What a whirlwind week it has been! On Tuesday morning, we left Burlington, VT and headed to Middlebury, VT. We met with prospective students at Middlebury Union High School in the morning where some of our recent alumni (Emily Robinson, F’12; Katie Holmes, F’12) had recruited a bunch of prospective Island School students. That evening, the Robinson family hosted an admissions reception at their beautiful, cozy home just outside of Middlebury in Weybridge, VT. We were happy to meet incoming Island School student and her family, Faith Isham, as well as catch up with some alumni!
On Wednesday morning it was back in the car and hitting the road! The team split up when we reached Hanover, NH. Cam and Taylor set up a table for interested students at Hanover High School, thanks to Elizabeth Keene in guidance, while Sharon drove to Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH. At Hanover, we were thankful for our alumni Sam Hastings (F’12) and Abby Smith (Su’13) for sharing their experiences at The Island School with their interested peers. Many friends of current student, Elsa Davis (F’13) also stopped by our table to find out more about The Island School.While in Hanover, we had the opportunity to check in all of our IS alumni at Dartmouth over lunch.
Meanwhile, at KUA, Sharon had a great visit all organized by recent Teacher Conference alumni Eric Russman and Erin Mellow. She also got to meet Tristan Wakeman who will be coming down to IS in Spring 2014, and caught up with Spring 2006 alumna and KUA teacher, Brit Hastings. From Hanover, we had a good 3-hour drive up to Portland, ME where we would stay for the remainder of our trip.
On Thursday morning, we had an appointment at Freeport High School where we met with a number of interested students. A special thanks to Dana Clark in guidance who supports our program and is welcoming us back on 11/12 for her Semester Abroad/Gap/Summer opportunities fair! The rest of the day was filled with visiting IS alumni at colleges in Maine. We had lunch with our Bowdoin alumni in Brunswick and dinner with our Bates alumni in Lewiston.
By the time Friday morning came around, we couldn’t believe we were nearing the end of our October road trip! We visited Yarmouth High School in the morning and got to see Spring 2013 alumna, Sally Johnson. Sally did a terrific job recruiting interested students at her high school! Thanks to Beth Doane and Sara Petrovek in guidance for welcoming us! Then we hopped back in the car and drove all the way to Camden Hills Regional High School It was great to see Sarah Haselton (S’13), meet with a few interested semester & gap students and have Taylor Hoffman guest teach in Patrick Kelly’s Oceanography Class. The students did a great job leaning in and dispelling misconceptions about sharks, brainstorming solutions to long lining, and learning about the invasive lion fish! Thanks to Patrick for having us in his classroom. The day did not end there! We then drove to Windham, ME where the McCallum family hosted a fabulous admissions reception. Nicole McCallum (F’12) did an amazing job sharing her knowledge and experience at The Island School with all of the prospective students and families in attendance.
The final stop on our road trip was Waterville, ME on Saturday morning. We drove north to Colby College’s campus and had lunch in town with our alumni there–and their parents since it was Colby parents weekend! We thank all of them for spending a breakfast with us during their special family time.
What a successful week on the road! We loved getting to see some old friends and meeting new people. For more information on this trip or if you would like us to come visit your school, email admissions@islandschool.org!