By Marcus Beecher, 2011

     Here at Proctor, as a boarder, I am jealous of the day students while ironically, they are jealous of us. At least Sophie Viandier was. Now, Sophie is a boarder while her parents are away for the winter directing the program in France. Because she has been a day student, she is the perfect person to talk about the issue.

      I’ll look at day students with disgust as they drive themselves home after sports to a home cooked meal. Then on the weekend I’m jealous that they can go wherever they like. With no planned trips, they can follow their whims. They have the kind of freedom that I want. But as I talked with Sophie I realized that day students aren’t free; they just have a very different set of rules.

     All the stuff a day student needs in a day has to be brought from home in one trip. If they have sports, classes then another commitment, like the play or jazz band, they need that stuff too. All the bags don’t seem that bad until you realize that they have no place to keep their stuff. Without a day student lounge, or even a locker room, the day students are literally left out in the cold. Some, who drive themselves, keep the stuff in their cars. The others, the ones who rely on their parents to drive them to and from school,like Sophie, have nothing.

     When they forget to bring something in the morning, there is no going back to get it. They also feel like they miss out on the Proctor social life. Even the less glamorous aspects like extra help are tedious for the day students, because they have to stay on campus through the evening. Most importantly, day students, like Sophie, feel they won’t get the “full throttle” Proctor experience.

     Sophie emphasized how boarders seem to be “more adult.” They are more responsible for their own stuff even though the school imposes rules and regulations on them.  “Boarders,” she said, “have to worry about laundry and other seemingly minor things like that.”

     Living both lives, Sophie had some insightful information to share. She says that it was hard for her to be able to manage all the day student struggles with her busy social life. When her parents come to pick her up, that’s when she leaves and it’s hard for her to predict in the morning when she’ll want to leave at night.

Her favorite part of boarding now are the simple conveniences. “Having privacy during day, and having a place to shower. The ease of finding extra help is great too,” says Sophie.

     After thinking about it. I still would say that I would want to be a boarder, but I’m not sure.  I guess this is just a case of the greener grass on the other side