DEERFIELD REFLECTIONS
an exchange Hi Charles, Many thanks for showing my parents and me around the Deerfield campus. I must say that the campus visit is very impressive. You said you are from New York, where we know there are many good boarding schools. I’m interested to know why you chose to attend Deerfield. Please tell me what are those things you are most satisfied with, and the things you think Deerfield needs to improve on in the future. Thank you in advance for your answer. Kevin
Dear Kevin, No problem! If I had to choose my three favorite things about Deerfield, I would choose the community, the school spirit, and the general environment for living that it has provided for me.
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My favorite thing about Deerfield would definitely be the community. There is a very open relationship between the faculty and students.
Deerfield is an amazing place and incredibly fun, but it doesn’t pretend to be perfect. The student-to-student relationships are also very close. The divide between older students and younger ones that I have experienced at previous schools does not exist at Deerfield. This is largely due to having proctors, seniors who live in underclass dorms. I often spend time with proctors—including ones outside my dorm. Whenever I have a problem, they are the first people to whom I turn.
One of the first things that your proctors teach you is to appreciate the place where you live. The school spirit of Deerfield is crucial to me because it shows how important Deerfield is to the students. In all of my past schools my peers and I couldn’t wait for vacation to arrive. But at Deerfield that is not true. Going to school here is actually fun. At Deerfield there is such a concentration of talented and motivated people that it can be an inspiration in your own efforts. No matter how well I do, I always get this feeling that I am capable of more and it makes me work harder. Deerfield is an amazing place and incredibly fun, but it doesn’t pretend to be perfect. This past Monday the school gathered to recognize Martin Luther King, an icon of civil rights and social equality. As a school we talked about
the strengths of our current community, but also the weaknesses. So far in my career at Deerfield I have not run into any major shortfalls; but Deerfield’s ability to accept that it is not perfect gives it the ability to change, and I think that the student body and the school is consciously trying to make the school a better place each day. I hope this helps, Charlie Charles Ughetta New York, New York