There is a gap between the educational opportunities provided to students at America’s elite boarding schools and those provided to everyone else. Even the best instructors at the best public and private schools are bound by the constraints of their curricula, and the pace at which most students learn. Too often, our elite students are hindered in their exploration of a topic: when they are ready to charge ahead, they must wait for their peers; when they are ready to delve deeper into a topic, they are made to march ahead at the behest of a preordained curricular checklist. Ewald Hall is a place for intellectually curious students to engage in deeper inquiry and broader exploration under the careful tutelage of world class educators. A digital dormitory. A new kind of prep school. A counter-society for thinking people.

Originally, Preparatory Schools sought to ready students for the hard work of collegiate study. The oldest of these schools were the boarding schools of the Northeast, which immersed students in a rigorous course of study that made their alumni the envy of the Ivy League. These days, “Prep School” is more an empty moniker than an urgent mission. Ewald Hall is a return to that evergreen mission in a contemporary context: prepare students for the difficult world ahead through a deeper, wider, and more challenging course of study by wrapping their existing school’s curriculum in a richer, more exploratory context. The intellectual and social benefits of an elite boarding school without ever leaving the nurturing home and community that parents work so hard to cultivate for their children.

We collaborate with students and parents to wrap each student’s existing curriculum in an expansive, bespoke exploration of the wider world of intellectual inquiry. Students follow their curiosity off the standard tracks of AP and IB curricula and into the vast terrain of the Life of the Mind, guided at each turn by the encouraging tutelage of world class educators.

Ex: A brief survey of the Federalist No. 10 in AP U.S. History might lead to a close reading of John Locke, whose writings deeply inspired Madison. Such study might lead an interested student to examine the differences between Locke and Hume’s conceptions of self, and the effect of their ideas on America’s founders.

Ex: A calculus lesson on the second derivative of a motion function might lead to an examination of Newton’s Principia, the work of theoretical physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, or the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background, under the watchful eye of a world-class Calculus teacher with a degree in Astrophysics.

The meta-hearth of Ewald Hall. The meeting place in our digital dormitory. Hold up a glimmering quotation to light up the path for your fellow explorers. Ask for help on a project from the most curious and thoughtful people you know, without screaming into the social-media void. Find kindred spirits and inspiring mentors in the network of Ewald students, tutors, alumni, and Emeriti. You’ll be amazed who you’ll find in our halls.

Each week, the founders of Ewald Hall lead by example. The Table is a workshop for dynamic discourse. A laboratory of experimental thought following a simple procedure: Read. React. Respond. Starting from Common Reading, the founders select key passages for analysis and debate. Students witness their tutors and mentors engaging in critical discussion and disagreement, always urgently, and always collegially. When they are ready, students take their own seat at The Table, leading colleagues through a reading of their own choosing. The Table is a commitment to the community of Ewald Hall. A promise to engage, to interrogate, and to help each other see more clearly.

Each of our students is on a journey all their own. Common Reading is a chance to come together at The Table. Always intriguing, and always optional for students, Common Reading is a commitment made by the founders to stay on the path. In the ever widening world of letters, Common Reading is a touchstone for Ewalders, and a trailhead from which a myriad of pathways lead. Students have access to past Common Readings in the Library Archives, which serve as signposts on their own journey through the rich world of thought.

A weekly podcast. An experiment in reassembling Ewald Table. A metaphorical hike from the trailhead of this week's Common Reading. A desire to read things out loud. A readiness to be visited by inspiration. A sound.

You are not your face filtered by an app. You are not your wardrobe, or a list of your favorite locations. You are not a collection of memes or a picture of your breakfast. At Ewald Hall, you are your best ideas. You are the collection of reading and writing that you cherish. A simple silhouette represents your likeness. The rest is a showcase of your favorite works– those of your intellectual and artistic heroes, and, eventually, your own. Inspire your fellow Ewalders to read the works that have changed your life, and to think about the questions that beckon you onwards.

For Ewalders, the work of deep reading and exploration is not a lonely one. Students are flanked on all sides by kindred spirits, uncovering once buried treasures in beautiful, oft overlooked texts, sharing stories and insights from their adventures in the meta-hearth of the Common Room like adventurers around a campfire. Eager learners share glimmering quotations from their readings, or offer up uncracked questions they’ve found scattered along the path.

After long, enlivening journeys through the wilderness of human inquiry, our students bring back gifts for the world. All of our students are not only encouraged but required to showcase their work for the world to see. After careful criticism and the dynamic exchange between students, peers, and tutors, every Ewalder publishes their work in our Quarterly Journal: Notes from the Table. Each season, Ewalders and their families get a panoramic view of all the high peaks to which our intrepid intellectuals have risen. Upon graduation, students can point to a sophisticated collection of published works– a most distinctive feature of a college application.