Information Session: General Session

Hello everyone, welcome to our UM, Lawrenceville schools. General Information info session. My name is Christine we ending and I am one of the admissions counselors here at Lawrenceville. And So what we'll do here is we wait a little bit for our fellow friends to get logged in, and then we'll begin here in a few minutes. But what I would love.

Is if some of you could throw into the chat if you can hear me just just make my heart palpitations go down a little bit. If you can just let me know that you can hear me. You can see my face. Maybe throw in where your tuning in from so I can get a chance to see who who all is here and where you're coming from but OK, alright good some of you can oh you can hear me in Honolulu and the Bahamas.

Colorado Lawrenceville, Philadelphia Brooklyn, NY city. I'm loving mass cranberry, New Jersey, New York. Oh, I'm loving it. I'm loving it. Tribeca Canada Ottawa Lovett Annapolis, for my sister in laws from I'm wonderful thank you also. So Korea might be the furthest so thank you guys all so much for joining us tonight. So what we're going to start with is I'm gonna.

Tell you a little bit about myself just so you know the perspective from which I'm presenting this evening. So we're getting closer and closer to our registrants number, so I'm just going to go ahead and get started so.

Saturday one here we go. So again welcome everyone. My name is Christine branding and I am the director of Admissions, Communications and the associate director of admissions here at The Lawrenceville School. So super fancy titles, what does that mean? That means I get to and I love to interact with. All of you perspective families and how I get to do that is through information sessions. Like these. I'm actually one of the people that gets to come up with the crazy.

Ideas of the things that we're putting on webinars, so this one is pretty safe, but we're doing some awesome ones like the one after this. Tonight is a first year parents tell all, so that will be our director of admissions, Dana Brown and some first your parents talking about how they picked Lawrenceville, why they picked Lawrenceville, and how it's going so far. It's almost Thanksgiving, and so they've been here for a couple months, so that's a super fun one. And then this Wednesday night.

We are also hosting one featuring one of our recent alums, so it's a young alumni spotlight of a young man that was from this area. He was a day student. He was a a prefect. He was involved in multiple sports teams, multiple clubs, and now he's at Harvard, and so he'll be speaking with me actually about his journey from picking Lawrenceville. And then how he wound up up there and in Massachusetts.

So those are some fun ones coming up. And then there's also a scholarship aid information session on Thursday, and all of those you can find the registration links and our full calendar of this discover elville information series. You can find all that on the Lawrenceville website admissions and then travel and events so.

I get to plan all those and that's super fun for me. And in addition to that, I do a majority of our communication, our social media. And then I run our tour guide program, which I love. All of those things because I just get to tell a good story and the big red news of Lawrenceville. In addition to that, I interviewed students. I read applications and then I'm part of the decision making at the end.

In addition to my role in the Admissions Office, I'm also a field hockey and lacrosse coach. And for those two teams to sports, I coach the JV teams which I absolutely love so you'll hear more about athletics here at Lawrenceville and a little bit. But my favorite thing about a JV team is that there's going to be girls that had tried out for varsity and might not have made it girls that really just like to play and then girls that have never played before. So I'm a huge fan of taking all three of those skill levels together.

And making a great season. We just finished our fall season and last week was tryouts for our varsity teams.

In addition to that stuff, I also live in Kirby House, which is one of our girls 10th and 11th grade houses, which again you'll hear a little bit more about our house system here in a bit. So I live here with my husband, who will probably be walking. You'll see his shadow walking by and our three year old daughter are one year old son and our dog, who hopefully won't bark while we're on this information session and and so I've been here at Lawrenceville for five years and I've loved.

Every bit of it, so I'm super excited to get to tell you all about this wonderful place. And if you all are ready, which I hope you are, we're going to get started. And so First things first for me is, I think you all need to know a little bit about what is at the core of the Lawrenceville experience and the Lawrenceville Mission. And so I'm not going to read it, but the for me, it very much is that we utilize Harkness in our academic setting. But then that really?

Does permeate every aspect of life here? Because doing that in the classroom just creates a collaborative and cooperative community where our students are able to work together and learn from one another and that then travels through their teams, their clubs, and then of course the house and so through House and Harkness. That's essentially what the core of Lawrenceville is, and we really focus on, you know, making sure each student is becoming their best version.

To essentially be their best to then it can be the best for everyone here in our community, so.

Location right so big part, especially for all my friends from Honolulu and Minnesota and Korea and wherever else that's from far away or near as you know Trenton or Princeton, opposite us. So Lawrenceville is located in the town of Lawrenceville. So we are about 5 minutes from this like 5 minutes from Princeton. And we're right by Trenton as well. And I I bring that up because if you are trying to take the train into New York

City, you can do that right from our new New Jersey Transit stop at Princeton Junction. Or if you need to take Amtrak to get to DC or up to Boston, you can do that from the Amtrak station in.

Trenton, beyond that, if you have to fly, that means that you have four different airports at your disposal, and they're all incredibly accessible. Philadelphia and Newark are both about 55 minutes away and then JFK and LaGuardia, or a little bit further, but often have better flights and then the great thing for me is that the town of Lawrenceville is right across the street and our students are permitted there from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and we consider it part of our campus.

