Marlborough School (Los Angeles)

Marlborough School
Address
250 South Rossmore Avenue, Hancock Park Los Angeles, California United States
Information
Website	marlboroughschool.org

Marlborough School is a private college-preparatory secondary school for grades 7 through 12 located at 250 South Rossmore Avenue in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Marlborough was founded in 1889 by Mary Caswell and is the oldest independent girls' school in Southern California. It has a $43.6 million endowment. Marlborough's colors are purple and white and the mascot is the mustang. Students who attend Marlborough are also known as Violets, the original Marlborough mascot.

Student Body

The school enrolls students from over 70 zip codes in the Los Angeles region. Students of color comprise nearly 40% of Marlborough's student body.

Academics

The student to teacher ratio at Marlborough School is approximately 8:1, lower than the national high school average of 11:1 and the average public school student to teacher ratio of 16:1. In addition, the admissions process is selective. In 2013, 425 girls applied for the 116 available seats for incoming class of 2020. Marlborough's college acceptance rates have historically placed above the national median placement. In 2013, 78% of UC applicants were accepted, and 53% of applicants to the Ivy League or Stanford were accepted. For the class of 2013, 87% of the students who applied regular decision to highly selective colleges and universities were admitted. Marlborough ranked sixth in the nation among high schools with the highest standardized test scores according to Business Insider.

Research Programs

Marlborough's distinguished Leonetti / O'Connell Family Honors Research Programs in science and the humanities place students in hands-on research opportunities at UCLA, USC, Caltech, and Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In 2005, Marlborough's Honors Research Program was featured in an article in the New York Times, "Where Popular Science is Called Women's Work". In 2009, Marlborough was the school of a finalist (top 5) in the Siemens grant for science and technology.

Guest Speakers

Recent guest speakers have included former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen, long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, filmmaker Spike Jonze, internet pioneer Leonard Kleinrock, and actress Cameron Diaz, among others.

School uniforms

Marlborough students have been required to wear school uniforms since the 1926-1927 school year [1].

Athletics

Marlborough fields teams in twelve sports programs, with 36 teams: basketball, cross country, golf, equestrian, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, water polo, and volleyball. A similar number participate in the Junior High Delphic League. Over 60% of Marlborough girls compete in athletics.

Marlborough’s athletic facilities include: the Combs Gymnasium, a fitness center, Caldwell Swimming Pool, 3 multipurpose courts, and Booth Field. Marlborough also uses local sports facilities such as the Los Angeles Tennis Club, Wilshire Country Club, and Occidental College. In the 2012-2013 school year, Marlborough Mustangs won nine League Championships, and had seven students move on to play at the collegiate level, including five girls at NCAA Division I schools. In 2006-2007 Marlborough won the Commissioners Cup, awarded to the most successful girls sports program in the whole of CIF Southern Section.

Since the late 1970s, Marlborough has won 57 Varsity League Titles, 14 CIF-SS Titles, 2 CIF State Titles and 1 National Championship. Most recently the Cross Country Team (2006) and the Basketball Team (2007) won State Championships, and Track & Field (2006), Tennis (2006), Cross Country (2006) and Basketball (2007) won CIF Southern Section Championships.

Arts

Theatre Arts offerings range from open audition productions (an all-School and a Middle School performance), a by-audition company production and student-directed work produced by Drama Ensemble senior members. The Winter and Spring Choral concerts showcase the work of music classes, Chamber Choir, and the Community Chorus as well as soloists in the Vocalist-in-Residence program. Instrumental Ensemble groups perform in a spring instrumental concert. Professional and student choreography is featured in the annual All-School Dance Concert as well as in the "Evening of Dance." Art exhibitions change monthly in the Seaver Gallery and feature the work of both student and guest artists. Each year the Gallery hosts the Annual Invitational Show which includes art work from Los Angeles area schools. In addition to these larger venues, student work can be seen and enjoyed at lunchtime concerts, the "Open Studio," and School assemblies. Several clubs offer opportunities to participate in the arts outside of the classroom experience as well.

The UltraViolet

The UltraViolet (often referred to by the community as The UV) is Marlborough's Upper School newspaper. The paper, which is written and edited by students in grades 10-12, produces six issues a year. The UltraViolet is also available online. It is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press Association, and Quill and Scroll Society, and has won multiple awards from these associations.

Community service

Unique among independent high schools, Marlborough’s service program is voluntary. Projects are based on four levels of action: fund-raising for non-profit agencies and projects; collection of food and other life-necessities; environmental cleanup (including the campus of the immediate community); and most important, contact with children, adults in need of assistance, the sick, and the elderly. At each grade, a student is elected, and parent and faculty representatives volunteer to help coordinate the service calendar.

In the 2005-2006 school year, the students raised over $28,000 to build a new school in Zambia, Africa for AIDS orphans. Seventh graders have participated in the annual Math-a-thon for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, contributing well over $53,000 over a span of four years.

A partial listing of community service activities include: tutoring daily after school at the nearby 3rd Street School and Los Angeles Leadership Academy, Bookworms reading club with the Wilshire Elementary School kindergarten class, food of the month collection, 150 lunches made of homeless teens at the Covenant House Shelter and Outreach, working to distribute food at the Hope Net Pantry on Saturday mornings, Tree People, Binky Patrol, AIDS Walk (raising over $4500 for AIDS research), Denim Day (raising $2540 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation), volunteering at Adoption Day at the Children's Court House, helping set up for a Thanksgiving Dinner for 2500 at the Santa Monica Civic Center, preparing snack bags for the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition, caroling at the St. John of God Care Center, working with One Voice to pack holiday food at the Santa Monica Airport, cell phone donations, arts projects at the Shriners' Hospital, Locks of Love, Chocolate for Charity, book collection for Para Los Ninos, bake sale for hearing-impaired children, prom dress collection, Relay for Life, dinner at PATH, dance ensemble charity event, planting at the Hope Net community garden, and participation in Big Sunday.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition for the 2013-2014 school year was $33,785, not including uniforms, books, field trips,etc.

In 2013-2014, Marlborough had a $2.25 million financial aid budget, which was 12% of the School's budget. That year, 18% of enrolled students received some amount of financial aid, with an average award per student of $21,250.

External links

• Official Marlborough School website
• Official Marlborough School newspaper