Where Active Students Meet a Dynamic Community

Community

Where Active Students Meet a Dynamic Community

The culture of excellence at Westminster is anchored in the diverse and dynamic community of young people and adults who call Williams Hill home. Of Westminster’s four core values, community comes first. The others— character, balance, and involvement—are products of the pervasive and palpable sense of community that has always been the soul of Westminster.

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Students and faculty gather four times per week for family-style lunch in Armstrong Dining Hall. Faculty members host a table with students rotating to a new table each week. ARMSTRONG DINING HALL

Student and Community Life

A number of factors combine to make Westminster an especially distinctive community. Our ideal size and our ratio of boarding and day students encourage engagement and participation on the part of students and faculty alike. We remain principally a boarding school with boarders comprising three-quarters of the student body. The boarders bring the country and the world to Williams Hill, while the day students connect our community to Greater Hartford region. Day students feel entirely at home on campus in the evenings and on weekends, while boarding students occasionally leave campus to spend time at day students’ homes for meals, weekend getaways, holidays and special occasions.

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DORM COMMON ROOM The dynamic life of the Westminster community begins in the school’s programs, but it extends far beyond those programs, too. Some of the most memorable experiences and some of the most important lessons happen at the edges of programs or in the spaces between programs, walking down to the rink or out to the fields, chatting with friends and teachers before a performing arts concert or in the common rooms of the dorms, having dinner in Simsbury with friends.

Life at Westminster is busy. Boarding and day students alike quickly learn to recognize all of the exciting opportunities and responsibilities inherent in school life. Their days and nights are full, challenging, and rewarding, whether they live on or off campus.

Everyone at Westminster gets to know one another quickly and, through the common experiences of attending classes, sharing meals, participating in athletics and the arts and being involved in community service and student organizations, our students develop a sense of belonging to a special community and a corresponding sense of responsibility for contributing to the dynamic life of that community.

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The grill in Brockelman Student Center offers students the chance to grab a snack and catch up with friends between classes and activities.

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At Westminster, diversity encompasses respect, compassion, engagement and growth. Through diversity, we embrace intellectual curiosity, cultivate empathy for those around us, and seek courage to overcome whatever challenges we may face on our own or in support of others. We commit to diversity in education and provide programs that deepen cultural competency, expand global understanding and foster a resilient and dynamic community.

Diversity builds and sustains us. Our community is an inclusive environment where people can share their stories and contribute their ideas. We encourage our students to be authentic, to feel inspired to learn from those different from them and to celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. At Westminster, diversity includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, cultural identity, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, physical ability and religious practice.

We firmly stand on the four pillars of our Core Values: Community, Character, Balance and Involvement. The success of each is dependent on the others and diversity strengthens them all.

m “Creating a diverse community not only requires us to bring together students of different races, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds and sexual orientations, but also, to facilitate honest dialogue and foster deep relationships that support students in sharing their unique perspectives, experiences and voices. We are committed to being at the forefront of efforts to engage young people in diversity, equity and inclusion work, and in so doing prepare them to lead on the Hill and beyond.”

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DIVERSITY OFFICE LEADERS SUPPORTING COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Westminster’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s work has a powerful presence on campus. It facilitates studentled alliance and affinity groups, orchestrates schoolwide educational programming, provides opportunities for students to participate in conferences and events, coordinates the Peer Facilitator and Mentor-Mentee programs and is supported by Westminster’s Equity and Inclusion Coalition.

Alliance groups bring students together to develop friendships and explore diversity-related topics. • Multicultural Student Union • Gender & Sexuality Alliance • All As One Feminist Alliance • Jewnion (Jewish student union) • Conversations About Christianity • Westminster Latinx Alliance • Middle Eastern Alliance

Affinity groups affirm lived experiences and generate fellowship and empowerment. • Black Affinity Group • The Gathering • Ladies of Color • Hispanic or Latino Affinity • Asian/Pacific Islander Affinity • LGBTQ+ Affinity Group • AWARE – Assoc. of White Anti-Racist Education

Schoolwide Educational Programming

Throughout the year, the entire community gathers for dialogue and development on issues surrounding equity and inclusion. Programming includes powerful speakers, authors and performers who inspire, educate and challenge, as well as opportunities for small group and classroom discussions focused on a range of topics related to introspection and reflection, identity and connection, community and society and history and the arts.

Conferences and Events

Each year, groups of students participate in local, regional and national conferences and events focusing on diversity, including the NAIS National People of Color and Student Diversity Leadership Conference, CAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference and National Coming Out Day.

