School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
Life with schoolchildren · Georgia
For the hundredth day of school, children bring collections of a hundred things. One Georgia pre-K family found the only collection that cannot roll under a radiator.
School rivalries · New York City
Before the 2026 Buzzell game against Horace Mann, a Riverdale student writer reviewed the last meeting. The team passed. The crowd did not.
School rituals · Washington, DC area
German children start first grade carrying a Schultüte, a tall cone of sweets and school supplies. A student at the German International School Washington remembered his: cats, family flags, and a grandfather who had carried one 65 years earlier.
Parent life · Newburyport, Massachusetts
Spoons under pillows, pajamas inside out, ice cubes out the window. A university folklore archive collected the rituals children use to summon snow days. One teacher had a secret.
School rivalries · New Jersey
In November 2023 the 120th Peddie-Blair rivalry came down to the last game, with Blair needing a win to draw. Then the trophy had to be split, six months each.
Parent life · One family’s World Book Day
Some British schools now celebrate World Book Day with decorated potatoes instead of costumes. One family's daughter cast hers as the Dark Lord, and the trouble started at the face.
School life · Edwardsville, Illinois
In August 2024, so many Edwardsville seniors wanted to paint their parking spaces that the local stores sold out. One senior's solution involved a grandfather in Missouri and a 6 a.m. alarm.
School lore · Portland, Oregon
Catlin Gabel's rummage sale in Portland ran for 65 years. When the school announced the final one in 2009, an alumnus came home from college in Maine with a cardboard box and some twine.
School stories · Seattle & the Yukon
Seattle Academy sends its seniors to camp on a frozen Yukon lake before graduation. The groups are assigned. The FAQ has heard every argument already.
Parent life · Parent life · Australia
In 2009 an Australian father brought home his daughter's Grade 1 bear for the weekend, opened its scrapbook, and saw what the other families had done.
School stories · Academy of the New Church
When the Academy of the New Church closed in 2020, thirteen students rebuilt it, block by block. They knew every hallway. They had never been in one room.
Rivalries & rituals · Boston
For years, senior prank day at a Boston girls' school had been, by the student paper's account, short on pranks. In 2018 the seniors skipped the permission slip.
