Earlier this month, Town and Country Magazine recognized Asheville School as the seventh best boarding school in the U.S., reaffirming a previous ranking from TheBestSchools.org.
In its September 12 website post titled “These are the Best Boarding Schools in the United States,” Town and Country points out that “the usual suspects didn’t dominate this ranking.”
“You’ll almost certainly recognize the top two schools—Exeter and Andover—but after that, some unexpected names get a nod,” writes Sam Dangremond, the Web Editor at Town and Country.
The ranking cited by Town and Country originated in May 2015 from TheBestSchools.org. The list of top 50 boarding schools in the U.S. looked at criteria including preparation for the future, academics, percentage of students boarding, and affordability.
Director of Admission John Smith credits the families of Asheville School for helping garner this recognition.
“While it is tough to quantify rankings, it is an honor to be held in high esteem,” Smith said. “Our families at Asheville School, both current and past, allow us to be held in such high regard.”
The mission of Asheville School is “to prepare our students for college and for life and to provide an atmosphere in which all members of a diverse, engaged, and purposefully small school community appreciate and strive for excellence – an atmosphere that nurtures and fosters the development of mind, body, and spirit.”
Head of School Arch Montgomery is pleased that Asheville School is being recognized for excellence in keeping with this mission.
“It is hard to know precisely why a great school that has traditionally flown under the radar suddenly receives the recognition it deserves,” Montgomery said. “It could be the sequential, team taught, interdisciplinary humanities curriculum that has received critical acclaim from a variety of academics. Then too, the innovative mathematics curriculum might be the source of our new-found notoriety. Asheville School’s dynamic App camp and general technology approach seems to have garnered us some attention in the techie world. The school has parlayed our good luck in terms of location into some wonderful artistic community collaboration, and our outdoor program in these beautiful mountains is second to none. But I do not think all those things, as wonderful as they may be, are the central reason Asheville School is now receiving recognition.”
The strength of Asheville School’s tight-knit community of 289 students representing 20 states and 16 countries has definitely played a part in earning this extra recognition, Montgomery said.
“I believe we hunger for connection and community in this world of silos and individuality. Asheville School has managed to remain a small and intimate school that has seated meals almost every day. We have a group of truly remarkable and accomplished faculty members who know the name of every student,” Montgomery said. “We ask a lot of our students, and we believe that this is the demonstration of the highest form of respect and care. We are a rare amalgam of high expectations and love, and that counter-cultural truth seems to be resonating with people in a world where we are feeling ever less connected to other humans.”