CSW Partners with New England Conservatory Prep School
Seven talented CSW students currently particpate in Saturday morning programming at the New England Conservatory Preperatory School.
During the past few months, CSW has been working to develop a partnership with the New England Conservatory (NEC) Preparatory School. This year, seven current CSW students, Patrick Bai ’21, Josh Bass ’20, Noah Berz ’22, Leo Deng ’20, Miranda Scripp ’21, Jake Todd ’20, and Leo Weisskoff ’19 have been accepted into some of the top orchestras and jazz ensembles offered as part of NEC’s Saturday programming.
While 30 weeks’ worth of lessons and orchestra rehearsals at the conservatory — in addition to the regular CSW workload — can be quite demanding, students agree that CSW has gone above and beyond to help them balance their commitments and make time for their love of music. In fact, Music Department Chair Michael Weinstein has personally taken it upon himself to pick the students up from CSW at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and bring them back later in the afternoon. Efforts are also made to ensure that students are able to participate in on-campus and weekend boarding events as much as possible, while also accommodating the world-class music training they receive in Boston.
Jake, a boarding student from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has played cello for nearly five years. He shares that “while Jackson Hole is a location unparalleled in its natural beauty, it is far from a cultural hub where one can find outstanding arts education,” and suggests that this is one of the various reasons he chose to attend CSW for his final two years of high school. He has been “delighted to find the entire community at CSW to be incredibly supportive” of his endeavors as a musician, especially in the days leading up to his auditions at the New England Conservatory.”
Between the seven students, two study within the jazz genre, while five are classically oriented. Michael is thrilled with each of his students, and says that it is “great to see them provided with such an amazing opportunity.” An instructor at the conservatory himself, Michael considers the level of talent exhibited by program participants to be “some of the best playing that goes on in the area… It is essentially pre-professional training at the high school level.”
With this current group of dedicated and successful students, Michael knew it was time to strengthen the partnership between CSW and NEC, and hopes that the experience the participating students have will continue to impact them in positive ways, regardless of where their lives take them.
For the time being, credits earned at NEC and CSW remain separate, but talks are underway with NEC Preparatory School Director Rebecca Bogers to see if a credit-sharing program may be available in the near future. Michael is confident that this could be the start of a strong, ongoing relationship between the two institutions.
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Meet CSW Students
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.