Located at the heart of campus, Carrington House is currently unused.
The Summer Programs Office, which is currently located at Gables House on Memorial Circle, is set to move to Carrington House in the near future. Before moving to Gables, the four faculty members who work at the Summer Programs Offices were settled in the basement of the old St. John building. When given the opportunity to move to a location above ground with an abundance of natural light at Gables House, Ms. Susan Farrell, Ms. Laura Panico, Ms. Eera Sharma, and Ms. Ann Votto readily agreed. That move took place in February of 2009, and the upcoming move to Carrington House — at the corner of Christian and North Elm Streets — will take place in time for the 2018-2019 school year.
Not long ago, Ms. Sharma, the Director of Summer Programs, was approached by some of the school administrators who offered Carrington to the Summer Programs team during the near future. Carrington House used to hold the College Counseling Offices, but when St. John Hall opened last spring, these offices were moved to the long corridor connecting Hill House to the new student center. Ms. Sharma said that Carrington is “pretty much prime location on campus and it’s been sitting empty for a couple of months now.”
This new space will allow for the summer faculty and staff to fit comfortably, and its central location on campus is definitely a big plus, too. Ms. Sharma added, “There’s an easier access for our students, parents, and faculty. During the academic year, it’s quieter because we have an office of only four adults who work here, but during the summer, we have a full office with multiple deans and deans of students also in the office with us.” There are an astounding 125 faculty who work for the Summer Programs during the summer months.
Ms. Sharma and Administrative Assistants Ms. Panico and Ms. Votto are thrilled about the upcoming move, and they hope it will happen at a fortuitous time; however, the exact date has not yet been announced.
Now, during the offseason of Choate’s Summer Programs, the four staff members work tirelessly to prepare for the summer months.
Ms. Sharma discussed the specifics of what goes on with Summer Programs during the academic year: “We are a school within a school, so we read over 1,000 applications, we enroll over 600 students, and hire over 125 faculty. We get the curriculum ready, we work on our student handbook. I travel during the academic year to help promote some of our programs. We basically do what the admissions office does every year.”
While moving will require some adjustment to a new space, Ms. Votto said that the team will adapt, just like it did nine years ago when it moved from the old St. John to Gables.
