Xavier's School

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Purpose

Located outside Salem Center in Westchester County, New York, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is publicly known as a prestigious boarding school, founded in 1992 and providing an outstanding college preparatory education to middle- and high-school students. With a rigorous academic curriculum and a low student-to-teacher ratio, Xavier's sends its students on to the best colleges in the country.

The school's true purpose is much more secretive -- Founded by its current headmaster, Charles Xavier, in his family's ancestral home, the school serves as a safe haven and training ground for young mutants to learn to cope with and control their powers. Alongside more typical high school classes, Xavier's students receive instruction and guidance from the faculty in responsible use of powers, the ethics of living with them, and how to eventually make their way back out into the world.

Reputation

Publicly, it is simply known to be a small but prestigious boarding school for grades 6-12. Xavier's true mission is not known to the general public -- the school has specialized facilities and curriculum designed to give mutant children the opportunity for a normal education and integration back into regular life while gaining safe control of their abilities. By dint of strict pressure on students and staff and some minor telepathic encouragement towards discretion, this has been kept a close secret since the school's founding in 1992.

Recruitment

Xavier's is not publicly known to be a mutant school, and its students as welll as its faculty are found by proactive recruitment.

The school is intended to help students who cannot attend school due to the danger posed from their mutations. Please keep that in mind when crafting your characters' backstory -- the overwhelming majority of their students are there because they need help to learn to control their powers, and were unable to go to their previous schools. If your character has a mutation that is under control and is not experiencing mutation-related difficulties at their school/in their life, it is very unlikely that they would be offered a place at Xavier's.

The sole exceptions are:

a) mutant students from families wealthy enough to pay their full tuition, who are, occasionally, offered spots at Xavier's even if their powers are not posing them any trouble -- with nearly all their students on scholarship, it's helpful to have a few students who are actually paying tuition and might donate to the school once they are alums.

b) immediate family of current faculty (children, siblings) who are -- if they wish -- allowed to attend the school even if they do not require its specialized accommodations. Weirdly enough, very few human relatives actively want to go to Freak School, so this is rare.

Faculty tend to be recruited on recommendation/word of mouth. It is not required to be a mutant to teach at Xavier's, but, obviously, it is required to be positively disposed towards them.

When thinking about your character's backstory, please keep in mind: Xavier's is a pretty small boarding school; each grade has an average of 55 students, meaning the entirety of the student body is under 400 students. Given that they all live together, eat meals together, take classes together, this means that if you have a teacher or student who has been there for more than a couple weeks, they almost certainly will know everyone at the school by sight and name, even if they do not know each other well. Please do not assume that just because you have never had a scene on-camera with another student or teacher that your characters have never met: it's a tiny close-knit school with strict security where everyone lives in the same dorms, they are going to run into each other here and there.

Keep in mind that Xavier's is a middle/high school, not a shelter for wayward or distressed mutants. If you would like a character who is taking refuge at Xavier's, getting help learning to control their powers at Xavier's, etc. you need to make a teenage, student character. Your adult will not be accepted to train and learn at Xavier's, regardless of their own perceived need; Xavier's does not currently have any sort of adult education program.

Schedule

The school year at Xavier's is divided into three terms. Breaks fall between terms, with summer term falling for two months beginning in early June. Though classes are not in session, the school is open residentially through all breaks. Students must have permission from their legal guardians to remain at school during breaks and holidays, including summer term. During summer term, an abbreviated class schedule is in place for those students needing remedial/make-up classes, or those enrolled in elective summer school courses.

Daily Class Schedule

Class Schedule

Academic Calendar, 2024-2025

Summer Term 2024
Fall Term 2024
Winter Term 2024-2025
Spring Term 2025
Summer Term 2025

XS School Rules

ICly, all students at Xavier's are expected to be familiar with the rules and follow them while they are living at and attending the school. OOCly, clearly, people break rules and we do not expect all characters to be studious and well-behaved at all times! Just keep in mind that they have teachers who are telepaths, and boarding schools are highly prone to a busily turning gossip mill. There are things that are easy to get away with and things that are likely to be discovered; don't be surprised if your char's frequent class-skipping or curfew-breaking or bullying lands them in hot water with the school administration.

