A proponent of "muscular Christianity," he instituted a Spartan educational system that included cold showers and dormitory cubicles instead of individual bedrooms.

[12]: 72–73  In peacetime, many graduates were involved in public affairs,[14][12]: 321–28  but the alumni typically gravitated to business, finance, law, or similar professional positions.

475 of Groton's 580 military-age alumni served in World War I; 24 died and another 36 were wounded, at a time when the graduating class contained roughly 27 students.

[19]) Since even Ivy League universities could not always be counted on for financial aid at the time, Peabody also helped certain students pay for college.

[16]: 113–14  (Four years earlier, Southern authorities had arrested Crocker's son John Jr. '42 during the Freedom Rides, leading to the Supreme Court case Pierson v.

[26]) Crocker also significantly expanded the school's financial aid program; by his retirement in 1965 approximately 30% of Groton students were on scholarship.

[35][36] They replaced the sleeping cubicles with proper bedrooms, added more holidays to the academic calendar, relaxed the dress code, authorized a school newspaper, and gave students more free time over the weekends to explore the town of Groton or their own personal interests.

Groton reached its modern form under William Polk '58 (1978–2003) and Richard Commons (2003–13), who significantly upgraded the campus' buildings and grounds and internationalized the admissions process; and the current Headmaster, the South African Temba Maqubela (2013–present).

In 2008, Groton, Andover, and Exeter began offering free tuition to families with household incomes below a certain threshold, initially set at $75,000.

In 2005, the school pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge of failing to report the latter student's sexual abuse complaint to the government and paid a $1,250 fine.

At present, former Groton masters are the heads of school at Cranbrook (Aimeclaire Roche, also president of the national Heads and Principals Association),[50][51] St. Paul's (Kathleen Giles),[52] Roxbury Latin (Sam Schaffer),[53] Dana Hall (Katherine Bradley),[54] Salisbury (William Webb),[55] and Brewster International (Craig Gemmell),[56] among others.

From 1906 to 1934, only six students received perfect scores on the English component of the College Boards (the predecessor to the SAT), and four were Groton alumni.

[4]: 138  Third, even when Groton produced middling students, elite colleges were often willing to admit them anyway because of their parents' legacy status, wealth, or connections.

"[78] In 1958, Bundy commissioned a report urging Harvard to diversify its student body and to give greater weight to raw academic talent in undergraduate admissions.

[93] The school was founded by John Finley '88,[94] and Groton headmaster William Polk previously served on Epiphany's board.

[106] At Groton, grades are known as Forms, a term used in the United Kingdom and adopted by Endicott Peabody from his time at Cheltenham College.

St. Paul's accepted only students with "sound Episcopal credentials,"[111] and in 1885 Andover admitted a Jew "[f]or the first time in twelve years.

"[13] Accordingly, schools like Groton considered it their mission "to make virtuous and brave those who, through the accident of birth, would someday exercise great power and influence.

For example, after the Kent State shootings, Groton, St. Paul's, Andover, and Exeter held an emergency meeting to discuss how boarding schools should respond to growing student unrest.

[132] Groton also worked with St. Paul's, Andover, Deerfield, and Hotchkiss to create the Gateway to Prep Schools application portal.

[140] The schools are still required to pay back the bonds on their own, but obtain tax benefits and more attractive repayment terms by working with the government.

[145][150] More recently, the school built a solar battery farm and a net-zero emissions faculty residence to improve energy efficiency on campus.

[160] The Chapel replaced an earlier Vaughan design (now the Sacred Heart Church of Groton), which the school donated to the local Catholic community.

[141] One scholar has suggested that the relative lack of ritual at Sunday services helped attract non-Episcopalian students to the school.

[180] The phrase cui servire est regnare was originally attributed to Saint Augustine, and has been used in Christian liturgies since the 8th century at the latest (Gelasian Sacramentary).

[182] ISL schools may only award financial aid based on a family's ability to pay; as such, they do not offer athletic scholarships.

[187][188][189][190] In 1905, when several colleges (including Stanford, California, Northwestern, and Duke) dropped football citing player safety,[191] Endicott Peabody persuaded Theodore Roosevelt to push the remaining colleges to make the game safer by reforming the rules of football; this resulted in the legalization of the forward pass, the rule requiring 10 yards for a first down, and the creation of the neutral zone.

[196][197][198] The younger Groton girls' crew has won four New England championships[195] and has produced world champion Liane Malcos '96.

[204][205] Groton alumni have produced two International Six Metre class Sailing Olympic gold medalists (James Hopkins Smith Jr. '27, John Adams Morgan '49).

[210] Groton also plays its neighbor Lawrence Academy in various sports, but because the ISL is split into different divisions for football and hockey, matchups are less frequent.