The problem w Landon - from an alum

[Anonymous]

The Landon community just doesn't get it and never will. That's the kind of school it is and will be

[Anonymous]

Nine out of how many graduates are playing D1 lacrosse? Isn't that a pretty good figure? From what I read Landon has a great lacrosse team. You never hear about the other teams. Why is that bad? why shouldnt they accentuate te positive? should they ignore these achievements because its not pc? You do hear about their music and art.

Just an interested observer here who posted earlier that its not a big deal. Having read subsequent posts it seems like people are just looking for reasons to be critical about.

[Anonymous]

It's bad if you don't hear about the other teams and they actually are good. It's a question of how the school allocates resources if the only extracurricular they can brag about is LAX. I doubt that is the case .. So they've chosen to brag about LAX over other things. That tells you about what people who run the school think is special about the place. LAX. It's a LAX school. The BMOCs are LAX players. That's not so cool to everyone.

[Anonymous]

Cont'd

the school and its lacrosse program.

[Anonymous]

Why is that bad, in particular? Because some lacrosse players were bad after graduation?

In my HS we had a powerhouse wrestling team (PA). So of course when some kids got in trouble at the prom, it was the wrestlers. Some were idiots. But some went to military academies and made high rank in the military. Seems like landon has a powerhouse lax team. It is what it is, I don't get the hate and sense some irrationality to it. And I have no connection to it, just bored and reading this stuff.

[Anonymous]

I would add in Texas it's probably the football teams that are like religion. Again don't understand why being proud of a particular accomplishment is bad.

[Anonymous]

It's not bad. But unlike public schools where most kids are stuck, this is a private school. People not into LAX may not want to go to a school that into LAX. My DS won't ever be there. He wouldn't be at a private focused on wrestling or football either. Landon wants to be identified with LAX primarily. They will recruit more and more LAX players and it will become the school culture. Wait, I thought the new administration pledged to change that. Lol.

[Anonymous]

There is lots of support on the campus for other teams. The hockey team has great support and raised over $70,000 for Children;s Medical Center cancer programs. Football had lots of support from the student body this fall. When the soccer team played prep and won, they had a huge group of students supporting them on the sidelines.

Yes lax is big but the other athletes don't feel diminished. The upper school boys do a great job of trying to support each other in their athletic and non athletic achievements.

You can choose to believe what you want. We have witnessed otherwise as a Landon Family.

[Anonymous]

I see both sides on this one. Landon had excellent college results this year, with most of the admissions to the most selective colleges seemingly academically based. Nevertheless, a large part of Landon's modern identity is based upon lacrosse success and I assume it is still a significant draw to a number of families. Thus, they tried to do both things -- highlight impressive college admissions and the continuing excellence of their lacrosse program (despite the inroads made by Georgetown Prep, and, more recently, schools like Gonzaga and Bullis).

I'm guessing, although I could be wrong, that the nine lacrosse DI signees are the only Division I signees this year. If they had more, it would seem reasonable that they might say something like "the admissions results include 12 signees for Division I sports, 9 in lacrosse" or something like that. Their basketball team has been strong in recent years but is not particularly dominant now, and the best players on their football team may well be the lacrosse players. Hockey is good at Landon but still pretty low level in this area compared to NE, and nobody plays DI hockey these days without spending a year or two in an amateur league first.

[Anonymous]

PP Landon family -- I am not believing anything. I am just reacting to the self-promotion that Landon CHOOSES to publish. I haven't seen any comments about letting the world know about the other activities at the school. Maybe it wants to be the hidden gem, hiding behind a facade of LAX culture. I really don't care. I am just telling you how the school is perceived by the outside world. And the school itself --- not your family personally --- has a big role in that perception. Obviously they like what they have put out there or they'd change it.

[Anonymous]

Landon's communications department this year has done a pretty solid job promoting the well roundness of the school. I am an alum and we typically receive an email every 2 or 3 months from the alumni director or from the headmaster titled "Inside Landon". I believe the email which went out on Friday or Thursday last week was the 3rd email we received this year. If you truly want to get a sense of what the school is promoting check out the schools website.. www.landon.net and check out the main headlines.

I thought the email was pretty fair and balanced if you ask me. I have been told they have 10 lacrosse players now committed to D1 schools and they don't have any other seniors committed to play D1 for another sport at this time. A few baseball players are trying to play DIII as well as hockey but its not official and none of them have signed so why publish something if its not true... Anyways, for the original poster who started this thread, I don't believe you are an alum but rather a disgruntled parent. Here is the email which I received this past week from the headmaster.... see below and you decide if its "too pro athletics". see below!!!

