Staff Writer

 When 5-year-old Baker O’Leary moved into Thornton Academy’s Nelson Hall, he told everyone the whole building was his house.

Ten months later, he and the other six children living in the residence hall think of the school’s 38 boarding students as their big brothers and sisters. The families living in the residence hall, which opened at the start of the school year, said they have developed strong connections and a deeper sense of community with the launch of the school’s boarding program.

With the school year quickly drawing to a close, school officials said the first year of the program was far more successful than they imagined. The school will break ground next week on a second residence hall, scheduled to open in September 2011.

The dorm building on the edge of the private school’s Saco campus opened in September to 40 students, predominantly from Asia. The school is expanding recruiting to other parts of the world and will offer a new home stay program next year.

For the O’Leary family, living on campus has provided “constant play dates” for the children and exposure to different cultures and people. Nichol Radcliffe-O’Leary said she and husband, Keith, decided to move into the dorm with Baker, 1-year-old daughter, Harlow, and bulldog Stella because they were excited about the boarding program and the opportunities it brings to campus.

Erin Davies chose to move into the dorm with her family as a way to give back to the Thornton Academy community and expose her children to different cultures. She lives with husband, Bob, 7-year-old Tyler and 5-year-old William in an apartment across the hall from the O’Leary family. Bob Davies is a math teacher and coach at Thornton Academy.

There are a total of seven young children living at the dorm, all the children of dorm parents who are on duty one weekend per month and one evening each week. Greg and Cathy Paradis, dorm heads and class deans, moved into the building from their Saco home with children Adeline, 10, Olivia, 8, and Jackson, 3.

“It didn’t take me long into the school year to realize how much I like it here. A lot of times it doesn’t feel like work,” Cathy Paradis said. “I think in a lot of ways, (my kids) see the boarding students as older brothers and sisters.”

Erin Davies said it was been incredible to watch the boarding students discover a new country while forming bonds with the families in the building. Many come from one-child families in China and have spent little time around younger children and pet dogs.

“The kids who live here are absolutely wonderful,” she said. “I’m impressed with TA because when you’re on campus, the students are so welcomed. They’ve integrated really well.”

While the dorm parents have seen their own children thrive while living on campus, they have also appreciated connections they have formed with the students. Erin Davies said her children learned the names of the students before she did, and Nichol Radcliffe-O’Leary said her daughter is partial to listening to students play piano and “flirting” with the boys.

Keith O’Leary, who teaches in the math, science and social studies departments, was a boarding student himself and said he sees the value in having a diverse student population.

“I think it’s the luckiest thing in terms of bringing educational diversity to everyone,” he said. “It brings realization we’re not the only ones out there.”

Greg Paradis, a class dean who teaches history, said the staff has tried to make the transition for students as easy as possible by offering support programs. Students tended to hang out together at the beginning of the year, but have expanded their social circles to include day students and have joined activities, he said.

“Over the course of the year, we’ve encouraged kids to try out for sports teams and music and theater activities,” he said. “Those kids who have taken a risk are just taken in by the sports teams. Those extracurricular activities have been a positive for the students.”

Greg Paradis said day students from Saco and Dayton want to interact more with international students. They find they have more in common than they might have imagined, he said.

“Our day students and teachers have been phenomenal. They go out of their way to make them feel comfortable,” he said. “We found there hasn’t been a problem. It’s been almost seamless in terms of the transition.”

Cathy Paradis said Admissions Director Mark Powers found “dynamite kids who have done a great job immersing themselves in the TA community.”

Daniela Montoya, a 14-year-old freshman from Columbia, said it has been “really fun” to live in the dorm.

“I like the people and it’s different. This is totally different from home.”

Montoya said the hardest part about moving to Thornton Academy was learning English, but that has gotten easier with time. A sport enthusiast, she joined the swim team and played tennis for the first time this year.

Montoya said she has grown close to the dorm parents, who she called the “best” part of the program. A photo of Montoya and her prom date hangs on the O’Leary’s refrigerator. 

“I really like them and we spend a lot of time together. When we just need to talk, we can talk to them,” she said.

Roommates Eric Chan, 16, and David Huang, 17, are studying in the United States for the first time this year. Chan is from Hong Kong and Huang is from Foschan, near Hong Kong. Both also chose to join sports teams, which has brought them closer to day students, they said.

Chan, a sophomore, played soccer, indoor track and lacrosse, while Huang, a junior, participated in outdoor track and basketball. Chan said he is impressed by the big playing fields and the size of the school.

“The school is huge and the day students are friendly,” Huang agreed. “It’s more relaxing here than in China. In China we study and study and do homework.”

Chan and Huang said they also have enjoyed spending time with the dorm families.

“The dorm families are nice. They always cook for me,” Huang said.

“And their kids are cute,” Chan added.

Both students will return to Thornton Academy next year and look forward to spending more time with day students to learn more about American culture.

“If you stay in the dorm all the time you just know about Chinese,” Huang said.

Headmaster Carl Stasio said the success of the boarding program means the school can expand opportunities for both boarding and day students.

“It felt that it exceeded every single imaginable goal we had set for it,” he said.

Stasio said the second dorm will house 42 to 44 students.  The project will cost about $4.6 million, which includes a road, two-story residence hall and updates to Hill Stadium. Renovations to the stadium will include the addition of storage units for boarding students who don’t want to take all of their personal belongings home each year, he said.

The project is funded from the school’s endowment and does not include any taxpayer dollars, Stasio said.

The school also will offer a home stay program for eight to 12 students next year. International students will live in the homes of local families and participate in activities with boarding students. The school currently is trying to find the right people to host students, Stasio said.

Stasio said having more diversity of campus has helped develop a strong sense of community and given students more opportunities to learn about the world around them. He said boarding students are “fantastic and academically remarkable.”

“The cultural advantages our day students have has been remarkable. It really changed the school,” Stasio said. “It’s a very special experience for our kids and has enriched what we do on campus.”

Thornton Academy will host a “Boarding Program Celebration” to break ground on the new dorm and rededicate Nelson Hall from 4 to 5:30 p.m. June 10. The event will be held outside of Nelson Hall and is open to the public. To RSVP, call Jennifer Hass at 282-3361, ext. 321.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.