Online Information Session: Why Big Red?

Hello everyone.

Happy Sunday evening from Lawrenceville. My name is Christine Ding and I work in the Lawrenceville Admissions office. And So what we will do is we'll just hang tight for a little bit as.

Our as everyone starts to roll in. But what we can do is if you are able to hear me, please put like hello or yes or I can hear you into the chat.

Just so I know I'm not speaking out into the void.

Also, something I really like to do is have people.

Throw out where they are tuning in from so we can kind of play a who's calling in from the furthest game. So I do very much appreciate that you all can hear me. So that's good. We've got people calling all the way from Japan. We got people here in our backyard in New Jersey.

California is here, Pennsylvania.

New York, MD.

San Francisco, love to see this. This is great. Chapel Hill, Seattle, Massachusetts, Toronto, we are all over the place. I love it. I love it. That's great. So we're going to give it a couple more minutes till we get up a little closer to our registration numbers. But I would like to start with saying that this online information session is.

With the Lawrenceville school.

Go Big Red and it's called Why Big Red? And tonight we are really going to discuss the topics that are uniquely Big Red and really what makes Lawrenceville so different and unique from the opportunities, the other opportunities that you might have so.

We got some more people rolling in from Australia and South Africa and California.

China Bergen County, New Jersey, New York City. Love to see this, so this is great.

We are. We are tapping out our numbers. So at 8:02 I'm officially gonna get started. So.

A few housekeeping items that we're gonna do before we get things going. So again, this is.

The Why Big Session? Why Big Red session with the Lawrenceville School. This presentation is being recorded and will be made available on our Travel and Events website in a couple days.

Closed captioning can be made available by clicking the little CC button on the top right corner of the share window on the top. There you can also do full screen viewing, which I don't know if you want this mug in the full screen, but you can click the expand button up there on the top right.

You also should you need to re sync your audio or your video. The best part or the best course of action is just refreshing this whole page.

And then questions that you might have as we go along can be posted in the chat. So the way that tonight will work is that I will be on kind of as our late night talk show host and then we will have our panelists pop in as we get to their portion of the night.

Probably for you all, this is your first time using our databases kind of streaming video service. It's the same for my panelists, so please.

Bear with us as we get situated, but I feel like we're pretty much ready. I feel like we're pretty much situated, so we are going to get started.

As I said about 3 minutes ago, my name is Christine Ding. I am the Director of Admissions Communications here at the Lawrenceville School. In addition to that, I'm also an associate Director of Admissions. And So what all of that means is.

I get to interview all of you students that are interested in joining the Lawrenceville community. I get to be part of the review committee, I get to read those applications, and I get to be part of the selection committee that decides.

On the next, the next best class. So in addition to that I also get to plan and formulate and run these types of sessions. I know hopefully some of you have seen the other ones that were running yesterday morning we had a scholarship aid one.

Tomorrow night we're doing one on the admissions portal, the parent statement essay writing with our Director of admissions Dana Brown will be hosting that same one after the new year. We also host one that I think is really awesome that comes right after the acceptance, the application deadline. So it's I believe we're hosting it on January 18th and it's entitled. So you've applied to Lawrenceville what now And it's just kind of explains those next steps of what's to come in the process, so.

These sessions I think are really helpful. I hope they will put you at ease.

In addition to that, I run our social media. I do. I train our tour guides, a couple of whom you'll hear from tonight, and then I also.

Do write and and send all that communication that you guys get electronically and print. That all comes from me. In addition to that, I coach field hockey and lacrosse and I am an assistant head of house in Kirby House, which is the best house on campus. And I'm sure tonight you'll hear from a couple, all probably of our panelists, that will try to justify that their house is the best house. But I can say that Kirby House for 10th and 11th grade girls is the best house.

So I live here with my family. My husband also works here at Lawrenceville. He teaches math, he works in our educational support office, and he coaches football and wrestling. We have two small kids and a dog who live here in the house with us. That gets so much extra love living with about 40 high school girls. And then.

I think that's it. I think that's all the stuff that I do so.

And one thing I'll just say is I will add Lib a couple questions to our panelists tonight. And the one I'm ad libbing to myself is why Lawrenceville and for me it had a lot to do with.

The location it was ideal for us to be in such a unique.

Geographic location close to my family in Philadelphia, but also in a very rich and supportive area in terms of.

Culture opportunities.

Having great doctors and pediatricians and dentists, that was really important to us and our and our family. Just having you know.

A really rich and understanding and supportive community. And then that was the area, and then we obviously came to Lawrenceville and found that within this community as well. So tonight's agenda is that we are going to showcase 7 Laurentians, all of whom have done and are doing amazing things here at Lawrenceville.

We're going to discuss what they do, what they love, what they've learned, and we will certainly discuss.

What makes their experience in high school so unique? Being here at Lawrenceville? So many of you submitted questions prior to tonight and I just wanted to highlight three that I think hopefully this session will answer.

The first two will hopefully be answered by all of us. What type of student thrives at Lawrenceville? That's an amazing question because it's really, really important. And then what are some of the reasons Lawrenceville stands out most against other boarding schools? And I think from what you'll hear from our panelists, you're going to get that good answer. And then the third question is?

Why is Lawrenceville the best choice for my my child and what does it have to offer? And I think that's not a question that.

The first part, that's not a question we can answer for you in the sense of, you know, that's a question you have to answer for yourself. But I do think our panelists tonight are going to be able to give you.

Give you some good understanding of whether or not our school might be the right fit for you.

Tonight we are not going to be answering questions about the application or really individualized questions. Those are things that can really be found on our website, but also could be probably found.

Tomorrow night in that session about the admissions portal, the essays, the parent statement, and the application. So questions like that please join Dana Brown tomorrow night so.

First up, if I could have Allie join me by putting her camera and her mic on, she's going to join us and we're going to go through. There she is. Hey Allie, we're going to go through and all my panelists can hear this, but I will remind you when you come back on.

If you could just state your name, where you're from, the house that you're in, your residential status, and then give us a pretty good overview of all the things you do here on campus. We're talking any sort of athletics or arts, affinity groups, leadership school.

School, community involvement, anything like that. So Allie, why don't you kick us off with your with your intro?

