The Thacher School (also called Casa de Piedra) is a co-educational independent boarding school located on 380 acres (1.5 km²) in a scenic location overlooking the Ojai Valley in Ojai, California. Founded in 1889 as a boys school, it is the oldest boarding school in California. Girls were first admitted in 1978. The student body is 235.
The school is notable for its unique equestrian program. All students are required to ride and care for a horse during their first year. The founder, Sherman Thacher, borrowed a quotation from Winston Churchill and declared, "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a boy" to explain the practice. An annual gymkhana event gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their horsemanship in competition with each other. The program has been augmented recently by the Richard Winters Horsemanship ranch that now uses campus facilities. Week-long camping trips to the local mountains in the fall and spring are another part of the outdoor experience that students are required to participate in.
The school describes its mission as one where the "challenges of academics are combined with those of mountains and horses." The Thacher School is sometimes referred to as "exclusive" and as a "celebrity prep school."
The school was built on the Casa de Piedra ranch. Casa de Piedra is the name of one of the dormitories, and an affectionate name for the school itself (much as "Old Nassau" is for Princeton University). Thacher alumni use the abbreviation CdeP to refer to the school, as in "John Smith, CdeP 1980" rather than "John Smith, Thacher class of 1980."
The Thacher School mascot is the toad.
Perhaps Thacher's most notable alumnus, playwright and author Thornton Wilder, did not fit in and kept to himself while in attendance. He began writing plays while at Thacher, and went on to write the American classic, Our Town.
The Thacher School was the second of two prep schools attended by Howard Hughes; he entered the school when his parents moved to California and was attending school there when his mother died. Television actor Noah Wyle is also an alumnus.
On November 8, 2004, the San Jose Mercury News reported that the school was the recipient of a $10 million donation from alumnus Owen Jameson, its largest ever. The donation will go to provide scholarships for minority and low-income youths. [1]
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Last updated: 10-12-2005 01:09:53
