Andy is a three-year senior from Winnetka, Illinois. He runs track and was elected Cross Country captain his senior year, as well as serving as Sports Editor for The News. He will be moving out of Chapel House this spring and next fall will be attending DePauw University.
As the end of the year and graduation approaches, I find myself in a much different state of mind than most of my senior classmates. I never thought I would say this, but I really don’t want to leave Choate. I wish I could have another year of English with Mr. Lowery and another year of running for Ned, Mattoon, and JD.
I did not want to come here initially; I had never left the cocoon of home before and had not had to make new friends since 6th grade. The task of trying to make all new friends while actually doing homework on a regular basis was overwhelming. I felt awkward and out of place initially, and I think most people knew me essentially as “Cork’s roommate.” I could not figure out why guys were wearing workman’s boots with pastel shorts, or why people called pop “soda”. I felt as if I would never fit in here. Why did my parents want me to do this?, I often thought to myself. Don’t they love me anymore? I knew I shouldn’t have started that food fight last year, or maybe Dad is punishing me because I did not heed his request to stop wearing Birkenstocks in the middle of the winter. In my ignorance, I failed to realize that my parents did not send me here to punish me; they just realized before I did what an unbelievable opportunity Choate represents. I have challenged the authority of most of the adults I have met in my life, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they know a lot more than us most of the time. I would advise all of you to listen when your teachers or parents tell you something because you could end up missing out on something really awesome as a result. I know my biggest regret is not listening when I was told that I would really like Cross Country.
Although I made some cool friends sophomore year, I felt really alone here. I could not watch the Bears or Cubs on TV here, I hated dining hall work crew, and I despised Saturday classes. There wasn’t anything that I thought I enjoyed about being here, and I longed for the familiar comfort of home. I continued to feel this way at the beginning of junior year when I firmly decided that Choate wasn’t the right place for me. I briefly left Choate, but when I got home, I realized that I was only focusing on the negative aspects of Choate. There were a lot of things that I would miss about Choate, in particular watching Ned wipe out on his scooter during Cross Country practice. I honestly cannot imagine what my life would be like without Choate. Playing hall ball, running slow intervals in a thong and laughing hysterically when Ned convinces the freshman every year that there is a gondola service in the winter to transport students from the Ex to the Dining Hall are just a few of the countless memories that I would not have to cherish if I had left Choate.
This brings me to the most profound conclusion I have come to over the past three years: nothing in life is ever going to be perfect, so few things are worth getting worked up about. Early in my Choate career, I realized that I had been focusing on everything that was dissatisfying about my life, and from that point on I vowed to make the best of my time at Choate. It is certainly not enjoyable to receive an F on a test, as Mr. DeMarco’s AP Stat class taught me this year, or to get cut from a team or play, but in the grand scheme of things none of these things are very important. I have found only two things to be really that important. The first is trying to spend as much of your time as possible doing things that you enjoy. Life, and high school specifically, is just too short to be spent getting worked up about college and grades. Before we know it we will be in the real world with actual concerns like getting evicted, so I believe we should cherish the time we have to be carefree. The second is the relationships formed with the people around you. What makes Choate better than all the other prep schools is how much friendlier people are here than at other prep schools. I would really urge all of you to try to be as nice as you can to everyone around you. It really doesn’t make you any sweeter of a dude to put other people down. More importantly, does it really make you feel any better about yourself? If it does, to quote the great Brian Bottini, “that’s messed up.” Thank you to all of my teachers, coaches, and friends who have made these last three years here so memorable.
