Here are two articles regarding private schools and boarding schools that were distributed by DITD to YSer families this week.
Alexa Williams knew her academic experience would be different when she transferred into Episcopal High School in 10th grade.
The teenager grew up in the Mount Vernon area and attended Fairfax County Public Schools her whole life. Attending Episcopal, a boarding school in the City of Alexandria, would be nothing like her ninth grade year at West Potomac High School.
But Alexa, who had always been a straight-A student, was unprepared for how much more challenging Episcopal�s curriculum was.
"I got straight A�s without trying to hard and I took four honors classes at West Potomac, which is the most you can take as a freshman," said Alexa, who had also gone through the honors program at Carl Sandberg Middle School and taken some pull-out "gifted and talented" classes at Fort Hunt Elementary School.
Alexa assumed that, even if she had to try a little bit harder in school, she would be able to earn all A�s at Episcopal as well. She was wrong.
Even though she was giving it her all, Alexa�s grades still dropped sophomore year as she adapted to Episcopal�s tougher academic standards.
Local private schools followed the statewide trend of shrinking entering classes, particularly for elementary grade levels. Those that did not experience enrollment dips attributed the consistent numbers to increased financial aid.
Last year, Bellarmine Preparatory School doled out $1.6 million in financial aid to about 270 of 985 students, according to president Jack Peterson. In 2009-2010, the school could bump that figure to as high as $2 million.
�We just bit the bullet and asked, �Would we rather run a deficit because we gave out more financial aid or because enrollment declined?� We wanted to keep families here,� Peterson said.
