Miss Porter's School

Miss Porter's School
Puellae venerunt. Abíerunt mulieres.
Location
Farmington, Connecticut United States
Information
Type	Independent, boarding
Established	1843
Head of School	Katherine G. Windsor
Faculty	44
Grades	9–12
Gender	Girls
Enrollment	320 total 207 boarding 113 day (2014)
Average class size	12
Student to teacher ratio	7:1
Campus	55-acre (220,000 m^2) township campus
Color(s)	Green and White
Athletics	18 Interscholastic teams
Mascot	none
Average SAT scores	652 Critical Reading 647 Math 686 Writing
Endowment	$130 million
Annual tuition	$55,475 boarding $45,055 day[1]
Website	www.porters.org

Miss Porter's School (also known as Porter's, Farmington, or MPS) is a private college preparatory school for girls located in Farmington, Connecticut. It is a selective school that excels in academics and athletics. Its acceptance rate is 20% with an average Secondary School Admission Test score in the 92nd percentile. It was named the number one girls' boarding school by U.S. News.

Porter's alumnae call themselves "Ancients".^[2]

History

Origins

Sarah Porter, the founder of Miss Porter's School

Miss Porter's School was established in 1843 by education reformer Sarah Porter, who recognized the importance of women's education. She was insistent that the school's curriculum include chemistry, physiology, botany, geology, and astronomy in addition to the more traditional Latin, French, German, spelling, reading, arithmetic, trigonometry, history, and geography. Also encouraged were such athletic opportunities as tennis, horseback riding, and in 1867 the school formed its own baseball team, the Tunxises.^[3] In 1884, Sarah Porter hired her former student, Mary Elizabeth Dunning Dow, with whom she began to share more of her duties as Head of School. From then until her death in 1900, Miss Porter gradually relinquished her control of the school to Mrs. Dow.

Upon Sarah Porter's death in 1900, her will named her nephew Dr. Robert Porter Keep as executor of her estate, of which the school was the most valuable part. Mrs. Dow's compensation (for her position as sole Head of School) was also specified in the will. As executor, Dr. Keep began extensive repairs and renovations to the school. While Mrs. Dow continued to receive a salary, as Miss Porter's will had specified, she was convinced that Dr. Keep, in diverting the school's income to pay for construction, was enriching his inheritance with funds that were rightfully hers. The conflict escalated and culminated in Mrs. Dow's resignation in 1903. She moved to Briarcliff, New York, taking with her as many as 140 students and 16 faculty members, and began Mrs. Dow's School for Girls, which would come to be known as Briarcliff Junior College only to be absorbed by Pace University in 1977.^[4][5][6]

A banner hanging in a themed guest room in the Timothy Cowles House, at Miss Porter's School, gives insight into how Porter's girls lived during the mid 1900s

Dr. Keep announced in July 1903 that the school would reopen in October of that year with his wife, Elizabeth Vashti Hale Keep, as Head of School, as it did with eleven teachers and between five and sixteen students in attendance. After Dr. Keep succumbed to pneumonia and died on July 3, 1904, Mrs. Keep continued his legacy of renovation and construction. Of her many legacies was her establishment of a kindergarten for children of her employees.^[7] The kindergarten, on Garden Street, is now home to the Village Cooperative Nursery School, and is no longer connected with Miss Porter's School. When Mrs. Keep died of influenza on March 28, 1917, leadership of the school passed to her stepson, Robert Porter Keep, Jr., who moved to Farmington from Andover, Massachusetts where he had been teaching German at Phillips Academy. From 1917 until the school's Centennial, in 1943, he and his wife, RoseAnne Day Keep, remained Heads of School at Miss Porter's.^[4][8]

Mr. Keep appointed members to the first Board of Trustees including:

• Wilmarth S. Lewis, Yale's Horace Walpole scholar
• Annie Burr Auchincloss Lewis 1920 (Wilmarth Lewis's wife)
• Rev. Palfrey Perkins, a senior minister at King's Chapel
• Lewis Perry, headmaster of Phillips Exeter Academy
• George H. Richards, a lawyer and Mr. Keep's classmate at Yale

