Winchendon School - Vestigia Yearbook (Winchendon, MA)

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The Winchendon School A Brief History The Wassookeag School of Dexter, Maine, founded by Lloyd Harvey Hatch in 1926 was the forerunner of today's Winchendon School. It was small in number and tutorial in na- ture, maintaining a small faculty-to- student ratio. Those students who attended the school possessed the potential for academic success, but who for one reason or another had failed to develop this latent ability. Thus, the school sought to give the attention and close personal super- vision which the founders thought were prerequisites to academic success. Gaining in reputation, the school ac- cordingly grew in size as well as stature. Seniors were being accept- ed into the colleges of their choice and, most importantly, finding suc- cess at this level. Thanks to the school's philosophy and program, these students had obtained the needed knowledge and tools to com- pete at the college level. In addition to the regular winter school, Mr. Hatch also operated the Wassookeag Summer School Camp that was housed invarious buildings and cabins on beautiful Lake Was- sookeag, several miles west of Dex- ter. Here the curriculum assumed a different complexiong mornings be- came intensive learning sessions and afternoons were devoted to sports, camping and nature-related activities. Following dinner, the evening hours were spent in prepa- ration for the next day's classes. Summer school enrollment peaked during the 1930's with some seven- ty-five students in attendance. Shortly thereafter the summer camp was sold in order that more attention and time could be devoted to the regular winter school program. One of the famed, palatial estates of Newport, Rhode Island became the new home of the former Wassoo- keag School. At this time tduring the l950'sJ, it was thought that the move from distant Maine to a site more accessible to the major cities of the East would generate an increase in student enrollment. As other estates became available-either by auction 5 X -1 'K S'

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E I Contents I Faculty Underclassmen t 11 27 I Seniors Sports ss 97 ' Events Dorms 129 H59

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'Midi ...M il or through rental arrangements-additional com- mitments were made. The schoo1's name was then changed to the Hatch School. Using tuition monies for real estate rather than for food, fuel oil and faculty salaries, the school be- came seriously overextended and in financial straits. To combat this crisis, parents were called upon for help, and in February of 1958, the Board of Trustees was reorganized.