At its core, Hanover is a community of teachers and learners. Known as the home of the Ivy League’s Dartmouth College, the town also features one of the most highly-regarded public school systems in New England. The Dresden School District is composed of four schools in Hanover, New Hampshire and Norwich, Vermont; formed in 1963, it was the first interstate school district in the nation.
With approximately 750 students, Hanover High School features a faculty that would be the envy of many small colleges. The school regularly sends over 96 percent of its students to colleges, including many of the finest schools in the country.
Hanover’s wide-ranging athletics programs often win state championships in a variety of sports, and students are also honored in music, science and quiz bowl competitions. The Richmond Middle School and Ray Elementary School in Hanover, the Marion Cross School in Norwich and the Lyme School in Lyme, New Hampshire all prepare students for the challenging curriculum at the high school.
Top students at Hanover High are able to take courses at Dartmouth College, whose student body is composed of 4,200 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students. Dartmouth offers 17 graduate programs in the arts and sciences and three graduate professional schools – the Geisel School of Medicine, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Amos Tuck School of Business. Virtually anywhere on and close to campus, visitors can access the weather, travel information or their email through Dartmouth Public, the college’s free Wi-Fi portal.
Several private independent day school alternatives offer rich academic curriculums balanced with small class size and a broad interest in character development. These include Crossroads Academy (K-8) in Lyme, New Hampshire; the Montessori Children’s School (preschool and kindergarten) in Etna, New Hampshire; and the Upper Valley Waldorf School (nursery school through grade 8) in Quechee, Vermont.
From a host of preschools to the groundbreaking Rassias Foundation for learning languages to the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning at Dartmouth (Osher@Dartmouth), the Hanover Area is abundant with learning opportunities.
Following a major expansion, Hanover’s Howe Library features 79,000 volumes, three meeting rooms, banks of internet-ready computers and open Wi-Fi access. The satellite Etna Library, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, features 6,000 volumes, as well as story time, a summer reading program and other special programs for children.
The libraries of Dartmouth College also are open to the public. In Norwich, Vermont, you’ll find the Norwich Public Library, offering a Community Room space for local groups, exhibit space for artists in addition to the collection of over 35,000 volumes and free internet access. Also located in Norwich is the Montshire Museum, an award-winning, hands-on science museum whose 110-acre facility opened in 1991. It hosts 150,000 visitors annually, including 13,000 school children from New Hampshire and Vermont.