Residential Life: Independence at its Core
The boarding program is what makes Mount Michael so special and so unique compared to the other Catholic and public schools in Omaha and the state of Nebraska. Mount Michael is the only boarding school in Nebraska and one of the premier boarding schools in the entire Midwest. It is in that boarding program that transforms your son into the man he will become walking across the stage at graduation his senior year. In this blog, I will outline how the boarding program looks for Mount Michael students, the lessons learned, and my experience boarding while I was in school.
Firstly, let me be clear, Mount Michael students have the option to either live at school or be a day student. A day student is simply one who comes to school in the morning and leaves for home once school is done. They do not have dorms or the extra amenities that the residential students are given. Let me define the parts of the boarding program that are the same regardless if you are a freshman or senior. Each grade has a dean that is responsible for all operations of the boarding students and the day students. The dean will keep you, the parents, informed on what is happening week-to-week throughout the school year. Dinner will be served to all the boarding students at 5:30 and will last until 6:30 pm. This is the last meal served until breakfast the next morning which will be served at 6:45 until 7:30 am. All boarding students will partake in a mandatory study hall period that starts at 7:30 and finishes at 9:00 pm. Until bedtime, the students have the freedom to play in the gym, socialize in the dorms, continue homework, or explore the many acres Mount Michael sports. It is in my opinion, you should heavily consider making your son be part of the boarding program for the very reasons outlined in this blog.
Your sons freshman year living at Mount Michael will look very different than the sophomores, juniors, or seniors. Freshman have a more disciplined way of living at school than the other students because they need to become familiar with how things operate in the boarding program. For example, they will sleep in a barracks style dormitory instead of having individual rooms like the rest of the classes. Their bunk mates are chosen by the freshman dean and so are their lockers. Freshman also have an earlier bedtime than the rest of the classes and their phone privileges are heavily tailored back. They are only allowed phone privileges from 9-10 pm after they have completed the designated study hall period. The reason for this is because the school wants the students to form relationships and bonds outside the arena of technology. They want your sons to bond together in ways that majority of kids these days forget and that is through authentic human connection. When I was a freshman, I found that I barely even used my phone privileges because some kind of adventure was always happening after study hall, and I did not want to miss out. All in all, your sons freshman year experience will be one he will never forget but one he will look back at its memories for the rest of his life.
Starting the sophomore year, students will now be placed in actual dorms that they will share with one other student. They have the choice to pick who they want to live with, but the final decision comes down to the discretion of the sophomore dean. The dorm that they will live in is very similar to that of a college dorm. They will sleep on a bunk-bed, have a designated study desk area, and they will share a closet. All the rooms are equipped with a sink and mirror so all the students do not have to share the communal bathroom. The rooms are big enough to where they can fit a couch and a mini-fridge if they desire. The shared dorms give your son the opportunity to live even more independently than he did during his freshman year. Sophomores are awarded more phone privileges than the freshman but they are still heavily tailored back for the exact reasons stated above. Sophomores also have their own communal bathroom where they are able to shower.
Junior year is the most unique when it comes to the boarding program. Instead of having two students to a dorm room like usual, the juniors will now have four students living in a larger dorm room. They have two bunk-beds and four desks so every student has the proper facilities to be able to get homework done. These rooms are much larger than the two man dorms because they have to be able to accommodate the two more students. Many Mount Michael alumni consider junior year to be the best year of the boarding program. They enjoy having larger rooms and having extra roommates. This made it easier for them to study together and keep one another accountable in their studies and athletics. In recent news, the junior dorms have been newly renovated with new carpet, lockers, and bunkbeds. Juniors still have to turn their phones and computers in at night before bedtime to their dean.
Senior year is the most anticipated out of all the years in the boarding program. The seniors go back to having only two man dorms just like the sophomore class. The benefits of boarding as a senior is that you do not have to turn your phone or computer into the dean before bedtime or anytime. Seniors have complete freedom with their technology, but can quickly be revoked if the senior dean deems it. Seniors still are required to take part in the mandatory study hall period ever evening. However, they do not necessarily have to be working on schoolwork. As long as they are at their desk or in their room, that is sufficient. Seniors also have the freedom to enter into other students dorm rooms during study hall to collaborate on homework together if needed. On somedays throughout the week, there will be events on campus such as sporting events or college recruiter visits. Seniors will be allowed to go to these events during study hall at the discretion of the senior dean. The senior class still has night prayer and announcement, but do not have to go to bed until after 11 pm. The senior boarding program is the closest experience that they can receive to college dorm life before they eventually head off to college.
