Innate Spark: A 2017 Graduate Looks Back
With the year drawing to a close, I began to consider my experiences at Shore in a new light. Last year, at this time, I watched my friends head off to different schools, leaving Shore for newer things. I’ve never been sure why I stayed for ninth grade, but I know it was the right choice. Part of it was that I needed time to mature; part of it was that I wanted to stay in one school for a while; but I think the biggest factor in my decision was that I sensed that there was more Shore had to offer me.
As I was applying to high schools this year, I narrowed down my criteria for what I really was looking for in a school: strong academics, a good athletics program, but above all, an innate spark, something that binds the community together. At Shore, we see that spark every time the entire school fills the Theatre on Friday to recite the Community Code and to listen to each other. We saw that on Halloween, when Mr. Griffin led the Upper School in a massive group costume. I’ve witnessed it in House meetings, when I see kindergarteners playing with sixth graders and Upper School teachers engaging Lower Schoolers in conversation. The ninth grade saw it in Mississippi, working and living together to build a house and a playground.
The Shore trips are undeniably a part of that sense of community. When I came to Shore last year, as the only new eighth grader, I was almost immediately swept off to Yarmouth. I think I probably knew five people in the grade at the time. It was unsettling, and intimidating, and I loved it. I had the chance to stay on a remote island in Maine, sleeping in a tent, living with teachers and students alike. One of the things I love most about Shore is that there is no chasm, no Great Divide, between the students and the teachers, as there was at some of my previous schools. Nobody in the grade is a complete stranger to you once you spend four days with them. Even this year, I learned more about the people in my grade on four trips than I did throughout the rest of the year. Forming a community based soley in academics and athletics is next to impossible. Strong, lasting bonds form when you hike mountains and canoe lakes together. They form when you walk beneath towering redwoods and sled down snowy Vermont hills, when you sit around a campfire on a tiny island, and when you play games of basketball after dark in California. There is a sense, at Shore, of being part of something.
During the trips, I recognized that, but it holds true even on those boring, gray days when you don’t have a single study hall and there’s no hot chocolate powder at the Servery. The magic of Shore isn’t just in the landmark trips and experiences; it also lies in the feeling of winning a game with your teammates and finally pulling off the Winter Musical, seeing all your hard work united with everyone else’s for three nights. Identifying it is hard, because it is both all-encompassing and elusive. At the start of the year, I thought I would remember the trips as the best parts of my Shore experience. However, in hindsight, Shore can’t be defined by the trips alone. The same applies to the athletics, the clubs, Houses, the classes, and every other thing that makes Shore unique. Taken separately, each is superb, but, bound with Shore’s spark, they all contribute to creating the special environment at Shore. I never recognized, in the moment, that I would look back with nostalgia to endless games of Mafia or messing around in the 9th grade room before class. I was always looking ahead to the upcoming research paper, or worrying about our TED talks. There is an old saying, that I’ve heard many times and have usually shrugged off, that you never know what you have until it’s gone. The things I value most about Shore and the things I will miss the most are not the things I thought I would. I didn’t recognize that, after a year, I wouldn’t care about a book we read or a paper I wrote, but about our group dynamic and the things I’ve learned that stretch far beyond the academic. I doubt, four years from now, that I’ll remember a test I took, but I know that I’ll always remember walking through a snowy forest to a Mountain School dorm with friends.
And so now we are at the crossroads again, except that the nineteen of us have taken the road less traveled, and now must take the other. It has made all the difference in the world. Everyone graduating today will go on to shine, whether behind the microphone or onstage, at a desk or on the field. I have no doubt that we are ready. To all the incoming ninth graders, you have made a great choice. I urge you, remember why you chose to stay. To the graduating eighth graders, I wish you the best of luck on whatever path life leads you down. And to my fellow ninth graders, we have ridden this roller coaster together. I am honored to call you my classmates and to graduate with you. I do not think a single one of us is leaving Shore unchanged. We have shared countless experiences together. I am proud to be a part of the Class of 17, and glad to be a part of Shore.
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In California; Driscoll on the right
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Reviewing a script with classmates in Advanced Theater Arts
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A foursquare competition
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Testing calorimeters in Grade 9 Science
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In the new Shore winter hats
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Shore Country Day School’s mission is to provide an education that inspires a love of learning and encourages children to embrace academic challenge. We seek to build character, cultivate creativity, and value diversity as we help our children become healthy, compassionate citizens of the world.
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