Between Senior Exhibitions and Senioritis, the Spring trimester of Senior year has been a balance of work and play, but a bit more of the latter. With 10 days remaining in my Thacher career, I have spent some time reflecting on my time at Thacher. It’s the little things that begin to get to me. Walking down a certain path through campus, stepping out of my Calculus classroom, having french onion soup from the Dining Hall, finishing my final track event (the 800m run), sitting at formal dinner, and trying to sell my books–all for the last time at Thacher.

One notable “last time” event, which was also a “first time” deal, was my Senior Exhibition on Laughter. My advisors Mrs. Meyer and Mrs. McCarthy were an amazing help to my project’s success. Both of them were willing to spend extra time meeting with me to guide me along on my project. They are two great examples of the amazing faculty here who have gone beyond the call of duty to voluntarily help students.

Another first and last time thing for me this spring was Track. This spring, I decided to join the Track and Field team. Mr. Sohn, Thacher’s new track coach brought a different training philosophy to Thacher Track, which I loved. Our boys team ended the season by beating Cate and winning the Condor League title at the Condor League Championships, which happened on our very own beautiful Thacher track. Personally, I ran personal records in the 800 (2:06), 1600 (4:43), and 3200 (10:38) meter races, taking first in each event. I owe my success to two people. The first is Mr. Coleman, my cross-country coach, who brought me into running in the first place back in the end of my Freshman year. Since then, I have improved a lot, and continued to love the sport of running (Mr. Coleman emphasizes running for enjoyment and creating life-long runners, which he has done a great job with.). Mr Sohn brings very different philosophy to the table, which has helped with my recent development as a runner. His philosophy emphasizes improvement, hard work, dedication, goal setting and strength work, which has helped me as I approach the next step of my running career, which will happen next year for me at Claremont McKenna College.

I have enjoyed it. Looking back, I know my Thacher memories will stick with me for a long time. I can’t imagine ever forgetting the names of the 61 people in my graduating class, the faces of my amazing teachers, or the hilarious comments brought to me each day by my sophomore prefectees.

For those of you who are considering Thacher as a place for your or your child’s education, all I can say is: go for it! Getting into Thacher was a blessing, and deciding to come to Thacher has been the best decision of my life. It’s a bummer I have to leave already–it’s gone by really quickly.

For those of you who are still here and have one, two, or three more years left. Find a moment to enjoy the people around you. Even though there are fewer than 250 students on campus, there will always be people around who would love your friendship. When times get tough academically, remember that there are other kids in your dorm who are going through the same thing–go hang out with them to procrastinate or collectively complain about how difficult your lives are. You will probably feel better after you do so.

One last thing. I would like to thank you all for reading my ToadBlogs, especially Colin, who I toured this year, who will be a freshman here next year.