And so there is two restaurants that I call parent restaurants, 'cause you would probably go there when your parents are here. They're a little fancier and then two other restaurants that are the Goto's for the kids. So there's TJ's, which is. That's the place you're running into. Get a slice. You're getting mozzarella sticks. They got pints of Ben and Jerry's, and then fedoras. That's down the way and that has everything you might need.

There's also two different bakeries, gingered Peach and wild flower brought flowers, gluten free ginger Peach is just heavenly. Purple cow has any ice cream flavor you might want, and then we are incredibly lucky to have a Starbucks right across the road and beyond. The caffeine need. We also have multiple students that will wake up early and they'll go sit in Starbucks. And that's where they're they'll study simply because they want to step outside our gates, sit there, feel like they're somewhere else. And really.

Get their work done so we always like to talk about that. We're in the middle of somewhere, so as much as we have our community in our campus, we also have all these things right around us. The other super awesome thing is that we are able to have multiple programs taking advantage of how close Philadelphia is and how close New York City is. I'm super jealous they just sent out an email.

They sent the email over the weekend for the first Sunday. We get back from.

Thanksgiving break it's for. It's called or reach out to the arts program and it's essentially trips into New York City to do multiple things. A couple years ago, they snagged Hamilton tickets. This time they're going to see a performance by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and so our students are really just so lucky to be to be here.

So Lawrenceville, the School of is a pretty big school, so we have 819 students. We really try to stay. Our sweet spot is 8:15, so you'll see that 70% is boarding and 30% is day. We've got some other really awesome numbers there. Then I'm just going to have you peruse one of the things that I think really is just fabulous for our school is that 55% of our students identify as students of color.

And so I think that is a really great percentage to have in a student body that is reflective of the world. So next question is always, you know what makes Lawrenceville different than any of the other schools. I might already go to or I might be applying to and so I mentioned it a little bit ago simply because of my role here at Martinsville. But the House system is really, I think, what sets us apart. And I know what you're thinking. Every school has a dorm.

Every school has housing and that was me when I got here five years ago I had worked at other schools and I actually went to a boarding school for high school. Not Lawrenceville. And I got here thinking I get it like I understand what a dorm is. I know how all this stuff works, and then I've really became a part of it and I really got it. This is something that's completely different than what, UM?

Than what other schools have and for me the biggest thing is is.

819 How am I going to be known, right? So I always like to break it down like this. 819 then you're in your house, which is about 45 kids. And then within that house you're going to be in your going to be one of six in your advisory group. And so that's how you suddenly become, you know, 819 all the way down to six. And then you are that one in an advisory group with only five other kids where your advisor, that faculty, person, faculty member, knows you. And so the way it works.

Is our 9th grade all live together and so we've got a house for boys house for girls and then a grass area in between called the Bowl and the bowl is a space on campus that is just for our 9th grade. It is their spot, you know it is. It is where they're playing, can jam, it's where they're playing. Spikeball fun story. Not really fun story, but I actually have a girl on my JV field hockey team. She's a ninth grade girl. She's one of my forwards. One of my starters. She was in a.

Spikeball tournament and she actually fractured her elbow. So just from hanging out in the bowl and playing an intense game of spikeball. And so there is a lot of action in that space specifically for the 9th graders, that is their their spot, their place to call home. And so the way the house is structured, it's all those ninth graders, boys and girls. And then there's three faculty members that live in those houses all the time.

That serve as the heads of house. In addition to that, there's about six or seven prefects that are 12th graders that were selected to remain to come and to come back and live in those houses, and it's kind of the mindset of the Big Brother or the big sister of the been there, done that. I'm going to help you.

In addition to those three adults that live there, there's also six or seven other faculty members that come in and serve as duty affiliates, and so every every night of the week, someone is on duty and there's always an adult there, and those adults or what? What make up the entire list of the advisors. So one your child will have one of those adults as their advisor, and those faculty members are essentially the parents.

Away from home, so anything they might need, you know I live right here so I can tell you anything they need. Whether it is, you know, a nail file or a tape measure. Or do you just have some cookies? Actually, last week one of the girls just wanted to pet my dog because she was having a day and that she missed her dog. She was overwhelmed and so that's what she needed. And so Oreo was happy to lend lend a pool.

And so so yeah, so after your 9th grade, the houses are then structured and exactly as such and so. But the way it works is then you split up. We take that whole class that just bonded for that entire year and we split them up. The girls move on to the Crescent and the boys move onto the circle. So I live in the Crescent with 10th and 11th grade girls. Students then lived there for two full years.

And so you would get a new advisor 'cause your advisor is always affiliated with the House that you're in.

And so and then this is where when we talk about our House system and really starting to understand it beyond for me it was really coming to realize all of the communication about a student comes in and out of the house. That head of house is the person that is the go to for the parents, the teachers, the coach, the Dean of students, communicates with the heads of House. And that's where all that communication is coming from. To ensure that you, as a Laurentian are being supported.

