For context, my son recently graduated from Peddie. These answers are pre-covid. I don’t know how things had to change this year for logistical reasons related to the pandemic.
- Peddie has a great Maker Space and Robotics team. I can’t tell you more about either since my son didn’t use either of those resources. He is a STEM focused kid though and loved the EXP program (the Summer Experience in Research Science.) The EXP program involves a class for 2 trimesters (I think) Jr year, a summer spent interning in a lab, and then a class for 1 trimester Sr year. Of course there are AP classes and STEM related extracurriculars.
- Food - My son wasn’t a big fan. Then again, he is an extremely picky eating so it is hard to have an accurate read. I don’t know if they are still using the same vendor.
- My son was a day student the first two years so he got to bypass the Freshman dorms. The dorm he lived in Jr and Sr year was beautiful, air conditioned, and spacious (and new.) I think it was completed in Fall 2016.
- I don’t know if anything is in need of renovation. As mentioned previously, some new dorms were completed in Fall 2016. A new indoor track (and basketball courts?) were put in I think in winter 2019/2020 (maybe 2018-2019.) I think the maker space was put in 2016. There may be plans to do some sort of improvement with the music/arts facility (or maybe it has already begun? not sure…)
- Community is THE THING at Peddie. They work hard to eliminate any divide between day and boarding students. (Not sure about in covid-times. This may have changed this year for logistics reasons.) The student body comes together weekly through the chapel program (not religious, but held in a chapel hence the name) and also through extracurriculars, sports teams, music, etc etc. Advisor groups also take students from different grade levels and day/boarding. Plus, there are recreational activities and outings planned every weekend that appeal to a variety of interests. The sense of community was really what struck us during revisit day and it did not disappoint throughout the four years.
- There was a range of political beliefs among the students. I got the feeling that most of the faculty lean liberal. (But I certainly didn’t ask them, so I could be wrong.)
- Peddie is diverse on purpose to shape the community. My son loved that aspect. Not only did he encounter kids from diverse backgrounds (race, socioeconomic, political, religious, geographical) but he formed tight friendships with kids from diverse backgrounds. It was really wonderful. I will say that he actively liked engaging with and having deep discussions with kids of different backgrounds so I don’t know if everyone had the same experience. If a kid was interested in sports or music, my kid was there!
- It is hard to give objective answers because individual experiences will vary. We started this journey primarily to meet my son’s academic needs and secondarily so my son could participate in sports and music without having to choose. What he got out of it was so much more.