So hi everyone, I'm Ali Calderon. I'm a senior here at Lawrenceville. This is my 4th year, so I did come in as an incoming freshman. I'm a day student and I'm in the Carter house. Some of the things that I'm a part of, I'm actually the head tour guide along with Leo that you'll meet later. I'm a prefect, which is one of the seniors. There are about four, three to five seniors in every house, freshman through juniors that are designated to the different houses. So I'm in the Carter house. So this is my third year in Carter, which.

I was chosen to be part of, and I'll talk a little bit about a little bit more about that later.

I'm a dance captain for one of our dance teams, which is the Latinx dance team here on Cap. Here on campus. I worked with the Open Door Society, which means alumni matters and transitioning from being a senior into becoming an alum. And I'm an affinity group leader, so I'm part of the I'm one of the Co presidents of Latinos Anios, which is for Latinx people, but there are so many other affinity groups and I run Splash, which is a community service. It's a water gunfight all across campus and we raise money for a camp for underprivileged children.

And then I run cross country as well.

Awesome, Allie, thank you so much and I promise everyone here on the call tonight, I promise I have instructed my panelists to be very good about.

Ensuring that we translate the Lawrenceville language you'll you'll probably notice.

There are a lot of things that splash like what's that or just saying, you know, abbreviations or things like that. So we're going to do our best tonight to make sure that we are explaining all the unique words and phrases of Lawrenceville and so.

Allie, being my head tour guide, is a pro at all this stuff, so I'm going to give her a pretty tough one to start out with. And so one of the first questions I wanted Allie to to bring up is what does Lawrenceville do to foster an inclusive community?

So something that I like to say in all my tours is that you will find your support system and you will find multiple support systems. So you'll find them in your advisors and your heads of houses. But I think the first thing, as soon as you come in, everyone's the new kid. So right around the bowl, which is in between the girls, all the freshman girls and all the freshman boys, there's this big field in the middle. And I think the bowl is so special and it's wind up graduating. So you started off together and you end together, but I think you will always see a spike ball or you will see volleyball people throwing the football or playing lacrosse.

We'll have like lunches or picnics out there with people as well. And I that's kind of the 1st way to get going and building a community with your grade your first year as a freshman and then I think as a prefect. I actually have had amazing prefects all throughout my time here at Lawrenceville. So there have been my big sister figures and they are there to facilitate your social life or as well as your academic support and help talk in between. As a underclassmen, you may not be as comfortable to talk to the adults and I think that your prefects are there to help you.

Kind of navigate your time here at Lawrenceville because they've been here for a lot longer. So as a prefect, I'm now doing that in my house because I've had amazing prefects and senior girls that have been amazing to me. I think that also your heads of houses, so each house has either a head of house and an assistant head of house, so they're the adults designated to the house that are. They live on the side of the houses and they are absolutely amazing. I am particularly close to my head of house here in Carter. She runs. Not only do I have a personal relationship, but she runs.

Latino seniors, which is the affinity group here on campus. So I work with her one-on-one, and you'll always find your advisor ahead of house A coach. Or sometimes they'll be all three of your head of house, your coach and your teacher. So they are there to help you and you will have personal relationships with them. You will always find an adult who's your biggest cheerleader or multiple adults who are your biggest cheerleader here on campus. And I think that as a Latina here on campus, I've found many places that I feel like I can connect back to my culture as well.

As being the Co president of Latinos and Neos, we actually last night had a open night for people to dance and learn Latinx dancing for the whole campus and we had we had some snacks as there as well. And so we also have closed meetings for people who identify as Latinx or people to also join who aren't, who don't identify as Latinx but can learn about our culture. And I think as well we have different cultural style dances. We have fro beats which is like African fusion. We have Bollywood.

And we have.

Suave, which is my group, and so I've been able to connect with my culture and people have been able to learn about my culture and different cultures. They're being through the cultural dance teams as well.

Awesome. Thank you, Allie. So one quick question that came in that I'm going to punt to you is just the idea of do you live in the same house your whole time or other different levels?

And how does that, how does that work with who your advisor is? If you could just answer that one and then we'll go to the question that I told you about earlier, not this one that I'm punting to you.

OK, perfect. So your freshman year, all the freshman girls live together and all the freshman boys will live together. So they're on like the opposite sides of that field, the bowl and then you'll be randomly selected. You can put down like a friend or if you have your older sibling or your parent were there, you can also claim to a house. But usually you're randomly selected into one of the five houses in the present or the 6th house in the circle, which the one that you are designated to your sophomore year. You will stay in that house your junior year and then as seniors you either go back to senior housing and kind of go back to that similar format like full circle being with just your grade.

And living with gesture grade unless you opt into being a prefect which you'd apply to.

There's an application system for the house that you were in your sophomore and junior year and you can kind of be that designated senior to be that older sister, older brother figure for the underclassmen.

Thing that I'm just going to clarify is the circle where there are 6 houses that is for 10th and 11th grade and the Crescent where there are five houses that is for 10th and 11th grade girls. Sorry, circle is for boys, Crescent is for girls. And each house does have their own personality, their own chance, their own cheers. Your house is really a huge part of your experience here and your involvement in it is really what you make it. There's a question here about about the.

Personalities of each of the houses. We could all sit here and debate and talk about that all day long, but what you'll learn tonight really is about the people that are here.

On campus, so great. Allie, thanks so much for that bonus question. The next question I wanted Allie to talk about a little bit just because she has experience with this is, can you please describe the school culture when it surrounds itself around the the day student and boarding student dynamic and and what?

What goes into that?

OK, perfect. So actually I have a special.

Perspective because my brother was actually a border and I was a day student and so I am a day student. So I think there really isn't a difference. You are something that comes up a lot in my tours. It's like oh like as a day student do you have a house and everyone is assigned to a house like I said. So I have another day student prefect and we have two border prefects here in quarter. So there really is no difference. I am still a past banquet, all of the events that Carter hosts.

I am part of the house. I help plan. I am at all of those different events. I think that I in particular like to stay on campus. I don't really want to miss out on anything that's going on because they're always events. Or even like we had our voicemail, which is our completely mail, like they come in Carol to us. So I stayed really late on Friday, 'cause they came to Carol with us and like the day students were super excited because we were also here, so this day students that got to stay. I think that I like to say that I'm a border that just sleeps at home.

I don't really think there's very much of a difference. I think I've gained so much from Lawrenceville and got the same Lawrenceville experience that the borders are having, except that I just go to sleep in my bed at home.

