TaborTalk Blog

I Am That Girl is a group on campus that works to facilitate conversations between students about things that matter. Our meetings create a place where students feel comfortable sharing personal experiences on topics that do not usually come up in everyday conversation in the classrooms, dining hall or dorms.

There are opportunities for all students, of any experience level, to get involved in the music culture at Tabor through the wide range of musical groups, clubs, and activities offered on campus. During my freshman year, music was what gave me the opportunity to put myself out there in a new environment, and over the course of my four years, I have experienced what it truly means to be a part of a community.

The following are excerpts from chapel speeches given by Tabor's 2017 participants in the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. SDLC is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of upper school student leaders (grades 9 - 12) from across the United States. SDLC focuses on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained adult and peer facilitators, participants will develop effective cross-cultural communication skills, better understand the nature and development of effective strategies for social justice, practice expression through the arts, and learn networking principles and strategies.

Someone recently asked me what I thought might have been the best weekend activity so far this year. It is hard for me to pick just one because, of course, I want everything that we plan from weekend to weekend to be the best. But after thinking about it, two things come to mind.

Proctors arrived to campus a few days early on September 1^st for the proctor orientation that would take place over the course of the week. We met with Mr. Millette twice a day for our training, which consisted of various leadership training activities and lectures.

Joslyn Jenkins '17 and Eddie Hannon '17 are Tabor's Co-Heads of School for the 2016-17 school year, a position they were elected to by Tabor's entire student body. Here are excerpts from their opening Chapel Talk:

Lily Blouin is doing a Senior Project about Senior Projects. For some context about her project, read her first blog post.

During my past three years at Tabor I often heard about senior projects, however I never had a clear understanding of what actually happened during those seven weeks. Senior projects seemed almost mythical to me, you would hear about them from seniors when they first talked about them in the early spring when they were excited about dropping classes.

“Senior Projects allow seniors in good academic standing to drop classes in the last seven weeks as necessary in order to pursue a project of their own creation.” This is how Senior Projects are described on the Tabor Academy website. One week into my project and that description doesn’t feel exactly right.

It’s 10:20 p.m. on a Wednesday night in Baxter House.  Dorm meeting is over, a yellow sheet cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles has been devoured, and six girls sit on the floor of the Common Room playing Bananagrams.  With midyear assessments behind them, the girls are more relaxed and cheerful -- back to their old selves.

The "R word" campaign to me is all about bringing awareness to our community here at Tabor. I hear the "R word" very often and never thought much of it. Now that I have been working with young athletes with intellectual impairments once a week, I see how capable they really are. The children improve on their skills every week, whether its shooting hoops or kicking a soccer ball they put their best effort into everything they do. Using the "R word" with a negative demeanor is hurtful. After seeing many "R word" campaigns online I thought it would be effective to make one here at Tabor. It truly was, hearing some of the personal stories was amazing and really helped to make the video more personal. I have already seen a huge impact in our Tabor community.

There is no better reflection of the health of a school than the health of its student culture. What are Tabor students like when adults aren’t around? Do students feel safe to be themselves? What do students tolerate from one another and where do they draw the line? What are those unwritten student codes that guide decision-making on a daily basis on campus? What kinds of things are met with, “We don’t do that here.”? 

During my sophomore year I developed a passion for French that prompted me to apply for Tabor's Shattuck Grant. The Shattuck Grant is given annually to a student who displays excellence in a language and who would like to study abroad and pursue further immersion through a summer program. I was fortunate to use the grant money I received to assist with my trip over the summer to Paris for a 9-week immersion program through an organization called Education First.