Oct. 19, 2001 - White particles resembling “Dried Whiteout” were found on a copy machine in the basement of the Admissions Office, Archbold. The faculty who found the substance immediately reported their finding to the Director of Community Safety, Gerard McCormick. Finally, the Department of Enivornmental Protection in Bethany was alerted. Headmaster Shanahan warned the students to be wary of suspicious strangers on campus.
10 Years Ago
Oct. 18, 1996 - Carl C. Icahn made his largest donation, giving, through the Icahn Charitable Foundation, 3.8 million dollars to the school. This donation was used to set up the Icahn Scholars Program at Choate which was designed to help identify bright and motivated middle school students with great financial needs. The program began in the 1997-1998 year and in that year 18 students were selected to be Icahn Scholars. Over four years the program grew to 70 students per year. Forty percent of the tuition was paid for by Mr. Icahn’s donation and the remaining 60% was funded by Choate.
25 Years Ago
Oct. 16, 1981 - A false rumor that actor Burt Reynolds had won a lawsuit, allowing that all calls made on his phone card were free for the month of September, spread quickly throughout campus. This number was publicized, and many Choate students made phone calls using it, going as far as to write the number on the walls of their dorms for their peers’ use. This rumor was proved false, and all the supposedly “free” calls had to be paid for by Choate. The phone company was able to track down some of the users of the number but many had to confess on their own.
50 Years Ago
Oct. 20, 1956 - Headmaster Seymour St. John commented on Yale radio that schools like Choate as well as Yale were becoming too focused on applicants’ mental “agility”, rather than their overall talent. He stated that there were many other traits as least as important as I.Q. that would benefit the community of any school. Such as judgment, strength of character, emotional stability, and values. He found it dangerous to choose applicants based only on their intelligence rather than all their traits.