Awesome. Well Allie, thank you so much. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for joining us, Allie. If you want, please feel free to pop your name and your contact info into the the the chat so people can have that. If you have a question that is specific to anything Ali said tonight, please feel free to reach out her, reach out to her via e-mail, and then Allie, thanks so much and I'll probably see you tomorrow.

Thank you. Bye, bye.

Bye, Allie. And now I'd love to bring on Leo, our other head tour guide. So Leo, if you want to pop on one quick question that I'm going to answer before Leo gets started is what's it like if you come in as a 10th grader? We might touch upon that a little bit later. But one thing I will say, one of the unique things is our we grow our 10th grade by a good number and so there are usually.

A couple dozen new 10th grade girls, a couple dozen new 10th grade boys. And the great thing is that all 10th graders are new to their Crescent or circle house. So you wouldn't necessarily be coming into a house where everyone had already established everyone in your grade had already established themselves.

And so we're going to back right over to Leo. Leo, you good on your intro or do you need me to tell you the things?

I am. I'm pretty sure I've got it. Ali gave a great model, so I'll dive right into it. So hi, my name is Leonardo Di Giorgi. I am a senior boarding student from Milan, Italy. I've been at Lawrenceville all four years, so I'm currently in upper where all senior boys live. And before that I was in the best house on campus, Woodhull. Do not listen to this Ding. She has no idea what she's talking about. When it comes to the house system, Woodhull is on top. I spent two years there.

And so kind of some of the stuff that I do around campus is like misting and like Allie set me up for I am the Co head tour guide.

Which means I work really closely with admissions. I give a lot of tours. I spend a lot of time talking about Lawrenceville, and alongside that I am also the varsity baseball captain. I play second base. I am the founder of the Italian Heritage Club, which is a new club that I created this year, which I'll really dive into later on in this panel about how I created that and that the opportunities that that provided me.

I was also in Suave. I danced with Allie. She taught me how to dance when I got to campus. So that was a great opportunity, really got me out of my comfort zone early on at Lawrenceville. And also I am the executive producer of SNL Vote, which is our Lawrence will take on the classic SNL episodes, kind of poke in front of the school having a good time doing it. So that's kind of what I'm involved in.

Awesome. So Leo, since you've already actually gave me, given me the good lead in, so let's talk about how is a student supported if they want to try out new things that they've never done before and want to try.

Yeah, absolutely. So I think the best part about Lawrence was the club fair. So it is within the first two weeks of the school year, every single club on campus gets a table in either Pop Hall, which is our language building, Mem Hall or English building, or GCAD, which is our art building. And you can kind of just pop around to all the different tables. Every single club has a mailing list that you can just put yourself down for. They'll shoot out an e-mail that night and you can kind of get involved in the club. And so my freshman year, I think I probably put my name down for about 30 clubs.

And then, you know, as I went through my Lawrenceville career, I weaned it down to the final few, three or four that I really got involved in. And so some of the best opportunities that came from that were SNL. Though I'm not the executive producer, I had never watched an episode of SNL before I got to Lawrenceville. I had no idea what it was, but they had a really colorful sign at club night. So I was like, I'll sign me up like that seems like a lot of fun. And I really bonded with the head of the of the club. And so I kind of stuck that one through and I really enjoyed that. And then another great opportunity to kind of get involved.

Is through your prefects. So prefects are the seniors who live in our dorms. When you're a freshman, sophomore and junior, to kind of help guide you. And so my prefects, they had a lot of experience in different opportunity in different kind of fields of Lawrenceville. And so they really brought me in out of my comfort zone kind of just talking to me. I would be like, oh, like, what are you off to? They're like, I'm off to this club meeting. Why don't you just come with me, see if you like it. That's kind of how I got involved with the AI task force that I'm a part of. And so really a lot of those opportunities just come through kind of just following your friends around campus, just doors open and as you go.

Awesome. Thank you, Leo. A quick question that popped up. So how many is there a limit for how many clubs you can sign up for?

I think the limit is probably just how many you can fit in your schedule. I don't think anybody's really tracking how many clubs you're a part of. I will say my 30 Club strategy was not compatible with my freshman year schedule. I kind of figured that out pretty quickly. But it kind of is really up to you of how you want to handle your time, how many clubs you want to really put into your schedule.

Awesome. So, Bill, your second question is what has been the best or most rewarding thing about attending Lawrenceville for you?

Yeah. So I'd say that probably the most rewarding thing experience that I've had at Lawrenceville was founding the Italian Heritage Club, kind of. As Ali touched on, there were a lot of affinity groups on campus. And going into my senior year, I really wanted to kind of create one that really represented like my identity, who I really was. And so I got with my I got together with my head of house, Miss Guido, who'd been my head of house for two years in Woodhall. And I was like, would you be happy to be the faculty advisor of my club? She was like, absolutely, let's do it. I can't wait. So.

Took me about 5 minutes. I shot an e-mail over.

To Mr. August, who runs all the clubs on campus and I created my first club and so coming back on the campus this year.

We met three times in the fall. It's kind of just a great space. Like Ali touched on, there's also closed and open meetings. So my three meetings this fall term were all open. Anybody was welcome. My mom, she made some homemade tiramisu. We brought it in. It was a great time. And so it's kind of really just an awesome opportunity that really shows off. Like kind of like the avenues of Lawrenceville can open that you can open for yourself while at Lawrenceville.

Awesome, Leo. So, coming from the international realm, in terms of not being from here, what what made you choose Lawrenceville?

Yeah, so Lawrenceville for me was when I did my tour. I think it helped that I had the the school president at the time was my tour guide. He was great, but kind of as soon as I stepped on campus, my tour guide got about 50 happy birthdays during our tour, which in the moment I was like, oh, like that's kind of like an irrelevant thing, but kind of looking back on it with my parents after I left the campus, I was like, everybody really cares on that campus. Like it's a really tight knit community if everybody's saying happy birthday to this tour guide.

So that was really big for me. And then another big part was I interviewed with Mr. Richardson, who's no longer works at Lawrenceville, but he was the head of admissions at the time. And he was kind of, we struck an instant bond. And that was like a really big part for me that already showed me kind of those connections you can make with faculty at Lawrenceville. And I can, I can happily say that kind of. I found this connection with a lot of other faculty as well at Lawrence, which I think is another one of those, like amazing opportunities that Lawrenceville offers is those really close student faculty connections.