So what comes from out this is a wonderful sense of belonging, comraderie tradition. So one of the best days of the entire school year is the first Saturday that everyone is here. We do this event called House Olympics and every house as you can see, gathers and wears, Dons their house colors and in the bowl.

This is the one time the upperclassmen.

Do anything in the bowl. We do an Olympic event challenge and so there is a hippity hop race. There is a name game. Memorizing. There is a three legged race and it all comes to a head when we do the tricycle race around the bowl and so it is the most lively thing I've ever attended. You've got everyone decked out in their house, colors their house key or their house swag. They're doing their house chants their house, cheers, and it's just.

It's really an awesome opportunity. It's that first Saturday that we're back so you know, you're really kind of in it. In it from the start of the school year. In addition to that, every house has their own beyond chant and cheer, traditions, community service efforts. Every house actually has a House council, so there's a House president. There is a House secretary, social Rep, diversity Rep, sustainability Rep, and those individuals on each house. Counsel work with our student council.

And so those leadership positions are how and when students are really able to make an impact as student leaders.

I should mention the 9th grade actually has it as well, so one of the really cool things that I found about Lawrenceville is that you get to become a leader right from the start. You don't have to wait until your senior year to start taking part and and leading. You can do it right from the beginning.

I think I've covered everything in terms of house, but please what we'll do here is at the end I'll pick up some of the questions you all submitted in the in the for the registration, but if you have anymore you can start throwing them in the chat now and then. I'll get to them at the end. OK, So what will move onto next is essentially the next.

Half of what makes Lawrenceville School. And that is our use of the Harkness style of learning. And So what I'll say to that is that our students are sitting around a table conversing with.

Conversing with one another, engaging with their teacher, and really working in a collaborative manner so they really are taking advantage of their classmates as an academic resource, you know? I thought that Lawrenceville, with it being so rigorous when I arrived, I thought that it would be a really competitive environment. And I was so intrigued to find that it's really students. Learn from the start that the kids sitting here and the kids sitting here. These are their academic resources you might have.

Done the reading and have your own opinion, but the what the person next to you has to provide is really what is going to help you eventually fully shape your thesis and so so there's that. So I'm going to leave this up for one second. I'm going to take a sip of water and then I'll be back in about 10 seconds.

So to discuss it a little bit more actually how it is structured, so students sitting around a table at the same level with the faculty member at that is their teacher. And so this really enables you to kind of be on, you know, the same level as everyone in the room, and so a couple things that I always like to point out are just that. You're all sitting there.

You're off the table in this photo. You can see there's no phones out. Kids are all paying attention and everyone is engaged. They've got their work up on the table and the teacher is fully a participant. You know, it's not a lecture style that you'll find you know later in life. In college. It's really just a conversation with your peers.

So, uhm, one thing that I always think is important to bring up is just the classes that we do offer. These are our departments. We have over 200 courses. The one thing that people seem to wonder most is when they look at our course catalog they don't see any AP classes and I think that is important to bring up simply because no, we don't categorize any of our classes as Advanced Placement. However, we level our classes.

As 304 hundred, 500, and 600 level classes, once you're hitting those 500 and 600 level classes.

It should be expected that those classes are of an impressive rigor amount, and we do offer honors classes, and those are often, you know, seen as the classes that are most similar to Advanced Placement, and so the reason being is simply that we.

Rely so heavily on the Harkness style learning where it's conversation, collaboration and really just students listening and learning it would be really hard to then narrow into an Advanced Placement curriculum. So a couple of interesting things about coming into Lawrenceville specifically. As a 9th grader. So in the ninth grade, you would take five classes, so in the fall of your 9th grade year there are six class periods, so six total classes.

Five class periods for the fall of your 9th grade. So the way it works is your any incoming student takes a math placement test. Any incoming student takes a language placement test for our 9th graders. They take a standard science standard English and standard, a history class and something that I always think is really neat is that our students are placed in humanities groups, which means that your English class as well as your history is the same group of kids.

So that as you're getting acclimated to life at Lawrence Film.

Getting accustomed to Harkness, learning, and getting accustomed to learning. At Lawrenceville, you're with that same group of kids for two class periods a day, so you're much faster you're getting acclimated to working with these students. So I've always found that to be a really interesting thing about Lawrenceville. In addition, we're quite aware that coming into Lawrenceville in the ninth grade, you are adjusting to high school boarding school. And then Lawrenceville. So those three standard classes that science class, the English class and that history class?

Are all pass fail for that fall term, so you'll have. You'll receive a full normal grade in your math class and your language class, but those three other classes.

Are actually pass fail.

Uhm?

I've always think that, but I've always thought that that's a quite generous offering to ensure that the transition is a little gentler as people are coming to our school. So a couple of things that I would wanted to point out as well.

So here is the Kirby Performing Arts Center, passionately known as the KAC. To our entire student body. So this space is home to our Friday all school meeting, which our students refer to AS'S meeting. So this is where that all Community meeting takes place and something really fun that I've found about this meeting is that it is entirely student run.

