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Alumni
Review #5, Class of 2001 |
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| College
Enrolled |
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Brown University |
| Home
Town, State (Country) |
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Bangkok,Thailand |
| Years
Attended Boarding School |
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3 |
| Activities
During Boarding School |
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- Proctor (Residential Advisor) for underclass girls' dorm
- Board member of Asian Society
- Tour guide
- Community Service (TA at local elementary schools, volunteer at local women's shelter)
- Team manager for Varsity Wrestling
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| 1.) What was the best thing that happened to you in boarding school? |
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| I learned to write at Hotchkiss, and that has been invaluable to me personally and to my college experience. I also learned to appreciate good literature from the amazing English teachers I had at Hotchkiss. I truly loved the education I'd gotten, and for that I will always be thankful that I had gone there. |
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| 2.) What would you have done differently during your boarding school experience? |
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| I would have tried to appreciate it more for what it was-- an exceptional education, and not have dwelled so much on how I was missing out on the "normal" high school experience, whatever that means. |
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| 3.) What would you never want to change about your school? |
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| Some of the teachers. |
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| 4.) What things could be improved about your school? |
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| Admin-students relations. Preferential treatment of certain students. More activities could be provided during the weekend, or more access to places in the area (since the local taxi company had a monopoly and charged ridiculous prices). |
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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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| We have our own burger, the Lawrence burger (grilled cheese with burger patty) and the Steve burger (lawrence burger with bacon and eggs). They're heart attacks on a plate, but they taste ridiculously good. Also, check out the view from the Garland dorm overlooking the golf course, especially in the fall. Incidentally, it's the nicest dorm on campus. |
| 7.) How was your experience as an international student?
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| There wasn't really any language support for international students, b/c Hotchkiss assumes that entering int'l students know enough English to survive its classes. The airport trips were sometimes hell, as we were an hour from Hartford's Bradley airport and 2+ hours from JFK, and if you can't book a flight to correspond with the school's schedule and their provided buses to airports, then you end up paying huge sums for cab fares (up to 300 dollars to JFK). You can always stay a few days extra to wait for a flight, and they're understanding about that. They can be a pain in the ass if your flights have been cancelled from abroad and you have to miss the first few days of school. Generally, if the admin starts being difficult, you can tell them that the way they're treating you is reflective of the way the school treats its int'l students, and they'll back off and try to be accomodating. |
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| 1.)
What did you like best about your school’s academics? |
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| Hotchkiss' small size allowed me to have very close relationships with my teachers. Most of the teachers that I encountered were enthusiastic about their material and truly committed to not only the art of teaching, but also to the general welfare of their students. The other students were thoughtful and engaging in class discussions. The English department, in particular, is exceptional. I believe that my best educational experience happened at Hotchkiss. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about the academics in your school? |
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| The workload was extremely heavy, especially during the spring of junior year and fall of senior year. There was also a small range of classes in some departments (History, philosophy, humanities, languages) outside of the graduation requirements. |
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| 1.)
What did you like best about your school’s athletics? |
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| The pep-rallies prior to major games were always a fun occasion for the entire school. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about the athletics in your school? |
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| The preferential treatment of Varsity athletes. |
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| 1.)
What did you like best about your school’s art program? |
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| The faculty members of the art department were great artists and equally interesting people. I also liked that students' art was always displayed throughout the main building. We also had various music and theatrical performances put on throughout the year, and those were always fun. Students can take independent studies or special projects in such artistic activities as playwriting, film-making, or even boatbuilding. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about your school’s art program? |
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| There was not a great diversity of available classes. The music department was a joke, and our music facilities were horrid. I would argue that art, especially music and theatre, is not a priority with the administration at Hotchkiss. |
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| 1.)
What did you like most about the extracurricular activities offered
at your school? |
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| There was a great range of activities to choose from, and when interesting events happen at Hotchkiss, it was from the work of these extracurricular clubs. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about the extracurricular activities offered
at your school? |
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| Most clubs are extremely ill-organized. There are the few, rare students who are truly gung-ho, and these students are the ones who made things happen, but the rest can barely make it to meetings. |
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| 1.)
