From the Gridiron to the PMAC: Choate’s Home to the Best
By Inhwan Chi ’09
News Reporter
“Football Under the Lights!” boasted the email from Mr. Yanelli, which exhorted the student body to support our Varsity Football team in its battle against Kent. I dutifully adorned myself in a navy collared shirt and marched to the football field with my friends, giddy with fanatic anticipation. I stood on the bleachers, ready to scream my lungs out and wallow in the roar of a million hormonal adolescents; however, I was utterly disappointed. The Boar Pen struggled in vain to squeeze a meager ounce of school spirit in the crowd of fans. The cheers were tacky, clashing in discord, and most of the lumps on the bleachers were as mute as if they were in Reflections. The cynical critics jeered at every error of the game, too indifferent or bored to try to urge our team of warriors to victory. After the first half of the game, I sprinted to escape the pool of teenage smugness, practically dying from the frustration.
Convinced my Saturday night would end in gloom, I suddenly recalled that there was free concert of some sort in the PMAC at 8:00 p.m., courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Shanahan. Daring to hope, I put on my black blazer and strolled to the Arts Center, and entered the stage. I beheld an army of musicians in black, armed with wind, strings, and horns. They fed the audience generously with their harmony, each note pregnant with life, bursting with celestial emotions into the heart of the crowd. I was in awe at the unity of the orchestra, flawlessly giving birth to a flow of rich sounds. They were synchronized: each musician distinct and unique, but also a component of a glorious entity. As the final crescendo and blast of heaven burst in my soul, the audience eagerly stood to applause this delightful indulgence.
Choate Rosemary Hall is a proud school, and, I can say without a doubt, the home to the most brilliant, the most athletic, the most stylish. Each and every student in our fine school is different, and has the potential to achieve greatness in the world ahead; however, if we unite into one, and put the interests of the whole ahead of our own, we have the power to change the world. Together, we have the power to cure diseases, save homes, and cheer like madmen in Varsity football games. I challenge each and every one of us to abandon our apathy and inhibitions, and RISE to the future like an orchestra. Students of Choate Rosemary Hall, I beg you, once more RISE, and be worthy of this historical hour!
