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| College
Enrolled |
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Columbia University |
| Home
Town, State (Country) |
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OH |
| Years
Attended Boarding School |
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3 |
| Activities
During Boarding School |
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Music is my life, so naturally most of my activities were musical, but I dabbled in everything. Besides playing in the pit band for school musicals, taking orchestra, chorus, and advanced jazz ensemble, I also took jewelry making, creative writing, a season of women's lacrosse, gardening, dance, and some other things that I don't remember. Putney requires every student to fulfill six work job credits in order to graduate (one term spent doing each: Dish Crew, Lunch Job, Dinner Waiter, Barn, Land Use, and General sub, whose job it is to fill in for others who cant do their jobs), so no student graduates without a large range of activities on their transcript. |
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| 1.) What do you think makes your school unique relative
to other boarding schools?
| | | | Putney is the consummate alternative prep school. If you want a prep school education but are afraid that you may not fit into another, more traditional prep school environment, then Putney is your place. The beautiful thing about Putney is that almost anyone: any type of person from any walk of life, can thrive there.
Putney keeps you very busy with work jobs (dish crew, barn chores, cleaning buildings), afternoon activities (sports, gardening, community service), and evening activities (every visual and performing art imaginable - even bookbinding has been offered!). The school has 500 acres of woods and fields and gives you plenty of opportunities to enjoy them. The most popular way to take advantage of the outdoors is Cross-Country skiing in the winter. |
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| 2.) What was the best thing that happened to you in boarding school? |
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| Putney made me grow up. Maybe a little faster than was comfortable for me, but I did nonetheless. I don't think I've ever done more growing in my life. In my last week of school, I came across my student ID from my sophomore year and I looked at myself. I was a child. When I arrived at Putney, I was a little girl. I left Putney as an adult.
I think the way in which I grew the most was in my knowledge of myself. Putney helped me figure out who I am. By being away from my parents, I had to turn inward to find support when I needed it instead of outward. By forcing me to try new things, I discovered my passion in life. By putting me in classes and making me talk about the reading as opposed to going over facts, I saw a little bit of myself in everything I read. |
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| 3.) What might you have done differently during your boarding school experience? |
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| I would have been less naive going into boarding school. Don't hold your expectations too high - you'll only be disappointed. No school is a utopia. After going through my love-hate cycle with Putney, I did realize that, although it wasn't the utopian artists' haven that I thought it would be, it did turn out to be the best place I could have possibly gone. |
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| 4.) What did you like most about your school? |
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| Oh, don't ask me this. I liked everything. I liked the teachers. I liked the Jazz Combo my junior year - that was one of the best experiences of my life. |
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| 5.) Do you have any final words of wisdom for visiting or incoming students to your school? |
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| Go to the weaving studio. |
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| 1.)
Describe the academics at your school - what did you like most about it? |
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| Academics at Putney are incredible for its size. I couldn't have asked for a better variety or caliber or classes. Every department offers a broad range of classes for people at all levels. The school is small and intimate enough that a student can be put into a class of a higher or lower level without much hassle. I remember my sophomore year Math 3 class had freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Although rigorous, the academic atmosphere at Putney is not at all competitive. In fact, it's the opposite: supportive. Students work together and teachers are always available for help.
It's worth mentioning, too, that as a senior you have a plethora of awesome semester-long electives to choose from in English, Science, and History/Humanities. |
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Describe the athletics at your school - what did you like most about it? |
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| Athletics at Putney are all-embracing. Putney is not known for its athletics, except in Cross-Country skiing; Putney produced Bill Koch(class of '73), the only American X-C Skier to ever medal at the Olympics.
Just because Putney embraces its non-competitive spirit doesn't mean that there aren't actually competitive sports. We have men's and women's soccer and lacrosse, as well as rowing, cycling, and running. Non-competitive sports range from horseback riding to rock climbing. |
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Describe the arts program at your school - what did you like most about it? |
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| I can't find words to describe the Visual Arts at Putney. The school naturally attracts a lot of excellent artists and is run by some incredible teachers (working professionals who have had their work published or in galleries all over the country, many of them Putney alums themselves). I would put my money in saying that the Visual Arts department is the school's strongest. Any visual art you can imagine is either offered or supported at Putney. If you are a dedicated visual artist, Putney should, without a doubt, be among your top choices.
The Performing arts are also incredibly strong. The caliber of work that comes out of the music, dance, and drama department is far above that of most high schools in the US. Again, the school attracts a lot of artists, including performers. All three of these departments are superb.
