- Pinkerton Academy is a secondary school in Derry, New Hampshire. It is the largest independent academy in the United States, serving roughly 3,600 students as the high school (grades 9 - 12) for the communities of Derry, Hampstead and Chester and Auburn. The academy is a private non-profit corporation administered by a Headmaster, who in turn acts under the direction of an elected twelve member Board of Trustees.
- The academy is set on a large New England campus. Since the original four-room Old Academy Building opened in 1815, nine major buildings have been constructed including the new Arts and Humanities Center dedicated in September, 2002. In addition to these major buildings, eight smaller buildings that serve specific needs are scattered around the campus.
- History
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In 1793, a classical high school was established in eastern Londonderry and was maintained for twenty years by direct tax, tuition, and voluntary contributions. In 1814, Reverend Edward Parker asked Major John Pinkerton and Elder James Pinkerton, who had made significant contributions to the classical high school, to make the school permanent. Later that year, they obtained an act incorporating the school under the name Pinkerton Academy from the state legislature. The academy opened on December 4, 1815 as an all-male institution with an endowment of $16,000 by John Pinkerton "for the purpose of promoting piety and virtue and the education of youth in science, languages, and the liberal arts."For the following years, the Scottish immigrants of Londonderry helped maintained the academy and also contributed funds for it. In 1853 the academy became coeducational with the erection of a ladies' boarding hall.
- In 1881, upon the death of John Morrison Pinkerton, son of Elder James, the academy received a second bequest. The Trustees used these funds to increase the number of instructors and to provide for an enlarged and advanced program of studies. Changes in the curriculum and the completion of the Pinkerton Building in 1887 allowed Pinkerton students to choose from a variety of college and non-college bound programs of studies. The funds were also used to buy a library and to erect a new school building. This was a large erection, but was completed quickly and the scenic landscape accented the beautiful new buildings.
- Pinkerton continued to function as an independent day and boarding school until 1948. In 1949, the academy entered into an agreement with the town of Derry, New Hampshire, that marked a significant turning point in the school's history. As a result of the service agreement, Pinkerton educated all high school aged students who lived in Derry. The town of Derry paid for the school's services on a per pupil tuition basis. Although Pinkerton maintained its private school status, the academy began to function as a comprehensive independent academy.
- In 1962, the town of Derry negotiated a long-term contractual agreement with Pinkerton Academy. The contract specified the terms and conditions under which Pinkerton's services were purchased. Over the next thirty years, additional communities (Chester, Hampstead, Auburn, Londonderry and Windham) signed service contracts with the academy. In response to the increased number of public school students attending Pinkerton, new facilities were built. Due to the changing needs and interests of this larger student population, Pinkerton once again developed new courses and fields of study while maintaining its existing college preparatory programs. In 1978, the citizens of Londonderry voted to end their tuition agreements with the academy and established Londonderry High School.
[ ]. Students from Windham also no longer attend Pinkerton Academy. They currently attend Salem High School, and will soon attend Windham High School, set to open in 2009.[ ][ ] - Pinkerton is the currently largest independent academy in the United States serving 3,400 students as the high school (grades 9 - 12) for the communities of Derry, Hampstead and Chester.
[ Pinkerton Academy official website] - Campus
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Pinkerton academy's campus spans over . The center of the academy's campus is the main campus that holds buildings where classes are taught, and the surrounding area is used for specific non-academic purposes. The main campus is , leaving for extracurricular activities. There are nine academic buildings which are located in the main campus: the Pinkerton Building, the Shepard Building, the Saltmarsh Library, the Frost English Wing, the First and Second Portables, the Low Vocational Building, the Pinkerton Field House, the Ek Science Building, the Hackler Gymnasium, and The Arts & Humanities Building which holds the Stockbridge Theatre. Plays and local events are shown at the Stockbridge Theatre on occasion.
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Some buildings are dedicated to important people of the academy, such as Robert Frost, Alan Shepard, and Ivah A. Hackler. The Pinkerton building was built in 1887 to replace the original school building. It is named after the Pinkerton family, the original founders of the school, and consists of two stories and a basement. - Academics
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Classes are divided into eight periods, including a half lunch and half study period. Classes begin at 7:15 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m.
