Menlo School

Menlo School, also referred to simply as Menlo, is a private college preparatory school in Atherton, California, United States, across the street from Menlo Park. Menlo comprises a middle school, grades 6–8, with approximately 230 students, and a high school, grades 9–12, with approximately 570 students. The two schools are located in close physical proximity, but operate as semi-autonomous units with select overlapping administration. Established in 1915, Menlo also included from the 1920s a junior college that became Menlo College. The college was formally separated from Menlo School in 1994, but they continued to share a single dining hall until 2017.

Not to be confused with Menlo-Atherton High School.

Menlo School
Stent Hall
Address
50 Valparaiso Avenue

Atherton
,
California
94027

United States
Coordinates37°27′12″N 122°11′30″W
Information
TypeIndependent
Established1915
Head of schoolThan Healy
Faculty106
79 full-time
27 part-time
Grades6–12
Gendercoeducational
Number of students800 total
580 upper
220 middle
Average class size15 students upper
18 students middle
Color(s)Navy and gold   
MascotKnight
Annual tuition$53,430 ['21/'22]
Websitewww.menloschool.org

Menlo School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of the National and California Associations of Independent Schools.

History

Menlo School was founded in 1915 as the William Warren School, an all-male military school with an inaugural enrollment of 13 boys. Warren, the founder and headmaster, sold the school in 1924 to a group of parents, who dropped the military focus and formed a new corporation under the name Menlo School for Boys.

In 1927, Menlo became a non-profit governed by a newly created board of trustees. A two-year junior college, Menlo College, was created that year as an expansion of the school. During the college's early decades, Menlo offered a hybrid prep school and junior college education, whereby students attended the school for the latter two years of high school and then the college for two years, then transferred directly into four-year universities as upper-division students.

In fall 1979, Menlo School began its transition from a male-only school with a small boarding program to a coeducational day school. In the 1993–1994 academic year, Menlo further moved to increase the upper school's enrollment, added grade 6 to the middle school, and further expanded its female enrollment.

The college and school were split on June 30, 1994, with further, more specific separations following. Menlo School and Menlo College became formally independent entities, with separate boards, administrations, and faculties. In 2008, they further agreed to the formal legal subdivision of their hitherto shared land into two separate parcels. The only area of the campus that continues to be jointly owned and managed is the Menlo Athletic Quad, consisting of the athletic fields and track.

Following a fundraising effort that began in the late 1990s, both the middle and upper school campuses have been mostly rebuilt. The projects were completed in 1999 and 2004, respectively. The renovated campus includes science laboratories, a dedicated college counselling facility, offices for faculty, a lecture hall, library, student café, Smart Boards and Astroturf. A new athletic center was completed in August 2010, followed by the Creative Arts and Design Center in August 2012. A new performing arts facility was completed in 2021.

Student life

Menlo offers more than 50 student clubs in the upper school and 25 in middle school. These include a chapter of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), Model United Nations organization, Junior Classical League, Mock Trial, beekeeping club, chess club, and environmental club. Both the upper and the middle school have active student councils.

Student publications

The Upper School's student-run newspaper, The Coat of Arms, has won awards including Top Honors – First Place with Special Merit from the American Scholastic Press Association.[1] The Coat of Arms releases roughly six issues a year as well as producing content for its online site and Instagram every few days.

The Menlo Bard is a student-produced digital news magazine about arts and lifestyles. It has been published about five times a year since 2012.

Mock Trial

As of March 2022, Menlo's Mock Trial team has won San Mateo County competitions in 14 out of the past 15 years and been in the top 8 at the California State Championships in 9 of the last 11 years. From 2011 to 2018 it had a perfect 80-0 record in the county.[2] The team won the California State Championship in 2014, defeating the three-time defending champion La Reina High School of Ventura County,[3][4] and in 2019, defeating Shasta High School of Shasta County.[2] Outside California, the team won the Providence Cup, a pre-season national mock trial tournament held in Denver, Colorado, in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2021.[2] Menlo won the American Championship Invitational, a tournament for states' second and third place squads, in 2009, and team members Andy Parker and Tiffany Tam won the Gladiator Individual World Championships, in 2016[5] and 2018 respectively.[2][6]

With Stanford Mock Trial, Menlo also hosts the annual NorCal Mock Trial Invitational, the first tournament in California outside the normal CRF competition to be scored; as of April 2022 they have won the tournament in 7 of the past 11 years.[7]

Other activities

The school puts on musicals and plays. Artistic groups include the Knight Dancers, who produce an annual dance show, a chamber orchestra, and three choruses.

