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Home Why Fessenden?

Connection Happens Here

Students, families, faculty, and staff make up our engaged and supportive community. From friends new and old, to mentors and lifelong connections, our Fessenden family is like no other.
Everything is a Boy Thing

Connection to the Fessenden community begins from the moment you step on campus for a tour. It’s a thriving community that is going 24/7, and whether you live on campus or not, our sense of community is strong. You feel like you’re coming into a home, not into a school, and that engaged, warm, and welcoming vibe is what makes Fessenden family. 

What makes The Fessenden School unique, however, is that our community extends beyond campus. By building connections in our local community, the boys learn and understand their place in the world. Community is bigger than all of us, and through their experiences at school and around town, Fessenden boys have the foundation to build and nurture their own communities—at school and at home.

Where Lifelong Friendships Begin
Boys walking and smiling
Group of boys hugging
Boys celebrating in gym
Boys walking on soccer field
Boys reading together in Wheeler Library

Where Lifelong Friendships Begin

Boys join our school community from down the street and from around the globe, and leave with lifelong friendships. As boys get to know each other in classrooms, around dining tables, in the dorms, and on the playing fields, they discover and learn about different perspectives and life experiences from their peers.

Connections aren’t bound by class, they happen throughout the school when opportunities like the Big Brother and Buddy Classroom programs intentionally bring boys of different ages together. We are all one community, and once you’re a Fessy Boy, you’re always a Fessy Boy.

More Than Teachers

The Fessenden community shows up for each other. With trust and connection as the foundation, everyone intentionally stays connected and supports one another through celebrations and challenges, wins and losses. Playing several roles in students’ lives as teachers, coaches, weekend activity chaperones, dorm parents, and mentors, faculty and staff stay connected with both students and parents—creating a partnership and extending the community to parents and families back home. Whether it's connecting with parents about student strengths, challenges, and progress, or welcoming parent engagement on campus and in the classroom, faculty are the heart of the Fessenden community.

Where Lifelong Friendships Begin
Teacher working with excited young boy
Boys circled around coach on soccer field
Faculty member serving food to boys
Boys and teacher walking and talking together
Teacher and student working together with laptop computer
Youngs boys in class circled around teacher
Two women talking and smiling
Boys circled around man reading
Lower school skating party - three women on ice skates
(2) Copy of IMG_3890
Faculty staff appreciation - women standing behind pizza boxes
Group photo at Lunar New Year
Where Lifelong Friendships Begin

Engaging on Campus: Parent Involvement

Come be a “mystery” reader in Pre-K, help coordinate a community service project, chaperone a field trip, or organize used clothing and sports equipment for the Fessy Fall Sale. Through activities like these and many more, parents also make life-long friendships at Fessenden, taking the connection far beyond campus. They work together on mission aligned activities and events both on campus and from afar, serve as room parents, host events, and start regional support groups—whatever suits their interests and schedules—creating a sense of belonging while supporting their students and the school. Once you’re part of Fessenden, you are forever connected. 

Fessenden is proud of and grateful for its vibrant and engaged parent community. Every parent is a member of the Fessenden Parents Association (PA) which coordinates parent volunteer opportunities to support the School’s mission and initiatives, all reinforce a sense of connection to the community, and set positive examples for Fessy boys.