Community Service

Be Brave and Shave — Forty-two members of our School community are a little balder, a little colder, but no doubt a little happier, having participated in “Be Brave and Shave.” Landon hockey players, coaches and supporters teamed up with Georgetown Prep, before their Wednesday evening hockey game, to shave their heads for charity. Together, we raised more than $70,000 for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s National Medical Center. Assistant Coach Hans Farnstrom met his goal of $3,000 and shaved (maybe “trimmed” is a better word) the beard he had worn for more than 30 years. Congratulations to all who participated and to the Bears who defeated the Little Hoyas, 11-2, in the varsity contest and 9-0 in JV contest.

Stop Hunger Now — More than 100 members of the Landon community gathered in the Lindner Dining Hall last Saturday (2/2) for Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger relief organization. Volunteers packaged more than 25,000 meals to be sent to needy people in developing countries. Students from Madeira and Holton-Arms also joined in. Boys sold orange shoelaces for $5 a pair to help cover the cost of the meals. A generous grant from the Jay P. Okun Foundation also funded the event.

Day of Service— Twelve Middle School students headed to Burrville Elementary School in Northeast Washington on January 19, the national Day of Service held in conjunction with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. With support from Assistant Middle School Head Laurie Sears, parents, and some girls from Holton-Arms, the group sorted books, painted murals and met the President and Mrs. Obama, who stopped in to express their thanks!

And More - Each week this winter finds our Middle School students coaching Special Olympians in the Barton Center. Our littlest Bears are collecting coins for Pennies for Patients to support the work of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The leaders of our Multicultural Student Alliance collected and delivered clothing to the Community for Creative Non-Violence this week.

Campus News

National Merit Finalists — Three Landon seniors have been named Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Programs: Vinodh Balendran, Jack Jundanian and Harrison Voslow are among 15,000 students nationwide who are eligible for 83,000 Merit Scholarships, based on their PSAT scores and academic performance. They will hear more later this spring.

College Results — The Class of 2013 has had wonderful college news so far, with more than 60 acceptances through early decision, early action and rolling admissions for the 78 boys in the class. Almost half of the boys have made their final choices, including nine who will play Division I lacrosse next year. (Read more.) Results for the Regular Decision round are due in early April. Congratulations and good luck to the Senior Class!

Check Out the Galleries — Some of our outstanding young artists are exhibiting their work in the Landow Family Gallery and in the lobby of the Mondzac Performing Arts Center. John Wellington currently has a show in the gallery, following a solo show by Ben Berenson, and a group show in the P.A.C. by seniors Alex Harvey, John Bair and Aidan Kelso. Soon to come in the Gallery: an exhibit of works by eighth graders from Landon and Holton-Arms School. After studying Mexican artist Diego Rivera, our Lower Schoolers have done some wonderful mural work now hanging in the PAC lobby. Stop by and take a look (or click here to see their work online).

Campaign Update

$44 Million and Counting — The Landon United campaign has crossed the $44 million mark, counting the more than $5 million raised thus far this school year. It’s encouraging to see our alumni stepping up to support current students through planned gifts, and equally gratifying to have assistance from parents who see the value of the Landon experience every day. We are thankful for the generosity of each and every donor, including those annual fund gifts which all count toward the campaign. You can still support your class’s Annual Fund goal by contributing online at www.landon.net/makeagift.

[Anonymous]

To pp: thanks for providing the necessary context. I had my suspicions a out OP. now he (or she because I doubt it was alum who started this unbalanced thread) is busted.

[Anonymous]

11-2 in an ice hockey game? Sounds like they ran it up.

[Anonymous]

Thank you 10:36 for your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To pp: thanks for providing the necessary context. I had my suspicions a out OP. now he (or she because I doubt it was alum who started this unbalanced thread) is busted.

I am OP - I am an alum, not a parent. Not sure how to prove it to you guys b/c this board always reverts to name calling and "prove it" BS.

I spent 8 years at the school - and when I was there it had some of the best teachers I have ever had (Murray, Sorkin, Swinehart, Mora, DocBrock, Farnstroms) including college and grad school.

But lax jock culture dominated then and it seems that it still too much today. I also witnessed in my era some truly abhorent and awful lax culture behavior certainly not discouraged by Coach B. The reverence to Lax players and coach in my era reminds me of how D-1 football players must be treated at placed like Ohio State - except there's no TV money at stake here so school must know that many parents send their kids to Landon for the lacrosse and therefore lacrosse is a tuition revenue and admissions yield source for them

There are certainly more facets to the school beyond lacrosse and my OP did not say otherwise if you bothered to read it.

I guess it just bugs me that a school chooses to place the LAX emphasis in the paragraph of an email blast to alums where it is touting college admits - in what seems to be a good year for admits.

I cant think of elite DC schools like STA, Sidwell, GDS, Maret, Potomac writing that same paragraph.

Landon has come a long way from the Dowd, NYT, LAX scandal days but still has a way to go.

We can agree to disagree.