Meet Director of Residential Life Anna Marchard

As Fay’s new Director of Residential Life, Anna Marchand brings a wealth of experience from the independent and boarding school worlds. She grew up on the Middlesex School campus and has spent much of her career at boarding schools, including roles as Student Activities Director, Director of Residential Life, and, most recently, Assistant Dean of Students at Governor’s Academy. Overseeing the program, Anna gets to experience the scope of the Fay community, connecting with students, faculty, athletics, and academics. While living in Village Girls and working with the dorm parents across campus, Anna enjoys spending time on duty with each dorm and sees the program’s impact on an individual level. “I love that I get to interact with all aspects of life at Fay, but I also get to work with the kids as they're navigating life, especially in middle school, when they’re figuring out who they are and who they want to be.”

 

Planning weekend events that will engage, entertain, and enrich Fay’s boarders is a large part of Anna’s job. She tries to plan a wide variety of options each weekend that balance trips off campus, delicious food, and relaxation time, while taking advantage of everything the Fay campus has to offer, often including Upper School day students as well. A popular addition to campus this fall has been a solo stove, which enables faculty to host firepit hangouts at different locations around campus. On a recent weekend, events included an Upper School dance, a trip to the circus in Boston, an outing to LazerCraze in Woburn, a St. Mark’s production of Frankenstein, and shopping excursions to a mall and a thrift shop. Boarders have been joining English teacher Rich Roberts in “The Search for the Slice” this fall as they sample and rate local pizza offerings. And finally, there is often a quirky event thrown in for fun. This past weekend, it was painting with baby goats. “They can design their own weekend, so I really try to find places that kids want to go and things they want to do,” says Anna, adding, “It’s fun for me to find something that's exciting for that kid who's not signing up for things.”

 

Anna also focuses on fostering student belonging by working with the dorm proctors to build dorm culture and dorm spirit. Sunday nights are a big night for dorm activities, knitting the community closer together each week. Events have included creating dorm banners or competing for Morty Cup (Fay’s interdorm competition) points by hosting a Fay Oscars, where each dorm reenacts a movie scene. “Watching the kids add flags for their different nationalities, or handprints with their different names on the banners, was really fun,” says Anna. “I think watching kids be vulnerable and feel safe enough to be vulnerable has been a huge win this year.”