Boarding Life

Shared lived experiences during this time in our history have resulted in strong bonds within our boarding community

Friendships change over time but there is one thing about friendships that is true and that is they are different than many of our other relationships. Friendships are unique because they are the relationships we choose and they lack a formal structure. In boarding, lifelong friendships are formed. We hear that sentiment over and over again from alumni who talk about the friends they made in boarding and how they still keep in contact.

Friendships formed in boarding are different. There are not many friendships made in the formative years that are the result of spending months living and learning together without the in-person support of your family. The boarding students enter boarding alone, anxious, excited and have in front of them so many opportunities.

In boarding, one of the first things we do is plan activities that allow the students to get to know each other. These activities are called “mandatory fun” and while adolescents will continually rebel against anything that adults classify as “mandatory,” they attend because we insist … and they almost always have fun. At the beginning of the year much of our planning centres around helping students to transition into boarding and get to know each other.

When students arrive to boarding, they are entering an unknown world. Many are leaving the comfort of home for the first time. Many have never had a roommate and if they did it was likely someone they knew. They are filled with so many emotions and there is a transition time. Our Proctors help to make this transition easier. As leaders in the boarding community, they ensure that every student feels welcome and act as a liaison between the new and returning students.

The past two years have seen friendships form more quickly. During COVID, students arrived at various times throughout the year as travel and paperwork would allow. It didn’t matter when a student arrived, they were greeted and supported throughout their isolation and integration into boarding. It is through these shared experiences that many of the students found their common connections and made friends.

For the better part of two years, boarding was “like a bubble” and the students had each other. Many could not travel home for the long breaks in December and March and stayed on campus. It was an opportunity to get to know those they live with in a completely different way. Weekends, long weekends and holidays were spent with the “boarding family,” and we engaged in many on-campus activities including snow tubing on Memorial Field hill, skating and playing hockey in the arena, learning new skills (knitting and painting), and trying out new games like bingo and trivia.

I believe the pandemic has been the catalyst to encourage deep relationships in boarding and it is hoped that these friendships continue to grow throughout the years. The time spent ‘during COVID’ at Pickering College boarding will fondly be remembered as the time in history where the friendship was born and developed.

American ballet dancer Misty Copeland is quoted as saying, “anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” This was never truer than during the 2020- 2021 and 2021-2022 school years. Aside from family (many of whom live in various corners of the world) our boarding students had the support of each other.

–Laura Mason, Director of Boarding & Health Services