A Secret World is a documentary series that explores what life is like at college preparatory boarding schools by using personal stories from over 100 individuals, from a wide range of different backgrounds, to explore this misunderstood schooling option. Negative stereotypes about boarding school permeate the media and filter into the subconscious mind of most parents in America.
Since 1999, I have seen hundreds of parents go from being adamantly opposed to boarding school to not only enrolling their child at a college prep boarding school, but regarding the boarding school experience as positive and even transformational in their child’s life. I was reflecting on just what it was that moved parents from such adamant resistance to boarding to an open-mindedness to explore boarding school and I concluded that it was conversations that parents had with current students, current parents, graduates and admission counselors that debunked their stereotypes and created enough interest that these parents were willing to visit a college prep boarding school with an open mind. This documentary series was created as a way to try replicate those conversations and campus visits.