Athletics teams include baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track, water polo, and volleyball. The Knights previously competed in the Peninsula Athletic League, and now compete in the West Bay Athletic League. During the 2009–2010 school year, every varsity team participated in postseason competition, and some went on to state competitions. The boys' tennis team claimed the national tennis title at the National High School All-American Foundation in 2010, placed second in 2011, and won again in 2012.[8]

M-Term

M-Term is an end of year enrichment opportunity for the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes; in the 2017-2018 school year it replaced Knight School, a one-week period substituting alternative intellectual explorations including volunteer trips to work with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans, cooking classes, and video game design seminars for conventional classes. M-Term is around two weeks long and focuses on educating freshmen and sophomores about the communities around the school and the issues they face, including activities ranging from camping in Yosemite to artificial intelligence.

In 2022, Menlo's M-term will include the Borderlands program, which features trips to Arizona and Texas to teach students about the Navajo Nation, sustainability, and the US-Mexico border.[9]

Buildings at Menlo

Menlo's athletic center contains two basketball courts, one full-sized, with drop-down volleyball nets. The gym also has athletic training rooms, a dance room, conference rooms, offices, workout facilities, and locker rooms. The Creative Arts and Design Center contains spaces for artists in the upper school, and orchestra, choir, and band rooms. The upper floor includes drama, photography, journalism and computer science spaces. Recently completed buildings include a new dining hall, student center and library that were added on to Stent Hall in 2017 and The Spieker Center for the Arts, which was finished and unveiled in 2021.

Stent Hall, once a mansion called Douglass Hall, was badly damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and was closed for several years. At first Menlo wanted to demolish it, but protests convinced the school to restore it.[10] It was stabilized by the addition of a new library beside it and of steel supports.[11]

Academic programs

In order to graduate, upper school students are required to complete 10 community engagement credits each year, which involve participating in community service events put on by Menlo or another organization.[12] Peer leadership and advocacy programs give freshmen the opportunity to make connections with upperclassmen and faculty members as they begin their time at the school. Students stay with their advocacy group and advocate for all four years of high school.[13] The faculty includes academic trainers who support students both academically and mentally.

Menlo has implemented programs designed to encourage lifelong learning.

Faculty

The majority of the faculty hold advanced degrees. The full-time faculty includes more than 60 holders of master's degrees, 10 Ph.Ds, and two J.D.s.

The Head of School is Than Healy, since 2013, and the Upper School Director is John Schafer.[14] The Director of Athletics is Earl Koberlein.[15]

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "American Scholastic Press Association". Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  2. "Results + History". Menlo Mock Trial. March 20, 2022. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  3. "La Reina Loses State Mock Trial Competition". VC Star.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Menlo School's Mock Trial team wins state championship". In Menlo.com (press release). March 24, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  5. "Gladiator winner". San Mateo Daily Journal. July 25, 2016. Archived from the original on October 7, 2016.
  6. "Gladiator". Stand Up Mock Trial.com. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  7. "NorCal History". Menlo Mock Trial. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  8. "Menlo School boys win prestigious tennis title". Palo Alto Online. March 19, 2012 [March 17, 2012]. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  9. "M Term Borderlands Program: Details and Application". us6.campaign-archive.com. January 14, 2022. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  10. "Atherton: Historic mansion to get new study". Palo Alto Online. February 22, 1995. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  11. "Stent Hall, Menlo School". Hohbach-Lewin, Inc. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  12. "Upper School Community Engagement". Menlo School.
  13. "A Supportive Community". Menlo School. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  14. "School Leadership". Menlo School. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  15. "Athletics". Menlo School. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  16. Casey, Nicholas (June 15, 2021). "My Father Vanished When I Was 7. The Mystery Made Me Who I Am". The New York Times magazine. Archived from the original on June 15, 2021.
  17. "Advice from a Young Entrepreneur". Menlo School. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009.
  18. "Lifelong Learner? Come to Menlo Knight Class". Menlo Magazine. Menlo School. Summer 2021. p. 28. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  19. Chris Kenrick (May 1, 2012). "Actress returns to Menlo to discuss her career". Palo Alto Weekly. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  20. "2015-16 BOYS SOCCER ALL-LEAGUE TEAM". wbalsports.org. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
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