Student Life

The Soundview experience is about more than academics. Extracurricular activities, athletics and the annual all-school Talent Show are an integral part of that experience and serve to promote Soundview’s educational and social mission. Students find ample opportunities to explore personal interests, learn to work effectively with others, and develop leadership abilities. Our small setting enables a passionate journalist to become editor of the school newspaper, or the budding thespian to head the Drama Club.

Activities range widely, depending on the students’ interests. The Outdoor and Ski Clubs attract enthusiasts who clear trails, beautify the campus and organize trips to ski slopes. The Language Club sponsors an annual trip abroad, student projects on foreign cultures, and trips to restaurants to sample different cuisines. The Community Service Club can be found making sandwiches for the homeless or collecting toys and coats for less privileged members of society. In the Mock Trial program, students prepare and argue a real-world case in the Westchester County Courthouse.

Other offerings, many initiated by students themselves, include Community Service Club, Film Club, Chess Club, Politics Club, and Tech Club. The yearbook, school newspaper and literary magazine provide students with the opportunity to write, edit, take photographs and learn computer layout. Drama is an important program at Soundview. Students perform at school functions and attend Broadway plays, often meeting backstage with theater professionals. The Talent Show requires students to work both individually and collectively to produce a professional caliber variety show. Our entire student body participates—performing, directing, managing lights and sound or serving on stage crew. The show bonds the community together through an intensive, shared experience, strengthens active talents and develops latent ones, and helps build self-confidence. For two weeks during Talent Show rehearsals, our regular academic schedule gives way to Mini-Term, when Soundview’s entire faculty offer mini-courses in areas not covered in traditional courses, ranging from film making and knitting to meditation and studies in racism.

Any student, regardless of ability or experience, can join Soundview’s athletic teams, which include a coed soccer team and boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. The teams play other independent schools in the lower Hudson Valley. In true Soundview fashion, spring sports depend upon student interest, and have included softball, tennis and Ultimate Frisbee. Soundview hosts a two-day basketball tournament that draws schools from all over the region. Soundview’s physical education classes are conducted at a local sports club, where students enjoy tennis courts, a basketball court and a full array of exercise equipment.