Awesome. Thank you, Leo. As always, you're the best. I'm going to give you the same opportunity that I gave Allie, so you can pop your contact information into the chat there and then you can bap on out of here. But a big thanks to Leo for joining us tonight and then I'll see you tomorrow. And Liza, if you want to join us, that would be great.

Awesome. Thank you.

Bye, Leo.

I was saying.

Hi, Liza. So you're ready. I'm assuming everyone has this intro down pat, so go for it.

Hi everyone, my name is Liza Strong. I'm a senior or fifth former here at Lawrenceville. I'm currently in the McPherson House. I've also been here for all four years, but I was in Curvy my sophomore and junior year. So this is Zing and I have a special relationship and Kirby is without a doubt the best house on campus. I'm originally from Sarasota, FL and here on campus I'm the community service representative on student council.

I'm also on the tour guide council, so I work with Mrs. Ding in that way.

I'm on the Religious Life Council leadership team, and the Religious Life Council is the umbrella organization for all religious and spiritual life here on campus. And we work very closely with the affinity groups, which Allie was kind of explaining. I'm also on Explorations Council, which is very similar to Religious Life Council, but incorporates more spiritual aspects and peace and reflection and gratitude and those kinds of things. I'm also on the varsity tennis team and I'm a Healey scholar.

In archival research and historical studies.

So over the summer I spent two weeks researching in the Lawrenceville archives, which were absolutely fascinating. And then this fall I participated in a history independent research class for all the Healy scholars and I ended up writing a 20 page senior thesis about my findings.

Oh Liza, I'm just so proud of you. I also interviewed Liza many years ago, so it's been very rewarding for me to see 8th grade Liza and now.

This really, really awesome young woman that is in front of us all right now. So Liza, the first question I have for you is, can you explain what our student council does, what you do as our community service Rep and maybe explain the other positions and maybe explain some other leadership opportunities that we have here on campus in regards to?

Like councils, if you will.

Yes, of course. So on student council, I am the community service representative, but I also work a lot with the rest of student council. So there's ten of us, and we're all 5th formers or seniors. We have our president, Vice president of Academics, Honor social life.

Our arts representative, athletic representative, Wellness representative, sustainability representative, and diversity representative. And so we all work together. So I work on my own things. As a community service representative, I work.

With our amazing Director of Community Service, Mrs. Ferguson and I helped plan immersive community service opportunities for Laurentians to help achieve their community service requirement and also go above and beyond that. I also organized school wide community service festivals like our. In the fall we host Halloween party and we invite a lot of local children to come join. And we have a haunted house, we have face painting, we have a bunch of different.

Inflatables.

And we kind of have something similar, but on a bigger scale in the spring called Spring Fest, where we also invite local children and then Lawrenceville students will be buddies to these children and also help man the booths for these festivals. Also, as the community service representative, I work with the Community Service Council, which are all of the community service representatives at Lawrenceville in each Crescent and Circle house and then also in the two freshman houses.

And that's actually how I kind of became very involved in community service at Lawrenceville and Kirby. I was the community service representative last year and I was on the Community Service Council and worked with our stucco community service representative last year. And I was, I helped a lot with Halloween Party and Spring Fest last year. So that's kind of how I gained a lot of experience.

In only in a Kirby scale. I helped with Kirby quesadillas, which are our fundraisers. That was really, really fun. We were all out on the porch.

With the rest of House Counsel, which a lot of those positions mirror student council and we were all cooking quesadillas and selling them. And it was super, super fun to see everyone, a lot of the student body outside on our lawn chairs. We were playing music. It was springtime. It was a really, really fun time to have everyone together and then kind of just more broadly on student council.

I am. I'm very closely related to community service, but I help with everyone else's position. I help grace our social Rep plan our Saturday night events. All of student council helps plan every single school meeting. We have meetings once once a week, sometimes twice a week, and just kind of organizing events for all students.

Can you explain to me what a school meeting is, who is there and what might happen?

Yes. So school meetings are every Thursdays, and they're in about a 4535 to 45 minute slot. And so every school meeting, we have some announcements. Bryce, our school president, will make some announcements about events coming up. Grace, our social Rep, will get up there and she'll announce we have a house. Every year there's a house that wins the House Cup, which is kind of the most spirited house. And so we have a House Points leaderboard. And so in order to get the House Cup, you have to have the most House Points.

And so Grace will kind of do a recap of the week, which houses have kind of gotten the most points and where they stand on the leaderboard. I think Kirby is #3 on the leaderboard right now. So that made me very happy, scream very loud at school meeting when I see that. And then usually we also try to promote a lot of student performances at school meeting. Actually last week in Spirit of the Holidays, we had a record record-breaking five student performances. So we had.

Someone performing ballet. We also had one house come up on stage and sing some Christmas carols, and we had two student performers who sang another holiday themed song and everyone in the audience was singing along, shining their flashlights. It was a really, really special moment.

And so just to clarify, school meeting is the one time of week that the entire school, students, faculty, staff members are all together in our theater. So it is the time that everyone is gathering and it's really an awesome time throughout the week to get a good sense of what's going on. And last week it was really big for the Kirby House because we had been in fourth place on that leaderboard for almost the whole school year. And so we bumped up and some simple ways that you get house points are just.

Participating in all these events that that our social Rep is hosting.

Community services hosting.

Sometimes the library does events where it's a gingerbread house making contest and then they post the photos to Instagram and whoever gets the most likes get some points. Kirby House came in second last year. I still obviously have that right here in my brain.

But but yeah, so, well, great. And so, Liza, I'm gonna ask you another question in terms of 'cause you kind of answered both the questions I had for you all in one, which was perfect.

Why did you choose Lawrenceville?

So I chose Lawrenceville because.

Well, it was very unheard of to go to boarding school from Sarasota. Actually, I remember when I asked some of my teachers for recommendations, they were like, what did you do wrong? Why are your parents sending you to boarding school? But actually it was completely me. I I came to my parents saying I wanted to go to boarding school. My brother, he went to the Gal school in Buffalo, NY, but I wanted something different. And so I did kind of the whole touring.

Process and what stood out to me about Lawrenceville was the house system. I think specifically that's why I chose Lawrenceville, and also why I just wanted boarding school in general. But why Lawrenceville was perfect for me is because I felt like I could do everything I wanted right on campus. I didn't have to take a bus from school to get to tennis practice. It was all right here I could. Freshman and sophomore year I was involved in theater. I did.

