About 3 months ago I left my
hometown of Providence, Rhode Island and set off for Vermont to attend The
Putney School for high school. This was a huge change in my life. I had never
lived anywhere but Rhode Island, the smallest state in the country, and rural
Vermont was a radical adjustment for
me. I am very much a city person, having never spent any time on farm and
having spent the majority of my life in the biggest city in Rhode Island and my
free moments in New York City. Although I looked at several high schools in NYC
I opted into Putney and its farm, a turn that was unplanned on the road map of
my life, for two reasons. 1. I will undoubtedly be living in cities for the
rest of my life. I love the city with all my heart, and the line of work I intend
to go into (screenwriting) virtually requires me to live in a city, so this is
my only chance to experience the country. 2. I couldn’t actually stand most of
the high schools in New York that I looked at, so Putney was actually the only
high school I applied to, besides a backup school in Rhode Island. But even if
some of the New York schools has tickled my fancy, Putney was clearly a heaven
built from the ground up specifically for me. After my visit I knew I wasn’t
meant to be anywhere but right here.
(Putney's campus from a birds eye view)
Picture compliments of http://boarding-schools.findthebest.com/q/128857/3988/How-much-is-tuition-at-the-The-Putney-School-boarding-school
I
moved to Vermont 3 days before school actually started. Having been in a school
of about 400 people in a grade with same 39 kids for the last 11 years, I was
ready for a change. A change is exactly what I got because Putney and my old
school are practically night and day. Yes, I do have to stand outside and
wander around praying for reception if I want to make a phone call on my cell,
but I also get to look out my classroom window to see a jolly red barn with
giant friendly cows inside, the pros clearly outweigh the cons. Also, Putney
School is a boarding school (I am a day student) but because of my unique
situation my friends hale from all over the country and all over the globe with
28 countries represented and God knows how many states. One of the best parts
about Putney is that if I need help with my Chinese homework, I don’t have to
walk more than 20 feet before I run into someone who lives in China. I’m still
a freshmen and I’m still trying to find my way through the twisty maze that is
Putney School, but Putney’s biggest emphasis is to try new things and take the
reins of your own education, so although my first trimester hasn’t even ended
yet, I have enrolled myself in an exchange type of program that will require my
leaving Vermont for two weeks. So I’m packing my bags because Kansas, here I
come!
The program I will be participating
in is called “The Network of Complimentary Schools Program” where there’s a
network of schools that volunteer to host students from other schools within
the network that want to get a glimpse over the rainbow. I am definitely one of
those people standing on their tiptoes for a clear view of what lies there
(that quality probably contributed to my willingness to move to Vermont.) I was
turned on to the program because Putney received a network student from a
school in Chicago about a week ago, and they announced at assembly that she was
visiting and briefly explained the network program, telling us to speak with
the Asst. Dean of Students if we had more questions. No matter what the topic
is, I always have more questions, so I took the first opportunity I had to head
to the asst. dean (Jadi)’s office and discuss with him.
(Jadi)
Photo compliments of www.putneyschool.org
We met for about 15 minutes today,
November 7th, and Jadi explained to me the program, how long I could
go for, where I would stay, etc. And then he gave me a list of schools I could
visit and encouraged me to look them over and have my parents take a look at
them as well. He said most parents aren’t wild about their children
participating in a network program because that means they miss two solid weeks
of classes. Of course, me being the overambitious person that I am, I had
already discussed this with my parents at length and had gotten a thumbs up
from both.
The idea of the network school
program was so exciting to me, I’m an anthropologist at heart and was ecstatic
at the idea of being able to immerse myself in a culture completely different
from my own. The second I left his office I devoured every inch of the network
schools’ website and read extensively on all 19 schools available to me. Within
two hours of stepping out of Jadi’s office there was absolutely no doubt in my
mind of where I wanted to go. I had a top three almost immediately, and my
reading about all the schools just made me more certain of my top three picks.
I was now only looking seriously at Emma Willard (an all girls boarding school
in Troy, New York that I considered early on when I was applying to high
schools), The Calhoun School (located in New York City I thought this would be
an interesting opportunity to see what it would have been like if I’d taken the
other path and moved there) and of course Quinter High School of Quinter
Kansas.
