Hawken School - Student Life

Student Life

Students have been divided into two different groups: red and gray in the middle school, and Vikings and Cyclops in the lower school. Once they have advanced to the middle school, Vikings turn into red and Cyclops turn into gray. In 4-6th grade, games such as capture the flag or soccer are played and the winner receives points. All students, 4-8th grades, compete once a year at "field day". This is competed at the Lower School. Every student chooses a sport to compete in, along with an assigned relay. At the Upper School, students are sorted by advisory into four houses: Ansel (derived from the name of the original campus at Ansel Road), Bolton (derived from the name of the lower school campus), Chester (referring to Chesterland, the location of the Upper School), and Mather (referring to the new campus at University Circle). The houses each have their own colors, mascots, and crests, and compete for house points through a variety of different activities. The system was codeveloped by Alex Dobay '08 and Meredith Allenick '08, and the winning house receives the Dobay Cup, named after Alex Dobay, who died of cancer in August 2008. The school implemented a new schedule in the fall of 2010. It replaced a float schedule with six 50-minute classes with 4 block classes per day, ranging in length from 60 to 85 minutes. In addition, the time of day in which the block occurs changes in a six day cycle. For example, one day a student would have his/her "A" block class at 8:30 but the next day he/she would have it at 12:15. Also, for the last 3 weeks before Winter and Summer break students participate in the intensive study of one course for the entire school day. An intensive counts for one semester's credit. The middle school students participate in "insights week", where they join an all day activity of their choice for one week after Winter Break.