Daily Schedule

Classes & Meetings (8:00 a.m. - 3:05 p.m.)
Athletics (3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.)
Free Time (5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.)
Study Hall (8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.)
Dorm Check-In (10:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m. on Saturdays)

8:00 a.m. - 3:05 p.m.
Classes & Meetings
The class day starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 3:10 p.m. Classes meet four or five times a week, including one double period lasting 95 minutes. Single periods are 45 minutes long. You will also have free periods throughout the week and a break each day that you can use to meet with a teacher, talk with your advisor, hang out with friends, or get a head start on homework.

Most students enroll in five courses each semester. With more than 200 courses in 16 departments, the academic program offers a breadth and depth that most students will not experience until they reach college. What will you take? First Year Greek? Digital Photography? Modern East Asia? An Introduction to Forensic Science? Environmental Ethics? Spanish for Native and Bilingual Speakers? An Independent Study in Higher Physics? Advanced Ballet? Architecture? Expect your classes to be both fascinating and challenging.

Hotchkiss holds students to high standards, which means you, your teachers, and your classmates explore subjects far beyond the surface. Every academic department thoroughly teaches the fundamentals of its discipline before moving on to the more sophisticated ideas. In a physics class you will hear your teacher explain in detail how lab reports are to be written. The form may be different from an essay on Thoreau or Napoleon, but the emphasis on presenting one's idea clearly and concisely is not. In a geometry class you may use computers or paper and scissors to prove the exact same theorem. The important thing is that you are taught how to think carefully and lay out your proof clearly and logically. When students can work their way through ideas like that, their minds become flexible – open to the possibilities suggested by the study of the sciences, math, and the humanities. The most talented, motivated, and curious of students will find the richness of the Hotchkiss program virtually limitless.

Class discussion and debate over ideas often spill out into the hallways and carry over into lunch. Of course lunch-table conversation can just as easily move from a discussion of Cry, the Beloved Country to last night's Red Sox doubleheader and Saturday's celebration of Chinese New Year. The weekly schedule features times when the School comes together in a number of different settings. On Mondays and Fridays, the community gathers for "Auditorium," an all-School meeting run by the Head of School. All students also attend "Chapel" once a week, a nondenominational program where students and teachers gather to reflect on ethical and spiritual questions, to ponder issues of School life, and to be enriched by the diversity of our gifts and traditions. The program ranges from talks by members of the School community to presentations by student groups, and musical and dramatic performances. Students also gather by grade in weekly meetings to discuss issues and hear news related specifically to their class. The schedule also provides a break each morning that can be used for language lab work, school service responsibilities, club meetings, or just relaxing with friends.

With the Main Building at the center of the day's activities, you and your friends and teachers will come together in classrooms and hallways, and at lunch, performance rehearsals, school meetings – in countless group and one-on-one exchanges throughout the day.
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3:30-5:30 p.m.
Athletics
Committed to the value of athletics as a part of every student's education, Hotchkiss offers three levels of competitive play—fielding varsity, junior varsity, and “third” teams—as well as a rich instructional and intramural program. Your athletic commitments take place in the afternoon at the conclusion of classes. Additionally, during one of the three athletic seasons, you may apply to undertake special projects in non-athletic areas such as emergency medical training, theater, art, or community service.
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5:30-8:00 p.m.
Free Time
After athletics, you return to your dorm and change for dinner. Dress code: casual. Between dinner and study hall there is time to catch a pickup game of stickball, attend a meeting of BaHSA, The Whipping Post, or the Outing Club, rehearse for the school play, or get together with friends.
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8:00-10:00 p.m.
Study Hall
Study Hall, held in the dormitory for preps and lower mids, and upper mids during the first marking period, is from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. Intentionally, preps and lower mids live together, and upper mids and seniors live together. This configuration allows each age group not only to bond as a class, but also to have the level of structure it needs to achieve its greatest potential. Consequently, in the prep/lower mid dormitories, younger students have the benefit of nightly in-room study hall, a designated time for everyone to focus on work. By the time students leave the lower-class dorms, their time management skills and appreciation of a good night's sleep should be well developed (thanks to a lights-out policy in lower-class dorms). Upper-class students, have more freedom to manage your own study and sleep schedule.
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10:00 p.m.; 11:00 p.m. on Saturdays
Dorm Check-In
All students return to their dormitories for "check-in" at 10 p.m. with their proctor or dorm faculty. After check-in, hanging out with your dorm-mates and dorm parents discussing the day over a "feed" is a frequent occurrence. Whether it's nachos and the latest campus news, or an extra-large deep dish and the last round of the Final Four, when you find yourself sitting around in your pajamas or sweats with friends in your dorm parent's apartment at 10:30 at night, that's when you know Hotchkiss is like home.
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