Beyond Just Getting Through: How The New School Makes High School a Place Students Want to Be

What if high school wasn’t just something teenagers just had to get through on their way to better things? We talked to our soon to be graduated seniors over the past couple of weeks to get their ideas about what makes The New School a place they actually want to come to for the past four years. Here’s what they had to say.

A number of seniors talked about the opportunities TNS gave them to try new things, take responsibility for projects and organizations, and make the school their own. One mentioned how she was able to step in and become a captain of our Ultimate team when it was in need of leadership, while another was thankful for the freedom to create an independent study on a topic she was interested in exploring during her junior year.

Many seniors mentioned how well they think The New School has prepared them for the “real world” they’ll experience once they graduate. The experiences students have had outside the classroom – working on projects all over Atlanta, the year-long internships with local organizations they’ve had this year, and the trips to Cumberland Island and the Okefenokee Swamp that focused on environmental activism, and many others – have made our seniors see themselves as young adults who can handle themselves well no matter what situations they find themselves in, and as people who are ready to make a difference in the world.

One characteristic of a TNS education was mentioned by many of our seniors: how the school encouraged them to “discover and explore who we are.” This went hand in hand with students feeling that The New School was a place were they could truly be themselves (not the way that most of us remember our high school years!).

But by far the most significant and meaningful aspect of their high school experiences for our seniors was the relationships they had with their teachers. They “make learning fun,” so that students “look forward to working with them every day.” Our seniors find our teachers are “so easy to talk with, whether it’s about an academic problem or a personal issue” because they “genuinely care about their students’ well being.” Our teachers not only “want you to succeed”; they are committed to “helping me grow as a student and a person.”

I have to say, I wasn’t surprised to hear these things from our seniors, but I was gratified. We’re very proud that for TNS students, high school is so much more than a thing they have to get through. The school that they described was the school we set out to create when we first opened our doors to 17 freshmen. It’s great to hear that we’re still succeeding in what we set out to do many years ago – creating a place where young people can excel academically, but also discover who they are and explore their passions as they prepare to make their way in the world.

Peter Lefkowicz

Peter Lefkowicz is the founding Head of School at The New School and has served in that role since 2014. Over the last 25 years, he has taught English and History at both the high school and university levels and is passionate about creating rich learning experiences both in and outside of the classroom. Peter has a B.A. from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in English from Hollins College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.