Recently in Girls' Schools Category

During the recent IECA conference I was able to find some time outside of the conference hotel to visit three Maryland girls' boarding schools: St. Timothy's School, Garrison Forest School and Oldfields School.

Visiting schools is the bread and butter of the consultant trade. Visits allow me to check-in and see how my students are doing and I'm able to get a feel and impression for where the school is presently. We all know what the admission materials say. I like to see where the school stands today; what are the happenings and how is everyone- faculty, students, administration- thinking.

Below, I've shared my quick impressions of these three girls schools as each applies their approaches and perspectives to girls' education.

St. Timothy's School
St. Timothy's is a small, safe, lovely diverse campus with a supportive community providing each student with a very positive and well-rounded liberal arts education. I found lots of energy on campus with the Brownie and Spider teams displaying their school sprit in a very positive manner.

Academically St. T's provides a very challenging, college preparatory curriculum based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) program (for more on the IB visit: St. Timothy's School: North America's only all-girls boarding school offering the IB). The School is very inviting for a student who would enjoy a small single sex boarding community with horses and who wants success academically, socially, personally. Additionally, St. T's offers some very interesting summer and community service programs.

I found St. Timothy's girls to be a warm, friendly and very hard working students. Administration, faculty, and students were all outstanding and the common areas and dorms were warm and inviting to all.

Oldfield's School
Oldfields enjoys a diverse student body with a college-preparatory curriculum in a rural family-like community. Oldfield's commits to meeting the needs and maximizing the potential of each student.

The school has a fine visual and performing arts program, riding, dance, and extensive extracurricular activities. Students and teachers use wireless lap top computers and smart boards.

For two weeks each year, the school's "May Program" gives each student an opportunity to explore an interest in depth. Each student breaks from their regular classes to immerse themselves in a real-world experience that connects to one of their interests. From the study of biology in Costa Rica, to the business of a horse shows, community service in Peru, or comedy television writing, students select from a dozen different options. The "May Program" has been a hallmark of the school for thirty five years and many Oldfields alumnae have gone on to careers discovered through "May Program."

Garrison Forest School
Garrison Forest provides a very challenging academic atmosphere for girl's in a primarily day school with a small boarding population.

The girls create a lot of positive energy on campus. They were self-assured and presented themselves impressively. The GFS/JHU (WISE) program for women in science and engineering stood out. Johns Hopkins University guides this program to support women in math and sciences; check it out at: www.gfs.org/WISE . They also offer many AP's, a wide range of electives and extensive art courses (dance, photography) and a full athletic program with turf fields which also include riding and polo.

Day girls are encouraged to live on campus and participate in weekend activities on a regular basis. Each day student I met assured me that they have taken advantage on living on campus for four weeks or they themselves became a boarder for their senior year.


Need help with your boarding school search? Contact Marylou to learn how she can help guide you through the admission process.

I recently came across an exchange between the authors of blog posts published in USA Today, Lenora M. Lapidus, Director & Emily J. Martin, Deputy Director of ACLU Women's Rights Project - New York and Meg Moulton, Executive Director of the National Coalition of Girls' Schools.

Ms. Moulton wrote a spirited defense of single gender education that focused more on science. My defense of single gender education will be simpler. Single gender education benefits some kids and not others. In my opinion, the benefits of single gender education depends on the student.

Lapidus and Martin argue in their short piece that the voices and choices of single gender education are driven by shoddy science, "hype," and the notion that "Sex differences are sexy." To some extent, they're right. Incomplete science makes it's way into the world and sometimes shouldn't be used to shape decisions.

But, the underlying assumption of their article is just plain wrong. They present and posit the relationship between incomplete science (coupled with social and popular hype) as a causal relationship. The ideas of boys and girls brain/developmental differences are in the public arena therefore a push for single gender education exists.

This is not a causal relationship. The authors miss the point here and the answer is simpler, disconnected from popular culture, and more complex at the same time.

Some students, boys and girls are more comfortable and may perform better in a single gender environment. The school environment choice grows out of what's best for this particular child. A coed environment or a single gender environment? Families and students may arrive at their school choice through an infinite number of avenues (assuming the student has a choice).

In the end, single gender education- like all school choice- is just a different way of going to school and where & how to go to school depends on what's best for each individual student.

There is no causal relationship behind choosing or, inherent evil in, single gender education. It is, simply, a different way of going to school.

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.

It's great to see a small school with a tightly focused mission reach such a milestone. Brenau Academy's longevity is testament to its foundation and unwavering commitment to women as bright, engaging, leaders.

An extension of Brenau University, the Academy enrolls approximately 50 girls in its 9-PG program and notes a long line line of accomplished alumnae.

To read a brief article about Brenau's 80th year, visit: http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/8015/

Visit Brenau's web site at: http://www.brenauacademy.org