Kent Denver School
Kent Denver School is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian college preparatory high school and middle school in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado. It traces its origin back to the 1922 founding of the Kent School for Girls and has existed as a co-educational institution since 1974. The Kent School for Girls was founded by Mary Austin Bogue, Mary Louise Rathvon and Mary Kent Wallace on Sherman Street in Denver in 1922. Denver Country Day School, an all-men's high school, was founded by Andrews D. Black and Tom Chaffee in 1953, and the two schools  relocated to a portion of the spacious Blackmer Farm in Cherry Hills Village in the 1960s. The schools operated side-by-side and with joint science classes until they merged in 1974 to become Kent Denver School. Campus. Kent Denver is located at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Quincy Avenue in Cherry Hills Village at 4000 East Quincy Avenue. The campus is centered on two lakes and bordered by the Highline Canal. The campus houses 44 classrooms in four main building complexes. Most student life in the high school is centered on the Bogue Common Room, a former courtyard  that was walled in to create a meeting place with a cafe for the upper school. Adjacent to the common room and the main upper school hallway is the Duncan Center, which houses the Boettcher Foundation Library. The Gates Science Center/Magness Technology Center includes classrooms, science laboratories and office space and is also home to an aquarium and three computer labs. Gates also houses an astrometric (sundial) tower that was completed with the help of KDS science students. The Kent Denver Credit Union, which has operated since 1994, is one of the longest-running, in-school, student-run credit  unions. It is now a branch of MidFirst Bank. The theatre, music and visual arts departments are located in the Student Center for the Arts, completed in 2006, which houses the 500-seat Anschutz Family Theatre. The nearby El Pomar Theatre has been renovated and serves as a smaller, 125-seat performing arts venue. Kent Denver's Commercial Music Program, in particular, has gained a considerable reputation both domestically and internationally. The program's R&B ensemble - the Quincy Ave. Rhythm Band - has been recognized by "DownBeat" Magazine eight times in the past eleven years. In addition, the program's Afro -Cuban ensemble - the Azucartones - garnered their first DownBeat award in 2015. The program's ensembles travel each year to learn more about the musical culture of cities around the world. In the past, student-musicians have traveled to Memphis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, San Diego, and New York. In the spring of 2014, members of the jazz and Latin bands traveled to Havana, Cuba, to learn more about the island's rich musical history. In the summer of 2014, the Quincy Ave. Rhythm Band was invited to perform at the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy, a four-day music  festival that celebrates Memphis music, and the Montreux Jazz Festival - the second largest jazz festival in the world. In 2011, Kent Denver completed another significant campus project with the opening of a new Dining Hall, the first LEED Platinum building of its kind. Thanks to the many enhancements made in the building's design and construction, the Dining Hall boasts a 42% energy savings over comparable buildings, and it was built using materials that are environmentally friendly, sustainably produced, and/or locally sourced. Ranking. According to Niche, Kent Denver School enjoys a ranking as the #1 in Best Private High School  in Colorado and is among the top 100 of all private schools nationwide.