Guest Post: A Day in the Life, Student Style.

Two of my students sent me this tonight. I didn’t write this but it may be the best thing ever to appear on my blog.  Want to know what it’s like to be a student at a place like this?  Here are two excellent examples.  They are my favorite.*

Just as a note: Courtney is a day student (meaning she goes home at some point in the evening) and Sasha is a boarder (but her family is only about an hour away).

A Tuesday in Spring in Courtney’s Life:

6:00- Wake up and go for a run most Tuesdays.  I like to run in the morning because no one is awake besides the other crazy runners and it’s really nice to have time to myself.

6:30- Get home and get un-gross from my run.  So like, showering and blow-drying my hair happens.

7:00- Get dressed, do my hair (lol, jk, I put it in a bun most days).  The cuteness of my outfit depends on if I have a tour that day.

7:30- Get to school, which is like a minute and a half drive, grab half a bagel and a refillable mug of coffee.

8:00- I have the first two periods free on Tuesdays.  I normally do my chemistry and math homework, sit in the upstairs library and read a book, or sleep in Sasha’s room.

10:00- Go to Ms. G’s office to bug her.  Either read, complain, eat candy, or talk about how I need Apple Jacks and coffee.  Sometimes we talk, mostly she does some work and I sit and make random comments on things.

10:30- Go across the hall to Advanced Pre-Calculus.  Wish to slam my head against a wall.  In reality, I get excited if I understand a homework problem and put it on the board with a purple dry-erase marker.

11:20- Go to lunch.  On Tuesdays we have StudCo (Student Council), which Ms. G is our faculty advisor for.  We get some work done, but also laugh a lot about mermaids.

12:10- Run to English class and hope I don’t forget my grammar book.  We normally talk about whatever we’re reading, but sometimes we get to do Writing Workshops, which I love.

1:10- French.  Our class is super crazy and funny and sometimes our teacher makes us go outside and run around the Senior Triangle when we are fidgety.  High schoolers either have all of the energy, or absolutely no energy.

2:00- Grab block.  I normally go to get a Luna Bar and sparkling water.  If it’s been a really long day, I go get more coffee (Ms. G has serious issues with my caffeine intake- it’s a little excessive).  Then I sit in an alcove in our main academic building with friends going over history homework.

2:30- History class.  We take notes and talk about movies.

3:20- Head to my locker to grab my sports stuff and then get changed for sports.

3:45- Get to cross country/indoor track/outdoor track practice.  On Tuesdays we almost always have a cross country or outdoor track meet, which is mostly nice.  When they’re home, a lot of my friends come out to cheer me on, and Ms. G goes to my meets and tries to yell mean things.  She sucks at it, but her encouragements are just as good!  I especially like when my advisor yells at me from lacrosse or field hockey practice.

5:15- Get out of practice and go to dinner.  I normally sit with the seniors from track because Sasha does crew and gets back late, and my other friends are still in practice or choir.

5:45- Go to the library and read some more.  Most of the time I walk back to the dining hall and have a second dinner with my lacrosse friends, or get a snack.  If I didn’t run in the morning, or I didn’t have a meet, I go back out for a second run.  In case you didn’t realize, I really love the running thing.

7:00- Hang out and catch up with Sasha.

7:30- Go to the alcove because Ms. G is on duty, and as I said before, I like to bug her.  I normally do math or read some more and listen to music.

9:30-10:00- I call my parents and they come pick me up.  I always have ice cream when I get home and then go to bed.

Most of my days go something like this, but in different orders.  If it isn’t Tuesday, I’ll go home around 6:30 instead of staying late.  I spend a lot of free periods in Ms. G’s office just hanging out.  Half of the reason for that is I only took five classes this semester and had way too much free time because my advisor wanted me to focus on track, and half of the reason is that she listens to me and tries to give me advice and is really great about my sometimes-craziness.

Ms. G was also my teacher last year, and she’s a really good teacher (which apparently I’m biased about because we think similarly so I just automatically understood what she was saying in class, but whatever), but more than that she’s a really good advisor.  Even though she isn’t the one who signs my forms, she helps me make my schedule and checks on my grades and listens to me, and every school needs teachers like that.  She also lets me sit in her office against the heater when it’s cold out and eat candy and be really excited or really upset and talk about running which she only just started understanding.