What was the best thing about dorm life in your school? |
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| Having your friends around all the time. All-dorm activities (nachos-night, streaking traditions). The faculty members generally welcome random visits, and they're a great source of support for you when your parents aren't around. I was a proctor, and that made me appreciate the presence of the faculty members a lot in trying to keep the dorm running smoothly. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about dorm life? |
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| Curfew for underclassmen was 10 o'clock check-in and 11 0'clock lights out, and some absurd rules like 10:45 PM-- they need to be out of the bathrooms. Also, it was difficult to keep the private sections of life truly private, as you were always surrounded by people. |
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| 1.)
What was the best thing about your dining arrangements? |
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| We had a large variety, and fruit was always available. We also only had ONE sit-down dinner the entire year, for class-dinners. All the other meals were casual. Our snack bars serve pretty standard grease-fares that do the trick when you crave that kind of stuff. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about your dining arrangements? |
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| Girls' refusal to use trays to transport food as to not give appearance of eating too much. The scrutiny on what other girls are eating and how much. The pressure to eat only frozen-yogurt and a small bowl of salad for meals. The cafeteria also operates at awful hours, and the workers get really testy if you go in during the time that it's closed to just grab a bagel or a drink of water. And the dishwashers are creepy men. |
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| 1.) How welcome did you feel by the other students when you first
arrived at the school? |
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| I was an international student, so I was dealing with culture shock from arriving directly from Tokyo. Otherwise, it was fine. Most kids already know each other in some form or another already, but most end up settling in without a problem. |
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| 2.)
Describe the level of diversity and integration of students in your
school: |
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| When I first got there, I was one of maybe 10 Asian students in the school, and most of them graduated at the end of my first year. Hotchkiss did more aggressively try to recruit international and/or minority students throughout my years there, but it's still, not surprisingly, dominated by the typical WASP-y people that these schools attract anyway. |
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| 3.)
Describe typical fun activities you did on a weekend: |
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| Go into NYC. After a while, unless something truly extraordinary is coming in from out of town, you learn to despise the typical Hotchkiss weekend (sports, dinner, dance). I left most weekends when I was a Senior. |
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| 4.)
What was the town like? |
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| We used to have a fantastic teahouse called Chaiwalla that was an integral part of Hotchkiss life, but the last I heard, it closed sometime after I graduated. The surrounding towns were either quaint New England villages (Lakeville, Salisbury, Sharon) or decrepit small cities (Millerton, NY, a dump consisting of one tiny movie theatre and a CVS, and where we called long-distance to order Chinese or Pizza.) There really wasn't much to do AT ALL in the nearby areas, at least not to Hotchkiss students who had to deal with the local taxi company's exorbitant prices. NYC is a two-hour train ride away (the train station is about 10 mins from H'kiss) and the preferred weekend escapes of most kids. |
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| 7:15 AM | Wake up and shower. Grab bagel on the way to class. | | 8:00 AM | First period starts, unless you have a sleep-in | | 10:30 AM | Auditorium/Chapel/Class-meeting, depending on the day | | 2:15 PM | Generally last period, unless you have double-lab at the end | | 3:00 PM | Athletic Practices | | 5:30 PM | dinner | | 6:30 PM | Socialize in main hallway | | 7:30 PM | Study hall begins for 9th and 10th graders | | 9:30 PM | Study hall ends. Prime period for quickie hook-ups | | 10:00 PM | check-in | | 11:00 PM | lights-out for underclassmen | | 2:00 AM | general bedtime, give or take an hour, for upperclassmen | |
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| 7:15 AM | wake up and shower. grab bagel on the way to class | | 8:00 AM | first period starts | | 12:00 AM | School ends. Grab quick lunch and jump on bus for away games or get ready for home games if you play sports. | | 6:00 PM | dinner out. | | 8:00 PM | school dance/people hooking up in music wing, chapel, golf course when it's warm | | 11:00 PM | check-in | | 12:00 PM | lights out for underclassmen | |
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