Blog & Resources for Parents

Getting ready to apply to a new school can seem daunting and full of unknowns. You may be asking yourself questions such as, “What do I need to do to prepare my child? What is my first step? What should I be looking for in a school? What are schools looking for in my child? How do I know if the school is the right one?” Those are all great questions that I want to answer for you!

When it comes to financial aid at Westridge, many families have questions about who is eligible to receive financial aid, and how that eligibility is determined. To shed some light on the financial aid application process, we spoke with Margaret Shoemaker, Ed.D., director of admission at Westridge.

“Our priority is access,” Shoemaker explained, noting that Westridge allocates over $3 million annually, and roughly 25% of the student body receives some form of financial support. That support covers a percentage of tuition and other costs associated with being a student at Westridge.

When I was in 11th grade, my English teacher asked us to memorize some stanzas of William Wordsworth’s “Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.” The stanzas are long, so I decided the best way to remember it would be to try my best to step into the poem somehow and invest in its meaning emotionally (deeper learning!). I think it is because I took this approach to my memorization that the poem stays with me and I think of it often. I became fascinated with its concept of “intimations” or little hints of something, barely perceptible but full of anticipation and possibility.

As I think more about it, many of the lines of poetry or song lyrics that I first encountered as an adolescent and return to often in my mind have a similar kind of sense. Of something hopeful because it is just beyond reach, just beyond perception.