[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 129 (Thursday, September 23, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 COMMEMORATING THE 350TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOPKINS SCHOOL IN NEW HAVEN

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                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 23, 2010

  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 350th 
anniversary of the Hopkins School, a co-educational preparatory day 
school in my hometown of New Haven, Connecticut and the third oldest 
independent school in the United States.
  The rich history of Hopkins dates to well before the dawn of our 
American republic, when Governor Edward Hopkins of the young Colony of 
Connecticut established America's first charitable trust in 1650. In 
that trust, he set aside some of his estate for ``the breeding up of 
hopeful youths for the public service of the country in future times.'' 
And so a one-room schoolhouse was built on New Haven Green bearing 
Hopkins' name. From that seed, a fine educational institution has 
flourished.
  In the centuries since, Hopkins has molded many Connecticut youths 
into fine public servants. Among the school's esteemed alumni are a 
signer of the United States Constitution, several noted engineers and 
prize-winning physicists, diplomats and industrialists, governors, 
Senators, and more than a few presidents of Yale University.
  To this day, from its home since 1926 on a hill overlooking New 
Haven, Hopkins still continues to mold our State's bright young minds 
into leaders and innovators. With an average class size of fourteen, an 
educational philosophy that prizes extracurricular activities, public 
service, and engaged citizenship in addition to the usual academic 
subjects, and an inclusive community that welcomes young men and women 
of all races, classes, ethnicities, and creeds, it is little wonder 
that Hopkins continually produces students that place among the top of 
the Nation in standardized testing.
  I congratulate Hopkins and its current Head, Barbara Riley, on three 
and a half centuries of academic achievement. And I salute the school's 
continuing service to the colony, State, and young people of 
Connecticut. Here is to the first 350, and here's to many more.

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