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With an eye on next week's boarding school application deadlines, as well as day school deadlines at the end of the month, our eighth-graders are busy putting the finishing touches on their application essays. The finish line is within sight and my hat goes off to all of them. There are no shortcuts with a process that began in seventh grade when families first began evaluating their secondary school options.
This time of year, when the hard work of the secondary school application process is almost over and families anxiously await the arrival of "the envelope," I hear many Grade 8 parents refer to "lasts"—last holiday concert, last musical, last basketball season—but it wasn't that long ago that these families were also experiencing their "firsts".
As the Director of Secondary School Placement as well as the Director of Enrollment Management, I have a unique perspective of our Far Hills community. When I meet a new FH family for the first time, I understand what an incredible journey they are about to experience. A journey that culminates with finding the right fit in a secondary school. An experience that shapes them into remarkable teenagers who are kind and caring, creative and curious, engaged and enlightened.
Parents of kindergartners attending the Kindergarten Expo this year will beam with as much pride and joy as they will as Grade 3 parents watching their child present at Adventure America and later, in the not so distant future, at their child's Grade 8 Expo. The "firsts", "lasts" and the numerous "in-betweens" are part of our signature, spiraled curriculum that prepares our graduates for success beyond Far Hills.
Willa Merton, Class of 2019, at the Adventure America Expo in 2014.
Our eighth-grade students are also putting the finishing touches on the Grade 8 yearbook pages—each one selecting special photographs and meaningful quotes that celebrate and reflect their personal journey at Far Hills. And soon, they will accept an envelope from a secondary school where they will begin again with the "firsts", "lasts", and numerous "in-betweens" that will continue throughout their academic, professional and personal lives. We couldn't be more excited for them and more proud of them. We're beaming too.
Ed Thompson
Director of Enrollment and Placement