Senior Meditations
Along with many Exeter traditions like EP, bridge jumping and teas, meditation is one tradition that helps shape the Exeter experience into what it is. Heralded by some as “the most valuable experience at Exeter,” meditation provides students with an opportunity to learn something through a story that may not necessarily have been taught in the classroom. Although meditations are given by teachers in the fall and winter terms, the spring term gives a chance for seniors to present their meditations to a larger audience and is usually a highly anticipated event.
Each year, all seniors are required to write a meditation for their English class. This year, eleven seniors were chosen out of 100 submissions to present their meditations in Phillips Church: Oishi Banerjee, Anika Ayyar, Thomas Clark, Amina Kunnummal, Tyler Weitzman, Matthew Greaves, Tyler Courville, Nikhil Raman, Leo Liautaud, Kaelina Lombardo and Kieran Minor. One of the chosen seniors, Thomas Clark, felt that the meditation writing process was one that was unique. “Writing a meditation was unlike most other assignments, in that we are given a huge amount of independence,” said Clark. “There is no formal prompt, and you can really choose to write about anything you want, whether it be humorous or heavy.”
The tradition of seniors delivering their meditations has gone on for many years now.
Clark noted, “I think it is nice that seniors who want to share their meditations have a platform to do so, and its just too bad that only ten or eleven seniors are able to read in the church.”
Lower Anna Barnes agreed with Clark. "Each year, I really enjoy going to the senior meditations. You learn so much about the speaker that you might not otherwise learn. Seniors’ meditations allow students to take a glimpse into what they think is meaningful or special.”
Upper Ryan De Haseth noted the difference between senior meditations and teacher meditations. “For me, I think that the senior meditations provide a really great way for us students to connect with each other. Even though we might not know the senior presenting personally, we may still be able to connect with them through common beliefs, ideas and struggles.”
Lower Stajz Saar agreed with De Haseth. “A girl in my dorm presented her meditation earlier this year. Although we know each other pretty well through sports and our dorm, I feel like I was exposed to whole new side of her. It was really amazing to connect emotionally with her on a new and different level.”
On a different note, Clark touched upon the pressure seniors feel while writing their meditations. “While I generally like the meditation program, I am wary of overemphasizing its importance. Because seniors only have one chance, unlike faculty, some seniors tend to feel a pressure to make their meditation something all-encompassing that has to define their Exeter experience.”
De Haseth echoed Clark in terms of the pressure while writing a meditation. “This year, in my religion class, my final assignment was a meditation. Although it was much shorter than senior meditations, I felt like while I was writing it, it was difficult to boil away all the excess information and really strip it down to its bones.”
Despite the stress and the pressure of writing a meditation, Clark believes that it may not be as difficult as people make it out to be. “Really, anyone can write a meditation whenever they want, inside or outside of class. I believe that every person's story is complex and multifaceted enough to warrant multiple if not infinite numbers of meditations, if they so choose. I think if I had to write another meditation right now, I could, and it would be completely different from the one that I wrote earlier this year.”