Manheim Township APRIL 26, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
Lancaster Country Day probes boundaries of conventional education BY JEFF FALK
New production studios will help MTHS sound better BY JEFF FALK
A fifth-grader on a first day of school at Lancaster Country Day
is to a faith-based institution. Broken down into an upper school, a middle school and a lower school, Lancaster Country Day offers all the fundamentals and extracurricular activities of a traditional education in an intimate setting. “The role of education is
MTM
The importance of education can’t be overstated. We all learn in our own time, in our own way, in our own space. That’s what makes options and alternatives necessary. Cue Lancaster Country Day School. Situated at 725 Hamilton Road, Lancaster, Lancaster Country Day is an independent, prekindergarten through 12th-grade, postsecondary preparatory school that’s an alternative to public education. “We’re here to nurture and grow the minds and spirits of the students in our care,” said Matt Micciche, who’s in his first year as Lancaster Country Day’s head of school. “We want them to be able to go on to college and their careers. We want to make them people who are deeply engaged in their community. We think deeply about what your place in the world should be. But we also want our school to be a place of joy where people can come to feel safe and happy.” Overseen by a board of trustees, Lancaster Country Day is more closely aligned to the concept of the one-time “boarding school” than it
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Head of school Matt Micciche and Lancaster Country Day’s mascot, Cuddles
something we should be asking ourselves about all the time,” said Micciche. “We exist to perpetuate good in the world. It’s also about creating individuals who see their role in the world as helping others and being a benefit to their communities. It’s preparing students for the work world they’ll live in.” Currently, 623 students in preschool through 12th grade are enrolled at Lancaster Country Day, 200 to 225 of whom make up the upper school - grades nine through 12 - population. Lancaster Country Day’s students are predominantly residents of Lancaster County, but they also hail from Dauphin, Berks, York and Lebanon counties. Lancaster Country Day employs about 100 staff members, 60 to 70 of whom are teachers. “When you have 12, 13, 14 kids in your classroom, you’re able to challenge each student on an individual level,” said Micciche. “Our kids talk about their relationships with their teachers. Just about every teacher knows every student by face and name. One of the things
I really value here is the depth and the breadth of the personal relationships. It allows students to feel safe and a connection to each other.” The origin of Lancaster Country Day School can be traced to 1908 and the all-girls’ Shippen School. The school changed its charter and name in the early 1940s after including male students from the nearby Franklin and Marshall Academy for Boys, which shuttered its doors. In 1949, Lancaster Country Day moved to its current location on 29 acres of suburban Manheim Township soil. “I don’t think we’re as wellknown as I’d like us to be,” said Micciche. “I think our children are incredibly well-served here. As the world has become a more diverse and challenging place, I think our approach has changed. Any good school is evolving to reflect the world it lives in.” For additional information about Lancaster Country Day, go to www.lancastercountryday.org.
Recently, Manheim Township High School (MTHS) added a pair of media production studios to the library with the goal of further enhancing the education experience. The new media production studios will provide students greater opportunities to produce podcasts, generate clearer and crisper sound and overall be more creative. “No other building in our district has this equipment, so it’s something new and exciting to use,” said Karen Leisey, who’s been MTHS’ librarian for six years. “We wanted it in the library because it’s a central location and available to everyone. I think there’s an entire layer of jobs related to content creation that these kids are going to have access to. Giving them experience is going to potentially help them plan for their futures.” Included in the media production studios are podcasting equipment, a sound board, microphones and headphones, mounted sound panels on the wall, a computer for editing and a television monitor. With planning, construction and finishing touches like permits and electrical work, the new media production studios took about a year to complete before becoming functional in the early days of March. “I’m excited about the library becoming a hub of the school,” said Leisey. “Our administration is excited about the changes we’ve made. We want to stay current and become more modern. It draws kids and that’s what we want to do. Our students know that when they come to our library, they can get tech help.” See Production studios pg 2
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