Not until the school's Centennial in 1943 was the school incorporated as a non-profit institution. Only then did the school dismiss its reputation as a finishing school and shepherd in a new reputation as a college preparatory school.^[4] This year also ended the tradition of choosing a successive Head of School from the Porter family tree. Chosen to take the school into its second century were Ward L. Johnson and his wife Katharine.^[4]

On June 12, 1994, Oprah Winfrey gave the commencement address, telling the graduating class, which included her niece Chrishaunda Lee, that "there is no success without joy."^[9]

Oprah Winfrey modeled her Leadership Academy for Girls after Porter's.^[10]

Academics

Classes at Porter's are held Monday through Friday, although Wednesday is a half day. Porter's has a student-to-teacher ratio of about 8:1. Like many American boarding schools, Porter's utilizes a style of teaching similar to the Harkness Method, wherein students and teachers sit around an oval table, in all its discussion-based humanities courses.

Students are required to take courses in the arts, computer science, English, ethical leadership, history, modern or classical languages, mathematics, and science.^[11] Typically, students take a total of five to six units of credit per semester.^[11]

On May 19, 2011, the Online School for Girls announced that Miss Porter's School and School of the Holy Child in Rye, New York had become consortium members.^[12] Three Porter's faculty members are currently listed as teachers on the OSG website.^[13]

iPad Program

In 2011, Porter's began requiring that each entering 9th grade student own an Apple iPad 2 (or later). The fall semester of that year saw the beginning of full integration of the iPad into the school's curriculum.

Notable faculty

• Director of Music Karl Klauser, music teacher and composer, taught at the school from 1855 to 1895.^[4][14][15]
• Head of the Art Department Robert B. Brandegee, an American Impressionist, taught at the school from 1880 to 1903. Returning to the United States, Brandegee rented a New York studio that he kept for fifteen years. However, he soon moved to Farmington and in 1881 became head of the art department at Miss Porter's School for Girls. Primarily an art teacher, Brandegee exhibited rarely during his career. He was the founder and instructor at the Connecticut League of Art Students in Hartford and was a central figure in the local artistic community.^[15][16]
• Miss Porter's School's Associate Director of Admission Tricia Davol was selected as a Cannady Visiting Teacher to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Ms. Davol, who began her tenure at Porter’s as a Spanish teacher, was one of two educators selected for this program in 2012.^[17]

Off-campus study

A student in her third year at Porter's may choose to participate in the following programs:

• Maine Coast Semester
• Rocky Mountain Semester
• School Year Abroad offers students the chance to enhance their foreign language by studying in its native country. Countries include, but are not limited to, China, France, Italy, and Spain.

Finances

Tuition and financial aid

Miss Porter's offers need-based financial aid as well as a variety of merit scholarships. The school reports that, for the 2011–12 school year, roughly 34 percent of the student body receives some form of financial aid, with a total of over $3.3 million in aid awarded.^[18]

Oprah Scholars

The school regularly awards five students with a full scholarship, endowed by the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, which includes tuition, room and board, travel, a laptop, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Biographer Kitty Kelley wrote regarding Oprah's connection to the school:

Oprah had been so impressed by the change in her niece after Chrishaunda attended Miss Porter's School that she established the Oprah Winfrey Prep School Scholars, and through the years contributed more than $2 million to scholarships.^[19]

On November 12, 2011, Oprah Scholar Ayanna Hall '11 presented Oprah Winfrey with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Governors Awards ceremony in Hollywood, California.^[20][21]

Endowment

As of late 2007, the school's endowment was estimated at $100 million. It reportedly dropped 12% to settle at $88 million during the economic downturn, but has recently gained over $12 million in unrestricted assets during "the largest fundraising campaign in the school's history," which was concluded as of June 30, 2011.^[22] The school currently reports its endowment as $110 million.^[23]

Campus facilities

Academic facilities

• The Main building, the front door of which is depicted on the school seal, was built in 1830 as the Union Hotel on Main Street. Originally intended to serve patrons of the nearby Farmington Canal, it was rented by Sarah Porter in 1848 until her purchase on April 19, 1866.^[24][25] To this day, the building continues to house the school's dining facility, several administrative offices, and a small dormitory for first year boarding students.
• The M. Burch Tracy Ford Library, as the newest academic facility on campus is named for the school's eleventh Head of School and houses over 22,000 volumes, electronic books, magazines, journals, newspapers in addition to a collection of 1,308 academic and entertainment DVDs and videos. The building also houses a computer lab and eight study rooms.^[26]
• The Hamilton building, formerly a dorm, is home to the English and History departments. Named for the Hamilton sisters, namely Alice and Edith.

