St. Paul's School Concord NH

<p>sleep deprivation is not a problem at the school. ive never gone to the HC for sleep deprivation and I know alot of people who have not. I get like 8 hours of sleep every night at sps. It is easy to get the correct amount of sleep if you manage your time. and to respnse to the comment earlier about the HC being full, it is never full. Its only full when there is a virus going around. I was recently in the HC and I was the only person there.</p>

<p>I found SPS to be one of the finest schools on our visiting circuit. My S is going to Exeter (and has loved Exeter since he was 4) , but the minute he stepped foot on that campus it captured his heart. He did not have the most stellar interview (1st interview ever and terribly nervous) and in the end was waitlisted. And crushed. He recovered quickly because his Exeter love is strong, but I did not. I would love it if one of the rest of my children has the opportunity to attend - I have 3 more chances to be an SPS parent. Or at least 3 more chances to get inside the beautiful Chapel!</p>

<p>winter
nice post,paleo - it is too bad;
all i know is what i viewed one day and what the nurse, guide (she did use it several times per week, perhaps she did not like one class) and what the dean of admissions stated</p>

<p>Princess'Dad It is indeed too bad that our discussion of SPS got off on the wrong foot. I am, despite the jocular tone, enormously protective of my children and anguished as no doubt you do whether they could cope in a boarding school environment far from home. Why I called SPS one of the great schools in the world is not only because of its academic strength and unbelievable beauty, but because of the spiritual generosity of the place. It gives one a sense in an increasingly crass, materialistic, and blighted America that there are elements in the American character that are still generous, great, noble. Maybe like Henry Adams I am an anachronism caught between the virgin and the dynamo but certainly if there is any place where I love America it is at SPS.</p>

<p>paleozoic - I truly appreciate your insight, wisdom and love for SPS, especially the passion.</p>

<p>It's difficult to choose the "right" school with full information never mind less than 24 hours during visits on campus. (We attended revisits at several schools, but it still not enough time to ask or remember everything.) This thread will be an excellent resource to educate prospective students on the facts (and issues) at SPS.</p>

<p>I for one, an getting very sick of hearing St. Paul's and sleep depravation, used in the same sentence. Every time St. Paul's gets mentioned on this board I feel that the lack of sleep comes in the next sentence. Half you people are talking about what you have heard. It seems every student or parent, is telling you that it is not a big deal, and you guys keep bringing it back up. "Based on what you heard, or what your tour guide told you" This is second hand knowledge. </p>

<p>This minor problem with sleep depravation is the students fault not the schools fault. Some kids do get 8 hours of sleep at night. There is no reason every student can't get this. I for one, stay up late, I don't start my work till 10 or later and this is why I don't get that much sleep. however it is my fault. I could start my work at 7, I just choose not to.</p>

<p>Liddyb4: The chapel IS fantastically beautiful. To really enjoy it see it for a Last Night Service or for a Christmas service!! Or count the pelicans carved in the woodwork. Mind boggling. My son is in the choir. My next oldest brother went to Exeter. I will hope you get a child at SPS. Good luck on that. We need people like you as parents.</p>

<p>Paleozoic: Beautiful comment on the "the spiritual generosity". Personally, that means more to me than the ratings and scorings. All these schools are great places, but to me SPS has an intangible metaphysical beauty. </p>

<p>As an aside, what on earth do we do with all those rankings when (as this spring) Harvard accepts 5 seniors, and 4 turn them down? I guess some of the students are also looking at more than rankings. Not sure of the implications, but it does intrigue me, and I just finished 5 days at Harvard for a reunion (not mine). Oh.... and SPS has better rooms.
</p>

<p>Thats it! You guys have me convinced to run up to NH to SPS the minute D is out of school! Unfortunately, thats not for a few more weeks, and SPS will not be in session, oh well.
Right now she wants badly to go to Groton...which is just fine with me if she should be fortunate to get in. Ditto SPS!
As far as the sleep issue goes, I think it is a valid and useful discussion, if only that it reminds prospective students that going to a "fancy" school is not a big party. And the sleep issue is not just at SPS ! Time management is everything. I did not have it when I was a teenager. My son does not have it. My D, who is not any brighter than the rest of her family, does have it. That is why I hope she gets a chance to go to a great school - because I know she will make the most of it! Still, I want her to know what she is getting into, and make her own choice.</p>

<p>Another word about sleep - our revisit guide at SPS told us that many kids, excited by being around friends and activity (and there are tons of both at SPS) to distract you, find that when the rubber meets the road and it is getting late at night and work is not yet done, have two choices: they can stay up late and finish (and they can; there's no 'lights out'); or they just let some of their work slide. The ones who let work slide will not do well at SPS. The ones who stay up late too much get way too tired. She said most third formers (or whatever year the child begins) have an adjustment period where they figure out how to balance it all out. There is no lights out, and there is no mandatory study hall or study hours in the evening as there is for younger kids at most BSs. </p>

