Greenwich Academy is an independent, college-preparatory day school for girls in Greenwich, Connecticut. Founded in 1827, it is the oldest girls' school in Connecticut. Greenwich Academy's motto is Ad Ingenium Faciendum, "Toward the Building of Character." The head of school is Molly H. King. The head of Lower School is Jon Ross-Wiley. The head of Middle School is Becky Walker. The head of Upper School is Tom Sullivan.
History
Greenwich Academy was founded by members of the Congregational Church in 1827. Until the turn of the twentieth century, the school admitted both girls and boys. Then, in 1900, a Greenwich Academy English teacher founded the Brunswick School for Boys. In 1913, the Greenwich Academy Board of Trustees formally approved the decision to accept only girls in the Middle and Upper Schools, and Greenwich Academy was reconceived as a day school for girls. The newly chartered school was led by strong female educators, including Ruth West Campbell, who shaped much of the mission and philosophy of the school. Succeeding heads—Katherine Zierleyn, Alexander A. Uhle and Patsy G. Howard—oversaw impressive growth in the facilities and student body and expanded the academic and extracurricular offerings. In July 2004, Molly H. King, an educator firmly committed to modeling excellence and sustaining the school’s strong tradition of female leadership, was appointed as head.
Coordination
Since 1971, Greenwich Academy has had a coordinated relationship with the all-boys Brunswick School. Brunswick's upper school is located across the street from GA and high school students take classes on both campuses. As a result, almost all high school classes at GA and Brunswick are co-ed. Together the two high schools offer more than 400 sections of ~200 courses, with 80+ honors and advanced placement classes.
Signature Programs
Engineering & Design Lab
Greenwich Academy's Engineering & Design Lab was established in 2013 to encourage and foster community using creativity and new technologies across diverse curricula. It is a fully equipped, digital fabrication space with machines including 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, and CNC machines. In addition to digital manufacturing capabilities, the space offers carpentry and hand-building tools, microcontrollers, electronics, and a wide variety of materials for building. Students and faculty across divisions have access to the space and support for their projects. The lab's director, Erin Riley, is a Senior FabLearn Fellow out of Stanford University's Transformative Learning Technologies Lab.
GAINS (Girls Advancing in STEM) Network
The GAINS Network was founded by Greenwich Academy in 2011 to provide an online social platform for young women with a passion for science, technology, engineering and math.Through the network girls connect with each other and with women working and studying in STEM fields to support, encourage, teach and inspire one another. Membership is open to any high school serving girls. Since 2015, the GAINS Conference has been held each spring in partnership with top research universities and corporations. The three-day conferences have been held at MIT, Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Silicon Valley, New York City at the offices of Oath, and University of Pennsylvania.
Pre-Connecting and Connecting Class students are housed at our Ridgeview Avenue Campus that features four classrooms, a large playground and a soccer field.
