SETTING
( setting )
Non scholae sed vitae discimus
"We learn not for school, but for life."
Reims Academy is a prestigious international boarding school nestled securely on Île Baptiste, a small island off the southern coast of France, that houses education for grade levels seven through twelve. Originally a private residence built in 1795 and converted in 1851, the Academy was founded in the vein of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle to provide willing students a thorough education so that they may excel in life.
Students may find themselves attending the Academy through a variety of means. As the school is dedicated to equal education for all, there are scholarship programs available so students from underprivileged backgrounds can still receive a premier education. Graduates from Reims Academy have gone to high-leaning institutes such as Oxford, Harvard and Trois Parisiennes as graduation is not determined by simply fulfilling class requirements, but also by completing a Senior Project designed to make use of a variety of disciplines and prepare the student for their future outside of the Academy.
A mix of old and new, Reims Academy follows a year-round block scheduling system and offers students a variety of extracurricular activities to help stimulate the mind and body through club organizations and sports. The Administration promotes social growth by providing many opportunities and means through which the student body can interact, such as an intra-networking system, and faculty is on hand at all times to facilitate an energetic yet controlled environment for young minds to blossom.
Though located on Île Baptiste, Reims Academy is not sequestered from the rest of the world. The nearby town of La Salle, France, offers students a chance to stretch their legs during weekend trips. The mainland is only a forty minute ferry ride away, in calm waters, so students are encouraged to take advantage of the trips when they are scheduled. The small Catholic Chapel, part of the original construction and not directly affiliated with the Academy, adjacent to the school grounds is available for those of the Christian faith to use as the soul needs.
As time is fluid, so is Reims Academy, adopting and adapting in an ever-changing world, and all students that attend will be given the best education possible. Non scholae sed vitae discimus.
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STUDENT DORMITORIES
The Quad-
One of the newer additions to Reims Academy, built in 1983 and renovated in 1999, the Quad is where the student dormitories are located. Four individual buildings of seven stories tall connected by atriums, they are set in a square pattern with a courtyard in the center, giving the dormitories their distinctive name.
The first floor of each building contains a residence office, self-serve laundry facilities, a trash room, public bathrooms, a student mail center and a student lounge. The lounge offers students an opportunity for socializing with a large screen television with satellite service providing television stations of various nationalities, two billiard tables, two ping-pong tables, one shuffleboard table, a piano and four computer terminals. Each terminal is capable of accessing the school's Intranet and many internet sites, though there are heavy content filters installed on the public terminals.
From the first floor, students can take either the stairs or the elevator up to their respective room. Reims Academy offers two different types of student rooms - the A Suite and the B Suite. Both rooms are very similar containing a small living room, kitchenette with fire extinguisher and bunk beds. The main difference is that the A Suite contains one bedroom and bathroom for two students whereas the B Suite contains two bedrooms and bathrooms for four students. Typically the B Suite is for the younger students to promote social development, but it isn't unusual for high school students to be assigned to B Suites. Furniture is provided by the Academy, but electronic devices are not. Each bedroom has two ethernet connections for the student's personal computer should they have one in addition to the wireless signal available in most parts of the school grounds.
The North and South Quad buildings house the A Suites while the East and West Quad buildings house the B Suite. Each building is co-ed by floor and a Resident Assistant is present on each making sure all the school's rules and regulations are upheld. Students are subject to announced room checks to ensure there aren't any unacceptable items or hazards present. Whereas students aren't forbidden from spending time on the floor of the opposite sex, such socialization is not allowed after ten o'clock pm and students are expected to return to their own floors. Whether this is to be strictly upheld is a manner of contention among the resident assistants, but for now, most of the RAs will direct students to their own floors if they catch a student out of place.
In addition to the rooms, each floor has a study lounge with a single computer terminal available for use, also with access to the internet under heavy filters. This particular lounge has a table for group study, several desks in small cubicles and a few couches. This is also where vending machines are located containing various beverages and snack foods. Please remember to clean all messes made in the study lounges and be careful not to spill beverages! Trash and recycling receptacles are present in each lounge as well.
