Boarding students boast boosted independence

Julia Steck poses for a photo in her dorm room at Lowrance Hall on Friday, May 26, 2017, at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn. Steck is a rising senior at Baylor University.

Patric Song poses for a photo in Frierson Student Center Thursday, May 25, 2017, at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn. Song is a boarding student from China who has been attending Baylor for four years.

While sending kids away to boarding school isn’t as common these days as it was historically, Jim Kennedy, director of admissions at Baylor School, says the practice still carries major educational benefits.

Each year, the co-ed college prep school hosts around 200 high school boarders from across the country and the globe. Their parents haven’t sent them because they are troublemakers in need of discipline, he explains; they’ve sent them because they want to give their children the best shot at independence.

While learning to manage their time – and their laundry – these boarders learn resilience and grit that give them a head start when they make the transition to college, Kennedy says. Among the many students who illustrate that growth are incoming seniors Julia Steck and Patric Song, who both began their journey at Baylor at age 14.