"Wait, so you lived on campus? Where you went to school?"

"Was it like a big slumber party every night?"

"You must have gotten in trouble to be sent to boarding school"

and worst of all: "Your parents must not love you if you went to boarding school."

These are just some of the questions I have been faced with before, during, and after attending boarding school for four years. I want to start off by saying that I decided to go to boarding school by myself. I was not sent away by my parents, and I am not a legacy to any elite boarding school in New England. I went to two very different, very small boarding schools in North Carolina: Salem Academy and Asheville School. The main reason I decided to go to boarding school is because of the small class sizes. My middle school at home at over 300 students, and my feeder high school was going to much more than that. I knew I wanted to go to a small school where I knew everybody, both teachers and students. My elementary school had been very small, and I preferred that familiarity and closeness to the anonymity I experienced in middle school. But boarding school gave me much more than just a small graduating class.

I presented the idea to my parents in eighth grade, and they were surprised but very supportive. It is because they love me that they trusted and supported my decision to go away from home at such a young age, and it ended up being the best decision I have ever made. Though I did end up switching schools halfway through high school, I do not regret where I ended up. Leaving Salem Academy after two years was not easy, but it simply was not the right fit. Though I was able to make lifelong friends and find new talents in field hockey, I knew it wasn't where I belonged and truly felt like myself. This is how I found myself 'amid rugged mountains' in Asheville, North Carolina, where I graduated in 2012 with my 77 other classmates (one of the biggest graduating classes to date). Asheville School gave me what I wanted to get out of high school, something I am thankful for every day in college. 

Unfortunately, boarding school is not like the Zoey 101 or the "It Girl" books. While it is fun and I loved it, it is certainly not easy. It is not easy living in a dorm room with another girl when you are just 13 years old. It is not easy having your entire day scheduled from classes, to extracurriculars, to times you are allowed to watch TV. It is not easy working hard and even having classes on Saturdays when your friends from home are breezing by with little to no effort. But this is what I wanted. I wanted to challenge myself, to become more independent and responsible, and to become the best version of myself. And boarding school gave me that. The little things along the way, like required SAT prep, service hours, Saturday classes, or having to give a personal speech in front of the entire school were the things that made me stronger and really paved the way for my life in college. 

Without boarding school, I don't think I would have been able to live off campus as a freshman at CofC when they ran out of dorm rooms. I wouldn't be able to write a 3-5 paper with ease and I wouldn't be afraid to raise my hand and speak up in a lecture class. Going to boarding school prepared me in a way that not many are lucky enough to receive, which is something I am grateful for every day. So Asheville School, thank you. I can't imagine having spent my high school years any other way.