Quinter
is a small town, population 918 according to the 2010 Census. The town sits on
less than 1 square mile of land. Not exactly New York City. Quinter (pronounced
Kin-ter, like Winter with a K) is “in the heart of American farm and wheat
industry” according to their profile on the network schools’ page. The school’s
description basically made the following points clear: You will be immersed in
a small town community of farmers and ranchers, experiencing small town values
first hand. Quinter is unique from other schools because of its intense focus
on agricultural studies. You’re going to work and you’re going to work hard.
(Downtown Quinter)
Photo Compliments of www.flickr.com
This
appealed to me in so many ways. I have always been enticed by small town
America, mainly because it is something I have never come close to experiencing
before. Also, I have grown up in an extremely diverse, liberal, and quite
frankly Jewish, environment (I said I spent a lot of time in New York didn’t
I?) And according to the 2010 something like 96% of Quinter is white, and I’m
going to go out on a limb here and assume the majority of people aren’t Jewish.
I’m excited to have that new experience, as Quinter, Kansas is just as diverse
as Times Square, just in a completely different way.
Another
thing that grabbed my attention is Quinter is a public school, which is also
something I have never experienced. Most of the schools on the list were
independent schools, and most of the public schools were just public schools,
nothing really setting them apart. What set Quinter apart from all the other
schools on the list is they have a key focus, as aforementioned, agricultural
studies. The description on the network school sight spoke about how Quinter
students study agriculture with the exact subjects of study changing by season,
while still keeping up with typical academic subjects. Depending on what time
of year a student chooses to visit they could be learning about planting and
harvesting, they could be learning about milking or livestock judging, or they
could be learning about castration. There is not a single thing on that list I
have any experience or knowledge about. I’m a firm believer in “no farms no
food” and I know I often take for granted where my food comes from. I believe
that these are not only interesting subjects to study, but life skills. That is
one of the main reasons I was back in Jadi’s office a couple hours after our
first meeting with ended with us setting a time to meet next week, when I was
supposed to have a school picked out. Also, I am a vegetarian, and to
completely immerse myself in the culture, I will for the first time in 14
years, be a meat eater, steak and everything. I figure not only is meat a big
part of their culture, but I’m going to stand out enough already without having
to advertise to the whole world that I don’t eat meat (I assume cattle ranchers
probably eat their fair share of meat.)
My second meeting with Jadi was
quicker than the first and centered less around informing me and more around
getting the ball rolling since I was so sure of myself and my school choice.
When I first told Jadi I wanted to go to Quinter he replied “Kansas?!” In a
tone of both amusement and surprise. Anyone who knows me would be amused and
surprised to hear I had a chance to spend two weeks in New York City and
instead opted to go to the Midwest with barely the blink of an eye. We
discussed why I wanted to go there, Jadi thought it would be a great experience
and luckily my parents did as well so we didn’t have to wait on word of
approval from that end. The bulk of the discussion was mainly how I would keep
up with my classes at Putney while still being immersed in Quinter culture, but
since I’m not nearly the first student to participate in this program the
school has all these things figured out. I just haven’t even begun to
understand their plans for that yet.
The
next step is to have a meeting with my parents, advisor, and my teachers to
coordinate travel, a host family, and a specific plan for keeping up with my
classes while still having time to do whatever it is people living in small
towns do. I’m putting all my chips on the table, it’s either I do it all or I
don’t go at all, and the latter is out of the question.
I am thinking pretty far in advance,
yes, but picking up and leaving school for two weeks requires some planning and
forethought. The most likely scenario is I go right sometime after winter
break, hopefully pretty close to winter break so I don’t have a trimester
that’s so chopped up as I’m already missing an entire week of school at the
beginning of the trimester to attend Art Basel Miami. I couldn’t be more
excited for this first meeting, it’s next week.
Like I mentioned
before, I am a very ambitious person
and when I get excited about something it’s hard for me to completely let it go
just because of a small factor like the next meeting not being set for until
next week. That’s why the second I got home I tracked down the network advisor
at Quinter School and emailed her a list of questions which, much to my elation
and surprise, she answered almost immediately. Ms. Sandii Ostmeyer of Quinter
Kansas was another reason why I chose Quinter School. Her picture in the
network program profiles of schools was the warmest and most welcoming looking
picture of any of the advisors and I took that as a good omen.
