, a spacious fitness center with core training facilities to expand physical education offerings, an NCAA regulation-sized basketball court that can be divided to simultaneously accommodate two high-school-sized basketball courts, two team meeting rooms with video review capabilities, and an indoor individualized instruction area for baseball, softball, lacrosse, and golf.
Fall
* Boys
cross country
Cross country or cross-country may refer to:
Places
* Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland
* Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY
* Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...
* Girls
cross country
Cross country or cross-country may refer to:
Places
* Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland
* Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY
* Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...
*
Field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
*
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
Winter
* Boys
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
* Girls
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
* Boys
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...
* Girls
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...
* Boys
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
* Boys
diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), ...
* Girls
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
* Girls
diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), ...
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
* 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 extensi ...
* Girls
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 extensi ...
*
Softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
* Boys
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
* Track
Since 1986, the Academy has been a member of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) and competes in District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA). The Academy's ice hockey team is a member of the PIHL and the Midwest Prep Hockey League. The Academy has been crowned the MSA Sports Cup Champion for nine of the past 11 years.
Campus
Sewickley Academy is located approximately 12 miles northwest of Pittsburgh on a single 16-acre campus that includes 60 classrooms, nine science labs, five computer labs, two robotics labs, two libraries (with a total of 33,600 volumes), two student publishing centers, a digital design lab, and a media center.
The campus also has five tennis courts, four athletic fields (including a turf field), two gymnasiums, and a fully-equipped fitness center that supports 22 varsity sports teams.
Student art programs are supported by visual and performing art studios, a ceramics studio, music practice rooms, a black-box theater with seating for approximately 130, Rea Auditorium with 570 seats, and the Campbell Art Gallery. The Academy utilizes two greenhouses and a school garden to create an outdoor classroom and experiential learning center.
Early Childhood, Lower, Middle, and Senior Schools: 315 Academy Avenue, Sewickley, PA 15143
Frick Field: 200 Hazel Lane, Sewickley, PA 15143
Nichols Field: 624 Beaver Road, Sewickley, PA 15143
Astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.
It ...
Screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
.
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Brian Hutchison
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Cleveland Cavaliers
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Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Chart ...