SPS Life on Display at Spring Visit Days

On April 2 and 4, approximately 125 admitted students and families visited the grounds for a firsthand look at all the reasons to “Say Yes to SPS!”

BY JACQUELINE PRIMO LEMMON

As a group of Sixth Formers cheered and clapped at the entrance to St. Paul’s School, waving an SPS flag, newly admitted students and their families arrived for Spring Visit Days in Millville on April 2 and 4 — a few horns honking happily as a steady stream of cars turned onto Dunbarton Road. Sunny, springlike weather greeted the 71 families who spent the day on April 2, while Mother Nature served up a late snowstorm that offered an entirely different experience to the 54 intrepid students and families who visited two days later.

While the weather conditions across the two visit days might have differed, the energy and excitement that pervaded the grounds did not. Visitors were welcomed by student hosts at the Athletic and Fitness Center before heading to an academics, afternoon program and activities fair in the Form of ’52 Gymnasium, where head coaches, program directors, advisers and other faculty members were on hand to tell families about the many programs offered at SPS. Before attending morning class periods with their hosts, admitted students and their family members joined Third and Fourth Formers in the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul for a special chapel service. At lunchtime, visiting students got a taste of student life in the dining hall while their parents and guardians dined in the Upper and heard remarks from Rector Kathy Giles. Both days ended with student panels in the Friedman Center’s Raffini Commons and fun food truck offerings back at the Athletic and Fitness Center.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Dana Chapin Anselmi ’98 says she is always proud of how the SPS community welcomes visitors to campus, especially on Spring Visit Days. She says that despite the April 4 nor’easter and accompanying challenges, “the ways in which our students, staff, and faculty rallied were unprecedented.”

Following the April 10 decision deadline, a total of 141 new Third, Fourth and Fifth Formers said yes to SPS. Anselmi says that, in the application process, those who were admitted to SPS distinguished themselves as top scholars, citizens, artists and athletes, and she’s thrilled by the group who will be joining the community for the 2024-25 academic year. “In all applicants, we sought students who embody our mission and think beyond themselves,” she says. “I am excited about the broad range of backgrounds and lived experiences of this group and cannot wait to welcome them to campus in September.”