The purpose of the Highland Residential Program to educationally and socially prepare students for college life and beyond.  Highland considers the residential life program an extension of the academic environment. Highland staff ensures that students eat properly, get adequate sleep, complete school work, study and perform school required volunteer service.

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Students participate in a weekly Residential Life Curriculum focusing on life, civil communication and positive choice-making skills.  By engaging in dialogue over age-appropriate matters, students develop a true sense of identity, an opportunity to self-govern, and leadership skills.

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Living in the dorm teaches students how to live responsibly, to respect differences among fellow students, to gain essential life skills and to learn the importance of taking good care of the physical environment.

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Our 4-story dormitory is coed and accommodates 22 students.  We have large common areas on all floors, two kitchens, a kitchenette, a recreation room, laundry, full basketball court, swimming pool and space both inside and outside to spend time together or individually. The dorm owns and operates a shuttle van to support student needs.

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Highlights - Dorm Living 

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✅ Students learn to live respectfully with people from all over the world

✅ They enjoy “extra” time by avoiding a potentially lengthy commute to and from school

✅ Hot meals in a family setting

✅ Support for extracurricular activities

✅ Academic support

✅ Planned weekend activities and trips

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Residential Life Curriculum

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A proper study abroad education does not end in the classroom.  Higland Residential staff work with the students, helping them develop the communication skills and maturity needed to become successful young men and women. Key elements of this are:

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✅ Promoting ownership of the residence life environment among the peers

✅ Improving communications that will improve social skills, academic performance and self-governance

✅ Promoting the residence life environment as an extension of the classroom and home

✅ Harnessing technology as opposed to technology harnessing you

✅ Anti-bulling strategies

 

Highland staff are responsive in ensuring the concerns of parents are being met and proper and effective communication is taking place.  Highland has bilingual staff available to help facilitate communication with parents.

 

Supervision

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Highland is pleased to provide a safe and structured environment for dormitory students. The dorm is staffed by a Highland Resident Supervisor (HRS) and weekend support staff. Cleaning staff cleans the common living areas and bathrooms weekly.

 

Living Space

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Each large bedroom is equipped with a desk, bed, closet space, chair, lamp and dresser. 16 bedrooms are single-occupancy, and 3 bedrooms are double-occupancy. The dorm has full central air conditioning and heating. Two students share one bath. Each bathroom has two sinks, vanity cabinets, toilet and shower.

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Study

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Highland considers the dorm experience as an extension of the classroom. In addition to fostering good-natured competitions and a caring, involved atmosphere, the residential life faculty monitor school academic portals, Google Classroom communication and communicate with teachers to ensure that homework is being completed.  Students are provided supervised study-hour sessions on a daily basis. Highland can support additional academic and language support on an as-needed basis.

 

Meals

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Breakfast and dinner are provided daily to dorm students. On weekends, students are served brunch and dinner. Dorm has one main kitchen, where food is prepared for students and also has a kitchenette (with a coffee maker, hot water pot and microwave) that students can use as needed. Students are permitted to bring a small, personal refrigerator (no larger than 3.2 cu feet) that they must keep in their bedroom

 

What About Fun?

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Hump Day Dinner

Wednesdays in America is called Hump Day. Hump Day Dinners are a quick mid-week break, when students who want a break are shuttled into the local town center for a few hours to shop and grab some dinner of their choosing. For those who chose to stay home, dinner is provided at the dorm.

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First Fridays

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Every first Friday of the month, the dorm plans a special outing. After dinner, students are taken to events such as putt-putt golf, go-karting, bowling, shopping excursions, top golf.

 

Saturday Shuttle Service

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Each Saturday, the shuttle drops off and picks up students to one of two locations:

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• Olney Library

• Rockville Library

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From each of these locations, students can walk to the local town centers, where there is shopping, cafes and convenience stores.

 

We have a variety of events upon which the student decide.  When the weather is nice we have a large outdoor screen we use to show movies on the track.  The Parents’ Association sells snacks and drinks at most movie night events.

 

Holidays

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• Autumn Festival- students  participate in a service project to make moon pies that we take to a local elderly home, where we serve our moon pies and provide some entertainment.

• Halloween- students are taken to Field of Screams, a haunted forest with bonfires and hayrides where local students gather together

• Thanksgiving- Students enjoy a traditional American-style Thanksgiving dinner

• Pre-Christmas break- students all participate in a Secret Santa gift exchange, and students decorate Christmas cookies and decorate our Christmas tree.

• Chinese New Year- students help prepare dumpling, and then we cater a special New Year’s dinner to which we invite friends from our school communities.

• At Easter, we hold an annual Easter Egg Hunt, complete with prizes inside the eggs.

• In addition to holiday activities, we add special treats or theme dinners for smaller holidays like Valentine’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and exam time extra-care treats.