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
A Nightingale assembly asked students to name their feelings by chip. Three years later, a senior told the whole school about the morning she cried in homeroom over a Latin test.
School portraits · Chicago
Sophomores at a Chicago school run a fair for the whole school every year. In 2022, after a COVID delay, a student food critic set out to eat everything.
School portraits · New York City
A Manhattan Quaker school has a light installation by one of the world's most famous artists on its sixth floor. Third graders took sketchbooks and found lunch.
School portraits · Dallas–Fort Worth
At a Dallas-area Catholic boys' school, one teacher stays with a class from fifth grade to graduation. In 2013 that teacher was a young monk with a reputation to fix.
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.
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.
School portraits · Seattle
Lakeside School's Senior Pet Day came back in 2022 after two pandemic years off. The weather, and one dog, had other plans.
School portraits · Boston
Every March, Roxbury Latin boys recite Greek and Latin from memory in a competition that has run for more than 130 years. In 2023 one recitation got company.
