Concord Academy - Review #8

The best thing about Concord Academy is that classes sizes are generally not too large and not too small, so there is always some sort of great discussion going on and I felt like I could easily connect with professors because they knew who I was. Common trust is another big thing at Concord. It's pretty amazing, because I feel really good about leaving things in one place and coming back to find it later, be it a few hours or an entire day later.

I felt much more independent becoming a boarder my last year at CA. I got a chance to be myself and I felt like I really matured my last year at school. Not only that, but my Junior year, I applied for a semester away in Colorado. The school was very supportive of me leaving for 3 months and coming back later in the year and they even helped me plan out classes that I would need to take when I rejoined the community. When I came back, it felt like I never left and it was so easy to jump right into things even though I felt different from when i left?

I would have become a boarder sooner rather than later.

I don't think there's one thing I can pinpoint that i liked most about CA. I think it was a combination of everything and the fact that CA gave opportunities for everyone to explore anything and everything they want to. The only restriction is time, really, because you can only have so much of it to split between all the things you want to do.

Have fun socializing and meeting new people throughout the fours years at CA, but don't ever let your academics slip. But if you do, go to your teacher, he/she can do WONDERS for you.

I loved being able to talk to teachers outside of the classrooms. They treat me as an equal and I feel comfortable treating them as close friends. I am completely comfortable with talking to my teachers to get help if i need it because they are pretty readily available and are usually on campus. The workload is tough, but it is entirely doable if time is managed well. Although many students strive to do their best in classes, we're not competitive against one another. Oftentimes, students meet up with one another and form study groups to help one another out. It's pretty amazing.

The athletics are building up. Generally, we're doing much better than before and I expect them to continue that upward climb for a while. I participated in Varsity Basketball and I really loved being a part of the team. My coach was not only my coach; she was also my house parent, so I got to know her outside of the courts. She's a pretty amazing woman and she taught us so much about what it means to be a team and what we needed to do to improve ourselves. She challenged us many times during the season and pushed us so that we wanted to push ourselves to do our best.

I loved the visual arts at Concord. There is such a wide variety of things to do; every time I turn around, I meet someone who is doing something different with the visual arts department. Classes range from architecture to fiber arts to photography (the studios actually have dark rooms for photo development) to ceramics to drawing and painting. I love seeing everyone's work all over the school. The theatre program's pretty cool too. Although I'm not too involved in it myself, I do go and watch the productions. It really fun watching all the work that the actors put into everything from sounds and lighting to the actual acting/singing/dancing on stage.

There are so many extracurricular activities at CA that it is nearly impossible to NOT find something you enjoy doing. But, in the rare cases that there isn't anything of interest, you can easily start up a new club or association or whatever it is that you are interested in. I liked the variety of clubs there is and how the school makes time for you to actually participate in them and plan events with other students who are interested in the same things you are.

The dorms are not like typical dorms in the sense that each "dorm" is actually a house. So when i go back to my dorm, it doesn't feel like a dorm. They're generally pretty nice and every house is now equipped with a big flat screen tv so that boarding and day students can crowd into a common room in one of the houses and watch something together. I loved how I had my own room in the house so that if i needed some privacy, I could easily have it, but when I wanted to hang out with friends, I could easily do that too.

I love making my own food, so I really liked the sandwich and salad bars a lot. I could mix and match and make any food that I want. And there's always some sort of pasta for those who like to have more traditional lunch food. There's also always cereal and a toaster as well as a sandwich maker and a microwave. The food is generally pretty good. But if people don't like dinner or lunch that day, they're only a short walk away from town where they can get pizza, subs, burgers, fries, or chinese food.

The town of Concord is pretty small, but it has very cute shops around here and there with stuff that you normally don't see anywhere else. There are a number of restaurants around where people can go for fun and to relax and hang out. And of course, there is a Starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts within walking distance. And if people want to go out to Boston for the weekend, they can hop on the train and go into Harvard square to do some shopping or go sightseeing around Copley square at the heart of Boston.

I was a day student for the first two years of school, but then i became a border my last year. I was scared that I would lose friends as I changed my student status, but i didn't lose any friends at all. In fact, I met so many more people in the boarding community. Also, many of the students are actually on campus a lot for community events or just studying, so socially, it's pretty easy to make new friends.