Welcome to Governor Dummer Academy
America's oldest independent boarding school.

One Elm Street Byfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 508-465-1763 Voice 508-462-1278 Fax Home: www.gda.org

Welcome

"The most beautiful noise..." (160KB .aif file)

Massachusetts Bay Colony Lieutenant Governor William Dummer donated his home and lands in 1763 "for the excellent and beneficent design of instructing and educating youth" in preparation for college. Until the end of the eighteenth century, college meant one specific school -- Harvard -- and Governor Dummer Academy provided approximately one quarter of Harvard's student body.

Today, 231 years later, Governor Dummer Academy continues to adhere to the Governor's principles of comprehensive preparatory education in the arts, sciences, history and languages. Just as there has been tremendous advancement in all those areas over the years, Governor Dummer Academy has advanced and expanded; Harvard is now only one of many fine colleges and universities to which GDA sends its graduates.

The modern Governor Dummer Academy includes SCIENCE 2000, an innovative national model program that makes learning biology, chemistry, physics and earth and space science more investigative, interactive and relevant to students' lives. Another current program, called Cooperative Learning, incorporates all academic areas with the concept that students learn more through cooperation than competition.

To suggest that Governor Dummer is concerned solely with academics, however, would be misleading. The Academy's centuries-old motto, "Non sibi sed aliis" ("Not for self but for others"), reflects our commitment to teaching more than hard facts and cold figures. Here students learn how to think, analyze information and put those skills to work to make greater contributions to their worlds.

At the heart of a GDA education is the "Governor Dummer Experience," which our alumni cherish their entire lives. It is something that includes a solid grounding in academics and preparation for college, but does not end there; it is about becoming part of a close-knit, vital, caring community of students and teachers who share common goals; and it is about forming ideas, values and friendships through cooperative dormitory living, extracurricular activities and spirited athletic competition.

We invite you to visit our magnificent campus, meet our students and teachers, explore our facilities and discover our extraordinary and enduring approach to the crucial secondary school years.

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