The Newman School of 247 Marlborough Street finalized the purchase of 298-300 Newbury Street to house its brand new dormitory. Since its inception, Newman has been a school to which people come from far and wide—to study within its historic buildings and to learn from all that Boston has to offer. Our first boarding student came in 1948, just three years after the School was founded. The student, Thomas Song, a young homeless man from Korea, was generously sponsored by a group of Boston College alumni who were friends of Newman’s founders.
From those early days, Newman was building and refining programs to support international and domestic boarding students. Whether the development of a successful English as a Second Language program, an extensive network of homestays, the launch of a Newman staffed boarding program at the International Guest House (IGH) at 237/239 Beacon Street, or now the initiation of a boarding program on Newbury Street, Newman’s leadership has always understood and prioritized a residential boarding program as integral to the whole Newman experience—a very different perspective from boarding as an add-on or transactional accommodation for those who live far away.
Great schools are composed of students and teachers with multiple perspectives and ideas, are relational not transactional, and inspire around-the-clock learning. Newman’s boarding program helps us deliver on all of these fronts for all of our students.
First of all, our boarding program ensures that we are able to
build a community of diverse students, coming from as far away as Cameroon and the Ukraine or as local as Western Massachusetts. As the
Medici Effect explains: Creativity and innovation occur through diversity. When ideas and talented people from different (backgrounds)...are brought together to collaborate, step-changes can occur. The idea comes from a book of the same name by Frans Johansson. Teaching and learning within a diverse community help everyone to become more empathetic, creative, and collaborative.
Next, our dorms are living and learning ecosystems that enable our school to extend and amplify our focus on social and emotional learning (SEL)—something we know is key to students' personal as well as intellectual development. Our boarding program serves as an arm of the Newman family supporting our belief in the importance of strong relationships among students, and between students and teachers beyond the classroom; the dorms easily remind us to pay attention to students’ lives beyond class—whether those of the 25% of high schoolers who live in the dorm or those of our day students who come from many different towns. Boarding reminds all of us to check in with each other about what is happening around the clock, to prioritize being the big, expansive, and inclusive family that we are.
Having a boarding program is also an institutional reminder that student learning happens around the clock—not just through homework assignments but through the invitation for students to integrate all that happens in the classroom with what happens beyond the school day and vice versa. Boarding reminds us not to compartmentalize life in school and life beyond. Learning is 24/7!
Boarding has obvious conveniences for its residents but also advantages for all members of our community—the assurance of a geographically diverse school which in turn drives the Medici effect and the holding of SEL and 24/7 learning at the core of our school’s identity and value proposition.
With Head of School Mike Schafer’s vision, Assistant Head of School Julie Porrazzo’s expertise in academic and residential programming, and Board members’ expertise and strategic leadership, (Jim Keefe as Board Chair; Bunny Cecchetto as Chair of the Board’s Real Estate Committee; and Paul Ciampa as Chair of the Board’s Finance Committee), The Newman School has significantly strengthened its commitment to a boarding program—the only one of its kind in the city of Boston. As a small school offering the International Baccalaureate with a wide array of competitive sports and clubs and an arts program that invites students to perform in real-time Boston venues, Newman, once a hidden gem, is now better positioned to become a well-known top choice within this region’s competitive independent school market.