Summer camps are known for their ability to take a group of children, often unknown to each other at the beginning, and over the course of a few short months help them develop and foster deep, long-lasting friendships. In fact, the experience is so important, and so ubiquitous in our culture, that it has spawned...
Read More
A common anxiety-provoking question that parents often ponder is, “how much screen time is too much?” From toddlers to teenagers, parents are faced with the difficult task of managing their children’s use of televisions, tablets, video games, smartphones—and, within phones, the seemingly infinite world of apps and games. Parents wonder if excessive screen time will...
Read More
When considering a junior boarding school, most parents and students review academic, athletic, and artistic programs under a microscope. Beyond the core programs, people often evaluate the facilities during a campus tour, ask about faculty-to-student ratios, and glance at a typical boarding student’s schedule. But what actually happens outside of the classroom? It’s important not...
Read More
What do boarding schools and marshmallow-powered jetpacks have in common? Resources and innovation. Just ask Fessenden alumnus Charlie Schlager, a self-proclaimed tinkerer. As a child, Charlie liked to take things apart to see how they worked. And, as much as he liked to break things, he was driven to create. “I wanted to build things,...
Read More
Your child zips through his tests, spending hours every week fidgeting at his desk while waiting for his classmates to catch up. He’s read chapters ahead in his textbooks and by the time the rest of the class reaches him, he could practically teach the lessons. And, he’s bringing home all A’s. It’s every parent’s...
Read More
When you’re a gifted middle school athlete stuck in an area where there are few opportunities to compete at the highest levels, life can seem agonizing. You may have the fastest serve in town (among 11-year-olds, anyway) but before you can really test your mettle against elite competition, you have to wait two or three...
Read More
Are your son’s middle school classes uninspiring? Is his homework just so much drudgery through which to suffer? When classwork is too easy, many gifted students disengage. They coast on their natural abilities, acing their exams but failing to develop the intellectual habits that will sustain them when they reach the greater academic challenges of...
Read More
Some people are born leaders. They take control of difficult situations with confidence. They inspire others naturally. And it all seems to come so easily. But research has shown that the leadership abilities that appear to be inborn traits can actually be developed and nurtured during childhood: Researcher Carl Brungardt found in 1997 that leadership...
Read More
No parent wants to subject their child to unnecessary emotional distress, but sometimes, divorce is unavoidable. Middle schoolers already feel insecure about themselves. When a change like a divorce hits their family, it’s normal for everyone to have a wide variety of emotions to navigate. Research has shown that “although divorce is hard and often...
Read More
There’s a story that goes like this. A man comes across three men laying bricks. He pauses to watch them and then walks over to the first man. “What are you doing?” he asks. The first bricklayer shrugs and says, “I’m making $15 an hour.” The man then moves on to the second bricklayer and...
Read More