Hourglass Issue I 2022-23 Revised 10 14

10 | FEATURES the hourglass
Addison Milner ‘25 trying to complete
her task at school, leaving
more free time to herself.
THE COST OF EXCELLENCE
AT THE BALDWIN SCHOOL
What does it take to be “accomplished”?
GEORGIA JANE WHAMOND ‘25
Staff Writer
Baldwin sets lofty goals as an
institution: to achieve excellence
in academics, arts, and athletics,
while also teaching its students
to maintain a healthy equilibrium.
The mission statement on Baldwin’s
website reads: “The school nurtures
students’ passion for intellectual rigor
in academics, creativity in the arts and
competition in athletics, forming women
capable of leading their generation while
living balanced lives.”
But is it truly possible to be this
exceptional? If so, how can it be done, and
what is lost along the way?
For this article, a survey of Upper
School students was conducted regarding
club membership, competitive club
membership, number of honors classes, and
number of AT classes. On top of that, the
survey asked students the number of hours
they spend on their commute, homework,
athletics, and other extracurriculars.
The results of the survey were
striking: from a sample size of 49 students
in the Baldwin Upper School, the average
Nikoletta Kuvaeva ‘25 completes homework in her free time.
student spends about six hours and 45
minutes every day on their commute to
and from school, homework, athletics, and
other extracurricular activities.
When accounting for seven hours of
in-school time and eight hours of sleep (the
lower end of the amount recommended for
teens by the CDC), that leaves only two
hours and 15 minutes of free time in the
day. During this brief window, students
are expected to eat breakfast and dinner,
socialize, work, and attend to family
responsibilities. This brings us back to the
question asked earlier: how?
Rachel Gopalani ‘23 said, “Right
now, [the workload is] pretty light because
I dropped a lot of honors and AT classes.
I’ve been on the honor roll all throughout
high school, so within the context of my
academic work, I’d say it’s extremely
heavy.”
When asked if she felt the workload
at Baldwin left space for athletics and
extracurriculars, Avani Shah-Lipman ‘25
said, “It depends on the goals that you set
for yourself… if you’re somebody who
wants to take six AT classes then maybe
not. If you set more realistic expectations
of yourself, then it’s doable. It’s not easy,
but it is possible.”
On whether she often feels
overwhelmed by work, Gopalani remarked,
“I don’t often, actually—I’m not someone
who gets stressed in terms of schoolwork.”
Shah-Lipman and Gopalani, along
with Aubyn Mackey ‘24 and Chloe
Watson ‘24, were asked to describe the
expectations placed upon them as Baldwin
students. Respectively, they chose the
words: “intense,” “unnecessary,” “highperformance,”
and “diligence.”
“
When accounting
for seven hours
of in-school time
and eight hours of
sleep (the lower
end of the amount
recommended for
teens by the CDC),
that leaves only two
hours and 15 minutes
of free time in the day.
“
Overall, the pursuit of excellence
at Baldwin is one of its most defining
characteristics. This is both a strength
of the school and a potential struggle for
its students. Regardless of its upsides
and downsides, this facet of the school’s
identity undeniably influences the culture
and learning environment at Baldwin.
Design by Gemma Young ‘25 and Julia Baur ‘25 • Photography by Kathryn Crispo ‘25