6:20 – Wake up 
This is the time that the majority of my cabin mates wake up, so everyone’s alarms go off and we groan in unison about starting the day.

6:50 – Second Wake Up
After the first round of alarms, I go back to sleep and then rely on a cabin mate to wake me up at the very last minute saying: “CECILIA FIVE MINUTES UNTIL MORNING GATHER”.

6:55 – Morning Gather
Everyone gathers, half awake, at the Adirondack chairs. The LOD (leader of the day) shares a quote.

7:00 to 7:15 – Chores
My chore at the moment is to clean the laundry room. So, me along with a few other students sweep, mop, and wipe down everything in the room.

7:20 to 7:40 – BREAKFASTTTT
Thanks to our amazing kitchen staff, we get the most FIRE food. Personally, I think the best brekky food served at the wonk is the brown sugar and cinnamon cream cheese with bagels. I also really like the coffee here. My bank account has been thriving since I’ve been at Chewonki because I don’t spend all my funds on overpriced, watery coffee. Instead, I can have FREE, unlimited coffee in the Wallace, any time of day. Does it make me unable to sit still? Yes. Is it worth it? Probably. 

7:45 to 8:00 – Morning Meeting
You might be thinking, “Didn’t you already have a morning meeting?”. The answer is yes, but we have another one. We all sit in a circle while we practice some mindfulness exercises, then the LOD shares an interesting story about something that has happened to them, then we hear the news, and finally people share any announcements.

8:00 to 8:30 – FREE TIME
This is the glorious thirty-minute period before classes start where I usually get my second cup of coffee or finish homework I didn’t finish the night before.

8:30 to 9:15 – Advanced French
This French class is immersion-based, so we learn less about grammar and more about French culture and stuff. We spend a lot of time just talking about things (but in French), which is super fun and useful if you ever want to travel to a french-speaking country.

9:25 to 10:10 – Natural History
Natural history is taught by not one, not two, but THREE awesome teachers. Natural History is the biggest class by-far consisting of about 20 people. We just started our independent natural history projects, where we basically get to learn about anything we want that has to do with the Maine environment. I’m going to (attempt to) make hand cream out of seaweed found at the waterfront.

10:20 to 11:05 – Precalculus
I’m not going to lie, I’m definitely not a math person. But, thankfully, our cool teachers Katie and Audrey teach us about how to apply math in the real world. For example, we did a really fun project about climate change in a location and time period of our choice, and then we graphed sinusoidal equations of the yearly temperature patterns.

11:15 to 11:55 – Cabin Meeting
Wait, is that ANOTHER meeting?? Yes it is. In this collection, everyone meets with their cabin mates and cabin parents and a variety of things can be discussed. Sometimes, if there is some dispute within the cabin, we talk about that as a group. Usually, we reflect about things that have happened that week (which can be negative or positive), and how the general vibe of the cabin is at the moment.

12:00 to 1:00 – LUNCHHHH
Time for my third cup of coffee! Our lunch always slaps. Sometimes the kitchen staff make us bread and it is SO GOOD (thanks guys <3). You can pretty much sit wherever you want, as long as it’s not on the ground or something. Everyone sits together at big circular tables that are sometimes kinda wonky (haha). When I say everyone sits together, I mean EVERYONE. Teachers, students, admin, outdoor school educators, and sometimes even birds (but they watch us from outside). Once I had a really intense staring contest with a crow that was sitting outside, I won.

1:00 to 2:00 – FREE TIME
I try to not have coffee after lunch time, so I drink some tea (vanilla chai tea is the best). Then I will take a nap, usually in the flintstones because I’m too lazy to make the tedious 3-minute trek back to my cabin.

2:10 to 3:20 – MORE FREE TIME
I have a free period so now I can continue my nap without being disturbed by five million people moving around the Wallace.

3:30 to 4:40 – AP U.S. History
APUSH is also one of my bigger classes. Our teacher, Andrew, teaches in such a fun and engaging way. Recently, we split up into groups and were given some background information and then pretended to be FDR and make decisions for the country in the few years before WW2. 

4:50 to 6:00 – Lit(ty) and the Land
We sit at a big table and talk about books and poetry like any English class. BUT, we get to go outside and write observations about our environments, which is really relaxing.
P.S. Don’t worry, we don’t have classes until 6pm every day. Most days you won’t have classes past 2pm.

6:15 to 7:00 – DINNERRRRR
Pretty much the same as lunch but it’s at night and I drink tea instead of coffee.

7:30 to 9:30 – Study Hours
This is a great time to procrastinate on homework (just kidding). I like to work in the Wallace with other students, but if that isn’t your style there’s a lot of silent study spaces that you can go to.

9:30 to 10:00 – Get ready for bed
Everyone goes back to the cabins and showers, brushes teeth, or whatever you do to get ready for bed. 

10:00 – Check in 
The teacher on-duty that night comes to make sure everyone is in the cabin. After they leave, I usually stay up reading, listening to music, journaling, or chatting it up with my cabin mates.

Cecilia Deeny-Locraft, Sidwell Friends School, Chevy Chase, MD