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History

In the summer of 2003, an idea sparked the interest of a group of experienced admission directors meeting at the Crow's Nest Institute, a professional development opportunity for experienced independent school admission directors. With the recent restructuring of NAIS, the group felt there was increasing interest in a national body that would attend to the professional concerns of independent school admission officers. The more this group of colleagues discussed it, the more firmly they believed that there was great need and widespread support for such an organization.

The first steps

The group held a preliminary organizational meeting on January 28, 2004 at NAIS in D.C to focus on the necessary first steps in building the association. The attendees represented a diverse group of boarding and day schools. Using other organizations such as the National Business Officers Association (NBOA) and the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) as models, possible names for the association, development of a mission statement and goals for the group, as well as a fee structure for membership that would stress inclusion was established. As a follow up to this meeting, surveys were issued to independent school admission professionals across the country to generate some response to the results of that first meeting and to gauge interest in becoming founding members of the organization. From the responses, approximately 20 schools expressed interest in becoming founding members of the association—a level of support that assured the feasibility of this endeavor.

A second organizational meeting was held on May 6, 2004 and was well attended by representatives from over 23 schools in 14 states. We came to consensus on the mission and goals of the organization and set into place the early stages of the governance and committee structure needed to move the effort forward.

Incorporating

The organization officially incorporated in January of 2005 and has 65 founding members. Membership information was sent out to schools across the country in the summer of 2005 and to date we have become "the fastest growing independent school association" representing schools in almost all fifty states and a number of schools abroad.

FOUNDING SCHOOLS

Albuquerque Academy, NM

The Allen-Stevenson School, NY

Berkeley Prep School, FL

Brookwood School, MA

Bryn Mawr School, MD

The Buckley School, NY

Canterbury School, CT

Catlin Gabel School, OR

Chaminade College Preparatory School, MO

Choate Rosemary Hall, CT

Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School , NY

Columbus School for Girls, OH

Convent of the Sacred Heart. NY

Cranbrook Schools, MI

Deerfield Academy, MA

Ethical Culture Fieldston School, NY

Fort Worth Country Day School, TX

Gilman School, MD

Grace Church School, NY

Hackley School, NY

Head-Royce School, CA

High Mowing School, NH

The Hockaday School, TX

Horace Mann School, NY

The Hotchkiss School, CT

Key School, MD

Kingswood-Oxford School, CT

Lakeside School, WA

Landon School, MD

Louisville Collegiate School, KY

The Masters School, NY

Menlo School, CA

Mercersburg Academy, PA

Miami Country Day School, FL

Milton Academy, MA

Miss Hall's School, MA

Miss Porter's School, CT

Montverde Academy, FL

Moses Brown School, RI

Northfield Mount Hermon School, MA

Oregon Episcopal School, OR

The Pennington School, NJ

Perkiomen School, PA

Phillips Academy, MA

Pine Crest School, FL

Poly Prep Country Day School, NY

Polytechnic School, CA

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, GA

Riverdale Country School, NY

Rudolf Steiner School, NY

San Francisco University High School, CA

Schools of the Sacred Heart, CA

St. Luke's School, NY

St. Paul's School, NH

St. Thomas Choir School, NY

Staten Island Academy, NY

Tower School, MA

The Town School, NY

Trevor Day School, NY

Trinity Valley School, TX

Turning Point School, CA

Vermont Academy, VT

The Webb Schools, CA

White Mountain School, NH

Windward School, CA

Wyoming Seminary, PA

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