Last week, fifth former Janelle Fouche was disappointed to learn that her current house advisers, Wendy and John Marrinan, might move to another dormitory next year. While she understood that her advisers’ family might benefit from the new accommodations, she worried that the transfer would end the close relationship she enjoyed with her current house advisers, who had provided important support and guidance throughout her journey through Choate. While Janelle wanted to be a prefect primarily to mentor other students, she also valued the strong camaraderie that she had developed with the advisers. Her frustration reflects the extent to which faculty can influence a student’s dorm preferences during the approaching house lottery process.



Residential life affects many aspects of a Choate experience. Relationships that develop in boarding schools often emerge stronger than those developed in day schools and other high schools. As students interact with house advisers on a regular basis, students often develop close friendships with the faculty in their dorms. During second visits, students commended Choate on the closeness of student-faculty relationships. To persuade a prospective student to attend Choate over Andover, fifth former Alan Ferraro told how much he enjoyed his friendships with his advisers and coaches, Michael Velez, Ian Morris, and Ned Gallagher. “Relationships like these make the Choate atmosphere warmer, more fun and more comfortable than a more impersonal environment at a big school like Andover,” he explained. While dorm location and size influence students’ dorm preferences, the dorm advisers also play an important role in students’ dorm lists for the housing lottery. As the spring term at Choate progresses, the housing lottery for both faculty and students also takes full bloom.



The faculty housing assignment system differs from the student dorm lottery. While the student-housing lottery depends mostly upon the luck of the draw, a more systematic framework exists to determine where faculty singles, couples, and families will live each year. As Dean of Faculty Stephen Farrell explained “two pillars of seniority and family size” determine the placement of faculty in each house. According to family size, the Choate faculty members are classified into B, C, D, and E categories and can only apply for houses in their specified letter category. For example, this year as the Bestes and Farrells will leave and be greatly missed in their Homestead and Edsall residences, only families with three children or more, classified in category E, are eligible to apply for residency in either of these larger dwellings for the upcoming year. After a family expresses interest and applies for a new residence, the Dean of Faculty then considers which candidate has amassed the most points. Points are earned according to how long a faculty member has lived in a dorm at Choate or another boarding school. Faculty are awarded three credits for living in a Choate dormitory for one year. For each non - dorm year at Choate, faculty receive 2 points and 1 point is awarded for non - Choate years. However, the Headmaster can “designate” up to ten positions a year in what they feel to be the “best interest of the school and its students.”



Yet should other factors be considered in the faculty housing matching processes that are not a part of the process today? For example, should faculty be matched with students whose academic and/or extracurricular interests are aligned? Or, conversely, should students be matched with faculty whose interests focus on other fields to help broaden the interests of students? Should students who need more structure in their residential lives be matched with faculty more inclined to enforce dorm disciplines strictly, while other students who impose their own structure are matched with faculty who are more flexible?



Dormitory life for faculty can be stressful, as advisers are often needed to resolve unexpected problems or emergencies in the middle of the night. Dorm faculty ultimately may choose for themselves the extent of their involvement in their dormitory life. Some advisers always have an open door during the class days and weekends while some only welcome visits from a window during study hours. Some advisers allow their own children to mingle with the students in the dorm while some keep their children mostly inside their residences. Some faculty take a more private approach to living in the dorm, while others prefer to immerse themselves fully in daily dorm activities. Regardless of these faculty preferences, most student-faculty communication cultivates an environment of trust and friendship between students and faculty.



While the faculty housing assignment process leads to rumors and speculation across the campus about next year’s assignments, an opportunity exists in all dorms for students to find common ground and warm relationships with whoever become their advisers. Student and faculty friendships – whether just sharing humorous stories from daily events or sharing more emotional moments – help shape the character of Choate boarders and greatly enhance student life.