Panther Network
Once a Panther.
Always a Panther.
The Mead Hall Connection engages and celebrates alumni, faculty, leaders, and friends of Aiken Day School, Aiken Preparatory School, and Mead Hall Episcopal School. If any of these institutions or our founder the Parish of St. Thaddeus has had an impact on you or a member of your family, YOU are part of the Mead Hall Connection. Whether you are a current or former student, teacher, board member, parent, grandparent, parishioner, or friend, you have helped make our school the Choice for a Lifetime for Aiken residents for almost 100 years.
HONORING OUR LEGACY SCHOOLS
The Aiken Preparatory School – Established 1916
Aiken Prep was founded by Louise “Lulie” Hitchcock in 1916 as a boarding school for Winter Colony boys in fourth through eighth grades to teach them to be “junior gentlemen.” One of the original parcels of land assembled for the school came from the Episcopal Church, and, on Sunday mornings, Aiken Prep boarding students would walk to church at St. Thaddeus. Aiken Prep became co-ed in a merger with Aiken Day in 1989 and added a high school in 2000. Heads of School included Frederick Tabor, Harold Fletcher, and Bob Harrington. The history of Aiken Prep is captured in Forever Flourishing: The History of Aiken Preparatory School, by Donald M. Law, 1992.
The Aiken Day School – Established 1933
Aiken Day was founded by Mrs. George Mead, Mrs. Robert McKim, and Mrs. McCullough Miller as a Winter Colony school for their daughters and younger sons. The first tutoring classes were held in an apartment. In 1933 Flora Miller offered the Joye Cottage Squash Court as a home for the school. The first three students were from the Mead, Tower, and von Stade families. After third grade, the boys transferred to Aiken Prep, and the girls continued at Aiken Day. In 1967 Aiken Day moved to the former home of Mrs. George Bostwick, and in 1989 it merged with Aiken Prep. Former heads of school include Miriam Prentice, Margaret Radford, Bob Harrington, and Scott Lacher.
Mead Hall Episcopal School – Established 1955
Mead Hall was named for George Mead, Jr., who graduated from Aiken Prep in 1932 as an honor student, recipient of the Palmetto Award, and captain of multiple sports teams. His name is prominent on the Aiken Prep honor walls. When he was killed in World War II, his father, a trustee of Aiken Prep, gave his Winter Colony home, The Pillars, to St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church to form a parish day school in memory of his son. Mead Hall held classes in The Pillars until 1965 when it moved to its present location at St. Thaddeus. Before the merger with Aiken Prep in 2012, Mead Hall served students in preschool through the eighth grade. Former heads of school include Joseph Harris, James O. Martin and Katherine B. Gordon.
Alumni Weekend
Each spring, alumni from Mead Hall, Aiken Prep, and Aiken Day School are invited to return to the school for a celebration which includes the Alumni Soccer Game and other events.