The first eighth grade class of Stevens Cooperative School will be heading off to some of the top colleges in the country in the fall.
“The foundation they received at Stevens, coupled with their own drive and outstanding work in high school, ensured that any college would be lucky to have them,” says Nancy Rossi, Director of Admissions at Stevens Cooperative. “We’re not surprised that colleges such as Carnegie-Mellon and Johns Hopkins choose students that got their start here at Stevens.”
Of the 13 students in the class of 2003, eight started at the school by kindergarten.
“We are fortunate to have played such a formative role in these scholars’ education,” says Zoë Hauser, head of school. “Their parents enrolled their children here at a time when the school only went up to eighth grade, and they stayed with Stevens through a new middle school because of the strength of our progressive curriculum and our teaching staff. It is gratifying to us to know that Stevens played a role in making the Class of 2003 into adults who continue to embrace learning.”
The institutions that accepted the students also include the following: Berklee College of Music, Bard College, Cooper-Union, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University Honors Program, University of Maryland at College Park, and Whittier College.
Adriane Alicea, who entered Stevens in kindergarten, is graduating from Elisabeth Irwin High School in Manhattan and will attend John Hopkins University in the fall. She says that she learned many valuable lessons at Stevens. “I felt like I had such an advantage over other students going to high school because, as opposed to just teaching me how to take tests and answer questions, Stevens taught me how to think.”
Stevens helped her understand that she was in control of her own educational destiny, Alicea said, adding, “At Stevens, while you always have people supporting you, in the end it is your responsibility to take charge of your academic career.”
Perhaps most importantly, Stevens’ recognition of the student as an individual may have helped her steer clear of some peer pressures that can sidetrack even the most disciplined of students.
“Stevens taught us to truly value ourselves and never compromise who we are for other people. In high school, I think that has taken each of my classmates a long way, as they have established themselves well and have not changed themselves in order to fit particular molds at their schools. As a result they have managed to be successful in the arts, the sciences, and many other aspects of school and life.”
Accredited by the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools, Stevens is the oldest progressive school in New Jersey, and will enroll 364 students in 2s through eighth grade in the 2007-2008 school year.