Meet Avery Yecies ’16


Avery Yecies ’16
Currently Attending:
University of Southern California
Years at Shipley:
14

Activities & Positions Held: DECA, Chess Club; Alumni Office Intern, Founder and Head of Model Congress, Varsity Field Hockey Co-Captain, Co-Head of Will Trippley Tutoring

A Lifetime of Learning
The impact that Shipley has had on my life is almost impossible to express. As a Lifer, Shipley has been my home for the past 14 years. It is extremely difficult to think of one specific moment that can encompass my entire time at Shipley; it truly is the overall experience that has shaped me into the person I am today. Lower School showed me that I loved learning and thrived off of the energy of others. This is still true today and has shown me that I succeed in seminar and discussion-based classes. In Middle School I discovered one of my favorite activities, field hockey. I was in sixth grade when I picked up a field hockey stick for the first time and by the time I graduated, I was varsity captain and MVP. High School taught me the importance of community. Super Saturday, Swamp Night, the Junior/Senior Football game, and cheering in the Swamp wearing my blue and green are some of my favorite memories throughout my Shipley experience. This showed me how important a spirited community was to me and was one of the most important qualities when looking at colleges.

Curiosity & Creativity
As a Shipley lifer, I had the tremendous opportunity to experience 14 years of remarkable teachers, but there are two teachers that truly stand out to me. Mrs. Pickering and Mrs. Weigel had the greatest impact and influence on me inside and outside of the classroom. Both of these exceptional teachers pushed me to realize that my true academic passion was in the humanities, and that creativity and hard work would always pay off, and for that I am forever grateful. In Modern European History and American Studies, Mrs. Pickering encouraged me to constantly ask “why?” and apply my constant curiosity to my writing. In Global Studies Mrs. Weigel showed me the power of sharing my ideas in a seminar class and how this confidence exponentially improved not only my analytical writing, but my creativity as well.  Mrs. Pickering and Mrs. Weigel’s teachings are gifts that I feel so lucky to have experienced and I know I will continue to admire and learn from them for the rest of my life.

Nurturing Interests
My most memorable experience at Shipley has been founding and leading the Harvard Model Congress Club. Shipley has the type of environment that encourages students to pursue and engage in everything they are interested in, and allowed me and other Shipley students to further explore future interests while travelling to Boston to engage with hundreds of other invested students from all over the country.

Plans for Fall 2016

I will be attending the University of Southern California.

Future Ambition
I am not sure exactly what I want to do in the future, but I know I want to pursue some type of humanity-based career. Global Studies is the course at Shipley that had the biggest impact on me as a student. Although I have always had a love of learning, Global was so unique in its curriculum and invoked engaging discussions; going to class everyday was like a present and tackling the hard assignments did not feel like work, rather something I would want to do on my own time.

Shipley has prepared me to advocate for myself, regardless of the situation and circumstances. Self-advocacy is a skill that I assumed all schools instilled in their students, but Shipley truly does a remarkable job in preparing their students to always be comfortable and confident in asking questions. This is a skill that is hard to learn at an older age, and I believe that I will be a better student in college and person through my life because Shipley taught me self-advocacy.
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The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.