{{wikify|September 2006}} Image:campusplan.jpg Marin Country Day School is an independent coeducational day school located in Corte Madera, California. The school's motto is "A Spirit Always Surging". Founded in 1956 by Barbara Mendenhall, the school originally consisted of circus tents located on a several-hundred-acre hillside overlooking the San Francisco Bay that an anonomous donor gave to the school. Eventually, money was found to build temporary classrooms, followed by the construction of permanent classrooms and related facilities. The purpose of the school was to develop not only the minds, but the character of students. There was an emphasis on the importance of the arts and an appreciation of nature. Those goals remain a part of the school's philosophy to this day. The first teachers came from all over the United States. During the 1950s and 1960s, the student body was small -- under 300 students. The school was divided into an "upper school" and a "lower school". Facilities used by all students included an Assembly Room, Library, blacktop, playing field, riding ring and the Art and Music buildings. For sports purposes, each grade was divided into two teams, the "Blues" and the "Greens". Eighth graders graduated on "Step-Up" day by moving up one tier on a set of wooden pilings built into a hillside between the Art and Music buildings. The tradition holds to this day. Two other long-standing traditions are the fall Book Fair to raise money for the school, and "Kite Day", which takes place in the spring. Students, parents and friends of the school picnic and fly kites on the hillsides overlooking the main campus. In the late 1960s, a large gymnasium and additional classrooms were constructed in the vicinity of the "upper field". The student body was enlarged, and a ninth grade class was added for several years. Then it was decided to go back to educating students only through the eighth grade. In 1970, a bizarre incident occurred where a boulder slid off an adjacent hillside and nearly crashed through a wall into the upper easternmost classroom that at the time was occupied by lower school students. The rock was six to eight feet across and was estimated to weigh in excess of two tons. Headmasters at Marin Country Day School in its early years included Isabel Chestnut, Peter Rothermel and Malcolm Manson, an Englishman and accomplished French_Horn player, who had taught at Choate_Rosemary_Hall. Faculty members fondly remembered by many alumni include Barry Mineah (music), Robert Littell (history), Mme. Surovtsof (French), Leo Christianson (music), Mrs. Hertzel (science), Hope Williams (2nd grade), Mrs. Woodward (2nd grade), Mrs. Jones (4th grade), Mrs. Yates (horseback riding), Mr. Sibley (math), Mr. Graulich (history and social studies), and Rob Nelson (English and filmmaking). Barry Mineah took students on backpacking trips to the Sierras, Alaska, Austria, and Tahiti. Every eighth grade class was required to present a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. The tradition was later expanded to include musicals such as "Oklahoma". Tragically, Jeff Mineah, Barry's son and graduate of MCDS 1971, died in 1991 at the age of 35. In later years, the school upgraded its music facilities and added a theater program. Bay front property was purchased to expand the campus eastward across Paradise Drive. Today, Marin Country Day School has a larger student body of 530 students, but it remains focused on its core mission of educating both the hearts and minds of its students. The year 2006 is MCDS' 50th anniversery and has planned a year long celebration of this milestone.