School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School portraits · New York City
Collegiate School's classics journal publishes students' translations of Greek and Roman poetry. Some of them skip English entirely.
School portraits · McLean, Virginia
The McLean, Virginia, school crowns a retiring teacher as May Day King or Queen. In 2025 the seventh graders insisted. In 2026 an uninvited swarm joined in.
School portraits · Atlanta
Atlanta seniors love the discontinued uniform shirts with piping on the collar. So they inherit them, with family trees, and in one case a sister apologized for not saving any.
School portraits · Upper West Side, New York City
In the pandemic years, Columbia Prep students could only go out to lunch within set lines on the Upper West Side. Almost everyone the student paper asked wanted one restaurant brought inside.
School portraits · New Jersey
A student who thought Lawrenceville's House system was mostly marketing had to decide whether a friend she split delivery fees with was a sleepover friend.
School portraits · New York City
Sacred Heart schools keep a tradition called Congé: one unannounced day when classes stop. At the Manhattan school, the student council found a way out of the theater.
School portraits · New York City
A Manhattan school's mock trial team had ten hours of class time and modest expectations. Then it started objecting.
School portraits · New York City
In 2024 a student at Riverdale Country School ranked the bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches available to his classmates. Free did not get him off the hook.
School portraits · New York City
Fifty-five years after an undefeated season, an alumnus brought his varsity jacket back to the Bronx. The coaches admired its condition, and he told them why.
School portraits · New York City
The boys of East 78th Street dedicated their yearbook to an athletic director they could rarely reach by phone. They got to the point on the last line.
School portraits · Hightstown, New Jersey
Doug Mariboe grew up on the Peddie School campus, the son of a history teacher and the school nurse. His retirement profile includes one story about steam tunnels that every parent should read.
School portraits · New York City
In 2013 a Manhattan girls' school brought a miniature car race into its cafeteria. The winner was its builders' fifth attempt. Later, the school added a prize for the slowest car.
