Preparing for What Comes Next: The CRS Secondary School Process

A letter from Tessa Steinert Evoy, Secondary School Director and Grades 7 & 8 Social Studies Teacher

Dear Charles River School Community,

At this point in the year, I’m lucky to have visited more than a dozen secondary school campuses.

When sitting down with admissions directors and deans across New England to advocate for our students, the conversations inevitably turn to what sets our eighth graders apart. In those moments, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing an admissions team’s eyes light up as they realize what makes a Charles River School graduate so distinctive. Admissions offices aren’t looking at a checklist of rehearsed answers or a polished resume built for an application; they are meeting a young person who genuinely knows who they are.

Having the privilege of teaching and guiding students I have known since they were in elementary school through this journey makes that reality even sweeter. Watching a child, whom I remember sharing how they navigated their very first research project on the stage in Foster Hall or running down the field in their first field hockey game, sit across from an admissions dean and speak with poise, humor, and intellectual curiosity is overwhelmingly fulfilling.

And confidence doesn’t happen by accident. At CRS, our secondary school placement process is deliberately designed not as an audition, but as a culmination.

Often, independent secondary school admissions can feel transactional, a high-stakes race defined by test percentiles and performance anxiety. But because our students have spent years in an intentionally small community where they are deeply known, loved, and challenged, the application journey becomes a natural extension of their learning. When a young person has spent years defending a thesis, collaborating on stage, and asking hard questions about the world around them, an admissions interview becomes a conversation.

Admissions officers consistently report back to me how grounded our eighth graders are. They remark on how CRS students know how to advocate for their own learning, how comfortably they look adults in the eye, and how authentically they describe both their passions and the moments they stumbled and learned. Because our teachers have partnered with them over years, not just for a single semester, we are able to advocate for them with extraordinary specificity. When we write our recommendations and speak with receiving schools, we are telling the rich, textured story of a student whose intellect, empathy, and character we have watched unfold day by day on Old Meadow Road.

Being truly known has shaped our students into articulate, resilient young leaders. This is the heart of why this work matters. They step into secondary school tours and interviews not trying to be who an institution wants them to be, but proudly sharing who they already are.

As our eighth graders embark on these next adventures, they carry with them the bedrock of our community: the knowledge that their voices matter, their ideas have weight, and their future is entirely their own to write.

Join me, Gabe, and recent CRS alumni on November 12 at 6:30 pm to learn more about High School Placement Process!

Warmly,
Tessa