Boredom at Exeter
By ARYAN AGARWAL ‘27, AARYAN PATEL ‘27, and KEVIN THANT ‘27
The town of Exeter, NH, closes at 8 p.m. If you don’t go out by then, you’ll be lucky to even enter a restaurant. It’s like living in a closed-off state. In Exeter, New Hampshire you are not affected by the rest of the world nor the affairs that concern it.
Exeter is notorious for being one of the most challenging schools to thrive at, and students are constantly bombarded by work beyond their age. How do they blow steam off in an environment that pushes these students to their mental and physical limits? One might attribute it to the quaint town surrounding the school, but this is not the case under further inspection.
The town of Exeter is a typical small town, littered with tiny restaurants, obscure stores, and natural landmarks. The restaurants are the most beloved part of the town, with students frequenting places like Oba and Capital Thai, or cafes like Me and Ollie’s and Laney and Lu’s. Stillwell’s is also instrumental in the town with hordes of students going there every night with their friends. Getting ice cream has become more than just a desire for a sweet treat but also a chance for a long walk with friends. But outside of these restaurants, what more is there to do? The town of Exeter provides no answer for the students as the only alternative is a bowling alley, which few students have ever visited. Besides the lack of a shopping mall, a commercial supermarket, and the biggest retail store, Walgreens, Exeter is not the most glamorous in terms of entertainment options. This raises the question of what there is to do in Exeter.
The student recreation committee and class representatives try to offset this by setting up weekly events. There was a karaoke at the start of the term, and magicians will soon follow. However, given the limited budget of the Student Council, these things will not be able to happen every weekend, which leads to burnt-out and stressed students having nothing to do on their weekends except talk to their friends or do more work.
Those with an established friend group are tasked with finding something fun to do every Friday and Saturday night, something fun that doesn’t involve them just sitting at Grill and talking, which is the default students resort to. However, the problem lies in the ones who don’t have an established group of friends. The way the environment at Exeter is built, students who are socially awkward or slightly introverted will struggle to find acceptance among peers because of the gated nature the environment has shaped us to be in. There is a lack of peer activities that will lead to introverted students finding more friends and getting to talk to more people. Without these activities, these students will be forced to watch others walk around their friend groups but are too afraid to speak to them for fear of judgment or rejection.
Now of course, we can have many debates upon this apparent dynamic. Is this isolation positively helping students at Exeter, or darkening the already gloomy academic reality? Of course, at most public high schools, children have extensive lives outside of school, with their families. At a boarding school like Exeter though (excluding day-students), Exonian’s entire life revolves around school. Without anything to do, one may as well do work. This is a phenomenon jokingly cited by teachers and students alike, but it has very real implications.
See, children, particularly teenagers such as the students at Exeter, need ways to exhibit their more playful side. That pertains to wasting time with friends, playing a game of ping-pong here and there, or whatever it may be. But when a school culture purposefully gears students towards always doing work, we breed a toxic environment for those that struggle socially. This culture remains with them for a large part of their life. To say that Exeter, the best boarding school in the United States, a place which breeds the talent of tomorrow, is teaching its students to stop having fun, to stop socializing, and to become workaholics, seems like quite the contradictory statement.
Realistically, there are very few large-impact solutions that the administration or student body may develop, unless it’s not too far-fetched to replace Peabody Hall with a mall. Of course, this occurrence is not just a thing of words; it affects Exonians everyday, and to be aware of it can make strides for our community. Let’s recognize the innate ability that our drab campus and ungodly geographical location have to naturally suck us into an endless vortex of homework, clubs, eat, sleep, repeat. Push yourself to take walks, talk to more people, and have some damn fun.