September 2008 Archives

5-day & 7-day boarding programs are terms that families considering boarding school will need to get handle on as they move into their school research. The terms are self explanatory at face value. However, they include some complexity in exactly what they mean for a student and family considering boarding school.

Are student and family looking for a boarding program that allows, or requires, the student to spend each weekend at home? Would the student be best served by living in a traditional 7-day school environment requiring complete focus and commitment?

These are just two quick thoughts involved when considering 5 & 7-day programs for your student.

To read more about 5-day and 7-day boarding programs- their similarities and differences, visit our new article: "7-day Boarding versus 5-day Boarding: What's the Difference?"

A great strength of independent education is opportunity to speak & participate. Smaller communities and classes often require students to voice their positions and think aloud. These speaking opportunities often provide a great foundation when students arrive to college and find that they must speak to be heard.

John Walsh, a Brooks School graduate, cites his public speaking experiences at Brooks as one of the keys to winning Syracuse University's White Denison Prize in Public Speaking.

While at Brooks, Walsh won Brooks' Wilder Prize in Public Speaking three straight years and served as Brooks' student body president.

The Boston Globe profiled Walsh's win. Brooks posted a news item to their site as well. Both are worth a read.

We're interested in all types of boarding schools and today we're happy to highlight a school and student that pour their efforts into international soccer.

French 3rd division professional team, AS Cannes, recently invited American Mason Hampel to participate on its U18 development squad. Development squads serve as training grounds and possible stepping stones to a professional career in the incredibly competitive world of European soccer.

AS Cannes noticed Mason's potential while he was a student at EduKick's soccer boarding school in Cannes. Mason previously attended EduKick's school Spain.

Mason hit the ground running in Cannes diving in to training, fitness tests and friendly matches.

"We're very proud of Mason," said Joey Bilotta, vice president of EduKick. "He's an extremely talented player, and he will be a strong addition to the AS Cannes U18 squad.  It is a huge, huge honor to be invited to try out for a professional team. It's something that only happens for our very best players, so we're always excited when somebody truly deserving like Mason gets chosen."

EduKick reports that Mason's amateur contract with the AS Cannes U18 squad will not jeopardize his future American college eligibility.

See and hear Mason comment on his experiences by watching the video below and to learn more about EduKick international soccer boarding schools, visit www.edukick.com:

Mark Montgomery, our new friend over at Great College Advice, checked-in with AQ (via Twitter-- very cool) to see if we'd like to participate in his new admission blog carnival. What's a blog carnival? Here's a brief description courtesy of Wikipedia:

A blog carnival is a type of blog event. It is similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly.

The more Mark described his idea, the more it clicked. It's a terrific opportunity for the community of bloggers interested in the admission process to regularly share their thoughts about a wide range of admission related issues.

We're pleased to be part of this group and to have contributed to the debut edition of the College Admission Carnival (it went live last night).

Our first contribution is Brian's post about Doug Ashcraft's new blog-- Artin3D.org. Doug's the Dean of the Arts at Idyllwild Arts Academy.

I encourage you to pop over and give it a look.

Photo Credit: joiseyshowaa 

We came across a great story about Trinity-Pawling School's dining hall renovation that will leave the school without a permanent dining room for the 2008-2009 academic year. The story of how the school will work through the renovation is a testament to planning and it's just fun.

How do you feed the community while the dining hall is a construction site? If you're lucky, you have another building or two that can serve as temporary dining rooms.

T-P tore down their old dining hall, but left the left the kitchen standing and fully functional. The hockey rink will serve as the dining room until the ice goes down in late fall. When the ice goes down in late fall, a new maintenance barn will be partially complete and this building will serve as the second temporary dining facility until the new dining room, Scully Hall, is finished.

Food Service moves every meal from the kitchen to the hockey rink and the school has added new vehicles to support their mobile role. As T-P Food Service Director Mark Barone told the Pawling News Chronicle, "It's like doing a wedding three times a day, seven days a week."

Underlying this year's fluid dining situation is Trinity Pawling's dedication to sit-down meals and their importance to the daily interaction among students and faculty.

Scully Hall will also be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) compliant.

On the heels of the Wyoming milestone, we see that our friends at Westover School celebrated the start of their 100th year. The school's formal year-long celebration begins in April 2009, but it's never to early to say congratulations.

You can read more about the milestone & last week's convocation by reading their announcement on our site (Westover Begins its 100th Year).

Stay tuned for an upcoming podcast with Laura Volovski, Westover's Director of Admission. We sat down at last weekend's School Connections Workshop to talk about the school's special offerings.

Update: The podcast interview with Laura Volovski is available. You can listen to this episode of the Boarding School Podcast (Westover School's Special Offerings) by downloading it from the site or iTunes.

School founding stories often include liberal doses of fact and fiction- a revered myth- a founding head's vision, church ties, money and those first few students. Recently, we came across an article about the founding of Wyoming Seminary.

The Wyoming Seminary story roots the school in the founder's description of the landscape as "a commanding situation for a literary institution." But, the part of the story I like best and had never heard about was the passing of the hat to raise money after a strong sermon. Co-ed from the beginning, Wyoming Seminary was also considered extraordinarily progressive for the time.

Read William Kashatus' short history of Wyoming Seminary to learn more.

Dr. Doug Ashcraft, Dean of the Arts at Idyllwild Arts Academy, closes the opening post of his new blog with "Let's just see what happens."

