This page was updated August 2024.
Babson College
Things to do: Campus attractions include the Babson Globe, described by the school as “a freestanding globe measuring 28 feet in diameter and weighing 25 tons.” It is the centerpiece of Kerry Murphy Healey Park, a campus park located along the main drag of the campus. You seriously can’t miss it. The park debuted in Spring 2019 in celebration of the school’s 100th birthday.
- Master calendar of events
- Center for Women’s Leadership events
- Babson Beavers athletic events
- Sorenson Center for the Arts: Hosts plays, art exhibits, film showings.
- Wikipedia description of the school.
MassBay Community College (Wellesley campus)
Wellesley College
Things to do: The Davis Museum and Cultural Center on campus has a good mix of old and new, from headless/armless/body-less statues to paintings and sculpture from big names such as Monet and Pollack, to changing exhibits featuring newer artists. It’s free, though donations are appreciated.
Walk or run around Lake Waban. You used to be able to go the entire two-and-a-half or so miles around. But that ended with COVID when the Hunnewell family shut down their section of the path, perhaps forever. No more walking by the topiary garden.
Wellesley College has kept open their section of the path on this wooded trail mostly along the lake shore. Part of the path goes over a boardwalk. Check out the Wellesley boathouse and more. Here’s a page on Paint Shop Pond, a body of water that links to Lake Waban and has been cleaned up in the 1990s. Parking is limited, mostly to the garage located off Route 135. Visitors are no longer welcome to use the auxiliary parking lot across Route16 from the College Club. And the College Club, which used to host fun events like Thursday night Cocktails With Canines is now being used as the temporary Health Center for students.
Wellesley College’s Botanic Gardens are great to visit. Take a look at the labyrinth, located near Paramecium Pond. Most of the Ferguson Greenhouses were torn down to make room for a new Global Flora Conservatory, which opened in 2019. The greenhouses are always great to visit on a cold day, as it’s always balmy inside.
Whitin Observatory opens to the public every so often so you can get a closer look at the stars and planets. On site are 6-, 12- and 24-inch telescopes, plus students and staff to help explain things.
WZLY 91.5 FM radio station, also available on the Web at www.wzly.org
- Calendar of events
- Athletics
- Student organizations: Quite a mix, from a circus group to bell ringers.
More about the college:
Wellesley College Archives: The school’s history, including historical maps. For more history, see this site covering the school’s 125th anniversary, celebrated in 2000-2001.
Wellesley Centers for Women: “The world’s largest women’s research center, WCW brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars engaged in research, training, analysis, and action. Our groundbreaking work is dedicated to looking at the world through the eyes of women with the goal of shaping a better world for all.”
Wikipedia description of Wellesley College
Mona Lisa Smile, a movie about Wellesley College back in the day. Read reviews.
Wellesley public schools
Official school site/individual school PTO sites:
- Bates Elementary School PTO
- Fiske Elementary School PTO
- Hardy Elementary School PTO
- Hunnewell Elementary School (including PTO)
- Schofield Elementary School PTO
- Sprague Elementary School PTO
- Upham Elementary School PTO—Upham School closed in June 2024 due to declining student enrollment in town.
Wellesley Green Schools: environmental effort involving parents, teachers, students, staff.
Other:
- MCAS results
- Wikipedia description of the high school
- Wellesley Education Foundation: Devoted to enhancing, enriching and maintaining excellence in the Wellesley Public Schools. Organizes fundraisers, including annual spelling bee, and provides grants.
- Wellesley Scholarship Foundation: provides financial assistance to college bound Wellesley students through need and merit-based scholarships.
- The Education Cooperative: Provides special education and other services, including summer programs, to Wellesley and other communities.
- High school sports schedule at Athletic Department site.
An independent boarding and day school for girls in grades 6-12.
Offering an academic program, for pre-K through 6th grade, deeply rooted in Catholic tradition.
A co-ed, elementary school for children in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 6. The school’s mission is “to nurture and challenge each child, every day.”
Infant through private kindergarten programs, before and after school programs for school age children, summer programs.
Wellesley Montessori School: For children 2.9-6 years old.
Wellesley Nursery School in the Hills
For children 2.9-5 years old. School started in 1967.