Alright, this just verged on entirely sweet, so I’m going to stop.  Our school is awesome, and I cannot imagine not going there.  Everyone supports all of the students in everything we do, and they are there to cheer us on and cry with us and everything in between.  It has made me a better person in every aspect of my life, and I love it.

 

A Day in the Life (of a student): A guest post by Courtney and Sasha (This one is from Sasha)

Now, I would imagine that most of my fellow readers here are adults who might wonder, what does being a student at Ms. Germain’s school entail? As you might also imagine, it is quite interesting.

As a boarder, living among teenage girls, i.e. your closest friends, is very fun, but can also be very tiring, and sometimes you might want to find a closet to hide in. Living at school is very different than living with your parents, but it is a good kind of different. When I went away my freshman year of high school, my dad said, “it’s like you’re going away to college.” No. That is not at all what boarding school is like. I haven’t been to college, but I know that there is no study hall from 7:30-9:30 each night, where you have to be in your room with the door open and sitting at your desk. I know that there is no breakfast check-in by 7:45, and that you don’t have to be in your room by 10:30 PM. You aren’t critically looked at and watched from a distance by both students and faculty alike when you bring a boy (that might be your brother) on campus, and your internet does not shut off at certain times a day. But I love it here. This is a unique kind of place that allows you to be close with everyone if you wish to. Everyone affiliated with the school has a special kind of bond that can only be acquired if you have gone or worked here. The campus makes you think that you are in a Harry Potter movie, and the traditions are one of a kind. The friends that you make are irreplaceable, and I hope they will be part of my life forever. Now, here is the part where I tell you about my average day:

6:00 AM: Wake up. I wake up a lot earlier than everyone else, because I like to be one of the first people awake. I usually do some homework or watch reruns of “The Office.”

7:00 AM: Go to breakfast, than go back up to by room to get ready for class.

8:00 AM: Class.

8:55 AM: On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays there is morning reports, where everyone gathers to become informed about important events.

11:20 AM: Lunch! There are meetings during this time period too.

12:15: Class starts again.

3:20: Class is over.

3:45: Crew practice, my favorite time of day.

6:30: The crew team gets back for dinner. If I have any club meetings that start at 6:30, I have to take my dinner to the meeting.

7:30: Study Hall. If Ms. Germain is on duty on Tuesdays, I usually go distract her with my not-so-amusing anecdotes of the day. The internet shuts off for all underclasswomen at this time, which is extremely unfortunate, but comes back on at 9:30 when study hall ends.

9:30: This is my adventure time hour, designated for running outside with my friends, ordering pizza, finishing homework, skyping with day students or other friends, talking to my parents, climbing trees, or watching Michael Scott make a fool out of himself on The Office.

10:30: I have to be back in my room. I finish up homework, and my roommate and me usually can be heard laughing about something from very far away, as I’ve been told.

11:30: The Internet goes off again, for underclasswomen. I’m still probably doing homework.

Sometime after 11:30 I go to sleep.

This is just my day. I doubt that any other student has “adventure hour,” but I have to keep my life interesting somehow. Coming to this school has been the best decision I have ever made, and I have learned so much in the past two years. I have learned the importance of friendship, how to single-handedly debunk a bed, and the great importance of microwaveable foods.

Now, where does Ms. Germain come into all of this? She has never been my teacher, but being in a tight community such as this brings everyone together. Plus, she is a generally friendly person that always keeps kit-kats and a lot of other types of candy in her office and has a variety of funny stories, often involving the internet, cats, and alligator iPad cases (they are more expensive than you would think, try Burberry).

As the viewers reading this post are probably teachers, here is a little information on the academics:

They are challenging. Of course, the stress and challenge level is different for each kid, but you have to work hard. A’s are always deserved. I have never gotten an A in a class that I did not put work into and that I didn’t care about. I took Algebra II and Trig this year, and it kicked my butt. It was very interesting, but I had to work hard and keep up with what was going on.

Have a great summer!

*Instead of not picking favorites every kid is my favorite for some piece of time until the next one is and if you are the only one in the room, you are definitely my favorite. Right now, Courtney and Sasha are the winners.

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