The lessons your son will learn while boarding at Mount Michael are numerous and essential to his adult development. First and foremost, your son will learn the valuable skill of living independently. This is the first time in these young mens life where they are away from the comfort of their home. They have to learn how to rely on the brotherhood of all Mount Michael students to successfully make it through the boarding program. Many of the freshman students experience homesickness when the semester starts because they have never had to live away from home for an extended period of time. The way your son battles and overthrows the feeling of homesickness is to devout himself to his studies, athletic goals, and developing lasting relations with his brothers at school. Once your son completes that challenge, he will love boarding at Mount Michael completely.
Your son will learn how to keep himself accountable for studying and completing all his homework assignments. It is only up to him to decide how much effort he will put into his homework because, besides the dean, nobody else is going to be watching over him. He will have to stay accountable to finish his homework even if study hall has ended and he needs to complete the assignments. It may take him sometime to catch onto this but once he does, he will become a new man with a new sense of maturity.
I feel one of the best lessons learned in the boarding program is learning how to live with another person. Having roommates teaches you a lot about yourself and the person you are living with. Being part of the boarding program, your son will truly know what it means to live in community, one of the Benedictine values. Not only will he have to learn to live with his roommate, but also with every single other student on the floor. This will challenge him in ways that he has never been challenged before but once he gets to college, he will be the perfect roommate and know how to live in community.
Lastly, my experience boarding at Mount Michael was one of the best times in my life and one I wish I could go back too. I remember entering into my freshman year with anxious but hopeful feelings as I was about to learn a whole new part of myself. I remember how much fun I had living in the dorms as a freshman when we would all congregate after study hall. It was nice knowing I could rely on my brothers when I was struggling on my homework, athletics, or simply feeling homesick. I felt so free when I was at school because I could roam Mount Michaels campus with my brothers and build forts, play football, or simply go on a hike when I needed to. It was truly unlike anything I had experienced before.
Sophomore year was another amazing transition for me because it further challenged my development as a young man. During my sophomore year, I had a Chinese foreign exchange student named Scott Ding. I had an amazing time living with Scott because it showed me a different culture and way of looking at things. Scott helped me with my homework and I helped him adjusting to life in the United States. He turned into one of my best friends and one I still talk with today. During my sophomore year, I embraced Benedictine spirituality more and was able to go to afternoon prayer and dinner with the monks. This was only possible because I was living at school and that made me feel closer to God.
I did not board my junior year, but I was referred to as an “honorary boarder” by my classmates on the floor. I decided not to board because I did not want to live in the bigger dorms with three other guys, and I still regret that decision to this day. I saw how much fun my classmates had during their junior year and wanted to be part of it so bad. I would stay at Mount Michael for dinner and study hall, and leave to go home before they had their night prayer. I essentially was the honorary day student spending the most time in the dorms as I could. Unfortunately, our junior year in the dorms got cut short do to COVID and everyone had to move out.
I decided to be part of the boarding program once again when my senior year began. I was lucky enough to have my own room, which is unheard of, at the end of the hall furthest from the deans office. I enjoyed living by myself greatly because it allowed me to understand myself on a personal level even better. I enjoyed the freedom that seniors receive when they are in the dorms and it made me a better student because I had to hold myself to a higher standard. It was also the last year me and my classmates were ever going to live together again and we wanted to make the most of it. We had the most fun imaginable from having warball tournaments, to deciding where to go to college, and exploring the vast Mount Michael campus. I would do anything to spend one more week as a senior in the dorms.
Overall, I heavily consider allowing your son to be a boarding student at Mount Michael because he will come away a more independent and mature man. The lessons he will learn will help him further his development as he enters into the next chapter of his life.
