My name is Meagan Tickle and I attend Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minnesota.  For those of you who don’t know what Shattuck is; it is a boarding school that has Centers of Excellence focusing on: soccer, hockey, figure skating, the arts and academics.  Shattuck is a place where students from all over the world come together to form a small community. I am at Shattuck for both soccer and academics. Originally from Kansas, I came to Shattuck at the beginning of my 8th grade year and this has been one of the best decisions of my life.

I am not going to lie and tell you that Shattuck is a piece of cake because it is definitely not.  The soccer program is very intense; each day we practice for an hour and a half (in addition to weight training on Tuesday and Thursday).  It can be very hard at times but it’s all worth it in the long run. Since I have been at Shattuck I have improved in many aspects of my life. Whether it’s on the soccer field, in the classroom or in the dorms I learn something new about myself every day.

Megan Tickle

A typical day at Shattuck kicks off with school at 8 a.m.  At Shattuck there are two campuses; the Upper School and the Lower School.  All girls aside from the seniors live at the Lower School and all boys live at the Upper School. Each morning we wait for the bus or van to take us to the Upper School for classes. Normally I get to the US a little early so I have time to hang out with my friends and get all my books for class.

At 8 a.m. I go to my first class of the day, Spanish.  The classes are 45 minutes long which I think is the perfect length.  After first period we have a 30 minute block of time called community time. During this, depending on the day, you either have: chapel, assembly, senior speeches or advisory. Next is second period, which is my off period.  Because there are so many teams practicing during the school day, the administration had to insert a couple more blocks for classes.  Hence, if your team does not have practice during the day, you have off periods in which you can complete unfinished homework, hang out with friends, or if you have to back to back off periods you can go back to the dormitories and sleep.  Third period I take Dance.  Dance is just one of many electives that you can take at Shattuck.  I chose to take dance because it works a lot on flexibility and strength which come in to play during soccer, plus it’s a good break in the day.

The rest of my day is just full with classes, lunch and one other free period.  The class day ends at 4 p.m. and I immediately head off to the locker rooms for practice.  The Dome is a full sized turf soccer field covered by a bubble-like ceiling. This is where we play most our games during the winter.  Practice starts at 4:30 and goes until 6 p.m.  Most days we start with passing/dribbling as our warm-up and then get into tactical drills.  At the end we always end up scrimmaging which is my favorite part.  After practice we go back over to the Upper School and eat dinner.  By the time we are done eating it is about 6:35 and we have until 8:00 to do whatever we like.  Normally, I go back to the dorms and take a shower, hang out with friends or if I have a lot of homework I will get a jump start on that.  At 8 p.m. study hall starts and it goes until 9:30.  Study hall is when I get most of homework done.  Study hall is mandatory for all boarding students unless you have all A’s in which you are granted free night which get you out of study hall.  After study hall I normally go downstairs to snack and then go back to my room to get ready for bed.  At 10:30 freshmen have lights out.

Weekends are my favorite.  We generally play on Saturday or Sunday and sometimes both days.  If we have an off day then normally I sleep in, hang out with my friends and sometimes we go into town to eat or go shopping.  Also, on the weekends they have trips to take you to Mall of America, Wild games, Timberwolves game etc…  It brings our team closer together and we have a lot of fun.  If we are traveling for soccer on a weekend, then we get to ride on a charter bus and stay in a hotel.  Weekends are normally the most relaxed time and they give you chance to take it easy for a while which is nice because everyone needs a break.

A common question I get from parent/players is: Do I get homesick?  For me the answer is no.  The atmosphere at Shattuck is very family-like.  At times I do miss home and my family, but then I think about how lucky I am just have this opportunity in the first place.  At first it is hard to adjust to, but you get to know everyone so well that they become just like your family.

So as you can see, Shattuck is a great place filled with much opportunity.  The thing I like most about it is that everyone is here for a reason.  Every person has a goal they want achieve and are working 100 percent to get there.  Shattuck has been the best experience of my life and although it can be hard, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

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