Woodberry Forest School (Woodberry Forest, VA)

There’s no question when you step foot onto the 1200-acre campus of Woodberry Forest School that this is an all-boys school…and that it’s truly southern. Greeted by “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am”, your first impression is that the nearly 400 students here, native southerners or not, have learned quite a bit about respect. In fact my student host Miguel, who hailed from Mexico City, somehow managed to blend right in with his peers from Virginia and points south…“yes ma’am” and all.

During my visit to Woodberry I was fortunate to join Miguel for both breakfast and dinner in the school dining room. One thing families can be certain their sons will NOT have the opportunity to do while at Woodberry is go hungry. I’ve carried my fair share of dining hall trays during both boarding school and college visits and I can say with certainty that the size of the trays here was impressive. Even the glasses seemed larger. I witnessed many young men filling their trays with multiple plates so I’d venture to say they think the food is pretty decent, too.

For the first time in the history of my campus visits I had the opportunity to sit in on a class I’d never seen before: Bagpipe. Yes, my host from Mexico was taking a class in bag piping…and I have to say he wasn’t half bad! The Fine Arts building where the class was held was beautiful and the student work displayed in the gallery space was impressive. It’s obvious that the young men here are encouraged to pursue artistic endeavors and it’s nice to see such a welcoming space for them to use.

While touring the campus it was obvious that the Woodberry community has a tremendous amount of school pride. Inside the Headmaster’s house (designed by Thomas Jefferson), visitors will begin to notice tiger-esque elements scattered amongst the ornate antiques and décor from soap dispensers to tiger-striped wine goblets (you guessed it…the school mascot is a tiger).

The school spirit is likely driven by the competitive athletic programs in which 90% of students participate each season. One group that inspires spirit on campus and that you should ask about if you venture to Woodberry for a campus tour: their cheerleaders.

As the Woodberry campus is somewhat secluded, and 100% of the students board, weekend activities seem to consist of athletic contests, mixers with all-girls schools, and studying. In fact, when I asked some students at breakfast what they would change they unanimously agreed that they’d like more to do on weekends. That being said, I did see a weekend activity list and it looked like there were several offerings available, including many off-campus opportunities. If all else fails, the school has a 9-hole golf course on campus, too!

Each year 100% of Woodberry grads attend four-year colleges upon graduation. The list of colleges and universities to which they head is diverse, and in recent years has included Amherst, Elon, Harvard, Kenyon, Johns Hopkins and Wake Forest.