<p>Which schools are the most passionate about their school?</p>
<p>And Which are the least?</p>
<p>I don’t know about most or least spirited, but the Andover/Exeter rivarly is still as smoking hot as it was 200 years ago. Check <a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com%5B/url%5D”>www.boardingschoolreview.com</a> for specific accounts of this.</p>
<p>I remember this year, for example, we were beating Exeter in football and I guess they had run out of taunts, so they started yelling what we thought was “SCOREboard…SCOREboard” and we were a little perplexed since we were winning, but we listened in closer and it turned out they were saying “GEORGE Bush… GEORGE Bush”. The entire Andover side went silent for a full five seconds.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>…Why?</p>
<p>Are you supposed to be embarrassed that George Bush attended your school?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>Actually, when a comedian from Comedy Central came to give some live Saturday night entertainment he opened with something like, “So, I hear the President went to this school huh? That’s pretty impressive, but it makes me wonder…do they teach English at this school?” There’s a lot of jokes made at Andover’s, and especially GB’s, expense. It’s okay though, as long as they’re funny.</p>
<p>On subject, though. I heard that the Deerfield-Choate rivalry is pretty lively as well. They have a sort of pre-day Choate fest or something at Deerfield where all sorts of signs go up saying “Smoke Choate” and there’s some special dressing up thing. I’m not sure on the details, but that’s what my Dad told me they did when he went there.</p>
<p>St. Paul’s doesn’t really have a rival, but whenever I’ve competed against them in sports they have always been the best at supporting each other. And they never say anything bad about their opponents either. Very classy school.</p>
<p>the choate-deerfield rivalry is really big at those schools. i visited choate twice (first for the interview, second for the admitted students day). both times, choate made some remark about beating deerfield at athletics and whatnot. it was really amusing. from what my tour guide told me, deerfield had beaten choate for the past few years, and as a result said something along the lines of “if choate doesn’t improve, we’ll have to pick a new rival.” and as it turns out, that year, choate beat deerfield.</p>
<p>also, when i interviewed at deerfield, my tour guide told me that they have “choate day” (i think it’s the day before a big deerfield-choate game), where they eat pork or something, because choate’s mascot is the boar. choate also has a “deerfield day,” but i have not heard any word of eating mascots over there… :-)</p>
<p>some are embarrased that George Bush went to Andover, others are not.</p>
<p>the andover/exeter rivalry is great, especially for football and hockey</p>
<p>I agree that St. Pauls seems to have great school support</p>
<p>I would be very embarrased, although i love Andover even though i got waitlisted last year.</p>
<p>St. Marks and Groton is a big rivalry as is Middlesex and St. Georges school.
Anybody have any idea how it came to be that Groton and Middlesex have the same mascot (zebra)?</p>
<p>We were touring boarding schools last year during the long Veterans’ Day weekend. I believe this is usually school spirit week culminating in a game against the chief rival school that weekend. The strongest school spirit we saw was clearly at Blair against their long-time rival Peddie. We saw 3 other schools that had spirit week activities, and there was no comparison. The strong school spirit at Blair made him put it on his top priority list.</p>
<p>BurbParent, Peddie likewise has alot of spirit. I believe it’s one of the longest standing rivalries in the prep school world. Is your son a student at Blair, or is he applying for next year. If he’s applying next year I wish him and your family much luck…It’s a great school as is Peddie. By the way, Momofa wildchild has a son at Blair, or maybe he graduated this year. She would be a very good source of info with regard to Blair.</p>
<p>From various sources I have read, it appears Andover/Exeter, Blair/Peddie,
Choate/Deer, and maybe L’ville/ The Hill are the biggies. I’m sure I’m missing some. Overall I have the impression that the MAPL has the best spirit overall and maybe the best athletes overall. Smaller schools like Groton/ SMS and MX/ SGS have pretty spirited rivals as well.</p>
<p>He will attend Blair next school year. I exchanged a couple of emails with MomofWildChild, and she was very helpful. Her son just graduated.</p>
<p>Burb Parent, that’s great! The Mapl is a great league with regard to its stellar athletics and stellar academics. I wish your son the best</p>
<p>Taft and Hotchkiss are very big. Overall, prep schools have a LOT of school spirit. However, I believe you’ll find that the more athletically inclined schools have the most spirit: ie Taft, Deerfield, Lawrenceville, etc.</p>
<p>AceRocKola, yes…Taft/ Hotchkiss very big. Hey, what about Loomis and, is it Kent? This has the makings of big rivalry. Do I have that correct?</p>