Many students at the School live far away and give up tons of time commuting by car or bus every day. The School’s students hail from 71 different zip codes from across the Bay Area, and since they are so spread out, many live quite far away. These people therefore have very long commutes.
Freshman Jill Jonas spends an hour and a half on the bus to and from Concord. Jonas says that it’s “not that big of a deal” for her. “Driving directly,” she explained, “it’s about 45 minutes, but with the bus, it’s an hour and 30 minutes.” Although she prefers to drive, she usually rides the bus when her parents aren’t free to drive her. Even though she’s used to it, commuting is still difficult. Jonas explained, “I don’t have a lot of free time when I’m home”. She said there is plenty of time to listen to music during her bus rides to and from school but “when I get home, I just immediately start doing homework”. Jonas also noted that due to the time lost while driving, it’s harder for her to meet up with friends on weekends. Still, she called it “a worthy sacrifice” to make for the opportunities which the School has to offer.
For Emma Wang, a Junior who lives in Dublin, it also takes over an hour to get to school. Though Wang has a long bus ride, she enjoys the less active in-between time because it provides a kind of “buffer” for her to prepare for class in the morning, wind down a little, or even nap on the way home. Wang also said she’s used to driving far for activities, like her orchestra in San Jose. In fact, she says, “if a car ride is short, it feels wrong.” As far as getting homework done, she admitted “It’s a struggle,” especially when she has extracurriculars or has to stay after school. However, Wang mentioned that the new schedule makes finishing homework a lot more manageable.
It’s not just students with long commutes; some faculty members have drives which are just as long. Adam Ross, Upper School Language Department Chair and Mandarin teacher, lives in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights. He has to leave as early as 6:30 in the mornings to beat the traffic and make it to school in around 25 minutes. Ross gets work done before school starts, so in the afternoon he can leave right at 3:20 and hopefully get home in 40 minutes. But if he attends a faculty meeting after school which ends at 5, Ross can’t escape the hour-long drive through traffic back home.
Ross still loves coming to the School, not only for the “world-class view” of the San Francisco Bay, but also to see his colleagues and students. He loves the beauty of the School’s campus and the welcoming community of everyone here. He said, “It’s a wonderful school”. Wang added, “I just like this school,” praising “the teachers [and] the people.” In all, students and faculty think the commute is worth it.