Equity and Inclusion at Westminster is a committee of faculty and trustees tasked with conducting a detailed assessment about how we can do more to make meaningful progress and change for historically underrepresented students.

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Service Beyond Self

With character and involvement as two of Westminster’s core values, it is no surprise that community service and a commitment to civic engagement are integral parts of life on the Hill.

Serving Our Neighbors and the John Hay Society spearhead community service efforts on campus. But independent student-initiated efforts often take off as well. Among other things, Westminster students serve as tutors and mentors at a local school; sponsor sports clinics and activities for children; collect gifts, clothing, food and monetary donations for organizations; sing at healthcare facilities and devote time to local clean-up efforts. Working together for a good cause builds camaraderie and strengthens friendships, but, even more importantly, it encourages a life of compassion and service to others.

Students are taught that they have an obligation to engage in their community and given the tools to make a difference. While these lessons permeate life at Westminster, they are explicitly and intentionally addressed in the Civic Engagement and Civil Discourse seminar all students take in their Fourth Form (sophomore) year.

Westminster not only encourages students to engage in their community, but is also committed to doing so as an institution. Westminster’s Hartford Partnership programs include Spring Break in Hartford; monthly lunch service at Loaves and Fishes; and Horizons at Westminster, a sixweek summer program for elementary school students from Hartford. Numerous students and teachers volunteer to participate in these programs every year.

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Student Organizations and Activities

There are student clubs and organizations to capture everyone’s interest or curiosity. Students can pursue passions, try new things, make friends, show school spirit and realize their potential as leaders. There are clubs for students interested in writing, politics, entrepreneurship and engineering, to name just a few.

The Student Activities Committee, a student-led organization, plans and coordinates everything that goes on during weekends from trips off campus to the movies, restaurants, shopping and outdoor activities to on-campus dances, gingerbread-making contests, spike ball tournaments and student-faculty soccer games. Because of the school’s size, new organizations and activities are continuously added based on students’ interests and students who participate in co-curricular activities quickly become leaders themselves.

In addition to leadership roles in various organizations, Westminster’s students take on considerable responsibility in daily school life as prefects (school officers elected annually by students and faculty), form officers, members of the John Hay Society (responsible for chapel services), captains of athletic teams and peer facilitators. If students are expected to be successful leaders in college, their communities and as professionals, they must have opportunities to lead at a young age. A Partial List of Student Organizations

Architecture A capella groups Black & Gold (tour guides) Bring Change 2 Mind Computer Science Club CT Youth Forum Dramat Debate Eco Team Entrepreneurship Club The Flock (spirit club) Fly-Fishing Club Global Forum Grillin’ & Chillin’ Horizons Language Club The Martlet (art & literary magazine) Math Club Model United Nations Robotics Club Serving Our Neighbors Ski & Snowboard Club Society of Women Engineers Spectator (yearbook) Student Activities Committee Student Music Organization Westminster News (newspaper) Wolves of Westy (investment club) Women in Finance

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The Chapel Program

One tradition that epitomizes Westminster’s ethos of community is the practice of gathering the entire school community twice a week in Andrews Memorial Chapel. During these gatherings that embrace and celebrate all religious traditions, members of the school community are asked to think beyond themselves, to appreciate sacrifice, and to be compassionate, sensitive and inclusive. This practice began in 1902 when John Hay, an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, dedicated the former Hay Memorial Chapel in the memory of his son, Adelbert Stone Hay, a Westminster alumnus who died at a young age.

Today, our student-run John Hay Society directs the chapel program. These “chapels” become times to pause for reflection in our busy days as we listen to students, teachers and guests speak about experiences that have made them who they are. Often chapel has a musical dimension as well with students, faculty members and professional musicians from the world beyond the Hill performing for the school. Because of the diversity in our community, these presentations may be enlightening, moving, sobering or amusing — and they are almost always memorable.

A faculty member might discuss a crisis of faith occasioned by his daughter’s leukemia in an “open letter to God.” A student from Thailand might discuss his sometimes challenging, sometimes amusing experience of acclimating to American culture. A member of the cross-country team might discuss the lessons he’s learned from running (“the strength of the wolf is in the pack, the strength of the pack is in the wolf”). A celebrated guest who spent his formative days working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. might talk about the lessons of civil disobedience and non-violence he learned at Dr. King’s side. As the chapel program demonstrates, learning with and from each other is central to the Westminster experience of community.

