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The Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania is the oldest remaining all-male boarding school in the United States. It was founded in 1888 on the site of a former summer resort by Andrew Wilson, cousin of future U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The school, approximately 40 miles (60 km) east of Pittsburgh, is situated on a wooded hill overlooking the Kiskiminetas River separating Westmoreland County from Indiana County and has an enrollment of roughly 200 boys from grades 9-12. Over 40% of the student body are from outside the United States. The John A. Pidgeon (headmaster from 1957 to 2002) Memorial Library, located on campus, has been recognized for its outstanding quality and service.

There are 60 different courses that make up Kiski's classic, yet innovative liberal arts education, including history, literature, social and natural sciences, and fine arts. These courses mirror the curriculum in the nation's best universities. Student life is active, multifaceted, and based around our beautiful campus. Kiski has a nine-hole golf course, two swimming pools, tennis courts, and football, baseball, and soccer fields. There are at least 17 active student organizations, performing-arts groups, and community service opportunities. Kiski requires every student to participate in athletics. Because the goal of the athletic program is to encourage every boy to play a sport at his level of ability, students are not graded on their athletic performance. Kiski offers 13 sports (10 at the varsity level), and a range of junior varsity and freshmen teams. Kiski boys live two to a room in one of nine dorms. Normally, there are two or more faculty members-as well as their families and pets-in each residence. Every Kiski boys eats meals with a faculty family.

As of 2006, the current headmaster is Chris Brueningsen.

A Student's View of Kiski

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All of the following information may be slightly biased, but I completely stand behind my comments about the school. It should be noted that the school hires exceptional people to market and publicize the school, as is apparent by reading the above paragraphs. I, personally, have experienced the worst and most traumatic experiences of my life at Kiski.

The Kiski School portrays itself to be '31337'. The truth is quite the reciprocal. Only a select few (perhaps 1-2 students out of the 210-student body) are accepted into an Ivy League college. A certain un-named student, who graduated in 2006 with a 104% over-all average, was denied from MIT, the Michigan Institute of Technology, in Massachusetts.

The dormitories are very 'shabby' and only a couple select dorms are rarely toured due to this fact. The living conditions in many of the dorms is less than satisfactory, with torn wallpaper, 2-8 person showers, constantly clogged toilets, and many racist obscenities scrawled on the walls. The letters, 'KKK', were scrawled on the wall of an African American student during the first week of school.

Several of the current 2006 staff have extremely aggressive teaching qualities. The Kiski School teachers have a history with obscenities. An un-named teacher is quoted, "You guys have no respect. It's like saying, 'Fuck you, Mr. -----, I don't give a shit. I don't give a fuck what you say."

There have been certain cases of teacher-student bullying, resulting in a withdrawal of a student. In the Sheesley dorm, a dorm for freshman, an un-named dorm master coaxed fellow students to 'make fun of' a student for not taking showers. This student was withdrawn three months into the school year after becoming a social outcast with the help of the staff.

The schedule at Kiski is ridiculous. When officials are questioned on this subject, it is to prepare students for college and the 'real world'. The following is the 'template' for a generic schedule.

6AM - 8:00AM - Shower, breakfast, voluntary studying. This is 'free time'.
8AM - 2:45PM - Hours of school. Although the schedule is roughly thirty minutes less than other schools, we are kept busy.
3PM - 5:30PM - Required sports.
6:15 - 7:00PM - Coat and tie dinner. Sit down, formal. 9 person round table.
7:30 - 9:30PM - Study hall. No e-mail, instant messaging, etc.
~10PM / 10:30PM - Lights out.

All of our activities are in coat, tie, tophat, and monocle except for sports from 3 to 5:30 PM and evening study hall.

The technology program in Kiski is designed with advanced ideas, but is reinforced very little. The average downlink speed is 2KB/s (as of November 2006), with extreme instability. The network is poorly designed, and laptop security is incredibly primitive. Student laptops are locked down with a limited user account, but with a simple hard drive extraction, the administrative password was easily cracked.

Notable alumni

• Bob Mathias '49, Olympic decathlete
• Jack Hanna '65, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo
• David Conrad '85, Film and Television Actor
• John Murtha '51, U.S. Representative (D-Pa.)
• Harry Stuhldreher '21, Member of "The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame"
• Curtis Enis '94, All-American RB at Penn State University
• Jesus H. Christ Year 0, Omniscient, omnipresent, omnibelevent fictional character from The Bible
• Daryll Clark '05, Quarterback at Penn State University

External links

• The Kiski School website

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