Homelike boarding schools

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Thu, 20 Jun 2019 03:22:48 +0000

I’ll chime in for Concord. Half of the population of the school is actually boarding, so it is a small group of students that are incredibly tightknit. We actually live in old colonial homes along the Concord Main Street, so it feels like we actually live in a home instead of a dorm and most dorms are getting renovated this summer with kitchens and flatscreens installed in the bigger living rooms.

For boarders, every week we have ‘house comps’ where the houses compete against each other for points and usually, the biggest house points get like Chipotle for the entire house paid for. The competitions themselves are usually fun and silly, sometimes its stuff like guess that song or dodgeball. During finals week, we had a dance competition against the houses. It gets very competitive! We also have weekend activities every week, like trips to an arcade, the mall, the local buffet and rides to Boston provided by the Student Life Office. Also, during finals week BC (Boarding Council) likes to order food and desserts after study hall as exam snacks; nice little gestures that really makes boarding unique.

Being that the boarding community is so small, it isn’t uncommon for the students to be incredibly tight and close. it was totally acceptable for a freshman to be having a conversation with the upperclassmen on a Friday night. My closest dormmates were very welcoming and accepted me as their friend, even though I was just a freshman. At CA, there is not that big of a class distinction of your grade, which becomes even more invisible in the boarding community.

House faculty (dorm parents) and the Head of House usually act as our parents in the house. The house faculty come to the common room after study hall ends and usually just hangs around as help for any assignments or just to ask how your day was. The Head of House starts checking in people at around 10 o’clock and he/she goes to everyones room and just asks how their day was and has a nice conversation. They could easily just see me and check me in, but they always strive to have a nice conversation which always felt nice. House Faculty usually rotates everyday with a different parent. It’s usually 3 families living in one house + a roamer who doesn’t live in the house but aids in being a house faculty that just leaves when everyone is asleep (12ish). The House Faculty always cooks a meal every Saturday night for the entire house and we have house meetings every Sunday and Wednesday just to go over what we need to do and do our house jobs like vacuuming or washing the plates.

And for dogs, there’s at least one dog for each house. Frankly, I’m afraid of dogs but I’ve gotten over that fear after meeting so many dogs on campus just on the quad haha. If your boarding, CA is such a great homey option that I really enjoy!