Over the weekend, around 200 White Mountain School alumni and faculty gathered to say goodbye to their alma mater. The 138-year-old high school in the North Country is now closed.
The boarding school initially cited financial constraints as its reason for shutting down. In letters addressed to both parents and to the broader community, the White Mountain School board of trustees shared that they sought a partnership to keep the boarding school open, to no avail. The news came as a shock to many.
But as rain fell on the last Saturday in June, alumni old and young reconnected at the outdoors school once more.
Before an official ceremony began Betsey Neville, Kathy Rockwood, Sally Coldwell and Sarah Hurlburt Lutz from the class of ‘67 were eating a late snack and reminiscing on their time at the boarding school.
They attended when it was originally an all girls school, then named St. Mary of the Mountains. Their class had nearly 30 girls. At that point, they said, it was one of the biggest classes the girls school had seen.
“When you’re that young, it’s a big impact on your life to be away from home and to have this life away from home with all these other people,” Neville said. “It impacted every part of my life.”
Surprise mountain days were some of the women's favorite memories. They’d wake up on random mornings to an announcement that there was no class and that they were heading to Cannon Mountain to ski. Even though the slopes were icy, it was an upgrade from learning to ski on a steep road on campus.
“My pocket of home in northern New Hampshire”
During the closing ceremony, a White Mountain School tradition of “passing the book” allowed those who wished to share their fond memories take the mic.
A few shared how the school gave students chances to graduate after many mishaps, including some that led to expulsions, and others that straightened them out. Many were grateful to staff and faculty that kept them going.
One person said the White Mountain School planted a seed of his own sobriety, when he was disciplined on campus for drinking. The school brought in a speaker that shared their experience with getting sober which later helped him start his journey.
Annie Paulsen, who graduated in 2022, joined a few others sharing how some of her fondest memories were those where she could have gotten in trouble.
She found herself sneaking out at night to hang out with her friends till 4 a.m., watching the stars, only to go to a morning meeting at 8 a.m. She said it gave her and her friends something to do during the pandemic.
“You have to get creative sometimes because we had to be in the dorms by 7 p.m. at night and I'm like 18 years old, and I don't want to do that.” Paulsen said.
Isa Garcia, who’s friends with Paulsen, graduated last year. She says she felt the boarding school would be the best alternative to public schools in her home state of New York. But she didn’t expect to fall in love with it.
“The women of color really lifted me up,” Garcia said, recounting how she was student body president and spoke at her graduation. In the process, she felt out of her element but found people who helped her out.
“That's why I was able to walk that stage last spring and I was really just fortunate to meet these amazing powerhouses of people really and that’s where I found my community, my pocket of home in northern New Hampshire.”
Garcia said she wasn’t initially ready to go back to White Mountain School post graduation because it felt too soon. She was thinking of visiting in perhaps five years or so, but with the school’s closing, walking into the chapel last weekend, she said it felt good to be back, if only briefly.
Her favorite memory: asking her elusive crush out to prom.
Sade Thomas, Garcia and Paulsen’s friend, helped organize three proms on campus including the one Garcia attended with her crush. Thomas said she’s really sad that the White Mountain School was closing.
“As a city kid I don't like the outdoors – I can say that confidently and proudly,” Thomas said. “But when I’m here, I do.”
Thomas rolled her eyes as she recalled taking “Wilderness First Aid” class at the boarding school and getting rolled over in the snow over and over again as they practiced checking for injuries.
She cites the experience of growing closer to Garcia.
All three said the school felt like a family.
Left to right: Pauley Hernandez, Hilary Taylor, Caryl Taylor Quinn, Jocelyn Taylor Oliver
For Caryl Taylor Quinn, class of ‘78, the school is a part of her own lineage. Taylor Quinn’s mother Janet Lovejoy was on the board of trustees when the school went from all girls to coed.
“Two years later I got to go to school with boys,” Taylor Quinn laughed. “That was a big deal and it saved the school.”
Her mother also attended the school starting as a freshmen in 1946. She’s 93 years old today. Lovejoy said she went into despair when she heard it was closing but was warmed by the thought the school would always be surrounded by nature.
“My favorite memory is definitely coming here as a freshman in 1946 and being overwhelmed with the mountains, all around,” Lovejoy said.
The ceremony closed with the bishop of the state's Episcopal church jokingly absolving former alumni of all ages from their youthful hijinks while they cried, re-connected and said their goodbyes to the school.
