Reminiscence of The Stony Brook School
Ancillary 6
Graduation was four months ago, but I feel like it was yesterday.
Family dinner is the aspect of SBS that I could never forget. Every day, five days a week, it starts at 6:15pm, sharp (you can’t be late, or you will get a demerit). With a ring of the bell, Mr. Hickey would start us off with his best gentlemanly voice, “Good evening everyone, welcome to Monday’s family dinner.” Everyone would then go silent, even Mr. Barber’s little kids. Then he would begin the prayer, “God, we thank you for this food. For rest and home and all things good…Amen.” The students would be assigned to sit with different faculty families every other two weeks. My favorite table was Dr. Tietjen’s, who never failed to talk about philosophy and challenges our belief in the universe’s existence. Family dinner taught me the majority of the courtesies I employ at dinner gatherings, and I’m appreciative that it shaped who I am as a person who would now serve food to others and clean up after meals.
Friendship and sportsmanship are another things I learnt during my time at SBS. The picture was taken after my dorm placed last in the Dorm Challenge. We happily cheered. We had only 11 people — the smallest dorm on campus — what are the chances of us winning? But we all managed to get out of cozy beds at 9pm, either voluntarily or under duress, to attend this event. It wasn’t about the placement, we were already aware, but rather involvement.
This was the last badminton home game I had and I cried when we won the PSAA championship. “They had to wait 1,100 days, but yesterday afternoon the badminton team finally had the opportunity to defend their 2019 PSAA Championship.”(Published Thursday, May 19, 2022 on Bears Newspaper) That year we swept Long Island Lutheran, 11–0, for the league’s inaugural badminton crown, but then had to wait over three years for the chance to repeat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we made it worth the wait with a gutsy performance that included three three-set wins, in an 8–3 victory over the Knox School. “Rebecca Pan followed with a 15–12, 9–15, 15–7 win at 2nd singles that gives the Bears a key early point.” That was my glorious moment as a badminton captain. A win for myself and a win for my team.
I may be sleeping in on a Monday morning at USC, but I will never be rushing to Gaebelein at 7:58 to get to class before bell rings at 8. I may be eating lunch with new friends at Parkside Dinning Hall, but I will never be gossiping the dean’s crazy high heels with my best friend while waiting in line for food in Kanas. Although I detested my high school for its stringent regulations and required chapel attendance, I loved it for the priceless memories and teachings it provided me throughout my adolescence.
Ancillary 7
I listened to a podcast about the sociological aspects of mass incarceration and how the society continues to imprison people after their term. I also viewed a video on YouTube about a prisoner who was finally freed after 44 years in prison. Vincent Simmons, who appears in the video, was originally given a 100-year prison term for sexual harassment. He had been imprisoned since he was 25. When the judge concluded he hadn’t received a fair trial, he was released from prison at the age of nearly 70. When Vincent told the journalist that this is his 17th trial and that he expects it would be successful, I was inconsolable. The community I’m working with shares Vincent’s story of being locked up in their 20s and eventually being freed after 30–40 years. I can’t even begin to fathom the pain they must have experienced while awaiting release from the trial and trying to reunite with their family. This has made me understand that I need to be careful with the questions I ask while speaking with members of my community in order to avoid upsetting their delicate feelings regarding their time spent in prison. The article gave me a historical view of mass incarceration during a time when black people and the poor faced discrimination. This aids in my comprehension of the social context in which the members of my community lived before to being incarcerated, which prepares me for the mental differences between them and myself. The essay also discusses how those who are imprisoned have no means of support outside of other people’s generosity. The parallels with how I want my high school community to be understood. Christian Private School often receives negative preconceptions, but the truth is that it offers much more than just religious instruction. Both the social and political sectors have a great impact on the prisoners. We need to comprehend their situation and do our best to assist them in adjusting to the current way of life rather than passing judgment on them based solely on the fact that they did wrong things.
