Education

The quaint one-room schoolhouses dotting New Hampshire formed the backbone of the early Granite State education system. Education-minded communities began building these bare-bones schools in the late seventeenth century. In a modest log or clapboard structure, a single teacher faced the challenge of instructing students of all grades through farming seasons and the daily rigors of rural life. Often, these determined educators were limited to instructing students from whichever books pupils brought from home. Despite this, education was highly valued, and students trekked through the weather of all seasons and endured corporal discipline to become literate and learned. Author Bruce Heald explores the evolution of New Hampshire's one-room schoolhouses and shares the firsthand accounts and memories of former pupils.

When their Jewish heritage and progressive philosophies made the Bondy family a target of the Nazi regime, they were forced to sell their school and start anew in America. Max and Gertrud Bondy first opened their innovative school in Windsor, Vermont, and moved the campus to Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1944. Windsor Mountain School was ahead of its time--the faculty honored diversity, and it became the first co-ed integrated boarding school in Berkshire County. Families like the Belafontes, Poitiers and Campanellas were attracted to the school for its multicultural and international curriculum. From its golden age to the rock-and-roll era, Windsor Mountain strived to stay true to its mission until hard financial times forced the school to close in 1975. Roselle Kline Chartock captures the spirit of this Berkshire boarding school that still lives on in the hearts of its alumni.

Woburn High School has instilled the importance of education in generations of students for over 160 years. The school opened its doors in 1852 with thirty-four students in a leased room at the Knight Building on Main Street. Increasing enrollment and curriculum requirements necessitated the building of a larger school on Main Street in 1854 and again in 1906 at the Dow Farm property on Montvale Avenue. Woburn's reputation as a leading leather manufacturer during the Civil War inspired the Tanner nickname, bull mascot and school motto: Tanner Pride. With the leadership of thirteen principals throughout its history, over thirty-two thousand students have graduated from this school. Today, more than half the faculty are returning alumni, and generations of Woburn families continue to send their children to this school. Join author Susan Thifault as she explores a history of pride and tradition at Woburn High School.