University Liggett School
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University Liggett School
| School type | Private, Non-religious, Co-educational |
|---|---|
| Established | 1878, as Liggett School |
| Head of School | Matthew Hanly |
| Campus | Suburban, 50 acres on two locations |
| Religious affiliation | None |
| Location | Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, USA |
| Enrollment | ~800 PreK-12 |
| Endowment | $49,000,000 |
| Average class size | 8-14 students |
| Mascot | Knight |
| School colors | Red, white and blue |
| School website | www.uls.org |
University Liggett School (ULS) is a private, secular school in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, United States: a suburb of Detroit. It is Michigan's oldest independent school, having celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2004.
The school was formed in 1969 by the merger of the co-educational Grosse Pointe University School (GPUS, often pronounced "gupus," located at the present main campus) and the Liggett School for Girls (then located at the present middle school, but originally located in Detroit). For about a decade after the merger, the hyphenated form "University-Liggett School" was commonly used. GPUS was itself a merger of Detroit University School (DUS) and Grosse Pointe Country Day School (GPCDS). University Liggett School is generally referred to as "Liggett" or "ULS."
The main campus, or Cook Road Campus, has the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten in the Primary School, grades 1 through 5 in the Lower School, and grades 9 through 12 in the Upper School. The Middle School campus, or Briarcliff Campus, has grades 6 through 8. ULS is currently in the process of Campus Master Planning, a project that will consolidate the two campuses and restructure the academic setup of the institution to form a 650-student, one-campus school at the current Cook Road location.
The athletic letter is a U superimposed on an L.
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[edit] Notable Faculty and Alumni
- In 1980, Jean Harris killed Dr. Herman Tarnower, a co-author of the bestselling The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet; she was a lower school teacher at GPUS in the late 1950s.
- Isabel Cleves Dodge, Dodge Automobile Company heiress and prominent Thoroughbred horseracing owner/breeder
- Actress Julie Harris, who graduated from GPCDS in 1944
- Comedian Gilda Radner, who graduated from Liggett in 1964
- Miles O'Brien, a CNN news anchor. O'Brien graduated from ULS in 1977 and was a co-founder of the school's newspaper, "The Knightly News".
- New Yorker editor and author Kevin Conley, who graduated from ULS in 1978.
- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides, who graduated from ULS in 1978. Eugenides' novel - "The Virgin Suicides" functions in many ways as a parody of ULS, mentioning some teachers by slightly altered names (for example, the real-life chemistry teacher Gene Overton became Mr. Tonover in the novel.) Additionally, Eugenides features the knight logo of University Liggett School and other clear references to the school in his bestselling novel, "Middlesex".
- Comedian Max Gail taught at ULS prior to his role on "Barney Miller."
[edit] Accreditations, Academics and Arts
University Liggett School is a competitive preparatory school accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS). Sports teams compete with regional private and public high schools; major school rivals are Detroit Country Day School, Greenhills School, and Cranbrook Kingswood. As one would expect from a school of such a small size, Liggett competes athletically in class D.
In addition to athletics, Liggett has a small arts department. The preforming arts section of which puts on fairly impressive productions, given the small talent pool of which it can select. Two productions, a drama each fall and a musical each winter, in addition to student-produced films and small acts are preformed. The preforming arts group the ULS Players are active members of the International Thespian Society and the Educational Theater Association as Troupe 5253. Phil Moss, chair of the fine and performing arts department, served as president of the EdTA during the 1990s and was recognized in the Hall of Fame for national drama teachers in 2005. The Manoogian Arts Wing was added in 1981, improving arts facilities at the school with a new dance studio, an art display, an audio-video editing studio, five arts classrooms, arts offices and a conference room. This wing is home to the limited visual arts department, which consists of two upper school teachers and one lower school teacher. The music department is small even for an Independent school. It consists of one band teacher and one choir teacher for the upper school, and just one general music teacher for the lower school. Phil Moss and the upper school 2-D art teacher do double duty as the Middle and Upper School arts teachers. The same situation arises in the music department, with the entire department of two teachers teaching the entire Upper and Middle school.
[edit] College Preparation
University Liggett School is known for its rigorous high school curriculum. The average graduating class is about 65, and a small portion of students continue their education at schools in the Ivy League, "Public Ivy league". A larger portion go on to other competitive colleges such as Georgetown University, Duke University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and The University of Chicago. The largest matriculant is, by far, The University of Michigan. Of the last five graduating classes (55-70 students), more than 60 students attended the University of Michigan.
The school offers Advanced Placement classes in history (United States, World, United States Government), science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics), English (language), foreign languages (French, Latin Virgil, Latin Language, Spanish), math (Calculus), and the arts (Art History, Art Studio and Music Theory).
All freshmen are required to pass first aid, nutrition and project adventure. All students must pass American Government, Foundations, World History, United States History, Biology and Chemistry to graduate. Otherwise, requirements are based on a credit system, where a semester class is .5 credit and a year class is one credit. Participation in athletics is also a graduation requirement.
Requirements for graduation include: 4 credits of English, 3 credits of Math, 3 or 4 credits of foreign language (three in one language or four in two different languages), 3 credits of history or social sciences (including Am. Government, Foundations, World History and United States History), 3 credits of science (including biology, chemistry, and physics), and 1.5 credits in two different disciplines of art (disciplines include art, art history, music and drama).
Many students choose to supplement their curriculum with honors or AP classes. The school's above average score history with the Advanced Placement tests could be considered an indicator of the difficult curriculum, or the intelligence of the student body, which mostly consists of middle to upper class children.
