Loomis Chaffee - Review #7

The number of students at Loomis is perfectly balanced so you are always meeting new people while still having familiar faces around. This not only applies to the social aspects of the school but also carries over to the classroom in that the class sizes are small enough that students are comfortable participating while still having a diverse pool of ideas in discussions.

I really enjoyed my time on the swimming and diving team at Loomis. I had a great experience with the team and felt very supported and encouraged to reach my athletic goals. I ended up making some of my closest friends on the team, and I was able to have great success in my sport as well. I think the friendships I made during my time at Loomis were some that I will value for the rest of my life, and the education I received will continue to help me throughout my professional career.

I think it is important to keep an open mind when going into a boarding school, as your experience will not be exactly how you imagine it in your head. During your first weeks at school, try to meet as many people as possible, no matter how out of your comfort zone it might be. Also, I think it's important not to get caught up in the competition that will inevitably be present, and just focus on bettering yourself academically without worry about the surrounding people.

My favorite part of Loomis was hands down the community. I am still in touch with many of the faculty and staff from Loomis, and my friends from Loomis will probably be my best friends for life. The network of alumni and faculty is so wide and so supportive.

Take advantage of the nice weather and greenery at Loomis! You will probably never again have the opportunity to hang out and study with your friends in the grass. Also definitely take advantage of all the resources you have at your disposal - especially advisors and mentors.

My favorite part of the academics at Loomis were the methods of teaching employed in the classroom. All the humanities classes employ the Harkness method instead of traditional lecture style classes, which greatly contributed to my personal and academic growth. The pure discussion-based classes helped to diminish the hierarchy that causes shy students to hide in the back of the classroom and encourages all students to offer up their insight while simultaneously pondering the ideas of others.I think the most noteworthy aspect of Loomis' academics is the English curriculum which includes a writing seminar that each student must complete in order to graduate. Although the English classes proved difficult for most students, the courses that we were required to take helped dramatically when entering into a hyper-competitive college environment. My writing skills helped me to have a leg up on my competitors who still continued to misuse words or make silly grammar mistakes.

The athletics program at Loomis offered a wide variety of activities that students could take place in, which I think was the key to my athletic success throughout my athletic career. My primary sport was diving, and I spent the majority of my time after school practicing year round. The swimming and diving season is in the winter, but since Loomis has an extracurricular requirement, I was able to do weightlifting as my athletic activity during the off-season. I was able to use the weights programs laid out by the hockey coach to cross-train efficiently and effectively while still having the ability to go to diving practice, which lead me to be able to be successful enough to dive at a Division I college program. Many students choose to diversify their athletic experiences at Loomis, but I think it is important to note that Loomis allows students to specialize in their sports as well.

I definitely took advantage of the visual arts program during my time at Loomis, and I made my way through the drawing curriculum and finally enrolled in AP Art as a senior in high school. The art facilities and equipment that was available were incredible, and the professors encouraged students to explore and mix different mediums. I decided to focus my last year of art studies on printmaking, and my professor spent a lot of one-on-one time with me to teach me different methods and show me how to use new tools. The visual arts department was definitely one that encouraged creativity and exploration of the self in all aspects.

Loomis put a big emphasis on giving back to the community, which was probably my favorite aspect of extracurricular life at Loomis. We had specific days each semester devoted to community service, and we each had weekly tasks to perform around campus in order to help out, which gave the students a sense of unity and cohesion. The volunteer opportunities that were available to us were exhaustive, and I loved having a sense of giving back not only within the Loomis community, but in the Windsor Locks community as a whole.

The dorm life at Loomis wasn't perfect for a teenage girl, but looking back there was little to be improved upon. Each of the dorms had RA's and dorm parents who were there to act as parent figures while students were away from home, and I think this really helped me to adjust and stay grounded during my time at Loomis. The nighttime study hours required in the dorms also helped me to develop good study habits that I was able to carry with me into college.

The food was probably my least favorite part of my Loomis experience. There were a lot of options, but my issue was that there were not a ton of healthy meal options. The dining hall setup was open seating, and the lunch periods were staggered so that there were never too many people in the dining hall at a given time. Loomis also does family style dinners once a month which gives students the opportunity to spend more time with their dorm-mates.

The town of Windsor is only a short walk from Loomis campus. There are a few good restaurants, a bakery, a coffee shop, and a drugstore which were the most frequented destinations for Loomis students. The town was small enough and safe enough for students to explore with their friends in an afternoon, and it was a great opportunity for students to get off campus and feel like they had their independence.

I think the social circles at Loomis were a lot more tight-knit than most high schools. There was definitely a greater sense of community at Loomis, and although there were cliques (as any high school has), most of the students had friends from a variety of activities and were friendly with everyone on campus. I was able to be friends with a wide variety of people, and I really enjoyed there being such a diverse community.