So you're thinking, OK, cool? I'm talking about the school president and her student council run the content, the speakers, the slides that are up. In addition to that, our Periwig club, which is our performing Arts club, which is the oldest club we have here at Lawrenceville. It's been around for our I believe it's 124 years.

They run all of the lighting, the audio, the video, everything. So it is a fully well oiled machine that our students are running from top to bottom. It's really very impressive. This is also a great opportunity to hear announcements from school clubs, from programs from anything will do an athlete of the week will do a House challenge every week and things like that. So it's really a time that we're coming together. And really, you know.

Celebrating each other and and finding out what's going on. In addition to that, that's also where we put on all of our theater productions, and I say that and I'm just remembering that actually, last year we did them all outside, but this year we were fully back in person in the KC for our musical we did the Addams family. It was outstanding. We also have two dance studios, a full costume shop and scene shop and similar to our school meeting all of our.

Theater productions are fully run by our students. Obviously we have fabulous arts faculty. Better they're running it with them, but the students are designing the costumes. They're crafting the costumes, they're doing, the lighting, they're doing the soundboard, all of that. So our students are really able to dive in. And you know, either pursue a passion that they already had in theater, or you might be trying something new 'cause you've always wanted to get involved in makeup, whatever it might be. So this is a building where I always like to think that kids are really trying.

Things that are new is new to them.

Next up, we'll talk about the button library and so this is a space for our students to go at anytime during the day or the evening, and so will oftentimes have students from my house signing out to go study there simply because it's guaranteed quiet space. In addition to that, we have a fabulous library staff that is always willing and able to help our students in their research in finding materials that they might need, or simply asking any questions that they could also have.

In addition, the the button library houses our Educational Support office and so we are able to provide that service in math, reading, writing, organization and time management.

Next up we have our Kirby math and Science Center and this is a new space on our campus that really allows for a lot of collaborative learning to go on. So there is a lecture hall. That's where the green houses these are. Our science labs are. It's a really beautiful building situated right next to the admissions office.

Next up, we have father's building, which is also known as Pop Hall and so this is kind of a landmark for Lawrenceville. If you've seen any of our promotional social media, you'll see that there's the use of this the the face of this building there, and so this is a space. It is where our languages meet, and so in addition to that, downstairs is also where you have our communications team, but also our.

Uhm, a Mac Labs our office for the weekly newspaper, our office for the L10, our office for our yearbook and also the film studio as well. So huge tons of space on the 1st floor is also where we have our offices for the Harkness travel program, which is one of our most amazing is experiential learning spaces or programs on campus.

And that is a program that is based off hardness in the classroom. But we're taking everyone on a trip on abroad, and so it's similar to a class that there's going to be a faculty member and then 10 or 12 students that come along, and it can be anywhere in the world. Usually the programs are designed by our faculty members and then our students are the ones that are facilitating the things that are happening on the trips so.

We are very excited and very lucky to announce that we are back in action for this spring break and summer. That's when they take place. So that's super exciting for us and our students.

Next up, we have our graph Center for Art and design, and so this building is like one of the newest buildings we have here on campus. It was only finished in February of 2020 and then obviously as you all know, March 2020 hit and so we are really just now starting to get to take advantage of the full space that is that the dziekan and so it's got the the website for the center is is really.

Uh, you know, incredible storytelling, but if you can think of it, if you can think of an invention, you can make it in this space. You've got full woodworking, metal shop, painting, and anything that you might want to do. This is also the home base for a robotics club for our design, for social change cores for anything, truthfully, anything that you can imagine, it's going to happen here in this space.

This, uh Hutchins Center for Race and social Justice isn't is. It's actually not a new space on campus. That building that you see there in the picture is the original library, so that space has been there for an incredibly long time. And so the Hutchins Center for Race and Social Justice is now home.

To our initiatives to work to enable our students to do academic research and service, and So what it is, is it's not so much what we're doing on campus for these initiatives. But what our students are doing and then doing out into the community, and so it's really a great space that we're going to be utilizing. We hired a executive director of the Center over the summer.

His name Zaheer Ali. He's fabulous and he's just gonna do wonderful wonderful things with the center.

So I'm going to go to the next slide and I'm going to give you all a second to take a read on this this slide here.

Already so big red athletics as I already revealed to all of you, I am one of our interscholastic coaches and So what I like to say is that our students after school.

Classes go from about 8:30 to 3:30 and then after school some everyone is doing something. So it might be interscholastic sports. It might be a lifetime sport, it might be a house sport, or it might be stage crew or farming, but everyone is doing something and so I think what's awesome is, you know the athletic department really does enable our students to either pursue a passion that they already have or try something new. Like I said, I had girls on my team that had never played field hockey.

Before I've had the same with lacrosse as well.

And I've also had girls that are aspiring to be on varsity and so our varsity teams are incredibly competitive and they do very well.

