By Rebecca Miller, ’12, Contributor
The Upper School welcomes 19 new students, continuing a trend of 16 to 20 new students a year that began in the 2003-2004 school year. Despite the large number of new students, this year’s Upper School is slightly smaller, partly because the freshman class is slightly smaller than last year’s senior class. The entire school’s enrollment by the end of the 2009-2010 school year will be about 25 to 30 students smaller than the enrollment at the end of the 2008-2009 school year.
The slight decrease in schoolwide enrollment results from about 12 to 15 fewer new students enrolled this year and about 12 to 15 fewer returning students. Director of Admissions Aaron Kellenberger credits this decline in enrollment to the current economic conditions. “Overall, recruitment and retention have both been a challenge in this economy, but we are fortunate to have committed and dedicated students and parents who value an independent school education. Many parents continue to put their children’s education as their first priority, which speaks volumes to the type of families who are the cornerstone of our community,” Kellenberger said.
The 19 students—11 freshmen, 3 sophomores, 4 juniors, and 1 senior—who joined the CCDS Upper School this year are excited to be part of the community, despite initial new student fears. Tara Leesar, ’10, who came from Ursuline Academy, admitted, “I was kind of nervous about starting over my senior year of high school in a new community with people who have known each other since middle school or earlier. However, the transition has been really easy thanks to all my classmates and teachers.”
Other new students have also been amazed by the CCDS community. Caitlin Hilberg, ’12, who came from Madeira High School, found that her “favorite part about CCDS so far is the atmosphere created by the students and teachers.” Robert Park, ’11, who came from Loveland High School, is also excited about the students and said that “the teachers have all been pretty amazing.” In addition, Molly Petre, ’13, who came from St. Mary’s in Hyde Park, expressed enthusiasm and is “excited for dances, different games, and making great friends at CCDS.” Bradley Hammoor, ’12, who came from The Barstow School in Kansas City, stated that he is most excited about the “academics and meeting new people.”
While new students are dispersed through every grade, some grades have more than others. The grades with the fewest new students are the seniors and Montessori with one new student each. However, in Montessori, there was only space for one more student due to the large number of Early Childhood families who chose the program. There is currently a waiting list for Montessori. The grades with the greatest number of new students are the Early Childhood, Kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade. Due to high demand, there will also soon be a waiting list for the Early Childhood program.
Photo by Ilana Habib