by Kristen Bryson
Ridgefield Academy held its 36th commencement ceremony June 15, graduating 24 eighth graders. Pictured above is Ridgefielder McKenzie Clippinger Mattson, daughter to Libby and Jeff Mattson, gladly accepting her diploma from Ridgefield Academy Trustee Tim Birch. Photo credit: Kara Morgan.
Ridgefield Academy held its 36th commencement ceremony on June 15, sending 24 graduating eighth grade students off to some of the most highly regarded secondary schools in New England.
"Our students enjoyed a very high acceptance rate at many of the most competitive boarding and day schools on the East Coast, and we could not be more proud of their efforts," commented Head of School Jim Heus.
In addition to considering their own top-rated public high schools in Fairfield and Westchester counties, Ridgefield Academy graduates also considered a broad range of boarding and day schools. Joe Perry, the school's Head of Middle and Upper Schools, alongside Heus oversees the school's comprehensive secondary school placement program, a 15-month process involving students and parents that begins in the spring of the sixth grade year.
Acceptances from independent day schools include: AITE (The Academy of Information, Technology, and Engineering), Center for Global Studies, Greens Farms Academy, Hopkins School, Immaculate High School, King School, Laguna Blanca School, Lauralton Hall, Notre Dame Catholic High School, Rye Country Day School, Sacred Heart Academy, St. Luke’s School, Stanwich School and Wooster School.
Boarding school acceptances include: Berkshire School (MA), Brooks School (MA), Canterbury School (CT), Cardigan Mountain School (NH), Cate School (CA), Dana Hall School (MA), Hackley School (NY), Millbrook School (NY), Suffield Academy, Tabor Academy, The Gunnery (CT), and Westover School (CT).
Located on a 42-acre campus on West Mountain Road in Ridgefield, Ridgefield Academy is an independent school educating children from preschool through eighth grade. To inquire about limited remaining spaces for the 2011-2012 year, contact Libby Mattson, Director of Admission at 203-894-1800. For more information, go to www.ridgefieldacademy.org.
*Second photo: Graduates from Ridgefield included, left to right: Meredith Rogers, daughter of Charles and LeAnn Rogers; McKenzie Clippinger Mattson, daugther of Libby and Jeff Mattson; Jonathan Uy, son of Cynthia Curioso-Uy and George Uy; Lorin Pucel, daughter of Andrea and Bob Pucel; and Amy Rowland, daughter of Edith and Chris Rowland. Uy will be attending Ridgefield High School, while Rogers, Clippinger and Pucel will be attending the local area independent schools of St. Luke's, King School and Lauralton Hall respectively and Roland will be attending Berkshire School, a Massachusetts boarding school.