(Sandii Ostmeyer's picture as it appeared on the website.)
It was a lot smaller on the website, but too small for the blog so I had to make it bigger, that's why it's fuzzy.
My questions,
and the answers, were:
1. How many students
are in the school? Around
120, 7th - 12th
2. If you had to
describe the community at Quinter School with 3 words, what would they
be? Welcoming,
involved, academic
3. If you were to
describe the average Quinter student in one sentence what would you say? Our
students are very active in a number of activities and still maintain an
academic focus and a faith focus.
4. In your opinion
what is the most important aspect for a student to focus on while doing a
network visit at Quinter School? Enjoy being a part of our school and community, learn what
it means to live in an agricultural based economy, and be willing to be very
flexible in your daily schedule.
5. What would you say
the most challenging aspect of the network program would be for a student
visiting Quinter? The
travel arrangements to get here, and the extreme variations in weather.
I
wasn’t shocked at the number of students in the school as the town is like 900
people, how many high school students can there be? I was actually a little
surprised at how big the number was until I re-read the answer and learned the
school is 7th grade through 12th grade.
This
is almost definitely stereotypical of me, but I kind of thought “welcoming” was
a given thing in the Midwest for people of all ages. The one time I can remember
being in the Midwest (I think it was the Midwest, I’m not a geography buff…)
was going to a wedding in Minnesota, and it was the most welcome I had felt
almost anywhere. Even walking into a gas station it just seemed like people
were smiling a little bigger there. Come to think of it that’s not anywhere
near the Midwest is it… Oh well…
(Yah wow, Minnesota is not near Kansas...)
Photo thanks to www.factorystore.info
The
third question’s answer actually evoked another question for me. If my host
family kid is involved in any extracurricular activities does that mean I go
with them to their activities or do I get to pick my own? I noticed right away
that Quinter has a volleyball team, The Bulldogs, and volleyball is a sport I
have longed after for years. Unfortunately my old school didn’t offer it and my
new school doesn’t offer it, and summer is far away so volleyball camp isn’t in
my near future. I’m hoping maybe if my host girl is on a sports team I can
participate in volleyball practice. I’m interested to see what extra-curricular
activities look like in a small town and if they differ much from the ones I’ve
been involved in so far.
If there is one thing Putney teaches
it’s students, if there is one quality they have to learn to attain and attain
for life, it is to be extremely
flexible with your daily schedule. With Putney’s unique work program, afternoon
activities, and evening arts classes, no one day looks the same. Being a day
student at a boarding school requires a lot of flexibility and patience,
everyday and always. I do not have a license yet, so if I decide to join a club
or participate in an activity like Coffehaus, go to Thursday pizza night, sit
in on a dorm meeting, catch a Putney soccer game, or just stay late
contemplating the meaning of life and gossiping in my friends’ dorm rooms, my
schedule changes. When I’m going to be picked up changes, subsequently when I
eat dinner changes, when my family has to schedule or in most cases re-schedule
their lives (because they have to drive the 40 minutes to get me and the 40
minutes back) the whole day shifts. So I was ecstatic to learn one of the most
important aspects was to be flexible in your schedule, I can officially check
that off the list.
I was relieved by the 5th
answer as well. I have no problem with changes in weather. Rain, snow,
blistering heat, bring it on baby, bring it on! As far as travel arrangements
go, I have travelled to some strange places. The most recent place I travelled
to, Bora Bora, required three flights, a 5 hour flight to California followed
by an 18 hour monster flight from California to Tahiti, and an hour and a half
mini flight from Tahiti to Bora Bora’s airport, which is itself an island, so
it was followed by a 45 minute boat ride to get to the final island. I’ve been
an unaccompanied minor overseas where I was placed on tight surveillance due to
a misunderstanding in which they thought I was trying to escape the airport and
set out on my own (?) and everything in between. I think I can handle getting
myself to Kansas without too much hullabaloo.
I couldn’t be more excited for this
amazing experience I am about to have, and I’m just as excited to blog about
every step of the way. I hope you enjoy following me on my journey to this
strange new world as much as I’m going to enjoy taking the journey!
Sincerely,
Amelia
PS: If you are interested in seeing the Network School Website, or looking at Quinter's profile, go to this link