Whatever the subject matter, however, giving a chapel talk can be a notable rite of passage for students because it highlights their personal courage and poise in speaking before the entire Westminster community. The program holds similar value for those in the audience who learn directly how important it is to listen with open minds and hearts to one another.

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School Traditions

In its long history, Westminster has many cherished traditions that help promote our sense of community and provide continuity from one generation of students to the next.

One of the longest standing is the Lawn Ceremony which takes place every year on the evening before Commencement. In this ceremony, the graduating class gathers on the Sixth Form Lawn while the Fifth Formers wait around the perimeter. One by one, Sixth Formers bring the Fifth Formers onto the lawn, signifying that they will be the new leaders of the school. The final students brought onto the lawn are the newly-elected Prefect Board. Parents, students, alumni and faculty crowd the lawn to watch this ceremony with pride and anticipation.

Other annual events the whole school eagerly awaits include the Pin Ceremony in September where alumni on the faculty give the new Sixth Formers their class pins, the Candlelight Service that takes place every December, the always exciting spring stickball tournament dating back to the early 1900s and the tradition of passing diplomas that follows commencement. And, of course, there is the tradition of Hill Holidays (surprise days off from school announced by the Head of School).

m “School traditions like family-style meals, lawn ceremony and Candlelight services in Andrews Memorial Chapel provide a shared experience that brings our students and alumni closer together.”

nancy urner-berry ’81

math and science teacher, cross country and tennis coach

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Residential Life

Westminster has seven dormitories centrally located on campus around a spacious main quad. The school’s philosophy of residential life is to make dormitory living as close to family living as possible. The corridors are small and designed to encourage interactions among students and faculty.

All of the dormitories blend boarding students from across grade levels. Approximately two-thirds of the rooms are doubles with a few spacious triples mixed in and the rest are singles. Each corridor is under the supervision of a residential faculty member who serves as an invaluable resource to students who are adjusting to being away from home and learning to develop a sense of self-reliance.

GUND HOUSE

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Life in the dorms nurtures and sustains some of the closest and longest lasting of relationships for our students, not only with each other, but also with faculty members and their families. Frequently, corridor supervisors invite students into their apartments for study breaks and snacks. Students also gather in faculty homes to celebrate birthdays, to watch the big games on TV or just to chat about life at Westminster. Conversely, the children and pets of the corridor supervisors have been known to wander the hallways and visit student rooms.

The family atmosphere of the dormitories is just one more way for the school to emphasize the core values of community, character, balance and involvement. Most of the faculty either live on corridor now, or have lived in the dorms in the past, so they know from experience how important residential life is.

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Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, students attend classes from 8:20 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. (8:20 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays). During their free periods, students use the resources of the library for reading and studying (especially the small group study rooms) or they congregate in one of the many open spaces in the academic and student centers to work together or to chat. On nice days, students sometimes sit together outside on the many benches or on Commencement Lawn.

The entire community gathers for family-style lunch four times a week and chapel twice a week with special presentations from time to time.

At the end of the academic day, students head off to rehearsals, team practices and athletic contests.

A quick dinner with friends follows. Then, there is a bit of free time, during which student organizations often meet, before study hall begins.

Evenings usually find older students studying independently in their dorm rooms or in the library, while younger students are placed in a more structured study environment, either in their dorm rooms or in a classroom under the supervision of teachers.

Very Full & Busy Days

MID-MORNING

Assembly or chapel or meetings with advisors for all students and teachers. Then, back to classes.

7:15 a.m.

Boarders are waking up, day students start arriving, and teachers are walking their dogs or getting their own young children off to school.

8:20 a.m.

The bell rings and classes begin. Each class block runs 50 or 60 minutes.

MORNING

The dining hall opens for breakfast at 7 a.m.. It’s time to fuel up and meet with study groups, teachers and friends.

MID-AFTERNOON

As classes wrap up, there is a short break during which students may meet with faculty for extra help. Then the entire school community dives into the afternoon program: team practices, dance and theater rehearsals, community service and independent projects.

NIGHT

The day closes with checkin for boarders.

12:20 p.m.

Family-style lunch in Armstrong Dining Hall. Teachers host tables, students are assigned and change tables every week. It’s just another way we get to know each other.

3:45 p.m.

The class day has ended (earlier on Wednesdays and Saturdays). Everyone now has a role in an afternoon program. After that, it’s time for dinner. Then there’s free time and club meetings.

8 p.m.

Study Hall: Time to focus on academics in the library, dorm rooms, common areas, studios and faculty apartments.

EVENING

Some day students will stay on campus well into the evening, while others return home following the afternoon program to have dinner and spend time with their families.