WHO WE ARE
At Roland Park Country School, we believe that young women who build each other up will thrive. There’s no hurdle too high for an RPCS girl because she has the collective support of her community lifting her toward her goals. While this spirit sets us apart from other schools, it’s the effect on our graduates that’s so remarkable: Roland Park Country School students develop a profound understanding of who they are and how to lead together to impact the world.
Mission
Roland Park Country School is a collaborative and inclusive community that cultivates intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, dynamic resilience, and authentic leadership. RPCS inspires girls and young women to think critically and joyfully pursue their passions while honoring tradition and embracing innovation.
PHILOSOPHY
Roland Park Country School, a college preparatory school for girls, is dedicated to the intellectual and moral development of its students. We cultivate creativity, independence of thought, tenacity of purpose, self-discipline, and emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. We maintain high academic standards, uphold tradition, and promote innovation. We nurture a cooperative, resilient spirit within an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. In a diverse, inclusive, and joyful community, Roland Park Country School strives to instill in its students a lifelong love of learning, as well as the responsibility to look within and beyond themselves to contribute to and serve as stewards and leaders of their communities.
Code of Ethics
The standards of the Roland Park Country School are based on the School philosophy. As a member of the RPCS student body, each student is expected to act in accordance with this philosophy and to be aware that she represents her School both on and off campus.
A Roland Park Country School student is expected to have a sense of honor coupled with a sense of responsibility, to be considerate to others, and to exhibit qualities of truthfulness, sincerity and self-discipline. She values the spirit of fellowship which characterizes the spirit of RPCS and seeks to contribute to School life.
Honor Code
In support of the philosophy and standards of RPCS, honor in every phase of School and personal life should be scrupulously maintained. An honorable person is trustworthy and trusts others. Developing and maintaining this spirit of honesty and trust is the task of all students and faculty. It is clear that honorable conduct must pervade all actions and relationships of students, faculty, and staff of the School. It is because of this principle of honor that RPCS students enjoy a creative and flexible routine, a relaxed atmosphere and many freedoms.
Inclusion Statement
You Belong. At Roland Park Country School, we strive for equity and understanding in all we do. We cultivate a safe and healthy environment where we welcome and appreciate each student, employee, family, graduate, and guest. As a joyful, diverse community, we celebrate differences for the value and strength they bring to RPCS.
125 years strong
Roland Park Country School is a very special place, marked by a resilient spirit that has been the School's hallmark since its inception 125 years ago.
This spirit has traveled with the School from the original campus on Keswick Road to Roland Avenue to University Parkway to our present campus at Chestnutwood.
RPCS is committed to providing students with the tools and knowledge necessary to pursue their passions with confidence, responsibility and an understanding of the world around them. We invite you to share in our remarkable history and in the spirit that has carried RPCS through the past century.
A Legacy that Inspires: RPCS Through the Years
1800s
1894
A neighborhood school, the Roland Park School for boys and girls, is established by Katherine and Adelaide Howard, of Richmond Virginia, at their home on Notre Dame Avenue, now Keswick Road. Money is loaned to them by the Roland Park Company,
1900-1909
1900
The Roland Park School, also called the Baltimore Country School for Girls, is sponsored by the Roland Park Company and directed by Corrine Jackson and Bertha Chapman.
1905
Located at 210 Roland Avenue, now 4608 Roland Avenue, the Roland Park School under Bertha Chapman, Principal, institutes a college preparatory curriculum. The School continues to admit boys to Preparatory through fourth grade.
1907
Katherine Jones Harrison becomes the first graduate of now Roland Park Country School, graduating from a class of one.
1908
The School is incorporated under Maryland laws and has an independent existence, apart from the Roland Park Company. Dr. A.R.L. Dohme is the first President of the Board of Trustees.
1910 - 1919
1912
First Headmistress, Nanna Duke Dushane, presides over RPCS.
1916
Due to an expanding student body, the School moves to 817 West University Parkway. An open-air school is built on the Greenway estate.
1917
During World War I, the hockey field is planted with potatoes while the School flower beds are planted with peas and beans.
