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Off campus opportunities

Outside the Classroom

What are your interests? How do you spend your spare time? At Pennfield, there are many unique and interesting ways for everyone to participate and get involved after classes are finished for the day!

If you like to horseback ride, you can ride at Glen Farm Stables, right through the Pennfield woods. In the winter many students ride or carve the slopes of Wachusett Mountain on Friday afternoons in Ski & Snowboard Club activities. Or perhaps you prefer cornering an opponent in a mindbending game of chess or quickly scoring 50 points for placing “wringer” on the Scrabble board. You can do this and test your abilities at other games in the Chess Club. These and other clubs and groups meet every week during and after school, giving both Lower and Upper School students the chance to expand their interests and skills far beyond the classroom.

In the fall, Fourth and Fifth graders and their teachers, and Sixth through Eighth graders and their teachers, leave campus to spend three days and two nights together on a camping trip. The younger group goes to the Alton Jones Nature Center in Western Rhode Island. The older group goes to either a farm camp in Massachusetts or a nature camp in Maine. All groups work to build leadership and team building skills as they hike, canoe, navigate ropes courses, cut their own firewood, camp in yurts and three-sided cabins, and learn about nature and the environment. Teachers use material from the camping trips throughout the school year in lessons and activities. Both students and teachers can’t say enough about the positive, unique and life-changing experiences these camping trips provide.

Opportunities for leadership roles are many for Upper School students:

  • The Oak Society is a select group of students that assists with on- and off-campus events.
  • The Student Council is an elected group of leaders who plan fundraisers, dances and community service projects.
  • The Yearbook Committee works diligently throughout the year to capture the spirit of the school in words and images and compiles these memories into an annual Yearbook.
  • The Spanish Honor Society provides students with a taste of Hispanic culture as they participate in community service projects such as helping with St. Joseph’s church’s Festival de la Virgen de Guadalupe.

Teachers, faculty and parents assist with and facilitate all of our extracurricular activities. If there is interest to form a new club, group or activity, we highly encourage it!