A brief history of Catlin Gabel School and its traditions
By Advay Koranne ‘20
There are no football teams for Catlin Gabel School (CGS) students to cheer on, no graduations with students wearing matching cap and gowns, and no homecoming kings and queens. Instead, CGS students do things in their own unique way. They square dance with their entire grade, play paintball with their teachers, and take an entire day off from classes to clean up their campus. Current students and alumni partake in some of the same traditions that many of their parents and relatives partook in during their time at CGS.
Students square dance in 1961. Photo Courtesy of Catlin Gabel Archives.
Karin Chenoweth, writer-in-residence at The Education Trust wrote a piece titled, “A School’s Traditions Demonstrate Its Values.” She forms the argument that a school's values are evident in its non-sports related traditions. CGS’ traditions, campus, and school culture are unique amongst other Portland academic institutions; however, recently, the school’s culture has been under great scrutiny.
Recently, many institutions –– high schools and colleges alike –– have had to re-think their traditions due to the harmful nature they may have. Some of these schools have had issues ranging from blackface at sporting events to racist mascots, which have led to strong backlash from the public and have caused drastic changes in a school’s atmosphere.
Though CGS has not been at the forefront in the media for its traditions, it is important to reflect on CGS’ history and traditions.
One of the most common traditions which has been the topic of discussion recently on campus has been the recitation of the School Chapter. In a Catlin Speak article published in Dec. 2019, Head of School Tim Bazemore shared his opinion.
Class of 1969. Photos Courtesy of 1968 Catlin Gabel Yearbook.
“There are aspects of the Chapter that I think do not reflect who we are. Schools have mottos, vision statements, traditional oaths and songs. I don’t think I know of any that have a chapter,” wrote Bazemore via email. In the same article, junior Catie Macauley shared that taking the school chapter out of context is disrespectful to students from different religious affiliations.
It is important to take a look at the past history of Catlin Gabel and its traditions to inform the school’s decisions about changes in a campus culture that may take place over the coming years.
Upper School Dean of Students Brandon Woods spoke to the importance of taking the time to reconsider traditions.
“I would not say that traditions qua traditions are harmful. As with many things, it depends on how people understand and adapt to them,” he said via email. “I think it would be unwise for any community to be uncritical about its traditions. In the absence of that critical thinking, a community can fall prey to complacency and the ‘that's the way it's always been done’ mentality. We are constantly trying to find the right balance between preserving what is essential about the traditions and innovating when necessary.”
There are ranging opinions about CGS’ vast array of traditions. Many students who are “lifers” (students that have been attending CGS since preschool) consider these traditions important to their experience.
Junior Tulip Larson is one such lifer who thinks that some of CGS’ traditions can be harmful to other community members.
“Like every tight-knit community, traditions can be harmful to outsiders,” wrote Larson over email. “While I love the emphasis on traditions at Catlin, at times, they created a somewhat insular school, where new kids had trouble integrating.”
A Brief History of Catlin Gabel School
According to a 2008 article in CGS’ “The Caller” magazine, in the 1950’s, Catlin-Hillside and the Gabel Country Day School were in a poor financial situation due to the Second World War. In order to get on a better financial footing, the Catlin-Hillside school decided to have a rummage sale. This very first event ended up raising over $8000. These funds would later be used to combine the two schools.
Henry Failing Cabell and Esther Dayman Strong. Photo Courtesy of Catlin Gabel Archives.
This rummage sale was similar to a large garage sale –– people would donate items that would be sorted and then later sold. The “Rummage Sale” became a CGS tradition. An Oregonian article written about the last Rummage Sale in Sept. 2009 shared the stories of a woman who had been volunteering for 45 years and of an individual who had convinced her sister to fly from New York to help volunteer at the event.
Additionally, at the time, the Raleigh Hills Public School needed to build a school for the growing neighborhood, and the Gabel campus seemed to be an ideal location for them to build their new school. In order to prevent the condemnation of the school’s campus, they felt that combining the two schools to form the Catlin-Hillside school would give them more strength against specific opposition.
But the merger was still largely contested by the Gabel School parents. They decided to settle the merge over vote. The vote ended up passing by one ballot –– a parent later confessed to voting twice; however, the then-Catlin Board Chairman at the time, Spencer Ehrman, did not raise any concerns.
In order to create this new school, which at the time would be named “Portland Country Day School,” the two schools decided that they would need a new chairman. The man chosen to lead the merging effort was the vice president of Reed College –– Henry Failing Cabell, after whom Cabell Theatre is named. Cabell played a critical role in ensuring that both schools were given an equal balance in opinion for the formation of the new school.
Another critical part of the merger was the naming of the schools since both schools had something unique to offer.
“Portland Country Day school was an ill-fated attempt to put ourselves into an Eastern mold that did not seem to fit Portland,” said Kim MacColl –– the future head of the new school. They decided that combining the two schools' names to form Catlin Gabel would be a perfect way to make sure that both schools could continue their legacies and traditions.
In 1957, the two schools decided to finalize the merger and find a new home for the school. At the time, the Honey Hollow Farm owned by Jack and Mary Dant was for sale, and they decided to sell it for a discounted price of $100,000. Classes started to take place on campus, and the class of 1959 was the first to graduate.
