Alonda

I grew up in Laos, in the capital city, but my father is American, from Wisconsin, and I’ve spent a lot of time there during the winter. When I chose my boarding school, the first thing it had to have was snow. I looked at ten different schools, applied to nine, and got into all of them. I chose Putney because I liked both the responsibility and the freedom students have here—freedom not in terms of time, because that’s pretty structured and we’re very busy—but in the way the teachers trust the students. At my old school we had really good teacher/student relationships, and I knew I wanted that. I really like the community and the people here. A few schools I applied to seemed to have cliques and ways of separating students, which I’m not a fan of. Here you don’t only have class with your grade, and I think that helps bring everyone together. I do like having freshman dorms, though.

In my old school, which was bilingual, I wasn’t pushed far enough. Here I’ve been pushed more. I personally have never liked English, but this year I did, especially creative writing. I wrote a story for Juan Rodriguez—an epistolary story--and it was really good! I surprised myself. I’m a math person--math with Penny was my favorite class--and I’m really getting into ceramics as well. I want to take every class there is here! There are so many choices: weaving, jewelry, black-and-white photography, sculpture, ballet.

I like the block system—where we have three or four academic classes a day, depending on the trimester.

I’ve done two group projects so far this year—a Girls and Media project, which was really fun. We watched movies and TV shows and analyzed them for the messages they were sending, and we read The Hunger Games. I also did a contra-dance project, where we traveled to some nearby towns. This term, I’m participating in the musical—Sondheim’s Into the Woods. I have three parts--Cinderella’s dead mother, a stepsister, and Little Red’s grandmother. We’re getting there!

In terms of jobs, I’ve done A.M. Barn and Early Dish Crew. When I came here, I told myself I was never going to do A.M. Barn. But it’s really nice, especially in the spring. My dad really loves the work program here, because it makes us more responsible. 

For my afternoon and evening activities I’ve done running and fitness, jazz dance, and madrigals. I also play piano, violin, and hammer dulcimer.

I’ve been thinking about leadership positions I’d like in coming years. Both the Standards Committee (the disciplinary committee) and the Work Committee (which assigns jobs) appeal to me.

Putney is a great school. I am so glad I decided to come here.