The Olin Arts and Science Center

• The Olin Arts and Science Center is home to the schools Science, Mathematics, and Visual Arts Departments. Designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes and built in 1976, the Olin Arts and Science Center was endowed by the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation in 1977 to honor three members of the Olin family who have graduated from the school. In 1997, renovations and the construction of an extensive addition to this building, designed by architect Tai Soo Kim, were completed. Renovations to the existing structure provided the community with a painting and ceramics studio, each with 25-foot (7.6 m) ceilings and 500 feet (150 m) of windows; a computer art lab with the most current programs and equipment; a multi-media studio for jewelry and textiles; and a photography studio and dark room. The addition, connected to the existing structure by a glass corridor, includes science labs, a greenhouse, a number of computer labs. The completion of this project earned the architect an AIA Connecticut Design Citation.^[27]
• The Leila Dilworth Jones '44 Memorial building was formerly the school's library but later converted into the school's language department. It is equipped with "a state-of-the-art language laboratory and classrooms for foreign language instruction," which include, but are not limited to, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Latin.^[8][28]
• The Barbara Lang Hacker Theater is home to the Theater department and the Players Mandolin Performance Troupe (PMPT).

The Kate Lewis Gym

• The Kate Lewis Gym, once the gymnasium and later the theater, now houses the Music department and includes a performance hall, faculty and administrative offices, and rehearsal rooms.^[25] This building also serves as the rehearsal space for the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra.^[29]

Athletic facilities

• The Student Recreation Center, designed by Tai Soo Kim^[30] and built in 1991, includes the Wean Student Center (a gift of the Raymond John Wean Foundation), the skylit Crisp Gymnasium with an elevated running track, a weight and exercise room, an athletic training room, and four outdated squash courts which have since been converted into an Erg room, a free weight room, and a climbing wall.
• The Mellon Gymnasium, designed by Maxwell Moore and built in 1962 as part of the theater-gymnasium complex, was a gift of the Richard King Mellon Foundation. It is home to Varsity Badminton in the fall, JV and Thirds Basketball in the winter, and is the designated indoor practice space for Varsity and JV Softball in the spring.
• The Gaines Dance Barn, built c. 1930 and remodeled in 1993, is the 3,500-square-foot (330 m²) facility that serves as both rehearsal and performance space for Dance Workshop as well as for all dance classes. In March 1998, the facility was acoustically treated following complications stemming from the 1993 remodel. This treatment included the installation of acoustic wall panelling and a suspended JBL-based audio system. This 3,500-square-foot (330 m²) dance studio, with its generous natural light, sound system, and sprung floor, ranks among the best for secondary schools.^[31][32]
• The Pool & Squash Building was designed and built by Stanmar Inc. in 2007.^[33] As the newest athletic facility on campus, it contains an eight-lane, 25-yard (23 m) pool and eight international squash courts. Its nickname, the "Cool House," was coined by Theater Director Mr. Eric Ort, as a combination of terms "Court" and "Pool House."
• The Farmington Boat House, a cold storage boathouse on the nearby Farmington River, is home to the Varsity and JV Crew teams of both Miss Porter's and Farmington High School, shared in a unique public-private relationship.^[34] The program is equipped with six Vespoli fours, a pair/double and three recreational singles.^[35]
• Lower Kiki's Field is home to Varsity Soccer in the fall and Varsity Lacrosse in the spring. Upper Kiki's Field is home to JV and Thirds Soccer in the fall and JV and Thirds Lacrosse in the spring. Named in memory of Helene Kinnucan Brown '53 by her family, classmates, and friends.
• The Riding Ring Field at Mountain Road is home to Varsity Field Hockey in the fall and Ultimate in the spring.
• The Cowbarn Field is home to the Varsity and JV Softball teams in the spring and the JV Field Hockey in the fall.
• Seven deco-turf tennis courts

Other facilities

Counting House

The "Studio"

