Historic Highlight: The Early Years of Girls at Wooster

In 1969, Wooster School announced to its community that after more than 40 years as an all-boys school, it would become co-educational; and then in July 1970, it was official, as Wooster advertised in local newspapers: “Wooster’s 45th year as a college preparatory school this September will include an expanded day student division for both boys and girls.” 

Wooster was accepting applications for Grades 9 and 10, and Robin Kahn’s mother “ran over an application,” for her daughter, Robin recalls. Kahn, who had just finished her freshman year at Danbury High School, became the first female student ever interviewed and accepted at Wooster. She  jokes that being that pioneer is a “big claim to fame in my life.” She says that her parents made the easy decision, which she completely agreed with, to send her to a small school after spending her freshman year at DHS, which had 800 students per grade. “It felt too big for me. I was looking for more individualized attention and more focus from my teachers. And fewer distractions, although I’m not sure about that part,” she laughs.

In September 1970, Wooster was officially co-ed, as 33 female day students joined the student body for the first time in its 45-year history, bringing total enrollment to its highest ever - 198 students, including seven boys and girls studying in France. According to one local newspaper article, “this alteration, a national trend, reflects a basic policy decision, which administrators say, in the years to come will see the school accepting increasing numbers of day-student applicants of both sexes.” 

Kahn said being one of only a small number of girls at Wooster was not an issue. “I felt very welcomed by the faculty and students, and right away felt comfortable.” 

She says that socially, it was nice to have so few girls and so many boys. While being in the minority was nice, Robin and her early classmates recall the girls having their own private space to take a break “from being outnumbered; just to get away from all the masculinity and testosterone.” It was at the back of the space below the Chapel (currently Ms. Lussier’s office, attached to her math classroom).  “The girls really bonded and looked out for each other,” says Kahn. “Not in a negative way, we just wanted to be separate sometimes and have our own space.” Even The Connecticut Sunday Herald took note of this space, saying in a September 27, 1970 article,  “To accommodate the unprecedented influx of coeds, the school has added a new lounge for all students and a separate retiring room for girls.” 

By the spring of 1971, Wooster’s female students were becoming fully ingrained in the school. Several girls were named to the Winter Honor Roll, including Sidney Neiley '72, Jeanette Bell '73, Penelope Lentz '72, Ginny Preston '71, Annaliese Witzky '73, Audrie Meyer '74, and Bonnie MacQueen '71. Wooster finally had its own girls to perform in the theater productions, including He Who Gets Slapped in February 1971. Prior to that performance, boys had dressed up and played the parts of the female characters in the shows, or girls from other schools would perform. Athletically, Jeremy Roll '73, became the first girl to play a varsity sport at Wooster, as she joined the boys’ varsity tennis team. 

And then, Kristina Brown '71, Susan “Susie” Lawrence '71, Bonnie MacQueen '71, Virginia “Ginny” Preston '71, became the first Wooster alumnae when they graduated in 1971. 

At that time, Director of Admissions Joseph S. Grover issued a press release stating that Wooster School was planning to “increase the size of its Day School Enrollment by fifty per cent, from eighty to one hundred-twenty boys and girls.” 

By the end of the next school year, girls were excelling. Miriam Bergman '72, won five awards at Wooster’s graduation ceremony: the John Self Cheavens Award for excellence in English, the Harvard Book Prize for being the highest ranking student, the William Irwin Carter, Jr. prize for being the highest ranking student, honorable mention for music and was a cum laude student. Katherine Fischer '73 and Robin Kahn '73 were also named cum laude students. Caroline Blackwell '73 won the Arthur Cattermole prize for being the girl who demonstrated the greatest commitment to all aspects of the Wooster School community. 

In the fall of 1973, Wooster started the school year with 240 students, including 80 girls. Headmaster Rev. John D. Verdery announced Wooster’s 50th Anniversary Program. In it, he wrote, “... everyone close to the School is convinced that co-education is a smashing success!” As girls’ sports at Wooster were underway, included in Verdery’s fundraising proposal: #1, Girls’ Athletic Facilities. “We now have 80 girls; yet we have no lockers, showers, or dressing rooms for girls’ athletics. It’s true that the boys waited 35 years for their gym, but I don’t think it’s quite fair to make the girls wait that long. After all, they waited 45 years to get into the school!” he wrote. 

