I am the only student left on campus who was here before Covid. I spent the end of my Prep year in China, taking classes in the middle of the night, often cooking myself dinner at 2 a.m.
Unable to return to the U.S. safely for in-person classes as a Lower Mid, I took a gap year at the French School in Beijing, and then re-classified into the class of 2024 a year later.
After a long high school journey full of challenges and triumphs, it is an honor to be able to share some transformative epiphanies and insights, all of which I will take with me to university. Maybe some of you will identify with some parts of my story.
My first transformative epiphany is the importance of staying true to yourself and your values. I recently learned that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with, because inevitably as social creatures we adopt, consciously or not, behaviors and mannerisms of the people around us.
I didn’t know that as a Prep, eager to fit in. I hung out with people in an attempt to seem like I was thriving socially, even if those relationships were not necessarily good for me. I refrained from expressing opinions that might spark disagreement, and did everything I could to please others at the cost of my own wellbeing. I compromised the values my parents had so painstakingly raised me with and morphed into someone I no longer recognized. Prep year was the loneliest I’ve ever felt.
When I found myself again during my gap year, I made a vow that I would never again compromise my values, especially to fit in. So, when I returned to Hotchkiss during a very volatile time in the fall of 2021, I chose to weigh everything against my values and draw conclusions myself.
That decision rubbed some people the wrong way, but in staying true to myself, I found strength and liberation and a group of real friends.
Once I adopted the lifestyle where I remained true to myself and my values, I came to another epiphany—the importance of diversity of thought at Hotchkiss, and my responsibility as a student to encourage civil discourse.
One of the reasons I chose Hotchkiss was its diverse student community and dedication to the Harkness method. Having gone to an international school for eight years before Hotchkiss, I benefited so much from learning about the perspectives of a geographically diverse community. Hotchkiss, a place intentionally diverse in every metric, held the same promise.
However, when I returned from my gap year, I sank into an echo-chamber culture where dissent was discouraged for fear of being socially canceled by peers or given a bad grade by some teachers.
But I had made a promise that I would stay true to myself, which meant I often disagreed with my classmates in history class debates. Sometimes I would play the devil’s advocate just to generate different perspectives. I found that each time I did, it deepened my understanding of the topic at hand. I learned that our disagreements can be our greatest assets in challenging each other to think more critically.
Now I embrace the uncertainty that disagreements bring, and I encourage everyone to challenge themselves and do the same. Only by grasping these opportunities and staying open-minded can we guide each other towards better paths.
