Written by Sanaz Ghorbanpour and Rosemarie Armstrong
Stone Ridge is constantly changing. In recent years, the school has removed the tennis courts and opened a new turf field, made some changes to the student uniform, and added a workout room and dance studio.
Have you ever wondered how different the Stone Ridge Upper School was going back even further? In 1963, for example, there used to be a school cat! Here’s a look at some of the major differences between Stone Ridge, then and now:
1960s:
Students wore blazers as a part of the dress uniform, instead of sweaters.
The Fathers Club held a ski trip for the Upper School to Charnita, Pennsylvania.
Nuns lived in dorms on the fifth floor of Hamilton House and played a huge role in the school community.
Stone Ridge had a Boarders program, with students coming from all around the world.
The school had a cat who lived in the building and was loved by students.
1970s:
In 1973, Stone Ridge Upper Schoolers started the Karate Kempo Club, as well as a Guitar Club.
Instead of wearing jerseys and shorts during sports games, our teams wore their school uni- form kilts and shirts.
The Stone Ridge Yearbook used to be sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company which had a factory in Silver Spring.
Stone Ridge was known as “Stone Ridge Country Day School.”
1980s:
Stone Ridge held W-Hell-Come week, when the seniors put the freshmen through “hell” by dressing them up in crazy costumes and making them set up candlelit dinners for them during the first week of each school year.
Baking Club was a very popular student organization in the 80s. Yum!
Stone Ridge’s Environment Club would keep the inside and the outside of the school tidy and in order.
Empress Michiko of Japan came to visit after graduating from a Sacred Heart college and high school in Tokyo.
To change classes, a girl would stand in the hallway and shake a electronic bell.
1990s:
The school broke ground in 1995 to start building the current Upper School.
Instead of what is now Feminism Club, Stone Ridge had “Women’s Issues,” a club covering similar topics revolving around women’s rights.
There was an Animal Rights Club.
Upper School girls would gather in Duchesne with the other divisions for assembly mid-morning. The school used to be small enough for everyone to gather in one room, showing how much the population has significantly grown from then on.
Now what exactly has stayed the same? The Stone Ridge Upper School still enjoyed traditions such as Congé. In addition, the overall culture among Upper School girls has remained the same.
Dr. John Hogan, has worked as a theology teacher at Stone Ridge since 1987.
“The thing that has stayed the same through- out my years at SR—and the thing that I predict will not change in the future—is the type of student that SR has always attracted,” Dr. Hogan says. “We have always had students who come to Stone Ridge because we do such a good job at preparing them for college. The Upper School of Stone Ridge, however, has always attracted young women who want to commit themselves to something greater than themselves.”
Mr. Paul Boman, a theology teacher who came to Stone Ridge in 1995, says that academics were more serious back then, and seniors did not fret nearly as much about college. But Mr. Boman says that Stone Ridge has always been “a school for smart young women.”
Despite the little things that have changed, the image of the Stone Ridge girl has stood the test of time and always will.