EDGEWATER — The Helen C. Peirce School of International Studies turned 100 years old this school year, and to celebrate the school is holding an open house and a special dinner.
From 1-4 p.m. Oct. 24, faculty, students and the community are invited to the school at 1423 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. to celebrate its 100-year history. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
From 7-10 p.m., the school will have a dinner buffet and fundraiser at the Mundelein Center at the Loyola Lakeshore Campus, at 1020 W. Sheridan Road, where all are invited to hang with alumni of the school, current teachers and former teachers, according to a press release.
Tickets for the fundraiser, which includes a cash bar, are $60 and can be bought here.
Here are 10 things you might not have known about the 100-year-old school courtesy of Peirce School:
1. Who is Helen C. Peirce? Peirce was a founding member of the Lake View Woman's Club and its first president. She was born of English parents in India in 1840. Her family moved from India to Canada to Chicago, but her father died en route, followed her other relatives shortly after. She was later adopted by the Rees family.
2. How did the school get its name? Peirce became involved in the creation of the first kindergarten in Chicago back in 1893. When she died in 1911, her fellow Lake View Woman's Club members, recognizing her work in the Kindergarten Movement, approached the Chicago Board of Education seeking to name a school after her. The resolution to name the school soon built at 1423 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. was passed on June 26, 1912.
3. When did the school open? The school opened its doors on Sept. 6, 1915.
4. What was school like in Peirce's early years? According to Evalyn McClanahan Halliday, who attended the school in the late '20s, classes included an arrangement of manual training, wood shop for boys and cooking and sewing for the girls. After the semester they could switch classes, but she never remembered any of the boys taking cooking. She even sewed her own graduation dress in class.
5. When did Peirce become a school of International Studies? The school began to adopt the International Baccalaureate Programme in 2010 after Nancy Mendez was hired as principal. The process allow students to become independent learners and to drive their own learning. Key components include cultural awareness, second language learning and an ability to connect to the world. In 2013, the school was authorized by IB World School to offer the Middle Years Programme in sixth- through eighth-grades and partnered with Senn High School for grades nine through twelve.
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