Hawken Student Interview

by Alia Baig

Have you ever wondered what it was like to go to another school? Well, I interviewed a Hawken student to find out:

Interview:

1. What school do you go to?
   1. Hawken School
2. What grade are you in?
   1. 11th
3. What are your preferred pronouns?
   1. She/her
4. How long have you gone to your school?
   1. 3 years
5. Is your school one building?
   1. Multiple buildings but one main one.
6. Are the middle school and prime also located there?
   1. No, separate.
7. What does your schedule look like?
   1. 7 blocks – 4 per day 80 minutes per class. We typically have 2 breaks 30 minutes long and 30 minutes for lunch.
8. Does your school use an online program (Haiku. myschool)?
   1. There are GOA courses available; we all use canvas to submit homework.
9. how much homework do you get per subject/hours per day?
   1. Usually 40 or more minutes per subject but because the days are split so you don’t have every subject due the next day it’s usually 2.5 hours of homework.
10. What is it like to have boys at your school?
    1. It’s useful because you obviously have to work with and interact with more than one group of people.
11. Does your school celebrate women’s day?
    1. They acknowledge it, at least but there isn’t an assembly or anything.
12. Does your school make it a point to talk about social issues?
    1. To an extent; there is a student-run club that talks about current issues which is really valuable to me.
13. Does your school lean left or right?
    1. Left!
14. Is your school diverse?
    1. Not very. Majority of upper-class white students.
15. What is lunch like at your school?
    1. There’s always the main course, pasta options, a salad bar, and a sandwich bar
16. Do you have morning meeting?
    1. Yes on Mondays, sometimes Thursdays, and Fridays.
17. Do you have a student senate?
    1. Yes.
18. How do you elect your president and the people that lead your grades?
    1. Students vote after the individuals running give a speech.
19. Do you have an assembly period?
    1. Yes, for special events
20. What kinds of speakers come in during your assembly period?
    1. Typically they are student-run we have only had a few speakers coming in – some on social media, healthy relationships, and different alumni speeches.
21. How long are your classes?
    1. 80 minutes.
22. Do you prefer longer classes?
    1. We get used to it and it’s nice not having every class every day.
23. What science subjects does your school offer + during what year do you take those classes?
    1. Physics as a freshman, Chemistry as a sophomore, and Bio as a junior. Seniors can take a few different advanced stuff and also Psychology.
24. How many people go to your school?
    1. A little over 1,000.
25. Do you have a program similar to our Global Scholars program?
    1. We have travel intensives.
26. What are intensives?
    1. Intensives are 3-week courses designed to fit a semester worth of work in – speakers, projects, field trips, sometimes travel intensives within the US and even to the Bahamas, Spanish speaking countries; one class the whole 3 weeks.
27. What can you study during these?
    1. Some are required intensives like for Humanities 9 and 10 but there are many choices for each subject. I’ve taken Irish Immigration, Seneca Falls (women’s rights travel to NY) and Creative Process (exploring creativity and traveling to Boston).
28. Are debate/mock trial popular at your school?
    1. In Humanities classes and a large percentage of our students do debate.
29. Is your school big on sports?
    1. Yes, especially swimming
30. Does your school have a dress code?
    1. Yes, but not that strict – no sweatpants, no logos, no tears
31. Is it strict?
    1. No, not at all.
32. Is there a teacher who is known to dress code?
    1. A few – deans and front desk.
33. Wait, you can wear leggings?!?
    1. You betcha !!!!
34. Can you use social media at school or is it blocked?
    1. It’s blocked on the wifi.
35. Do a lot of students drive to school?
    1. Oh yeah, the junior lot is a disaster especially when it’s muddy they’ve had to give school meetings about the way people drive.
36. Do you have any special ceremonies during the year (1st day of school, Winterfest…)
    1. Yes, we just had a Chinese New Year assembly which was lit we all performed and did dances and stuff it was really cool we’re actually going to the lower school tomorrow to perform too.