San Domenico offered another rousing week of activities for our students as they returned to class after Orientation trips and holiday weekends!
Last weekend, Resident Faculty Matt Polsinello, or Chef Matt as he is affectionately called, taught another cooking class. This time, the menu featured air-fried ravioli, a dish inspired by resident faculty Charis Adams. This weekend was a perfect time for our students to rest and relax prior to courses beginning in earnest next week! Since the last day for course changes has passed, students traded books for classes that they had added or dropped, and bonded with their classmates over shared classes for the upcoming semester.
Sunday offered a unique and exciting outing for our Prefects! This year, the prefects will be visiting other boarding schools located in the Bay Area to meet with prefects from these schools for connection, leadership training, and bonding with peers over shared experiences. This week, many of our prefects—plus Matt Polsinello, Director of Residential Life Melissa Taylor and I—traveled to Woodside Priory to visit their school and get a glimpse of residential life on another campus. Prefects in attendance included Aarya C. ’24, Carmelina C. ’24, Chi O. ’25, Aaron G. ’24, Ellie L. ’24, Harley V. ’25, Melo L. ’24, Amarah A. ’24, Martin P. ’25, and Saliah J. ’25. We are incredibly grateful to Woodside Priory for hosting us this time, and look forward to hosting both Woodside Priory and the Athenian School at our campus next time!
After departing Woodside Priory, we stopped in San Francisco’s Japantown on the way back to campus so that students could grab boba tea at student favorite Pink Pink, do some quick shopping, and grab a delicious meal from local restaurants. Aarya and Chi enjoyed visiting Daiso, a Japanese style big-box store complete with holiday decorations (Halloween is coming up!) and knick-knacks for comfortable dorm rooms!
On Monday we hosted our first Community Dinner of the year! Community dinners are a time when all students join together to eat together, share in a reflection (written and shared by Melissa Taylor), and cultivate old and new friendships with those not living in the same building or not part of the same grade or friend group. The dinner was hosted by our North Building Prefect Melo, while fellow North Building resident Sharifa H. ’24 served food to the tables, led the conversation starters, and encouraged bonding amongst those living in different dorms. Students were encouraged to wear formal dress. Students were encouraged to wear formal dress.
As our Boarding community approaches the beginning of Autumn (the first day of fall is next week), we look forward to celebrating the change of the season together. Stay tuned for our next installment!
– Resident Faculty Supervisor and Dorm Head Jessica Farley