Smoke fest at Choate each year. I was appalled but, yes, the entire lawn was ablaze. Cough fest for me.
Guess I shouldn’t have bought my son a box of cigars for graduation.
Hilarious watching the kids try to light them for the first time. Cutting the wrong end. Holding the cigar in one hand out in front of them and the lit match in the other. I was glad to see there are still some bad habits they are unfamiliar with.
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At the risk of an ostrich parent reporting me yet again for mentioning illegal behavior, one should not assume the inability to light a cigar equates to an inability to light a cigarette or a joint.
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Google tells me it is totally illegal 
. I was unaware of this tradition or the no caps and gowns, until my kiddo set me pictures of graduation (I wasn’t there and she’s a new Jr).
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I blame Choate for setting our son on this path to ruin (and resurrecting for DH). In college, he added bourbon to the cigar and now frequently sends pics of himself and his cohort raising their glasses with stogies hanging off their lips. All those years of (clearly ineffective) parenting down the drain. 
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ahhh i get it now :).
Cigars at our school too.
On our way up to Maine for the summer stopping in Connecticut tonight. Enjoying dinner at the restaurant where we hosted ChoatieKid’s graduation celebration. Such a good memory. Where has the time gone?
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Have a great time! What’s the special place?
(feel free to respond well after you have dined there!)
I have my finals today ! 3 - math, history, and english
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Good luck @foxrye
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math went…interestingly
I forgot how to do sigma and I literally plugged in 100 numbers manually on the calculator! oh well that’s in the past now 
Loomis finals schedule is so chaotic but also funny I like how we have 3 finals taking place in 1 day and everyone in the dining hall are just collectively cramming whatever they can do before they go to test
onto history !! :)) then english (both are discussion/project based so it shouldn’t be too hard)
They let you have three in a day??? We’re strictly limited to two, and most terms there’ll only be one day where you have more than one final… that sounds horrible.
Reminds me of the library before each chemistry final. It’s truly a sight to behold—each room is stuffed with desperate chem students.
Really? I find those types of finals to be harder because they tend to have higher standards of you—sit-downs you can just get it over with.
Our local public posted graduation stats. 30% of the graduating class of 240 students has a GPA of over 4.0 
. Trying to compare applicants must be a nightmare for colleges. This is a reason I do not support test optional.
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I was talking to someone in the Lawrenceville admissions department, and they told me that we are one of the only boarding schools that has gone back to test-required this cycle. I’m quite surprised—I thought it’d be more common.
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I believe that is an incorrect statement about test - required schools for the most recent application & admission cycle . There were a few other prominent test - required schools , such as The Hill School.
Proud mom moment: daughter passed her Star rank board of review for Scouts BSA on Tuesday and today finished up her Silver Award project for Girl Scouts (over 50 hours of service in that Silver Award project)! She said even though the project is done she has already seen the impact on the community and wants to continue doing the same work. 
The people at the place she has worked with said her project has already inspired several other community members who want to do the same thing (not giving more detail on locations and names here) and it has become a movement in our little neighborhood.
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When we started our broad search this year, I recall Lawrenceville, St. George’s, Taft and Hill required testing. I’m sure there might have been others but not the HADES. I guess the schools will see how it plays out, but if a certain test score is the gatekeeper that can create too much of a homogeneous applicant/admissions pool. A boarding school AO once shared they could easily fill every class with international students if it was just grades/tests/academics because of more rigorous academic standards. So yes, you need to be bright to succeed but so many other factors to consider to develop a well rounded class.
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I have also completed my Silver Award! It truly is an amazing experience.
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I actually like them more because it’s easier to spread your work out vs. cramming for a sit-down. Also if I forget something while I do a project, there’s resources online. Sit down tests are also just more anxiety inducing for me haha.
I was allowed to move one of mine on the 3-test day, but chose not to because I wanted to get it over with lol. Also my plane was right after my last final and scheduling for a re-take would’ve been too hard and I didn’t feel like doing it.