Boarding school

Our friends from Oregon have enrolled their 15 year old daughter, GG, in a Catholic boarding school in our region.  The first time I laid eyes on this school, I was amazed by its beauty.

Chapel (notice the habited nun on the right)...

Guest house...

Classrooms and dormitories...

The school has about 250 students (all girls), 60 of whom are boarders.  There are twenty-two nuns in residence, and since they are "traditional" nuns they wear full habits.  I had never been around so many nuns before, and they looked like these beautiful mystical beings floating around.

In reality they were about the nicest bunch of down-to-earth women I'd ever met, uniformly cheerful and absolutely devoted to the girls.

While GG was being fitted with the smocks and berets all the girls wear...

...one of the Sisters offered to show me her second-grade classroom.

The school offers an academically-rigorous, extremely classical education.

The boarders live in rooms of three girls each.  It just so happened GG was placed with another girl she already knew from home (and who had already been at the school a full year), so that will make the transition easier for her.

Here's the chaos of unpacking in GG's dorm room...

Needless to say, the moral and behavioral standards of the school are very high.  The girls must wear skirts of a certain length, and blouses with a modest neckline.  Makeup and jewelry are not permitted.  Some of these rules are in place to minimize the peer-pressure competition common among girls in schools, and others are to reinforce the sanctity of femininity that traditional Catholicism emphasizes.  I found this to be tremendously refreshing, especially when I compare these requirements with the skanky fashions, ridiculous makeup, cut-throat peer pressure, sexual chaos, and snarky attitudes typically found among high school girls.


Here's GG and Older Daughter, with Younger Daughter trying to hide behind them...

I told the girls to cross their arms and try to adopt a "public school" attitude.  They weren't very good at it, LOL.

Here the 10th graders are meeting for an afternoon snack with the Sister who is their teacher.

I didn't get to see the inside of the chapel, though I'm assured it's beautiful.  But I did peek through a small open window and managed to get this photo of some stained glass.  Sorry it's blurry.

Altogether it was a delightful experience to visit the school, and GG's mom is confident this environment is the best possible fit for GG's personality and educational needs.  I agree.