But I've also seen girls go from just learning a sport in the ninth grade and making varsity by the 12th grade. So whatever your whatever your passion is, we we likely likely have it here, and so there's definitely a space for you in big red athletics, so we are very, very lucky to have a space here on campus to essentially house all of our athletes, so we have squash courts, and we have tennis.

Courts we have two beautiful turf fields, basketball courts, anything that you know, any sport that we offer. We have the facility for it and so like I said, our students are really able to either take a passion that they have and run with it or you're really able to try something new because you will be doing something after school in the fall, winter and spring if you go right on our website you'll be able to find all of our offerings. You know you'll be hard pressed to find any sport that we don't have.

But I will tell you, we do not have horseback riding. We do not have figure skating. Those tend to be the ones that I get asked. And of course, they're the ones that we don't have, so.

Something super exciting to report on is that we, our campus, is under construction and as someone that was always in charge of marketing things, I used to get so stressed when things were under construction. 'cause how do I beautify this? How do I make this look good? But I I was told by a wise colleague that any school that has construction is in a good place because that means they're expanding and so here the Cy Fieldhouse. I personally have a front row seat. It is right next to Kirby House.

It is going to be our new dining and athletic facility and so my team just got a hard hat tour of it about three weeks ago and it is just amazing. So I was standing actually right in this space. This is obviously a rendering and so this will be the new dining space you'll see here that we also have will be having a new pool, a new rink, a new basketball court and then in addition to that they're going to be renovating this.

Fieldhouse and so a fun thing that I learned was that, you know, as they were trying to figure out how they're going to renovate this, they were looking into new steel and, uh, apparently, for anyone that knows steel. There's such a such a company called Bethany Bethlehem Steel, and they are some of, you know, that's the steel that's in this building, and we were essentially told that's the best sequel to have. So we will just be renovating that space. A new pool and the Super exciting thing.

Is anyone that is applying to the Lawrenceville School for this coming year will use this space in their first year, so it will be open.

So I know that I mentioned a little bit of the performing arts I wanted to bring it up again and so you can go through and read what what we have to say about performing arts. But what I'll say is.

Five years ago, when I came here for you know, my first year we went to the musical that was happening in the fall. My husband and I went, it was date night and it was a production of the music man and I kid you not. I was forward. It was truly just.

So incredible professional levels just truly blown away by the acting by the singing by the dancing, the lights, music, all of it. So one of the cool things that I'm so impressed with. And maybe it's because I'm so not musically inclined is that our students are the musicians in the pit. So if you are a dedicated musician, that's something that you would get to do every year you were here. And in addition to that, dance is a an incredibly robust and thriving program here, and you can take dance.

As a class, you can also be doing dance as your afternoon option every year we have a big fall musical like I've mentioned and then in the winter we do Winter Fest and so that is about a month long every weekend there's a different set of one act plays and so these plays again. Student directed student cast. Some of them are actually even student written.

In addition to that series, we also put on something called freshman Shakespeare and it kind of sounds kind of is exactly as it sounds. It is the freshman class and they all try out to be cast in Shakespeare piece that it also happens to be the Shakespeare piece that they're reading in class, so it's really, really neat to see the book that you're reading come alive on stage, and all of these productions in the winter are done in our black box theater, which is super cool, and let me tell you, I did not.

Yeah, when I first got here when people said oh you have to get your tickets early that you really need to get your tickets early because they sell out so fast because our theater productions are very well attended. So in addition to that we have something that I'd love on Friday afternoons at 12:30. It's called midday music. So again, another opportunity for students that are musicians or vocalists, whatever it might be, they put on solo acts from about 12:30 to 12:55.

And it's student performances. It's a fabulous breaking your day just to be able to get to go. A student can perform and and you get to go. For me, it's great. 'cause I got to go see my advice. He's performer. I get to, you know, go cheer on one of the girls in the house as they as they're performing. It's it's really neat.

So one of the common questions I always get in my interviews is you know, how can I start a club and I III welcome that question, but I'm always eager to say well first, let's check the club list to see if what you want to do already exists, because we have more than 100 clubs. We often I think this year the number is actually at 142 and so they're run by our Student Life office, and so there's no duplicates. It's just that there's 142 things that are kids.

Are interested in and as you can see here, you'll see exactly what they're all broken down into, and so will have publications will have business related clubs. Will have affinity groups you know. The tour guides which I run is technically a group and everyone at a club and everyone gets super mad because we always have an abundant number of tour guides 'cause everyone wants to spread. The good news of Lawrenceville and we people just get mad that we have the highest number. You know the the most sought after club and.

Right here this picture here is SNL Val, which is a Lawrenceville comedy broadcast that is based off of SNL and they actually last night was a night of the arts, and so we had our Allegro Council, which is our Arts Council, put on an evening where it was singing performances, improved performances and then SNL was actually live in the KC, so it was really cool 'cause they.

Did what they would have, you know, films to be sent out to everyone. They did it live and it was just a really great way for everyone to either, you know, support their friends or you know put show off their passions and show off their skills so.

