Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, coeducation, college-preparatory academy located in

Sewickley, Pennsylvania Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 3,907 at the 2020 census. The Sewick ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Academy educates 594 students, from

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 ...

twelfth grade Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...

. 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, board ...

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, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It was first located in a house owned by Squire John Way, a brick building still on Beaver Road in Sewickley. Boarding students came from several southern states, including

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 ...

and a few from as far south as

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, arriving by steamboat and railway to study with local day students from the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

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 several 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 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, 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 and 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 initiatives, the school fired many black administrators and faculty, along with its head of school, Kolia O'Connor. The school subsequently settled a federal racial discrimination lawsuit.

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. Over 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 their choosing. The campus has four athletic fields, including a turf field for softball, five tennis courts, two gymnasiums, and a fitness center that supports 22 varsity teams. Fall * Boys cross country * Girls cross country *

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 ...

* Boys

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

* Girls

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 ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Winter * Boys

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

* Girls

* Boys

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) 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. Tw ...

* Girls

* Boys

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

* 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

* Track Spring *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

* Boys

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 ...

* Girls

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

* Boys

* 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

Notable alumni

* Caitlin Clarke (1970) - Stage & screen actress *

Rusty Cundieff George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff (born December 13, 1960) is an American film and television director, actor, and writer known for his work on '' Fear of a Black Hat'' (1993), '' Tales from the Hood'' (1995), and '' Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006). ...

(1978) - Film and television director, actor, and writer * Spandan Daftary (1981) - Sports television producer * Mike Fincke (1985) -

Astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

* Valerie Gaydos (1984) -

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 ...

* David Hollander (1986) -

Screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

* Trevor Long (1988) - actor * Brian Hutchison (1989) - Tony award-winning actor *

Rafe Judkins Rafe Lee Judkins (born January 8, 1983) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He was the showrunner for the Amazon Prime Video television series ''The Wheel of Time'', has several writing credits for TV, and appeared as a contes ...

(2001) - '' Survivor: Guatemala'' contestant * John Latta - 1st Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania * John Michael - Broadcaster for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

* Gregory Nicotero (1981) * James G. Webster (1969) - Professor at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Gallery

File:PantherSA.jpg File:Sports-cup.jpg File:Campus Fire1970.jpg File:Class1986 Leaves0001.jpg File:History Advertisement1860.jpg

References

External links

* {{authority control Private elementary schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1838 Private middle schools in Pennsylvania Private high schools in Pennsylvania Schools in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Education in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area 1838 establishments in Pennsylvania Preparatory schools in Pennsylvania