Learn to use your mind well
Authentic, student-centered challenge
"I hear peers at other schools talk a lot about how nervous they are about a
presentation or a test coming up, something with big academic import, and they
don’t feel prepared. Whereas at Watkinson, you learn the skills, you gain the
academic confidence, and then you find yourself presenting in front of 70-plus
people perfectly comfortably, because they prepared us for that. That’s a really
special thing I don’t think I’d be able to say if I went to a different school."
Forest G. ’24, Tufts University ’28
“When everybody around me wants to learn, it changes the way I think.”
A community of individuals
We all know that every brain and every body is different. A good education has to be based on that truth. At the same time, education is also a collective enterprise. We become our best selves only in conjunction with others.
The day after your content runs out
Our faculty design their courses to emphasize depth of knowledge over simple breadth of coverage. Naturally, content matters. But content must arrive in the context of building the skills necessary to investigate, evaluate, and understand. Otherwise, as Global Studies Director Jen O’Brien puts it, what happens the day after your content knowledge runs out?
Our mission is to develop in our students the power to shape their lives and the world around them.
“Because of Watkinson, my daughter knows what she’s capable of. And, also because of Watkinson, she’s capable of a great deal.”
Breaking Categories
Artists become athletes here, and vice versa. Numbers people try writing poetry. Poets develop spreadsheets for their experimental data. Students learn that they don’t have to define themselves quite so rigidly. There is no typical Watkinson student.
The end result
Students who know how they learn best. Students who aren’t afraid to ask questions. Students who support each other. Students who speak up. Students who understand how to set goals and move toward them. Students who show up at their college professors’ office hours. Students who value themselves. Students who serve their community.
Come see for yourself