New Hampton School - Review #4

I believe the overall feel of my school was the most unique part of it. Campus always felt like a big family. My teachers and dorm parents had no problem letting me do homework in their living room or babysit their kids. Another unique part of campus was the requirements of extracurricular activities. Students were required to have some type of activity every season, whether it be a sport, participating in a play, or even volunteering in the training room. This kept everyone on campus involved in some way and also gave students a time structure for their daily activities.

My friends were the best thing that happened to me in boarding school. You meet some really terrific people of all different backgrounds. And friends aren't limited to students; some of my coaches and teachers were beyond close to me. There was a time I was studying for finals and needed space to spread out all my worksheets to study off of. My dorm parent and field hockey teacher had no problem letting me use her living room while she went to sleep. The greatest thing I learned in boarding school was how to be independent, but also have friends to lean on when needed.

I wish I had focused on my grades a little bit more and not gotten swept away by the sudden independency. I figured it out as time went on, but I wish I had that head start. I also wish I had seized my time better. You'll honestly never get such an amazing opportunity and you really need to appreciate that before it's gone.

The only way to answer this is with my favorite memory. Every day after finished lunch, I would walk out to leave, passing by the "small side of the cafe", as we called it, where faculty sat with children and their family. Before I passed by to head to the DP and see my friends, I always made sure to stop by and say hi to all of the faculty children. They were always so great and really made my day, and I was always just happy to have such an amazing family dynamic on campus.

Go to the snack bar and get "Bowl noodle, Spicy chicken soup". It's obviously spicy but it was my favorite late night food.

Academics were widely fit to help each individual. My brother and I both attended New Hampton, and as he needed more help academically he had a teacher's assistant who helped him through his homework and work load. I, however, needed more of a challenge and was therefor able to participate in taking IB classes. I also had this personally managed by being able to select some IB classes and not being required to take the full IB program, as I knew it would've been too hard for me. Additionally, classes were kept relatively small to allow more one on one time with a teacher. I know of some instances where classes surpassed the max and were instead split into 2 classes to keep the students better engaged. Depth of classes has a completely full range, allowing student's to make decisions for their personal education. The workload was, as best said, manageable if you spent your time correctly. If your homework wasn't completed during study hall, you had free blocks to finish. If time was spent wisely, the workload was definitely manageable.

I can't explain enough how great the sports were at my school. Coaches were always engaged throughly and had the right amount of knowledge to coach a team to championship. My last semester, I believe 4 separate teams won the Lakes Region Championship. The only complaint I would have is the force of mandatory participation, as some student's wouldn't commit to a sport because they were uninterested in actually being there, however, I do believe it is important for students to have requirements as it keeps them engaged and active. Lastly, for most sports the competition was relatively equal, but our lacrosse teams have a history of blowing other teams away and not having as many difficult games. I wish some lower teams could get switched with some more competitive teams.

I mostly only participated in art and theatre, briefly. In my art classes, I loved every bit of it and was definitely encouraged to make my art individual with personal decisions and design. The theatre I participated in was student run, but had some help from the theatre department. It was a great time and definitely worth my engagement. My only compliant was that the athletes on campus had little interest in their classmates arts. They never seemed to be engaged in art showings or plays. They seemed to be almost looked down upon, which definitely isn't fair for the kids focused on art.

Extra-curricular definitely needs some work. Student government was widely used, but other students didnt understand the amount of work that was being done and often looked down on them. Volunteering was definitely done often, but in some instances students felt as though they weren't doing enough for the community or that the volunteer work seemed to be menial labor. We used to be able to choose our volunteer opportunity, but it changed to become a campus wide community day, where some participate more than others.

I loved living with my best friends, but it definitely gets difficult when there are 30+ girls in one dorm. There isn't a lot that can be done about this, and it isn't necessarily a big problem, but more of a pet peeve. Overall, dorm life was fun and dorm parents were great. There were some dumb rules about lights and tapestries, but there were often ways around those rules. Selecting rooms and roommates were fairly easy if you were an upperclassmen and had been at school long enough to have the privilege to ask for a room. Chores weren't fun, but it was definitely necessary and split up well enough.

The salad bar was my favorite. There was a good selection of food and plenty to choose from. The quality was mostly organic and healthy, but I had wished for some better tasting food. It definitely wasn't horrible, but after 4 years I did get sick of it. Hours were set up fine. You weren't allowed in when they were cleaning, but there were often times when a cafeteria lady would let me in quickly to grab and apple or get tea. You were never assigned seating except for dress dinners, but the assignment was random and let me meet people I wouldn't ordinarily know. There was always fruit available, too, which was amazing.

The surrounding area was boring and bland. I know its popular in the summer for the lake, but not much going on during the school year. There were some places to eat from if you traveled a little further with a day student, and a dunks nearby that teachers would often take us to. There was also delivery to our dorm from Chinese restaurants and different pizza places.

We had an area called the DP (Dog Pound) where we would hang out after lunch before class, or at the end of the day before study hall. I think that lounge is what I miss most about college. Theres never a place for everyone to just hang out and watch tv or talk or play games now. It was definitely an important part of the community and I really miss going there to see my friends after lunch.