BlogsStudent LifePre-K to 8AdmissionUpper School
10 Things Darlington Has Taught Me
Sep 15, 2014 1:50 PM
By Abraham Johnson '15 - '15
The last 12+ years of being at Darlington have taught me a few things, and since I have already written tome-upon-tome of sappy goodnesses about this place (refer back to literally any blog I have written), I came up with a list of the top 10 things that I have learned through Darlington:
1) Humans are interesting, wonderful, and sometimes scary things. Getting to know people outside of your social zone can be really unsettling, but sometimes reorientation is necessary in order to grow. Letting yourself feel uncomfortable comes with major pay-offs.
2) Getting to know your teachers makes life so much better. The teachers at Darlington honestly are invested in the students -- whether it's for academic or personal reasons -- and if you invest as much in to them as they do to students, you will learn way more important things than how to solve equations or analyze books.
3) Michael Hall defines "bae."
4) Extracurriculars are a vital part of getting the most out of Darlington. Don't be a 4.0 student who just goes home every day after school. Focus on academic knowledge, but work towards general wisdom.
5) Some of your best friends freshman year won't be your friends senior year. Give yourself, and them, the opportunity to grow and stretch in whatever direction they want. If they are good friends, they will come back. If not, you are looking for different things.
6) Take arts classes even if you don't think you want to pursue the arts. Signing up for a theater class during my sophomore year, even when I wasn't very interested in it, was one of the best decisions I have ever made and the reverberations from the arts benefit every academic subject. Be open to new ideas even if they aren't yours. Also, JPlough is a magical giraffe of a man.
7) Get to know Mrs. Bennett. She's awesome.
8) Realize that your actions have consequences. Especially with the ELA program as an addition to the school, the actions of us high schoolers affect what kind of students come up to the Upper School years from now. I still remember the awesome and lackluster Upper School students from when I was in the Lower School. Be role models.
9) Start thinking about college stuff early, but don't let that be your only goal through Darlington. Yes, Darlington is a rigorous college-preparatory school, but let yourself be a teenager. Get something more out of high school than just a transcript. Always remember that college in general is a major privilege that many people don't have available to them. Be thankful.
10) Question everything. Come up with evidence for your beliefs, but also be willing to see things from all angles. My history classes have been the hardest and most rigorous classes I've taken, because my teachers haven't asked -- they have demanded -- to see everything from a 3-dimensional perspective.
1) Humans are interesting, wonderful, and sometimes scary things. Getting to know people outside of your social zone can be really unsettling, but sometimes reorientation is necessary in order to grow. Letting yourself feel uncomfortable comes with major pay-offs.
2) Getting to know your teachers makes life so much better. The teachers at Darlington honestly are invested in the students -- whether it's for academic or personal reasons -- and if you invest as much in to them as they do to students, you will learn way more important things than how to solve equations or analyze books.
3) Michael Hall defines "bae."
4) Extracurriculars are a vital part of getting the most out of Darlington. Don't be a 4.0 student who just goes home every day after school. Focus on academic knowledge, but work towards general wisdom.
5) Some of your best friends freshman year won't be your friends senior year. Give yourself, and them, the opportunity to grow and stretch in whatever direction they want. If they are good friends, they will come back. If not, you are looking for different things.
6) Take arts classes even if you don't think you want to pursue the arts. Signing up for a theater class during my sophomore year, even when I wasn't very interested in it, was one of the best decisions I have ever made and the reverberations from the arts benefit every academic subject. Be open to new ideas even if they aren't yours. Also, JPlough is a magical giraffe of a man.
7) Get to know Mrs. Bennett. She's awesome.
8) Realize that your actions have consequences. Especially with the ELA program as an addition to the school, the actions of us high schoolers affect what kind of students come up to the Upper School years from now. I still remember the awesome and lackluster Upper School students from when I was in the Lower School. Be role models.
9) Start thinking about college stuff early, but don't let that be your only goal through Darlington. Yes, Darlington is a rigorous college-preparatory school, but let yourself be a teenager. Get something more out of high school than just a transcript. Always remember that college in general is a major privilege that many people don't have available to them. Be thankful.
10) Question everything. Come up with evidence for your beliefs, but also be willing to see things from all angles. My history classes have been the hardest and most rigorous classes I've taken, because my teachers haven't asked -- they have demanded -- to see everything from a 3-dimensional perspective.
