Archive for October 21st, 2008

by Antonia Jacob

General: Private, K-12 preparatory school. Mascot is the Trojan. Colors are Columbia Blue and White.

Enrollment: About 1000

Founded: 1959

Tuition: $$$ (explanation)

Financial Aid Program: for qualified students

Philosophy: European classical approach

Local Reputation: For academics and drama program as well as athletics, in which it competes in the Southwest Preparatory Conference.

Accreditation: Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS)

Location:Southwest Fort Worth, in the “Cityview” village, and about two miles south of Bryant Irvin and the I-20.

Academics:The Lower School focuses on the core subject areas of language arts, reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies and uses the Junior Great Books program. Writing is emphasized and class sizes are small.

In the middle school and the upper school every class is taught as an honors class. There are 16 AP classes offered in the upper school, nearly every student takes at least a few. The academic requirements from middle school through upper school encompass English, history, mathematics science and foreign language. Geography and two years of Latin are also required in the middle school; Government, Economics, and Physics are required in the upper school.

By graduation, all TVS students have completed 5 years of a foreign language – Spanish, French, Latin, and Chinese are offered. Each will also have gone through four years of high school math – perhaps as far as second-year calculus. Through their junior and senior years, all students are aided through the college admissions process by two full-time college counselors.

Extracurriculars: There is a strong community service program in the upper school, as every student is required to make 60 hours before graduating. Art and music are taught to all through middle school; in middle school the drama program begins with a large musical every year. The high school produces a musical and various plays throughout the year. Many students are involved in Trojan Athletics, offered from seventh grade on. Teams are open to all who wish to play. Trojan Outdoor Experience gets students from second grade on involved in the “great outdoors.”

Friday, 9:15 p.m.

We arrive at the campground, known colloquially as “Sid” or more specifically Sid Richardson Scout Ranch. Sid Richardson, a legendary oil man, was the founder of the Bass family fortunes and apparently he or his family donated this land. We pull up and Ryan, a member of my son’s patrol who’s riding shotgun at this point, looks out into the dark. “Oh no, we’re not camping there,” he says.

‘Why?” I ask.

“Because, look at all the rocks.” 

It’s dark out there and I can’t see anything but I assume from his tone that Ryan is speaking in the voice of experience, and I reflect with some worry about my decision to bring only a thermarest pad and not an air mattress or cot. Brand and his patrol run off into the dark, while I unpack the tents and sleeping bags onto the hood of the car, and survey in the camp chest for the lantern. There is none. Oh no. No flashlight, no lantern. I am feeling uneasy again. But if worst comes to worst, we can always sleep in the car, which in many ways is the most comfortable place in a campground. 

What will really happen is probably that the other adults will have to help me, shake their heads, say ‘poor thing doesn’t have it together,’ etc. I really want to avoid that.

I see older scouts walking around with headlamps on and think to myself, if only Vince had come, he has a headlamp he would loan me. But he didn’t. So what should I say? In the words of our day, ‘it is what it is.” 

I get out of the car. You can smell the dirt. I see two of the scoutmasters – Mr. R and Ms. B  – rummaging in their kit, pulling out a chrome coffee pot.  “So we drink coffee here?” I ask.

“Oh yes, there will be coffee,” they say. So that is good.

Two small flying insects are attracted to the computer screen, and land on it … now there are three. This settles definitively the debate between Brand and Ryan, whether it was now too cold for bugs. It’s not too cold. The tough Texas bugs do not give up so easily – 50 degrees is not enough to deter them. Wait ‘till it freezes, then they’ll give up. But at that point, I will not be camping with the scouts. 

The scouts have a badge for camping in the rain, and one for camping in the snow, and I hope to avoid both of these. A fourth bug joins the three. I suppose I should end this missive for the moment, before I have a dozen crawling around.