Now remember, Wooster was still a boarding school at the time, and all of the girls so far had been day students, since there wasn’t a female boarding option. Boarding became an option for girls as Wooster enrolled 93 girls for the 1974-75 school year. According to The News-Times (May 14, 1974), “the school is preparing for what could be its greatest shock of all - the housing on campus of female students for the first time in Wooster’s 48-year history.” More than 22 girls moved into West Cottage, which served as the girls’ dorm, where Frances Huntoon '75 was named prefect. More female dorms were planned over the next few years.

In June 1973, Robin Kahn, the first female accepted to Wooster, graduated. She attended the all-girls’ (at the time) Wheaton College, but transferred to the coed Trinity College. She said she was ready to “compete with men… if we were going to have to compete with them in the real world. Wooster gave me a head start.” In Spring 1974, the first female students to start as freshmen in 1970, and therefore the first to spend all four years of high school at Wooster, graduated. 

Female Wooster students were seeing more and more progress over the next few years, with significant milestones like the newly built girls’ gym being dedicated in May 1975; The girls’ varsity soccer team won its first league game, after five seasons, by smashing Trinity-Pawling 9-0 in the Fall of 1976. 

The Women’s Group is formed, starting with eight students and two faculty members. The following year, Deanna Rodriguez ‘78, defended the group in the student newspaper, which was then called Anonymous.  In the Fall of 1977, girls’ sports got its own storage compartments for equipment and uniforms. Laurene Wahlstrom '78, wrote in Anonymous, “Besides being convenient, this room represents how girls’ sports is now a permanent part of the Wooster curriculum and an accepted part of its society.” 

The 1970’s ended with 73 students graduating from Wooster, which was the largest ever, thanks in part, to the 30+ girls who graduated that year. Katie Cadigan '79, and daughter of outgoing Headmaster Richard Cadigan, won the William I. Carter Jr. Prize as the highest-ranking student.

That leads us into the 1980’s, where accomplishments of the female students were less noted, as they had become so common. Key notables from the decade worth mentioning are: in March 1981, girls’ varsity basketball beat Westover to become Wooster’s first undefeated female team in the School’s history (and two years later, would become the first girls’ team to win the HVAL Championship); in the 1980-81 school year, Wooster had its first female Senior Prefect, Desiree Richardson. In the next 42 years, Wooster would see 27 more female Senior Prefects; in 2020-21, in Wooster’s third year of having two Senior Prefects, two female students, Tori Ingulli '21, and Anastasia Wei '21, were named to the roles.

In the fall of 1982, Wooster hosted a program, “Wooster Honors A Decade of Women,” and brought back notable female alumnae including Janie Bell '73,  Robin Kahn '73, and Georgiana Drew '78. In the spring of 1982, Tracy Chapman '82, who would go on to be a Grammy and Country Music Award winner, graduated from Wooster.

During the 1995-96 School Year, Women of Wooster: 25 Years of Coeducation; Past, Present and Future was a year-long celebration that honored the contributions, triumphs and stories of women  at Wooster. 

Since then, girls have scored 1,000 points, broken and set records, won HVALS and HALOS, gone on to Ivy Leagues, been the Graduation speakers and highest ranking students. They have embodied everything it means to be a Wooster General, and we appreciate all of those who initially paved the way. 

As for Robin Kahn, she later went on to become the first Wooster alumna to graduate with Phi Beta Kappa honors. She was also the first female elected to the Alumni Council and in 1994, the first female to win the Alumni Award (four more would follow: 2003 - Christen Johansen '68; 2014 - Katie Cadigan '79; 2017 - Caroline Blackwell '73; 2023 - Julia Lee ‘83). She had also started dating George Johnston '72, (a year older than her) in October of her junior year. She went to a soccer game he was playing in, and then they went to Friendly’s afterwards. They were married after Robin graduated from law school, and later went on to become Wooster parents of Alex '04,  and Mallory,'08, who is now our Assistant Director of Development. Robin says she’s “glad Mallory’s able to help Wooster continue to thrive.” We all agree, and are glad that Robin, Mallory, and all the women at Wooster over the years who have helped the school continue to thrive. 

*Robin was interviewed by Deanna Rodriguez '78, for the student publication Anonymous in 1978.  Read it here. See below for more photos and press coverage of Women at Wooster over the years.