Beyond the Classroom
Boarding and Residential Experience
Boarding
With Pacific and mountain views from your dorm room, the Mesa is an incredible place to call home. Of Cate’s 310 students, 240 are boarding students who live right here on campus. There are 10 different dorms to live in at Cate, all with their own unique personalities. They are:
- Class of 1925 House (referred to as ’25 House)
- Long House
- Schoolhouse
- High House
- Lido
- Parsonage
- Bothin
- Savage
- Cook House East (Referred to as CHE)
- Cook House West (Referred to as CHW)
Bothin and Parsonage Dorms at a dorm meeting
All 9th graders live in either Long House or ’25 House. Long House is all single rooms while ’25 House is all double-rooms. From sophomore through senior year, students have more options on their housing as all dorms are mixed grades and have a variety of singles and doubles.
Faculty residents live in each dorm, so students have a trusted adult nearby. Senior Prefects assist the faculty in the dorm, helping oversee dorm activities, chores, study hours, and help run the weekly dorm meetings.
Learn more about the dormitories here.
Residential Experience: Log off, Show up, Pitch in!
On weekends and after sports, students can take the school shuttle into Carpinteria to grab a meal, pick up dorm essentials, or simply spend time at the beach and in town. Each weekend also offers a range of organized activities, from on-campus events like dodgeball tournaments to school traditions such as Homecoming and Winter Formal, as well as camping trips, community service outings with local nonprofits, and other off-campus excursions.
Throughout the week, dorm life is grounded in community expectations that reflect our motto, “Servons.” Students learn to share a room, keep their space clean, and manage responsibilities like laundry. Each student is also assigned a dorm job to help maintain common spaces that are welcoming to everyone. In the evenings, students attend study hours, working in their rooms or academic spaces, with access to peer tutoring for additional support.
Dining
Booth Commons is Cate’s dining hall where students receive 3 wonderful meal everyday. Day students and families are welcome to join for all meals whenever they are on the Mesa as well!
The dining hall keeps fruit, cereals, teas, and sandwich materials throughout the evening in case you need study snack later on!
On Mondays, our community comes to Booth for Formal Dinner, where we enjoy randomly assigned tables to share a meal with a new group of friends and faculty.
