Rye Country Day School

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40°59′23″N 73°40′50″W﻿ / ﻿40.989712°N 73.680514°W﻿ / 40.989712; -73.680514

Independent school in Rye, New York, United States

Rye Country Day School

Location

Rye, New York

United States

Information
Type| Independent
Motto| Not for Self, but for Service
Established| 1869[1]
Head of school| Randall Dunn
Staff| 193
Number of students| Over 900
Average class size| 17 students
Student to teacher ratio| 8:1[2]
Campus| 35 acres (including East Campus)
Color(s)| Blue and Gold
Mascot| Willy the Wildcat
Rival| Hackley School, Brunswick School
Publication| Bulletin
Newspaper| Rye Crop
Yearbook| Echo
Website| ryecountryday.org

Rye Country Day School, also known as Rye Country Day or RCDS, is an independent, co-educational college preparatory school located in Rye, New York. Its Upper School (grades 9–12), Middle School (5–8), and Lower School (Pre-Kindergarten-4) enroll a total of 886 students on its 35-acre campus.[3] Rye Country Day attracts students from over 40 school districts in the tri-state area. The School's $5.9 million financial aid budget provides significant tuition grants to the families of 143 students (16%) in the school. 35% of RCDS students self-identify as people of color.[4][5]

## Academics[edit]

RCDS has three divisions: Lower (Gr. K-4), Middle (Gr. 5-8), and Upper (Gr. 9-12). The school also offers a Pre-K program.

## Athletics[edit]

Starting in Grade 7, students play interscholastic sports. RCDS has a 45,000-square-foot Athletic Center with basketball and squash courts, locker rooms, a fitness center, and an athletic training room. The sports program has full-time coaches, as well as teachers who coach.

Fall Sports: Cross Country, Field Hockey, Football, Volleyball, and Soccer.
Winter Sports: Basketball, Fencing, Ice Hockey, Squash, Indoor Track and Field, and Wrestling.
Spring Sports: Baseball, Golf, Lacrosse, Sailing, Softball, Tennis, Track and Field.

## Campus facilities[edit]

The 35-acre campus includes academic buildings; two libraries; administrative buildings; a separate performing arts center with classrooms dance studio and a 450-seat theater-auditorium; a 23,000 square-foot innovative creative arts center; a 40,000 square-foot athletic center; and 4 turf fields. Two dining rooms serve lunch every day.

Arts Facilities
The Cohen Center for the Creative Arts, a 23,000 square-foot creative arts center, built in 2018. Memorial Hall, built in 2010, seats 125. The Dunn Performing Arts Center has a 450-seat theater, along with dance studios, and band/choral/instrumental rehearsal spaces.

Athletics Facilities
Athletic facilities include four artificial turf fields; the Scott A. Nelson Athletic Center (2000), which houses a two-court gymnasium, four squash courts, four locker rooms, an athletic training facility, a fitness center and a multipurpose gymnasium that serves as the home for the wrestling and fencing programs; the LaGrange Field House (1972) with its indoor ice rink/tennis courts.

It also has housing for school employees. In 2023 the school secured a court ruling that meant that said the school would not need to pay property taxes to the city government.[6]

## History[edit]

Rye Country Day School was founded in 1869, when a group of local parents contacted the Reverend William Life and his wife, Susan, who ran a small school in Pennsylvania. The Lifes came to Rye and established the Rye Female Seminary under the direction of Mrs. Life. During its first year, 1869, sixty students (25 boarders and 35 day students) enrolled in the Seminary, which was located on the present school property on Grandview Avenue. In 1896, the Seminary was purchased by the Misses Harriet and Mary Stowe, two members of the faculty. Upon assuming leadership, the Stowe sisters initiated significant changes in the curriculum. During this period, the Seminary was part of a national trend, namely the introduction of college preparatory programs for women. Conscious of the potential financial risk for a strictly proprietary institution, a group of parents bought the Seminary in 1917 and established it as a nonprofit day school under the direction of a board of trustees.

The year 1921 saw the Seminary merge with a boys' school from nearby Harrison, the Rye Country School, and became known as the Rye Country Day Schools. In 1928, the "s" was dropped from the word "Schools". At this time, the School offered a program for girls from kindergarten through grade twelve, and a program for boys from kindergarten through grade nine. In 1964 this pattern of organization was changed when the board of trustees extended the enrollment for boys through grade twelve.[7]

Since then, additional property was acquired, buildings were constructed and roads moved. From the construction of the Main Building in 1924, to the additions of the Pinkham Building and the La Grange Field House in the sixties, the Dunn Performing Arts Center in the eighties, the new Lower School classrooms, new dining center and the unveiling of the Athletic Center in the early two-thousands, the turf athletic fields in 2006, the expansion of the Pinkham building to include Memorial Hall in 2010, and the most recent addition of the Cohen Center of the Creative Arts which opened in 2018.

