The Bolles 2025-2026 school year is in full swing now. Students are familiar with their teachers, lunch schedules, and they have mostly settled into a rhythm. The stress of a brand new year has mostly passed. Students have reconnected with their friends and some have made new ones.
Most aspects of the school year are no longer brand new concepts for students, as they have now joined clubs, started fall sports, and taken a few assessments in their classes. Students are excited to be with their friends again, as time with friends during breaks is what many students look forward to during the school day.
This year, Bolles added five additional minutes to the school day, and some students took some time to become familiar with the new schedule. Lucas Costas ‘28 said, “I’m finally settling into the new schedule and I am enjoying spending time with friends.”
Other students believe that the year has gotten easier academically as it has gone on. This is common because sometimes it takes students a couple of weeks to remember information from last summer. Luke Meiners ‘28 said, “It was very difficult at first, but now I am in a rhythm because I am more familiar with my classes and teacher expectations.”
Aiden Pereira ‘28 also experienced a similar start to the school year. “At first this year was a little hard because of the summer work, which I usually never do well on,” he said. “But, since summer work is done, I’m doing a lot better in my classes and I’m still working on getting even higher grades.” The difficult part is often understanding what makes each individual teacher tick and how to do well in their class.
As students are settling into the academic year, others who were new to the school are now forming a new community at Bolles. These new students not only have to learn their way around campus. The campus is very large and spacious and abbreviations like CFI may be confusing to students. However, in the first couple weeks of the year, most students are able to figure out the layout of the school.
On top of being new to the campus layout, they typically come to Bolles not knowing many people. These stressors may seem big at first, but students are beginning to adjust to the new environment and they are starting to find a group of friends. Boarder Ryan Cahoy ‘29 said, “It’s been great, the community is very welcoming, especially my new friends on the swim team. I feel at home and it is great to be at Bolles.”
Getting into a sport is a great way to integrate into the Bolles community. New sophomore Matthew Qiu has enjoyed his time on the team, “It’s been great, the community is very welcoming, especially my new friends on the swim team.” Qiu has adjusted well, he said, “I feel at home and it is great to be at Bolles.” Doing the same sport as another person is easy common ground for a new student looking to make friends. It is a guaranteed social group that helps many new students get adjusted to life at Bolles.
So far students at Bolles are settling into their classes, and they are eager to take on the school year and all of its highs and lows. Leaning on friendships and building relationships with teachers seems to be the way many students will approach this challenge.
