To most teenagers, turning sixteen years old and learning how to drive is one of the most exciting experiences. However, going to an isolated boarding school like Deerfield makes it difficult for students to complete the required forty hours of supervised driving and acquire their licenses.
Most students with driver’s licenses use them as a form of government-issued identification. When discussing with Dean of Residential Life and Twelfth Grade Dean Rebecca Melvoin about licenses on campus, she shared, “Students use their licenses for travel purposes, such as getting on airplanes. It’s helpful to have identification that’s not a student ID.”
Other students like international student Mandy Xiang ’23 hoped to get a license in the United States before returning home in the summer because she thought this would be important for college, so in the future, she could “commute on a college campus.” To aquire her license, Xiang even tried to get a co-curricular alternative.
According to Xiang, she “just wanted the license itself, not a car on Deerfield’s campus.” However, after contacting the athletic offices, Xiang’s request was denied, and she will resort to getting her license over the summer.
Regarding co-curricular alternatives, Assistant Head of School for Student Life Amie Creagh noted that students aren’t allowed to use co-curricular time to get their licenses and shared that such a co-curricular alternative has never happened before.
In addition to just having a driver’s license, some students wish to have cars on campus for commuting purposes. Dr. Melvoin said, “There are three criteria boarders have to meet to have cars on campus: pursuit of excellence, family health emergency, and if a student has a chronic health problem that cannot be treated on campus.”
The first criterion, pursuit of excellence, was demonstrated by Ben Cook ’24, who had a car on campus during the fall term to travel to hockey practices and games. He said, “Other kids use cars for the same thing, and we drive each other to practices.” His travel was limited because he could “only leave on weekends when allowed to,” but he found it “really beneficial,” he said. Cook added, “I live an hour and a half away, and it saves a lot of time for my parents when they don’t have to drive me to practice.”
Cook mentioned that there aren’t many students who have cars on campus and shared, “I really only know five other kids with driver’s licenses.” He got his own license “at the beginning of last summer,” and said that it took a while to get it. However, he still found that “having a license can be really important,” he said.
Despite boarders experiencing vehicle restrictions, day students are allowed to have cars on campus, primarily for the commute from school to home. However, some day students have found issues regarding car ownership. Regarding the potential damage to student cars left on campus, Dr. Melvoin said that the Student Life Office would have that student “reach out to their insurance company.” Ms. Creagh added that there could be some instances of snow damage or other factors that could cause harm to students’ cars.
Recently, day student Margaret Melnik ’24 was parked between Field and MacAlister, near the baseball field’s fence. A baseball “went through [her] back windshield,” she said. and she was instructed to contact her insurance. After doing so, her insurance didn’t cover it, so she contacted the finance office. She said, “I asked for a reimbursement to cover the damage, and I’m getting it reimbursed now.” Instances like these can impact other students on campus, as people learn to park their cars elsewhere and keep their cars damage free.
Despite these difficulties with car ownership and limitations by a boarding school, many high school students still consider getting their driver’s license a priority. However, based on the views of the school, receiving a driver’s license will remain a hardship for the student body.