So what are some of the traditions that the separate schools, and the new combined school, would share?
Miss Caitlin School:
The Miss Catlin school was started in 1911 by Ruth Catlin as an all-girls school.
Some of the early traditions at this school included the beginning-of-the-year “Bacon Bat” picnic. Additionally, according to the 2008 article in “The Caller”, the Miss Catlin School had a tradition of giving a triangle pine tree pin to the three girls “who had the most academic, athletic, and character points.” The school also started the tradition of the school ring during this time, which has continued to be a tradition since.
“To maintain a school with the most enlightened ideals of education, content of work and methods of teaching, where each pupil is the unit of consideration, under conditions which will serve to develop his [or her] fullest powers as an individual and as a group member.”
Ruth Catlin 1928
Catlin Hillside:
Catlin Hillside also had its unique set of traditions. For example, May Day –– an annual tradition consisting of “outdoors pageants and plays, vocational conferences to acquaint girls with information about fields ‘open to women.’” Additionally, in 1931 students first performed “St. George and the Dragon,” a tradition which has been going on since. Students still remember “St. George” as one of the highlights of their time in middle school.
“I think it’s cool because everyone can kind of add what they like to the show, so everyone has something to do. I like it as a tradition,” wrote senior Audrey Daniels via text message.
Gabel Country Day:
In 1931, Priscilla Gabel bought an elementary school downtown. This would later end up becoming a day school for first through twelfth grades. What we now know as “Campus Day” actually started at the Gabel Country Day School. The first “Clean-Up Day” took place in 1937, and we have continued that tradition since.
Though the name of this tradition has been renamed to Campus Day, the central idea of taking care of the school's campus is still at the heart of it. After the 2020 Campus Day equivalent on March 5 where students participated in on-campus community engagement, sophomore Nayan Murthy had his own thoughts on how Campus Day could be more helpful.
“While I am an avid supporter of community engagement, pulling ivy that will soon grow back in another year is not helping the community,” Murthy wrote over text message. “Instead, if we maintain the buildings and areas that students use, then doing service work will benefit learning and the students. Catlin is not using this large area for any buildings or learning purposes, so there is no point in doing free labor.”
Sophomore Peter Ye had a much different reaction about the tradition that he was partaking in.
“I loved it. Although it was a lot of hard work, I felt good about giving back to my community,” Ye wrote over text. “Working on fixing my environment with my friends also strengthened our camaraderie.”
The New School -–– Catlin Gabel School:
In 1957 the Catlin-Hillside School and the Gabel Country Day School agreed to merge.
During the 1960's, the new Catlin Gabel School lost some of its old traditions from both schools but started to create new ones. In the 1960’s, some new school traditions that were initiated were the all-school ski carnival and exchange letter with the Fletcher School in Southern Rhodesia.
Additionally, in 1969, the first senior/first-grade buddy pairs started. Senior Anousha Greiveldinger thinks the long-standing tradition of first-grade buddies allows students in the Upper School to connect in unique ways with students on other parts of campus.
“I think first-grade buddies are beneficial to the Catlin experience because it forces us to just live in the moment and not worry about all the other assignments and responsibilities we have,” wrote Greiveldinger over text.
A lot of the traditions which were started after the merger have remained a part of many CGS students’ experiences at the school.
Senior benches in front of the James F. Miller Library. Photos Courtesy of CG Communications.
Meg Patten Eaton ‘58, the school’s archivist reflected over email on the tradition of senior privileges. She described how seniors used to sit on the benches back on the old campus and how “only seniors could use the front stairway.” They were also allowed to have lunch out once a month. In fact, during the beginning of the school's formation, in order for seniors to go off campus during the day, they had to be the faculty honor roll.
The norms and cultures that started to form during the founding of the school still remain at the heart of the institution. Senior Ramya Nallakrishnan reflects on the current norms and tradition of the “senior benches” outside the US library as being a right that the seniors have gained.
“I believe the senior benches have that name for a reason. Seniors should get priority,” wrote Nallakrishnan over text. “Personally, I don’t mind if students from other grades are on them, but if a senior wants to use them, they should have the right to kick the underclassmen out. I also am an advocate for the benches being ‘senior only’ during the second semester since we don’t have much time left at Catlin.”
Are these traditions that important to CGS, or are students merely just doing them for history's sake?
The traditions listed above are only a handful of the CGS traditions that have disappeared and been initiated over the years. Traditions such as Disco Friday, C&C Basketball, C&C Chess, student-teacher basketball games, Senior Projects, Takeaway Day, Spring Fest, Campus Day, Diversity Summit, Senior Skip Day, Revels, Gotcha, Winterim, and recitations play a critical role in the bonding of students and faculty on campus.
“I honestly don’t remember (or have mostly blocked out) the stress of writing papers for Tony or lab reports for Becky. But I do remember the fun traditions we had and the sense of community I felt while participating in them,” wrote alumna Riya Sivakumar ‘19 over text. “While many of the Catlin traditions are somewhat weird and unnecessary, I do think that they made my experience there that much better.”
If you would like to learn more about Catlin Gabel’s history or traditions, please visit this website or email the Catlin Gabel Archives at Archives@catlin.edu.