Westover School

Westover is an independent boarding and day high school that challenges smart, motivated girls to become confident, connected women. Here, a wide range of opportunities are offered that will provoke thought, spur discussion, and help build skills and expertise. Innovative programs such as WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), IIG (Invest in Girls) and our Independent Senior Projects will allow students to pursue specific interests while preparing for college (and beyond).

Our visual and performing arts programs offer students the opportunity to study and share their work. And our enduring commitment to social justice and community engagement comes to life through the many activities sponsored by the Rasin Center for Global Justice.

Perhaps most important, Westover really is family, a place where you know everyone’s name and hometown. It’s a place where girls are comfortable taking risks, where they don’t worry about looking silly, and where they feel completely free to be themselves…and to let others do the same.

Girls - are you ready to be leaders? Are you ready to make friends who will be dear to you for a lifetime? And are you ready to form relationships with mentors who will support you in fulfilling your aspirations - who can help make your dreams a reality?

At Westover, we help talented and motivated girls grow into confident and connected women - women who find lives of purpose and meaning, who understand they can make a difference and who understand the power of relationships.

In today’s ever-changing world, our mission at Westover is needed now more than ever. We are not just educating girls in the traditional sense; we are empowering them to be themselves, to make their own choices, and to appreciate diversity. We value the artist, the athlete and the intellectual. And we do it all in a community that supports each other to be their very best.

The mission of Westover School is to provide an environment that inspires the intellectual, artist, athlete, and philosopher in each of its students. Westover challenges its young women to think independently, to embrace diversity, and to grow intellectually and spiritually. Westover encourages in its students integrity, responsibility, and commitment to their community.

Westover is committed to providing a college preparatory education in a small community atmosphere that emphasizes student-adult interaction. Our faculty have been chosen not only for their scholarship but also because they are people who share several fundamental moral concerns: a belief in passing on to young women their own enthusiasm for learning, a sense of beauty, and a compassion for others. Westover, through program and faculty, endeavors to develop in each student the confidence and strength to shape her own life - to become the best that she can be.

Westover provides each girl a broad liberal arts education, and a range of opportunities to explore her interests more deeply through our pioneering engineering or business programs, our extensive arts curriculum, and our robust athletics program. We connect with each student in one-on-one advising, and by providing ample conference time with faculty, dorm parents and coaches. The confidence that we foster in each student during their time at Westover allows them to aspire toward the college, careers, and opportunities of their choice with perspective, conviction, and purpose.

Westover acknowledges that a girl’s learning process involves twists and turns. Our Center for Academic Support exists to assist our students in navigating these challenges in a supportive, skill-building process. The Center is staffed by Shelby Neal, Dean of Academics, and Katie DeFrancesco, School Psychologist and Learning Specialist. Shelby and Katie work together to assist students with who need assistance with time management, organization, learning strategies as well as writing individual education plans, coordinating all standardized testing accommodations, arranging academic tutoring, assessing candidates for admission, and advising current and prospective families.

The Center for Academic Support provides resources faculty as well, including working with teachers to help ensure that all students’ learning styles are supported in the classroom. While some students are assigned to work in the Center for Academic support by the Academic Office or advisors, others choose to attend sessions with the Learning Specialist as needed.