What CA Means to Me

Nick

Boarder
Peru, VT

What’s it like to be a boarding student at CA?

Part of the magic of CA’s boarding program is that you still have most of the comforts of home—you put up posters, hang out in the living room, microwave a late night snack, and sleep in on weekends. Sure, your parents aren’t nearby, there’s another boy or girl living in the same room with you, and there are neighbors everywhere, but nevertheless, it has the same ambiance as home life.

What do you like about being a boarding student?

I like the freedom—the chance to take total control of my life, to push myself to learn, to create, to do something positive, to discover myself.

What are your favorite things to do on the weekend at CA?

Like most CA students, I go into Boston and Cambridge as much as possible. A half-hour train ride takes you to museums, stores, galleries, restaurants—anything. I love to shop so that takes up a lot of my weekend, but I also love art so visits to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard (which is free for people under age 18) take up a lot of time too. I also value the chance to spend a night at a friend’s house; sleepovers are a nice weekend break. And I love Concord—the coffee shops, pleasant bookstores, and silly clothes stores, not to mention the superb history of the town. After a long week filled with papers and tests, I often find myself spending a peaceful Friday night with one of my best friends, first going for a walk, and then out to dinner either uptown or downtown at a friendly, cheap family restaurant; afterwards, we’ll head back to one of the student houses where we’ll listen to nice music and talk, read poems together, work on a story we’re writing, then trade and exchange advice. You can always make fun for yourself like that—it’s exceedingly easy.

What does the notion of “love of learning” mean to you?

Love of learning means pursuing what you are fascinated in and making your academics count in your life; it means a class that can change your life not only the way you interpret literature, but also the way you look at the world; it means knowledge that merges into your soul.

How do you see love of learning in your day-to-day experience at CA?

I see love of learning in all sorts of ways: the independent projects that friends of mine pursue, the discussions students have with teachers outside of class, and the books they sign out from the library for the simple reason of personal fascination. Right now in my Literature of Paris class, we’re working on a semester-long paper, the topic of which was chosen by each student. I look around at the books that my classmates are using for research and see volumes on surrealism, on symbolism, on fashion, and on politics such disparate topics and ideas, all stemming from one assignment, yet driven by personal passion or rather, love of learning.

Interests and Activities

Writer, The Chameleon (student literary magazine); admissions tour guide; Concord Academy Model United Nations; Gay/Straight Alliance