The Seven Hills School features a variety of student life characteristics unique to this school community, such as the openness of the campus, extra help, and the phone policy. Whether good or bad, students hold different opinions on the different aspects of student life at Seven Hills.
Being new to The Seven Hills Upper School Community, the freshman class of 2028 believes that the campus offers a good mix of independence and openness. Coming from middle schools that don’t give as many freedoms and opportunities to study in different spaces
Freshman Vivian Watkins said, “My favorite thing about Seven Hills is the independence you get, like freebells and just being able to go around a big campus. It’s also really nice because you get the independence to go see your teachers and advocate for yourself. It’s a place where you can really get work done and be a better version of yourself.”
Seven Hills offers the flexibility of students to work in different places all across campus. Based on their own needs and comfort, students can choose to work alone or with friends, inside or outside the many buildings around campus. Seven Hills prides itself with having a more open learning environment than many other schools. I personally have used the advantage of an open campus and know many people who utilize it as a learning advantage.
Sophomore Will Ackerman praises Seven Hills student life for offering Extra Help and open hours to speak with teachers. Ackerman said,“I came here freshman year Madeira and we didn’t really have the opportunity to go see our teachers one-on-one and talk to them about what we really need help on.” Extra help is certainly a positive characteristic of student life at the school. It is open to anyone regardless of what they have to ask to get help from teachers for. It is also an opportunity pretty unique to the high school.
While there are many positive views of the characteristics of student life at The Seven Hills School, the placement of the new phone policy on the student body restricts many from using their phones throughout the day. In fact, all students with the exception of seniors only get their device back at 3:10 when the last bell rings.
Several juniors hold strong opinions about the phone policy at Seven Hills. For example, junior Alisha Chaudhury said: “I don’t like it, I want my phone during the school day. I want my phone so I can show my friends pictures and stuff but now I can’t do that.” Junior Mira Green said: “I hate it because you can’t take pictures and capture memories you have to make throughout the day.” The phone policy takes a way all that and more, many students even agree that it poses a safety risk in the case of an emergency. The phone policy is moderated in The Seven Hills community, making its enforcement unique to our school.
The class of 2025, who are new seniors at The Seven Hills School, are given a variety of different privileges unique to both the school community and other schools in the Cincinnati area. Of course, being a senior in high school comes with merits other than physical ones granted by the school. Senior Quincy Morris said: “I am more bold to try new/different things. With pep rallies, for example, I am more up to doing the activities and also just walking the halls. I feel more bold.” Senior Sage Wilke agrees with Quincy, and shares that: “I also feel more confident being a senior, and I also love having senior privileges and being able to go off campus, but having more confidence is definitely a factor.” All students growing through The Seven Hills community look up to seniors as role models and wait to fill their shoes with each coming year. Having that spotlight on them that they have been waiting for all throughout their time spent in the community is a privilege all Seniors look forward to, hence they are more confident in themselves when it comes for their time to shine and share that spotlight with the class.
New to the senior class of 2025 is access to the senior lounge, a space exclusively for 12th graders with a variety of uses. Senior Henry Stimson, a frequent flier at the lounge, tells us a little bit more about his time there: “There are a lot of fun events that come around in the senior lounge. I really like the setting of it and the opening we had at the beginning of the school year when there were balloons in the senior lounge. There is always something fun to look forward to going on around here.” The Senior Lounge is both a space for fun and work. Many students utilize the space for studying while others choose to play games on the console, spend time with friends, and of course use their phones which are not permitted anywhere else in the building. All in all, the senior lounge is a nice addition to the student life of seniors around the school.
Seven Hills student life comes with goods and bads, ups and downs. Ranging from senior lounge access and privileges to the new phone policy and Extra Help, the school community gives a good mix of characteristics that make the school unique and stand out for what it is.
