“While this is a constant cycle that is hard to avoid, boarding teaches you how to navigate the low periods and ultimately use it as a learning lesson for future experiences.”
We have been boarders since Year 7.
Over the past five years, we have found one of the most valuable lessons that boarding can teach teenage boys is the ability to self-navigate and overcome challenges.
Entering a boarding house is the first time many boarders have stepped away from the comfort and security of their parents and guardians. Although this can be a daunting experience, one of the things that this unfamiliarity creates is the ability to organise yourself. With a larger workload than previous years, a greater number of commitments, and the absence of parents and guardians, you are required to quickly learn the basic skills of organisation. While this may take a while to learn, after a few weeks the boys will be well and truly on top of their daily routine, academic load, and external commitments. Likewise, the unfamiliarity of boarding and the constant challenges high school throws at you will provides boarders with the ability to overcome challenges. During their time in boarding, they will be faced with the highest of highs, and sometimes the lowest of lows.
Boarding also teaches you how to act within a community. Along with their academic and co-curricular load, boarders have to maintain their own personal area while working with their friends to keep their House neat and tidy. Boys work together to make sure multiple essentials to living are maintained. Each morning we empty the bins and then clean the dishes in the evening after prep (homework sessions). Boys are also required to manage their assortment of clothes to ensure the washing within the House runs smoothly. All these shared chores teach you how to work within a community. You learn not only about personal responsibilities, but the importance of working together, sharing the workload and its significance in maintaining a well-functioning community. Considering plan to attend university or get a job, boarding prepares them not only to be self-sustainable beyond school, but how to function within a community. While boarding will come with its challenges, it is a very memorable experience which allows boys to leave Toowoomba Grammar School as men of good character with the strength and resilience to face challenges in life, and knowing the importance of giving back to others.
But the boarding experience offers so much more - boys make lifelong memories and friends that, like their skills, will last and serve them far beyond the School gates.
Fidelis in Omnibus
by Stuart Officer and Alistair McKay - School Prefects and boarders
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