Since 2011 I have not spent a full year at home with my family. I have, however, spent countless nights in many different states, several different countries and with an indefinite number of strangers who would become friends or acquaintances. As a kid from Brooklyn, I quickly grew tired of the city and desperately needed to scratch my itch to get away from the great metropolis and explore the world that I, at the time, knew very little about. I wanted to try something new, meet new people and overall gain meaningful life experiences that would ultimately shape my outlook on life and the world itself. With the help of my parents and two mentors, I was given the opportunity to move two hundred miles north to a junior boarding school. This was the beginning of a new life that I would embrace.
I started 7th grade in Boston, Massachusetts where The Fessenden School welcomed me. I lived in a dorm with thirty other kids from across the states and the globe. My first year away from home was done in a blink of an eye but not without meeting more people than I had already known as well as trying everything from skiing, whale watching, spectating BC hockey games, and attending Polo matches. I spent many weekends exploring Massachusetts staying with friends who were native and visiting landmarks with those who, like myself, were living away from home. After leaving Fessenden I found myself frequently visiting friends in Boston, spending summers in Nantucket and even visiting international friends out of the U.S.
The Lawrenceville School, in Princeton, New Jersey was my next stop. I began my high school career in the summer of 2013. I reported to Lawrenceville for preseason football with hopes of expanding my experience from Fessenden. I did. I quickly acclimated to the new environment and many new faces. Similarly to Fessenden, I had the chance of getting to know New Jersey and explore the Princeton area. From both and academic and athletic perspective, Lawrenceville proved more difficult for obvious reasons (a rigorous curriculum and bigger opponents). Socially however, after maturing and figuring out more about myself, I quickly began to form many close friends and establish important relationships with adults. I was able to graduate with my three best friends and have found myself either back at Lawrenceville or hanging out with them. Ultimately my time at Lawrenceville has come to an end but my friendships and experiences live on and for that I am grateful.
As I think about starting my college years at Trinity I think back to Fessenden and Lawrenceville. I think about the idea of living away from, the idea of starting something new, the idea of creating new friendships and ultimately creating experiences and memories that last forever. I think about all these aspects of life and can only appreciate how fortunate I am, how fortunate we all are, to do such things.
