Residential Life

Boarding gives students the opportunity to work independently from family, to live with people from different cultures and backgrounds, and to form lifelong friendships. It opens more worlds and connections throughout life for all our students, both boarding and day. Students often visit each other's homes in different parts of the country and even the world.

Solebury has three dormitories; Holmquist House, the girls dormitory with 28 beds; Appledore, a smaller dormitory for senior girls with five beds, and Walter Lamb Hall, the boys dormitory which houses 40 beds. Over half of the faculty lives on campus. Two faculty members live in Holmquist House, one faculty member lives in Appledore, and four faculty members live in the boys dorm. Dormitory parents are there to provide supervision, leadership and guidance. All dormitory rooms are wired for internet access through a T-1 line. The dormitory faculty selects student proctors, who assume responsibility for supporting the dorm routine and procedures, act as role models for younger students, and provide an additional communication link between students and faculty. Proctors also receive special privileges, and take part in our peer leading training.

Being a boarder at Solebury is a great experience. Although, at times, being away from home is hard, like when you have to do your own laundry, the dorm is a fun place to live. There are students from all over the world, and when you are living together with all these different people, you get to know them really well, and you make a lot of friends."

Josh Perlsweig ‘03

Both boarding and day students are welcome to participate in weekend activities, which are planned by the faculty members who are on duty and the students themselves. During the year, there are trips to New York City and Philadelphia, as well as canoe trips, and visits to the many local festivals.

Weekend activities have included bowling, Bingo, chili cook-offs, dances with invitations to bring students from other schools, water balloon fights, Coffee house (talent show), Film Festivals (French and Spanish speaking films), Haunted Woods for Halloween, Poetry SLAM, Valentine’s Day Dance, and fashion shows organized by students, and food feasts that included sushi, pizza, s’mores, hamburgers and hot dogs

In addition, the New Hope area is also full of many recreational opportunities; bicycling and hiking on the canal path, and tubing on the Delaware River are popular. Students often go into town or nearby malls to shop and to see movies. Boarding students who have parental permission may visit day students' homes on the weekends.

Schedule: A Day in the Life of a Boarding Student

Breakfast is served from 7:20 - 7:50 a.m. then students follow a six day Rotation Schedule, 8 periods per day.