School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
Rivalries & rituals · Concord, New Hampshire
A 1906 memoir remembers Henry Coit, the nineteenth-century head of St. Paul's School in Concord, who had no muscle at all. He had opinions about vests.
Rivalries & rituals · New York City
In January 2014 Dalton canceled its middle school musical over its stereotypes and offered a song revue and an academic forum. The cast had another idea.
School portraits · Washington, DC
A Georgetown Day School teacher's first year went badly, by her own account. In 2025 she told the graduating class what happened when that first class came back.
School portraits · New York City
Sandy Pelz arrived at the Manhattan boys' school as a student in the 1960s and came back to teach math. Asked the secret of his longevity, he had a one-line answer.
School portraits · New York City
In 2002 an Upper West Side school replaced its caterer with a French Culinary Institute chef. The children started bringing his recipes home to people like me.
Rivalries & rituals · Milton, Massachusetts
Milton Academy's spring game of Gotcha turns the campus into a week-long game of tag. In 2021, the leader's schedule leaked and a crowd waited outside his class. He had already emailed his teacher.
Rivalries & rituals · Troy, New York
Each December the senior class puts on Revels, a medieval Yuletide play whose roles are kept secret until opening night. Some seniors wear the same costume their mothers wore.
The school archives · New York City
In 1890 students at a Manhattan school pinned the news to the classroom wall. Within two years they had a mimeograph, a Latin title and a relative paying for the printing.
School stories · New Hampshire
Schools test Archimedes' principle by putting students in cardboard boats. At St. Paul's in 2022, a coxswain who had never had to row took the helm, and the oars failed her.
School portraits · Dallas
Juniors at the Dallas girls' school wait years to wear the white blazer at Ring Day. In 2024, the day before their fitting, the uniform company canceled, and its stores were listed as closed.
School portraits · Washington, DC
When Meeting for Worship moved online, two parents at the Quaker school in Washington put together kits for Lower School students: a candle, a packet of seeds and a rock.
School portraits · Dallas
A Dallas-area school has had peacocks since the 1960s. The males each hold a territory, and sometimes they leave it to visit the Lower School, where small children drop snacks.