Titled Art In 3D "(Dean Dr. Doug, 3D...get it?..)", Dr. Ashcraft writes "in order to provide information, commentary, thoughts, ideas and questions for our parents, prospective students and interested observers."

Writing from Idyllwild, Dr. Ashcraft's blog should be able to provide some interesting insights into the ways that driven young artists learn and work through the early stages of the respective crafts- in hopes of becoming professionals in the the arts as adults.

His second post (Actors Wear Black) looks at the challenge to find places for auditioning musicians, dancers and actors in the face of limited seats/roles and how the potential players fit within the works they will perform.

"Back to judgment. It's really all about judgment. An audition that is. What do these young artists have? What do they need? How can we use it? How can we stretch it? How does this combination of talents fit together best, in order to produce a Beethoven Symphony, a series of plays that Howard won't let me announce yet, or a balanced dance concert that won't require every dancer to rehearse until 9:30 every day?"

Dr. Ashcraft's voice offers the opportunity to get a glimpse inside a driven students body dedicated to the strenuous and professional preparation of their art.

Update: For those interested in learning more about the program, checkout my podcast, Cardigan Mountain School Introduces PEAKS, with Cardigan's Brian Beale, Associate Director of Admission, & Ryan Feeley, English Teacher & Summer Session Director.

During a visit to Cardigan Mountain School (an all-boys, junior boarding school in Canaan, NH),  I saw a school in the midst of implementing a new academic initiative. Personalized Education through the Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills  (PEAKS) will serve as a backbone for the school's academic life. Old standbys like study/learning skills and language lab- fee based services at most schools- will be incorporated into PEAKs and become part of every student's curriculum without extra fees. 

Focusing on study skills and teaching the different ways students learn, Cardigan expects PEAKS will provide each student with more control and insight into the ways that he learns- instilling an approach to learning that a student can use in any setting.  When entering or confronting a new environment, a student who's learned through PEAKS will have an idea of how to identify what he needs to and strategies that he might employ to work through the material. 

The program will be both highly accessible and supportive. Not only will students take formal PEAKS classes during the school day, they'll have opportunities throughout the afternoon & evening study hours for additional group sessions and one-on-one tutoring. 

At the end of their Cardigan experience, each and every graduate should prove well prepared to succeed carrying the abilities of self-recognition and self-sufficiency into their chosen secondary schools. You can read a brief description of the school's program below:

"Guided self-development is the cornerstone of the class, and its focus lies in helping each student, no matter his skill level, become a better learner and self advocate. In this course, students will be introduced to different types of learning styles and a variety of study skills. After identifying their own learning style(s), students will explore and practice effective study strategies for each type of learner. Upon completion of the course, students should be fully cognizant of what type of learner they are, be able to describe their learning style, and be able to both explain and execute relevant strategies that will be effective in their future educational pursuits."

Photo Credit: redjar

We've written a fair amount about boarding school orientation- complete involvement, etc. Today, an article by Jess Zielinski of USA Today (How to survive your first college roommate) and a study out of the University of Michigan reminds us of something worth mentioning from my days as a dean of students.

I've argued- for years- to faculty and students that a primary function of high school and especially boarding school is teaching empathy- learning to put yourself and your mindset in the shoes of others. Understanding perspective and experiences beyond yourself makes possible the negotiation and compromise that are requisite parts for healthy relationships.

As I used to tell my students daily (and continue using several times weekly), "It's all about sharing and playing well with others."

Although the Michigan study looked at college students, the tenets are perfectly applicable to boarding school students.

Two select excerpts from the USA Today piece present sound advice when beginning your new journey. The Michigan study's authors (Psychologists Jennifer Crocker and Amy Canevello) suggest how best to approach your new roommate relationship(s).

"Basically, people who give support in response to another person's needs and out of concern for another person's welfare are most successful at building close relationships that they find supportive," Canevello said. "We get support, in other words, by being supportive."

Crocker says the best way to avoid loneliness and build a good roommate relationship is choosing to have an 'eco-system' approach, not an 'ego-system' one. In an 'ego-system' approach, people think most about their own needs and work to preserve a pristine version of themselves to others. In an 'eco-system' approach, folks focus on genuinely caring about and showing compassion for others."

Photo Credit: Goldberg

Most boarding schools open during this week after Labor Day, welcome back (returning students) and welcome and congratulations if you're a new boarding student.

If you haven't read our article that suggests some strategies and approaches to boarding school orientation, we urge you to do so. A positive & engaged orientation can ground you in preparation for all that's to come during the months ahead.

Lets make it a great year.

Photo Credit: Patrick Q

Back in March, we wrote about Eagle Hill School's role as a cultural hub in central Massachusetts and spoke of my hardhat tour of the school's under-construction Cultural Center.  As summer draws to a close, the school is now set to draw the curtain on their sparkling new facility.

The Cultural Center will house two theaters, a dining and function hall, gallery space, music rooms, a recording studio, visual and graphic arts classrooms, a set construction shop and an amphitheater.

As Eagle Hill Headmaster P.J. McDonald explained to the Worcester & Gazette, "The Cultural Center is a celebration of the arts and education coming together in three components.  First and foremost, it's for our students, whether they're acting on the stage, building the sets, marketing shows and accounting for the center's finances."

Congratulations to the folks at Eagle Hill.

Photo Credit: johnthurm