How I've Looked at Exeter

A year ago, around this time, I drove down Front Street with chills up my back. This was the school of my dreams and I could not believe I would get to be a part of it in the coming fall. I remember watching a stream of students stroll across the crosswalk, their ties knotted with precision as they executed perfect waves. They seemed to me to be God’s prototypes: not missing a single flawless feature. This secluded region of quintessential humans was foreign and frankly quite unnerving to me at first.

However, as I began to settle in and accumulate more comfort with my surroundings, Exeter became slowly less daunting to me. I went through the motions, one could say. I woke up to my alarm at exactly 7 a.m. each morning, ate eggs and hashbrowns at my dorm’s table, attended class, did my homework and repeated. I struggled at times with an occasional late night, a missed goal or a disappointing test grade, but generally speaking, I went through the beginning stages of Exeter quite routinely.

I am writing about this because I think my story relates all too well to that of many others. We all go through these motions with little awareness of their meaning past the short-term horizon. We are also guilty of counting down the days on our calendars until we get to leave this place. We do these things because we need to in order to stay afloat, but my proposition addresses the opportunity do more than just float.

In many ways, this has been a great year to be alive as a young person. Living in Exeter allowed us the opportunity to be at the epicenter of the New Hampshire primaries, a salient step in the future of our country. We have watched as both the crazy and the collected politicians have marched up the steps of our own town hall, as the world regarded us from their television sets. We have also persisted as our school dealt with a time of very sensitive turmoil in the sexual climate. As I write, I think of more and more reasons why Exeter has been more than just a school to me. We don’t all take the time to acknowledge both our privilege and duty as students at this school to pay attention to these moments, because they are fleeting and rarely present themselves again.

To my mom: Yes, this year I’ve learned my history, my biology and how to show instead of tell, but Exeter has most importantly gifted me with a real glimpse of what the world waiting for me looks like.

To my fellow students: It’s important to be able to lift our heads above it all, as I have learned to do. To not worry so much about our numbered hours of sleep or about the pressure of completing a certain assignment. Exeter is the world in a nutshell, and it is our job to see that.

With one last week, I ask you to pay attention to the blooming trees that line the quad, to the perfection of a warm Grill cookie, to the enticing architecture of our library and to the art of discussion. It’s important that we recognize the beauty that this school gives us on a daily basis, so lift your heads up and look around!