Freshman Shakespeare and then sophomore year I participated in a student directed play. So that was something new that I explored. Everything is right on campus for you from arts, athletics, academics of course. Social life. It's all right here and you don't have to make any sacrifices. And Lawrenceville and student leaders and administration does a really great job to facilitate students wanting to be on campus and stay on campus and be together and create those pockets of community and.

Specifically at Lawrenceville, what is so, so special is the house system.

I think I really, really found my place, found my people and kind of found what what I value the most in Kirby and spending, spending so much time with the Kirby girls.

Guys, if you're if you're willing, please throw your info into the chat, but otherwise, thank you for joining us and I'll probably see you tomorrow. I saw you know like 3 hours ago we had a Kirby invite a friend which is a fun social event in the house and Liza got to come back for that. So awesome. Thank you Liza. Next up we have Conan. So Conan, if you can join us.

He's wonderful. Hello, Conan. So if you're ready, I'm going to have you just start right off and do your intro and we'll hop right into your questions.

Hello.

Alright, cool. So I'm Conan. I'm currently a senior in the Upper House, but sophomore and junior, I was in the Hamill House.

On campus, I'm the vice president of Academics on Student Council. I'm also a varsity water polo player and the captain of the swimming team. I also participate in the Hutchins Science Scholars Program, which is a program that the school offers.

To in which you're set up with a summer internship at a lab. So I worked at Thomas Jefferson University in a liver cancer lab, researching.

Researching that over the summer, I also work as the Executive Editor of the 1st Amendment, which is Lawrence Hills Political Magazine. And I'm also a member of the Student Faculty AI Task Force, which is investigating, you know, how to adjust Lawrenceville's policies regarding AI use and potential ways that we can actually incorporate AI as a in our curriculum as a tool.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's it. That's it. That's all you do. Well, cool. So let's talk a little bit about could you share how Lawrenceville helped you make the transition from your previous squad to high school and to life here at Lawrenceville?

Sure. So my greatest experience transition to Lawrenceville was pretty unique because it was during 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic, which means that a lot of the social events interactions that took place were masked and six feet apart. But despite these difficulties, I found that there is this extensive support system with Finn Lawrenceville to really help me adapt to this kind of new life. So one of the things was freshman prefects. So in freshman year you live with around six or seven seniors.

Like half boarding half day students who?

Really service these mentors and mentors, teachers and friends that have. I mean, they themselves have done Lawrenceville very well by being a prefect. And they really teach, you know, how to get used to the academic schedule, how to get used to living away from home for the first time. Stuff like even like how to do your own laundry.

And I really And finding these seniors.

Really gave me a strong, like connection to people who had done Lawrenceville Super Bowl, who succeeded academically, athletically, socially at Lawrenceville. And that really allowed me to, you know, find my own successes by learning from them and also.

You know, they inspired me to actually run for Freshman of the Year. Raymond House Academic Rep.

Which was, you know, done virtually. But I mean, that experience, you know, I really advocating for myself in front of the entire house led me to eventually, you know, run for the school's academic Rep, So it was pretty cool.

Awesome, Conan. OK, so let's talk a little bit about what does Lawrenceville have in place to provide students support when managing stress, whether it's academic or peer related. And also let's talk a little bit about what some of your initiatives have been this year as the stucco academic Rep.

Definitely. So, you know, Lawrenceville is definitely an academically rigorous environment, but it's certainly manageable. And one of the things that great that's great about Lawrenceville is that freshman fall when you come in, it is a pass fail term, which means that if you're having trouble adjusting, you know, being away from home for the first time or if you're not used to kind of, you know, the academic workload, it's a very low stakes, you know, very low stakes. You're not going to have to be worried about your grades the entire time. You have a chance to have these formative experiences, you know, building friends, playing football in the bowl.

Kicking a soccer ball around and you're going to have time to build social connections before worrying about academics. But once you get into the swing of things that Lawrenceville, one of the things that's great is that four times a week I learned. So there's something called consultation. And this is very similar to office hours in college where you really get to. It's a chance where you can meet with your teachers to talk about, you know, study for a test, ask for feedback on your paper.

Kind of really connect your teachers and build these faculty connections. That'll really set you up for success at Laurasil.

Other things is that Lawrence was always trying to maximize student well-being. So there's actually been a new academic schedule next year which is aimed at, you know, balancing class time, balancing homework limits and really creating a new schedule that will continue emphasizing student well-being.

As academic Rep, some of my initiatives are working with peer tutoring. So one of the great things about Lawrence was that we have an extensive campus wide peer tutoring program. And in every freshman house every night there every night that there's study hall. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, there will be, you know, 3 to 4 prefects in every No 3 to 4 peer tutors in every lower house who you know, assist kids with homework. And that's really, that's a really good experience for freshmen. And in the library there are also three to four peer tutors who can help upperclassmen with their homework.

And yeah, one of the things I really like about Lawrence was that anyone who's willing to learn, anyone who demonstrates initiative, and anyone who like reaches out for their teachers, can thrive in this academically religious environment thanks to all these extensive support systems. Now there's also stuff like ESL support systems and also educational support systems, so.

Also also like your advice, your academic advisors, which every student has, so these adults on campus and connecting with these people really gives everyone a chance to thrive at Lawrenceville.

That's awesome, Conan. Thank you so much for that academic perspective. One thing I'll also say is one of the really unique things that ties in the academic advisor piece to our house system is that your advisor will always be an adult that's affiliated with your house. And so I can speak to the fact that as an adult, that is an advisor having all the information about a student, seeing them regularly, whether it's my duty night, my house meeting, my advising meeting, or just being in the house, you really are able to connect with that person.

That has.

Been given to you as an advisor. You also have multiple other layers of adult support, but I do think that advisor system through the house is really, really important. Conan, I have one last follow-up question that I want to throw at you since you've got a pretty good handle on all things.

Academic. How would you describe the kind of academic classroom culture? Is it rigorous? Is it competitive? Is it sharp elbows and cut throat? Is it collaborative? What? What is your experience as a student been like in terms of?

The classroom culture.

Yeah, so in terms of classroom culture?

