Brooks
School
Brooks
School is located near the
shore of
Lake Cochichwick in
North Andover,
Massachusetts.
It is a private and co-ed preparatory school founded by Reverend Endicott
Peabody in 1962. Before instituting the school, the founder was the headmaster
of the
Groton
School.
The Brooks
School first opened on September 19, 1927 with 14 students in the seventh and
eighth grade, then termed as first and second forms. Each year thereafter, the
school added one grade or one form until it reached grades seven to twelve in
1931. At present, the Brooks School also includes grades nine to twelve.
Brooks
School is noted for its high standards in leadership which is manifested in the
fact that the school had only three headmasters or school heads for the past
seventy five years. The headmasters of the schools were Frank Ashburn who graduated
from Groton School, Yale University and Columbia Law School, and he served for
46 years before he retired in 1973; H. Peter Aiken, who served from 1973 to 1986
as the successor of Ashburn; and Lawrence W. Becker, the current headmaster of
Brooks School since 1986, who is expected to step down in 2008.
Statistics
on the current number of students show that fifty five percent are male and
forty five percent are female, seventy percent are boarding and thirty percent
are day students, and seventeen percent are minority students, twelve percent
are international students and twenty percent are receiving financial aids.
The
school has five dormitories for male students, which are Whitney, Thorne (the
largest dorm in the campus with 40 residents), Blake, Peabody and Russell. The five
dormitories for female students are Merriman, Gardner, PBA, Hett West and Hett
East.
Some of
the famous graduates from the Brooks School are actor Anthony Perkins, an
Academy Award nominee; television actor Parker Stevenson, who is married to
actress Kirstie Alley; and professional soccer player, Charlie Davies, who
plays for the Swedish Allsvenskan.