- Pinkerton offers 17 Advanced Placement courses and many vocational electives such as accounting, agriculture, automotive technology, botany, consumer economics, computer programming, drafting, engineering, field biology, journalism, landscaping, and more.
- In 2005, 158 students took the Advanced Placement exams. The academy also offers college bound and non-college bound courses in each core academic discipline.
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- Of the class of 2006, 53% were admitted to four-year colleges, 18% went to two-year colleges and 29% were not college bound. The class had an average SAT score of 1525 (out of 2400).
- Extra-curricular activities
- Athletics
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Pinkerton offers 28 variety of sports throughout the school year including football, volleyball, field hockey, cheerleading, golf, cross-country and soccer in the fall; basketball, gymnastics, ice hockey, track, swimming, and wrestling in the winter; baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, and track in the spring.
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The teams are named the Astros in honor of astronaut and Pinkerton alumni Alan Shepard, the first American in space. The school's mascot is the Astroman. The boys lacrosse team has won the state championship numerous times, and the football team has won seven titles, including four in a row in the 90's and the last two championships.[ The gymnastics team went undefeated and won the state championship 3 consecutive seasons from 2004-2006. ]
- Football was established in the late 19th century but was later removed due to lack of sufficient funding from tuitions. It was revived in 1904. In 1907 the team won the Massachusetts State Interscholastic Title. Other undefeated teams were the 1905, 1915, 1936, 1948, 1984, 1985, 1991, 1993, and 2006 teams. All the rest of the teams were defeated at least once, sometimes multiple times. In 2007, the Pinkerton football team won their third straight state title.
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- The girls basketball team was organized in 1913, and won their first championship game in 1934. They were also undefeated in 1957 along with the boys' team, and won their second state championship in 2006.
- The cheerleading team has won 9 state championships. They have won the fall championship in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2005 and the winter championship in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. In the New England competition they placed first in 2008 and 2009.
- Academics
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Pinkerton has chapters of FFA, National Honor Society, FBLA-PBL, SkillsUSA, FCCLA and other national organizations. Students participate in academic competitions such as the Math Team, Granite State Challenge, and FIRST Robotics.
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- Special interests
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The academy allow students to join clubs according to their special interests. These clubs include: AIDS awareness club, Asian club, visual basic club, Critic (yearbook), Pinkerton Television, Peace Club, International Club, dance club, philosophy club, the student-run publication The Kaleidoscope, and more. The school also has a Chinese exchange program, where students raise money to stay at Tianjin with a host family and attend classes in English there. Students from Tanggu No. 1 High School, in exchange, visit Pinkerton.
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- Notable alumni
- Samuel Colcord Bartlett, former president of Dartmouth College
- Samantha Brown, host of the Travel Channel's Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, and Passport to Latin America
- Zachariah Chandler, mayor of Detroit (1851-52), U.S. Senator from Michigan (1857–75, 1879) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1875-1877)
- Jim Coburn, Republican candidate in New Hampshire gubernatorial election, 2006
- Tricia Dunn-Luoma, American Olympic ice hockey player
- Jasmine Dustin, film and television actress and model
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- Charles Miller Floyd, Governor of New Hampshire, 1907–1909
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- George Cochrane Hazelton, United States Representative from Wisconsin, 1877-1883
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- Gerry Whiting Hazelton, United States Representative from Wisconsin, 1871-1875
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- Brendan James, singer, songwriter, and pianist
- Irene Keith, first woman jet aircraft air traffic controller in the United States
- Edward J. Normand, prominent lawyer known for representing Lloyd's of London in the dispute over the extent that its insurance covered the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center
- Frank Nesmith Parsons, Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, 1902-1924
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- George Washington Patterson, United States Representative and Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1849-1851
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- Keri Lynn Pratt, film and television actress
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- William Adams Richardson, United States Secretary of the Treasury under the Grant Administration, 1873-1874
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- Alan Shepard, first American astronaut in space
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- Pamela Smart, convicted in 1991 of conspiracy to commit murder
- Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford, American novelist and poet
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- Aaron Fletcher Stevens, Brevet Brigadier General during the American Civil War, as well as a two-term U.S. congressman
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- Notable faculty
- Robert Frost - famous American poet (1906-1911) and recipient of four Pulitzer Prizes.
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- External links
- Pinkerton Academy website
- The Kaleidoscope (PDF)
- The Alumnus (PDF)
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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