By Mary Geyer

Unlike Collegiate’s students, some students attend boarding schools, which are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles away from home and family. How would you feel being so far from home?

Boarding schools are popular all over the world, where students live on a campus throughout the academic year and return home for holiday breaks. These institutions give teenagers the ability to go to school wherever they are able to get in and afford, in or out of the country. 

Students choose to attend these schools for a multitude of reasons and are sometimes influenced by academics or sports advertised by the school. Another draw to boarding schools is legacy. Particularly in the Northeast US, students might attend the same boarding schools their parents attended as a way of continuing a family tradition. Doug Abrahms of US News & World Report says, “Today’s boarding schools offer students an array of academic choices, from robotics and engineering to intensive writing and arts programs. The campuses provide more opportunities and facilities to participate in sports, music and other extracurricular activities.” Opportunities not available in typical local public schools are often offered by these specialized schools.

In contrast to boarding schools, private day school students, like at Collegiate, do not live on campus but spend a majority of their day during the week at school. While certain private schools can be specialized, they typically offer a more traditional general education.

Dylan Belliveau playing lacrosse at Christchurch. Photo courtesy of Dylan Belliveau.

Dylan Belliveau is a junior at Christchurch School in Christchurch, Virginia, which is a boarding/day school hybrid. Belliveau attends Christchurch as a boarding student. He transferred there as a sophomore from a public school in Calgary, Canada. He chose to attend Christchurch after he was offered a partial scholarship for lacrosse. 

Belliveau says that one of the key differences between boarding and day school is the environment you are in. He says that a boarding school student is constantly surrounded by their friends and teachers. Belliveau also says this environment can sometimes have an impact on student attitudes, and that some students tend to think less about negative consequences because they don’t have to face their parents.

Even when the school day is finished, boarding school students remain on campus. Belliveau said, “[boarding school] comes with the downside of hardly ever having alone time, along with the lost family time while being away.” He says it’s easy to feel stuck on campus without a car, but that leaving is not hard with a car. He thinks that for those without a car, or too young to drive, feeling restricted can be a common issue. Belliveau explained, “There is so much life to live outside campus.”

Overall, Belliveau believes that boarding school is a positive experience and provides a plethora of academic and athletic opportunities. He believes that it helps students mature quickly, learn to live independently, and form lasting friendships. It “prepares you for college by forcing you to create healthy study routines and living habits that will be useful for the rest of your life.”

The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey. Photo credit: The Peddie School.

The students are not the only ones living on campus at a boarding school; most teachers do as well. Collegiate’s new Fellows’ Program Director (and Upper School English teacher) Dr. Leah Angell taught at The Peddie School, a boarding school in New Jersey. Dr. Angell agrees that getting away for the weekend can be hard, especially at a school like Peddie. The students spend a vast majority of their weekend away for sports games and tournaments. Boarding school teachers can have full days, teaching during the school day, eating meals with students, and being assigned dorm duty during the nights, However, close bonds with students are able to be formed, and Dr. Angell noted the independence and maturity students are able to gain at boarding school.

Dr. Angell explained that being a teacher at a day school like Collegiate is a vastly different experience. She said it would be very difficult to return to teaching at a boarding school after teaching at a day school. She believes that day school students are more easily able to connect with their community outside of school and form connections they wouldn’t be able to form if they lived on campus.

Brian Leipheimer, Collegiate’s Director of College Counseling, both attended boarding school and was raised on a boarding school campus. His parents worked at Foxcroft School, an all-girls boarding school in Middleburg, Virginia, starting in 1969, and his mother eventually became headmistress. He also attended St. Andrew’s in Middletown, Delaware, where the well-known 1989 boarding school film Dead Poets Society was filmed. Leipheimer thoroughly enjoyed his time attending St. Andrews and said he learned a great deal from his experiences there, and he enjoyed meeting a wide variety of people. Leipheimer said, “On one of my halls, I was living next door to a kid from Chinatown in New York City, and across the hall was the Prince of Saudi Arabia.” Leipheimer described other benefits of boarding school for students, including a strengthened sense of independence, strong academics, and constant and flexible access to teachers. He also describes that he got to use boarding school the same way many people use college. He said, “[I found] myself and established who I wanted to be. I got the chance to do that four years earlier.” He also described the bonds that he made were incredibly strong because he lived with his friends.

Leipheimer also acknowledged some key differences between day schools and boarding schools. Leipheimer described what he believes is the most significant difference at a day school: “If I need to talk with a student, I need to get it done between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. If I was at a boarding school and needed to meet with a student, we can meet after dinner, we can meet at breakfast, and anywhere in between.” That also led Leipheimer to describe a benefit of day school, in that when he goes home, there is separation between his work and personal life, and he is not constantly surrounded by students. Another key difference were the three Saturday classes students had in the mornings at St. Andrew’s. This allowed the students to have half-days every Tuesday and longer holiday breaks, so when Leipheimer was a student, most of the month of March was a break. Leipheimer said, “I was a student who fit really really well at boarding school, but it’s not for everybody.”

Both Belliveau and Dr. Angell agreed that attending a boarding school requires commitment and motivation, and Leipheimer acknowledged that it is not the choice for everybody. The correct school choice depends on the student, their financial resources, and their athletic and academic goals. 

Featured image courtesy of Christchurch School.