Since a quick trip home every weekend or driving around town isn’t an easily accessible option for all boarding students, the Student Life Office crafts a fun weekend schedule for the dorm students. Every Thursday night, transportation is provided, and activities are set out around campus. Hence, the corn hole stations to the volleyball nets outside the chapel lawn, which you might see on your way to class. On the contrary, most students have after school activities, so they are occupied with practices or games.
“On a regular weekday, I go to the Academy to practice soccer, then after I come back, I shower, and go to the dining hall. Then, go play a lawn game by the chapel with my friends. On weekends, we have soccer games, then usually afterwards, I go on bus runs with friends to Walmart and dinner runs,” sophomore Taffy Muradzikwa said.
Besides the Soccer Academy, there are other academies as an option to join, such as the tennis academy.
“I go to the Tennis Academy practice every day. The tennis academy is open Monday through Thursday. I usually always either go home or to another tennis tournament,” senior John Courtnay said.
Some people prefer to have more of a laid-back weekend and do their own thing, going in accordance with what Courtnay.
“After school, I just either go to the gym or I go do my homework until six, and I go to dinner. I just go to Walmart and come back to school on the weekends,” sophomore Dara Banjoko said.
Since it’s fall, not everyone’s after school activities have begun, so boarders tend to hang around campus or go out into Rome and see what there is to do.
“I just stay on campus and lie in my bed. I honestly just stay on campus and lie in my bed, or I might go to the gym or get some homework done. On the weekends, I go out into Rome and see what’s to do for the night,” sophomore Veronika Rohde said.
In contrast to not having a fall after-school activity, the academies are in season all year round, and game days cut into the weekends for boarders.
“I have practice for soccer academy after school, and then I make my way back to the dorm showers, and then I eat dinner afterwards. On weekends, around the same time. I have practice and game days, and then if I’m not doing that, I’ll try to go out with my friends and see what there is to do around Rome,” junior Brody Wheaton said.
On the other hand, instead of having an after school activity, some boarders head to their dorm and use that time to unwind after a long school day and hang around campus with their friends.
“Normally, I just go to my dorm or grab my eye patches, and then I lie down in my room for a little bit. I usually head to the student center and hang out with my friends afterwards. On the weekends, I either go to a friend’s house, stay here, or I’m usually gone during the day,” freshman Anna Berkeley Parson said.