I'd like to think that the thing that ties Lawrenceville students all together is that we're not trying to put any of them into a box. We're not trying to put any of them into a mold, and so our students are really able to lean into whatever their passions are. You know you might be a field hockey goalie, and also, you know head of SNL, though, like the girl here on the far left. And so it it could be. You are able to pursue the things that you want to do, you know?

Within within the specific parameters, right? So our kids are happy because they're doing the things they love.

So I'm going to not power through but power through so I can get to some of these great questions you guys are having. So community service is huge at Lawrenceville, and so a couple years ago we went away from having a specific hour requirement so that we could allow our students to engage in the service. That really meant something to them. So whether it is, you know, taking your cello over to the senior care facility down the road and playing in the evenings, or if it's you know, being part of our learn to skate program where you're teaching.

Little kids how to ice skate. Whatever it is, you're able to really lean into the things that you like to do so that that service is meaningful to you. Which obviously, in turn, then, is meaningful to the people that you're serving.

Another way that Lawrenceville essentially serves our community is just our entire schools presence in the sense of our sustainability efforts, and so we're really lucky to have a fully functioning farm here on campus. It's called the Big Red Farm, and so we have students that actually do farming in the winter and the spring as their sport, and so they will truly and literally in the fall be harvesting tomatoes and pumpkins and lettuce.

Cool thing is, when you're in the dining hall, you'll see that Big Red Farm sticker on the salad bar or in the soups, whatever it might be. And you know that you know that's all playing playing a part. In addition to that, we also have a solar farm, and so the solar farm is able to produce anywhere between 60 and 85% of the energy needed to keep our lights on, and so we're really proud that we are able to do that not only just for our community, but then also for.

For the world, and so dumb.

I'm sure you're incredibly overwhelmed with everything that I've just told you, and I'm just about to not take it up a notch and talk about everything that would take place. Once you're trying to leave here, which probably thinking I'm not even there yet, why would we talk about that? But I always think it's really important to touch on the fact that we do have a fully staffed college counseling office that is going to guide you as you were trying to head out of Lawrenceville. And so every student works with a counselor.

And they really worked together to make sure that your student or you are making that right right choice. For once you're headed out here. But let's let's backtrack a little bit, and So what we'll say is, let's talk a little bit more about starting your journey with us. And so the big things is that obviously, if you're here, the hope is that you filled out our inquiry form the next steps for you is truly that you get your interview done. The interview is a required part of our.

Application and I think that it is really important so that you're able to get a better sense of Lawrenceville and vice versa. In addition to that, testing is required for the application to Lawrenceville this year, and so I encourage you to go to our website and go to the admission section and make sure that you were able to take the testing that is required for you specifically, 'cause the testing is grade specific, and then we we.

Except the gateway application, and so we encourage you to kind of hop on that and really get the ball moving there. I will now tell you about a couple important dates, so our application and our scholarship aid deadline is January 15th, so tomorrow it marks the two month, two months until the deadline so.

Get going? No, I'm kidding. What I normally like to say is that it's really important that I think the hardest part is the parts that are outside of your control, which would be the transcript request. The guidance counselor recommendation, the English and then the math recommendation. So my advice is always to get those requests in before Thanksgiving, 'cause the thought is that would give them the Thanksgiving break to get it done and they'll submit it right after. Or it'll take some time and then Thanksgiving.

Great will pass, you can, but you can remind them before winter break and then hopefully they'll get it done before winter break.

Another big thing is there is no penalty. If your things are not there exactly on January 15th we will wait for them a couple days, but we will wait for them. So please don't think that your entire application will be terminated if you don't submit. You know if all pieces of your application aren't in by midnight on the 15th.

Again, we are requiring testing this year, so the testing deadline is February 1. So my suggestion is that you complete your testing at the earlier January dates. I wouldn't take a test in February because the results usually don't come out for a couple weeks and then we send out our news on March 10th and then between March 10th and April 10th, Lawrenceville and all the other schools will host, you know, revisit type days.

We call them our discovery days and those are opportunities whether online in person. Who knows what will happen and those are the days that you have the opportunity to kind of get to know Lawrenceville in a little bit more intimate setting. I'm one of the people that gets to come up with this super fun session, so I'm I'm, you know, we haven't done them in two years because of you know 2020, But I'm really leaning into some super fun stuff like food tastings with our dining hall.

You know chats with. You know all of students and student leaders, so I'm really trying to think out of the box so, so we'll have that. And then by April 10th you'll need to notify us as to whether or not you'll be joining the Lawrenceville community.

The next thing that I always think is important to bring up is the affordability of Lawrenceville. And so there are some really important numbers here that I think you might be of interest, but I will also do an official push that this coming Thursday at 4:00 PM there will be an information session on scholarship aid. And so Lauren Goldhar, director of scholarship aid, will be there to put to to give you answers for all the questions that you might have. So here again.

Really important.

Uhm, contact numbers, emails from the website and very important social media. Please go follow and like our stuff. I would like to make a joke with the students that I'll get a raise if I hit a certain amount of likes. Usually helps with our students, but then they catch on so. So please go ahead. That's usually where we have some fun information. And also I try. I aspired to give a really fun and casual look into what it's like being here at Lawrenceville.

