Years at Shipley: 7

 

Shipley Sprouts (4 years), Field Hockey (2 Years), Crew (4 Years, Captain)

 

I think that Dr. Gillin was my most influential teacher here at Shipley. I honestly didn't feel any type of passion for US history as a subject, but I learned to really enjoy it in Dr. Gillin's class through her teaching and all the different ways we learned about history. Dr. Gillin also taught me how to really write a paper concisely, which was a game-changer for the rest of my years of school (including her junior year class) because I knew how to get my point across and have proof for that point. She taught me how to engage with my material, take good notes and study from them, and to always find a way to like what I was learning.

 

I don't know that I can choose a favorite class, but I can say that the English curriculum and teachers I had, Mr. Kline and Mr. Hornung, were my favorites. There was always a book each year that I ended up re-reading because I enjoyed it so much and as I grew as a student, I was able to be more creative with my writing and expand my paper topics to something that I really enjoyed. I always came out of those classes feeling like I'd remember the books I read and the conversations I'd had about them, and I'm grateful for my experience in those classes with peers and with teachers.

 

My most memorable experience at Shipley was in middle school, actually, and probably not the type of experience that's very exciting. I was in sixth grade, and it was my first day of school and I ended up sitting alone in the old cafeteria. Some random girl (who is now one of my closest friends) came up to me, said hello, and sat down with me. And we sat together, just the two of us, at that table for probably two months. I wouldn't have been able to do high school without her, without that simple and selfless act of kindness from an eleven-year-old.

 

Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing to me is all about learning how to be brave. Whether that's the "classic" interpretation of not being a bystander or simply trying something new in class for a paper topic, I think that's what Shipley tries to teach as a school--the little pieces of bravery that we all must take in order to become better learners and participants of the world.

 

For me, bravery was about putting myself out there to try things that I was afraid I'd fail at. I tried outlandish English paper topics, I participated more in Spanish class, and I signed up for a sport I'd never done before, twice, crew and then one short season of swimming my senior year. It definitely took me a while to get there, but I really learned what it meant to have that type of bravery, to have the courage for the deed and grace for the doing that I was working towards.

 

Complete this sentence: Shipley has prepared me to… write a good essay in a concentrated hour at a library.

 

I think Shipley was the community that really prepared me with the skills I need to do anything research or writing-related. The English department especially was the place where I was given great foundations for skilled paper writing and was then able to use that to take bigger risks for research or topics that I really liked.

 

Through my involvement with sports and extracurriculars, I learned time management skills that cannot be overstated. I don’t think I'll be perfectly prepared for college--I don't know that anyone really is, but I do feel that I am ready to face whatever it has for me, and I have a skill set to surmount the challenges it brings.

 

Aside from the skills I learned, Shipley was a community that gave me space to grow and learn as a person within myself and my identity. I was given a safe space to take risks in terms of my interests in sports and in art, to try new things, and I was really fortunate that I could do that without being afraid of something bad happening if I couldn't do it right the first time. I was given a space to explore creatively in every class, from art to science, and I'm grateful my teachers gave me space to do that.