• The Colgate Health Center, historically known as the "Edward Whitman House," was built c. 1850 for Erastus and Grace (Cowles) Gay, purchased by Elizabeth V. Keep in 1916, and left to the school upon her death. Once a dorm, now this building features the school health center and faculty housing.^[36]
• Weekend House, built by and for Julius Gay in 1878, was left to the school by his daughter, Florence Gay, upon her death in 1952. The building now houses the school's Alumnae/Development Office.
• Counting House, once used to house the school's Music Department, is now the Business Office.
• The Studio, built in 1885, in honor of Miss Porter by her alumnae, as the school's art studio. Prior to 1885, Miss Porter rented space at 24 Mountain Road for use as the school's studio.^[37] Later used to house the school's history department, the Studio building is now used as faculty housing.^[4]
• School House, built in 1849 for the Farmington Female Seminary, was rented by Sarah Porter until her purchase in 1885. In 1951, it was renovated for sciences by R A. Kimball.^[38] The building now houses the school's daycare facility.
• The Timothy Cowles House, more commonly referred to as "Timco," built in 1815 for Major Timothy Cowles and since enlarged (c. 1900), was acquired by the school in 1955.^[39] It now serves as faculty housing and houses the school archives.
• The Horse Barn was used for student horses until 1969. It is currently used as a garage for school maintenance vehicles.
• The Grist Mill, as it's known to the Farmington community, was acquired by the school in July 2012. Built c. 1640 and located on the east bank of the Farmington River, this 5,600-square-foot facility served its community most recently as the shared home of The Grist Mill Restaurant and Millrace Bookshop establishments.^[40] The school is in the process of transforming this facility into its new Admissions Office. ^[41][42]

Dormitories

West Side

• Brick House, or "Brick" as it's known to the school community, was built in 1840 for Francis Cowles, purchased in 1901 by the school's trustees^[43] Brick is known as one of the dorms in which Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis resided.
• Cottage, like Main, has traditionally been a student residence reserved for 9th grade boarding students. The 2008–09 academic year saw Cottage transformed into a single-family faculty residence. Its status as a student residence has only recently been restored.
• Ward House, or "Ward" as it's known to the school community, was built c. 1842 for Susan and Augustus Ward, purchased by Sarah Porter in 1891, and left to the school upon her death.^[44]

East Side

• Colony House, or simply "Colony," was built c. 1799 for Jonathan Cowles. This three-story Federal style mansion was acquired by the school in 1908, has since undergone several renovations, and is home to students in their senior year. It became known as "Colony", as it was the first offshoot from the mother country, "Main," which has always been the center of school life.^[25][45]
• Humphrey House, built c. 1800 by Gad Cowles as a private residence, is a Federal style building that is home to students in their senior year. Named for its inhabitants between the years of 1854 and 1881, namely Milton Humphrey, it was originally purchased and enlarged for the school by Mrs. Elizabeth V. Keep in 1915. Humphrey is known as the dorm in which Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis resided, during her senior year, with "life-long friend" Nancy Ludlow Tuckerman, who later served as White House Social Secretary during Jackie's time as First Lady.^[46][47]
• Lathrop House, built in 1841 as a private residence for Harriet Cowles upon her marriage to Charles Thompson, was acquired by the school in 1889.
• Porter-Keep House, or "Keep" as it is known to the school community, was built in 1844 for John Edward Cowles and passed down until it was sold to RoseAnne (Day) Keep and her husband and Head of School, Robert Porter-Keep, who left it to the school upon his death in 1967. The house underwent extensive remodeling, as it was converted into a dorm, for a year beginning September 1968.^[48]
• New Place, built c. 1906, remains the only dormitory designed specifically for that purpose.

Athletics

Interscholastic sports

Fall Badminton V/JV Crew V/JV Cross Country V/JV Equestrian V Field Hockey V/JV Soccer V/JV/III Volleyball V/JV/III

Winter Basketball V/JV/III Equestrian V Skiing V Squash V/JV/III Swimming V

Spring Crew V/JV Equestrian V Golf V Lacrosse V/JV/III Softball V/JV Tennis V/JV Track V Ultimate Frisbee V

Opponents

Porter's competes in the Founders League with Choate Rosemary Hall, Hotchkiss, Kent, Kingswood-Oxford, Loomis Chaffee, Taft and Westminster schools. At the end of each season, Porter’s competes against the league’s most competitive teams in the New England Championships.^[49][50] Porter's traditional rival is The Ethel Walker School.