<p>She personally said she used free blocks during the day to get started on her work rather than fart around with friends between classes. That works if you have a free block. My child and I had a lot of conversations about the work/sleep thing prior to her leaving for SPS. I was worried about this very issue. I did not think she would let her work slide, but I worried she would not get enough sleep. And there were some tired days she went through. But she performed at a high level and she was a three-season athlete, and she got through it and her schedule is HERS - not somebody else telling her to sit down and study. I cannot emphasize enough how independent and self-organizing she has become (or maybe was, I just didn't realize it but maybe the SPS adcom folks did?). She did sleep a long time the first night home when we returned for summer (10 hours) but since then, she has been out, predictably, with her friends and keeping up her busy SPS pace. I am very very happy with what SPS has done for her over the year, and very proud of the person she is shaping up to be, and I also can attest that there is no place on earth I would rather her go to school than SPS. Has it been all rainbows and butterflies? No - what teenagedom is? But for the most fundamental of values and ethics, the school has delivered MORE than I could imagine.</p>

<p>hockeykid,
you are saying no problem.<br>
'why is sps the only with sleep consultant and starting classes later.</p>

<p>on the good side, they recognize that it is a problem unlike some other schools.</p>

<p>Changing the subject.... The Rector of St. Paul’s had a great quote from a poem by Sir Francis Drake at graduation 10 days ago:</p>

<p>
[quote]
"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves; When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little; When we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly - to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>At the Alumni Meeting and at graduation the speaker was Kevin Gover ’73. He is the director of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and a Pawnee – Comanche by descent. </p>

<p>In the course of his 10-minute address, Kevin spoke of his drastically different experience as one of two Native American students at St. Paul's in the early 1970s. When he arrived, he said, he was not sure what his teachers and peers expected of him. He wondered if he was at the School as a sociological experiment.</p>

<p>
[quote]
"Before long, I realized that I was brought here not only to learn about others, but also to teach others about the people from whom I came,"

[/quote]
he recalled. </p>

<p>Kevin referred to his St. Paul's experience as "empowering" and shared his pleasant surprise at the openness with which he was received as a student. That experience, he added, stands in direct contrast to lingering global policies and perspectives that lead to violence and ignorance when confronted with difference in current world culture. He went on, however, to speak of the hope present in America today.</p>

<p>
[quote]
" The Congress did so knowing that the actions of the United States toward indigenous people too often did not comport with its founding principles, and that this museum - and the people whose stories it tells - will inevitably lay open examples of America's inhumane, ungenerous, and unworthy actions toward Native Americans," he said. "This is the act of a self-confident and mature nation."

[/quote]
Quite a tribute to America.
In closing, he credited his time at St. Paul's – though an unlikely place for a Native American boy in the 1970s - with teaching him the values he needed to move on to his life's work.

[quote]
"It is no exaggeration to say that the path that led me to this work began at St. Paul's," he said. "St. Paul's also instilled the humility to confess how little any one person can truly know about our diverse, complex world."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Winterset-Your message about the American Indian reminded me of Lorene Carey and her experience at SPS. in the 70's. My daughter, who is applying to SPS next year, is currently reading her book and I just finished. The book, Black Ice, is a beautiful story of how SPS helped her develop into a courageous and self-aware person. We both love the little details about SPS that she shares as she recounts her experiences, I especially like the descriptions of the chapel services. My daughter aptly stated that the experience at boarding school is whatever you determine you want it to be. This book defiantly leaves the impression that SPS is a caring community that nurtures the body, intellect and spirit.</p>

<p>To the current SPS students and parents:</p>

<p>What kind of lap top do you recommend for school? Mac or PC? Does the school have tech support for both Macs and PCs?</p>

<p>I would recommend a mac. I think they are great. And ITG (the tech support people) service both macs and pc's. I ran into a problem with my mac earlier in the year, and they fixed it no problem. I was very happy with the service.</p>

<p>hockeykid, i got a backpack for my computer today as a "graduation" gift. the computer will get bought over the summer. why mac vs pc if the school supports both? what percent of kids have mac? percent with pc? percent with no laptop or computer at all?</p>

<p>It is just personal preference, really. My son says he knew kids with Macs but he still prefers his PC.</p>

<p>i lean towards pc because my parents have them so better integration with all the stuff the family already has.</p>

<p>As a parent, what I am told is that almost everyone at SPS has a computer, almost all of them laptops, and (according to ITG) every year more and more of them are macs because the students prefer them. If you prefer PC, that is fine.</p>

<p>I think I heard a number somewhere that its 50 percent mac and 50 percent pc on the sps campus this year, and I would say this number sounds about right.</p>

<p>While your on the topic of macs versus pc, dont forget the biggest reason in favor of macs is they don't get bugs and spy wear and all that other stuff that can gunk up a pc and make them run slow. Much less frustrating.</p>