Marvelwood School
The Marvelwood School is a college preparatory private boarding school located in Kent, Connecticut, United States. Marvelwood was founded in 1956 by Robert A. Bodkin and Ian Hanna in Cornwall, Connecticut. Bodkin remained headmaster until 1981. He was succeeded by Peter B. Tacy until 1989, H. Mark Johnson until 1997, Anne Davidson Scott until 2005, Scott E. Pottbecker until 2011, and Arthur F. Goodearl until 2018. Blythe Everett P '14,'16 is the current Head of School. Ian Hanna named the school after his relative Donald Grant Mitchell, an American novelist who was best known under the pseudonym Ik  Marvel. The family owned an estate in New Haven, Connecticut, also called Marvelwood. About Marvelwood. Marvelwood was founded in 1956 in Cornwall, Connecticut, on a campus previously occupied by Rumsey Hall School. In 1995, Marvelwood moved from its cramped campus in Cornwall to the former Kent School girls' campus about away on Skiff Mountain in Kent, CT. The Marvelwood student body consists primarily of boarding students, with about 20% of students commuting from home. Of those boarding students, about 24% are international, coming from countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France, Russia, and Vietnam. The school offers a  three-level ESL program to accommodate foreign speakers. Academic Programs. Intentionally small and flexible, Marvelwood offers an intimate mountain-top setting for students who benefit from focused and individual attention and encouragement. Students are engaged in unique and hands-on programming, nurturing them towards academic and personal confidence. Their program is geared to providing a strong preparation for college and laying the foundation for a lifetime of curiosity, inquiry and learning. Marvelwood's optional Learning Support Program customizes one-on-one and small group curriculum to suit each student. Orton-Gillingham trained teachers work with students with dyslexia and other  language-based learning differences. Outside the classroom, students participate in a wide variety of activities, including weekly community service, competitive athletics, creative arts programs, and an award-winning film studies program. Marvelwood works locally with the Audubon Sharon and Institute for Bird Populations. Campus Organizations. Music on the Mountain. Currently in its seventh year, Music on the Mountain was created as a way to showcase talented performers. Held about once per month, Music on the Mountain is an open mic event hosting a range of student and local performers. The types of performers vary immensely, from singers and musicians to  comedians and dancers.