Community-Focused Kickoff

Sep 17 2026

This fall, for the first time, Brooks’ opening of school rolled out over multiple days, giving new students a day with peer leaders to get settled before the full student body reported to campus for move-in and orientation.

A group of students hold welcome signs in the foreground, standing before a Brooks School sign and a lush green landscape in the background.

“We're really happy that you're here,” Dean of Student Life Jen Weissbach — who only just joined Brooks this summer herself — told students gathered in the Center for the Arts theater last week to hear about our new Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program.

She had created the staggered move-in to also provide student leaders with skills to welcome their peers and support them throughout the year. Those leaders were the first group to return to Brooks on September 1 for a full day of leadership training.

INTENTIONAL ACTIVITIES

New students and returning international students arrived the following day to participate in a variety of activities from advisor and dorm meetings to dessert plus games at the Head of School’s House.

When all returning students rolled into campus the next day, on September 3, it was game on — literally.

A woman holds a purple hula hoop for a boy in a red shirt to jump through on a grassy field with people and parked cars in the background.

The moved-in boarders and checked-in day students joined student leaders for fun orientation programming by grade:

The classes of 2027 and 2030 merged for team challenge activities designed to build community.
The class of 2029 participated in a collaboration program with Hale Education.
The class of 2028 headed off campus to Kimball Farms amusement park.

A group of teenagers in green t-shirts are interacting on a grassy field with a line of lush green trees in the background.

People in blue shirts ride colorful bumper boats across a body of water with more boats floating in the background.

FOCUSED FUN

By September 4, it was time for classes to begin (plus Chapel, an all-school meeting and seated lunch with advisory groups). Field Day that night kicked off the weekend festivities as students competed in silly challenges on the turf.

A large group of people in athletic wear are gathered in a circle on a football field, with a green grassy area and trees in the background.

A group of young athletes in blue attire huddle together in the foreground on a grassy field, with a line of trees and a cloudy sky in the background.

A group of cheering young men in black athletic gear celebrate in the foreground against a backdrop of green trees and a twilight sky.

The highlight of the school opening, though, was “Western Weekend,” on Saturday night. The annual bash featured lawn games, a dunk tank and neon-lit dance.

A collage of three photos shows young men playing various outdoor games on a grassy field with trees and event equipment in the background.

A blonde woman rides a mechanical bull on a red and blue inflatable mat while a crowd of people watches in the background under a dark evening sky.

“Schools give time towards the things that matter,” Weissbach said to students during the assembly last week. Social-emotional learning “matters to us.” That’s why, beyond the opening week activities, Brooks is continuing to focus on community-building through SEL programming.

PURPOSEFUL ENGAGEMENT

SEL replaces the former Self in Community class and will run every Tuesday morning with students engaging in either grade-level programming, all-school programming or office hours with teachers. This intentional time in the academic schedule allows students to learn and practice skills that will help them individually, as well as inform shared, community experiences.

Topics the SEL program will address throughout the year include:

Self-awareness
Self-management
Relationship skills
Social awareness
Responsible decision-making

“This hour that we blocked out in our schedule is where we get to work on ourselves and we get to work to be the best version of this community that we want it to be,” Weissbach said.

“We are thinking about you as people and how we want you to show up in the world,” she told students. “But frankly, there's a lot of skill development that has to happen in that process.”

Through guest speakers and emphasis on empathy, the SEL program is “going to require … practice taking on perspectives of different people, of people who are different from you,” Weissbach added. “That is part of living in an intentionally diverse community at a boarding school.”

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