Championships

Basketball

In 2012, the Varsity Basketball team placed fourth in the New England Championship.

Crew

In 1997, the Crew Team ranked 1st in the New England Championships.^[51] In 2009, the Varsity Crew Team placed fourth in the New England Championships.^[51]

Squash

In 2012, the Varsity Squash team placed fourth in New England Championships. Following the 2014 NEISA Team Championships, Varsity Squash ranked 8th out of 16 teams in Division A of the New England Interscholastic Squash Association (NEISA).^[52] Participation in the 2014 NEISA Individual Championships earned the team 74 points and 6th Place overall.^[53]

Volleyball

In 2010, the Varsity Volleyball team defeated Convent of the Sacred Heart to become the 2010 New England School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B Champions.^[54]

Student life

Extracurricular activities

Porter's offers a variety of different extracurricular clubs and organizations, of varying degrees of commitment and function in a given school year. Concordia, which is the school's social service club, helps students coordinate community service opportunities in order to satisfy the graduation requirement..

The Perilhettes, often referred to simply as the "P-lhettes," is the senior a cappella group on campus. Throughout the year, the group regularly posts videos from its performances, as recorded by fans, on YouTube.^[55] Each year, the Perilhettes record their repertoire and sell the CDs in The Ivy. In recent years, the Perilhettes have competed in Kingswood-Oxford's Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival^[56] and Choate's Acapelooza, winning awards at each. The Perilhoonies, the alternative a cappella group on campus, provides more comic relief and less commitment to students in their final year.

Residential life

Most Porter's girls live in dormitories, all but one of which are former Farmington private residences left to the school. Each dormitory has a house director. The Porter Plan, as one of the school's distinguishing features, has been designed such that house directors' primary responsibilities are within residential houses. Each dormitory, with the exception of those housing senior students, has two Junior Advisors who serve as peer counselors and mediators.^[57]

All student residences are equipped with the TellEmotion Polar Bear Program, technology developed at Dartmouth College,^[58] in order to encourage conscientious consumption among students. Each display features an animated polar bear at various degrees of comfort or distress depending on the building's current energy consumption. Additionally, students can monitor their dorm's progress and even compare it to that of other dorms using the software's graphical analysis feature.

Student publications

• The Salmagundy, or simply "Salma" as it's known around campus, is the school's student-run monthly newspaper (founded October 27, 1945) which has recently become both an online and paper publication.^[59]
• The school's journal for scholarly writing, Chautauqua, sharing its name with the US adult education movement, offers publication to the best student research across a variety of academic disciplines.
• The school's yearbook, Daeges Eage, literally translates from Old English to "eye of the day," (from which the modern word "daisy" is derived).
• Haggis/Baggis, the school's magazine for literature and fine arts, showcases the best student work, including poems, short stories, photographs, and artwork. Since it was first published in 1967,^[60] the magazine has received numerous awards and recognitions.^[61] The Spring 1984 issue featured writing by a number of outside authors, notably Anne Bernays, Ray Bradbury, Art Buchwald, then Vice President George H. W. Bush, Anthony Hecht, Edward Hoagland, William Manchester, Richard L. Strout, as well as a four-color print donated by Jamie Wyeth, in tribute to the Eric Blair (1903-1950), author of 1984. These people had been solicited by the magazine's editors earlier that year to discuss their respective visions for the year 2020.^[62]
• The Language Literary Magazine is a yearly publication which showcases the best work by foreign language students, including essays, poems, commentaries and dialogues.

Emblems

School seal

The school's traditional seal depicts the front door of Main, with the school's motto etched to each side. Historically, the front door of Main was considered something of a sacred portal, through which only guests of the Head of School were allowed to pass regularly. At the time, students were only permitted passage through the doorway upon their first arrival at the school and during graduation exercises. Upon receiving their diplomas, the recessional led the graduating class through Main and out into world. This tradition is reflected in the image of front door of Main on the school seal and the school motto etched to either side of the entrance way: Puellae venerunt. Abíerunt mulieres. (Latin for "They came as girls. They left as women.") Today, the door is used regularly by all members of the community and the motto is taken as reference to each girl's introduction to and graduation from the school.

Today, a new simpler logo graces most official school publications, strategically omitting the word "Miss" in a recent effort by communications officials to combat the school's common misperception as a finishing school.

