Avon Old Farms

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Avon Old
Image:Avon.gif
"Aspirando et Perseverando"
Location
Avon, Connecticut, USA
Information
Religion None
Headmaster Kenneth H. LaRocque
Enrollment

398 students (9 - 12, PG)
77% Boarding
Faculty 60 teachers
Average class size 12 students
Student:teacher ratio 6:1
Average SAT scores (2005) 1220
Type Private, single-sex (all-boys) boarding & day
Campus 1000 acres (4 km²)
Athletics 15 varsity interscholastic sports teams (36 interscholastic teams total)
Mascot Winged Beaver
Color(s) Maroon and Navy Blue
Established 1927
Homepage www.avonoldfarms.com
Avon Old Farms School
Avon Old Farms School

Avon Old Farms is a single-sex boarding school for boys located in Avon, Connecticut. It was founded by Theodate Pope Riddle, an RMS Lusitania survivor and a master architect. It opened in 1927 and closed for a period during World War II to serve as a convalescent hospital for blind veterans. The current headmaster is Mr. Kenneth H. LaRocque, a Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University graduate.

Avon draws its boys from all over the country; 77% of them are boarders. The school is best known for its athletics programs and quality of teachers.

Contents

[edit] Academics

Eighteen Advanced Placement courses are offered in history, English, chemistry, physics, biology, art, French, Spanish, Environmental Science, Government, Calculus, Economics and other subjects. In order to receive a diploma, students are required to complete four years of English, three years of history, three years of science including laboratory work, three years of math, two years of the same foreign language, two years of electives, and one course in the fine arts. The average class size is twelve students and the student-teacher ratio is 6:1. 100% of the students matriculate to college.

[edit] Athletics

Avon offers a wide variety of sports in the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Students can participate in various skill levels of soccer, football, cross country, basketball, hockey, wrestling, squash, skiing, swimming, riflery, track, baseball, golf, tennis, and lacrosse.

Avon is most known for its rowdy fans. It has been noted that for a first round playoff hockey game in 2004 the Avon rink held over 3000 people when the school only has an enrollement of 390 plus or minus.

Avon is also best known for its Ice Hockey program, which has won a record 7 New England Championships (4 in the last 5 years) and produced NHL Players Brian Leetch and Chris Higgins, among others.[citation needed] Coach John Gardner is in his 32nd season as the teams coach and been with the team for all 7 Championships. He currently has a record of 603-178-29.

Avon is also recognized for its lacrosse program, formerly led by Head Coach Ted Garber. Garber is the son of the legendary University of Massachusetts coach Dick Garber, for whom the Minutemen's Garber Field is named. Ted has been selected as a Western New England Coach of the Year as well as a national high school lacrosse all-star game head coach multiple times during his tenure as head coach at Avon Old Farms. Garber currently holds a coaching position with the Boston Cannons in the MLL. As of 2008, Bartollo Governati, former Merrimack College coach takes over the head coach position as of 2008. Soccer at Avon over the last 4 years has become as big as hockey. The Avon Old Farms Soccer team has made the playoffs 4 times consecutively in the last four years setting the school's record for consecutive soccer playoff appearances. In addition, in these last four years the team has won the New England Division 1 championship twice which are also the only two championships in the soccer programs long history. The program's first championship came in 2005 with a team of complete overachievers and since then the program has recruited many college bound soccer players to make the 2007 team the best team Avon has seen in its history, as a result they won the 2007 championship against BB&N 1-0 where Justin Davies slotted in the golden goal with just 44 seconds remaining in the second OT.

[edit] Campus

A new student center and athletic complex was recently completed in October of 2006. A 500 seat performing arts center was completed in March of 2007. Together, the two facilities cost more than $30 million and are part of an alumnus initiative to improve the campus.

Theodate Pope Riddle, the founder and architect of the original buildings at the school designed all of the original buildings at the school. Most of them still remain in use as dormitories and classrooms made out of a unique redish sandstone from a local quary. Most notable of these buildings is the Refectory; the schools cafeteria that looks much like the great hall in the famous Harry Potter books.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Publications

The schools student newspaper, The Avon Record has a staff of six editors, two advisors, and over twenty-five staff writers. The Record publishes 8-12 page issues almost every month.

The school's annual literary magazine The Hippocrene highlights artistic and literary works by students.

Stay Tuned is the school's student-run music review magazine. It is publishes about twice a year.

The Avonian is a publications designed specifically for Alumni. Avon also has an alumnus e-newsletter. Both publications are created by faculty.

[edit] External links

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