## Notable alumni[edit]

* John Treacy Egan, actor and singer[8]
* Raymond Khoury, author[9]
* Nick Kroll, actor
* Elizabeth W. Smith[10]
* Nicola Peltz, actor
* Emily Lazar, American Grammy-winning mastering engineer[11]
* Barbara Bush, First Lady
* Taylor Washington, MLS Player
* Barry Mendel, Movie Producer
* Leila Pahlavi, Princess of Iran
* Christopher Atkins, Motion Picture Star

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Rye Country Day School". Private School Review. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
2. ^ "web author". Private School Review. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
3. ^ "About RCDS". Rye Country Day School. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
4. ^ "Overview - RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL". www.ryecountryday.org. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
5. ^ "Rye Country Day School Profile (2018-19) | Rye, NY". Private School Review. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
6. ^ Wilson, David McKay (31 January 2023). "Court says Rye private school's faculty housing should be tax-exempt. Here's why". The Journal News. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
7. ^ Nelson. "web author". Dir of Publications. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
8. ^ Rye Country Day: John Treacy Egan
9. ^ Amazon.com: Raymond Khoury: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle
10. ^ "Elizabeth Weinberg Fiancee of Peter B. Smith, a Banker". The New York Times. 16 March 1980. ProQuest 121063808.
11. ^ Lazar, Emily. "First Woman To Win Engineering Grammy".

## External links[edit]

* Rye Country Day School

* v
* t
* e

Rye, New York

Education|

* Rye City SD
* Rye HS
* Rye Neck SD
* Rye Neck HS
* Rye Country Day School

Landmarks|

* Boston Post Road Historic District
* Jay Estate
* Playland
* Dragon Coaster
* Rye Town Park-Bathing Complex and Oakland Beach

Transportation|

* Rye Station

This list is incomplete.
School of the Holy Child has a Rye address but is in Harrison, New York.

* v
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Education in Westchester County, New York

School districts|

| Territorial|

* Ardsley
* Bedford
* Blind Brook-Rye
* Briarcliff Manor
* Bronxville
* Byram Hills
* Chappaqua
* Croton-Harmon
* Dobbs Ferry
* Eastchester
* Edgemont
* Elmsford
* Greenburgh
* Harrison
* Hastings-on-Hudson
* Hendrick Hudson
* Irvington
* Katonah-Lewisboro
* Lakeland
* Mamaroneck
* Mount Pleasant
* Mount Vernon
* New Rochelle City
* North Salem
* Ossining
* Peekskill City
* Pelham
* Pleasantville
* Pocantico Hills
* Port Chester-Rye
* Putnam Valley
* Rye City
* Rye Neck
* Scarsdale
* Somers
* Tarrytowns
* Tuckahoe
* Valhalla
* White Plains
* Yonkers
* Yorktown

|

Special act|

* Greenburgh-Graham

Public
high schools|

| Yonkers|

* Gorton
* Lincoln
* Obama
* Riverside
* Roosevelt
* Saunders
* Yonkers MS/HS

|

Other|

* Ardsley
* Blind Brook
* Briarcliff
* Bronxville
* Byram Hills
* Croton-Harmon
* Dobbs Ferry
* Eastchester
* Edgemont
* Fox Lane
* Horace Greeley
* Alexander Hamilton
* Harrison
* Hastings
* Hendrick Hudson
* Irvington
* John Jay
* Lakeland
* Mamaroneck
* Mount Vernon
* New Rochelle
* Ossining
* Walter Panas
* Peekskill
* Pelham
* Pleasantville
* Port Chester
* Rochambeau
* Rye Neck
* Rye
* Scarsdale
* Somers
* Tuckahoe
* Valhalla
* Westlake
* White Plains
* Woodlands
* Yorktown

Independent
schools|

| Secular private|

* Daytop Village
* French-American
* German
* Hackley
* Harvey
* Keio
* Lyceum Kennedy
* Masters
* New York School for the Deaf
* Rye Country Day
* Thornton-Donovan

|

Religious|

* Archbishop Stepinac
* Holy Child
* Iona Preparatory
* John F. Kennedy Catholic
* Leffel (former Solomon Schecter)
* Maria Regina
* Montfort
* Sacred Heart
* Salesian
* Ursuline
* Westchester Hebrew
* Yonkers Montessori