School colors

School colors include green, white, and black. Old Girl colors have traditionally been grey and yellow. Each of the school's three intramural athletic teams⎯Minks, Possums, and Squirrels⎯is represented by one of the school's three official colors.

Notable alumnae

• Gloria Vanderbilt^[63][64]
• Barbara Hutton (1930) – American socialite, dubbed "Poor Little Rich Girl"
• Brenda Frazier (1939) – American socialite
• Dina Merrill (née Nedenia Hutton) (1943) – actress and American socialite
• Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1947) – former First Lady of the United States^[65][66]
• Lee Radziwill (née Bouvier) (1950) – public relations executive for Giorgio Armani, author, and younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis^[65]
• Laura Rockefeller Chasin (1954) – American socialite
• Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark - Nonie "Nancy" May Stewart Worthington Leeds, who became a member of the Greek and Danish Royal Families through marriage to Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark
• Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb - first female member of the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
• Edith Bouvier Beale (1935) – American socialite and one of the subjects of the documentary film Grey Gardens
• Lilly Pulitzer (née Lillian Lee McKim) (1949) – fashion designer and American socialite^[65]
• Gene Tierney (1938) – Academy Award-nominated actress^[65]
• Dorothy Bush Koch (1977) – philanthropist and member of the First Family
• Nellie Grant (1873) – daughter of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and First Lady Julia Grant^[67]
• Mary Knight Wood (1875) – American pianist, music educator and composer^[68]
• Mabel Hyde Kittredge - social worker and author of books on household management.^[69]
• Julia Lathrop (1876) – the first woman ever to head a government agency in the United States
• Edith Hamilton (1886) – Greek Mythology scholar and sister of Alice Hamilton^[70]
• Alice Hamilton (1888) – first female faculty member of Harvard Medical School, founder of the field of industrial medicine^[70]
• Theodate Pope Riddle (1888) – architect and founder of Avon Old Farms and Westover School
• Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1890) – a leader of the women's suffrage movement, a leading Progressive reformer, and granddaughter of Henry Clay^[71]
• Mildred Barnes Bliss – American art collector, philanthropist, and cofounder of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C.^[72]
• Ruth Hanna McCormick (1897) – member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and the first woman to run for the U.S. Senate
• Edith Roelker Curtis (1912) – author, historian, and diarist
• Ruth Pine Furniss – short story writer and novelist
• Dorothy Keeley Aldis (1914) – American children's author and poet
• Dorothy Walker Bush (1919) – mother of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush and grandmother of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush
• Helen Coley Nauts (1925) – founder of the Cancer Research Institute^[73][74]
• Anne Cox Chambers (1938) – U.S. Ambassador to Belgium during the Carter administration^[75]
• Polly Allen Mellen (1942) – editor of Vogue magazine
• Letitia Baldrige Hollensteiner (1943) – author and social secretary to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy^[4][65]
• Patience Cleveland (1948) – American actress and published author^[76]
• Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam (1951) – founding president of the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal^[77][78][79]
• Elise Ravenel Wood du Pont (1954) – former First Lady of Delaware and 1984 Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives^[80]
• Barbara Babcock (1955) – Emmy-award winning actress for Hill Street Blues
• Pema Chödrön (formerly Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) (1955) – Buddhist nun and author; resident director of Gampo Abbey^[81]
• Edith Kunhardt Davis (1955) – children's author and illustrator, daughter of Dorothy Kunhardt^[82][83]
• Agnes Gund (1956) – President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and 1997 recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton, she was nominated by President Barack Obama as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council on the Arts in 2011^[84][85]
• Mimi Alford (1961) – former White House intern who wrote a book about her affair with John F. Kennedy^[86][87]
• Elizabeth May (1972) – the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada and leader of the Green Party of Canada
• Sarah Ludlow Blake (1978) – American writer^[88]
• Susannah Grant (1980) – director and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for Erin Brockovich^[89]
• Mary Anne Amirthi Mohanraj (1989) – American writer and editor
• Katherine Collins Pope (1990) – president of television at Chernin Entertainment, formerly president of Universal Media Studios, and executive producer of such television series as New Girl, Touch, and Ben & Kate^[90][91]
• Chrishaunda Lee (1994) – niece of Oprah Winfrey and hostess of the PBS program Animal Attractions Television
• Mamie Gummer (2001) – actress and daughter of actress Meryl Streep
• Hayley Petit (2007) – victim of the Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders^[92]
• Anne Windfohr Marion, American rancher, horsebreeder, business executive, philanthropist and art collector from Fort Worth, Texas.^[93][94]