Major Infractions
Additional Policies
Dormitory Rules

Academics

Xavier's School runs on trimesters, with an optional summer term for students who wish to stay at school over the summer. In order to graduate, students must complete at least 60 credits of courses through their four years; in almost all cases, classes count as one credit per trimester. Students must enroll in a minimum of four and maximum of six classes per term, except for summer term.

  • Art - 3 term credits; Must study at least two different disciplines (visual arts, performance, or music.) Normally non-credit performance extracurriculars (e.g. Xavier's Players, Band, Chorus) can fulfill a discipline requirement. Visual arts requirements can be waived by permission of the arts department head.
  • Computer Science: 3 term credits; alternatively can test out.
  • English - 11 term credits
  • History - 6 term credits; three of which must be U.S. history and three of which must be non-U.S. history.
  • Health & Human Development: 2 term credits.
  • Language - 9 term credits of one language or 5 each of two; alternatively, can test out.
  • Mathematics - 9 term credits
  • Philosophy, Ethics, and Religion: 6 term credits
  • Physical Education: 2 term credits per year; can use a season of athletics as one term of phys. ed. requirement.
  • Science - 6 term credits
  • Social Sciences - 1 term credits
  • Vocational Tech - 1 term credit

Additionally, students must successfully complete sixty hours of community service activities through the course of four years. Faculty advisors are available to help students find appropriate service projects.

Note: The following courses, highlit in red in the course list, are mandatory for all students:

  • English - Expository Writing
  • Health & Human Development - Teen Health Matters (formerly Health & Human Development. Must be taken first term upon enrolling at Xavier's)
  • Health & Human Development - Thriving in Community (formerly Human Sexuality)
  • Philosophy, Ethics & Religion - Bioethics - Humanity in a Post-Genomic Era
  • Philosophy, Ethics & Religion - Power & Social Responsibility
  • Philosophy, Ethics & Religion - The Ethics of Power
  • Phys. Ed - Psionic Self-Defense

Note: Classes marked with an asterisk* can be repeated for credit. Classes without an asterisk may only be taken for credit once. Any classes may always be audited (for no credit) as fits the students' schedule, with permission from the instructor.

Note: Students taking interdisciplinary classes may choose one department to apply their credit to. Credit will not be awarded in multiple disciplines for the same class.

Xavier's Academic Offerings

Extracurriculars

Life at Xavier's is not all classwork and training. Between sports* and student organizations, the students have a wealth of opportunities to choose from to enrich themselves outside the classroom.

Athletics (The Xavier Titans)

Fall Season
Winter Season
Spring Season
Student Organizations
  • Note that because of the vast discrepancy in abilities among the student body, joining an athletic team must be approved both in tryouts and by the Xavier's Ethics board.

XS Life

XS Dorms

Student dorms at Xavier's are segregated into two wings based on binary identified gender. Students who do not identify with a binary gender, regrettably, have to pick one of the two wings to live in.

Nearly all dorm rooms are currently set up for two people; in some cases due to availability or extreme power related considerations, students may be assigned a dorm by themselves.

The dorms at Xavier's are, as dorm rooms go, fairly comfortable. They are quite spacious, and come standard with a pair each of twin beds, dressers, nightstands, desks with bookshelf/hutch, and large closets. There is ample room in the dorms for students to customize their own half of their rooms as they like so long as it does not violate any school regulations.

Bathrooms in the student dorms are shared with the wing; they have long rows of sinks and toilets on one side and, separately, the rows of showers, in their own enclosed booths with plenty enough space to bring all clothes and toiletries in and have them stay dry.

The teachers' wing is on a different floor. Teachers who choose to live on campus get their own suites; they vary in size but all come with their own in suite bathrooms and some have small kitchenettes or small sitting areas as well.

Roommate Assignments

ICly, roommates at Xavier's are assigned by the administration, and cannot be specifically requested. Sometimes roommates do not get along; sometimes friction occurs -- usually these students will simply be told to learn how to get along. In cases of serious, persistent hostility/incompatibility that is impacting the students' ability to thrive, the students may request a change of roommate, though they may still not request a specific new roommate.

