Tower Hill School
Tower Hill School is a private college preparatory school in Wilmington, Delaware, offering instruction for pre-school through 12th grade.
Tower Hill School | |
---|---|
Address | |
2813 West 17th Street , 19806 | |
Coordinates | 39.764716°N 75.577355°W |
Information | |
School type | Private College Preparatory School |
Motto | Multa Bene Facta[1] (Many Things Done Well) |
Religious affiliation(s) | Non-denominational |
Founded | 1919[2] |
Founders | Walter S. Carpenter, Jr., R. Ruliph M. Carpenter, Irénée du Pont, Lammot du Pont, Eugene E. du Pont, Alexis Felix du Pont, Josiah Marvel, Hugh Rodney Sharp, William Winder Laird, Charles Marshall Barton, and Dr. Albert Robin[2] |
School board | Michelle Shepherd, Ellen J. Kullman, William Daiger, Linda Boyden, Jon Abramczyk, Theodore H. Ashford, Dr. Anthony Cucuzzella, Regis de Ramel, Ben duPont, Charles Elson, W. Whitfield Gardner, Laird Hayward, Dr. Eric Johnson, Henry Mellon, Ann Rose, Dr. David Roselle, Matthew Twyman, Carmen Wallace, and Gina Ward[2] |
CEEB code | 080205 |
Chair | Michelle Shepherd |
Head of school | Elizabeth Speers[3] |
Grades | Preschool K-12 |
Gender | Coeducational |
Enrollment | 755[4] |
Average class size | Preschool: 13 Lower School: 15 Middle School: 15 Upper School: 14 |
Student to teacher ratio | 7:1[1] |
Schedule | Day |
Color(s) | Kelly White [1] |
Athletics | Independent Conference(DISC) Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) |
Mascot | White Tiger and Hiller |
Publication | The Dial |
Website | http://www.towerhill.org/ |
History
Tower Hill was founded in 1919.[2][5] The school is situated at the high point of Wilmington's neighborhood, The Highlands, where the dominant landmark is Rockford Tower, erected in 1901 to control the city's water supply. Tower Hill, in London, is the birthplace of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, who landed in Delaware, in 1682.
Recognition
The school is a member of the Delaware Independent School Conference[6] and fields 23 competitive varsity sports.[6]
The school offered US$2,000,000 a year of need-based financial aid to 28% of its students for the 2016-2017 school year.[1]
Elizabeth “Bessie” Cromwell Speers currently serves as the Tower Hill's head of school, having been selected to be headmaster starting the 2015-2016 school year.[7]
The Wall Street Journal ranked Tower Hill 24th in the nation and 1st in Delaware, in percentage of students attending eight top colleges.[8]
Tower Hill School is ranked 47th in the nation for best private day schools. [9]
Notable alumni
- Adrienne Arsht, philanthropist and attorney
- Michael N. Castle, Governor of Delaware (1985–1992) and US Congressman (Delaware) (1993–2011)
- Alfred D. Chandler, distinguished and innovative historian, Harvard University
- Chris Coons, US Senator (Delaware)
- Crawford Hallock Greenewalt, Jr., leading archaeologist University of California, Berkeley
- Harry G. Haskell Jr., US Congressman (Delaware) (1957–1959) and Mayor of Wilmington (1969–1973)
- Orin Kerr, law professor at UC Berkeley School of Law
- Ellen J. Kullman, former chief executive officer of DuPont and vice chair of the Tower Hill School board of trustees
- Mehmet Oz, host of The Dr. Oz Show, widely regarded as a quack, noted cardiologist and author[10]
- Virginia A. Seitz, former assistant attorney general and distinguished appellate lawyer
- Pat Williams, Orlando Magic senior vice president
Controversy
In 2014, former President of the school Christopher Wheeler was found guilty and sentenced to 50 years in prison for dealing in child pornography.[11] However, the sentence was overturned in 2016 after the Delaware Supreme Court found that the search warrants used to search his residence and office were un-Constitutionally broad.[12]
References
- "Tower Hill at a Glance". Tower Hill School. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- "Forever Green: A Commemorative History of Tower Hill School". Our History. Tower Hill School Association. 1994. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- "Meet Our Head of School." Towerhill.org. Tower Hill School, n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2015. <http://www.towerhill.org/Page/About/Meet-Our-Head-of-School>.
- Tower Hill School. "Student Directory." TowerNet. Last modified July 2018. https://towerhill.myschoolapp.com/app/parent#directory/778.
- "Tower Hill School Homepage". Tower Hill School. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- "Athletics at Tower Hill". Tower Hill School. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- "Meet Our Head of School." Towerhill.org. Tower Hill School, n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2015. <http://www.towerhill.org/Page/About/Meet-Our-Head-of-School>.
- "How the Schools Stack Up". Wall Street Journal. December 28, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- "Top 50 Private day schools/accessdate=October 25, 2015".
- Oz, Mehmet (5 October 2011). "Delaware Today Health and Wellness: Closing Thought with Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Tower Hill School graduate, about cholesterol, blood pressure and heart health". Delaware Today. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- Press, Associated (2015-04-24). "Headmaster at elite prep school gets 50 years in jail for child porn". New York Post. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
- Masulli Reyes, Jessica (March 2, 2016). "Ex-headmaster's child porn conviction overturned". delawareonline. Retrieved 2019-02-05.