The Quad has many doors students can enter through as well as many fire doors that set off alarms when opened. The Residence Director would like to remind all students that false fire alarms are heavily frowned upon and subject to disciplinary action. Aside from the planned fire drills, the fire alarms should only be pulled when a fire is actually present. Students can access the Quad's courtyard through the buildings themselves or the four corridors at each corner. The courtyard has a small garden, bird baths, bird feeders, many trees and benches for students to relax and study in the peaceful outdoors. Occasionally, students may find themselves graced with chalk art on the sidewalks or even have the chance to watch some dedicated art students create their works of chalk art.
The administration hopes all students find their dormitory experience satisfactory and are always willing to listen to suggestions to further enrich student life.
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Roommate assignments for characters are determined by random, but it is possible to put in an IC and OOC request for room changes. Keep in mind, such requests need to be processed both ICly and OOCly, so do not expect it to be an immediate change and the mod team reserves the right to deny such requests. If a request is denied for either IC or OOC reasons, we will provide an explanation as to why and may even offer a suggestion. More than likely, we'll approve the requests, but there is always a chance we may decide otherwise.
The general room layouts can be found at the following links: Suite A and B Suite . A Suites are ONLY in the North and South Quad buildings. B Suites are ONLY in the East and West Quad buildings.
Keep in mind, there are bunk beds in each room and the kitchenette is small with an electrical stove, no oven, and a small refrigerator. It also comes with place settings for four regardless of the room option. A small hand fire extinguisher is available in each kitchenette and all students are educated in their initial orientation as to the proper use of the fire extinguisher. Each floor also has a fire alarm for emergencies. It can be pulled by students, but please keep in mind there are consequences for these actions. If any student (or faculty) wishes to falsely pull the fire alarm send the mods an email for confirmation before doing so. We're not saying you can't pull it, but we need to be appraised of it before it happens.
Until further notice, all Resident Assistants (RA) are NPCs as is anyone working in the residence offices. As long as there aren't any major disturbances, or your room isn't right next to the RA's, the rule regarding members of the opposite sex not being allowed on the floor after 10:00pm can be violated without consequence until something happens to cause the RAs to crack down on the issue. Remember IC Actions have IC Consequences and some students will 'tattle' on others. Have fun, but try not to go overboard.
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ACADEMY DINING
The Cafeteria-
Included in school enrollment is a meal plan that allows the student to receive breakfast, lunch and dinner each day at the Cafeteria. The Cafeteria serves predominantly French foods with some constant basic American and Asian selections. The main menu rotates weekly and, in the spirit of the school's international student body, theme menus appear on the weekends allowing for more ethnic foods to be served. This includes menus such as, but not limited to, Asian Fusion, Mexican Fiesta, Italian Ristorante and UK Klassics. And, as always, the Cafeteria is all-you-can-eat.
The Underground-
The food at the Cafeteria is well above average, but it is still cafeteria faire. If a student wishes to use their own money, they can spend their meals at the Underground. Located in the basement of the old science building, the external access and greater variety of food choices, including a few big international name brands, make this a favored place for faculty to take their meals. It's only open for lunch and dinner, closing far earlier than the Cafeteria, but the atmosphere is more sophisticated and caters to the more worldly diner.
THE DOCKS
On the northern side of the island are the docks. With a ferry being the transportation between the island the LaSalle, this is well maintained. In addition to the ferry itself which runs three times a day barring stormy weather, boats bearing supplies arrive weekly. In addition to the common traffic, there is a small speedboat owned by the Academy kept docked in case of emergencies and faculty can apply for a dock pass if they wish to keep a personal watercraft.
About two miles away from the Academy proper, transportation between the docks and the school is via shuttle. When shuttles are needed, the security office at the docks contacts the security office at the school or vice versa depending on where transportation is needed. On weekends, the shuttles run on an hourly schedule as fishing is encouraged as a weekend activity, though there is a catch and release policy in effect.
FACULTY APARTMENT COMPLEX
Separated from the Academy campus is the Faculty Apartment Complex for those of the faculty that wish to reside on the island as opposed to the mainland. It is a small gated community of buildings with a high level of security as the Administration does not want students finding their way into the faculty living area. Buildings consist of a standard two bedroom furnished apartments, each with a full kitchen and a washer/dryer combo unit. Rent and utilities are automatically deducted from the faculty member's salary and satellite television is optional.
