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The Boarding Experience

Three female boarding school students making dumplings in the dorm kitchen
Boys playing baseball outside their dorm
High school girls hanging out in boarding school dorm room
High school boys laughing & eating snacks in their dorm's common room at boarding school in Massachusetts
High school boarding students playing with a dog in a dorm room
Teenage students playing video games on couches in dorm common room
Two boarding school residents holding-up crafts they made

Dorm living provides students the opportunity to live with peers from all over the country and from all over the world. Having both roommates and dorm mates to live and grow with helps students to understand new perspectives, a habit that is invaluable to any student.

Residential Life at Tabor

Tabor’s small dormitories form the foundation of our boarding school life. To ensure that everyone is known, our largest dormitory has just thirty-two students. At least four adults serve as houseparents in each dormitory, mentoring, supervising, and supporting the students in their dormitories. The benefit of the camaraderie that is created between students and adults through dorm life extends to classrooms and the playing fields. Another layer of oversight is performed by student proctors selected and trained by the Student Life Office. These student leaders help with check-ins and dorm activities but most importantly serve as role models and sounding boards for their peers. 

Dorm Traditions

Tabor’s boarding tradition reaches back to its founding in 1876. Since then, the dormitories have both honored and updated traditions: One dorm is famous for its fireside chats at ten o’clock, even though the fireplace itself no longer exists; another enjoys houseparent-led dorm walks to see the stars; still another dorm likes karaoke, holding sing-offs in its common room after study hall and before bedtime; every dorm loves to celebrate birthdays—and each does so uniquely, some with cake, some with s’mores, all with singing.

A community of small dorms, in which both students and faculty know each other well, and where older students help and support the younger students, create the richness that is the boarding experience at Tabor.