If you go to the Collegiate School as an outsider, this is what you will see. Walking down West 78th street, you will eventually arrive at the school’s main entrance. You see two sets of bright red, metal doors. You enter and tell the man behind the glass that you are here for a tour. You wait in a large, air conditioned, open room for a few minutes before being a greeted by your tour guide. He tells you that he has been going to Collegiate since kindergarten and that he really loves this place. He takes you and your parents to a staircase, and you start walking up. As you walk up the colorful, mural lined stairs, nothing seems to truly strike you. So far, you find this place to be pretty standard. You soon arrive at your first destination,
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If I hadn’t been going here for 12 years I would probably think the same thing. But I see it differently. I see the school in a way that you cannot, and probably will not ever be able to understand. You see anytime I go to the gym, or the library, or any other of the limitless spots scattered throughout the multiple interconnected buildings, assorted memories flood into my head. Give me a spot I can a recall a hundred different memories I have of it. Remember those red doors that you hardly noticed, you see I notice them because I’ve walked through them everyday I’ve come to school since 2006. Furthermore, I have greeted the same men standing both inside and outside those doors every single day. While you find nothing special about the mural lining the walls of the staircase, I’ve practically memorized it. I walked up that staircase every morning at 8:20 from 1st grade to fourth grade. Sure, the gym may be standard from a physical perspective, but to me it is more special and memorable than Madison Square Garden. I can vividly see myself playing tag in Coach Chariez’s P.E. class, wearing, just like everyone else in my class, a bright orange Collegiate shirt and dark blue shorts with an orange dutchman in the corner. Just as clearly, however, I can picture myself screaming my head off as Freshman at the friday night opener against Dwight. I’m practically standing on the court and trying to avoid eye contact with Dr. …show more content…
And while things do change about the school, the general essence of it remains. The fact is that the school has personality shaped by the students, which in effect shapes the students themselves. Many of the attributes and traits I have, I can proudly say are because of the atmosphere created by the building. By learning, playing, and hanging out in the same places for 12 years, one can learn new things about both themselves and their friends. And while most wouldn’t understand the quirky nature of the school, as it is a mix of both old and newer buildings, interconnected in a way which allows for spots with the most unconventional and strange uses tied to them, we cherish that quirkiness. What other school is there where the facilities mix in such away that, for example, some lower schoolers can be playing a fun game handball in the courtyard and five minutes later it could flooded with upper schoolers playing an intense, loud, and cramped game of soccer. Oddly enough, this is to us how a normal school functions. This is the only school we know. To us, this is the definition of a
If I hadn’t been going here for 12 years I would probably think the same thing. But I see it differently. I see the school in a way that you cannot, and probably will not ever be able to understand. You see anytime I go to the gym, or the library, or any other of the limitless spots scattered throughout the multiple interconnected buildings, assorted memories flood into my head. Give me a spot I can a recall a hundred different memories I have of it. Remember those red doors that you hardly noticed, you see I notice them because I’ve walked through them everyday I’ve come to school since 2006. Furthermore, I have greeted the same men standing both inside and outside those doors every single day. While you find nothing special about the mural lining the walls of the staircase, I’ve practically memorized it. I walked up that staircase every morning at 8:20 from 1st grade to fourth grade. Sure, the gym may be standard from a physical perspective, but to me it is more special and memorable than Madison Square Garden. I can vividly see myself playing tag in Coach Chariez’s P.E. class, wearing, just like everyone else in my class, a bright orange Collegiate shirt and dark blue shorts with an orange dutchman in the corner. Just as clearly, however, I can picture myself screaming my head off as Freshman at the friday night opener against Dwight. I’m practically standing on the court and trying to avoid eye contact with Dr. …show more content…
And while things do change about the school, the general essence of it remains. The fact is that the school has personality shaped by the students, which in effect shapes the students themselves. Many of the attributes and traits I have, I can proudly say are because of the atmosphere created by the building. By learning, playing, and hanging out in the same places for 12 years, one can learn new things about both themselves and their friends. And while most wouldn’t understand the quirky nature of the school, as it is a mix of both old and newer buildings, interconnected in a way which allows for spots with the most unconventional and strange uses tied to them, we cherish that quirkiness. What other school is there where the facilities mix in such away that, for example, some lower schoolers can be playing a fun game handball in the courtyard and five minutes later it could flooded with upper schoolers playing an intense, loud, and cramped game of soccer. Oddly enough, this is to us how a normal school functions. This is the only school we know. To us, this is the definition of a