The Memory Project : Coate Rosemary Hall

September is here and for many thoughts are on a new term of school.

I hadn't thought of Choate in a very long time. When I was in Middle School I was part of a program that took a group of city youngsters to Choate for a summer program.

Choate was in Walingford CT a bit of a drive from New Haven where I grew up. I loved the Coate campus! That summer we had two hours of lessons in English and Math then lunch a break and swimming! 

Some of those summer days were quite muggy so we looked forward to afternoon art clas in the air conditioned Art building. 

We took various road trips that summer : The Boston Aquarium, Sleeping Giant park, etc, A day at Sea. But we also did a lot of projects on campus and the most memorable was the weeks we spent learning square dancing before giving a performance for the Dean of the school.

The square dancing was most awkward! Here we were preteens who rarely talked to the opposite sex ,and now we were putting hands on each others waists and learning difficult routines.

The auditorium we trained in was very large and also doubled as a Basketball court. 

While taking breaks from dancing we would clmb out to the storage area and lay on the mats talking and laughing. I spent two wonderful summers at Choate. Looking back I realize in many ways it was my Hogwarts! Look at their crest, it even has Hufflepuff colors in it!