Westtown School - Review #1

I could cite Westtown being Quaker as its claim to being unique. There are other Quaker boarding schools. I can't put my finger on what made Westtown so special and memorable for me. I spent 12 years there from 1st grade through graduation. Westtown will provide an academic education just as well as any other school on this website. However, Westtown also sets out to make its students good people. Many schools claim to make good citizens who contribute to society. While a wonderful claim, Westtown goes a little farther. I left Westtown and so did many of my friends with an ability to step back and see the greater picture. I had the ability to see things critically. The ability to think critically about the outside world was (and still is) a valuable skill I learned at Westtown. But, even more important is the ability to look critically within. I'm sure a lot this came from the Quakerism, and the idea of looking within yourself as well as others for good. This ability to find good in all others is a bright spot in what can be a dark and cynical world.

I made friends for life. I will not ever forget that. The boarding experience was amazing, and I wouldn't change anything about it.

Nothing. I arrived in 1st grade and I am so thankful for every minute I spent at Westtown.

The campus. Westtown has done an amazing job of growing while keeping the beauty of the 600 acres complete and unscathed.

Don't always ask the same students for advice or you'll get the answer you're obviously looking for. Ask the students who seem upset with the school or don't always sign up for committees. They're the ones who often feel something's wrong and they have great ideas how to address them.

Realize there's more to boarding school than getting into a good school and studying. Soak it all. Get to know someone you normally wouldn't get to know. Talk to the faculty and learn from them outside the classroom. Embrace how unique Westtown is, don't be nervous about it. Be open to new things and Westtown will do the rest. Good luck.

The teachers. They were interesting, they really did love what they were teaching but the great thing is the interaction with them outside of class. In the dorm or just in the hall or at dinner, hanging out with the faculty and learning from them outside the classroom was awesome.

Unmotivated students bothered me. Some didn't realize how lucky they were to be at Westtown.

The fan support. Over 150 students got on a bus and rode about 50 minutes to come watch us play in the playoffs. They made an away gym feel like home.The friends I made on my teams. My friends from the teams I played on will always be remembered by me. Winning and sometimes more so, losing, brings a group closer than any other situation.

I felt like people we're not proactive about improving the quality of the athletics. If they assumed the team would be bad then they didn't really care about getting better, or if they did, they did little to change it.

Wasn't really involved myself. However, I still remember how much I enjoyed some of the shows I saw performed. I felt lucky to attend the 1st HS to perform the Laramie Project, and watching it was very powerful.

I didn't participate much.

I really enjoyed the student leadership. Students really decided what went on and how the club would be run. It was nice to be a part of that.

On the same note, some clubs lacked the proper guidance or they were merely started so that students wouldn't have to attend study halls.

Living on a hall with 60 guys is something I'll never forget. It was like we were all brothers up there and I made friends I'll never lose.

Being accounted for meant a lot of rules about where to be and when. A little more freedom would've been nice.

Family style meals. Having 8 people sit around a table and pass the food around rather than each person with their own tray, coming and going like a cafeteria. I remember how special Thanksgiving would be when each table would get their own turkey to be carved and we would sit, with candlelight. It was the 2nd best thing to home and allowed us to all have a nice dinner together.

There was a lot of vegan and vegetarian options that weren't very good. I have no problem with them being available, but the amount compared to the number of students in the school who didn't eat meat was a little off.

I arrived as the only new student in 1st grade. I immediately began making friends there that I've kept ever since.

Amazing. Even at a college that claims to be very diverse, it doesn't come close to Westtown. I felt like the integration and diversity really enhanced my education there.

basketball games, sledding, watching movies, goofing off in the halls. Once a friend and I borrowed the ride-on toys from the day-care and rode them down this grassy hill behind the Meeting House. Simple but memorable fun.

Pretty isolated. We would walk to rent movies or get pizza. On the weekends vans went to the malls or the movies.