Our student body has really started to figure out, though, that a large majority of the content comes from our tour guides, Kirby House and JV, Field hockey, and lacrosse. So you'll see a lot of that, but a lot of other good stuff mixed in. So so here we are. My favorite part of the night, so we are going to hit up some of these questions and so a couple of things here. What is the policy and procedure for going across the street? So, great question. I'll speak to a little bit about permissions.

In general, so going across the street, we consider that campus we have a really great partnership with all of the store owners, and so since it is literally truly a stones throw across the street, students are permitted to go at their leisure. If a student were to be spending the weekend away or hopping in an Uber or taking the bus to go into Princeton or to go to target, that is a whole multi step multi layer.

Process of getting permission that starts with the student connecting with the parent and the head of house. The way we do it in my house and in the Crescent is that you have to get permission prior to departure. It can't be. Hey, I'm in the Uber. I'm going to Chipotle. Nope, no dice there. So in my house we actually do face to face permissions so students will have to get face to face permission from me and they'll tell me where they're going, what they're doing and all that so.

A couple questions here about the houses and so the way that it works once you move from the 9th grade into the Crescent and the circle is that the residential office as well as some of the heads of house and a couple of us in admissions, sit together to really piece together to ensure that those six houses on the circle and the five houses on the Crescent are mini versions of the community at large. And so while every house is different in that you have your own.

Chants and cheers and colors and traditions, and banners and mascots, the makeup of each house is a mini version of the large community, so it's not like we put all of our piano players over there and our debate students over there. Every house is going to have a mixture of students from from all over.

Does every class use the Harkness method? And so the answer is yes. However, in a math class you'll more likely than not be using multiple desks put together, either in a circle or smaller groups or one big U shape. But the big thing is that all of our classes are based on a collaborative way of learning and listening.

Uhm, so let's see what are the weekends like at Lawrenceville. I feel as though I feel as though I can talk a little bit more about this specifically. Last night was a big night for the arts. The night the last, the weekend prior to that was our big homecoming dance. We had that come in.

Ah, as part of our big rivalry, Regan against the school in Pennsylvania and they the whole weekend accumulated with us winning the weekend and then also our big dance. And so our student council really runs a essentially setting up what the tone of everything is going to be. And so they really leaned into, let's do really lean into doing something fun. And so I don't know if you all know that phenomenon.

Of promposals well they turned it into a hoco proposal, so homecoming proposals that were done by.

You know girls and girls, boys and boys grow all the things so it was friends and it just turned into something really really fun. And so last weekend that was that the weekend before was a big Halloween event. We've done a Comic Con. We've done 3V3 soccer tournaments last night was a big arts performance night.

Again, on Sundays and Saturday afternoons, our students are also able to go off campus and they also. The school will also provide shuttles to target and to the mall, and so whatever you might want to do, it's probably happening here. Sunday is also a big day for resting, relaxing, 'cause as you can imagine, everything I've told you. You know, our kids are really busy and so oftentimes they really just want. They really just want to take a breath, right?

Oh, some more questions about UM weekend permission. So for boarding school students, can they leave school and come back home on weekends and go back to school on Sunday night? Yes, is the answer. The only big thing is that they're not permitted to leave campus until.

Their last commitment so I didn't bring it up until now. I made it about 50 minutes before this came up, but we do still have Saturday classes and so a large majority of our students will have well all of our students will have class Monday, Tuesday, half day Wednesday, a full school day on Thursday, Friday and then 1/2 day of athletic or half day of classes on Saturdays. And since the majority of the students, the schools that were playing, you know our local but also far away all of our sports.

Teams practice and play six days a week, so Monday through Saturday you're doing whatever you would have done on the Monday, Tuesday etc. And so I'm going to follow up here because are there any sports practices over the weekend and so you're having a regular practice on a Saturday? But honestly, more likely than not, you have a game on Saturday.

Hum, so that's something. And then whenever you might be returning from that game, or whenever your practice might be over, and that's when you then could go home for the weekend. That said, permission to go home for the weekend is always do on Thursday night. So on Saturday morning, on a whim, you can't just decide that. Oh, I mean, I am going to go home. You need to have that permission in in writing prior to the actual weekends arriving. So that is from a student filling out the proper form, having their parent communicate.

Head of house, their head of House Okaying it and so and all of that is done, obviously for the safety of a student, to so that we know exactly where they are, as do the parents, so hopefully that that helps.

Here's a question and application question. Is there any standard recommendation forms for teachers and counselors to fill out or do they need to come up with their own letters without standard format? So all of the recommendations come through the gateway application, so once you log on there and start your application, you'll see that there's essentially a box where you put in the email address of the individual that is filling out the recommendation, and I think you hit a button that says like send or go and then.

Gateway will actually send them whatever they need to fill out because it is a multi step recommendation where they will have you know they'll fill in boxes, but then they'll also provide some free responses.

What happens if you try out for a JV team but don't make it great question.

