Academics
Learning at Loomis
Loomis Chaffee students are inspired to pursue academic excellence, expand their perspectives, and push the limits of their perceived abilities in a program designed to nurture intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm.
Our rich and challenging liberal arts curriculum, enhanced by our signature centers and programs, provides unmatched opportunities for students to put learning into action and create lasting change.
Here, teaching and learning are not transactional. Loomis faculty create exceptional experiences to help students develop their critical thinking, exercise their creativity, and solve problems worth solving.
This academic approach, built upon excellence and opportunity, not only prepares students for college and beyond, but also empowers them to address real-world challenges today.
“When we bring together students from all over the world with different backgrounds and different perspectives and connect them with really talented teachers who care about learning, are passionate about their fields, and really want to work with young people — it’s magical.”
Sheila CulbertSeventh Head of School
Innovation Trimester (I-Tri)
Join a group of students who step away from their regular academic schedules for an entire term to immerse themselves in hand-on projects that address pressing concerns in the local community.
Writing Workshop
As a sophomore you will meet once a cycle for the full year to learn how to write well and to appreciate both the art and the science of good writing. This workshop is one of the main components of the school’s Writing Initiatives program.
Seminar in the Best Self
In your freshman year you’ll join a small group of classmates to discuss topics to help you in your transition to Loomis, including health and wellness, study skills, leadership, equity and inclusion, and the intersection of the best self and the common good.
Seminar in the Common Good
As a sophomore you’ll begin to think more expansively about your roles and responsibilities in the communities to which you belong, emphasizing community engagement, leadership, current events, healthy relationships, identity, and citizenship.
Guided Research in Science and Humanities
Engage in sustained, significant, mentored research in the humanities and sciences. (In one project, students worked with a surgeon at Connecticut Children's Hospital to study the molecular characterization of a specific set of stem cells that become esophageal tissue to better understand how and why these cells perform this tissue regeneration.)
Global & Environmental Studies Certificate Program
Acquire a greater understanding of the world through off-campus travel, coursework, co-curricular engagement, and experiential learning — in places as far-reaching as Peru, South Africa, Vietnam, the Galapagos Island, the Arctic Circle, Iceland, and more.
Gilchrist Fellowship
Discover new opportunities for education and action in environmental stewardship and sustainability through fellowships granted each year for proposed projects that support the program’s goals.
Norton Fellows
Earn a fellowship to pursue your interests and become more engaged with your local community over the summer break.
Senior Projects
Engage with a selected group of seniors in self-designed, independent learning exercises during the final two weeks of your senior spring term, with the goal of inspiring creativity, innovation, passion, and self-discovery. Participants share their work in a final presentation to the community.
Teachers model
excellence and innovation.
One of the most important factors in your academic success? Your teachers. At Loomis, we take teaching seriously, recruiting the most talented educators, nurturing their continued professional development, and adapting our pedagogy to support the latest science behind how young people learn best.
Students are
challenged, yet supported.
While all students are encouraged to embrace a rigorous academic experience, the Office of Learning Access & Student Achievement is here to support our students’ diverse learning needs.
Ready to pursue academic excellence?