The Harvey School Kicks Off Centennial Anniversary

Headmaster Barry Fenstermacher Tuesday morning conducted the traditional convocation to begin a new year at The Harvey School, but this year marks the institution’s Centennial Anniversary, which will be celebrated throughout the year.

With the entire school assembled in the athletic center, Fenstermacher welcomed the students and staff and acknowledged the importance of the 2015-16 school year.

“It will be a very special year, a very busy and active year with many opportunities for every student,” said the headmaster.

After noting the similarities and differences of life 100 years ago with the current state of the world, Fenstermacher told the students what it means to be a member of the Harvey family.

“If you take the knowledge available to you here and take advantage of opportunities to help others, you will continue to live by the best traditions of Harvey,” he said.

With current enrollment at 366 in grades six through 12, Harvey opens the new academic year with the largest student body in the school’s 100-year history. Its founders, Dr. Herbert Swift Carter and his wife Mabel, opened the school with four boys, including their son whose heart was weakened by a bout with rheumatic fever. Believing their son would thrive in a rural, fresh air environment, the Carters removed him from his New York City school and established The Harvey School on the grounds of their summer home in Hawthorne.

Harvey moved to Katonah in 1959 when the state invoked its right of eminent domain and took the school’s campus to expand the Taconic State Parkway.

Photo: Harvey School Headmaster Barry Fenstermacher addresses the student body Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the school’s 100th convocation, as faculty look on. Photo credit: Minush Krasnigi