I’m Tim, and I’m a senior day student from Ojai—or, more specifically, from Thacher itself (my mom works here.) I arrived as a freshman in the fall of 2008.
What I like best about Thacher is the small class sizes. At my old public school an average class size was 20 or 22 students, and my largest class was almost 30. This meant that the teachers were more like babysitters, which is not the case at Thacher. Here the teachers are really able to give a lot more positive attention to the students, which makes classes more enjoyable and helps me learn better.
My favorite class at the moment is U.S. History. I think that U.S. history is so interesting because of all that we’ve accomplished in less than 250 years of being a country. Also, our class has a lot of lively discussion.
People at Thacher who have influence me positively: Mr. Bueti, in my woodshop class last year, was a great influence because he was always so patient with me in class as I slowly got over my fear of the power tools like the big table saws.
Advice for someone thinking about going away to school or specifically coming to Thacher: Don’t worry about making new friends, because within about a week of coming to Thacher, with camping and all the other activities, you will probably already have made life-long friends.
Blog Posts by Tim ’12:
This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to drive to downtown LA with my English class to see a production of the musical Fela! at the Ahmanson Theater. This past fall, we read Jay-Z’s recently published book Decoded in class, who happens to be one of the producers of the musical. Our teacher, Ms. Halsey, saw the show over the Thanksgiving holiday, and had the idea of us going to see the show together. We were all huddled in the nosebleed seats of the Ahmanson, but it didn’t matter and within moments of the opening curtain, we were standing up dancing to the cool rhythms of the Afro beat music. But what was the nicest thing for me was the opportunity to take a break from Thacher, and get off campus to enjoy a cultural activity with friends. Not to mention a midnight stop at In N Out burger on the way home!
It was about halfway through our trip. We had just had a long day of hiking, with quite a bit of elevation gain and loss, and we were planning to camp at Little Five Lakes, and go up and over Blackrock Pass the next morning. However, Mr. Pidduck had the idea to just power out the pass right after dinner, and bivouac (which means just camping wherever, and making do with what ya got) at the top of the pass. Instantly, I was stoked. I mean, how sweet would it be to get to the top and see the sunset, and then wake up to the sunrise just by turning in your sleeping bag?
Galvanized, we booked it, and I mean booked it, up the pass in under an hour. We got to the top, and my oh my, it was spectacular. Literally, I felt like I could see everything in the world. Looking the way we had just come, I could see Mt. Whitney off to my left, and on my right, Mt. Langley, and the entire San Joaquin Valley. Then, simply by turning 180 degrees right as the sun set, I could see past Fresno and all the way to the coastal range. Amazing! Now just imagine that with the sunset and sunrise: spectacular. A top-ten moment without a doubt, and a quintessential Thacher moment, too.
I want you to do it. Yes, I mean it. Take the plunge, because trust me, you will not regret it. I cannot rave enough about Thacher, from the epic, majestic sunsets that occur every single day to the late-night chocolate-syrup wrestling match in the dorm (probably shouldn’t have you told you about that one…), and I encourage you, without a shadow of a doubt, to take a chance. Thacher will give you innumerable chances to expand your intellectual capabilities, to meet and make friends with some of the most dynamic and amazing people you will ever meet, and in all honesty, probably have the best time of your life. From a prospective student’s standpoint, regardless of any fears that you may have about leaving home and your friends, embrace this adventure, because it is just that, an adventure.
This school is unbelievable, and if you want to be a strong, independent, and intelligent individual, at the very least, apply! Parents, fret not, because I guarantee that there is no better place for a teenager to develop into a young man or woman. I, being a senior, am right in the middle of the whole college fiasco, and while I could go on and on about the quality of colleges that Thacher students matriculate to (My prefect freshman year went to Yale, my sophomore prefect Stanford, and my junior prefect Northwestern) I stand firmly by the fact that the benefits, emotionally, physically, and mentally, here will endure with your child far beyond college. If you haven’t guessed yet, I love this place, and I know that my decision to come to Thacher was the best decision I ever made. Care to join?
I have always been intrigued by nature and nurture, the duality of our natural ability versus surrounding environment, and so when the chance came to take Psychology, I jumped on it. My teacher, Mrs. Meyer, is simply fascinating. While the course is challenging to say the least, learning about what makes us tick is well worth it. Reading for homework is less of a tedious chore and more of an interesting read; we read about cutting-edge developments in the field of psychology and I can’t help but being finding myself zeroing in on the reading and realizing that it’s homework only afterwards.
Sounds like a winner of a class to me!
Yesterday, I was walking up from my house to Thacher on a warm spring evening, around 6:30. The sun was beginning to go down, and the Ojai Valley was coated in a soft orange color that matched the blooming orange blossoms that make the valley so famous. It is the spring of my junior year, and I can hardly believe that I have gotten to where I am today. Each day throughout my journey at Thacher felt incredibly slow, as I thought about the next segment of my day. I was always thinking about the next part of the day; getting through classes, finishing sports practice, going to formal, finishing all of my homework during study hall, then getting up and doing it all over again. Now, I realize how fast everything moved, and how many times I forgot to stop and appreciate everything that has happened at Thacher. Yesterday, it occurred to me that my Thacher career is beginning to come full circle. I am, in 3 weeks time, going to be the very senior that awed me, intimidated me, and mentored me when I walked into Lower School nearly 4 years ago. So yesterday I stopped walking, looked all around me, and took a moment to think about where I’ve been, where I am, and where I will be in the year to come. I continued to walk, after my moment of clarity, with a grin on my face bigger than that of the Cheshire Cat. I had finally made it. I was finally approaching my senior year.
