Here at Loomis Chaffee, there is no doubt a physical and social separation between day students and boarding students – but just how big is this divide?
Our student body consists of 742 students — roughly 70% are boarders, while the other 30% are day students. Some students live across the country, some live 20 minutes away, and students' experiences at Loomis starkly differ based on where their home lies. The sheer difference in experience due to living arrangements contributes to a social divide between the two groups.
“I sometimes do feel a divide between us, especially on the weekends, when day students have the opportunity to go home, while boarders are just stuck on campus,” said Yichen Liu ’28, a boarding student. She emphasized that, for boarding students, times outside of school are when the difference between these two groups is most clear.
“I could feel a slight divide between boarding and day students, especially since boarding students could spend a lot more time together on the weekends,” said Kaylee Wang ’28, a day student. Wang agrees that weekends are when the divide is especially significant, noting day students often lose the chance to connect with friends and peers and that boarding students have more chances to spend time with each other due to their closer proximity.
Although there are visible divides between day students and boarding students, during school hours, the two groups often intermix. “Personally, in my friend group, I have both day students and boarding students, and we are all very close,” said Liu. “Especially during the school day, both day and boarding students interact and enjoy their time together.”
Through their years at Loomis, the social gap between day students and boarders closes even further. “As students get older at Loomis, the impact of any divide lessens as students make their own choices,” said Mr. Nick Barker, Dean of the Class of 2025. “Many day students are here on campus before the school day starts, spend time in a dorm as a honorary residents, and leave when the library closes at 9:30 PM. Many boarders will take regular opportunities to go off campus to visit family or friends, participate in club sports, or head to West Hartford for dinner.”
Nevertheless, although not common, there are some cases where the two groups are separated in the school day. “In some friend groups, I have noticed that it is mainly either boarding students or day students,” Liu explained. These small cases, however, are inevitable, as students naturally tend to lean towards other students with similar schedules. This small divide also hardly affects how students feel as members of the Loomis Chaffee community.
“My opportunities on campus are still the same as the ones of boarding students, so I feel like we are all still treated the same as community members,” said Wang.
While this problem very much is real, it is part of what comes with being at a boarding school; nevertheless, Loomis makes a constant effort to bridge this small gap.
“We have tried to lessen the divide by making sure day students know they are welcome on campus for all meals and events and by creating an easy process for boarders to leave campus,” Mr. Barker said.
“We have many activities day students can come to, such as dances, which brings boarders and day students together on the weekends,” Liu added.
While these solutions are not perfect, they help to bring everyone in the community together. In a community where living arrangements inherently shape students' routines, it is difficult to completely erase the divide between boarding and day students. Nevertheless, it is important to continue to include both day and boarding students to make sure the Loomis experience is enjoyable for all.