BlogsStudent LifePre-K to 8AdmissionUpper School
My Darlington Story: Finding My Home -- Past, Present, and Future
Nov 4, 2013 9:45 PM
By Abraham Johnson '15 - '15
I have tried to write at least three full blog posts about this but I cannot find the right words. For a junior, I am already more nostalgic than I probably should be. Darlington is my home. I have no idea how to not make it sound cheesy -- it's just true. I just looked up the definition of "home" and the most valid definition I can find is actually the verb usage of the word, "(of an animal) to return by instinct to its territory after leaving it."
See, I am under no delusion that Darlington is a perfect place. No place is. There are plenty of things I could point out about my experience at Darlington that have been sub-par, even bad. But that's life.
Darlington has given me a mix -- it has given me heart-poundingly wonderful moments, like when they announced my name in chapel to become the next Head Day Prefect of Moser House. Taking part in the last two One-Act plays and landing the role of "Captain Von Trapp" in this year's production of "The Sound of Music" has led me to realize how much theater makes me feel alive and how excited I am to become a college theater-major dork.
Next to these moments are the darker moments, like losing some of my closest friends, walking out of teachers' classrooms in anger, and being in a constant state of stress over my grades and leadership expectations.
Even with the mix, I would leap at the chance to be at Darlington if I had to decide again. There is a feeling that has sprouted within me, however cheesy that sounds, that I know will not whither no matter how much I try to burn it out: Darlington will be a part of my life until I die. It's weird to look back at that last statement because, while it may be dramatic and kind of cheesy, I just see it as an obvious reality. Whether I teach here (something that I would love to do more than anything), or I donate, or I just visit every year, I have no doubt that Darlington is and will be a piece of me. It's intrinsic.
Darlington, from Silver Lake, to the halls of the guy's dorms, to the library rooftop, to the APT Cave, to the Blackbox Theater -- all become parts of me that I cannot shake.
But it's not just the cosmetic beauty of Darlington that hurls me into poetic attempts at revelation. I cannot do justice the people who have forever altered who I will be. My librarian, my theater director, my chorus teacher. These people, as well as the majority of the students, have taken who I was at the beginning of my Darlington experience, raised my standards for who I allow myself to be, and ultimately have inspired my aim to change people's lives in the same way that they have changed mine.
That's what I mean by wanting to teach here. If I taught English at another school, I might make more money than a Darlington teacher but that's not the point. The people who have changed my life at Darlington, the teachers who have inspired me to thrive, their inspiration has to be passed on. It's not enough to sit and get warm fuzzies by how awesome people are. Perpetuation is morally demanded. Perpetuation is deserved.
So when people ask me what my future goals are, I usually give some vague answer so they think I have any clue what I am doing with my life. I have a ton of goals, but in the long run I can only see one which is definite. It's an idealistic monolith. It's my home. It's Darlington.
See, I am under no delusion that Darlington is a perfect place. No place is. There are plenty of things I could point out about my experience at Darlington that have been sub-par, even bad. But that's life.
Darlington has given me a mix -- it has given me heart-poundingly wonderful moments, like when they announced my name in chapel to become the next Head Day Prefect of Moser House. Taking part in the last two One-Act plays and landing the role of "Captain Von Trapp" in this year's production of "The Sound of Music" has led me to realize how much theater makes me feel alive and how excited I am to become a college theater-major dork.
Next to these moments are the darker moments, like losing some of my closest friends, walking out of teachers' classrooms in anger, and being in a constant state of stress over my grades and leadership expectations.
Even with the mix, I would leap at the chance to be at Darlington if I had to decide again. There is a feeling that has sprouted within me, however cheesy that sounds, that I know will not whither no matter how much I try to burn it out: Darlington will be a part of my life until I die. It's weird to look back at that last statement because, while it may be dramatic and kind of cheesy, I just see it as an obvious reality. Whether I teach here (something that I would love to do more than anything), or I donate, or I just visit every year, I have no doubt that Darlington is and will be a piece of me. It's intrinsic.
Darlington, from Silver Lake, to the halls of the guy's dorms, to the library rooftop, to the APT Cave, to the Blackbox Theater -- all become parts of me that I cannot shake.
But it's not just the cosmetic beauty of Darlington that hurls me into poetic attempts at revelation. I cannot do justice the people who have forever altered who I will be. My librarian, my theater director, my chorus teacher. These people, as well as the majority of the students, have taken who I was at the beginning of my Darlington experience, raised my standards for who I allow myself to be, and ultimately have inspired my aim to change people's lives in the same way that they have changed mine.
That's what I mean by wanting to teach here. If I taught English at another school, I might make more money than a Darlington teacher but that's not the point. The people who have changed my life at Darlington, the teachers who have inspired me to thrive, their inspiration has to be passed on. It's not enough to sit and get warm fuzzies by how awesome people are. Perpetuation is morally demanded. Perpetuation is deserved.
So when people ask me what my future goals are, I usually give some vague answer so they think I have any clue what I am doing with my life. I have a ton of goals, but in the long run I can only see one which is definite. It's an idealistic monolith. It's my home. It's Darlington.
