I’ve been at the same boarding school for 4 years now. As normal as that may sound to some, there has been a lot of people who I’ve seen transfer in and out of schools all over. Now I think my friends and classmates may be the most qualified to give advice on how to survive high school, but more specifically: boarding school.
Now to anyone who has ever seen Zoey 101, I want you to know boarding school is nothing like that. My school specifically, is nothing like PCA, the ideal boarding school Zoey 101 describes. The only thing they have in common is that they both end in “A."
Most boarding schools out there are college preparatory: which means piles of homework, so you’re prepared for it in college. I asked around the school to friends on what they thought was important to know before attending boarding school: and this is article is a collection of passing thoughts and opinions. Enjoy.
Something that can be hard every new place you go is making friends. Whether you all come in together freshman year, or you’re the new transfer student sophomore year: it will always be difficult to fit in with a group immediately. Don’t stress though, you will find your people.
This also can depend on the school, our boarding school is the definition of small. The number of students we have is almost tripled at other schools. Trinity wants people to know it can be harder to make at first at schools like ours, but that's because there are fewer people to associate yourself with.
So meeting new people can sometimes be hard, but that’s only because you may not have a lot of the same interests. Being at schools like these help you gain new interests and make new friends. Now while Trinity thinks this, Maciej sees it a little different.
Maciej came here all the way from Poland and he says that it was easier to make friends because everyone knows where you’re coming from. Both of these points are very true, at a school like ours and other boarding schools all over, it seems like you can find people with common interests or you make common interests yourself. Boarding school is all about new experiences.
Those experiences can differ from finding friends to taking on new objectives. There are a couple thing my friends had never experienced before coming to our school that they wanted to talk about.
“I wish I knew I wouldn’t see my parents as much,” said Andrew. He’s seventeen and from a different country. Now even if you aren’t from Ghana like Andrew, it can sometimes be really hard to be separated from your parents for long periods of time. If college prep schools are something you are honestly looking into, I would suggest practicing being apart from your parents.
When I was younger I participated in sleep-away camps and overnight trips, so being away from home never felt like a big hassle. Although it was different for my friend Mollie, she’s eighteen and she wanted people to know that boarding school is not for everyone, and that is totally okay. When she was here she didn’t get to visit home as much as she wanted, her homesickness was real.
Being at boarding school teaches you to mature at a younger age than usual because you have to be responsible enough to look after yourself. Zion, a friend I have from the Bahamas wanted people to know that boarding school requires a certain level of responsibility and maturity. That fact is something a lot of my friends and I can agree on.
Being responsible and looking after yourself can be portrayed in all types of ways, but the example Jordan wants to use is laundry. Jordan had a lot of advice she wanted to give, but the most important to her was that everyone should know how to do their laundry. This is something she honestly wishes she knew before she came to boarding school.
I suggest learning how to separate your lights from your darks; your future college self will thank you greatly. Now some of the opinions I got from friends were about a class. For example, Jameelah wants people to know that college prep schools are no joke. She’s a freshman and she could tell you about the piles of homework she gets in a week. It’s true, there are mountains of work you have to do and you might hear lectures all day, but in the end it will be worth it.
Taking notes during lectures and participating in Harkness discussions are two things that I think I have almost mastered. Even Though they can be a hassle and really annoying, you’ll be grateful for them in the long run. Harkness discussions help you understand other opinions while you still voice your own, and the participation points aren’t bad either.
You would think that most of the advice people want me to give about boarding school would have something to do with classes or asking teachers questions: but that’s not the case at all. If you are one hundred percent sure about boarding school, all my friends want you to bring a lot of food.
Most would say that bringing more food is important, but my roommate Bergeline would like me to warn you that people steal food. I’ll never forget the day someone took Bergeline’s Ramen noodles right from the microwave while she was making them. We were in the lounge watching a show and in less than a minute of the microwave sounding it was gone. Bergeline was so mad.
Now all jokes and funny stories aside boarding school is mini college and it’s up to you to find a balance. Even though the school gives a bit of structure and helps you manage your time, it is still up to you if you actually want to do it. My close friend Olu speaks of time management being very important because it is up to you if you fail or not.
Here are some final thoughts from friends, I hope they’re helpful in some way.
“Be prepared to be flexible” -Grant
“Sleep is important!”-Didi
“Don’t be jealous of other people's’ success because yours is also coming.”-Olu
My friends said so many important things, but I think the most important thing is to be yourself. For a while, I used to care so much what other people thought of me, but now I don't. Boarding school helped me realize that not everyone in the world is going to like you, but that doesn't matter.
Stay true to yourself because "those that mind don't matter, and matter don't mind." This is best advice I've known and it's from Dr. Seuss.