Very heavy emphasis on hardness learning, which is essentially, you know, very collaborative discussion based learning where you know teachers don't always drive the discussions, but students and their ideas will be the ones you know driving class time and exchanging ideas with each other. And I find that people at Lawrenceville are very collaborative. They're always, you know, you always want to see your classmates succeed too. Like you guys succeed as a class, not individually. And I think Lawrence was like Harkness learning and you know, discussion based education really helps drive that spirit of working together instead of competing with each other.

Awesome, Conan, thanks so much. You crushed it. So if you're willing, Conan, throw your info into the chat there just so people might have it so that they can reach out with any academic specific questions as we move along here tonight. So thanks again, Conan, and see you soon, OK?

Yeah.

Claire, you are ready. You can hop on in and then we will get going right away with your with your.

Hi Claire. So go for it, Claire, give us your intro and then what happened to your questions?

Nope, can't hear you.

Can you hear me now?

Oh yeah. I can hear you now. That's great. Thanks, Claire.

Hi everyone, my name is Claire Jiang. I am a day student from Princeton, NJ and currently I'm a prefect in the McClellan house which is one of our circle and Crescent houses.

A little bit about what I do on campus. I'm involved in the arts so I act in our musicals and our plays. Currently I'm actually Co directing a show for Winter Fest, which is.

Our big, you know, Perry Wick production, Perry Wig is our theatre group on campus.

And Winterfest is the big winter term production where students will direct and produce and act in their own shows.

I am also the editor in chief of the Lawrence and the Litt. The Lawrence is our school newspaper, so we publish around 22 issues a year. And I'm leading an editorial team of around 16 students and we publish weekly on Fridays. And the Lit is our literary magazine.

And they're both over 100 years old. So again, a testament to the tradition that we maintain on campus.

I'm also the founder of the creative writing club Home and Stories, which just encourages people to write. We have workshops every single week. Beyond this, I enjoy rock climbing. I'm a part of the Ropes course instructor groups, and I'm also a Merrill Scholar, which is our English research scholar group. And like Liza mentioned before, it's similar to Healy in that we write a 15 to 20 page research paper.

Umm that we get to explore and finish our senior fall term.

Awesome, Claire, Thank you. So one of the things, Claire, we're going to discuss with you, obviously we will weave in your great involvement in the arts. But let's talk about a couple of examples of experiential learning that you've participated in while you've been here at Lawrenceville.

Yeah, of course. So experiential learning, it's in the name, It's just hands on learning.

And I had never really encountered it before coming to Lawrenceville. So one of the coolest things when I came here was being able to participate and try out being in the outdoors. So I participated in outdoor leadership my freshman year. That was sort of my sport, my Co curricular, and it kind of pushed me to try rock climbing and you know, being a ropes course instructor.

So facilitating people's experiences on campus and when freshmen come, they'll all be put into orientation groups. And essentially what it is, is just to build bonds with people through, you know, challenging activities. We have a climbing tower that we try to get all the freshmen up on and this is just to really.

I guess facilitate that experience of you know, like what hardness learning is like, which is very collaborative, which is asking questions, which is, you know, going through failures but also learning from that.

And I think one of the best experiential education opportunities Lawrenceville offers is the Harkness Travel programs. So.

Your freshman, sophomore and junior and then senior spring term or your senior spring break. So those are the times.

When you can apply to your part of a Harkness travel program, and it's so wonderful, essentially there's.

Teacher and faculty designated specifically for your Harkness travel group. And they'll plan out the itinerary, They'll plan out the theme and you got to go to places like, oh, I don't know, Italy. I think there's one to Australia, Africa this year. So you get to travel to a lot of different places. And for me, I found the intersection between experiential learning and my own passion through the.

Scotland, Edinburgh trip, which I went on my sophomore summer and it was so cool because we had a teacher write a play for a group of a dozen of us, so student actors and technicians. And then we were actually able to put that on as a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival alongside a bunch of amazing professional actors.

I think beyond that some more specific opportunities for experiential learning. You can work at the Big Red Farm.

There's the Hutchins social justice scholars with Mr. Ali, and there's also opportunities to travel to North Carolina for the Atwood Bound Scholarship or participate in High Mountain Institute. So again, so many opportunities, so many that you almost can't take a hold of all of them, but it's really amazing.

Awesome. Thank you, Claire. OK, so a question that I had already set for you, but then also a question that's come through as all of you wonderful, awesome Laurentians have started to talk and tell your Lawrenceville story. So the question I had teed up for you was how have how have the passions you had when you entered Lawrenceville grown? And have you picked up any new ones? And the question that we had gotten in the chat basically was, were you guys all these like overachieving middle schoolers that all ended up at Lawrenceville?

Replay.

Or has it been something that has blossomed for you while you've been at Lawrenceville? So if you could expand on that, Claire, that would be awesome.

Of course.

So if I were to reflect back on middle school, I think I personally and someone who just and I'm indecisive and so I want to do everything. I want to try everything. And that's the reason why I chose Lawrenceville, just because there's such a variety of opportunities there. But I think that one thing that I really had to work on and, you know, grow as a person and as a learner was just being a part of a community and reaching out to people and forming relationships.

Um, I think in terms of the passions that I've picked up at Lawrenceville, it definitely be, you know, being in the outdoors. My family is very much, they've never gone hiking or camping. And so that was something that I really had to endeavor to find myself and I really fell in love with it.

I always loved singing and acting, so that was something that I just really got to do more here at Lawrenceville, and it really confirmed my passion for the humanities.

And theater. And then the biggest thing that I love about Lawrenceville is just the paper, the Lawrence, and getting to work for that.

So I don't know. I feel like you get students, middle schoolers, from all walks of life. You have people who haven't had the opportunity to try as many things, and so they seize everything they can at Lawrenceville. And you have people who come in knowing you know their priorities or you know, having something they really want to work on and expand upon here at Lawrenceville.

So yeah, you get people from all walks of life, and I think that.

Bringing yourself and your own passions and being open and curious to explore new things is the best thing that you can do coming in to Lawrenceville.

Some that's that's great. I have always been a pretty indoor person and so I'm just being here and existing here and taking my house to the ropes course has really kind of catapulted me into them much more of an outdoor person than I ever ever anticipated. So Claire, thank you so much. So if anyone has any questions about the paper or any other publications or any other performing arts or outdoorsy type things, perhaps Claire is going to throw her contact information into.

The chat here so that you can have her.

Her contact information. So thank you so much, Claire. I'm sure I'll run into you tomorrow. And then Next up is Samir.

