Hello RE students! Or should I say goodbye? This is my farewell letter, but it’s more of a “see you later.” I already gave my speech in assembly, but I was asked to write a little more here. So I’ll take this opportunity to talk a bit about where I’m headed and any more advice I could give.

I’ll be attending New York University (NYU) in the fall, which I’m really excited about. I spent the first 11 years of my life in New Jersey, so I know what cold is like, but I’m still a little worried about long-term exposure to that again. It has been a while. Both of my brothers live in New York City, something I’m excited about as well, and they tell me it’s not that bad. It even gets hotter than Miami during the summer there!

Speaking of college, I’ll take this opportunity to talk about my process and hopefully give some advice to rising juniors/seniors.

Juniors — where you are right now was probably my favorite part of the process: touring colleges, figuring out what kind of school I like. That was all very fun, especially since I took the school college tour trip. Not only was it more fun to do with friends, but hearing what they liked and didn’t like about each school gave me insight into what was more important to me in a campus.

However, if I could go back and give myself some advice early on, I would tell myself to not be so critical of some schools so early in the process. I wrote off a lot of schools for what now seem like minor reasons — small issues I had with core curriculum, the campus being too big or small, people “didn’t seem nice.” It’s always nice to narrow down, but I forgot that I actually had to *get into* the schools to which I ended up applying. In other words, not every school on your list has to be a school that you love everything about.

Apply to schools you even “sorta like.” Applying to schools also becomes much less stressful when you’re applying to a lot. Believe it or not, NYU was far from my first choice early on in the process. But once I got in, and reexamined it compared to the other schools I got into, I was looking at it through a different lens and I am totally stoked to go there. Your first impressions of a school aren’t always the most accurate.

In a way, it will be fun to start over and be new to a school again. I have to stick to my own advice, because, you know, I said it, but I am looking forward to taking on new responsibilities. These responsibilities are good for our character, and the more we take them on, the more we grow. Of course, that isn’t anything new to our ears, but it’s something I feel I’ve witnessed firsthand in myself and other people during my time at Ransom Everglades.

Discipline isn’t a bad thing to gain either. I know that rowing at RE helped me with that, both in the nature of the sport and in the nature of a team experience.

To close out things here, I want to emphasize one more thing in my speech that I fear wasn’t mentioned enough.

Trust your teachers!

They want the best for you, can see your best qualities, and only wish to let those shine. Let them work their magic. I know none of my teachers have ever given up on me, and that has made all the difference. They have been a highlight of my Ransom Everglades experience, among so many other things.

Here’s to a great end of the school year, a great summer, and happy futures!