Georgetown Day School
Georgetown Day School (GDS) is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students in northwestern Washington, D.C. Russell Shaw is the current Head of School. Founded in 1945 as Washington's first racially integrated school, it is known for its progressive climate and dedication to social justice. Students call teachers by their first names, and the high school allows students to leave the campus during school hours. The school has educated the children of several high-ranking government officials, including Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice Ruth Bader  Ginsburg, United States Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Texas Senator Phil Gramm, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu., as well as Associate Justice-designate of the Supreme Court and federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Georgetown Day has also educated the children of several influential figures, including the children of Joel Glazer. Georgetown Day recently finished construction on the new lower and middle school campus (2021), thereby unifying the high school and lower/middle school campuses. Both are now located in Tenleytown. The project raised over fifty-two  million dollars from more than 2,000 donors, surpassing the fifty-million dollar fundraising goal. Academics. GDS offers 18 Advanced Placement courses, which are currently being phased out. The high school features a curriculum covering the humanities, mathematics, sciences, and the arts. Students are required to take four years of English courses and a freshman seminar focusing on diversity issues. As of 2022, Niche ranks Georgetown Day School as the best private high and K-12 school in the District of Columbia. Additionally, Niche ranks Georgetown Day as the ninth-best K-12 private school and the twenty-seventh best private high school  nationally. The school enrolls approximately 1,075 students and graduates about 130 seniors in any given year. As a college preparatory school, GDS sends 100% of its graduates to four-year universities. The most frequently attended universities for GDS alumni include Harvard University, Tufts University, Brown University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Michigan, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin and Yale University. The mean SAT scores for the 2017 senior class at GDS were Math (700), Writing and Reading (720). The Class of 2018 included 8 National Merit Semifinalists, 27 Commended Students, and 3 National Hispanic  Scholars. Each year the school sponsors the Ben Cooper Lecture in memory of a student killed in a car accident in 1997. Past speakers have included Samantha Power, immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas, journalist Michele Norris, journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer-brothers Franklin, Jonathan, and Joshua Foer (all three alumni), journalist David K. Shipler, feminist Zainab Salbi, civil rights activist Julian Bond, historian John Hope Franklin, political scientist James C. Scott, architect William McDonough, author Sherman Alexie, Senator George J. Mitchell, journalist Anna Quindlen, author and humanitarian Elie Wiesel, poet Maya Angelou, scientist Harold Varmus (a GDS parent), historian Taylor  Branch, and US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Athletics. Boys' cross country. GDS has a strong tradition in boys' cross country, including winning five consecutive Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships under Head Coach Anthony Belber from 2010 to 2014, and the DCSAA Championships in 2013. In 2021, GDS won the MAC Championships and ended Sidwell Friends School's five year MAC title streak.