I copied this photo from the Hotchkiss website. If you're thinking thinking, "It can't be that pretty at the school where she works," you'd be wrong. It is this beautiful, except in the fall, when it's even more beautiful as the leaves turn vibrant shades of red, yellow, and orange.
But the beauty of the place isn't why you should consider attending or having your child attend boarding school. The scenery is just a bonus.
The best boarding schools offer teens experiences they could never have at home. Students come from all over the world and all over the country to study, live, play sports and music, and grow up together. These formative years shape the wonderful adults they grow up to be. Learning together becomes more intense and happens in more various ways in this environment than it does when they can go home each night. This place bonds children into friendships that last a lifetime. (I know "last a lifetime" sounds like a cliche, but it's true!)
In the interest of your time, I'm going to write a list of some of the great advantages of boarding school, but please note that this list is incomplete. The students at these schools:
- Learn independence in a safe and supported environment.
- Gain time management skills.
- Develop empathy for people from different cultures and regions and neighborhoods and religions and genders and and and so many more categories.
- Stretch themselves beyond what they thought they could do.
- Have opportunities to travel and study and serve.
- Face challenges that they learn to meet.
So the possibility exists that you're thinking, "Sure, but those schools cost an arm, a leg, and my firstborn..." Yes, the cost to educate students at these schools is high, but the best schools have huge endowments and offer substantial financial aid to qualified applicants. If you or your child wants to find out if boarding school is right for you, check out a few schools. You'll be surprised to find out that the admissions teams work to make the experience possible for those who can't afford to pay the tuition.
And if you're thinking about teaching at a boarding school, I highly recommend this life. We get to work with amazing students in classrooms and the rest of the day, have exceptional professional development, and enjoy a busy but enriching lifestyle.
Our school's motto is, "Guided by each other, let us find better paths." I believe that the guiding and finding happens better at boarding schools.
If you have questions or comments about boarding-school life, please reply. I'd love to read your thoughts or answer your questions below.