Chapter 11

John was surprised that Judith was allowing so much time to get ... What? ... Less than five or six hundred yards back to the main Convent building for their meeting with Mother Superior. That was at the most a brisk five minute walk.

"Yeah," he thought. "We have to zip in front of the shower, dry ourselves and then with helping each other get into our robes, add five minutes to that. We needed ten minutes at the most."

What Judith had factored in, that John didn't, was the shower would be full of eighth grade girls and boys and at least a hundred hands that just loved to touch! There was a lotta touching already going on between the fifty or so kids in there when Judith and John stepped out of the pool area and stopped before going through the archway to the shower room.

Looking around he realized boys sure had the advantage. John thought that there would be no boys in a C.O.N.V.E.N.T!!! But this campus had one twist that others didn't. Not only were there TWO co-ed schools on the campus, the grade school and the high school, but an orphanage.

From the number of boys that were playing in the pool it was fairly easy to calculate there was at least a five to one ratio of girls to boys. What John wasn't aware of is that was normal for the Orders' Convent school. It's not that the school administration filtered the applications. It was exactly the opposite. They actively solicited nationwide for boys to join their student body as boarding students. They wanted boys of all ages to fill their student body. They only limited girls enrollment to keep the ratio at no more than five to one.

They specifically recruited for grades seven on up but younger boys were welcomed too. Once in grade school they eventually would get to high school. It actually wound up having their child away at the Convent's school cost the parents less than keeping their child at home. Something that was always mentioned during the visit to the Campus.

Tuition was unbelievably low compared to First Track, Ivy League, Preparatory Schools in the Northeast like Brewster, Exeter, Andover or The New Hampton School. With room and board added, one semester at any of those wound up costing over twenty grand. Add to that, a couple of thousand for extras like transportation and pocket money so kids can keep up with the Jones'.

Even schools in the other part of the US where things were less expensive, like Squaw Valley Academy in California, tuition with room and board was not much less. Almost all boarding schools came in at least thirty-five grand a year.

Add the designation 'Convent' to a school's name and see how many boys want to go there. Attracting girls' parents was easy. They thought of keeping their daughter a V.I.R.G.I.N! Where else to sent their Pure Lilly White bundle of joy but a Cloistered place like a Convent.

If they only knew!!!

Parents who visited the Campus were awed by the spit and polish everywhere. Add to that the fact that their children would wear 'Religious' clothing and learn to behave was a great draw. All parents thought it was great place to send their daughters. Sons? That was a big question.

Boys and their parents were way more difficult to convince. The main problem was getting the parents to actually see the campus. Boys were type cast as being wild runabouts and parents and their sons were convinced Convent life would be boring if not outright dull.

Many families refused to look at the campus even after being offered an all expense paid three day weekend at the Convent, travel included. Once there enrollment was a given. Nowhere else could compare. Not with the cost, not with the quality of the education and not with the educational benefits after graduation the Order gave. Everything else paled in comparison.

The super advanced teaching regimen technology, granted by generous donations from prior graduates and educational minded organizations like the 'Gates Foundation' tended to intrigue boys for their natural interest in toys.

Visiting prospective male students were whisked off soon after arrival while their parents were given the 'Academic' tour touting the top notch education their son would receive. The impressive list including all of the top ten universities the Convent's students were accepted and the list of educational honors college graduates acquired too was awe inspiring.

Getting the family there to visit the Convent was the one and only battle. Parents wondered how the Order could give their children such a great education for twenty grand a year, including all expenses and fees. When they found out that once their child had been accepted by the Convent, that was what they would continue pay the Order as their sons continued education beyond high school, many a jaw dropped. They found it very hard to believe college would be the same price.

They were told several times over all they had to do was continue the same twenty grand 'DONATION' a year to the Order all through their son's education beyond high school. It didn't matter which university he wanted to attend! It was the same.

Parents always asked what the hitch was. "How could that be correct?" they always asked. The answer was always the same. Their son would get a free education at the best universities, no matter what advanced training they wanted, nor how long it took. The Order would arrange that for their continued donation.

Top notch colleges and universities gave full scholarships to get the very best. It was widely known the Order's high school graduates WERE the very best. Many of the top ten had former orphans on their admissions and scholarship committees.

Every family was told, because of that close connection the Order was able to arrange a fully paid scholarship so long as the annual donation continued. That was the parent's requirement. But everything had one additional price and that was the student's responsibility.

That price was twofold. A year's service to the Order, for every year of their education beyond high school. Summer vacations between school years would be spent either at the Convent or as an in Intern in the discipline of their study. Plus, as part of the scholarship the student had to be a part of a work/study program. At least three hundred hours of work was required each semester. Students were paid for Internship and the work/study program but that money was to be donated to the Order.

It was always pointed out that joining the Order was never a requirement for either their son or the themselves. "It's encouraged," they were told, "But not mandatory."

The initial conference with parents and their son started in Mother Superior's office so they would hear just what was required of them and their parents. When the nitty-gritty financial talk started, it was suggested their son and his escort step into the cubicle room and switch to a visitor's tunic and see the Convent from a student's viewpoint.

For the boys, once they were at the convent and sent off with an escort, always a boy in a yellow tunic, they saw the other side of the education they'd receive.

While the parents continued their talk with Mother Superior, the door to the cubicles was always CLOSED! Needless to say, their son was quickly introduced to two girls in yellow tunics waiting inside the room and the three students gave a very quick and thorough initiation into dress customs, protocol and the PDA rule at the Convent.