I'm not going to give you a great answer, So what really happens is that each sport is actually a little bit different. Field hockey. I get to decide how many I'm keeping. I usually keep a pretty big team simply because with students doing athletics for the first time, we're essentially injury prone. And so if I'm taking 2022 I'm going to end up with 15 at the end. So I keep a big team because I can't. 'cause there's eleven people on the field.

Basketball. It's a little different squash. You've got specific numbers, tennis you've got specific numbers track. You have many events to fulfill so.

It all depends. There's also sometimes field hockey lacrosse, a couple times soccer and maybe even basketball. Sometimes we have three teams of our city, a, JV and freshman. It all depends on the interests and the numbers. Volleyballs another team where we've got a varsity JV but you only have what five or six on the court at a time and so that's one where if you don't make that JV team you're going to have to find something else to do. But like I said, other teams take big numbers and we're always.

Willing and and waiting for participants to come on over. OK, let's see what else we have. Oh, this is a good one. Is there a specific dress code at Lawrenceville? And so if you are someone that is looking at multiple schools, you will come to realize that Lawrenceville School has a pretty relaxed dress code in comparison to some of our peer schools. And so our students are really able.

To uhm.

Really able to express themselves in their attire and so boy male students are can no, no student can wear sweatpants or leggings or bathing suits or pajamas, but students are able to work khakis, corduroys, jeans, shirts just have to be nice for girls and boys must wear a collar. Girls can wear dresses. You can wear Lawrenceville sweatshirt. But you can't wear anything with anything inappropriate on it.

But in my opinion, and maybe I'm showing my my age, I guess I think it's pretty relaxed and so our students are incredibly comfortable.

Here's a question. Are students allowed to keep their phones on them all the time? So yes, students can certainly have their phones on them. It varies from teacher to teacher in terms of in the classroom. I know teachers that have every student put their phone in a basket in the middle of the table here in Kirby house during study hall. We have one of those behind the door, shoe organizers and all of our girls put their phones in those during study hall. We are also in my house at least.

Very Privy to the fact that you can still go on Facebook, Instagram.

YouTube all the things, but I'm pretty sure you can't go on Snapchat and the other idea is just that it's removing you from the phone so that you can really, really focus on the work that you need to do.

Tell me about the daily schedule. Great question.

Which is a good follow up to my explanation of the phones in study hall so 8:30 to 3:30. That's when academics are happening. Built into that is a timecode consultation, and that's when no classes are scheduled during those time and so.

Uhm, no class and your teachers are sitting in their offices and classrooms waiting for you. And so you go in there for to ask questions about the homework you did or a test coming up. There's six classes during the day. After all, the academic classes you get done around 3:30 and then that's when your afternoon option would be 3:30 to 5:30. That's when you're doing that and then 5:30 to 8. That's really when you kind of have your meantime, whether that's going across the street for a friends.

Birthday or you were going to a robotics club meeting or you are working with a classmate on a group project? That's that special time that you need to time manage.

Checking in the evening is at 8:00 o'clock. That's when everyone is back in their dorms and in their house for the night. Then from 8:15 to 10:15. That's when you have. That's when you have study Hall, and so you were at your desk. You are studying. You might go the library. You might move to the common room or the tea room in your house, but that's when you're just working. That's a dedicated time for academics.

For the 10th and 11th grade lights out is at 11:15 so and then you wake up the next day and do the whole thing again. One thing I'll say to that is for our day students day students in the morning you would be dropped off at the house because you are very as much part of the House as our borders are. I always like to stay for a day. Student you you're doing a great job of being a community member of your head of house. Can't remember if you're a day student or border, we expect you to be at things and we anticipate.

They're going to end up sleeping over, maybe on a school night, and probably on the weekends. Just because you don't want to leave and miss the fun four day students, there are locker rooms in the Fieldhouse, but also each house has a day student room, and that's where you would leave in the morning. Your your clothes for sports or you know your trumpet or the change of clothes for after sports. Your books, all that good stuff. And then for our athletes in our field house, that's where we would have our locker room. So if you are, if you play a sport that requires.

The town of equipment. That's where you're keeping it up.

So I think I just hammered home a lot of these questions. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to give all of you my email address so my email address is c.dingsocding@lawrenceville.org and so any questions that you would like answered that I didn't get to tonight. Please reach out via email and I would happily answer them one on one in an email exchange and so.

I'm gonna I'm gonna close it here again I'm gonna throw up this this contact info up here and we can you know be in touch after this session if you have any follow up but I will.

Do a shameless plug for the remainder of our discovery. Discover LVL information series we are going to have a lot of great content coming to you tonight after this with our first year first year parents tell all and then Wednesday with our young alum session and then after the Thanksgiving holiday, we're going to have a whole collection of programming that you can all find on our travel and events page on our website. So thank you all for joining me.

This evening I've really enjoyed answering your questions and giving you an inside look to my Lawrenceville experience. So please have a wonderful evening. A great start to your week, a good evening, a good morning wherever you are and happy Thanksgiving. Alright. Have a wonderful night and bye bye.