In popular culture

• In the Law & Order episode "Shangri-La," during a conversation about the conduct of students at a New York City public school, a character points out that the school is not "Miss Porter's Finishing School for Young Ladies."
• In the movie The Skulls, the lead female, Chloe, attended Miss Porter's before attending Yale.
• In the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when Buffy's mother thinks it would be best to send Buffy away to school, she picks up an application to Miss Porter's.^[95]
• In the television show The Nanny, in Mr. Sheffield's office, Fran suggests Gracie attend a summer program at Miss Porter's.
• In the musical Rent, one of the leads, Harvard-educated lawyer Joanne Jefferson, attended and learned to tango with the French ambassador's daughter in her dorm room at Miss Porter's.^[96]
• In the novel Betrayed by P. C. and Kristin Cast, Zoey finds Miss Porter's after researching different "private preparatory schools" to find examples of good student councils to model her own new Dark Daughters' council after.^[97]
• In the novel The Debutantes by June Flaum Singer, the four main characters met at Miss Porter's.
• In the novel The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, a main character is sent to Miss Porter's.
• In the novel A Portion for Foxes, by Jane McIlvaine McClary, Miss Porter's (as "Farmington") is mentioned as a typical school for young women in the book's social setting.
• The novel The New Girls, by Beth Gutcheon, is set in a school called Miss Pratt's based on Miss Porter's.^[98]
• In the film Metropolitan, the character Jane Clark tells Tom Townsend that she, Audrey Rouget, and Serena Slocumb had all attended "Farmington."
• In the film Mona Lisa Smile, as Katherine Watson is studying Joan Brandwyn's file, a cutaway shot of it reveals that she attended Miss Porter's School, but incorrectly locates it in Lower Merion, PA.^[99]
• Sally Draper, from the AMC series Mad Men, completes an interview and overnight stay at Miss Porter's in the sixth-season episode entitled "The Quality of Mercy."^[100] Subsequent episodes highlight Sally's adventures at school.^[101]
• In the pilot episode of Orange Is the New Black, Piper's grandmother quietly tells Cal, "I once kissed Mary Straley when I was at Miss Porter's school, but it wasn't for me."

Other academic programs

Center for the Study of Girls' and Boys' Lives

Porter's has joined Greenwich Academy, The Haverford School, The Lawrenceville School, Riverdale Country School, The Dwight-Englewood School, The Shipley School, University School, and Georgetown Day School in the consortium of independent schools known as the Center for the Study of Girls' and Boys' Lives, which in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania conducts research, encourages public discussion, and advocates on behalf of boys and girls.^[102]

Penn Master's in Teaching Residency Program

In partnership with the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, Porter's has joined Deerfield Academy, The Hotchkiss School, The Lawrenceville School, The Loomis Chaffee School, Milton Academy, Northfield Mount Hermon, St. Paul's School, and The Taft School to design and oversee the Penn Residency Master's in Teaching Program. As part of the program, Porter's is to administer a Master of Science in Education internship program for aspiring teachers.^[103]

Summer programs

The summer programs, offered to girls entering grades 7 through 9, provide access to most of Porter's facilities and staff:

• The Sarah Porter Leadership Institute Level I offers girls the opportunity to "learn, practice and hone" their problem solving, quick thinking, teamwork and trust skills.
• The Sarah Porter Leadership Institute Level II gives those who have attended Level I of the program the opportunity to further develop their leadership skills. This program includes an off campus camping and rafting trip, which test the skills and responsibilities that come with those activities
• The Porter's Junior Model U.N. is "designed to teach students about civics, current events, effective communication, and global perspective through engaging and interactive lessons and exercises." The program concludes with a two-day Model UN-style conference on campus.^[104]

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External links

• Official Website
• The Association of Boarding Schools
• Boarding School Review
• America's Best College Preparatory Boarding School Information
• National Coalition of Girls' Schools

Coordinates: 41°43′21″N 72°49′46″W / 41.72250°N 72.82944°W