Boarding

Living at Annie Wright

Boarding Mission Statement: The intent of the AWS boarding program is to promote student wellness, academic success and character education through thoughtful mentoring, personal accountability and intentional community membership.

Dorm groups

The boarding population is divided into eight dorm groups to facilitate organization and community building. Each dorm group consists of 16-17 students, one or two prefects and a dorm parent. Dorm groups provide a smaller, more familial team to which every boarder feels a stronger sense of belonging within the greater residential community. The members of each group work together on residential projects and chores, and they socialize together in group activities on and off-campus.

Residential Faculty

The AWS boarding program is managed by eight residential faculty who all live on campus. Typically referred to as dorm parents, they have wide ranging responsibilities including student safety, wellness, supervision, accountability, activities, transportation and character and community education. Many of the dorm parents have been classroom teachers who are uniquely able to provide the boarders with general academic support and individual tutoring, in addition to the life skills training all residential faculty provide.

Dorm Night
Between 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm on Wednesdays, the entire boarding community comes together for Dorm Night. This time is used for dorm group meetings, community projects, room checks and chores. Dorm meetings are used to learn about dorm life, discuss important issues, hear speakers and work on various dorm and residential curriculum activities. Participation in dorm night is mandatory, and all boarders are encouraged to take ownership of this time to share with, learn from and build their residential community.

Wellness in the Dorms

Each week, each dorm parent meets one-on-one with a different member of their dorm group to build their relationship, talk about how school and dorm life are going, discuss social needs and leadership, and determine what supports the boarding department can provide. After each visit, the dorm parent updates the student’s parent or guardian with their status and progress in residential life.

Students are well supported by the residential team & our onsite dorm counselor. Matina Hawkins (matina_hawkins@aw.org), dorm parent, Assistant Director of Residential Life, and certified counselor, works specifically with the boarding students, providing emotional support, short term counseling and crisis intervention. Read more about health and wellness at Annie Wright Schools here