There he is. Here was the first one to join me tonight to to get a practice going. So he's been patiently waiting for his turn. So Samir, why don't you lead us off and talk us talk about all that you do here.

Yeah, so hi everyone. My name is Samir Mangani. I'm a senior boarding student. I've been at Lawrenceville for four years now. My sophomore and junior year, I was in the Dickinson house, which is obviously the best house on campus now. I live in the Raymond house, also known as Boys Lower, which is the freshman boys dormitory. I'm a prefect there, so I help guide 9th graders through the Lawrenceville experience.

I'm pretty involved with performing arts on campus. I'm president of the Larry's, which is Lawrenceville's all gender a Capella group. I'm also a proud member of the Periwig Club, which is Lawrenceville's long running theater program that Claire was just talking about. I perform in musicals every year. This fall I played Nino in Amelie the Musical. I've also acted in Winterfest and Freshman Shakespeare, which is a great opportunity to get exposed to the world of theater as a 9th grader.

I'm also in Nachle, which is Lawrenceville's Bollywood dance group, as well as Impulse, Lawrenceville's improv comedy troupe.

I'm pretty involved in religious life on campus. I'm president of the Hindu student organization and try and make space for like students to explore their religion and their culture. I'm also on the leadership team of the Religious Life Council, as Liza talked about earlier.

I'm also heavily involved with scientific research on campus. I'm a Hudson Science scholar and spent this past summer doing research in the lab. In the lab at Thomas Jefferson University, I was able to explore liver cancer and learn like PCR, Western blot, and bioinformatics techniques such as RNA seq.

I'm also president of the Big Data and AI Research Club, and I collaborate with the team of students to publish research papers every year in peer reviewed journals. And we even published three times since my freshman year using artificial intelligence to explore different fields of study like sustainability, climate change, as well as drinking water contamination and COVID-19. So yeah.

Awesome. So first question I've got for you is, can we talk about how you manage the workload of all the different things that you do, whether you're going to, you know, just tell us how you're doing, all the academics, the arts, the leadership, how are you doing it all? Like how?

Yeah, honestly, I think it's just like making time management. That's the biggest thing. And I think at Lawrenceville, you're pretty much set up to succeed your freshman year. You have such structured time in your day. You have study hall from 8:00 to 10:00 almost, especially if you're a border every day and you're basically set up for success. I've seen a lot of freshmen, like as a prefect. I've seen a lot of freshmen in similar situations, like scared to join extracurricular, scared of, like, oh, am I going to have enough time to do this, this and this? But honestly, it's just about blocking out the time in your day and like.

Making also making space for fun. I think when you enjoy the things you do, it's a lot easier to do so much. And trying, trying to like do everything. You obviously can't do everything. You have to give up some things. And I think Lawrenceville is a great space because you meet so many people that are passionate about so many different things and you kind of like feel inspired to like want to do the same things and like want to grow in the same way. And yeah, I think that's that's, yeah, I'll say about that.

Awesome. So tell me a little bit about, let's dive in a bit more. We've had a couple other people mention some of our summer research institutes. But can you dive into your experience a little bit more? And what you know, how that structure, do you just decide you're going to do it? Do you apply? Who helps you navigate it? How does all that work?

So the there are many scholars programs is what the school refers to them as. So I'm 100 science scholar as I mentioned that one is related to scientific research. You're basically connected with the lab or you find your own lab to work with throughout your time as a sophomore And then in your sophomore well as a junior and in your sophomore summer you'll learn like basic techniques like I mentioned like PCR. And you'll also get an opportunity to explore engineering, which I thought was a really fun opportunity especially.

'Cause my interests learn more in like life sciences.

But it was a fun way to explore the world of science. I would say it's a pretty long application process. There's an interview, obviously, and they select, I'd say like 10 to 14 students for the Hudson Science program. But even if you're not interested in science, there are just so many opportunities for like, whether it's interdisciplinary research or like research in specific fields of like humanity studying. So like Merrill and Healy that other people mentioned give you the opportunity to write long form research papers.

And either English or history or the like. Intersection intersection between the two Hutch and social Justice lets you explore the world of social justice.

Pursue your passions and try and make it impact on the communities around you. Leopold Scholars is another program that's sustainability based and empowers you to explore like environmental justice. And yeah, I believe those are the programs that we have that we offer.

There's also like a Wells Award, which you can apply for and get the opportunity to explore specific like personal interests that you have. Like for example, I got to explore drinking water data in New Jersey and look at how socioeconomic disparity impacts that, and like how different people are affected by disparate are affected by drinking water contamination.

Based on like their background and where they come from so.

Awesome. OK, So a curveball question for you is, what is something about Lawrenceville that you didn't expect or that surprised you?

I think something I didn't expect was that literally everyone I feel like I've met here has something that they are super passionate about and like are amazing at. And like whether they were that when they got here or they developed that while they're here. Like I feel like everyone here has that ability to like dive in and like explore something which I think is really cool. Like even the kids that you wouldn't expect to be like incredible at like some random specific like.

Niche interest. Like there's always like something you can learn about a person.

And I feel like the community is like, so tighten it, which I like. I don't know if I fully expected coming in, but I definitely really appreciate and it definitely helps make things make my life better in every way.

Awesome. Thanks so much bud. Super helpful if you're willing for your information into the chat so people can reach out to you.

And then have a great rest of your night, bud. I appreciate you being here and I know we're coming close to the 9:00, but I hope everyone will stick around because Next up we have Ella.

So.

We are gonna she's our final Laurentian of the evening and so once she gets on here, we can chat with her.

And ask some questions. Hi.

Oh, I can't hear you, sister.

I still can't hear you.

I can't. I can't.

Hold on.

I cannot hear you.

No, the best thing we could just do is if you just wanted to run downstairs and you can sit next to me, OK?

Ella lives in my house, so she'll actually just join me in the room. One thing I wanted to mention is it seems as though we've been chatting a lot about the 9th grade experience, and I do really want to hone in on the fact that we have a tremendous.

10th grade entry point and so it provides.

All of our students, the opportunity that are coming in the 10th grade, there's a good bulk of students that are coming in and they are really supported and provided.

Really supported and provided the same opportunities as all of our.

As all of our other students. And so once you if you come in in the 10th grade, the the rest of your experience will be no different than any of our other.

Students that have been here for the 9th grade and the same goes for the 11th grade and or the if you come in as APG and I'll give my contact information at the end here and I'd be happy to talk to anyone.

