Residential life at Marvelwood is designed to feel like home—a place where students are known, supported, and encouraged to make the most of their time outside the classroom. With a strong sense of community, plenty of opportunities for fun, and faculty who live and engage alongside students, life on campus is active, connected, and full of heart.
RESIDENTIAL LIFE HIGHLIGHTS
Faculty-Driven Community
- Residential faculty are teachers, coaches, advisors, dorm parents...there’s no separate residential life faculty, just one unified community.
Day Students are Included
Each day student is assigned a room they can call home up to two nights a week and can join all residential life activities.
Student Leadership
Prefects (trained student leaders) help create a positive dorm environment and support their peers.
Shared Responsibility
Students take on light dorm jobs that build a sense of ownership and care for shared spaces.
Daily Free Time
Students can enjoy common rooms, open gym, walks, bike rides, or downtime with friends.
Evening & Weekend Fun
On-campus activities include pickup sports, trivia nights, fire pits, movie nights, Bingo and video game tournaments. Students can choose an off-campus trip to the mall, bowling alley, or movies. Special trips include Broadway, Comic-Con, escape rooms, paintball, and pro-sports games.
Student-Driven Activities
Students have a voice in planning everything from clubs and dances to themed spirit weeks, Bingo nights and Manhunt. Our philosophy is “For the students, by the students.”
At Marvelwood, the residential experience balances independence and structure, responsibility and relaxation—all within a close-knit, caring community.
Marvelwood's location, pond-side atop Skiff Mountain, inspires community, friendship, and learning. The dormitories, clustered in a semi-circle next to Lucy's Pond, are spacious and airy with large common rooms for social gathering and studying. Dorm parents supervise students in each dorm and organize activities, from game nights to baking to scavenger hunts. Each dorm, Summit, Sterling, Lake, and Star, is truly a student's home away from home, and faculty ensure a sense of home is nurtured in each dorm. Our dorms, which were fully renovated in 2018, are adjacent to Kent Land Trust acreage, and some rooms have views of the playing fields across the pond. It's just a short walk to the dining hall, Calhoun Schoolhouse, or the Burton Alumni Gymnasium to cheer on the basketball team or to work out in the Diao Fitness Center.
ATHLETIC SPACES
Anne Davidson Scott Athletic Center
Burton Alumni Gymnasium
83-Acre Campus | Outdoor Spaces
Mohawk Mountain Ski Area
Anne Davidson Scott Athletic Center
The Marvelwood School Athletic Program is anchored by the Anne Davidson Scott Athletic Center. Completed in 2007, the two-story, 22,660 square-foot facility includes the Burton Alumni Gymnasium, the Diao Cardio/Fitness Room, a wrestling room, dance/yoga room, an athletic training room, an alpine ski team room and four locker rooms.
Burton Alumni Gymnasium
The Burton Alumni Gymnasium is home to the 2011 and 2012 HVAL Championship Volleyball Team, Boys and Girls Basketball and the 2013 HVAL Championship Wrestling Team.
83-Acre Campus | Outdoor Spaces
Marvelwood is situated on an expansive 83-acre campus which includes fields for soccer, baseball, ultimate frisbee, softball and lacrosse. All of these are equipped with electronic scoreboards. There are eight tennis courts, a cross country course and a low ropes challenge course. Two ponds are suitable for fishing and canoeing, and ice skating during the winter months.
Mohawk Mountain Ski Area
Mohawk Mountain Ski Area, just twenty minutes from campus, is home to our Alpine Ski Team as well as our recreational skiing and snowboarding programs. Even closer is the Appalachian Trail with St. John's Ledges for hiking and rock climbing and the Housatonic River for canoeing.
