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Who Knows the Student Your Transcript Can’t Introduce?
Why boarding school students might want to look beyond the classroom when choosing an additional college recommender. Anyone who knows me knows there are two things I can spend far too much time talking about: art and sports. I love walking through an art museum and getting close enough to a painting that the image almost…
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What Every Boarding School Can Learn from Summer Camp Communities
There is a moment at every great summer camp that feels almost impossible to explain. It’s only been a few days. Children who arrived as strangers are already laughing around a campfire. They know each other’s names. They’ve developed inside jokes. They cheer one another on with genuine enthusiasm. They begin to feel like they…
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Why Residential Life Should Have a Seat at the Admissions Table
There is a moment that happens long before a student walks into their first class. It doesn’t happen during Orientation. It isn’t at Convocation. It isn’t when they unpack their belongings in the dorm. It happens during the admissions process. As schools, we spend countless hours helping prospective families understand our academic offerings. We proudly…
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Parents Have Spidey Senses
I have a theory. Parents have spidey senses. Not the comic book kind. The boarding school parent kind. I’ve watched it happen on hundreds of campus tours. A family arrives, excited and nervous, carrying a thousand questions. They listen politely as we talk about academic programs, college matriculation, student-to-teacher ratios, and campus traditions. But while…
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When “Extra Time” Becomes a Public Debate.
Last night, Tuesday, May 19th, I found myself sitting in bed reading a Wall Street Journal article about the growing backlash surrounding SAT and ACT accommodations, particularly extra time. Almost instantly, I was transported back to my own testing experience as a student with ADHD and slow processing speed, wondering if the people around me…
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Beyond the Bell Announces New Chapter for Andrew Waugh at Franklin Academy
Some opportunities feel professional. Others feel personal. For Andrew Waugh, accepting the role of Admissions & Student Engagement Associate, Research Fellow at Franklin Academy feels like both. After spending the past several years working in boarding school communities across the country, Waugh will officially join Franklin Academy in August, bringing with him a background in student life,…
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A Decade Later: How One Surprise Visit Still Shapes the Way I Support Students
Today I turn twenty eight. That number still surprises me. It means that the moment I am writing about now happened almost exactly a decade ago, during my junior year at Brehm Preparatory School. Yet it remains one of the clearest memories I carry into my work as an educator. When I turned eighteen, something…
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The January Belonging Crisis: Why the First Three Weeks Determine Student Retention
Every August, schools pour their energy into orientation, community building, and creating a strong start. But in reality, student retention is not determined in the fall. It is shaped in January, during the quiet first weeks after winter break. January is the most overlooked danger zone of the school year. Students return from home and family…
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A January Reminder: The Beyond the Bell One Minute Reflections on LinkedIn
As schools return from winter break and routines reset, I want to make sure Beyond the Bell readers are aware of something we have already put into motion. In early December, Beyond the Bell began publishing a weekly one minute reflection video series on LinkedIn. The series is public, ongoing, and designed to add a…
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The Weekend Effect: How 48 Hours Can Define a Boarding School’s Culture
Ask any boarding school student what makes their school feel like home, and they probably will not mention a class period. They will talk about the weekends. Weekends carry the emotional weight of a school’s culture. They are where structure meets spontaneity, and where students decide whether their campus feels like a place to live…