Graphic By Yujin Kim ’23/The Choate News
Like boarders, day students, too, have to face the difficult obstacles Choate has to offer. Yet, we aren’t provided the luxury of an older peer to guide us beyond freshman year. While boarders have prefects to help them through the social, academic, and emotional highs and lows of their Choate experience, day students lose all semblance of an older mentor after freshman year. To better both the well-being and overall ease of school life for day students, a more robust day student prefect program, spanning from freshman to junior year, should be implemented.
My day student prefects, Jessica Wu ’22 and Dan Altschuler ’22, were two of the first faces to greet me on campus. Throughout the fall term, they organized meetings, along with the other day student prefect groups, for any freshman day students able and willing to attend. They were two people I could always rely on, especially at the beginning of the year, when it was hard to navigate such a large campus and student body. Even amid their cherished senior spring, I know I can count on them to be there for me. It’s something I value tremendously.
The transition between being a third and fourth-former seems daunting. I can imagine that the abrupt ascent of the grade-centric social hierarchy would be jarring. Regardless, with the end of the current one-year day student prefect program, I will have to approach those inevitable challenges all on my own.
If the school were to implement a three-year prefect program for day students, we would have the opportunity to receive additional support. Though I am extremely grateful to have an advisor as approachable and friendly as mine, naturally, we all need support from people who have first-hand knowledge of the challenges that arise at times with being a Choate student in today’s world. This program doesn’t have to be mandatory, and students should be able to choose to opt-out after freshman year. While I found my prefects to be extremely helpful, I understand that others may not have had a similar experience and don’t necessarily require the same support. Regardless, the option to receive such support should be present for those who want or need it.
Though we make up roughly one-fourth of the student body, day students often feel like an afterthought within the Choate community. The schedule isn’t designed to accommodate us, which is understandable, but because of things like the lack of a comprehensive, three-year prefect program, it feels to many of us as if our wellness and ability to prosper at the school is considered less important than those of the boarders. The prefect program, which is so heavily relied upon by boarders, should be extended to all of us. Prefects are so instrumental in dorm life, not only in providing advice and camaraderie to their prefectees, but in creating a sense of community amongst a group of students. After freshman year, day students are expected to have it together and aren’t given a chance to cultivate a similar sense of community. Many say that we have it “much easier” due to parental support. However, being unable to live in a dorm or take part in dorm life is very isolating and can easily make you feel disconnected from the community as a whole.
As is, there is already a great divide between boarders and day students. However, by implementing a stronger and more inclusive prefect program, we can help bridge the divide and allow peers to better aid in each others’ growth.
