What does your typical day at Groton look like?
I am a morning person, so I typically wake up early. I start my day with an hour of work, then I make a coffee, and head to chapel. I usually have a pop quiz in chemistry, laugh too much in math class, and get a bagel with my friends during my free period. I’m thoroughly enjoying all of my classes this year, and I love the days I have choir with some of my closest friends. For my afternoon activity this fall, I’m acting in Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and follow my classes with around two hours of rehearsal. People in many different forms are doing the play, and I have so much fun working on dynamics between characters, especially with less familiar actors. Some afternoons, I get to work with the kids of faculty members who are part of the play– those are my favorite rehearsals! After, I grab a quick dinner, and usually either meet up with my friends Lowndes and Eric to play some songs as a band or have a Maqupella’s rehearsal. Finally, I try to start my work by at least seven o’clock. I work until a quarter to ten (with the occasional distraction) and then have check-in with Wall’s dorm (the best dorm at Groton!) I’m typically asleep by half past ten.
Do you feel that your gender has affected your Groton experience? If so, where and how?
I feel that when most of the people in my form arrived at Groton in third form, there was a bit of apprehension towards the idea of intergendered groups. Living in a brand new place with brand new people is one thing, furthermore living with people of the opposite gender can feel peculiar and discomforting to many. Anxieties formed in mixed-gender environments mainly outside of the classroom environment– for many, sharing practice fields with the guys in your form, dancing with semi-strangers in the mosh pit, or even playing pingpong with someone brand new is scary– yet, so exhilarating. For me, the gender apprehension almost felt like a challenge I had to overcome, like level one of high school, to develop into a more socially apt person.
If so, do you feel like there is adequate support here?
As the year moved forward, our form began to build intergendered friendships. I give thanks to the many bonding activities Groton has offered as they’ve made a huge impact on the relationships we’ve built with one another in my form. I made some of my closest friends, both girls and guys, through orientation on the first day of school. GRACE was also an amazing opportunity to become closer with the people in my form, getting closer to formmates I hadn’t known as well, thanks to the circumstantial closeness. In the present, I feel that there are very close friendships between different people of different genders in my form– recently, those in the green free blocks have intentional ‘integrated lunches’ where everyone sits together, the seats not divided by gender or any other connotation. Through the past year we’ve learned to build friendships blind to physicality– because truly, why does anything like gender, form, or race matter if your personalities match?
How do you feel that Groton’s change from an all boys school has affected the culture or traditions?
I think that typically all-boys schools and all-girls schools are both competitive, but indifferent realms. Speaking from personal experience, it seems that all-boys schools are more athletically competitive and all-girls schools are more socially competitive. My school prior to Groton was originally an all-boys school military prep school. Much of its old aspects can still be seen today, such as morning meetings being similar to the morning quarters or roll call of military units. There was a much more strict division as extracurriculars were designated for single genders. At Groton, I feel less of a gender-influenced culture, as our school has strived to have a close-knit community that includes everyone.
Have you ever attended a single sex school?
I have not. Though, I live in Charleston, South Carolina, where single-sex private schools are extremely common. For example, my best friend growing up, Madison, has attended one her entire life and still does today.
If yes, how does the school culture differ specifically relating to gender?
Madison always says that at her all-girls school, meeting boys was extremely rare. Her first male friends were guys I had introduced to her from my own school. Many people at her school, which starts in Pre-K and goes until twelfth grade, still don’t know guys socially who are not directly connected to their families. Though this is not a problem in itself, it may be that college will be a huge change for many people at her school. On the positive side, the girls at Madison’s school have some of the tightest bonds with one another imaginable. There is an extremely fun and loving community where girls feel comfortable as truly themselves and aren’t pressured into relationships like many girls in high school. Many of the girls I know at the school consider their classmates to be more sisters than just friends, and one of my friends at the school, Vera, even said “I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, even though I know there’s a chance it’ll make things more difficult for me in the future.”
Why did you apply to Groton?
Originally the idea of boarding school appealed to me because I didn’t enjoy the societal aspects of Charleston, South Carolina. I felt that many people held strong racial and gender stereotypes. Academics were held in low esteem—I felt that it was almost a ‘shame’ to do well in school. But, after visiting Groton, I knew it wasn’t just an escape, it was the perfect place for me. I applied to Groton after meeting some incredible people on my tour, seeing the value of athletics, academics, and arts all being equal, and learning about the Saturday night events and nightly checkins. I am a very social person that still wants to get things done, and I felt Groton aligned with those values perfectly. Applying to Groton was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and now I go to a school with my favorite people in the whole world doing my favorite things in the whole world.