OOCly, though, roommates at Xavier's are not assigned and are handled wholly and entirely by OOC agreement between players. Nobody will ever assign you a roommate here, so please do not ask. If you would like a PC roommate, you will need to a) see if there is someone who has a PC living in the same wing as yours who does not yet have a roommate and b) see if they are interested in being your roommate. If nobody is available, please either assume your PC has an NPC roommate or, if they are brand-new, may be one of the lucky few who has the double room to themselves until someone new shows up!

Current PC room assignments at XS (check here to see if anyone is free/unassigned if you are looking for a roommate):

Advising at XS

ICly, every student at Xavier's is paired soon upon arrival with an advisor. The job of the advisor is to make sure the student's needs at the school are being met and the student is being properly prepared for graduation/life after Xavier's. This means: helping them figure out their goals after high school, helping them a class and extracurriculars schedule that is manageable for them and will prepare them for a successful graduation, arranging that they get whatever access to coaching and therapy they might require (whether this is powers-based, medical, or psychological.)

Please note that their advisor is not required to be the person who gives them powers-based coaching if it is needed, and advisors at Xavier's are, as a general rule, not selected based on similar powersets to students. When possible, students are matched with advisors based on personality and cultural competency -- meaning they try hard to pair students to advisors they think they'll get along with and talk to, not just advisors who can train them to use their powers.

OOCly, similarly to roommates, advisors at Xavier's are not assigned and are handled wholly and entirely by OOC agreement between players. Nobody will ever assign you an advisor here, so please do not ask. If you would like a PC advisor, you will need to see if there is someone who has a PC faculty or X-Man who is interested in being your student's advisor. If nobody is available, please assume your PC has an NPC advisor -- there is no situation, period, where a student will not have an advisor, so do not RP that they have not been assigned one.

When asking about advisor/advisee relationships, it is a good idea to check in OOCly and make sure you are on the same page about what you all want OOCly out of that RP relationship -- some people might want to actually roleplay out advising sessions on camera while other people are not interested in that genre of scenes and might only want that as a background to inform your characters' relationship for other types of scenes, and it is better not to set yourself up for frustration if you want very different things!

Mentor Assignments:

(OOCly) Unassigned Students (remember that ICly, these students will still have an advisor, they will just be an NPC until you choose to pair with a PC advisor):

Dining at XS

The kitchen is run by Savita Chavan, who has been the cook for many, many years at XS. She is fully human; her daughter was a mutant who graduated long ago.

Meals happen on a set schedule (breakfast at 7 am, lunch around 12/1p, dinner around 6:30; shifted an hour later on weekends), but there are always plenty of snacks and leftovers kept around the extensive pantry for students who need more food in between meals.

Xavier's does its best to cater to the wide variety of cultural and physiological needs of its students. The dining hall is NOT a restaurant or cafeteria with a full menu that kids can order from it's a school dining hall.

Mealtimes generally include one meat and one vegan entree with a number of sides that students can pick and choose from to make their own meal as best suits them. Entrees and sides at a given meal will generally all be along a similar cuisine for ease of mixing and matching, with a wide range of dietary choices represented among the available options. While Savita's specialty is South Indian food, she tends to try and cater her cooking to the (predominately whiter, more American) palate of the school body; though there's a wide variety of recipes on rotation, they skew towards Things That An Uncertain Immigrant Thinks Would Be Inoffensive To A Wide Audience Of American Kids. Less often palak paneer, more often ravioli.

