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HISTORY Hotchkiss was founded in 1891 by Maria Bissell Hotchkiss with the encouragement of Yale University president Timothy Dwight V . Maria Hotchkiss was the widow of Benjamin B. Hotchkiss , who founded the French arms company Hotchkiss Et Cie , made famous by the use of its machine guns in World War I {Link without Title} . Maria originally had aspirations for the school to serve underprivileged students, and the original charter provided some scholarship for local farm-boys. CAMPUS AND FACILITIES The school is located in a rural setting in 545 acres (2 km²) of woodland near two lakes. Hotchkiss also has an endowment of over $340 million. Academic Facilities Most classes are held in the "Main Building", a three story building at the center of campus, containing most of the classrooms, which is interconnected with the dining hall, chapel, library, auditorium and music building. Science classes are held in laboratory classrooms in the separate "Science Building", which is divided into floors for physics, chemistry and biology. The Edsel Ford library, connected to the main building, holds 80,000+ volumes, along with many computer workstations. Esther Eastman Music Centre 2005 saw the completion of Hotchkiss' brand new music centre. The building is constructed from wood and glass and has views over the Litchfield Hills . Elfers Hall seats 700 and has excellent acoustics. The school has equipped the hall with a handmade Fazioli Piano . There are also many practice rooms, three class teaching rooms and a Music Technology studio. Athletic Facilities Outdoor facilities include climbing walls and a nine-hole golf course created by designer Seth Raynor . An adjacent lake, Wononscopomuc, has a boat house and is used for sailing. There are also many fields, providing playing grounds for the football, soccer, field hockey, baseball and softball teams. The athletic complex, known as the "AFC", houses an olympic-size ten lane pool, eight squash courts, two ice hockey rinks, two basketball courts, a wrestling room, a fitness center/weight room, three indoor tennis courts and two paddle tennis courts. Dorms and Other Facilities There are ten dorms on campus, five for boys and five for girls. Rooms vary in size, from singles to the occasional triple. Ground was broken in 2005 for two new dorms, one each for girls and boys. The dining hall and snack bar provide food. Three meals a day are served buffet-style in the dining hall. A salad bar, deli bar and dessert bar are provided in addition to the hot entrees. Meals at the dining hall are included in the tuition. The snack bar is open when the dining hall is not, and provides snack-type food, but costs money, payable by debit card, one of the main forms of currency exchange at the school. STUDENTS In the 2005-2006 school year, the school had 567 students from 33 states and 18 countries. The students are divided into grades 9 through 12, known as "Preps" (Grade 9), "Lower-Mids" (Grade 10), "Upper-Mids" (Grade 11), and "Seniors" (Grade 12). Students are expected to adhere to a formal dress code each class day. Girls have guidelines on combining top layers with pants or skirts, whereas boys are required to wear a blazer, khakis and a tie. The dress code is relaxed during the winter and late spring months, to accommodate for the weather. FACULTY Currently, Hotchkiss has 127 faculty, resulting in a 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio. 68% of the faculty have graduate degrees, and a number have doctorates in their respective fields. The majority of the Hotchkiss faculty live on campus, in both private houses scattered across the grounds, or in apartments in the dorms. Each floor of each dorm has at least one faculty apartment. EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Athletics Hotchkiss currently fields 17 interscholastic sports teams. Historically strong athletic programs include the Girls Field Hockey team and the Boys Hockey team. Hotchkiss Field Hockey has won 8 New England championships, including four consecutive from 2002-2005. Sports results can be found on the student run website www.Hgoblue.com . Clubs Hotchkiss students run a number of clubs, ranging from The Record, a student run newspaper, the Human Rights Initiative, to BaHSA, the Black and Hispanic Student Alliance, to the Gay/Straight Alliance. Clubs are student run, and many of them receive a budget from the school, to provide for their various needs. NOTABLE ALUMNI
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REFERENCES Information resources independent from the school itself. Links to independent school organizations and accreditation services.
EXTERNAL LINKS
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