When Maddie Moberly left the tranquility of her East Bare Hill Road home for the bustling campus of Trinity University in San Antonio, she didn’t know what to think. “I was definitely a little nervous,” she says. “I had never been to Texas before, and knowing that a lot of my friends were staying close to home ... made it hard, too.”
The rocky Harvard soil was what she knew, and acclimating to the unfamiliar burnt sands of Texas would undoubtedly be a challenge. But in the back of her mind she remembered one thing: “I thought, whatever I would experience at Trinity I would be ready for, and Bromfield was a large part of that.”
Many students face the same fears and difficulties, hoping they have the abilities to adapt to their university years. Does the Bromfield School adequately prepare its students for that formidable transition to freedom and advanced academia?
The answer for three recent graduates is yes. One of the more interesting reasons is the the Bromfield “culture.” Jamie Flaherty, a philosophy/government and law double major at Lafayette College, says Bromfield doesn’t follow the stereotypes of high schools that are seen in movies. In fact, the sophomore believes, Bromfield produces smarter young people than at most schools. “Being smart at Bromfield is like being cool, in a way,” Flaherty says. “There are high standards there, and the atmosphere is conducive to meeting them. Being with the other students just pushed me even further.”
Many graduates see the Bromfield teachers as being paramount to their college success. Clarke Smith, a sophomore double major in applied mathematics and physics at George Washington University, believes they make Bromfield unique and that their style is very effective. “The teachers are committed to the students, and prepared me pretty well for a science major, probably better than many private schools,” he says. “The teachers challenge you and don’t explicitly tell you the answers. They help you develop an independent learning style so you can do things on your own.”
Smith praises the chemistry and biology programs, which are headed by Kristen VanDerveen and Deborah Pierce, respectively, and says he acquired a solid collegiate foundation in those areas. “They have a good style, and many concepts [I needed to understand] in college I already had a firm grasp on.”
Flaherty also points to her positive experience with the writing program at Bromfield. “The great teachers there have prepared me for college-level writing,” she says. “[Senior English teacher] Karen Bucholc’s assignments and book selections pushed me to explore new ideas.”
“It’s easier to write college papers about complex subjects because we’ve been doing it for so long,” Smith says. “I think I’ve been writing with theses since second grade.”
Graduates say that Bromfield’s rigorous curriculum also helps prepare students for the workload at universities. Flaherty says the great amounts of material covered at Bromfield have helped to keep her from procrastinating in college. “The amount of work we had definitely helped me with my time management skills,” she observes.
Moberly also says she picked up experience with the lengthy presentations she had to give in Kevin Foster’s history classes and the mandatory community service project. “Each student had to give a 30-minute presentation, and that really gave me confidence speaking when I had to do them in college,” she says.
When Moberly arrived at Trinity, she found that the college wasn’t too much of a change despite its location. “In the end, I went to Trinity because it reminded me of Bromfield,” she says.