The Moser Messenger: Pushing Ourselves So That You Don't Have To

Getting into the swing of the year, Moser House has been bustling nonstop busy with schoolwork and sports, a balancing act that is extremely hard for any student. Maintaining priorities between ASAs (after-school activities) and academics can be extremely challenging, but when your focus is in the right place it is certainly doable.

The balance between extracurricular activities and school is one of the many things that makes Darlington so special; we expect high performance in schoolwork while pushing ourselves to strive for more than just the grades -- to lead in clubs, arts, community service, and sports.

While this can get hectic, especially for dorm students (who should be applauded each and every day just based on the fact that they don’t get any down time from school), I think that as graduates looking back, these things will have made us stronger and more capable to handle more than one expectation at a time.

When asking around Moser House, “What is the best part about living in the dorms, and how has living in the dorms changed you most?” I received some responses that made me stop and think about the dorm-student side of this balancing act. While a day student can complete all the necessary challenges of the typical day at Darlington and go home, the dorm students have to deal with these challenges, then spend the rest of the night in study hall and sharing a room with someone. I think I, at least, would have some issues with this type of schedule.

Here are some of the responses I heard: 

“It’s made me more ready for college and more prepared for the kind of lifestyle I’m going to expect.”

“Living in a dorm for international students is important because they can ask questions and do group work if they don't understand stuff. I, myself, think living in the dorms is an amazing experience.”

"The best part is the independence and being able to live on my own and experience it before leaving for college.”

“(Living in the dorms) has made me more reponsible, and the best part is living with all the different people in Moser.”

"Living in a dorm makes me more involved and provides us a chance to know each other. The best part is that Mrs.Colavita gives us some snacks especially after study hall when we're all exhausted."

All of these responses are at the heart of the Darlington experience. Much is expected of the students, and while it might be hard at first, the students grow and become the kind of people that will lead us into the future. We stand there on graduation day with a diploma in our hands, not because we simply waited out the four years of high school, but because we honestly put in the hours for that diploma.

These responses from the Moser House boys capture what we want out of Darlington students and what Darlington students might forget sometimes: Although we may be barely awake at midnight, studying for that test the next day, or pushing ourselves to finish a book one page at a time when we really just don’t want to, these are the type of experiences that give us strength in future hardship. When we get to college and our roommates are freaking out about how intense the workload is, we will be prepared because we are Darlington graduates.