Foxcroft School
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Foxcroft School, founded in 1914 by Charlotte Haxall Noland, is a college-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12 & PG, located near Middleburg,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
,
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. In its century of existence, Foxcroft has educated the daughters of corporate titans and congressmen, including women from the Rockefeller, Carnegie, Roosevelt, Mellon, du Pont, Auchincloss and Astor families. It is accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools and 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, board ...
, and is a founding member of the International Coalition of Girls' Schools. Foxcroft’s mission is "to help every girl explore her unique voice and to develop the skills, confidence, and courage to share it with the world".


Campus


Academic facilities

Schoolhouse is the main academic building on campus which houses a majority of the classes. The two wings on either side of the building house the visual arts department and the theatre. The science wing has labs for biology, chemistry, physics, and animal science classes, and an engineering workshop. Additionally, there is a photographic studio, complete with a dark room. A recent addition is the state-of-the-art Innovation Lab, which is home to laser cutters and 3-D printers.


Library

The Audrey Bruce Currier Library, named after a Foxcroft School alumna, sits in the center of the campus and is home to additional classrooms, meeting spaces, and the Learning Center. The library is also the gathering space for the bi-weekly assemblies known as "Morning Meeting."


Athletics facilities

A new Activities Center was built in 2013, housing a multi-purpose double-box gym (Leipheimer Gym). While commonly used for basketball and volleyball, it is frequently converted to indoor practice spaces for
field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
,
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
, and
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact 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 w ...
. Encircling the top of the double-box is a two-lane track, around which various exercise machines sit. The competition gymnasium, or the Engelhard, is housed in the same Activities Center. In addition to the gyms, the student lounge (Roomies), complete with a full kitchen, is in the same building. A weight-room with
treadmill A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...
s and ellipticals, plus an athletic nurse and physical therapy office complete the Activities Center. The outdoor athletic facilities include a recreational-sized pool, eight tennis courts, two softball diamonds (one turf, one dirt), two full-sized turf fields, and an outdoor two-lane track.


The Stables

Foxcroft School has stables on campus. The Jean du Pont McConnell Stables house around sixty horses, both school-owned and privately owned. An indoor ring (dimensions: 100x200) is connected to the stables as well. Outdoors, the grassy expanse of Big Track is well-suited for cross-country riding and practice. Students can also use miles of trails to ride or run on. The horses are housed in the stables during the day and turned out onto the large field spaces situated right on campus.


Dormitories

The campus has five student dorms, including one freshman dorm. The remaining dorms have a mix of sophomores, juniors, and senior dorm leaders (prefects). Every year, all the dorms compete in Battle of the Dorms, where groups put on skits and the like.


Ruth T. Bedford Scholarships

In the fall of 2014,
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
heiress Ruth T. Bedford, a member of the class of 1932, unexpectedly donated $40 million to the school in her will. A year later, the school announced the establishment of the Ruth T. Bedford ’32 Merit Scholarship for the Arts, which is open only to external applicants wishing to join the school. Up to eight students receive $25,000 a year each, and beneficiaries need to share Ruth T. Bedford’s sense of adventure and enterprise as well as her passion for the arts.


Fox/Hound Tradition

During World War I, students at Foxcroft were not allowed to return home. To cope, the founder of the school, Miss Charlotte, started a now long-standing tradition called "Fox/Hound," as a way for the girls to spend their time. The entirety of the school, including the teachers, are split up into two teams, the Foxes and the Hounds. The teams rival each other in three sports competitions; Field Hockey (fall), Basketball (winter), and Horseback Riding (spring). Each year, the Battle for the Cup is renewed, and the teams compete for the cup which is earned from a victory in the Big Team Basketball game. Team tryouts and practices begin in the two weeks leading up to the competitions. Team captains are chosen and they spend time making gifts for their team members. The week leading up to each competition is filled with pep-rallies, known as "Sing Sings" as a way to encourage each team for a victory. On the Thursday before the competitions, the officers and mascots from each team decorate Schoolhouse, the academic building. One side of Schoolhouse is designated for the Foxes, and the other for the Hounds. The spirit central to the Fox/Hound tradition is "friends 'till the end."


Notable alumnae

* Anne Armstrong, diplomat and politician * Jane Forbes Clark, president and trustee of the United States Equestrian Team Foundation; chairman of the
National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...
* Annette de la Renta, philanthropist and socialite * Frances FitzGerald, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer * Nina Fout, Olympic equestrian * Olivia Stokes Hatch, socialite and American Red Cross volunteer"Lenox Church Scene of Bridal For Miss Stokes: Bryn Mawr Alumna Wed to John Hatch Jr."
''New York Times'' (October 15, 1939): 53.
* Dorothy Douglas Robinson Kidder, socialite, philanthropist, political hostess *
Gertrude Sanford Legendre Gertrude Sanford Legendre (March 29, 1902 – March 8, 2000) was an American socialite who served with the Office of Strategic Services, the American spy agency, during World War II. She was also an explorer, big-game hunter, environmentalist, ...
, socialite & World War II spy * Ruth du Pont Lord, psychotherapist, writer, and arts patron * Pamela Mars-Wright, former chairwoman of the board,
Mars, Incorporated Mars, Incorporated (doing business as Mars Inc.) is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services founded on June 23, 1911, headquartered in McLean, Virgini ...
* Cordelia Scaife May, philanthropist * Mary McFadden, art collector, editor, fashion designer, and writer. *
Rachel Lambert Mellon Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon (August 9, 1910 – March 17, 2014) was an American horticulture, horticulturalist, gardener, philanthropist, and art collector. She designed and planted a number of significant gardens, including the White Hous ...
("Bunny"), heiress, horticulturalist, creator of the White House Rose Garden * Elizabeth Meyer, equestrian * Sister Parish, interior decorator and socialite * Ursula Plassnik, Austrian diplomat and politician (exchange student 1971-1972) * Patsy Pulitzer (1928–2011), model, socialite and philanthropist * Keshia Knight Pulliam, actress, ''
The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom created by (along with Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson) and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour e ...
'' * Mary Todhunter Clark Rockefeller, first wife of
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...
* Kay Sage, Surrealist artist and poet *
Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush ...
, former head of the EPA, former Governor of New Jersey * Mollie Wilmot, philanthropist and socialite * Flora Payne Whitney, artist, art collector, socialite, member of the
Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...
and
Vanderbilt family The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanth ...
* Stephanie Zimbalist, actress, '' Remington Steele'' * Millicent Fenwick, former congresswoman


References


External links


Foxcroft's web site

The Association of Boarding Schools profile

Boarding School Review
{{authority control Boarding schools in Virginia Private high schools in Virginia Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia Educational institutions established in 1914 Girls' schools in Virginia 1914 establishments in Virginia