XS Tech

  • There is wifi everywhere throughout the mansion and covering a good portion of the grounds around the mansion. It reaches down to the boathouse and docks, but peters out soon into the woods.
  • The computer lab is open 24/7, with many machines available for students who do not have their own personal computers. It is well-equipped with computers, scanners, and printers for all students' computing needs.
  • All students are required to have smartphones. Students may not use cell phones during class, but must keep their phones with them at all times when they are signed out to leave school grounds. They are expected to use the cell phones in emergencies; they are all equipped with a 'panic button' which will send an alert with the student's location to the school, dispatching available X-types to respond. Hitting the panic button OUTSIDE of actual crises is a severe infraction and will result in disciplinary action.
    • Students are welcome to see the school's IT department if they have their own appropriately capable cellphone they would prefer to keep and use; they will install a similar panic-button app for them. Students who do not have/cannot afford their own phone will be provided one by the school.
  • All students, staff, and faculty receive Xavier's email addresses. The default format is first initial-lastname at xaviers.edu . So, e.g., Daiki Komatsu is dkomatsu@xaviers.edu. Alumnae keep their Xavier's email address for as long as they stay active with it; they can contact the school sysadmin to reinstate it if they let it go idle and it is deleted.
    • Staff, faculty, and alumnae are allowed to pick up to two mail aliases for their email as well. So, e.g., Jackson, in addition to being jholland@xaviers.edu, can also be reached by jax@xaviers.edu or littlemisssunshine@xaviers.edu. Mail aliases must have some modicum of propriety; nothing vulgar or profane will be allowed.
  • Xavier's internal network has extensive online support for all academics. Students can log in to check their class syllabus, assignments, announcements from teachers (which will generally also come with email notification), class discussions, lecture notes, grades, calendars, and any other media that the teacher has posted to help with class.
    • All teachers of academic classes are given instruction in how to use this system when they start teaching; it is pretty simple and intuitive and does not require much tech savvy. Teachers are required to post their syllabus and assignments, at the least, here.
    • For this reason, not knowing about assignments is never an excuse; if class is missed, the week's assignments and topics are posted online and all students have plenty of internet access. A teacher forgetting to post an assignment, however, is an excuse, so teachers should get used to being on the ball with this.
  • Xavier's sysadmin is very On The Ball, although nobody seems to ever have seen him. Any and all network problems can be directed to cerebro@xaviers.edu, though, and tend to be answered uncannily quickly. The network does not inherently have any constraints on it for things like file sharing and porn and general Misbehavior, but students will find that things outside of the school's Acceptable Use Policy (things like: attempted hacking, illegal activity, using obnoxious amounts of bandwith nonessentially, etc. ) are quickly discovered and quashed.
  • Students -- or malicious outsiders! -- will also find that their network is remarkably secure and resistant to malicious tampering and intrusion. Students attempting to test the network's security will even occasionally receive an email offering advice, and explaining what they did wrong, along with a suggestion that should they wish to practice their "1337 haxx0r skillz" they should take one of the many CS classes offered by the school.

The Neighborhood, and Beyond

Xavier's School is located in the town of Salem Center, a town of around 5000 people in Westchester county. Salem is a small and close-knit community, the type of place guidebooks probably call "charming" or "quaint". Its town center makes a deliberate effort to retain the same general feel it has kept for generations, old-fashioned storefronts and cobbled streets with a lot of eye for aesthetic and very little thought for accessibility. While there are some things to do in town -- an arcade, a diner that's popular with the students, a roller skating rink, a small movie theatre -- in honesty the primary recreational activities of the youth who live there are Getting High Behind the roller skating rink, movie theatre, etc. The Weirdo School up at the old Xavier place is something of an open secret in town; while people don't know for sure the full scope of the school they are well aware that there's a Higher Proportion Than Usual of freaks that come into town from there and have grown to a grudging mutual tolerance.

At just under a mile from campus, getting to the town center is a middling walk on a pleasant day, or a very quick bike or car trip.

Westchester County is just north of the Bronx. In zero-traffic conditions, it takes approximately an hour by car to get from the school to Manhattan -- in most actual New York City congestion situations, tack at least an extra half an hour onto that. Public transit is a more hit or miss prospect -- the school is served by commuter rail; the schedule is geared around people getting to and from day jobs in the city and not to the needs or desires of people wanting to get FROM Westchester TO the city on an after-school/weekend schedule.

Timed correctly, the trip from Salem Center to Grand Central Station by train is often quicker than sitting in traffic and will run about an hour as well -- however on top of that needs to be factored in time to get from downtown Manhattan to wherever people actually want to be, as well as the fact that the train runs extremely intermittently on weekends and does not run late at night. The trip by buses (which are necessary to get back in between trains) requires several transfers and can take well over 2 hours from downtown, depending on transfer times and how behind the buses are.

Additional Trivia

The school colours are blue and yellow, though Xavier's branded apparel comes in different colours as well.

The school teams are the Titans -- the mascot, when it is brought out, does not look much like a Greek god, but that's how it goes.

The school motto is mutatis mutandis.

Roster

These are the current PCs who have some affiliation with Xavier's.