Episcopal High School - Review #5

First, Episcopal High School benefits from its location. The proximity to Washington, D.C provides it with many educational opportunities, such as Weekly tours that take place on Wednesdays, May Program for seniors, which allows seniors in May to go out there and participate in internships. At the same time, being close to a big city is an advantage for international students like me; transportation is one of the key issues for international students and having Dulles Airport and Reagan Airport solves that problem. Another unique aspect of Episcopal High School is its compact community. Strengthened by the Honor Code, the trust at Episcopal among students, teachers, and between students and teachers is amazing. This makes Episcopal a safe, friendly, and fun place.

The improvements that I have made. Both academically and athletically, I believe that Episcopal's well-rounded education allowed me to prepare me for the real world and college in a warm setting.

I would have challenged myself even further. At a school like Episcopal where there is so much opportunity for students, students should try to take advantage of those oppotunities to enrich themselves.

The overall caring community. You can feel that the school and community cares about you in class, on dorm, and just about everywhere. It is very difficult to find such a place and I have been fortunate to be part of it.

In a boarding school, you are by yourself and it is difficult sometimes to be away from home. That's why it is important to find a school that fits you best. In such a school, you will feel like home, and you will have a fun, and enriching boarding life.

The academics at Episcopal is, without a doubt, is of very superior quality. With a lot of course offerings, including APs, I had many opportunities to take advantage of. Many of these classes are very difficult subjects, and the teachers at Episcopal do a great job, having us interested in their classes and allowing the students to understand the material to achieve academic success. Academics is often very demanding here, but the hard work at Episcopal pays off when you realize how much you have improved; your writing, thinking skills, etc. As a whole, Episcopal does a great job preparing students for colleges through rigorous, yet so beneficial, education.

Episcopal requires athletic participation each year, but it has a variety of options to suit its students interest; it provides many sports. The one thing that I really liked about athletics at Episcopal was that I could try new things because it has sports not just for varsity caliber athletes, but also for beginners. Despite the variety of levels in which students participate, the level of competitiveness is consistent and coaches, who are most of the times our teachers in class, do a great job.

Ainslie arts center is a very nice facility Episcopal has. The arts center has a large auditorium and facilities for ceramics, drawing, music, photography, etc. The gallery in the arts center often has students work showing, and orchestra class has concert to perform what they learned in class. The performers are not limited to its students, but amazing artists and musicians, like our arts teachers, and guests, such as members of National Symphonic Orchestra, another advantage from proximity to D.C and opportunity for students to enjoy amazing arts.

Episcopal has many opportunities for its students. I participated in orchestra and jazz band; they both helped me keep interested in music, plus, it was interesting and rewarding to learn a piece of music and perform with other students to listen to what it all comes out to.

100% boarding means a lot. After class, students interact with each other on and outside of dorm without going home. 100% boarding keeps our community very cohesive. The dorm is not just a place where you sleep and study, but also where you grow friendships and learn about each other more deeply. Many teachers live in the dorm, and the teachers are very friendly and take a very fine leadership of the dorms, keeping them both safe and fun.

During the week, the lunch is seated almost daily; sometimes we sit with advisory groups around round tables, or with rotation groups; randomly assinging students to the tables. For dinner, it is usually buffet style; with salad bar and a few options to choose from. There is seated dinner on Mondays for which you need to dress up.

The urban setting is very helpful for students. There is Bradlee Shopping center right next to the campus. The center has some food places and groceries for students to pick up stuff. Washington D.C is accessible to students through cab or school sponsored trips, such as ESPN zone, nationals games, redskins games, wizard games, etc.

Episcopal is a close and vibrant community. Almost everyone knows at everyone's name. The school gives students many activities to enjoy. Students are also interesting and eager to make this place more fun and exciting.