Thacher, Peddie, or Mercersburg

@VTExpat, we really enjoyed our visit to Mercersburg this week. Had the opportunity to chat briefly with Doug Hale. Had no idea till your note (and subsequent Googling) that he was leaving. Apparently, the Board has known since last summer and a search committee is in place. Was struck by the number of teachers who indicated they’d been at the school for 10+ years, so a good layer of institutional knowledge is in place. I also liked how forthright M’burg seemed to be, especially with respect to data. Thought it was pretty cool of them to list college acceptances to date… even recognizing that many of the super elite colleges had yet to report. A nice list it was, too. As @ChoatieMom is fond of saying, “not a clinker in the bunch.” Had a great chat with Dr. Maurer. Robotics program is very impressive and seems enormously fun. The kids have a chance to compete in China this year - all funded by the school, should they do well in the national championships. (And they’ve qualified for the international event in each of the past six years.)

@Charger we also had a very good visit at Peddie. Such a different feel and pace. Bigger, too, of course. But we liked it a lot. Nice kids. Lot of depth to the programming, especially in the sciences. Lot of kids interested in engineering-related pursuits. Sat in on an English session with Pat Clements. Loved it (his appearance and humor put Samuel Clements in mind) Felt old school/new school in that again lots of faculty who’ve been there for ages, but programming that definitely reflects 21st Century critical learning skills, etc. Asked lots of questions re boarder life on the weekends (when the day and many local boarders) may be off campus. Got the sense kids felt fine about it. The occasional half-day Saturdays help. The energy level felt a little more revved at Peddie than at M’burg, like the kids ran a little faster, but in a good way. Impressed by the complement of activities kids manage. In the student panel they held, most kids juggled at least 5-6 and made it seem like that was the norm. I liked that. (but I tend to run like that myself.)

We visit Thacher next week and are very much looking forward to it.

@Corcaigh we very much enjoyed Mercersburg visit as well. I had no idea about Dough Hale leaving. Chatted with many faculty members and current parent White Key volunteers. They were very enthusiastic. Swimming is offered all three seasons, a good size String Ensemble (about 16 kids, no orchestra as no Wind component). MAPS/SpringBoard program sounded amazing. They were yet to have STEM project though. I sat in Accelerated Precalculus class. They have Regular/Accelerated/Honors levels in math and some science. Majority of 9th graders take Algebra I or Geometry and Accelerated Precalculus is taken by 11th graders going into Calculus AB in 12th. It seems that there are few advanced math kids but Calculus 3 and Statistics are offered every other year and there are Robotics and Computer Science classes for kids who exhaust math early.

I’ve refrained from commenting on this thread because I am not overly family with any of the schools.

However, I feel I do have to say that if one of my kids had those options and distance didn’t matter…I’d send them to Thacher. No real debate needed, at least for me.

^ “and distance didn’t matter”, there’s the rub. A higher bar, for us right coast kids and parents, but I certainly have become a fan of Thacher given the reads on this board and the occasional looks online. Their April Fool’s news item was indicative of a spirit not often seen from the adults at these schools. Wishing the Corcaigh family all the best with such choices!

CorkKid made his decision and will be a Thacher Toad in the fall. But that decision was far from a slam dunk. For all that DS can be a scatter brain, he’s a reflective chap and needed to process all three revisits… and the collective experience of each school in his own way and time. The choices he had were each excellent and very different. Mercersburg is so well-funded, the opportunities that endowment is creating for kids on campus and off is quite remarkable. The school has so much heart it’s almost palpable. That plus a very generous scholarship offer made it hard to turn down.

Peddie’s size, the breadth of its science and engineering offerings, and it’s faster, more urban-like pace, also appealed. CorkKid liked the fact that kids could so easily fit a half dozen sports/clubs/extracurriculars into their day and many did. The school just makes it easy. My husband and I liked the place enormously, liked the fact that the facilities (with the exception of the spectacular science building) were humble and well-worn, but the academics rock solid and the programming outward looking. He was also granted a partial merit scholarship - if only these places knew kid still shoves dirty socks and underwear under his bed, making it a very strong contender all around.

Thacher has fewer academic and extracurricular electives, but what they do have runs deep. Kid loved the classes, the teaching style, and the level of engagement he saw. He liked the natural rapport, the humor and the rigor that was present in the day of classes he attended. I think he also felt a greater natural affinity with the kids he met. Over the course of our revisits, we created an informal metric that we called the humor index. And while very much tongue-in-cheek, it came about because Kid - who has a very dry sense of humor - commented purely by the by, that at one of the schools, the kids didn’t really get his jokes. He just mentioned that in passing, but it became a light-hearted extra gauge… what’s the sense of humor level among potential peers, what do they find funny…etc. Anyway, he found the Thacher kids to be into some of the same absurd, silly stuff he was. Beyond that, I think he liked the intimate feel of the campus, the fact that teachers and kids all know each other, regardless of whether you’re in their class, and there just seemed to be a level of mutual respect that he found refreshing -he could see that this was a place where deep connections could be made and where you’d really get to know faculty and advisors in a meaningful way. The school has a very strong, authentic culture and the kids just seemed happy. Kurt Meyer, the math dept chair and robotics leader, was away at a conference, so we didn’t get to chat, but Kid did talk to one or two kids in the robotics program and came away satisfied. The horse riding will be a hoot. Thacher does not offer merit scholarships, so naturally that would be the school Kid would choose to attend. This means we will not have to worry about retirement planning since we will never, ever retire.

@ThacherParent, a quick coda to say thank you for your PM. I do appreciate it. Am not able to message back, so wanted to acknowledge your thoughtfulness here.

Congratulations on your decision! It sounds like you made a very thoughtful and genuine assessment about where kid will be happiest, and that, of course, is the most important consideration.

Congratulations Corkkid! Welcome to the rice or beans club!
I love the humor litmus test. What a great idea!

@Corcaigh, Big conrats!

PM me if you have any question on the life at Thacher! I am a parent of sophomore boy.

Congratulations to Corkkid and family! Our son will be a senior at Thacher next year - how did that happen!! - and has loved every minute of his Thacher journey. Welcome to the Thacher family!

Congrats to CorkKid, and welcome to the Thacher family! Our daughter is a current freshman and I sleep well at night knowing that she’s happy and fully engaged. Would be glad to answer any minutiae as you and CorkKid think about the fall.

Thanks so much @patronyork, @mountainhiker and @WahooWaMom. So appreciate your kind offer to serve as a sounding board for questions. Very much appreciate it.