Lessons for any musical instrument are available. The school has a chamber orchestra, two levels of jazz ensembles, a chorus, chamber music ensembles, as well as evening activities in traditional music, African drumming, blues jam, etc. Chamber Music, Jazz Ensemble, and Chorus can be taken as academic classes.
The drama department puts on two plays in the fall and a musical in the spring. Drama, advanced drama, or an individual theater intensive can all be taken as academic classes.
The dance department is relatively new to the school, but has already proven itself. Modern, Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Improvisational, and Traditional dance are all offered in some form.
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Describe the extracurriculars offered at your school - what did you like most about it? |
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| Putney Revolves around extracurricular activities. They are required to graduate, in fact. Students must take afternoon, evening, and work job activities every term. There are too many opportunities to list, but all of them can be found in the literature sent by the admissions office. |
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Describe the dorm life in your school - what did you like most about it? |
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| Dorm life! Ahhh, memories. Some dorms on campus are bigger than others (the largest houses 30, the smallest 10). Some are also nicer than others. Most people will be situated with one roommate. There are, however, a relative abundance of singles, which are always given to upperclassmen. I lived in the smallest dorm on campus for two out of my three years there, and found that we all bonded very quickly. Our faculty dorm heads would often treat us to such delicacies as tater-tots and birthday cake, but only if the dorm was in good enough shape to warrant deserving them. That's the other thing about Putney. You're responsible for the cleaning of almost every building, including dorms. But before things get too carried away, you can be sure that the faculty dorm heads will get on your case about cleaning. |
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Describe the dining arrangements at your school. |
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| Everybody dines in the KDU (Kitchen Dining Unit), our beloved dining hall. The quality of food served at Putney is far above that at most other boarding school. Tons of fresh vegetables, many of which are grown on our farm, make it into every meal. There are Vegetarian and Vegan options at every meal, and meals span all cultures of food. Be weary, however, when it's a Jambalaya or Putney Special day!
The KDU is only open for meals, except on weekends, when they leave the drink machines on but no food is put out. |
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| 1.) Describe the school's town and surrounding area. |
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| The Putney School is in an area as rural as it can get. Down the hill, the town of Putney has a general store, a book store, a diner, a pizza place, a bakery, a food co-op, and an upscale secondhand store. It's a great place to hang out if you have a few ours, and the school has shuttles going down there on Wednesdays, and weekends. The food co-op is especially great - not only do they have a great selection of organic and health food, but the most interesting characters enter that store.
Nine miles outside of Putney is Brattleboro, which is one of the largest towns in Vermont. But it is no New York City. Downtown Brattleboro has tons of shops, as well as a movie theater and great ethnic cuisine. There's a bus trip into Brattleboro every Saturday. |
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Describe the social life at your school - what did you like most about it? |
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| Putney people tend to live in their own little world most of the time. The school keeps you too busy to leave time for partying or even normal socializing. However, in time you will find yourself making some of the best friends you'll ever have. That's the thing that you have to remember when you find yourself getting lonely: building relationships at Putney takes time. When you do make friends, you're more supportive of one another because you live together. By the time you leave, you're leaving, as cheesy as it sounds, something along the lines of 'your brothers and sisters'. |
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| 7:45 AM | Class - Double Block - for most people! If you're lucky, this could be a double sleep-in, depending on your schedule. | | 9:15 AM | Milk Lunch - A snack and a chance to pick up your mail | | 9:30 AM | Assembly - The school gathers for annoucnements and maybe a student performance | | 10:00 AM | Class - Double Block | | 11:45 AM | Class - Single Block | | 12:30 AM | Lunch! | | 1:30 PM | Class Double Block | | 3:00 PM | Afternoon Activity | | 4:45 PM | Free time until Dinner - usually spent on homework | | 6:00 PM | Dinner, then Evening Activities at 7:30. This is an example of one of the busiest schedules I've ever had. Usually they'll be a little nicer to you. | |
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| 8:00 AM | Class - Single Block (Yes, we have class on Saturday!) | | 8:45 AM | Class- Single Block | | 9:30 AM | Milk Lunch | | 9:45 AM | Class - Single Block | | 10:30 AM | Free for the rest of the day! Have fun! | | 12:00 AM | Lunch offered | | 5:30 PM | Dinner offered | | 11:00 PM | In-dorms - every other day of the week it's at 10:00 | |
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