POWER OF CHOICE

Boarding schools offer a unique educational experience for high school students, and parents will have an opportunity to learn more about the top boarding schools in the country when the Ten Schools Admission Organization (TSAO) hosts two events in the Chicago area on September 17 and 18.

The first will take place at Lake Forest Country Day School on September 17 and the second on September 18 at the Catherine Cook School in Chicago. TSAO supports the schools’ efforts to recruit high school students from across the country and the Midwest and to promote the values of boarding school education.

The organization says boarding school offers an immersive, experience-based learning opportunity within a supportive and diverse community of students and teachers. It is a close-knit community of learners who study, play, and live together that is conducive to shaping forward thinking students who are better prepared for college and life beyond.

Each TSAO member school offers a wide range of experiences and traditions and each of them embody the highest standards of personal and academic excellence. As a group, TSAO offers access to comprehensive information about unique benefits of the boarding school.

The 10 schools TSAO represent include Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut; Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts; The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania; The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut; The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey; The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut; Phillips Academy-Andover in Andover, Massachusetts; Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire; St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire; and The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut.

Each school offers its own unique experience, and at the two events parents can learn firsthand what they have to offer and speak directory with admissions staff.

“Member schools of the TSAO understand that we need broad geographic representation of students who bring a range of perspectives and lived experiences,” says Dana Anselmi, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at St. Paul’s School. “The Midwest is an important region in our country and over the years we have enrolled many students who are kind, inclusive, intellectually curious, and looking to expand their horizons by learning in a new environment, surrounded by people from all over the world.”

TSAO represents so many incredible communities, and each has something for everyone, Anselmi says. Schools have observatories, art museums, innovation centers, places for spiritual reflection, and miles of hiking and biking trails.

“Our campuses are designed to give students access to learning with mind, body, and spirt around every corner, and to recognize the special opportunities for growth when everything is right at your fingertips,” she explains. “One of the unique things about St. Paul’s is that we are 100 percent boarding, which means that students and faculty on campus live and learn together 24/7 in one community.”

Anselmi notes that one fact about St. Paul’s that students from the Midwest might find interesting is that the first ice hockey game in the United States was held on St. Paul’s Lower School Pond in 1883.

Sara Parker is Assistant Director of Admission at Phillips Andover Academy. She says TSAO supports the schools’ efforts to broaden their geographic diversity and that students from Chicago and the Midwest have much to offer.

“Students from the Midwest enrich campus life by offering their unique experiences and perspectives,” she says. “We are excited to introduce the board school experience to students who might not have previously considered this opportunity, and we are especially excited to connect in person with families from the Midwest.”

The Ten Schools Admission Organization events will be held on September 17 at 4:00 p.m. at Lake Forest Country Day School in Lake Forest, and September 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Catherine Cook School in Chicago. For more information and to register, visit tenschools.org.