6:50 am
My alarm serenades me with the default ringtone at the crack of dawn, and I can only beg for an encore as I hit snooze and wait for it to play again in 10 minutes. And then finally, I find the mental strength to crawl out of my comfortable warm bed and get ready for my day.
7:33 am
After eating my breakfast and packing my bag, on the dot, my dad races downstairs yelling his daily reminder that “if you’re not in the car you’re late!” My younger brother and sister pick up their coats, bags and shoes as we scurry to get into the car before our dad does. He can not miss the train.
7:45 am
After a fairly short commute, I get dropped off at the Junior School parking lot. My sister and I walk into the quiet empty hallways. I spend a few minutes helping my sister in grade 1 get ready for her day, fixing her tie, organizing her gym bag and correcting which foot her shoe goes on. After she kicks me out, I walk to my locker in the Senior School greeting students, faculty and staff along the way.
8:00 am
By 8:00 am I am fully settled in and head up to the workspace outside the SSC. With this extra time I have in the morning, I can study for a test, complete homework, or go for extra help with a teacher. I actually value this time as I usually cannot complete all my homework the night before.
8:45 am
Homeroom time! I go to my homeroom classroom where I can catch up with my friends and two homeroom teachers, Mr. Drake and Mr. Fanni, where we discuss the latest news or the daily polls or brackets and listen to the announcements.
9:50 – 11:45
Science with Mr. Hendry is the first class of the day. Today in Chemistry we were exploring molecular bonding. He started with a lesson and a handout to practice. As a way to reinforce our learning, he gave us molecular bonding kits where we could make a physical model of the bonds using the small interactive pieces. After class, I usually grab a snack from my locker and talk to my friends as we walk to our next class, French. In French class, we are working on our project, to write a review for our made-up ski resort in Quebec. Spoiler alert we actually had to write in French.
11:45am – 12:30
Once every four days I have a house captain’s meeting during lunch. There the captains and I spend this time talking about ways that we can make the Senior School more fun while we eat our delicious lunch. We have run several games during assemblies like blindfolded drawing, 2010’s trivia and what’s in the box. We also designed and released spirit wear, hosted a wellness lunch (where we played an episode of The Office) and ran a house basketball tournament. Today’s meeting we are discussing our next big fun event that we want to run in the spring and by the end of the meeting, we were super excited about what we had come up with.
12:35 pm- 3:15pm
After my meeting, I go to my third-period class, Computer Science. This course is particularly different as our lessons are in the form of a video. Mr. Moorlag pre films his lessons so we can create our programs at our own pace, slowing it down or mirroring the lesson on our own. This is a useful resource as I can always rewatch his videos and know that there is a full explanation with content relevant to our course. By the end of the period, I feel that I am equipped with the right information to become the next Bill Gates. And the last class of the day is Math, in which we are reviewing for the math midterm exam. Peers and I decide to break out of the classroom to review collaboratively outside the SSC.
3:30 pm- 4:30pm
After school activities are always something to look forward to. I play on a sports team year-round, playing basketball in the first term, volleyball in the second, and rugby in the third term. I love being active and being a part of such a fun community with coaches and peers younger and older than myself. On the day I do not have volleyball practice, I expand myself by participating in the Model United Nations club. This is an opportunity to do something different and improve my speaking skills.
4:45 pm
Finally, I get on the school bus home. To conclude my day I will complete my homework, study, or read and prepare to do it all over again tomorrow.
By Tawana Ngorima ’22