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The Moser Messenger: A Brand New Year, A Brand New Hall
Aug 27, 2013 11:54 AM
By Abraham Johnson '15 - '15
When I became a Head Day Prefect, I didn't realize what kind of changes would happen during the summer to Moser House. Because the majority of our guys last year were seniors, this year has brought a completely new vibe to the house. And I love it.
The new guys on the hall are fantastic to say the least. To be honest, I also didn't realize that a Dar Baby like myself could feel nervous about a school year at Darlington, but during the week before the dorm students started arriving I really started feeling it. What would the new hall be like? Would there be less trouble than last year? More trouble than last year?
I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised. So far I have known these guys for almost two weeks and between helping them move in to our most recent retreat that happened just two days ago, I have already made some great memories. If this is just the first two weeks I know them, I can only imagine what the rest of the year will be like!
Like our retreat this past Sunday. Moser House took a trip to Historic Banning Mills, home of the tallest rock climbing wall in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records), a 100-foot free drop, ziplines, challenge ropes courses, and rappelling from 90 feet in the air. The words "adrenaline" and "adult diaper" were the first to come to mind when these were decided. The house was split into two groups that alternated the courses during the day, causing my group to be the first selected for the 100-foot free drop (worried mothers, brace yourselves).
Climbing the practically infinite flights of steps up to the jumping deck was scary enough on its own. You can imagine how we felt when we reached one of the final flights to see it covered in splotches of red paint. After the assurance that these splotches were indeed just paint (excuse me for remaining skeptical), our jello-legs finally reached the jumping deck.
If you can imagine about 10 teenage boys and a theater director who is twice their size green-faced, shaking, and determined to not be the one to back down from a challenge, you have a pretty good idea of what went on up there. This made it hard to hear the climbing counselor explain the fact that there was to be one, not three, not two, but one cable attached to our backs, so we just nodded and tried not to cry... very loudly.
Eventually, after a stand off between who would be the literal first-to-plunge, someone finally volunteered and jumped, standing on the edge until he talked himself into it. When the next person was called to go, the stare down repeated. Finally someone whispered, "Abraham, you're the prefect. Take one for the team." Apart from profane words that ricocheted through my head, my immediate thought was, "Lol no. Not going to happen."
After a little more prodding and the occasional, "EVERYBODY BE COOL", I somehow found myself strapped into the cable and standing 100 feet above the ground. After contemplating what I would have wanted in my will and yelling "Don't judge me if I pee," my dignity fell back down and I was staring straight ahead.
Now I would love to say that in that moment I had some massive revelation. It would make for a really inspirational and cheesy blog post, but I generally don't think very incisive or witty things until after hours of meditation and the occasional sacrifice to the gods of intellect. The revelation came later... as in two minutes before writing this post, when I realized: "If I am not willing to put myself in awkward positions, sometimes really scary ones, why should I expect the Moser bros to? If Arturo and I can't be examples for the house in situations like this, why should we expect them to act like we should?"
After falling to the ground and crawling on my hands and knees back to my seat, we made our way to the tallest rock-climbing tower in the world, rappelling from 90 feet, ziplining through gorgeous canopy, and falling all over each other at the challenge courses. All in all, everybody in the dorm can agree that it was pretty epic.
So my challenge to my readers (all three of you!) is this: Be willing to push your comfort zones in order to help yourself and the people around you grow. Dorm students and day students: Be willing to stretch yourself and interact with one another. If I can jump from 100 feet attached to a single cable, you can start a conversation with that one person you haven't met yet.
This year has the potential to be the very best that Darlington has ever had for the day-dorm community. Be willing to make yourself a better, more worldly person by letting yourself stretch your box. Seize the day. Make this year extraordinary!
(Yes, I totally just stole that last bit from "Dead Poets Society," but it totally fits... and I just watched it Saturday night with some of the guys).
The new guys on the hall are fantastic to say the least. To be honest, I also didn't realize that a Dar Baby like myself could feel nervous about a school year at Darlington, but during the week before the dorm students started arriving I really started feeling it. What would the new hall be like? Would there be less trouble than last year? More trouble than last year?
I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised. So far I have known these guys for almost two weeks and between helping them move in to our most recent retreat that happened just two days ago, I have already made some great memories. If this is just the first two weeks I know them, I can only imagine what the rest of the year will be like!
Like our retreat this past Sunday. Moser House took a trip to Historic Banning Mills, home of the tallest rock climbing wall in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records), a 100-foot free drop, ziplines, challenge ropes courses, and rappelling from 90 feet in the air. The words "adrenaline" and "adult diaper" were the first to come to mind when these were decided. The house was split into two groups that alternated the courses during the day, causing my group to be the first selected for the 100-foot free drop (worried mothers, brace yourselves).
Climbing the practically infinite flights of steps up to the jumping deck was scary enough on its own. You can imagine how we felt when we reached one of the final flights to see it covered in splotches of red paint. After the assurance that these splotches were indeed just paint (excuse me for remaining skeptical), our jello-legs finally reached the jumping deck.
If you can imagine about 10 teenage boys and a theater director who is twice their size green-faced, shaking, and determined to not be the one to back down from a challenge, you have a pretty good idea of what went on up there. This made it hard to hear the climbing counselor explain the fact that there was to be one, not three, not two, but one cable attached to our backs, so we just nodded and tried not to cry... very loudly.
Eventually, after a stand off between who would be the literal first-to-plunge, someone finally volunteered and jumped, standing on the edge until he talked himself into it. When the next person was called to go, the stare down repeated. Finally someone whispered, "Abraham, you're the prefect. Take one for the team." Apart from profane words that ricocheted through my head, my immediate thought was, "Lol no. Not going to happen."
After a little more prodding and the occasional, "EVERYBODY BE COOL", I somehow found myself strapped into the cable and standing 100 feet above the ground. After contemplating what I would have wanted in my will and yelling "Don't judge me if I pee," my dignity fell back down and I was staring straight ahead.
Now I would love to say that in that moment I had some massive revelation. It would make for a really inspirational and cheesy blog post, but I generally don't think very incisive or witty things until after hours of meditation and the occasional sacrifice to the gods of intellect. The revelation came later... as in two minutes before writing this post, when I realized: "If I am not willing to put myself in awkward positions, sometimes really scary ones, why should I expect the Moser bros to? If Arturo and I can't be examples for the house in situations like this, why should we expect them to act like we should?"
After falling to the ground and crawling on my hands and knees back to my seat, we made our way to the tallest rock-climbing tower in the world, rappelling from 90 feet, ziplining through gorgeous canopy, and falling all over each other at the challenge courses. All in all, everybody in the dorm can agree that it was pretty epic.
So my challenge to my readers (all three of you!) is this: Be willing to push your comfort zones in order to help yourself and the people around you grow. Dorm students and day students: Be willing to stretch yourself and interact with one another. If I can jump from 100 feet attached to a single cable, you can start a conversation with that one person you haven't met yet.
This year has the potential to be the very best that Darlington has ever had for the day-dorm community. Be willing to make yourself a better, more worldly person by letting yourself stretch your box. Seize the day. Make this year extraordinary!
(Yes, I totally just stole that last bit from "Dead Poets Society," but it totally fits... and I just watched it Saturday night with some of the guys).