The Residence Director oversees the Faculty Apartment Complex as well as the student dormitories and keeps an office at the Complex. In addition to the apartment buildings themselves, the complex contains an outdoor pool (swim at your own risk), a small fitness center and a business center containing computer terminals with access to the Academy's Intranet. These computers do not contain the same heavy filters as the ones at the school. Each apartment is wired for internet and faculty can access the school's Intranet via the Portal - a program designed to allow those off the school's network to log in.
NOTABLE PLACES AROUND REIMS ACADEMY
Health Center-
One of the three most recently built buildings, and the largest, the HC is the home of the sports and fitness facilities. In this building, students will find an Olympic sized swimming pool, a basketball court with bleachers, two handball courts, fitness equipment, free weights, an indoor tennis court, a small indoor track, and locker rooms with showers. Outside the building, students will find the football (aka soccer) field with bleachers, baseball/softball diamond, outdoor tennis courts and a full-sized outdoor track and field area. This is where Physical Education and Health classes occur and is also where the school's medical staff is located.
Science Building-
The newest building constructed at the Academy, the Science Building contains classroom and lab rooms for the science classes. With large windows to let a lot of natural light in, this building looks a bit out of place with how modern the architecture is. Lab rooms contain the best high school level facilities and all classrooms in this building are equipped with whiteboards instead of chalkboards, though teachers that prefer the latter can bring a portable chalkboard into the room. As in all classrooms, the chairs and desks are separate in this building as well. This is also where the computer labs are for those students taking the high school computer science elective or the middle school computer basics elective.
Old Science Building-
With the construction of the new Science Building, the Old Science Building became the home of the 'softer' sciences and social studies subjects such as psychology and history. Coincidentally, the math classes are also located in this older building. Chalkboards reign supreme in this building though whiteboards are available upon request. Aside from the older, more traditional architecture, the other main draw of the Old Science Building is the eatery located in the basement called The Underground. It is a favored meal-time hangout for professors, though students with their own money are welcome to dine there as well. One thing of note is the uppermost floor of the Old Science Building seems to be inaccessible. The elevator stops one floor below, the access door from the staircase is locked and none of the faculty seem to know why nor do they have a key. Curious indeed.
Humanities Building-
An older building, the Humanities Building is where English, Languages, the Arts and similar classes are located at. Students will find the first floor to be dedicated to the Arts with studio rooms for traditional art, rehearsal rooms for musical pursuits both instrumental and vocal. The basement of this building houses the wood and metal shop for the more mechanically inclined, though these particular rooms have set hours to ensure all work done in them is supervised to ensure safety at all times.
Auditorium-
Next to the Humanities Building is the Auditorium where assemblies, award ceremonies and theater productions are held. The basement and back of the building are dedicated to the theater electives and utilized by the local chapter of the Thespian Society.
Administration Building-
Home of all the faculty offices, each department has a section in the Administration Building to provide an environment for the faculty to socialize as well as attend faculty meetings. In this building is where the Guidance Counselors are located and an office where students can go if they need to address an issue with the faculty. Amongst the offices is a faculty lounge with several computer terminals and a television that students are not allowed in. This is also where the Academy's security main office is located though there are smaller satellite offices found in each building.
LaSalle-
The mainland town that services the ferry, LaSalle is a small French town where many of the faculty chooses to live. Students can visit LaSalle on holidays and during the planned Academy weekend visits that occur a few times a year. Students of at least sixteen years of age with exceptional grades may apply for a weekend pass to LaSalle, but they are extremely rare.
The Woods-
To the west of the Academy is a thick, lush woodland area. Every student has been strictly told to never go into the woods. Reasons for this depend on what rumor a student hears as the Administration only states that it is off-limits. There are many rumors, ranging from the mundane to the absurd, but the most prevalent rumor is that a middle school girl disappeared one day into the woods and was never found after a week of searching. Regardless of the rumors and reasons why, the woods are forbidden and any students loitering near it or seen going into it are immediately recovered by security and are subject to disciplinary action. It's almost as if there is something to hide...
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NAVIGATION