Fay School, founded in 1866 by the Fay sisters, is an independent, coeducational day and boarding school located in Southborough, Massachusetts.
History
Founding and early years Fay School was founded in 1866 by sisters Eliza Burnett Fay and Harriet Burnett in a former parsonage of the Unitarian church, across from St. Mark's School, where Fay students traditionally attended secondary school. In its first school year, the school had only seven students: five day students and two boarders.
Expansion Under Eliza Fay's son, Waldo B. Fay, the school grew sizably, adding a new dormitory, school room, and library. In 1922, the school was officially incorporated, and the ownership of the school was transferred from the Fay family to the newly formed board of trustees. The school became fully coeducational in 1977, having previously implemented a pilot program for girls in 1972. Girls had previously attended the school as day students through the late 19th century. The Root Academic Building, the main academic building of the campus, was constructed in 2001. Fay opened its Primary School (pre-K to 2nd grade) in 2010 and moved its 6th grade into the Lower School program (now 3rd to 6th grade) in the 2012–13 school year.
Headmasters +List of Fay School HeadmastersNameYears in OfficeEliza Burnett Fay1866-1896 ( years)Waldo B. Fay1896-1918 ( years)Edward W. Fay1918-1942 ( years)Harrison L. Reinke1942-1969 ( years)A. Brooks Harlow Jr.1969-1988 ( years)Stephen V. A. Samborski1988-1990 ( years)Stephen C. White1990-2008 ( years)Robert J. Gustavson Jr.2008-2024 ( years)Susanna Whitaker Waters2024-Incumbent ( years)
Campus facilities The school is situated on a 30-acre main campus, with a 36-acre athletic campus 1.5 miles away in Marlborough. Apart from the Root Academic Building, there are multiple other buildings at Fay: the Center for Creativity and Design, the Picardi Art Building, the Reinke Building, and the Harris Event Center, which contains the theater. Below the theater is the Harlow Gymnasium, which contains the locker rooms, four basketball courts, an indoor rock climbing wall, and a fitness room. In addition, there are six soccer fields, four tennis courts, two swimming pools, a football field, and the multi-purpose MacAusland Field. For meals, students go to the Camp Family Dining Hall, which is currently operated by FLIK ISD. There are currently seven dormitory buildings: two boy dorms and five girl dorms, housing its 150 boarding students from 7th to 9th grade.
Notable alumni
Doug Brown '1979, NHL right winger, 1986-2001 Stephen Chao '1970, entrepreneur and media executive, former president of Fox Television, 1992; former president of USA Network, 1998-2001 Victor Chapman '1903, first American pilot killed in World War I Eric Chou '2010, Mandopop singer, songwriter Michael D. Coe '1941, archeologist, Mesoamerican scholar Robert Daniel '1949, US Representative of Virginia, 1973-1983 Tarah Donoghue Breed '1997, deputy press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush Hamilton Fish III '1900, US Representative of New York, 1920-1945 Peter Fonda '1954, actor George Foreman III '1998, boxer and entrepreneur Glen Foster '1944, 1972 Summer Olympics sailing medalist Topher Grace '1994, actor C. Boyden Gray '1956, White House counsel, 1989-1993, US Ambassador to the European Union, 2006-2008 Prince Hashim Al Hussein '1996, prince of Jordan Princess Iman bint Hussein '1998, princess of Jordan Heyward Isham '1940, US Ambassador to Haiti, 1974-1977 James Simon Kunen '1962, journalist, lawyer, writer, author of The Strawberry Statement Bruce Lawrence '1955, scholar, Duke professor of religion David McKean '1972, US Ambassador to Luxembourg, 2016-2017 Nicholas Negroponte '1958, founder and chairman emeritus of the MIT Media Lab, founder of One Laptop per Child Robert E. Sherwood '1909, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Jeremiah Wadsworth '1918, US Ambassador to the United Nations, 1960-1961 Damian Woetzel '1981, principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, 1989–2008; seventh president of the Juilliard School Ying Rudi '2014, professional KHL ice hockey player, Chinese representative in the 2022 Winter Olympics Efrem Zimbalist Jr. '1931, Golden Globe-winning actor Nika Futterman ''1985’, American Voice Actress and singer
References
Further reading Steward, Scott C. The Fay School: A History, 1866–1986. Southborough, MA: The Trustees of Fay School, 1988.
External links Official Website
Entry in Boarding School Review