The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., features 19 interscholastic sports and 61 teams at three levels. It also has the facilities to match its price tag.
Video: Hotchkiss School Football HighlightsSee the Bearcats in action in recent seasons, including home games at Sprole Field.LAKEVILLE, Conn. - So what do you get for $45,605 a year in private school tuition these days?
If you're at the
Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, Conn.) and participate on one of its 61 interscholastic teams, plenty.
A survey last summer by
MSN Moneyranked the Top 20 most expensive private schools in America and Hotchkiss, located in the bucolic northwest corner of Connecticut, earned the No. 3 overall spot, bested only by No. 1
Lawrenceville, N.J. ($47,840), and No. 2
Salisbury, Conn. ($47,250).
While there is no
Allen (Texas)-style football stadium at Hotchkiss, no
New Castle (Ind.)-style basketball arena, the sum of its athletic parts is impressive, as it is at many New England prep schools.
View the Jackman Stewart Center at No. 19 Berkshire ($42,975 per)The crown athletic jewels at Hotchkiss are the 220,000-square foot Forrest E. Mars Jr. Athletic Center and the nine-hole Seth Raynor/Charles Banks-designed golf course that runs through the 827-acre campus. The sprawling indoor athletic center is named for its chief benefactor and graduate Forrest Mars, he of the Mars chocolate and confectionery empire.
Mars Athletic Center manager and boys hockey coach Mike Traggio.
Photo by Jim Stout
The Mars Athletic Center includes:
- A 4,000-square-foot field house, with multi-purpose playing surfaces and a two-lane, 1/11th-mile elevated indoor exercise track.
- A 10-lane natatorium, with a separate diving well.
- Two hockey rinks, including one 200 x 100 Olympic-size sheet.
- Eight international squash courts.
- Three indoor tennis courts named after William and Martha Ford, of Ford Motor Company fame (William was the youngest grandson of Henry Ford and a Hotchkiss graduate).
As for the Hotchkiss Golf Course,
Bill Pennington of the New York Times wrote that it is "filled with devilishly sloping fairways, spectacular lake views and a closing-hole par 5 that began in a narrow stand of trees, skirted past a swamp and finished with a serpentine uphill approach to a plateau green." Several of the course's holes overlook scenic Lake Wononscopomuc, home of the Hotchkiss sailing team.
The Mars Athletic Center is managed by 1991 Hotchkiss graduate Mike Traggio, who is also the
boys varsity hockey coach. Traggio, who skated on defense for four years at Brown University before playing for a season in Italy, left his job as director of hockey at Logitech Ice in San Jose, California, to manage the Mars Center when it opened in 2002.
"As hard as it was to leave California, there was always one place I told my wife (Anna) that would be ideal to raise our family," Traggio said.
"Helping to open our doors to the local community, through various recreational programs, has proven to be a very rewarding part of the job. Having the ability to expose other people to the special Hotchkiss community has been an added bonus.
"There were definite difficulties and new challenges when we expanded to the (current) athletic complex," he added. "The former gym didn't really have operating hours; Hotchkiss community members could call the security office, and be let into the facility at any time. I think it is always a challenge when you have a place steeped in such history and tradition. But it's been fun to intermix the history of the school and past teams, with the excitement of creating new memories and traditions with these great facilities."
Jim Stout is the CBS MaxPreps Media Manager for the Eastern
U.S. He may be reached at jim.stout@cbsi.com or @MaxPrepsPR
The main entrance to the Hotchkiss School. The independent co-ed boarding school was founded in 1891 and draws students from throughout the United States and 34 other countries. Alumni include Time Magazine founders Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, and automotive industry magnates Henry Ford II, Edsel Ford and William Clay Ford.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The entrance to the 220,000-square foot Mars Athletic Center. It opened in 2002 and serves both Hotchkiss students and faculty, and the surrounding Lakeville community.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The Hotchkiss Bearcat stands ready outside the Mars Athletic Center wing that houses the facility's two hockey rinks.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The ornate halls of the Mars Athletic Center pay homage to the school's rich athletic history.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The 10-lane Hixon Pool inside the MAC. The natatorium also has a separate diving well, and is used by the local Lakeville community, as well as the Housatonic Valley Regional High School swim teams.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The 4,000-square foot field house inside the MAC features multiple playing courts and an elevated 1/11 of a mile track.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The John R. Chandler, Jr. Fitness Center at the MAC.
Photo by Jim Stout
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Hotchkiss basketball teams play at the William C. Fowle Gymnasium, noted for its old-school hardwood floor. The gym predates the modern athletic center and was incorporated into the new building.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The Hotchkiss hockey teams play at the Thomas Schmidt Rink, one of two ice sheets within the athletic center environment. Prominent among Hotchkiss hockey graduates are Torrey Mitchell of the Montreal Canadiens, Luke Glendening of the Detroit Red Wings and two-time U.S. Olympic medal-winner Caitlin Cahow.
Photo by Jim Stout
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Current Hotchkiss defenseman and Harvard pledge Marshall Rifai is ranked No. 99 among North American players eligible for the 2016 NHL entry draft, according to the league's Central Scouting's midseason report.
Photo by Jim Stout
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The Hotchkiss Golf Course overlooks the village of Lakeville and Lake Wononscopomuc. It was designed in 1924 by the prominent golf course architect Seth Raynor, and later modified by Charles Banks, a Hotchkiss English teacher. Banks went on to course-design prominence of his own.
Courtesy of the Hotchkiss School
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The February 2010 issue of Golf World Magazine named the Hotchkiss Golf Course No. 22 in a list of the 25 best nine-hole golf courses in America. The course is open to the public, though Hotchkiss golf team matches and general student play sometimes take precedent.
Courtesy of the Hotchkiss School
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If you stand on the first tee of the Hotchkiss Golf Course and turn 180 degrees, you can look onto the school's multi-sport turf facility, Sprole Field.
Photo by Jim Stout
