University School


University School, commonly referred to as US, is an all-boys, private, Junior Kindergarten–12 school with two campus locations in the Greater Cleveland area, in the U.S. state of Ohio. The campus located in Shaker Heights serves junior kindergarten through eighth grade students, while the campus in Hunting Valley serves ninth through twelfth grade students.
University School is a founding member of the International Boys' Schools Coalition and a member of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives and Cleveland Council of Independent Schools.

History and headmasters

In 1890 the founding headmaster of the school, Newton M. Anderson, established University School. The school's first building was erected on at the corner of Hough Avenue and East 71st Street in Cleveland.
At the turn of the century, Headmaster George D. Pettee led the entire student body to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. A few years later in 1908 Headmaster Harry S. Peters led University School during two World Wars, the Great Depression and, in 1926, to the campus in Shaker Heights. He was the longest-tenured headmaster in University School history; he left the school in 1947. That same year Headmaster Harold L. Cruikshank oversaw the building of the Hanna Wing on the Shaker Campus and guided the school through the end of World War II to the beginning of the 1960s.
Under the leadership of Roland P. McKinley, the Upper School moved, in 1970, from Shaker Heights to nearly of meadows and woodland in Hunting Valley.
In 1988, Richard A. Hawley, an author and educator, became the sixth headmaster of US. With the support of the US community, Conway Hall on the Shaker Campus and the William S. Kilroy '43 Field House in Hunting Valley were built during Hawley's tenure.
Stephen S. Murray became the seventh headmaster for University School in 2005 after Hawley's departure. Murray led the School in the fundraising and construction of a nearly $100 million, 52,000 square-foot academic wing, which features classrooms and interactive technology. Extensive renovation of the original classroom building has allowed for facilities for the visual and performing arts.
After it was announced in August 2014 that Headmaster Stephen Murray would leave US to become the 13th headmaster of The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, Benjamin I. Rein of the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia, assumed the position of headmaster in mid-2015. Rein left the school in late 2016, with Rick Bryan assuming the duties as the school's first alumnus headmaster. Headmaster Bryan stepped down in January 2018 due to allegations that he had mishandled a number of sexual misconduct cases at his previous school, the Nichols School.
In the wake of Bryan's departure, dean of faculty and English teacher Patrick Gallagher was named interim headmaster by the school's board of trustees. On September 22, 2018, the school's board of trustees announced that Patrick Gallagher would officially assume the role of headmaster, following an eight-month search period.

House system

University School has a House system, similar to that of British tradition. Every student is assigned to one of ten houses, which integrate students from all grades and provide a structure for the boys to connect between grades with each other for companionship and support. The ten houses, honoring notable previous headmasters, faculty, or students, are listed below:
The school traditionally has a rivalry with Western Reserve Academy, with the football games being the highlight of each school's season throughout the 20th century, starting with the first meeting in 1895.
US fields varsity teams in thirteen sports, five in the winter season and four in the fall and the spring seasons: football, soccer, cross country, and golf in the fall; ice hockey, wrestling, swimming, squash, and basketball in the winter; and lacrosse, tennis, track and field, and baseball in the spring.
University School competes in the Premier Athletic Conference, an eight-team conference. The cross country, wrestling, basketball, track and field and baseball teams began competing in this conference in 2009. Football began its PAC schedule in the fall of 2011.
The Kilroy Field House at the Hunting Valley Campus is a multi-purpose indoor practice facility featuring two basketball courts, three squash courts, a 200-meter cantilevered indoor track, and practice areas for track events. The complex also includes a fitness center equipped with the latest in weight training and aerobic equipment.
Wrestling rooms, a gymnasium and 25-yard indoor swimming pool with a separate diving well complete the indoor facilities at the Hunting Valley Campus. Outdoors there are a football stadium and a new turf football field, an all-weather track, four soccer and other practice fields, two baseball diamonds, and seven tennis courts.
The physical education facilities at the Shaker Campus include a football field; 400-meter track; three baseball fields; two soccer fields; eight tennis courts; double-size gymnasium; wrestling room; four-lane, 25-meter indoor swimming pool; and a rock climbing wall.
In 2013, University School's student-created and student-led sports broadcasting network, USPN, started streaming live coverage of the school's football, soccer, basketball, hockey, lacrosse and baseball games.
In 2014, University School's squash team won the Division IV national championship at the U.S. High School Team Squash Championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

State championships

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