Closed|

* Our Lady of Good Counsel
* Our Lady of Victory
* Soundview Preparatory

Tertiary|

* College of Westchester
* Fordham University
* Iona University
* Long Island University
* Manhattanville College
* Mercy University
* Monroe College
* New York Medical College
* Pace University
* Saint Joseph's Seminary
* Saint Vladimir's Seminary
* Sarah Lawrence College
* State University of New York at Purchase
* Westchester Community College

| Closed|

* College of New Rochelle
* Concordia College

|

Libraries|

* Yonkers Public Library

Weekend education|

* Japanese Weekend School of New York

This list is incomplete.

* v
* t
* e

New England Preparatory School Athletic Council

Connecticut|

* Avon Old Farms
* Brunswick
* Canterbury
* Cheshire
* Choate
* Christian Heritage
* Ethel Walker
* Foote
* Forman
* Frederick Gunn
* Greens Farms
* Greenwich Academy
* Greenwich Country Day
* Hamden Hall
* Hopkins
* Hotchkiss
* Indian Mountain
* Kent
* King
* Kingswood Oxford
* Loomis Chaffee
* Marianapolis Prep
* Marvelwood
* Master's
* Miss Porter's
* Pomfret
* Rectory
* Renbrook
* Rumsey Hall
* Sacred Heart Greenwich
* St. Luke's
* St. Thomas More
* Salisbury
* South Kent
* Suffield
* Taft
* Watkinson
* Westminster
* Westover
* Williams
* Woodhall
* Wooster

Maine|

* Berwick
* Bridgton
* Gould
* Hebron
* Kents Hill

Massachusetts|

* Applewild
* Bancroft
* Beaver
* Belmont
* Belmont Hill
* Bement
* Berkshire
* BTA
* BUA
* Bradford Christian
* Brimmer and May
* BISB
* Brooks
* Brookwood
* Buckingham Browne & Nichols
* Cambridge Friends
* Cambridge Montessori
* Cambridge School
* Carroll
* CATS Academy
* Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall
* Charles River
* Commonwealth
* Concord
* Covenant Christian
* Cushing
* Dana Hall
* Dedham Country Day
* Deerfield
* Derby
* Dexter Southfield
* Eaglebrook
* Eagle Hill
* Fay
* Fenn
* Fessenden
* Gann
* Glen Urquhart
* Governor's
* Groton
* Hillside
* Hyde
* Inly
* ISB
* Landmark
* Lawrence
* TLC
* Lexington Christian
* MacDuffie
* Meadowbrook
* Middlesex
* Milton
* Miss Hall's
* Montrose
* Nashoba Brooks
* Newman
* Newton Country Day
* Noble and Greenough
* Northfield Mount Herman
* Park
* Phillips
* Pike
* Pingree
* Rivers
* Roxbury Latin
* St. Mark's
* St. Sebastian's
* Shady Hill
* Shore
* Stoneleigh-Burnham
* Tabor
* Tenacre
* Thayer
* Tower
* Waldorf
* Waring
* Wilbraham & Monson
* Williston Northampton
* Winchendon
* Winsor
* Woodward
* Worcester Academy

New Hampshire|

* Brewster
* Cardigan Mountain
* Dublin
* High Mowing
* Holderness
* Kimball Union
* New Hampton
* Phillips Exeter
* Proctor
* St. Paul's
* Tilton
* White Mountain

New York|

* Darrow
* Faith Christian
* Harvey
* Holy Child
* Hoosac
* Masters
* Millbrook
* NYMA
* Oakwood Friends
* Rye Country Day
* Storm King
* Trinity-Pawling
* Winchendon

Rhode Island|

* Portsmouth Abbey
* Providence Country Day
* Rocky Hill
* St. Andrew's
* St. George's

Vermont|

* Vermont Academy

Associate members|

* Académie Saint-Louis
* Albany Academy
* ASD
* Bishop's College School
* Capital Prep Harbor
* Culver
* EF Academy
* Hill
* King's-Edgehill
* Lawrenceville
* Lee
* Lincoln
* Moses Brown
* Nichols
* North Yarmouth
* Penguin Hall
* Princeton Day
* Redemption Christian
* Springfield Commonwealth
* St. Andrew's
* Stanstead
* Wheeler
* Woodstock Academy
* Wyoming Seminary

Authority control databases |

* ISNI

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