Worcester Academy: Where students flex their academic and athletic prowess
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Worcester Academy: Where students flex their academic and athletic prowess

Choosing the right school for your child is crucial. These institutions play an important role in shaping and nurturing talent, while prepping students for success in life. In a similar vein, not many schools successfully instil personal growth in students, challenging them academically while nurturing their sporting talents to thrive in school, university, and beyond.

The value of sporting activities towards childhood development gets lost in some schools – in some instances, sports are curtailed despite playing a pivotal role in a student’s personal and professional growth, teaching them about discipline, performing under pressure, time management, and developing a healthy competitive spirit.

A better school experience

Holistic education is at the root of Worcester Academy; a school that harnesses the academic performance and athletic prowess of your child. This private co-ed boarding school for grades 6 to 12 and postgraduates, located in Worcester, Massachusetts in the US, recognises that children cannot become well-rounded individuals through their studies alone.

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The Academy also runs an intensive athletics programme, challenging students to achieve their full potential. The school has a proud and rich athletic tradition; they’re a member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) and compete against the top tier of New England prep schools, with rivalries dating back more than a hundred years.

Among their share of NEPSAC champions include the recent Girls’ Basketball championship, a team that features senior Aliyah Boston, a 2019 McDonald’s All-American player as well as a three-time Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year (2017, 2018, 2019).

The athletics programme is a major part of life for students at the Academy, so both male and female students throughout the Middle School and Upper School have over 50 teams across 17 sports to choose from, while the Academy boasts of a whopping 60% student body participation.

Middle School athletics include football, hockey, swimming, wrestling, baseball, lacrosse and tennis, while Upper School athletics also include volleyball, ice hockey, skiing, golf, track, and more.

Unsurprisingly, the Academy has produced several collegiate athletes who are flexing their prowess in their respective fields. This includes Martha Kebeh of Harvard, who has participated in shot put, discus, javelin, and high jump while at the Academy; in addition to Matt Adiletta of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), another track and field athlete who was the Academy’s second-highest scorer ever with 363 points.

Ensuring the safety of student-athletes

With a proud and robust student-athlete population, the Academy has measures in place to ensure the safety of pupils. This includes Athletic Training Staff, who are dedicated to providing quality healthcare to all student-athletes. They are responsible for the prevention, recognition, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports-related injuries.

The Academy’s athletic trainers are certified by the National Athletic Trainer’s Association and licensed by the Massachusetts Board of Allied Health Professions to reassure parents that their children are in good hands. Their athletic trainers collaborate with physicians, other healthcare professionals, and the school Health Office to provide students with appropriate healthcare.

Meanwhile, Worcester Academy has a working relationship with the Sports Medicine Clinic at the UMass/Memorial Hahnemann Campus, and has a physician from the clinic at all home football and boy’s ice hockey contests. Fully-trained staff are available before and after all practices and home contests.

school sports

Source: Worcester Academy

Laying the foundations for university

College can be a scary place for students who are unprepared for what’s to come, but the Academy helps each Hilltopper identify institutions of higher learning that reflect their individual interests, abilities, needs, and aspirations.

In the Middle School programme, rigorous academics focus on building the six crucial skills of a lifelong learner: communication, creative and critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, collaboration, cultural competency and global connection. A 7:1 student-teacher ratio, coupled with a project-based approach means students study topics in-depth, while collaborative projects, field trips, speakers and online resources help students learn beyond their textbooks.

Meanwhile, their Upper School curriculum is equally onerous, with 19 Honors Courses, 21 Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and three College Level Courses available. Students typically take five major academic classes; the Academy offers a myriad of electives, from Detective Fiction to Astronomy to Costume design.

It’s a method that’s successful – many graduates have gone on to study at prestigious universities all over the world, including Ivy Leagues such as Harvard University and Cornell University in the US, Oxford University in the UK as well as McGill University in Canada.

If you’re blown away by the schools’ success in producing well-rounded students, it might be time to explore your child’s options at Worcester Academy.

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