The Barstow School
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| The Barstow School | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |
| Information | |
| Religion | Nonsectarian |
| Head of School | Art Atkison |
| Enrollment |
Approx. 650 |
| Faculty | 69 total |
| Student:teacher ratio | 9.5:1 |
| Average SAT scores (2005) | Verbal = 593; Math = 609 |
| Average ACT scores (2005) | Composite = 27 |
| Type | Private |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Athletics | 13 interscholastic, numerous club |
| Athletics conference | Missouri State High School Activities Association |
| Motto | Understanding through knowledge |
| Team name | Knights |
| Color(s) | Green, White, and Black |
| Established | 1884 (girls only), 1967 (coeducational) |
| Homepage | www.barstowschool.org |
The Barstow School (commonly called simply Barstow), founded in 1884[1] by Mary Louise Barstow, is a nonsectarian, coeducational, private preparatory school in southern Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
The Barstow School enrolls approximately 650 students in preschool through 12th grade. The school has a strong academic tradition and usually matriculates all of its graduates to four-year colleges.
In the 2006-2007 school year, tuition ranged from $12,500 for first graders to $14,675 for grades 9-12.
Contents |
[edit] History
Mary Barstow and Ada Brann came to Kansas City in 1884, responding to the need to establish a local school comparable to the outstanding independent schools on the east coast. With the support of several notable families in the rapidly growing city, the two Wellesley College graduates founded the Barstow School at 12th Street and Broadway on Quality Hill in Downtown Kansas City.
As both the school and the city grew and prospered, the school moved several times: first to near Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, then to 15th Street and Westport Avenue, then to 4950 Cherry Street in the Brookside neighborhood, and finally to 115th Street and State Line Road in 1962, where it remains today. Although originally coeducational, in 1924 Barstow became an all-girls school except at the preschool level. The school resumed coeducation when it moved to its current location. The mission of the school, as originally stated by Mary Louise Barstow, remains "to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character."
For most of its history, Barstow was one of Kansas City's five all-girls private schools (the others were Notre Dame de Sion, St. Teresa's Academy, Loretto Academy and The Sunset Hill School). As a girls-only institution, the school was known as Miss Barstow's School or Miss Barstow's Finishing School for Girls. In 1960, boys were admitted to the first grade, and Barstow became coeducational one grade and one year at a time, until its first coed graduating class in 1972. Although its class sizes often were under ten, Barstow had two very famous alumni during its early days: movie star Jean Harlow and future First Lady Bess Truman. Since Barstow moved to its current location, it has seen Kansas City expand southward. Today, it hopes to grow further: in 2003, Barstow built a new Lower School. Recently, the Barstow School has expanded even more. In the summer of 2006, Barstow renovated its library and added several new classrooms and a new maintenance building.
[edit] Accreditation and memberships
Barstow holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the Educational Records Bureau, the National and Missouri Associations for College Admission Counseling, the College Board and the Cum Laude Society.
[edit] Athletics
The athletic teams are known as the Barstow Knights, and the school colors are green and white. Starting with the 2007-2008 school year, the head coach for the Knights basketball team is Jeff Boschee, a well known former KU player.
In the fall, teams include girls' tennis, boys' soccer, girls' volleyball, girls' golf, and girls' and boys' cross-country. The girls' tennis team won the class 4 State Doubles Championship in 2007.
Winter sports at Barstow are girls' basketball, boys' basketball, cheerleading, and the Knight Starz dance team. The Knights cheerleading squad has won the class 4 State Cheerleading Competition twice, in 2005 and 2007.[2]
In the spring, teams include boys' tennis, boys' baseball, girls' soccer, boys' golf, and track and field.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Eldar Djangirov, jazz pianist
- Jean Harlow, film actress and top sex symbol of the 1930s, known as the Platinum Blonde[3]
- Jamie Metzl, politician and national security expert.
- Margot Peet, artist.
- Bess Truman, the wife of Harry S Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ The Barstow School at a Glance, accessed November 20, 2006
- ^ "Barstow team tops in cheers", Kansas City Star, November 30, 2005. Accessed November 27, 2007.
- ^ Jean Harlow Biographical Info, accessed November 20, 2006
- ^ Bess Truman from Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed November 20, 2006
