Maharishi School - Review #1

Maharishi School gave me more than an education, it gave me tools to help live a balanced life, and a community of people who I still interact with 15 years after graduating. The consciousness-based education approach exposed me to information and tools (meditation, yoga, values, ways of looking at the world) that I regularly turn to and I feel helps me make sense of the world, enjoy life, and reach my goals. The network and community have played pivotal roles in my life from lifelong friendships to career advancement.The mentors and teachers at the school are incredible. They care about each individual student and look for ways to support their individual interest, be that theater arts, visual arts, math, student government, unique student lead initiatives (End School Violence Now), cultural exchanges, sports, etc.

I feel that the connections I made with people from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds has really allowed me to see things from a variety of perspectives. It has expanded my view of the world and enhanced my ability to collaborate in a work/job environment.

I would recommend not being afraid to just introduce yourself to new people. There will be some kids who reach out and engage with you right away and others that hold back. Try to meet everyone and at least know their name and what they are into - you never know who you will click with.

Overall what I liked most about Maharishi School was the emphasis on a balanced routine. Teachers and students really tried to balance doing good work and high achievement with a lot of rest and relaxation. I feel like I did better work because of this, and it helped me and the teams I was a part of win awards.

Be prepared for all types of weather. Hot hot summers, cold cold winters, and everything in between - snow, rain, mud, slush, warm sunshine, cold wind.

The academics at Maharishi School cover all the standard topics. However, woven into each class was a connection to bigger, fundamental, principles of life. For example, we were encouraged to see the connection between what we were learning in history with what was happening in current events in the news, and then connect both to a broader theme such as "the world is as we are" by answering the question "How does our perspective/where we come from influence the actions we take and the judgments we have?" There was an emphasis on group projects and class presentations, which I feel prepared me very well for higher education and professional opportunities.

As someone who prefers dancing and theater to sports, I appreciated that the physical requirements of dance were acknowledged as being as rigorous as sports training and accommodations and credit were allowed. For example, when PE class conflicted with sports training and competition, the sport took precedent. Similarly, when dance classes conflicted with PE and time available for homework, dance was allowed to take precedent.

I loved the theater program at the school. The high quality coaching, the committed students, and the performance opportunities were all stellar!

I liked that there was a lot of responsiveness to what we as students wanted to do. If something didn't already exist, we had the support of teachers, the administration, and school families to create it.

The school is a mix of boarders and people who live in town with their families. I lived in town with my family.

I ate a lot off campus with my family, but when I did go to the cafeteria there was good.

I loved that the town is so small and charming and almost everything is walkable. There's not a large variety of things to do, so, we had to get creative and that was part of the fun. There are also fun things to do 30 minutes to an hour away, which are do-able on weekends. Now, that I have graduated I can see that learning how to entertain ourselves with minimal options created deep friendships and has helped me find more joy in life than some people who need constant entertainment and things to do.

I liked that the student body was small. There weren't a lot of students, so, I got to know people from a lot of different backgrounds.