There seems to be a divide in friend groups between day students and boarders on campus.
Because Williston is a majority boarder population, with 70% of its students living on campus and day students making up the remaining 30%, day students often find themselves left out. It’s a situation the school is working hard to improve.
Sebastian Fonseca, a boarder from Mexico, believes activities between day students and boarders are separated.
“Most activities are within the dorm you live in, so day students definitely miss out on a lot of stuff that goes on at campus,” Sebas, a junior living in Mem West, said.
Sebastian told The Willistonian he only has two friends who are day students, and believes the school could be doing more to include day students.
“The school should have more activities like orientation so that everyone within a grade can socialize with each other regardless of where they live,” he said.
Keshav Ambadi, a junior day student from West Springfield, Mass., feels similar to Sebastian.
“Boarders get to see each other more often, so they get a stronger connection with each other,” he said. “Day students cannot spend as much time with boarders.”
Keshav said he only has “a few boarder friends”, and he finds “it hard to meet with [them] often.”
Keshav believes Williston’s dorm policies have exacerbated the divide between boarder and day students, and suggests policies should be less strict.
“They should allow day students to go into the dorms during weekdays and later at night,” Keshav said.
Although this could breach boarder and day student division by giving them more time to interact outside of school and sports, it would put the burden on day students, who would have the responsibility of not causing trouble in the dorms. This is one of the reasons Williston does not allow day students to go into the dorms on weekdays.
Caroline Channell, the Student Activities Director, and an alum and former day student herself, knows firsthand that “it’s largely up to the day students to be engaged with the boarding life.”
Channell encourages day students to reach out to their boarding friends when the weekend roundup is sent out to make plans or sign up for a team.
“Staying on campus for dinner once in a while is an easy way to become more engaged with the boarding population, too,” she added. “Lastly, reach out to day student proctors to see if they’re going to events or to see if they can help navigate any logistical issues or have tips for you. They are the experts!”
Channell is working with day student proctors to brainstorm new ways of including day students.
“I’ve learned from the day student proctors that it’s better to have bigger or Willympics-related events on Fridays so that day students do not have to leave and come back to campus since they don’t have a dorm to return back to during a Saturday afternoon,” Channell said.
With the help of the day student proctors, Channell has already thought of a new activity that incorporates day students.
“We are aiming to host a day student event once a trimester to get day students even more connected,” she said.
Day students can look forward to more fun activities on campus that include them in the future. Channell told The Willistonian she is working hard to ensure that no student feels left out at Williston.