1918
The School expands, from seven to eight grades in the main school. There continue to be four grades in the primary school. RPCS' Alumnae Association is organized.
1920 - 1929
1922
Elizabeth M. Castle becomes the second Headmistress of the School.1923
The RPCS field hockey team has their first games. The record for the season is 2-0-1.
1930 - 1939
1932
The President of the Alumnae Association, Louise Kemp, 1925, is welcomed as the first alumna representative to the Board of Trustees.1940 - 1949
1947
The night after the June commencement, 75 percent of the School is destroyed by fire. The Trustees make an immediate decision to rebuild and additional fundraising begins to rebuild the gymnasium in memory of Amanda Lee Norris, retired Athletic Director. The School opens as scheduled in September.
1950 - 1959
1950
Anne Healy becomes the third Headmistress of RPCS.1954
Louise Larkins established the Semiquavers, Roland Park Country School's auditioned music ensemble.
1960 - 1969
1961
The last class of third primary boys graduated in June.1963
RPCS changes its admission policy to read: “Application without discrimination for all qualified applicants."1964
RPCS becomes the first girls’ school in Maryland to be awarded a Cum Laude chapter.
1970-1979
1975
Headmistress Anne Healy retires after 25 years. Gordon K. Lenci becomes the School's first Headmaster. Again, RPCS decides to enroll boys in Preparatory through third grade. The curriculum expands with added science, electives, and college guidance.1976
Fire breaks out in the new Upper School wing, built in 1968, during Thanksgiving vacation. School starts the following Monday in makeshift classrooms. The Trustees are forced to a decide whether to renovate or relocate.1977
The Board of Trustees purchases the 21 acre estate adjacent to St. Mary's Seminary on Roland Avenue, known as Chestnutwood. The estate was formerly owned by Dr. and Mrs. A.R.L. Dohme and previously by Charles Bonaparte, the grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, Naploeon Bonaparte's brother.
1980-1989
1980
In October, 550 students and 100 faculty and staff march north on Roland Avenue to their new campus at Chestnutwood (5204 Roland Avenue).
1981
Due to a drop in the male birth population and limited space, RPCS terminates admission for young boys.
1983
Margaret E. Smith becomes the fifth Head of School. She initiated the bagpiper tradition on Opening Day to welcome students.
1987
RPCS, Gilman and Bryn Mawr begin to coordinate Upper School classes. Each school offered a class in a foreign language. RPCS offered Russian. By 1991, the coordinated classes expanded to include English, history, math, and advanced sciences.
1990-1999
1992
Jean Waller Brune, 1960 becomes the first RPCS alumna to be appointed Head of School.1996
Mary Ellen Thomsen becomes the first female President of the Board of Trustees.RPCS completes construction of an Arts Center, a new Upper and Middle School library, science labs, classrooms, a computer center, and an expanded athletic center.
1998
Celeste Woodward Applefeld, 1964 becomes the second female President of the Board of Trustees and the first alumna to hold this position.2000 - 2009
2001
RPCS celebrates its Centennial and dedicates its new building including Lower School additions, the Smith Middle School, new science laboratories and new Upper School classrooms.2008
RPCS completes construction of the RPCS Athletic Complex, opens a child care center and significantly increases the endowment.
2010 - 2019
2016
RPCS celebrates the retirement of Jean Waller Brune, 1960 after 24 years of service as Head of School. Caroline Blatti becomes the eighth Head of School.
2020-Present
2024
Caroline Blatti steps down as Head of School. Joan Smith, HA becomes the Interim Head of School. Previously, Joan served 18 years as the Upper School Head at RPCS before her retirement in 2011.
Joan Smith, HA is named Head of School through June 2026, serving as the eighth person to hold the position.
RPCS launches our 2024-2029 Strategic Plan: Creating Pathways to Endless Possibilities. This plan is a vision for our community that builds on our strengths to reach an even brighter future.
2025
A $15 million renovation project is completed. Updates included a new Middle/Upper School dance studio, athletic MPR, Lower School MPR, Lower School lobby, new Lower School hallways and classrooms, new furniture for K-12 classrooms, new Middle School common spaces, and more.