That comes in in any other entry point besides.

The 9th grade so.

I'm going to hand it over to Ella and she can do her intro. Hello everyone. I'm sorry for the little delay, but my name is Ella Fessler. I'm a junior here in Kirby as you. Also, I'm actually the president and I'm a border from St. Louis, MO.

In terms of clubs and sports, this will be my third year rowing on Varsity crew.

I'm the president of the Women in STEM at Lawrenceville Club. I founded it with one of my best friends, also in Kirby, and I'm on the board for the UNICEF Club and the Big Red Cross Club. And I'm also a tour guide here with mistakes.

Awesome. And so tonight Ella is going to talk to us about some of the unique experiences she's had at Lawrenceville that she probably wouldn't have been able to have at her any other school.

I feel like the most unique experience I had here was definitely working in the athletic trainer's office.

So if you know me, you probably know that I love medicine. Like coming in, I've always wanted to be a doctor. I just never really knew how to get involved until I got to Lawrenceville and my freshman year, I actually, I tore my ACL, unfortunately.

But that's kind of How I Met all the athletic trainers and I just I fell in love with the idea of helping others.

And now in my junior year, I have the opportunity to work with all them and help everyone else get get better.

And another unique opportunity that we've done that Claire kind of talked a little bit about earlier is.

Both Harkness, Harkness travel and being an RCI. So for RC is what's an RCI is a ropes course instructor. And pretty much ropes course instructors help set up freshman orientation. They help houses come out.

We kind of facilitate.

Students to work through everyday problems and just learn more about problem solving. It's really been rewarding giving back to the community because.

As a freshman, I know.

I don't know. The RC is just help you a lot and they really just they're there as a helping hand and then our Harkness travel program.

Sorry, this year I'm attending the New Zealand Harkness travel program. So I'm going to New Zealand with about 10 other students and three faculty advisors and we will be going all along New Zealand and backpacking. And kind of like Claire talked about earlier, it's just a lot of experimental learning and I'm going this spring break and I'm just super excited.

So one of the great things about the Harkness travel programs is all of the programs that happen throughout the year, which there's usually 10 throughout the year, usually about 5 or 6 during spring break and then the remainder over the summer. All these programs are essentially.

They stem from a faculty member's interest, and so a faculty member designs the trip and then it gets.

If it gets approved then it comes to life and and you put it into action and it's really awesome. There is an application process and.

Students are really able to kind of put themselves out there, so I can't wait to see all the pictures of Ella hiking in New Zealand.

One of the big things I wanted to just follow up on is the ropes course instructors. We have a high ropes course here on campus and so when they're talking about facilitated orientation, facilitating houses coming out so that we're actually on a ropes course, Kirby House comes out twice a year. We come out in the fall and in the spring, and it's just really awesome because it's an opportunity to pretty level playing ground.

In terms of being able to climb all the way up or do some of the low ropes type activities, it's a really awesome bonding experience and just an awesome opportunity for everyone, adults included, to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. So I want you to talk a little bit more about what you actually did and when you did it working in the trainer's office. So the athletic trainer, if you guys don't know who might have read this on the website or another like info session.

But Lawrenceville has a requirement, so every student has to do one athletic extracurricular thing every term. So to fill my athletic requirement, I feel I worked in the athletic trainers office and pretty much once a week I would have a class with the trainers. I learned to stretch, I learned what heating does, cooling does, I learned about all the different ligaments of the body and other than class, I really just did hands on learning.

And I talked to patients, I went to sports games, and I got to know so many new students and meet so many people I wouldn't have. And I'm just really grateful. And it showed me so much more, not only about myself, but.

But about the community and about medicine and just what I want to do later on. And I feel like that's just one experience I would have never had if I didn't come to Lawrenceville. Awesome. OK, so last question for Ella. And last question of the night is, Ella, if you had a time machine, what would you have done differently in your first year at Lawrenceville?

I know that I briefly touched on this earlier, but my freshman year I tore my ACL, so I definitely would have changed that. But.

Further than that, I think my freshman year I was really apprehensive just to jump in and get involved.

I know some of you on here can probably relate. I, especially as a middle schooler, it's very timid, hesitant to like get involved and coming into freshman year, I was really nervous if people would like me how it fit in all that stuff.

But I think as I got more comfortable with the school, I started jumping in, meeting new friends, joining new clubs. And I'm so happy that I did because I've met so many amazing people and I just could never imagine myself anywhere else.

Awesome. You're the best. OK, So what I'm going to do is I'm going to let Ella type her info into the chat while I start doing our little closing here. And so thank you guys for joining us tonight. I know we went over a little bit in time. If you have questions about things we didn't get to, I sincerely apologize. I would I I'll reemphasize the fact that this session was not about a full dive into our academics or a full dive into specific sports or athletics or.

Specific arts or anything like that.

If you have questions about specific, specific things in that regard, please feel free to shoot some emails to the panelists here tonight.

And then also a great way to get those questions answered is following up with your interviewer, your tour guide or any program directors that you've been in touch with throughout your process. They are definitely going to be able to you hit enter here. Yeah, they are definitely going to be able to answer any application or specific program.

Questions that you might have so.

A couple end of the show housekeeping things. Please remember that our admissions and scholarship aid application deadline is January 15th, so it's all got to be in by then. The January SSAT is the last one that we accept. And please be mindful that we do require standardized testing. It is specific to your grades. So please go to the website and check that out.

Also, Please note that interviews the interview is a required portion of our application and those slots are filling up. We have a couple left this week and then once we hit the new year for the 2 1/2 weeks, we interview in January up until January 15th. Those are all online. I'm going to go back to the questions I brought up earlier, so hopefully.

We have answered for you. What type of student thrives here at Lawrenceville?

Hopefully we've highlighted some of the programs that really makes Lawrenceville stand out against most other schools and hopefully when you guys pop off here you will discuss amongst yourselves as a family if Lawrenceville is the best choice for you and what we have to offer.

I really hope tonight really showcase that the possibilities are pretty, pretty endless. You could be a high school age athletic director, you could be performing on stage in Edinburgh, you could be starting your own affinity group, whatever it might be so.

The opportunities are endless. Everyone in my office is here to help you as you navigate these last bits of the application. So thanks again for joining us tonight. There is another session tomorrow night with our Director of Admissions, Dana Brown.