Admiral Farragut Academy - Review #7

The most unique aspect of the school, would definitely be the Naval traditions and guidelines that the school follows. It allows for students to gain self- discipline, strive to be leaders and also have awesome opportunities like learning how to sail as a mandatory graduation requirement.

The best thing's that's happened to me in boarding school is just my personal growth as a person and realizing what I wanted out of life and developing friendships with people that I will have for the rest of my life. I came into the school with no idea where I wanted to go in life after I would be leaving the school, and as I went through the school I achieved all the goals I set out for myself and managed to get into one of the best schools in the country, Stanford.

When I first arrived at the school instead of being shy and timid about talking to people, I would've embraced the people around me and tried to get to know them. Because as I came to the end of my time at the school I began to see that I knew the people around me but I didn't know them on a personal level and some of the people had great personalities and who knows who I would've become best friends with at the time.

Overall, I most enjoyed the fact that the people that I developed such good relationships with were around me everyday. Getting to see them, and adjust to an environment that would be similar as I went into college was a great learning experience and opportunity for me.

Some of the best places to hang out are the places that you would least expect, it's just about having your friends around and enjoying your time with them while you have it, because you will truly miss it.

The academics very so much, you have to ability to pursue various different passions. Whether it is Scuba Diving or AP Literature and Composition everything is an option, and they are all enjoyable. The teachers are also very involved in the students lives, holding tutorials in the afternoon and morning and offering weekend trips to the boarding students to get to know them a little better. Also, the class sizes are so limited, the largest class i ever had was 16 and the smallest was 4.

Any sport that you could think of is available to pursue, one of the best assets of the school is the fact that nobody will get cut from a sports team so you can participate and improve in every sport. Even though the school is limited on how many people participate in each sport due to the size of the school, they still compete very well on a state and national level. The coaches prepared and enabled me to win a state championships and national championships in my time there.

The Music program is what stood out most to me. The teacher was great and the band improved so much during my time at the school, through things like chorus or even honors Band the teachers are just awesome.

A plethora of extracurricular activities are outstanding. There are things from Spanish National Honor Society to knitting club, anything that you could want to participate in from Guitar club to Movie club is readily available for students.

The genders are completely separated in the one building and their are obviously less girls than their are guys. Returning students have the ability to select their roommates obviously based on the availability of the person they are choosing and also a preference to a room or room type. Their are two person rooms that conjoin with other two person rooms to share a bathroom, a two person room with a bathroom, or a three person room and share a bathroom. Each student is given a specific desk and set of drawers but their i plenty of space to place extra types of storage in the room.

All three meals are served by SAGE dining services and the meals are really diverse. They offer so many different hot meal options everyday as well as a variety of soups, a salad bar and different equipment that can be used to make sandwiches such as a panini grill. Their is no assigned seating in the mess hall, you are free to sit with whomever you wish.

The city of St. Petersburg is a very diverse area to live in. It offers so many opportunities whether it is going to the beach, visiting the downtown area, the local mall, stopping at a movie theatre or taking a nice long bike ride down the Pinellas trail. It is an area in Florida that will never get boring, the weather is fantastic and the people are very welcoming and nice to all the visitors and tourists around the town.

It is a very tight knit community, everybody knows about one another and you can't walk across the campus without knowing the majority if not all of the people you see. Having this type of environment allows a person to have many people there for them if anything happens and they need help.