Robotics student Addison Trescott and Northwood School Associate Head of School for External Affairs Thomas Broderick attend the open house Oct. 26. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

On Saturday, Oct. 26, Northwood School held an open house for members of the community and families considering a private school education for their daughters and sons. For many, a big takeaway is that Northwood’s priority isn’t engaging youth in sports to achieve Olympic or NHL status. Rather, the school’s goal is to help young people achieve the educational and emotional skills needed to forge a meaningful future in the career of their choice.

That said, Northwood has nearly three dozen graduates who have achieved fame in various sports. They include Olympians like Ni Orsi, Thomas Vonn and Andrew Weibrecht in Alpine; Brent Rushlaw in bobsledding; Jim Campbell, Tony Granato, Andrea Kilbourne-Hill, Tom Mellor and Mike Richter in hockey; Ulf Kvendbo, Jay Rand and Will Rhoads in jumping; Kei Takahashi in luge; Joe Lamb in Nordic combined; and Kevin Drury in ski-cross. Since 1964, at least one Northwood graduate has participated in a Winter Olympics, while many others landed a career in the NHL.

Seeking excellence in sport has a multitude of benefits for helping youth achieve their highest potential. The physical benefits include developing healthy bones, cardiovascular fitness, motor skills and overall fitness. On the mental side, sports can lead to stress reduction, improved team-building leadership skills and self-esteem. Studies have also shown that participation in sports can result in improved academic outcomes.

Not all students come to Northwood to participate in their sports program. Addison Trescott applied to Northwood for its robotics program, an area of study initially suggested by her mom. Trescott had no idea that Northwood offered robotics until taking a stroll down Main Street and seeing a robot in the Hub window.

Trescott said she exclaimed to her mom, “If you had told me they had a robotics program, I’d have applied in a heartbeat.”

Marc and Wacharee David with their daughter Monilee David. (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

“Now I’m building an underwater robot that’s going to go to Mirror Lake to collect water and dirt samples, looking for DNA, pollution and other factors in the water,” said Trescott. “I’ve got the robot built; we are working on final water-proofing. On the sports side, I like NOC, the Outing Club. I’ve gotten into kayaking, rock climbing, bobsledding and skeleton. I so love it, why not? I’m here. Robotics, NOC, teaches me how to fail and get back up. I love that about Northwood.”

“I think that it takes an enormous leap of faith to have your child go to boarding school, to entrust to others the care of the most important thing in your life,” said Head of School Michael Maher. “That’s a responsibility we take enormously seriously here.”

“I get asked all the time what we’re looking for when we hire faculty,” Maher added. “Some of that answer is obvious: It doesn’t take much time to review their materials and resumes to determine whether or not they have the academic background to serve kids well. At a residential school, being a great academician is only part of it. You have to care as much about their emotional, social and physical life, about who they are, and tend to their soul every bit as much as you need to be attentive to their academic life.”

“Regardless of what the students are here for, we provide all of them the opportunity to get outside and play in the woods quite a bit,” said Bobby O’Connor, director of Northwood’s Outing Club/Adventure Sports. “Here, you don’t have to drive two hours to get to world-class skiing, climbing, canoeing or kayaking. You just have to walk outside your dorm room.”

O’Connor’s job is to get every student outside and enjoy it. Early in the school year, the entire school body, broken into smaller groups, each with a faculty or staff member, spreads out collectively climbing all the forty-six peaks over 4,000 feet and a few smaller ones. Other experiences they offer include extraordinary adventures, such as the student team that took on Kilimanjaro. O’Connor does have a smaller cohort of about 16 students whose sport is the Outing Club, where they learn to canoe, kayak, bouldering, camping, ice and rock climbing.

Julia Prince and her daughter Hudson (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

“We have 40 languages spoken at Northwood, which I think is very cool,” said David McCauley, director of college counseling and international students. “The international students’ cultural values and experiences enhance everyone’s educational experience. In such a small school, our students interact with classmates from another culture every day. The overriding question from all the parents was what do we have to offer other than sports; they hear its quite a lot.”

The tour, led by students, ended at the Hub on Main Street with a panel of five students discussing different aspects of the school from their perspectives.

“I discovered that this school has a lot more to offer than what I think is the rumored understanding of the school, which is that the school is very sports-heavy,” said Julia Prince, touring the school with her daughter. “I’m learning that the academics have been revisited, refreshed, and renewed, especially being here in the Hub. It’s a great opportunity to see what’s next and the projects the kids are undertaking now.”

“I think the tour has provided a good opportunity to learn more about the topics I like and might be interested in, as well as about different opportunities that you might like,” said her daughter, Hudson. “I liked seeing their climbing wall. That’s a sport I found fun to do. I also like just being out in nature.”

“I think Northwood’s amazing,” said Rich Duvall. “Two of my older daughters graduated from here. Impressive are the academics they offer and the way they individualize to the students to allow them to excel.”

“No other prep school has what Northwood does in terms of location and the experiences we can offer,” said Gino Riffle, director of admissions. “Whether it is bobsled, luge, ski jumping or just leaf peepers here on the weekend, our students consistently interact with people from around the world. Our kids are curious. They may come here for a specific passion, but I think they fall in love with the healthiness that Lake Placid has to offer as well as the many cultural offerings.”

Ten years ago, when considering the position of head of school, Maher asked a student sitting alone in the living room what he liked about Northwood.

“He said, ‘The teachers believe in me.’ That was all I needed to know,” said Maher.

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley and has been writing his column for the Lake Placid News since 2005.)