<p>Hi everyone! I am a current student at Linden Hall and I wanted to update the community with the changes that have taken place in the last few years. </p>
<p>New Things: </p>
<p>New academic building - it's absolutely beautiful. We love the new classrooms and we are still breaking in the new technology in our library/computer lab. </p>
<p>New Tech - our school is one of the most technologically integrated schools in the area. We use computers/tablets every day in class and we have access to smartboards/macs/printing/scanning through the school.</p>
<p>Music department - The head of the music department who came in 2012 is phenomenal. He used his connections to hire music instructors from Millersville U and the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. I am in three ensembles and they are the highlight of my extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Administration: we have a new AD and are currently looking for a permanent headmaster. Our interim headmaster is wonderful. She has transformed the school into a place that is really centered on the kids as well as academics. We have a mental wellness counselor in addition to our personal faculty advisers and college counselors. Students feel as if the school is focusing on our happiness and well-being more than ever before. The school understands the balance between great academics and great student mental health.</p>
<p>Student Body - the comments below from 2012 and before are very outdated. In private schools there will always be kids who leave partway through the year because they feel the school is not for them. The only students who participate in a one-year English program are the Mexican students, and this tradition is generations old (actual generations). The overall enrollment is lower this year (about 190 compared to last year's 260) because the interim headmaster put an enrollment cap on the school at 200 kids. Our dorms were overflowing. Now the school is mostly day students and international students from numerous countries (not JUST Asia!), and there are a healthy amount of domestic boarders to balance it out -- I am a 5-day boarder.</p>
<p>FA - The school is becoming a little more expensive as the years go on, but FA is just as generous if not more generous than in previous years. My little sister is applying for tuition grants, so I will update when those numbers come out.</p>
<p>Teachers - I have never met more competence and brilliance in a faculty than I have this year at LH. Our new teachers are passionate and innovative. They absolutely love their jobs and they remind us students of that fact very often. </p>
<p>Weekend Activities - LH has a faculty member hired specifically for coordinating weekend activities for all students. Besides the normal movie trips, local restaurants, and Target/Giant trips, LH takes girls to sporting events, dances at boys' schools, and cultural activities -- First Friday in Lancaster City, the Fulton Opera House, Diwali festival, and much much more. </p>
<p>Notes: The middle school program at LH is blossoming. We got rid of the 5th grade program and made the age minimum 11 for entry. I hear the most enriching conversations coming from the middle school lunch tables, and sometimes upper school students jump into the middle school current event discussions to facilitate debate -- it warms my heart that the girls spent just as much time talking about politics as they do boys and makeup.</p>
<p>LH is a wonderful place, and I will miss the place when I graduate in May. The students deeply respect each other, and the teachers are considerate and intelligent. If single-sex education is the right choice for your daughter -- which it was for me despite what I originally thought before entering the school -- LH is the best choice for her education.</p>