Seniors Camille, Janet, Charlotte, and Vaughn relaxing in the “out of the box room.”

Photo Credit: Kayla Richards, 12th Grade

Some seniors view privileges such as driving off-campus during the day as actions that they’re simply old enough and mature enough to take. Some seniors view privileges – an unsupervised lounge – as a going away gift or something that sets them apart from the rest of the Upper School.

The school isn’t intentionally trying to limit the seniors’ freedom. Instead, the school is simply unable to accommodate some of the popular requests. Dr. Winters and Mr. Columbo explained that there isn’t enough space for a senior lounge and that driving privileges are similarly unfeasible because the school came to a legal agreement with the town, promising that students would not drive off-campus during the day.

The privileges that seniors do have are often overlooked. When asked about what privileges are provided to seniors, Dr. Winters said that seniors have the “Senior BBQ at Mr. Rohdie’s house at the start of the year along with a tee-shirt made for the seniors.” Dr. Winters also noted that seniors were offered the best student parking — first along the field and then, “when we realized we had enough spots, by the music rooms,” and “being in the Commons for all Town Halls and Tiger Talks.” Dr. Winters also recalled that “seniors had a special lunch with a pizza truck” earlier this year, which was another senior privilege that could happen once a month, so long as seniors organize it. 

A Junior’s car parked in the parking lot reserved for Seniors

Photo Credit: Caroline Hart, 12th Grade

However, some seniors think that some of these privileges are not exclusive enough. Mackenzie, for example, says that there are “too many juniors parking” in the spaces by the music rooms. There is also always another grade in the Commons for all Tiger Talks and Town Halls, in addition to seniors. 

During the negotiations over creating the high school, the school sacrificed its ability to admit its maximum number of students in exchange for students’ ability to drive to school, so driving to and from school is a privilege within itself. 

When the Stanwich School was first established, the neighborhood opposed it being built. In order to build its school, Mr. Columbo said that Stanwich promised the town of Greenwich that students would “never drive on this campus.” When GCDS took over the Stanwich School, it also acquired its “contract [which] said students can never drive to school.” Mr. Rohdie promised that the school would never admit to its full capacity if students could drive to and from school.

When asked about the perception that the administration does not want seniors to have a lounge, Mr. Columbo clarified that he “would love for a place for all the seniors,” but the school was never designed to have the kind of extra space that would allow for a lounge. The room that the seniors requested to use is only supposed to hold roughly 7 people.

Room N-26, another space that seniors say is sometimes free.

Photo Credit: Kayla Richards, 12th Grade

To seniors at GCDS, according to Janet, 12th grade, a lounge is an unsupervised room exclusive to seniors where “we can get to bond and talk to one another without having other people interfere.” 

Seniors have also referenced the old seventh to ninth-grade Upper School on Old Church Road in order to explain why they should have a senior lounge now. The old Upper School maintained specific ninth-grade privileges, the most memorable for many being the ninth-grade lounge. Mackenzie, who was at GCDS during her ninth-grade year and experienced the ninth-grade lounge describes the rejection of a senior lounge as a tough pill to swallow. She recalls that “in ninth grade, that’s [the lounge] what brought us all together” and credits it for making her ninth-grade year “probably one of the best years” she had during her time at GCDS. Mackenzie feels like she had “more privileges as a 15-year-old” than she does now, as an 18-year-old.

When it comes to the school implementing a senior lounge in the coming years, the future doesn’t seem promising. The school will likely never be this small again, and as the years go on and the grades increase in size, it’s doubtful that the seniors will have a lounge with the current layout of the building. 

One thing has been cleared up though: it’s not so much the administration attempting to limit seniors’ freedom to blame, but the lack of infrastructure to allow for the privileges wanted.