Program Components

Each morning and evening, students complete daily routines, including making their beds, organizing their personal space, performing personal hygiene tasks, and dorm chores such as emptying the trash or sweeping the dorm porch. These responsibilities encourage students to take ownership of their personal space and the dorm as a whole. They also provide opportunities for students to learn important self-care skills and build a routine that they can continue long after leaving Keswick School.

Dorm meeting provides a chance for students to grow as a group and learn new skills. Dorm meeting is held most days of the week. Students share goals and skills they are working on. Staff share announcements and brief lessons about pertinent skills. Dorm meeting also acts as a centering event in which students can slow down and prepare for the rest of their evening.

One of our goals is to help our students fill their free time with meaningful and enjoyable activities. Hobby Time is a self-directed period in which students may choose an independent activity in which to engage, such as reading, playing board games, drawing, or listening to music. Staff remain present and help scaffold this time as needed, with a target of progressively increasing the student’s ability to proactively identify and engage in independent leisure time without staff direction.

Each evening, students participate in a wide variety of leisure activities, including fishing, music appreciation, board games, athletic activities, reading, and group games. These activities may be specific to each dorm, campus-wide, or presented as a choice period in which students decide which activity from a predetermined list they would like to join.

Clubs and Quests are choice activities that students sign up to join and participate in for a full quarter. These activities are staff-led, but based on student interests. Each quarter, five to six clubs and four to five quests are offered. They range in interests from cooking and gardening to fantasy football and photojournalism to backyard games and hiking.

Most weekends, we offer at least one field trip. We send trips to a variety of places and events such as collegiate sports, hiking, camping, and canoeing/kayaking at area parks, and seasonal events such as air shows, pumpkin patches, ice skating and swimming.

Students have the opportunity to participate in our jobs program by applying and interviewing for several different jobs across campus. These jobs include horse helper, kitchen helper, point sheet helper, and gym helper. Our student jobs program provides experiences that mimic real-life elements of employment, such as applying and interviewing, clocking in and out, work evaluations, and receiving paychecks.