Stories

My family and I became part of the Prep community three years ago and it was one of the best decisions we ever made for our children. We’ve been in a lot of school environments: public, K-8 charter, elementary, middle, but after only a few weeks at Prep my children felt the difference so profoundly that they told me they felt “known and accepted” here. Their words, not mine.

The small size of our school truly amplifies the benefits of the PreK-8 model. The focus on leadership naturally expands as students move toward middle school. As a rising 5th grader, our son was thrilled that he was able to participate in the sports teams a full 2 years earlier than he would have in public school. What a great gift for a child to get to represent their school, be part of the team, and travel on the bus to games. This just isn’t possible in larger schools where many of the leadership roles and opportunities fall to the upper school students. But when you combine small size with the PreK-8 model, the result is more opportunities to participate not just in sports, but clubs, musicals, student council—you name it.

And with the perspective of having one son who’s graduated from Prep already and is attending high school, I am here to tell you that Prep grads thrive when they get there. More than that, they stand out. That’s because every aspect of the middle school experience here is intentionally designed to help prepare them for the future. Nowhere is that on full display more than the high school placement process they undergo their 8th-grade year, a process that is unique to Prep and the capstone of their experience here.

Middle school students are exposed to all the local high schools, independent, public, and boarding schools through the high school fairs. The placement team meets with each family to understand what’s most important to them. That again is only possible in a small school where the team can give individual attention to each family and student throughout the process.

They brilliantly assisted us through every step of the applications themselves while also working with our son Noah in his leadership classes on interviewing skills and teaching him how to present himself in a formal setting. Then there were the mock interviews with multiple members of the team, which gave Noah practice and valuable feedback. The result was a polished, confident young man who stood out among the other candidates during his interviews. As for Noah, he turned out to receive a merit scholarship and now attends McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN.

The placement process played a huge role in that decision for many reasons. He had never considered boarding before, it’s certainly not something we would have considered financially, and the team at Prep worked with him to prepare him for his admissions and scholarship interviews. He is now in a highly regarded school with rigorous academics and has become committed to rowing crew, one of the most time-demanding sports on campus which he had never tried before. He works harder and manages a busier schedule than I ever did at his age. In short, he absolutely loves it there because he chose it.